One of my luckiest investment decisions was not selling anything during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. I just held on for dear life, continued to max out my 401(k) and squirreled away anything left into an online savings account or CD.

In 2012, I got lucky again by receiving zero offers for my SF primary residence. Facebook just went public, but nobody wanted to buy my home. As a result, I held on, paid down more of the mortgage, earned some rental income, and then finally sold it five years later for 68% more. I probably should have held on.

In 2015 and in 2018 I passed on selling Financial Samurai. To sell before realizing my goal of writing 3X a week for 10 years would have made me feel like a quitter. Then in August 2018, Google had a large algorithm update that has since boosted organic traffic by 50%. That was an unexpected upside surprise, especially since the site has been around since 2009.

It sure seems like the secret to creating wealth is to consistently save, invest, grow, hold and build for the long-term. Almost every significant wealth event in my life has taken at least five years to stew.

Lessons Learned Since The Financial Crisis really brought me back to the time when Financial Samurai was started in the summer of 2009. I want to use this post to figure out why Financial Samurai has survived all these years. My theory is that launching during a downturn has a lot to do with it.

Since I was 12 years old, I wanted to be an entrepreneur because I witnessed the fabulous lifestyles of those who called the shots instead of those who took orders. I just didn’t know what to invent. Back in 1989, you actually had to create a physical product to make money.

My entrepreneurial dreams died down after getting a job in finance in 1999. Only after graduating from business school in 2006 did my desire to start a company reignite. I was emboldened to put all I had learned from my professors to good use. Otherwise, what was the point of going to business school in the first place?

But nothing happened in 2006, 2007, or 2008 because I was tired. After three years of working 60 hours a week while also spending 20 hours a week on business school related activities, all I wanted to do was take a break. It really felt like a vacation to only have to work 12 hour days after graduation!

Only until the world started falling apart in 2009 did I finally decide to launch Financial Samurai. It turns out, there were other companies that were founded during the depths of the recession too: Uber (2009), Airbnb (2008), Quora (2008), Kickstarter (2009), Whatsapp (2010) and many more.

Let me share some reasons why launching a business during bad times is easier.