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Three White Tenants, One Asian Landlord: A Story About Opportunity

Published: 01/18/2021 by Financial Samurai 64 Comments

I realized the other day that all my tenants are White. I’d never thought about my tenants’ racial makeup until I read an article by Washington Post journalist, Michelle Singletary, entitled, “The Legacy Of Slavery Made My Grandmother Fear Investing.”

Michelle writes how discriminatory policies of the past shaped the way her grandmother approached investing. Her series of articles provides an interesting personal perspective on why there is a racial income and wealth gap today.

Here are some passages from her article that stood out:

When my first employer introduced a 401(k) retirement plan, I sought advice from Big Mama. But she actively discouraged me from “gambling” in the stock market.

“That’s for White folks,” Big Mama said. “They can afford to lose money.”

“The legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and the New Deal — as well as the limited funding and scope of anti-discrimination agencies — are some of the biggest contributors to inequality in America,” says a 2019 report by the Center for American Progress

So, yes, it’s going to take more than a financial workshop to overcome the anxiety my grandmother lived with all her life and passed on to me.

There was only one investment that Big Mama trusted: her home.

The last line about Big Mama trusting only one investment, her home, really resonated with me.

This article will share some of the following insights:

  • Why there are so many Asian landlords and small business owners
  • Why real estate is so highly valued among many minorities
  • How the lack of equal opportunity changes behavior
  • Where the belief of not depending on anyone but yourself comes from


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How To Become A Millionaire By 20 The Old-Fashioned Way

Published: 01/13/2021 by Financial Samurai 37 Comments

I’ve written about how to become a millionaire by 30. A lot of luck, hard work, strategy, and risk are involved. Most of us will eventually become 401k millionaires by 60 if we keep contributing the maximum. However, what about becoming a millionaire by 20? It sounds almost impossible given kids must focus on school usually until the age of 18.

Let’s go through a thought exercise on various ways to become a millionaire by 20. I’ll use some examples to demonstrate the possibilities. Once we realize what is possible, more good things are likely to happen.

But first, let’s discuss why you may want to or need to become a millionaire by 20. For those of you with young children or plan to have children, this post should be of particular interest. Or maybe, you are an enterprising young gun who already has the maturity to plan for the future!



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When To Have More Children: A Rational Framework To Consider

Published: 12/25/2020 | Updated: 01/11/2021 by Financial Samurai 52 Comments

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Given Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss when to have more children.

Having children is a personal choice. There is no right or wrong answer. However, once you have children, it’s hard to imagine anything more precious in your life.

If you had a billion dollars, you would willingly give it all away to save your child’s life. Well, unless you were J Paul Getty, who refused to pay for his grandson’s ransom until his ear was sliced off.

Given children are priceless, it stands to reason that we should all have as many children as possible. The more you have, the wealthier you will be!

Unfortunately, we all have our physical, biological, and financial limits. Not all of us can afford multiple children. Some of us may feel bad knowing that the more children we have, the less quality time we get to spend with each one.

Even if we could have many children, our personal well-being may suffer after a certain number. After all, children require a Herculean amount of effort to raise properly.



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Fun Frugal Toys You Can Make At Home For Kids Of All Ages

Published: 12/17/2020 | Updated: 01/01/2021 by Samurai Sydney 13 Comments

When I was growing up, our house was always pretty neat because I hardly had any toys. For example, I had no lego blocks for my parents to accidentally step on. My parents would only get me a present once a year. And that something was usually an action figure, not something expensive like a Gameboy. Going over to a friend’s house to play Nintendo was a treat.

Being frugal is in my blood. Until this day, I still wear track pants and shirts with obvious holes. Even when my tennis and softball buddies make fun of me for looking so raggedy, I relish their ridicule before I crush them. Being reminded about my upbringing makes me better appreciate what I have today.

With many parents looking to save money during this difficult period, I want to share some fun frugal toys my wife came up with for toddlers and kids with imagination. Take it away Sydney!



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Opening A Roth IRA For Your Kids To Build Wealth And Save On Taxes

Published: 12/14/2020 | Updated: 01/12/2021 by Financial Samurai 55 Comments

Opening a Roth IRA for your kids is a must once they start generating earned income. Not only will opening a Roth IRA help build wealth for your kids, if you have a business, it will also help you save on taxes.

If you start contributing to your kid’s Roth IRA young enough, there’s a good chance their Roth IRA could be worth over $100,000 by the time they turn 18! If you combine their Roth IRA with a custodial investment account and a 529 account, they could have almost a million dollars by the time they turn 20!

Can you imagine having over $100,000, let alone $1 million by the time you are legally an adult? Since you worked for your money, you will likely feel like one of the richest and proudest 18-year-olds around. You’d have a massive head start to do more things that interest you.



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The Value Of Real Estate Goes Way Up Once You Have Children

Published: 11/07/2020 | Updated: 01/01/2021 by Financial Samurai 44 Comments

Real estate is my favorite asset class to build wealth for the average person. If you have children, then the value of real estate goes up even further!

In the debate between real estate or stocks as a way to get rich and live happily ever after, I failed to emphasize one critical point. The value of real estate goes way up once you have children. The more children you have, the higher the value of your real estate goes.

After scanning more than 200 hundred comments that debated between stocks and real estate, I realized something interesting.

Those who choose stocks over real state tend not to have children. Real estate naysayers either don’t have children or have adult children who have left the nest.

This inferior view of real estate as a way to build wealth from people without children makes complete sense. Let’s discuss.



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Your First Money Memories May Dictate Your Entire Financial Future

Published: 10/26/2020 | Updated: 11/17/2020 by Financial Samurai 30 Comments

Your first money memories may hold the keys to your relationship with money. Perhaps your first money memories may dictate your entire financial future.

My first money memory was getting admonished by my father for ordering lemonade at a restaurant. I was in the sixth grade in Kuala Lumpur. He said that instead of paying for sugar water, I should order water with a lemon slice for free. Not only was it free, it was healthier.

My second money memory was hearing my mother trying to encourage my father to spend more money. Although she was also frugal, I remember her saying he should spend more money to save time. I was in the seventh grade.

My third money memory was getting picked up in a black Mercedes SEL with fuzzy rear seats. It was owned by my father’s friend who was throwing a Chinese New Year’s party at his house. My father was already there, which was why I got picked up alone. I was in the eighth grade and thought this was the coolest thing ever. In contrast, we had a 15+-year-old paintless Datsun with missing hubcaps.



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Taking A Vacation During A Pandemic: What It’s Like And Did It Feel Safe?

Published: 10/24/2020 by Financial Samurai 15 Comments

I’m pleased to say my family just took a vacation during a pandemic and survived. With two young children, it wasn’t exactly a relaxing vacation. It was more like a trip or a business writing retreat. Regardless of what you want to call our trip, I wanted to share some feedback.

When the lockdown began in March 2020, I made a promise that I would try and live our lives as normally as possible. I didn’t want to let a pandemic defeat us. So this philosophy included taking a safe family vacation.

After it was clear that San Francisco had flattened the curve, we decided to drive up to our place in Lake Tahoe and stay for a week in October. We figured the timing was good because more students were back in school and families had taken their summer vacations before Labor Day.



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Things I’ll Teach My Daughter: Pay No Attention To A Guy’s Fancy Car And More

Published: 09/22/2020 | Updated: 01/14/2021 by Financial Samurai 195 Comments

Father and daughter walking on the beach - Things I'll Teach My Daughter

Back in 2016, I wrote this post expecting I was going to have a daughter. Therefore, I started thinking about the various things I’d teach her growing up wrapped around personal finance.

I was nervous about how to be a first-time dad, especially to a daughter. I had one friend in her early-30s perpetually go in and out of terrible relationships. The last thing I wanted was for my future daughter to go through 15 years of breakups.

Instead of having a daughter, we had a son in 2017. Therefore, my thoughts were shelved until the end of 2019, when our daughter finally arrived. Hooray! Now that I am a father to a daughter, this post is even more important than ever. Perhaps you have a daughter as well.

I’d like to revisit this topic and offer additional points. But first, a story.



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Homeschooling And The Decision To Teach Our Own Children Or Not

Published: 09/13/2020 | Updated: 12/17/2020 by Financial Samurai 71 Comments

After months of sheltering-in-place, many parents are wondering whether it’s best to revert back to traditional schooling or continue homeschooling. We’ve been wondering the same thing. Homeschooling has really grown on us because we see the merits of more efficient and customized learning for our son.

Before we initially sent our son to preschool last year, we were torn. We couldn’t decide whether preschool was the best thing for our son or whether preschool was just an artificial construct created by society to enable parents to work more.

Given we both didn’t have day jobs, we felt a little bad sending our son to preschool. What if he came down with COVID-19 and gave it to his baby sister? We’d feel horrible.

We also wondered, if we sent him to preschool, what were we going to do all day after 2.5 years of spending every moment with him? Preschool felt like we were outsourcing our parental duties.



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