Making a small fortune is really fun. You can do so more easily if you can correctly predict a trend. Not only will you earn a much higher return on your investment, you’ll also suffer less anxiety and grief.
In 1997, I studied abroad in China for six months and realized its economy was on the verge of explosive growth. So I minored in Mandarin and joined the Asian Equities department at a major investment bank to ride the opening up of the region. I was probably the dumbest donkey in the industry, but being Asian, knowing how to speak Mandarin, and having the good sense to hustle for 13 years was good enough for me to retire at the age of 34.
By 2001, after the dotcom bubble burst, it was clear the public’s love affair with the stock market was over. So I shifted the majority of my wealth from stocks to real estate and witnessed SF property prices soar while stocks languished for a decade. Of course, I screwed myself in 2007 by buying a vacation property in Lake Tahoe right before the housing collapse, but the exposure wasn’t large enough to cause me mortal damage.
During the financial crisis, I realized it was now or never to start a website to at least try and take advantage of web 2.0. I had no plan. All I knew was my happy days were numbered due to a structural decline in the banking industry. Increased regulation and narrowing spreads made work less fun. Eight years later, Financial Samurai is now an established brand in the personal finance space that’s generating a healthy income.
So what’s the next trend already? In my opinion, the next money making trend is investing in the heartland of America through real estate crowdfunding. To escape high prices in the coastal cities, people — often younger and with lower- or middle-class incomes — are looking toward the Inland Empire and nearby states for additional square footage and a lower mortgage payment. With technology enabling geo-arbitrage, the opportunity is ripe for investment!
As part of their 10 year anniversary, San Francisco-based 
After 10 years, my $60,000 investment in a private gin company finally paid dividends. Initially, given the company was sold for about $49M after expenses and I had invested in the company at a $10M post money valuation, I was thinking I had made a ~3X return ($180,000). Since over time shareholders get diluted with subsequent funding rounds, I thought that was a reasonable assumption.
A lot of you have expressed interest investing in real estate over the years as part of a diversified investment portfolio strategy. However, some of you don’t have the 20%-30% downpayment to get started in rental property investing. Therefore, I’d like to explore the real estate crowdsourcing industry with 
One of the best ways to eradicate financial distortion is by 