When I bought my previous home 10 years ago my 68 year old neighbor stopped by to say “hello.” He was the godfather of the block, having bought his building back in the early 70s. He gave me the inside scoop on all the neighbors, and one neighbor stood out in particular.

He said the house across the street was purchased a year before mine by a family who wanted some place for their son to live as he attended UC Hastings School Of Law. The purchase price? $1.45 million for a 2,100 square foot three bedroom, three bathroom house. The son would host at least one fraternity-like party every year, but other than that, the house was pretty tame. The son continued to live in the house after law school and now it looks like they might sell.

For 10 years, the son not only lived for free, but he probably made rental income as well thanks to his two roommates. His $120,000+ law school tuition was also probably full paid for by Bank of Mom and Dad and I’m not sure how he paid for his $60,000 Audi S4 unless you make a lot of money as a law student? If the house ever sells, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets to keep the $1 million+ in profits.

It’s clear to me that my neighbor is going to be quite alright, even if he doesn’t work for the rest of his life. If you’re willing to accept so much assistance that’s beyond what you can afford, then why bother working at all? Just mooch off your parents forever!

My Other Neighbor

About two years ago my 32 year old next door neighbor came home in a brand new, $48,000 Toyota 4Runner Limited. I thought it was a quizzical purchase because the car couldn’t easily fit in his garage. I saw him struggle for five minutes just to get the beast in.

Even so, I was intrigued and wrote a post about it called, “Dealing With Money Envy” because I was jealous. He’s lived in his parent’s flat for the past 11 years since college while his parents lived in their other home in the South Bay. With the average SF rent for a two bedroom at $3,800 a month, of course he could afford a new 4Runner. He’s saved $400,000 in after-tax money by not paying rent for 11 years.

My neighbor is a nice fella who now works in real estate with his father. For 2.5 years he got to travel around the world in his 20s without holding down a job because he could. His mother would stop by and share with me how his son was having so much fun. Meanwhile, I worked my ass off all throughout my 20s just so I could be able to afford the house at age 27. His carefree lifestyle is what made me the most envious. The car was just an extra kick in the nuts.

When I was moving out he asked whether I’d like to sell my house to him (to the family really). If he could really afford my house at $1.7M, then his finances must be in great shape because valuations have gone a little nuts as you can see in this chart. Then in mid-2017, when I texted him to know I was considering selling my house to simplify life, he gave out an offer of $2.1M. It was a low ball offer because I believed the market value was at least $2.4M – $2.5M, but it just goes to show how much money his parents have to help him buy!

Flying Over San Francisco For Fun

The following is a guest post from long-time reader, Samurai Marco.

When Sam first mentioned that he was accepting guest posts from his readers, it made me wonder what, from my financial journey, I could share. After all, you’re already all a bunch of financial samurai’s yourselves, right? Is my journey interesting enough? At 43 years old, have I made enough mistakes?

I grew up a spoiled rich kid in Cupertino, California, about an hour south of San Francisco. My father was a one of those, and I hate to use this term, “Serial entrepreneurs.” He started a lot of technology companies, a couple went public, some were acquired and, of course, a few failed. I remember my Dad, back in the early 80’s, bringing home the first prototypes of the Macintosh and Compaq computers and even the first cell phones.

His summer parties were filled with the “who’s who” of Silicon Valley. I remember, in particular, one Christmas party in 1997, Gil Amelio and Steve Jobs made the deal for Apple to buy NEXT that night at my Dad’s house. The Forbes reporter, who was there, leaked it the next day I’ve gone flying with my Dad and Larry Ellison. I’ve talked stocks in the swimming pool with Eric Schmidt. So yes, I was surrounded by a lot of money and power and got a lot of attention for being my father’s child.

To say I grew up spoiled really is an understatement It’s taken me a long time to realize how “out of touch” my reality was back then. We flew first class to Italy every summer, sometimes twice a year, to visit family. We lived in a big house with a swimming pool in a “safe” neighborhood. My parents bought us whatever we wanted.

I’m always curious to figure out which are the most read and most commented on articles of the year. The determinants are based on search engines, social media, and what you the community decides to share. With over three million page views for the year, the results are a partial reflection of society.

One of my biggest goals as a writer is to entertain and educate at the same time – no easy task when it comes to a subject as dry as personal finance! Each article takes anywhere from one hour to 10 hours to create. So if you like an article please help share them over social media or e-mail them to your friends.

I’ve gone a little overboard with the number of articles highlighted because each one is like my baby. There are a lot of subtleties scattered throughout my articles that are easy to miss. They are like out of place stones in a garden acting as markers for remembrance when I’m old.

Out of the roughly 180 articles published in 2013, I’ve curated 35 of the most viewed and discussed. Please enjoy!

TOP VIEWED ARTICLES WRITTEN IN 2013

1) Explaining Why The Median 401(k) Balance Is So Low – People really want to figure out what’s wrong with America’s favorite retirement savings plan. It would make sense if you don’t want to work forever you should be saving a ton more money, but that’s not happening. The article shares case studies from various economic groups on what derails people off of my recommended 401(k) amount by age chart.

2) How Much Should My Net Worth Or Savings Be By Income –  There’s a handy dandy chart based on an income multiplier to determine your net worth or savings. The chart should serve as a good guide no matter how much you make, what your work experience, or your age.

3) The Average Net Worth For The Above Average Married Couple – The article provides three main guidelines to determine the average net worth for financially conscious married couples. There’s an interesting discussing on spousal relationships for each of the three scenarios that got readers going. Everybody thinks they’re above average, but we know that’s statistically impossible.

4) Recommended Net Worth Allocation By Age Or Work Experience – It’s not enough to just save money. You’ve got to also invest your money to hopefully provide a positive real return. This article breaks down my thoughts on stocks, bonds, real estate, risk free assets, and your X Factor. See also: The Proper Asset Allocation Of Stocks And Bonds By Age.

5) The First Million Might Be The Easiest: How To Be A Millionaire By Age 30 – This article talks about champagne dreams and caviar wishes for those who want to strike it big in their 20s. I make an argument that it might be easier to get rich when you’re younger because you have more energy, more enthusiasm, less cynicism and are less scared of taking risks.

6) Which Is A Better Investment: Real Estate Or Stocks? – A candid comparison between the two most commonly invested asset classes. My personal preference is for real estate because it’s less emotional. I like the tangibility of real estate, the tax benefits, and the ability to make improvements.

7) How To Better Management Your 401(k) For Retirement Success – Despite the 401(k) being a woefully light retirement instrument, it’s still one of the largest retirement assets for the middle class. I show readers how to create different retirement scenarios in order to plan better.

8) How To Pay Little Or No Taxes For The Rest Of Your Life – After paying six figures in taxes every year for a decade, I decided to go John Galt and protest government waste. If you’re sick of paying taxes and getting very little in return, then this should be one of your favorite articles.

9) Benefits Of Converting A 401(k) Into A Rollover IRA – After leaving my job in 2012, I converted my 401(k) into an IRA. It was one of the best moves because a rollover IRA provides more flexibility and tons more investing choices. The risk is that you become hooked on trading.

10) What Does Early Retirement Feel Like? The Positives And Negatives – Here’s a candid assessment of early retirement life the first year in. Not everything is great. I may do a follow up article every year or two to see if my feelings change over time.

11) How To Build Passive Income For Financial Independence – An update 1.5 years after writing, Achieving Financial Independence One Income Slice At A Time. The new article starts to incorporate the X Factor into the passive income equation. I really try to get into the nitty gritty of passive income with a discussion on mindset, action items, and charts. The next update will probably be in a year and show how I’ve reallocated my CD assets.

12) How Do People Live On Less Than Six Figures In Expensive Cities Like NYC? – To live comfortably (not luxuriously) in places like Manhattan, San Francisco, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Tokyo, you’ve got to make at least $100,000 a year. I spent a week with my buddy who makes a little over $100,000, and after maxing out his 401(k) which equals ~17% of his salary, he’s left with little to no disposable income every month. I’m still waiting for people who live on less to highlight their budget in a guest post if anybody is interested.

13) CD Investment Alternatives: Why I No Longer Invest In CDs – My 10+ year run in methodically allocating ~30% of my savings into long term CDs is coming to an end because rates are pathetically low. The 10-year bond yield is at roughly 3% while a 10-year CD is only at around 2.5%. This makes absolutely no sense, and I don’t recommend CDs anymore. I’d much rather keep my money in a 1% online money market account that is fully liquid and invest in a muni fund or P2P.

14) Horrible Jobs That Can Eventually Make You Rich – Bad jobs builds character. The worse the jobs, the more you’ll appreciate your future work. The more you appreciate your work, the better you’ll do, the happier you’ll be, and the more money you’ll make until you eventually burn out and contemplate the meaning of life.

15) Subsidy Amounts By Income Limits For The Affordable Care Act – There are four charts to highlight subsidy amounts for Obamacare for singles, couples, a family of three, and a family of four. The charts clearly show how much the government will help you out on a sample Silver Plan. Obamacare is still going through massive growing pains, but it’s a gift for entrepreneurs, people who work at jobs they hate just for their health care, and early retirees.

** The most viewed articles of the year tend to be the ones that get published earliest in the year because they have more time to be viewed.

New York would be the greatest city in North America if it weren’t for three things: 1) Tough weather for half the year, 2) Never ending crowds, and 3) outrageous prices! I’m currently spending the first week of my four week vacation/blogging research tour in Manhattan and I’m blown away by how much more expensive Manhattan is than San Francisco.

I used to live downtown when I worked in finance from 1999-2001 as a fresh college grad. My base salary for the first half of the year (started in July) was $40,000. Even then I thought $40,000 was pretty low as I could only afford to share a $1,800/month studio with a buddy of mine from high school after contributing to my 401(k). Thankfully our salaries were raised in the second year to $65,000 after Wall St. decided to pay new first year analysts $55,000 instead of $40,000. Still, a base salary of $65,000 wasn’t much to write home about when one bedroom condos were selling for 5X.

Fast forward 14 years later and the 600 square foot one bedroom condos in decent areas of Manhattan are now trading for $750,000+! I’m pretty familiar with these prices because my studio roommate actually bought a $325,000 one bedroom condo near the United Nations in 2000. He’s been looking to upgrade to a two bedroom condo with his future wife, but he’s taken aback by the ~$1.5 million price tag. They just might move out of the city instead. If a condo owner who saw his property’s value grow by 130% can’t even afford to comfortably upgrade to a two bedroom, can you imagine what a renter during this same time period is thinking?

LET’S BREAK DOWN A $100,000 TO SEE HOW LITTLE IT GOES

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It’s reflection time here at Financial Samurai. I’d like to go over some of the most visited posts by search, the most commented posts, as well as other posts I think are worth highlighting. I wrote over 200 articles in 2012, so there’s a lot to sort through!

I’ve done my best to be as helpful as possible on important subject matters such as investing, retirement savings, and career moves. We’ve got one life to live, so we might as well get our finances in order to live it to the fullest!

The theme of this site is to slice through money’s mysteries to achieve financial independence. I’m not one to shy away from providing my own opinions when I feel strongly about a subject. If I think you are wrong, I will tell you so and provide reasons why. I hope you do the same because that’s the best way we can learn.

It’s important that Financial Samurai never turns into a factory site with neutered content. I started Financial Samurai in 2009 as an outlet for my frustrations about the financial crisis. I hope none of us ever revisit such times, although our government is doing their best to bring us there with the budget debacle! If I ever hire staff writers, I will make sure they come with their own thoughts and not be afraid to challenge conventional wisdom and defend their positions.

Without further ado, let’s recap the year 2012!

Top Five Most Read Posts Written In 2012 On Financial Samurai

1) How Much Should People Have Saved In Their 401Ks At Different Ages? (168,422 views, 431 comments) – A positive sign visitors are taking the initiative to understand whether they are on track for retirement. Although I do not think the 401K is enough for most people to live off in retirement, it’s a big portion of the retirement puzzle. I get the sense that despite the growth of our government, more people are coming to realize they should only depend on themselves.

2) What Income Level Is Considered Rich? (108,232 views, 147 comments) – The term, “class warfare” was bantered around a lot during the Presidential campaign, pitting the wealthy against the not-so-wealthy. People wanted to find out what income level started to make people “evil.” There’s so much hatred towards people who have more. Hopefully this post helps provide some perspective that cost of living is very different across the country.

3) The Average Net Worth For The Above Average Person (81,800 views, 233 comments) – Taking things one step beyond income to find out what above average people have in terms of net worth. Everybody believes they are above average, but that’s mathematically impossible.

4) Definitions Of A Middle Class Income: Do You Consider Yourself Middle Class? (76,300 views, 106 comments) – With so much talk from Obama and Mitt about how they plan to take care of the Middle Class, everybody is wondering whether the candidates are talking about us!

5) Don’t Get Fired Or Quit, Get Laid Off Instead (42,283 views, 143 comments) – There’s tremendous dissatisfaction in the workplace. Studies show that less than 50% of workers are happy at their jobs and a full 25% hate their jobs. The economic downturn of 2009-2010 created pent up demand for those who want to move, but couldn’t. As the economy continues to get better, I forecast a surge of people looking to find more meaning in their lives by taking the leap of faith and doing something they truly want to do.

* For reference, the most read post was written two years ago and received over 450,000 views in 2012.

Top Five Most Commented Posts Of 2012 (Outside The Top Five Most Read)

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