Financial Samurai

Slicing Through Money's Mysteries

Fundrise eREIT™ Review: Real Estate Investing For All Investors

Published: | Updated: by 69 Comments

After publishing my post, Focus On Trends: Why I’m Investing In The Heartland Of America, a couple readers pointed out that Fundrise, one of the leading real estate crowdfunding platforms, actually offers a Heartland eREIT.

Further, on February 13, 2019, Google announced they are investing $13 billion in heartland real estate to expand their offices and data centers. The trend to the heartland is real!

One of the unique things about all of Fundrise’s eREITs™ is that you don’t have to be an accredited investor ($200K+ income, $1M+ net worth excluding primary residence) to invest due to Regulation A+ of Title IV of the JOBS Act.

Regulation A+ is a type of offering which allows private companies to raise up to $50 Million from non-accredited investors. Think of Reg A+ like launching a mini-IPO, but with lower fees than the traditional IPO process.

Given I’m bullish on the heartland for the next 20 years, the Heartland eREIT™ sounded like a promising investment. 

I wanted to provide a review, even though the Heartland eREIT™ is no longer available, because the review will give an idea of the innovative thinking by Fundrise as we invest in the new 2020 decade.

Fundrise is all about creating different types of eREITs for investors to diversify with less volatility into real estate. Hence, the Heartland eREIT review is pertinent to all Fundrise eREITs.



Read More…

PolicyGenius Review: An Easy Way To Get Affordable Life Insurance

Published: | Updated: by 14 Comments

PolicyGenius is a leading online life insurance marketplace that helps you get the best term life policy that most appropriately suits your needs.

They have the technology and know how to help you sort through the dozens of different carriers and thousands of different policies so you don’t have to, for free. The alternative is to apply to each carrier one by one and waste a ton of time.

PolicyGenius focuses on term life insurance policies ranging from 5 years to 30 years and have coverage between $25,000 – $10,000,000. Additionally, they provide consumers with access to several other insurance types, including renters insurance, homeowner’s insurance, long-term disability and pet insurance.

They do all the legwork involved with making tough insurance decisions on behalf of their customers, and then help them with the application and purchasing process – explaining policies and the entire process in plain English so you know what you’re getting.

They were founded in 2014 by Francois de Lame and his partner Jennifer Fitzgerald, ex-Mckinsey Consulting professional who went to Harvard Business School.

I’ve met them both in person several times, and they are great. PolicyGenius is based in New York City and have raised over $225 million in funding from leading institutions such as AXA, MassMutual, TransAmerica Ventures, and KKR. Their latest round of funding was in January 2020, so they are very well capitalized and clearly doing well.



Read More…

FarmTogether Review: A New Investment Platform

Published: | Updated: by 26 Comments

Waianae Mountain Range
Waianae Mountain Range

My grandfather used to own a small, 8-acre fruit and plant farm on the western side of Oahu. It was a magical place nestled next to the majestic Waianae mountain range. The farm was part of his retirement income strategy as he rented out a portion of the land to his neighbors who grew green onions.

When I was going through my quarter-life crisis in 2001, I thought about quitting finance altogether and moving to my grandfather’s farm to help him maintain the crops. I longed for a simple life where I’d clear the brush and water the trees in the early morning, eat mangos and papayas for brunch, take a midday nap, box up the fruit to sell at the local grocery store, and then go surfing in the early evening before coming home.

Unfortunately, I never made the move. And as my grandfather grew older, the weeds started to overtake much of the plantation and we eventually sold the property. In retrospect, I wish I had at least taken a sabbatical to live on the farm and help out my grandfather.

Given my connection with farming, I was intrigued when Artem Milinchuk, founder of FarmTogether, asked if he could sponsor me to do some research about the benefits of farmland investing. Here’s a post about what I learned about the asset class.



Read More…

Fundrise eFunds: An Innovative Way To Invest In Your Future Home

Published: | Updated: by 27 Comments

Fundrise eFund Review: An Innovative Way To Invest In Your Future Home

If you want to invest in real estate, consider investing in Fundrise eFunds. Fundrise eFunds are private real estate funds that provide diversified exposure across America.

Washington D.C. based Fundrise is one of the most innovative real estate crowdfunding platforms today. They were the first to create the eREIT, a real estate fund that uses crowdfunding regulations to provide access for non-accredited investors to invest in private real estate across the country. 

Then they invented the “Internet Public Offering.” Fundise directly raised over $14.6 million from 2,300+ Fundrise customers in a matter of 27 hours. Finally, Fundrise has created Opportunity Zone funds to take advantage of tax laws.

When they contacted me to sponsor a post about their new Fundrise eFunds offering, I obliged. As a real estate enthusiast who loves to learn new things, the Fundrise eFunds look promising.



Read More…

The Best Type Of Credit Card To Own Is A Cash Back Credit Card

Published: | Updated: by 49 Comments

I only have two credit cards. A personal cash back rewards credit card and my Chase Ink Business Cash credit card. Any more cash back credit cards and my wallet starts getting too fat. When the wallet gets too fat, it’s hard to sit and type Financial Samurai articles. Then my world would start crumbling down.

There used to be a time when I was young, dumb, and broke. I’d buy a lot of things on a 0% introductory interest credit card. I’d then transfer the balance to a new 0% introductory interest credit card a month before the old card’s new usurious rate kicked in.

Getting an interest-free loan for a year felt great and I kept on doing the balance transfer routine until I started making money. Once I was no longer poor, I realized spending all this time opening up new credit cards, keeping track of expiration dates, and purchasing things to get points was a suboptimal use of my time. So I stopped around age 24.

Focus On The Best Credit Cards

Once I started traveling a lot for work, I also cancelled my travel rewards credit cards. Why bother when I was already traveling a fair amount to the coolest places in Asia paid for by my company. The AMEX points racked up into the hundreds of thousands, just waiting for me to buy something I didn’t really need from their selection of goods online.

To demonstrate how much I didn’t care about redeeming my reward points, I made a grave mistake by cancelling my corporate card before redeeming over 400,000 points when I negotiated my severance!

It was only after I had cut up my card and left the office for good did I realize my mistake. Thankfully, I called up AMEX to explain what I did and they let me redeem. I ended up getting a bunch of gas cards and some gifts for my in-laws.



Read More…

If The Economy Tanked, Would You Be Ready?

Published: | Updated: by 26 Comments

If The Economy Tanked, Would You Be Ready?

Right before the pandemic began in 2020, the question I posed for all of you was: If the economy tanked, would you be ready?

I asked this question before 2019 was an extraordinary year for returns. Something bad was bound to happen, and it did! Let’s do a post-mortem and review of this post, sponsored and written by Credible, one of the leading lending marketplaces today.

If The Economy Tanked, Will You Be OK?

The U.S. is in the midst of its longest economic expansion in history. 

But when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, that’s usually a sign that the economy is slowing down — or worse. After raising rates nine times from 2015-18, this year the Fed has reversed course, cutting the short-term federal funds rate three times.

Boom Bust Cycles

Another worrisome trend: New York Fed data shows the unemployment rate for recent college graduates (red line) has been inching upwards this year, suggesting employers are skittish about growth.

Unemployment rates for recent graduates, college graduates, and all workers

Booms and busts of the business cycle are pretty much accepted as a necessary tradeoff of our free-market, capitalist system — which has weathered seven recessions since the 1970s. At the very least, it is clear that growth is slowing in both developed markets and emerging markets around the world.

World Growth Index
Source: ValueWalk

Most Felt A Recession Was Coming

In a recent CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans said they think it’s likely we’re headed for a recession next year. Close to half of those who see storm clouds on the horizon are preparing for it by cutting back on household spending and paying down debt.

“This refreshing prudence on the part of the U.S. households is, of course, exactly opposite of what macroeconomists at the Fed — as well as incumbent politicians who view lower rates as enhancing their re-election prospects — want to happen,” says former FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair.  

Rate cuts are designed to encourage people to borrow and spend. But this time, Bair says, “it looks like American households have learned their lesson, even if Washington has not.”

The downturn has obviously arrived in 2020 thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. It unfortunately came sooner than most of us had all expected. As a result, this post is more important than ever.

It’s always a good idea to constantly be managing any outstanding debt you’re carrying, whether its credit card balances, student loans, or a mortgage.

Make sure:

  • You’re not paying a higher interest rate than you can qualify for
  • Most of your monthly payment is going toward paying down principal, rather than interest charges
  • You’re prioritizing your loans with the highest interest rates
  • You have a good cash balance equal to at least six months of living expenses

Let’s look at some techniques you can use to whip your credit card, student loan, and mortgage debt into shape and get better prepared for the next recession. If the economy tanks, you want to be prepared.



Read More…

LINK By Prudential: A New Way To Holistically Manage Your Finances

Published: by 9 Comments

FTC Disclosure: The following review is a paid sponsorship by Prudential. All opinions expressed are my own.

Over the past several years, I noticed Prudential make a push into retirement planning with its witty billboard ads. Here are some of the most memorable quotes.

“They say millennials are lazy. Retire early and prove them right.”

“Donate to a worthy cause. Your retirement.”

“Robots can’t take your job if you are retired.”

But it was unclear to me exactly how Prudential was going to help Americans with their retirement planning. I’ve always thought about Prudential Financial as mainly a life insurance company since its founding in 1875.

In reality, Prudential is a full-service financial firm that offers insurance, annuities, mutual funds, pension- and retirement-related investments, administration and asset management, securities brokerage services, and commercial and residential real estate transactions.

Then when my old colleague, Alison M., reached out to tell me she was now working at Prudential Financial and how it had created a new online digital wealth product to help guide people through their financial journey, I welcomed the opportunity to work with them.



Read More…