Dear Financial Samurais,
There are two milestones I’d like to celebrate in this newsletter.
First, the S&P 500 recently hit a new all-time high of 6,124, if only for a day. The market has once again rebounded from fears of persistent inflation and higher interest rates, shifting to a more optimistic view that a strong economy supports corporate earnings growth.
On the geopolitical front, President Trump has so far taken a measured approach toward tariffs on China, Canada, and other countries. Meanwhile, a landmark $100 billion (maybe up to $500 billion) AI infrastructure joint venture was unveiled by SoftBank Group, OpenAI, and Oracle Corp in collaboration with President Trump. If the government and large corporations are investing in AI, it's probably a good idea to have some exposure.
Oil prices saw their first weekly decline of the year, as the President's calls for lower prices eased inflation concerns slightly. In a surprising move, Russian President Putin expressed readiness to discuss energy issues with the U.S. president.
As for monetary policy, the market anticipates the Fed will pause its rate cuts in the upcoming meeting, with a 50% chance of another cut by May. By then, we’ll have more inflation data to guide us toward stronger conclusions.

How Lucky Are We?
Reflecting on these developments, one thought keeps coming back to me: how fortunate we are to have made substantial stock gains in 2023 and 2024, and still have the opportunity to lock in risk-free returns of 4.62% on the 10-year Treasury bond yield.
It feels almost surreal. Like winning the Super Bowl with your third-string quarterback after back-to-back championships with your starter. Or walking into a casino, prepared to risk $100, and walking out with a $2,000 windfall—plus a free prime rib and lobster buffet for the next 10 years.
Whatever that feeling is, let’s take a moment to appreciate it. Success like this deserves to be celebrated. And with that, let me introduce my second reason for celebration…
New Book Announcement!
I’m thrilled to announce my new book, Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps to Seven Figures! After two years of tireless effort, my wife and I are proud to share that we’ve submitted the final edits to Portfolio Penguin. The book is set to publish on May 6, 2025.
My #1 goal with this book is to help you achieve financial freedom so you can live life on your terms. My #2 goal is to help your children or loved ones build wealth, giving you peace of mind about their financial futures.
With over 30 years of experience working in finance, writing about finance, and studying what it takes to succeed, I’ve distilled everything I’ve learned—including my journey to becoming a millionaire at age 28 in 2005—into this book. Millionaire Milestones is packed with actionable, modern strategies designed to help you amass more wealth than 90% of the population and gain the freedom to do what matters most.

If you’ve found value in this free newsletter over the years, I’d greatly appreciate you pre-ordering a copy on Amazon or wherever you buy books. And if you’ve been a loyal subscriber for years, pre-ordering multiple copies to gift to the people you care about would mean the world to me. There’s no better gift than the gift of financial freedom.
As a bonus, I’m creating an exclusive offer just for newsletter subscribers who pre-order Millionaire Milestones and help spread the word. Stay tuned for more details!
Thank you so much for your support. With this book, my goal is for all of us to keep getting luckier with our money and our lives in the years to come!
Other articles published this week:
Bought Stock on Margin at a 12.575% Rate and Lived to Tell the Tale – I don’t recommend buying stocks on margin given high rates and market volatility. However, here’s why I took the risk and what I learned from the experience.
Why Residential Commercial Real Estate Looks Attractive in 2025 – We’re seeing a rare second-chance opportunity to buy at 2008 global financial crisis lows, but this time with a far stronger economy and healthier household balance sheets.
To Your Financial Freedom,
Sam
If you’re new here, join over 60,000 subscribers and sign up for free. I started Financial Samurai in July 2009 to help navigate the financial chaos of the time. Since then, the site has been read by over 100 million people. My mission is to provide valuable financial education to anyone eager to learn. And as long as I’m writing, Financial Samurai and this newsletter will remain free. Fight on and never surrender!