Dear Financial Samurai,
I’ve had exposure to Anthropic, OpenAI, and Databricks since late 2022/early 2023, but always as a passive limited partner in a venture fund. Somebody else picks, I meet the capital calls and wait.
Mezzi is different. It’s the first AI company I’ve invested in directly, and the first one where I was a daily user before I was an investor. Mezzi is an AI investment advisor I’ve been using for four months to track, optimize, and manage my public portfolios.
You may remember I went to the Startup Grind conference earlier this year and declared myself an AI maximalist, then went hunting at Y Combinator’s demo day. Turns out the answer came through my own network. I was introduced to Manish Jain, Mezzi’s founder, had lunch with him in San Francisco, tried the product, and realized it was exactly what I’d been looking for.
I think in two timelines, the present and the future, and Mezzi handles both and more. Instead of a static snapshot of my net worth, I can ask it questions and get answers back in real time. It sends alerts, x-rays my holdings for hidden stock exposure, and builds a plan for hitting a specific goal. If you have an inquisitive mind and want to run scenarios rather than stare at a pie chart, it’s fantastic.
The interactivity is what I’ve been needing.
A detailed review is coming in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, here’s How Mezzi Found over $300,000 in Hidden Stock Exposure in my portfolios and saved me $20,000. You probably have a lot of hidden stock exposure as well.
Sign up free and use code use code: FS30 to save 30% off an Advisory or Concierge membership.
Full disclosure: I’m an investor in Mezzi and an affiliate partner, so I benefit two ways if you sign up. I only invest in and partner with companies I use, trust, and believe will help this community. Try the free version first and decide for yourself. Above is a picture of Manish and me after he dropped me off after lunch.
Here’s my podcast interview with Manish on his origin story and how Mezzi helps retail investors manage their money.
That’s the kind of AI I want to fund. Tech that helps one person make a better decision about their own money.
Now here’s the kind that’s more worrying, and what it means for FIRE.
Money As The Biggest Motivator
I’ve long wondered how big a motivator money is in how we live our lives. I always figured top three. After last week, I think it might be number one.
A chorus of employees at Anthropic and OpenAI, the foundational AI labs, publicly stated they believe their technology could kill all of mankind. Not an infinitesimally small probability. A 10% or greater probability, in their own words.
So I got to thinking. Could I keep working at a company with a real chance of killing billions of people? My knee-jerk reaction was hell no. I couldn’t live in peace knowing my contributions harmed that many people, including children. There are plenty of other jobs to do.
But then I thought about it more and admitted we all sell our souls for money to some degree. Maybe you work in marketing at a tobacco company and your job is targeting cancer sticks to teens. If you don’t have enough money to walk away, you keep getting paid despite knowing exactly what your product does.
So despite all the hubbub about Anthropic’s tech potentially killing everyone, one person resigned. The other 3,499 employees read the news, digested it, and went to work the next morning.
That’s why money is the most powerful motivator on earth.
It’s also why, despite the AI labs ripping off my work and other authors’ work to train their models, I feel better knowing Financial Samurai will stay relevant. People will always need to figure out how much is enough.
Read: The Going Rate For Selling Your Soul In The Age Of AI
High Rates Could Squeeze Us
September is historically the worst month for equities, and this one is no different. The 10-year is pushing 5% again after August CPI came in at +3.4% year over year. 5% is the new recommended safe withdrawal rate by Bill Bengen, father of the 4% Rule.
So we’re back on greed and selling your soul. If you have enough invested to generate a risk-free 5% return that covers your expenses, and you still don’t leave the job you hate, what does that say about you?
The answer is complicated. Inertia is real, and so is the desire to build a bigger buffer past your freedom number. So we grind longer than we should.
It’s easy to understand why. With the 10-year near 5%, we could see a continued correction. So we save more, invest more, work longer. But risk and uncertainty never resolve. Plan forever for the unknown and you’ll never change your life.
See: Your Financial Independence Number Is Not Real If You Do Nothing To Change
Try Out Mezzi For Free
Here’s what struck me writing the soul post. Nobody stays in a job they’ve stopped believing in because they ran the numbers and concluded they need more. They stay because they never ran the numbers at all. They don’t know exactly how much is enough, and how different scenarios will affect their financial well-being.
That’s the part Mezzi actually solves. Not the courage to leave, but knowing whether you can.
I was at YC’s summer demo day on September 10 and I remain an AI maximalist across every layer. Garry Tan mentioned we’re going from bits to atoms, with three times as many YC companies building AI hardware instead of software.
Ashton Kutcher said something at his fireside chat that stuck with me: if you’re investing in venture today, assume AGI arrives before the fund’s life is over, then invest in the choke points. Change is coming faster than you think.
It’s strange it took me this long to invest directly in a company I actually use. Better late than never.
Use code FS30 to save 30% off an Advisory or Concierge membership on Mezzi. After you sign up, feel free to e-mail Manish at manish@mezzi.com and tell him I sent you. He will happily answer any questions you have a product and even give you a tutorial of its features.
To your financial freedom,
Sam
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