Recently, I shared a sample budget of a family of four earning $408,000 a year on Twitter, the amount third-party data deems necessary to feel comfortable in San Francisco. To be clear, this wasn’t my budget and it wasn’t a recommendation. It was an illustration of how fast a six-figure household income disappears once taxes, shelter,
Why Americans Are Richer, Happier, And Healthier Than You Think Read More »
Back in 2018, I wrote that households need to earn $300,000 a year to live a middle-class lifestyle in an expensive coastal city. The internet was not pleased. I was called out of touch, delusional, and a few other things I can’t print on a family finance blog. After having a second child in December 2019, I
How Much A Family Needs To Earn To Live Comfortably By City: SF #1! Read More »
FIRE is ultimately about being set for life. You build a portfolio big enough to cover your expenses, and then your one job is to not blow it up. But here’s the tension worth talking more about. The moment you give up your paycheck, you also give up your single biggest wealth-building engine: active income.
The Dumbbell FIRE Investing Method To Safely Build Max Wealth Read More »
In anticipation of investing in some YC Demo Day startups, I transferred $50,000 from my Fidelity brokerage account to my Citibank checking account. This was right after I’d already wired $56,100 to meet a capital call for a new traditional venture capital fund I committed to. In a previous post, I wrote about the difficulty of committing
Summer YOLO Fund: Permission To Spend More and Save Less Read More »
Life is hard if you want to outperform average. To reach a USTA 5.0 level in tennis takes an endless amount of practice. To get promoted to Managing Director in banking, you first have to survive a decade of 70+ hour weeks just for a shot. And if you want to be your own boss and build
The Incredible Satisfaction of Never Giving Up: A Lesson In Grit Read More »
After graduating from Berkeley’s MBA program in 2006, I wanted to start Financial Samurai. But even after taking entrepreneurship, marketing, and finance courses, everything I needed to launch a business, I didn’t. My excuse was that my firm, Credit Suisse, had paid for 80% of my MBA education, and I felt obligated to repay them
Stop Waiting For Permission To Build A Fortune Read More »
Dear Financial Samurai, Congratulations to the 4,000+ millionaires created by the SpaceX IPO. One longtime reader who worked there for over 10 years cashed out $3 million before the IPO and still has another $8 million or so left. It was a successful debut, closing up $25.95 to $160.95 from its $135 offering price. That
Newsletter for June 14, 2026: Riding Rocket Ships Read More »
Q3 2026 Update:Â I originally wrote the below review in late 2019 after a single morning tour, back when my wife and I were looking for a preschool for our son. A lot has changed at SLS since then, including new leadership, ongoing diversity efforts, and a renewed focus on making families from all backgrounds feel
St. Luke’s School (SLS) Review: A Traditional Preschool Evolving With The Times Read More »
I recently received a great comment on my post, Why All Rich People I Know Still Have Life Insurance. It was the last line that stood out. Here’s what Marc had to say. I had life insurance ($1M) through my employer back when I worked full time, but since I cut back to ~10 hours per
Retire Before Your Kids Leave Home, Not After Read More »
I vividly remember sophomore year of college. It was 10:30pm and I was leaving my girlfriend’s apartment by car. Instead of coming to a complete stop at the stop sign, I slowly rolled on through and took a right. There was nobody on the streets, so I took a chance. That chance cost me $60.
How To Overcome Financial Despair For Good Read More »
