Below are the top financial products I use or have used to help me achieve financial freedom. Each product provides an actionable solution that is synergistic to the advice I provide in my articles.
There are literally thousands of products to choose from and I've passed on 99.9% of them. Let me help you cut through the clutter by highlighting only the top financial products after hundreds of hours of research.
I've met with with the senior management from most of these companies given I live in San Francisco and used to travel to conferences several times a year. I believe in looking into the whites of each CEO's eyes before making any recommendation.
With uncertain economic times, now is more important than ever to save money, reduce expenses, stay on top of your finances and invest wisely. The top financial products can help you build more wealth.
Welcome Video From Sam Dogen About The Top Financial Products
Top Financial Products For 2025
Let's take a look at the top financial products and investment opportunities to help you achieve financial independence sooner. Please note that all products are affiliate partners of Financial Samurai because I believe, use, or invest in their products.
Best New Personal Finance Book For 2025: Millionaire Milestones
After two years of writing and refining, I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming release of my new book, Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures—your ultimate guide to building more wealth than 90% of the population!
With over 30 years of experience working in finance, writing about finance, studying finance, and achieving millionaire status at age 28 in 2005, I’ve poured everything I know into this book. Millionaire Milestones is packed with practical, modern strategies to help you not only become a millionaire in your lifetime but also a multi-millionaire with the freedom to live life on your terms.
If you’re ready to take control of your financial future and unlock a life of wealth and purpose, this book is for you! Pre-order a copy on Amazon today.
Most Enticing Investment For 2025: Private Growth Companies
In 20 years, I don't want my kids asking me why I didn't work in or invest in AI. As a result, I'm building a $500,000 position in AI through various private funds.
The Fundrise venture capital product has roughly 75% of its portfolio in AI companies. In addition, it is an open-ended product available to everyone, with a minimum investment of only $10. The other venture capital funds I'm invested in are through relationships with a minimum investment amount of $200,000.
You can listen to my hour-long conversation about venture capital with Ben Miller, Founder of Fundrise, by clicking the player below. In 20 years I don't want my kids asking me why I didn't invest in or work in AI.
I've personally invested $160,000+ in Fundrise Venture so far to gain more exposure to private AI growth companies. I want to own top AI names like OpenAI, Databricks, Anthroic, and Anduril. With the strength in the public equities market (S&P 500) and the tremendous performance of ServiceTitan and other IPOs, I suspect the demand for private growth companies will continue.
Where I’m Dollar-Cost Averaging The Most In 2025
Fundrise, founded in 2012, is my favorite private real estate investing platform. Instead of concentrating your risk and money in one property, with Fundrise you invest smaller amounts of money (as little as $10) in a portfolio of properties with potentially higher returns across the entire country. The average historical range is around 8%, although investors made over 20% in 2021.
Real estate is tangible, less volatile, provides utility, and generates income. In an inflationary environment, real estate is my favorite asset class to own. Inflation whittles down the cost of a mortgage and boosts the value of the property.
After selling my rental house in San Francisco for 30X annual gross rent in 2017, I reinvested $500,000 of the $1,800,000 proceeds in real estate crowdfunding. It is great to earn income passively and consistently, no matter the economic environment.
Most of the investments went into properties in the heartland of America to earn 100% passive income. It makes sense to arbitrage the valuation and net rental yield differentials between expensive coastal city real estate and inexpensive heartland real estate. Thanks to the pandemic, the migration out of urban areas is real.
A Second Chance To Buy Commercial Real Estate At Depressed Prices
With the Fed finally cutting interest rates, mortgage rates should gradually decline, which should help reignite demand for real estate. After nearly three years of elevated rates keeping potential buyers on the sidelines and renting, there is a significant amount of pent-up demand waiting to enter the market.
Additionally, with Trump back as president, there’s likely to be more support for heartland and Sunbelt real estate markets, given these regions were pivotal in his return to office.
I anticipate real estate prices to improve in 2025, with some capital rotating out of stocks and into property. Notably, certain commercial real estate sectors have experienced price declines comparable to those seen during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. However, the economy and household balance sheets are much stronger today. It feels like a rare second chance to buy at depressed prices before the rebound takes hold.
I'm also carefully selecting individual commercial real estate deals through CrowdStreet. Some prime properties, managed by experienced sponsors, are now raising funds at more attractive valuations.
My Fundrise Investment
Below is my Fundrise dashboard where I have over $300,000 invested in Venture and Real Estate. At the end of the day, I invest in what I believe in. And I believe in the recovery of commercial real estate and the continued growth of private AI companies over the next decade.
My plan is to build the position up to $500,000 by dollar-cost averaging over the next three years. With only a $10 minimum, it's easy to do.
Best Life Insurance Marketplace 2025
Policygenius – In the past, you'd have to call a life insurance carrier one by one, fill out an application form, wait for a while, and not know whether the quote you received is any good or not. Policygenius lets you see multiple real quotes at once so you can make a more informed decision.
If there's one thing we've learned during the pandemic, it's that tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you have kids and/or debt, please get at least a term life insurance policy. Take care of your surviving loved ones.
During the pandemic, my wife was able to get double the amount of life insurance coverage for 30% less money using Policygenius. Then I was able to get a new 20-year, $750,000 affordable policy thanks to Policygenius. I'm thrilled because I have two young children and my 10-year term policy expired in January 2023.
In fact, being able to get affordable life insurance decreased my anxiety tremendously. I had made a mistake as a 35-year-old and only bought a 10-year term life insurance policy. When I tried to renew in 2021, my life insurance premium was 10X higher to $480/month! Policygenius helped me saved and feel secure about my family's future.
Here's my comprehensive Policygenius review. To be able to get free, real insurance rate quotes so you can easily compare is great. After you get your life insurance needs locked down, make sure you write your will, create a death file, and set up a revocable living trust.
Best Free Wealth Management Tool 2025
Empower – Empower has the best free wealth management tool for investors. You can x-ray your portfolio for excessive fees. Get a snapshot of your asset allocation by portfolio. And track your net worth and plan for your retirement.
Think about Empower as a sophisticated version of Mint or an interactive version of Excel. I spent two years consulting for them in their San Francisco and Redwood City offices.
When there is so much uncertainty in the world, you absolutely must stay on top of your finances. Understand where your risk exposure is. Stay on top of your cash flow. Empower's free tools will help you bring calm to the chaos.
I've used Empower's free tools since 2012 and have seen my net worth skyrocket since. The better you track your finances, the greater you will grow your net worth.
Here's my comprehensive Empower Personal Capital review.
“Empower Personal Wealth, LLC (“EPW”) compensates Kansei Incorporated for new leads. Kansei Incorporated is not an investment client of Empower Advisory Group, LLC.” The statement is provided to you by Financial Samurai (“Promoter”) who has entered into a written referral agreement with Empower Advisory Group, LLC (“EAG”). Click here to learn more.
Best Retirement Planning Tool For 2025
In 2024, I began researching a new retirement planning tool called ProjectionLab. Designed specifically for retirement planning, ProjectionLab offers a powerful suite of free and pro tools for modeling “what if” financial scenarios. Its visuals are among the best I've seen.
Given how much can and will happen in your financial life, creating various financial scenarios is crucial to help you stay prepared. Here are two posts where I used ProjectionLab to help: one showcasing how a family with a $500,000 household income course-corrected their overspending, and another demonstrating how a family can set their children up to become millionaires before leaving home.
Real Estate Investing For Accredited Investors 2025
For accredited investors who are able to invest $10,000 – $25,000 per deal, check out CrowdStreet. CrowdStreet has a direct-to-sponsor model where investors invest directly with the real estate sponsor, thereby improving efficiency and communication. Further, investors are not charged a fee to invest. Instead, the fee is borne by the sponsor.
I like CrowdStreet because their focus is on “18-hour cities.” 18-hour cities are also known as secondary markets that have lower valuations and higher cap rates. Due to strong demographic shifts, upside could be higher too.
There is a “fanning out” of the American population as remote workers look to save money. The global pandemic has helped accelerate this trend as many companies have permanently allowed their workers to work from home.
Explore CrowdStreet today. You can build your own select real estate fund with CrowdStreet. Make sure you thoroughly review the deals and sponsors. Occasionally, CrowdStreet will also have specialty funds to choose from.
Best Career And Severance Negotiation Book 2025
How To Engineer Your Layoff – I spent 10 years crafting and updating this 240+ page ebook that teaches employees how to negotiate a severance and be free. Not only can you receive a severance, you may also get healthcare benefits, keep all your deferred compensation based on the regular vesting schedule, and be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Having a nice financial runway to move on to the next career, start a company, retire early, take care of a family, or simply travel the world is priceless. I personally negotiated a severance that paid for five years of living expenses. This allowed me to travel the world and work on Financial Samurai without stress.
If you are going to quit anyway, you might as well try and negotiate a severance. You have no downside to fighting for your rights. The book is now in its 6th edition and fully revised with two new chapters. It has additional case studies, updated resources, and more.
You can buy my book directly here. Use “saveten” to save $10 at checkout.
Use The Top Financial Products To Improve Your Life
Ever since I started Financial Samurai, my motto has been, “achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later.” By using the top financial products today, you will drastically improve your chances of achieving financial freedom.
The top financial products should help you save more money and make more money. These top products should also give you more confidence in managing your finances. Once you are confident about your finances, you can focus more on what truly matters: your friends, your family, and your purpose.
If you would like to build more wealth, never miss a FS article, and stay on top of the most important financial events of the week, join the 65,000+ people and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter.
About the Author:
Sam worked in investment banking for 13 years at GS and CS. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from The College of William & Mary and got his MBA from UC Berkeley. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 after negotiating a severance worth over five years of living expenses.
Sam's passive investment income now produces roughly $300,000 a year to help both he and his wife remain stay at home parents. His main passive income focus is on real estate crowdfunding. It enables him take advantage of cheaper valuations and higher cap rates in the heartland. He spends time playing tennis and taking care of his family.
Financial Samurai started in 2009. It is one of the most trusted personal finance sites on the web with over one million pageviews a month. Financial Samurai likes to highlight the top financial products to help people achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later.
Full disclosure: All products are affiliate partners of Financial Samurai. With every sign up, Financial Samurai may be paid a referral fee. Everything you read on Financial Samurai is free. Sponsors and ads are what keep the lights on. Thanks for reading and don't forget to join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter here.