To_New_Beginnings_On_Financial_Samurai
00:00:00.000 | Hello everybody, it's Sam from Financial Samurai and this is a special episode because I just want to thank everyone all
00:00:05.320 | 200 plus of you for coming out and encouraging me to continue Financial Samurai on the post up next for Financial Samurai less
00:00:13.360 | retirement more
00:00:15.440 | Entrepreneurship, it's been a really really interesting summer because I've been gearing up for figuring out what to do on Financial Samurai
00:00:23.120 | After hitting the 10-year anniversary mark on July
00:00:26.460 | 2019
00:00:29.000 | Basically, the decision was to keep on going or sell over the years
00:00:33.080 | I've had many many offers to buy Financial Samurai and I've
00:00:37.360 | Said no because I wanted to hit that 10-year mark because that was my promise and I don't break my promises
00:00:43.320 | And so now after the 10-year mark, I was thinking well now that I'm a dad
00:00:47.880 | I'm in a different stage in my life in my finances. Maybe I can let my baby go
00:00:53.400 | But I always feel bad. I always feel guilty about
00:00:57.520 | Selling your baby because who does that who sells their own children?
00:01:00.780 | Not me. I don't plan to do that. But I think there's always a price for everything
00:01:06.960 | No matter how much you think you want to hold on
00:01:10.760 | So it's been tough for me
00:01:12.960 | and
00:01:13.580 | one of the things I want to do is help other people get to that 10-year mark because I truly believe if you can get
00:01:18.860 | To that 10-year mark no matter what you're doing. You're gonna be successful
00:01:22.400 | You're gonna surprise yourself on the upside too many of us quit way before that mark way before our efforts
00:01:29.000 | give us some feedback and give us some results and I think that's a really darn shame and
00:01:34.720 | so when I spent about triple triple the amount of time trying to put together that post on achieving a
00:01:41.120 | 10-year goal. I was surprised to be frank
00:01:45.120 | I was really surprised how there were only about 15 comments in over the first 24 hours
00:01:50.300 | Versus 30 comments on average and I started to think to myself
00:01:53.680 | And what's the point? What's the point of trying so hard when nobody really cares?
00:01:59.660 | And I think this is the reason why a lot of people don't try their best because they're afraid of rejection
00:02:05.380 | They're afraid that just people don't give a damn. Everybody's so busy with their lives. I understand it
00:02:10.600 | You know as a dad, I feel I'm suffocating for time and energy, which is why I wish I had my son
00:02:16.700 | Seven eight years earlier when I was in my early 30s. We're all trying to climb up the corporate ladder or
00:02:23.020 | Stop neglecting our spouses or thinking about ways to keep in touch with our parents more because life always gets in the way
00:02:31.340 | So what are you gonna do?
00:02:32.480 | You can spend time commenting on financial samurai instead of doing all those other important things
00:02:36.720 | Of course not and I understand it
00:02:38.720 | But still I cannot defy the way I felt and I know I'm being a little bit melodramatic
00:02:44.680 | Wondering is there anybody out there?
00:02:46.680 | But that's how I felt and you can't deny how people feel and this is why I encourage all of you guys to give more
00:02:53.220 | Love more encouragement to your friends and the people you really care about
00:02:57.480 | I remember when I was in my 20s trying to survive the banking world in New York City
00:03:02.000 | I'd get in at 5 30 a.m. I leave at 8 30 p.m. Gain a lot of weight got plantar fasciitis
00:03:07.800 | I got tremendous amount of allergies my
00:03:09.960 | Heart my body was just breaking down
00:03:13.680 | But whenever I got that email that one sentence email of encouragement from just a colleague or some boss
00:03:21.320 | In a different department just thanking me for something something small
00:03:25.240 | It just gave me tremendous amount of motivation and I think it'll give all of us tremendous amount of motivation if we just recognize effort
00:03:33.020 | But regardless of what happened
00:03:35.760 | I always try to see the positives of every bad situation or every less than ideal situation
00:03:41.880 | I'm a super optimist and I hope you guys look at things in an optimistic light as well
00:03:46.940 | and so the upside for not caring or not having that much feedback is that
00:03:52.240 | Simply I can start focusing on monetizing financial samurai guilt-free and with joy
00:03:58.600 | So for 10 years, I've been operating financial samurai under the formula of 90% fun
00:04:05.640 | 10% business I started the site right in 2009 when I still had a job
00:04:10.520 | So I didn't really need any money
00:04:12.200 | And I just wanted to find a cathartic way to get over the financial crisis because I was losing so much money
00:04:18.280 | I didn't really think about monetizing financial samurai because I just wanted to write right from the heart write stories
00:04:25.400 | Connect with other people who might be going through the same thing
00:04:29.000 | I was going through and it felt so good to build this little community
00:04:33.280 | And so over the years I kept to that formula and I think that's the formula that has worked to get me here
00:04:39.720 | But it probably won't work to get me where I want to go and over the 10 years
00:04:44.880 | It's been awesome hearing from many of you
00:04:47.360 | from those of you who started reading when you were in college to now being in your early 30s with a family with a home and
00:04:54.480 | Getting your finances, right?
00:04:55.880 | and to those of you who are in your 70s who've been reading since your 60s and how
00:05:01.560 | You know your children have grown up to become independent adults and have their own children
00:05:07.080 | It's been wonderful wonderful to read all your feedback and all your encouragement and it's what keeps me going
00:05:13.640 | but something changed in 2017 it was the birth of my son and
00:05:18.840 | that formula of 90% fun and
00:05:22.680 | 10% business
00:05:25.120 | Started to change a little bit. Why because I really believe that no matter how much money you have
00:05:31.800 | As soon as you see your son or your daughter and you hold him or her in your hands
00:05:37.400 | Things will change. I think every new parent feels a visceral need to make more money to provide for their family
00:05:44.720 | It's just part of our DNA to ensure the survival of our species
00:05:48.520 | and there's a great great quote called have children and the money will come and
00:05:53.640 | The reason is is because you just get motivated to be provider unless you're some
00:06:00.280 | Abnormal person who doesn't care about your offspring. You're probably gonna work harder
00:06:05.600 | You're probably gonna eat better and you're probably gonna be a little bit more attentive and caring because you need to make it work
00:06:11.640 | So for 10 years, I've been feeling a little bit guilty trying to monetize financial samurai. I don't want to read boring stuff
00:06:19.320 | I don't want to listen to boring stuff
00:06:20.760 | I just want to write and speak about things that I'd be interested in and that I think you guys would be interested in
00:06:27.480 | But what I realized after the lack of feedback from the 10-year anniversary post is that I shouldn't really think
00:06:35.040 | so
00:06:37.280 | deeply about what you guys all think of me and
00:06:40.480 | This is the problem that I think we all face. We worry about what other people will think about us and what we do
00:06:48.240 | Instead we need to understand what our own principles are what our own goals are
00:06:54.400 | be aware of the feedback of others, but then follow our path because we are all individuals and
00:07:01.240 | My number one goal now is to provide for my family
00:07:05.280 | So that at least my son can grow up to be a happy independent adult again
00:07:10.600 | My wife doesn't work
00:07:11.440 | So I have all the pressure to manage our finances and manage any type of passive or active income
00:07:17.720 | We generate so we can live the life that we want and this is one of the main
00:07:22.080 | Problems of living in one of the most expensive cities in the country if not
00:07:26.320 | The most expensive city in the country San Francisco is that it just takes so much to get ahead
00:07:32.980 | There's a latest economic report from one of the big brokerage houses that you need
00:07:39.160 | $343,000 and change as a
00:07:43.280 | Minimum household income to afford the median priced home in San Francisco about 1.6 to 1.7 million
00:07:50.440 | Think about it. You need a minimum of three hundred forty three thousand. That's nuts
00:07:55.320 | I thought that okay with a family of three, maybe 250 would be enough
00:07:59.840 | But I'm clearly very very short and I like challenges. I like goals, but I thought that was kind of nuts
00:08:06.720 | But you know what instead of hating on the data and saying that's crazy. That's ridiculous and object
00:08:12.520 | You know objecting to the data. I'm just gonna embrace it and I'm gonna say you know what I
00:08:17.320 | Need to make more to provide for my family because that's what the data says
00:08:21.200 | Regardless of our lifestyle regardless of our budget. Let's give it a go. So in order for us to close that
00:08:28.080 | $100,000 retirement income gap
00:08:31.440 | We need to generate an additional two and a half million in after-tax capital up to
00:08:38.000 | 6.7 million in after-tax capital based on a withdrawal rate or return rate of
00:08:45.360 | 1.5% to 4% so the decline in the 10-year bond yield which is the risk-free rate down to 1.5% is really a bummer for
00:08:52.880 | retirees or those who want to retire and
00:08:55.920 | Just thinking about trying to accumulate an extra 6.7 million in capital sounds nuts. That's crazy
00:09:03.200 | So at this pace, we're never gonna be able to be comfortable retiree, right if we think about needing
00:09:09.200 | $350,000 of investment income, but hey
00:09:13.780 | Why not dream big because it takes the same effort to dream big as it does to dream small and if the bigger you dream
00:09:20.200 | The more you'll try to figure out ways to get there. You might not get there. You might not get there ever
00:09:25.140 | But you'll probably get farther than the person who doesn't dream big and that was one of my main takeaways from my 10-year
00:09:32.760 | To success post so I thought about it in the hot tub and I was thinking how am I gonna get to that number?
00:09:38.860 | how am I gonna make up for this huge gap that these economists and real estate folks are now telling me and
00:09:45.480 | That is to simply try to monetize financial samurai more
00:09:48.880 | So instead of going the 90/10 split of fun and business, I'm gonna try to do the 70/30 split
00:09:56.980 | Maybe 60/40, but I'm gonna start 70/30 for the first year and see how it goes after one year
00:10:02.440 | I'm not gonna make a 10-year operating goal anymore because that is just too much at my stage in my life with what I've got
00:10:10.300 | Going on, but I think 70/30 is a great balance because something else there's something else that I realized that I wanted to share with
00:10:16.360 | You guys all the largest sites in the world or at least in America the personal finance sites
00:10:23.380 | Have a formula of more like 10% fun and 90% business
00:10:29.960 | I'm talking about the most boring stuff you could ever read
00:10:33.640 | But the reality is that the most boring stuff you could ever read is the stuff that does the best
00:10:40.360 | It's quite a conundrum
00:10:42.820 | But you know, that's not entirely true after I talked to several other folks in in the industry
00:10:48.120 | There's a little bit of an optical illusion going on
00:10:51.320 | So I'm comparing apples to oranges. So financial samurai is an organically driven
00:10:57.360 | Website so all the traffic is not paid. It's organically driven through search or word-of-mouth or
00:11:02.880 | Just me doing a guest post on a larger site and that's how I gain traffic and that's pretty cool
00:11:08.800 | I don't have to spend tons and tons of money what someone told me and it's quite a light bulb moment
00:11:14.280 | Is that look the most boring?
00:11:16.880 | article you read might be very popular, but it has a lot a lot of
00:11:23.080 | Marketing dollars behind it to make it popular and that's what I was thinking. Oh, yeah, that's right. I did some consulting at some
00:11:29.920 | FinTech startups in their marketing department. They spent like fifty thousand hundred thousand five hundred thousand dollars to boost their
00:11:36.240 | Their articles and their products. So why am I trying to compete with them?
00:11:41.700 | But the thing is, you know what they're they're successful and if I want to grow I need to take some of that success and
00:11:49.720 | Formulate it into my own
00:11:51.080 | So I think 70/30 is a good start and that means a little bit more sponsored posts a little bit more guest posts a little bit
00:11:58.720 | More review posts on products that I think will help the listeners in the community in essence
00:12:04.260 | I want to try to create a financial supermarket where I highlight things that could be useful
00:12:10.240 | to different folks and different stages of their financial journey instead of just me as a father of one maybe to
00:12:17.840 | Try to live an expensive lifestyle in expensive, San Francisco
00:12:21.560 | So boom, there it is
00:12:24.080 | This was the awesome takeaway from the silence of that post
00:12:29.200 | To be able to shift shift gears change the formula do something that I've been guilty about trying to do for so long
00:12:37.600 | But now that I need to do because I'm a father so you see there's always a positive
00:12:42.800 | There's always a positive to something you think is negative, but really there's some great things that could happen
00:12:48.880 | And I think with this new formula
00:12:50.560 | It's gonna be synergistic because it's not like the two thousand plus articles that I've written over the past ten years goes away
00:12:56.560 | This new type of content with new writers and new perspectives is going to provide
00:13:01.960 | Synergistic benefits for all readers. So I hope you welcome me on this journey and encourage me and let me know
00:13:10.560 | Are there any products out there you want me to talk about are there any?
00:13:13.840 | Industries or things that maybe I just haven't focused on that
00:13:18.880 | I should address because I'm always interested in learning because learning is something that just is just part of me and that's something that I
00:13:25.760 | Want to do and help other people learn because the more we know I think the more we can make
00:13:29.400 | Educated decisions on our financial journey. The reality is I'm gonna still write and share with you guys what I think
00:13:37.920 | No holds barred. Okay, I'm gonna try to be a little bit more PC and less offensive
00:13:42.380 | I do realize that sometimes I can be a little bit too opinionated
00:13:45.820 | But I'm gonna have my voice and I'm gonna have different types of voices and styles as well
00:13:51.340 | I think it's gonna be fun
00:13:52.240 | So hopefully you guys can come along on the journey and help make it happen for all of us. Thanks so much