Since 2012, I’ve been arguing that freedom is priceless. After giving up a healthy income and my career for more freedom, how could it not be?

But maybe I’ve just been telling a lie to make myself feel better about not being richer! We lie to ourselves to help justify our decisions. Otherwise, we might feel like idiots for giving up so much.

In this article, I’d like to explore when freedom matters most. It seems all freedoms are not created equally and have different values at different ages. 

Jail Time For Money

For example, in a past newsletter I had erroneously calculated Elizabeth Holmes would only serve half her 11.25 years sentence with time off for good behavior. A part of me entertained whether I’d be willing to give up 5.625 years of my life for $4.5 billion if I could get away with what she did.

Hmmm. That’s

Are you confusing your good fortune due to your own skill rather than due to luck? I’m here to argue that above average wealth is mostly due to luck. Therefore, stop deluding yourself into thinking you’re so great!

As President Obama said in a July 13, 2012 campaign election speech, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.“

When I first heard Obama say this sentence, I was taken aback. From 2009-2012, I had been working on Financial Samurai for three years from about 5 am – 7 am and from 10 pm – 12 pm after working 12-hour days in finance.

If I wasn’t building Financial Samurai, who was?!

I had also recently left my finance job because I wanted to be free. All I really desired to do was write while traveling around the world, so that’s what I did.

Wisdom Grows With Age

As

There are very few occupations that provide the ideal combination of riches and status. Being a professor is one of them.

Tenured professors are able to make six-figure incomes. Getting a PhD or a post-doctorate is the pinnacle of academic achievement. Meanwhile, most people respect professors for their positive contributions to society.

After I retired from finance in 2012, I considered getting a PhD. Given I had enough passive income, I could afford to return to school for several years. With a PhD, I would then have the option of becoming a university professor.

Teaching is something I thoroughly enjoy doing, as hopefully evidenced by my writing on Financial Samurai. I’m always curious about new concepts and theories because the world is always changing.

My Quest To Become An Academic Professor

Stanford University had a Communications Department that offered a PhD program so I drove down to meet with some

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Despite the pandemic and a bear market making things difficult for so many, there is still so much to be thankful for.

We need to all be thankful for the luck we’ve had so far. Personally, I’m thankful for luck. The more we can recognize luck in our lives, the happier we will be.

I’ve been a super-optimist all my life and I plan to continue being one until the day I die…. a 100 years from now.

During this Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to re-share one extremely lucky event that occurred in my life. Without this lucky event, my life today would be totally different.

Thankful For Luck That Changed My Life

The year is 2001 and the Nasdaq, down 50%, just celebrated its one year anniversary of hitting its peak. I’m finishing up the second year of my analyst program at GS, paranoid that I

Life insurance is about making final provisions for your loved ones in the event of your death. But there’s more involved in those provisions than just life insurance. And that’s where Fabric by Gerber Life can help.

Not only does Fabric offer life insurance policies – and some of the largest available anywhere – but they also help you through the process of making your final arrangements, and they do it free of charge. That includes drawing up a will to name a beneficiary, appointing a guardian for your children, and spelling out your final arrangements.

In this Fabric by Gerber Life review, I’ll cover some recent changes to the company and let you know how it stacks up to the competition.

Announcement: Fabric is now Fabric by Gerber Life

On October 11, 2022, Fabric announced on its website that they are now Fabric by Gerber Life, owned by