FAANG FIRE: One Year After Leaving Facebook To Live A Semi-Retired Life

After four years, the Federal Reserve has finally cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points, bringing the target range to 4.75% - 5%. Expectations point to another 50 basis points in cuts for 2024 and a total of 100 basis points by 2025. Fed Chair Powell remains optimistic, stating the economy is 'very solid' and sees no elevated risk of a downturn. In this episode, I'll break down what this rate cut means for real estate, stocks, and—most importantly—your retirement, focusing on the impact to your safe withdrawal rate. Get A Free Financial Checkup Of Your Investment Portfolio If you have over $250,000 in investable assets, take advantage and schedule an appointment with an Empower financial advisor here. Complete your two video calls with the advisor before October 31, 2024, and you'll receive a free $100 Visa gift card.  After a great run in stocks, another recession could hit. It's always a good idea to get a second opinion about how your investments are positioned, especially from a professional who sees other people in your situation all the time.  Related posts: Maximizing Real Estate Returns In A Multi-Year Interest Rate Cut Cycle Increasing The Safe Withdrawal Rate For Retirement At The WRONG Time Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the free weekly Financial Samurai newsletter here. This way, you'll never miss a thing. 

I speak to Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise about investing in real estate during a multi-year rate cut environment. With the Federal Reserve finally cutting rates in September 2024 after raising them in 2022, real estate should have a nice tailwind for a couple of years.  Main Theme: Interest rates are the most significant driver of real estate prices, surpassing operational improvements. Apartments are likely to benefit the most by the end of 2025. Diversify Your Real Estate Investments  If you're considering investing in private real estate, take a look at Fundrise. They manage private real estate funds focused on the Sunbelt region, where valuations are lower, and yields are higher. Fundrise specializes in residential and industrial real estate, offering investors diversification and passive income potential. Currently, Fundrise manages over $3.5 billion for more than 500,000 investors. I've personally invested over $270,000 with Fundrise, and they’ve been a proud sponsor of Financial Samurai for years. Related post: Maximizing Real Estate Returns In A Rate Cut Environment Join 65,000 others and subscribe to the free weekly financial Samurai newsletter here. 

I speak with Khe Hy, who spent 15 years on Wall Street and became one of the youngest Managing Directors at BlackRock at just 31. He earned up to $2 million a year—then he quit! His journey mirrors mine in many ways, though he earned significantly more. I thought it would be fascinating to understand why he chose to walk away from such wealth. Could you give up $1-2 million a year in your mid-to-late 30s? I don't think I could. But then again, I sometimes forget just how miserable and unhealthy I felt working on Wall Street. He now spends time with his family, writing his Radreads newsletter and recording The Examined Life podcast. → The RadReads email newsletter and blog http://radreads.co/join → The Examined Life Podcast https://pod.link/1692585605 If you enjoyed this conservationed, I'd love a share and a positive review. Every review counts! Special Promo: Get A Free Financial Checkup For those with over $250,000 in investable assets who want a free financial checkup, you can schedule an appointment with an Empower financial advisor here (https://www.financialsamurai.com/advisor). If you complete your two video calls with the advisor before October 31, 2024, you'll receive a free $100 Visa gift card. With stock market volatility returning and a potential recession on the horizon, it’s wise to get a second opinion from a professional. Illuminate financial blindspots you don't know you have and better optimize your finances. The last thing you want is to be misallocated relative to your financial goals and risk tolerance. When you lose money, you ultimately lose precious time.  Again, you can schedule your free financial consultation here. If you do not see a link copy and paste this URL in your browser: https://www.financialsamurai.com/advisor 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. Regards, Sam You can join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the free Financial Samurai newsletter here. Financial Samurai began in 2009 with the goal of helping readers achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later. 

After 15 years of experimenting with and living an early retirement lifestyle, I've developed my Minimum Investment Threshold Formula to help determine when you can finally break free from a suboptimal job. Once you reach this threshold, you'll have the option to find a more fulfilling job that pays less, take a sabbatical, go back to school, stay at home to raise your children, or even retire Related post: The Minimum Investment Threshold Where Work Becomes Optional  Recommended Resources: Read How to Engineer Your Layoff to learn more about negotiating a severance package. When it's time to leave that dreadful job behind, try to negotiate a severance package instead of simply quitting. Since you planned to quit anyway, negotiating a severance only has upside. You could receive a severance check, subsidized healthcare, unvested stock and cash, job search assistance, and more. Plus, you'll likely be eligible for unemployment benefits, which aren't available to those who quit. To build wealth through real estate, check out Fundrise. Thanks to 11 rate hikes since 2022, there are now more commercial real estate opportunities. With interest rates heading down, pent-up demand for real estate may be unleashed, potentially boosting prices in the future. Since real estate has lagged behind stocks since 2022, I expect its performance to catch up over time. To achieve financial freedom sooner, join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter.

In this episode, I speak to Jo Piazza, bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance, podcaster, and award-winning journalist. We discuss tradwives and its financial and social implications.  Given that Financial Samurai is about achieving financial freedom sooner, being financially dependent on someone as an adult is the exact opposite of what I want for readers. A tradwife typically denotes a woman who believes in and practices traditional gender roles and marriages. Some may choose to take on a homemaking role within their marriage or leave their careers to focus on meeting their family's needs at home. According to Google Trends, online searches for the term "tradwife" began to rise in popularity around mid-2018 and reached high levels during the early 2020s. If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please rate, review, share and subscribe. It helps us grow. Related posts: Financial Dependence Is the Worst Not Having Kids Is Your FIRE Super Power To increase your chances of achieveing financial independence sooner, join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the Financial Samurai newsletter. 

I've decided that my Home-To-Car Ratio guide is the most important pesonal finance guide for everyone to fall. After all, everybody needs a place to live, real estate is the best asset to build wealth for the average person, and America has a love affair with cars. My Home-To-Car Ratio guide helps personal finance enthusiasts reduce their car spending and maximize their house spending in a practical way. By following my guide, more people will build more wealth than those who don't! See: The Right House-To-Car Ratio For Financial Freedom Real Estate Investing Suggestion To invest in private real estate, take a look at Fundrise, my favorite private real estate investing platform. Fundrise was founded in 2012 and manages over $3.3 billion with over 500,000 investors. The firm focuses on residential and industrial properties in the Sunbelt, where valuations are lower and cap rates are higher. Take advantage of the demographic shift to lower-cost areas of the country.  Personally, I've invested $954,000 in private real estate since 2016 to diversify my exposure and earn more passive income. I've invested six figures in Fundrise's Flagship Fund and Fundrise is a sponsor of Financial Samurai.  Join 70,000 others and sign up for my weekly financial freedom newsletter here. If you do, you'll improve your chances of building more wealth.   

I catch up with Andre Nader, ex-Facebook employee about what he's been up to one year after leaving his day job.  We talk about being a stay-at-home dad, the temptation of going back to work, buying property in San Francisco, and his FAANG FIRE newsletter he publishes twice a month. It is the only newsletter I've read that helps tech workers achieve financial independence.  If you enjoy this episode please rate and review! It helps us grow. Please also share the episode to those who you think would find it useful.  Regards, Sam You can join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter here. 

I spoke to my wife about how my saver's mindset naturally kicked in after purchasing our new house in October 2023. Our liquidity was tight, and we were literally living paycheck to paycheck for six months. This is when my frugal gene kicked in and made me lock down expenses. This experience taught me that experiencing financial difficulty often triggers a saver's mindset. The key is to maintain this saver's mindset at all times, not just when you're in a crunch. Articles Referenced: Embrace Living Paycheck To Paycheck For A Better Life Why Earning Less Passive Income Has Changed My Life For The Better Three Sneaky Expenses That Are Ruining Your Budget Recommendations Real estate is my favorite asset class for most people to build long-term wealth. It's important to invest your savings to try and beat inflation. If you'd like to invest in real estate without a mortgage, check out Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform. The investment minimum is only $10 to help you diversify and earn more passive income.  Financial Samurai is a six-figure investor in Fundrise funds and Fundrise is an investor in Financial Samurai.  Join 70,000 others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. You'll increase your chances of achieving financial freedom sooner if you do.     

Property bidding wars are back, despite persistently high mortgage rates, due to the strength of the economy and the stock market. This episode discusses why people are getting into bidding wars and the best time of the year to buy a house.  Articles referenced: Understanding Why People Getting Into Property Bidding Wars Analyzing Housing Price Dynamics: Helping Buyers Buy At The Best Time Real estate is my favorite asset class for most people to build long-term wealth. If you'd like to invest in real estate without a mortgage, check out Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform. The investment minimum is only $10 to help you diversify and earn more passive income.  Financial Samurai is a six-figure investor in Fundrise funds and Fundrise is an investor in Financial Samurai.  Join 70,000 others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. You'll increase your chances of achieving financial freedom sooner if you do. 

I talk to Emily Luk, Co-Founder and CEO of Plenty, a wealth platform for today's modern couples about her career path from VC, to joining a big startup, to creating her own startup. I wanted to now why she lifted a cushy job with good pay. If you're a couple interested in a great tool to manage your finances together, check out Plenty. They've got a great cash flow tool that enables individual, joint, and private money management. Plenty also offers Direct Indexing investment at a low cost.  I've personally met the team multiple times in their offices in San Francisco as I consulted for them.  If you've enjoyed this episode, please leave a review. Every episode takes hours to produce and every review means a lot. Thanks! Sam