Posted on 02/17/2024 10:36:10 AM PST by grundle
Former Goldman Sachs analyst Sam Dogen — also known as the Financial Samurai online — once decided to cash in on a huge chunk of his investments to buy a “forever home” for his family.
But by selling his stocks and bonds, he lost about $150,000 a year in passive income. “My family and I could have been set for life. Instead, due to my inability to beat back real estate FOMO (fear of missing out), I blew up our passive income,” Dogen wrote in a blog post.
Dogen’s been investing for a long time. In fact, he first made headlines back in 2012 for championing the “financial independence, retire early” (FIRE) movement by retiring at the age of 34 with a $3 million net worth.
He’s since been living off his passive income from stocks, bonds, and real estate — but after paying cash for a recently remodeled home on a triple-wide lot, he says about five years’ worth of progress has been lost.
Dogen says in 2023 his passive income was tracking to generate about $380,000 a year. But after purchasing a new home in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area, he now expects it to decline to about $230,000 — which he claims is no longer enough to cover his family of four’s living expenses.
Dogen’s annual budget includes $80,400 for tuition at a private Mandarin immersion school for his two kids, $68,400 for housing costs, $24,000 for health care, $40,000 in potential 401(k) contributions and $26,400 in food (including weekly date nights). He also has $16,800 set aside for vacations.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
“I don’t know why posters are giving this guy grief... it’s all due to the inflation of fixed costs created by government policies.”
I read the article. While you are correct as to the probably cause that has decimated millions, nowhere did I see him assign inflation or excessive taxation/regulation as the cause of his current problem. His lifestyle is bigger than his income. He can afford to live there, he is struggling with making the decisions to face that reality... like use public schools or home schooling, suspend all vacations ... otherwise he is right, he needs to work to make up the gap.
Since he is in Bay area, and some other facts mentioned in the article ... betting odds are is that he is a demonkkkrap. So criticism is warranted because he gets what he votes for and supports - he “can’t go there” in his mind and face the truth. Also, he probably would not welcome some good old Dave Ramsey advice - b/c Ramsey does not talk like demonkkkraps do.
“after purchasing a new home in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area”
He retires with $3M at 34 and then lives in one of the most expensive areas of the U. S. Not a good play. He needs the Gordon Ramsey treatment.
Think the deficit, debt, and interest on that debt don't affect you? 44% of your income taxes this fiscal year have been consumed by just interest on the debt.
No roads. No schools. No hospitals. No military.
Just. Interest.
And it's going up... pic.twitter.com/BbhIvzAipt— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) February 12, 2024
Or Vanguard High Yield Tax Exempt (VWAHX).
When you retire, you become mostly useless to society.
Only in modern times, we have been able to build wealth until we are 60-65 or so and be able to stop working with enough accumulated wealth to live on without having to burden others. But that is only a recent development. Before that, older people either moved into the care of their adult children or were left exposed to die.
Someone knows what's coming...
Please let’s all refrain from being “Mr Helper” ... helping solve obvious problems .... encouraging Bay area demonkkkraps to leave California to solve their financial problems. I want the demonkkkraps to reap what they sow.
California conservatives don’t need to be told that. They are smart enough to know if and when they need to make that decision to move out of California, which is a beautiful state, once very prosperous. Why do you think all the leftists, bums, America haters moved there? Parasites, destroyers.
If you owe the bank a thousand dollars you have a problem.
If you owe the bank a trillion dollars the bank has the problem.
Lol.
“I think it’s okay to use THEY...”
I say F they all the time!😎
That is a good one as well.
There is definitely a bias here towards living extremely frugally, foregoing luxury, and schadenfreude towards those who are brought down. Like the crabs-in-the-bucket metaphor used frequently.
I want to live in a country where EVERYONE can aspire to living in a nice house, in a safe neighborhood, send their kids to good schools, take vacations, have a comfortable retirement.
Even though this guy might not "get it," entirely, he's exposing the reality that if HE can't reach those dreams, those lower than him, and their children, don't have a chance in hell.
The American Dream isn't just dead, it's been raped, murdered, and multilated.
And know when to run…..
Yup—Dave Ramsey would lock him in a room with a budget—and when they got through cutting and slashing the guy would be spending like a normal person and saving plenty of money every year.
In my youth, I wanted to learn Chinese or Japanese, but unfortunately our schools and colleges focused elsewhere:
European languages, and maybe Russian if you were lucky, but no eastern European, Middle Eastern or Oriental languages. The thinking then was “you don’t need it.” Science journals were in French, English, German or sometimes Russian.
We need talented Americans who love this country but learn these languages so we know exactly what is being said, not subject to the translator’s abilities or biases. But I get your point and it is probably true ... a Bay area person is not learning Mandarin for those purposes.
The American Dream is no longer easy—it requires a lot of common sense and frugal habits.
It requires deferring instant gratification and out of control materialism.
This is not a hard swallow—anybody can do those things.
Happiness is not a function of how much money you spend on a fancy house or fancy vacation.
Life just does not work like that.
While what you say is undoubtedly true, you missed my point completely.
“If that fund fails we are in TEOTAWKI and will probably be eating our neighbors.”
exactly ...
I think I got your point.
A touch less wild materialism and a little more frugality and almost anybody can live reasonably well.
It is harder than it was ten years ago—agreed—but it is still well within reach with proper life habits.
Where we might disagree is I do not want to see public schools become excellent—I want people to take responsibility for finding a way to educate their own kids.
Some things are just too important to hand off to subcontractors.
Sam is a good guy. He’s mostly liberal but he has his head on straight about money/finance. I like his weekly posts.
Especially the tax free part!😎
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