Financial Samurai Can't Afford FIRE Anymore

[Andre1969]

I think it's a pretty safe bet to say we haven't yet spent 10k for a week's vacation. Never say never, but it's not a goal at this point.

I think the most I might have ever spent for a week was around $6000. That was for a week in Aruba. But, it was for three adults, and included plane tickets, a week at a nice resort, rental car, a few excursions while we were there, and food. We did cheap out a bit by buying groceries, but did eat out a few times as well.

Since then, I've learned to do it cheaper. A few years back, we managed to get two weeks in Aruba, for about $6,000. Basically, the rental car and lodging doubled, but we bought more groceries, and drove around and explored ourselves, rather than pay for sightseeing trips.

 

[gayl]

I doubt the average cost to raise a child is $500K. I'm sure it's possible to spend that much, but it's also possible to spend a lot lot less.

For example, my daughter is currently 28. The cost to raise her was: Daycare: $50K; College: $100K; All other costs: $100K. For a total of $250K. Some people won't have daycare and others may have college at near zero (local JC, local state university with tuition and books paid for with Pell Grants). I suppose the easiest way to run up the cost is go private school from K through 12.

it depends on whether or not you have a need to keep up with the Joneses

 

[jazz4cash]

Based on this thread and another recent poster citing some stats from a FS web page, I've been looking a bit deeper into the Financial Samurai website and wondering why I ever found it worthwhile:

It looks like a ton of endorsements that I presume are compensated somehow.

It has a ton of stats from Vanguard and other trusted sources with no date reference. So when he refers to AAA muni bonds paying 4% I'm thinking "when was this written?", but there is no date anywhere which is a pet peeve of mine wrt webpages. I'm developing a habit to ignore anything that is not clearly identified with date and author. Is there some way to know when a webpage was written that I don't know about?

 

[RobbieB]

Internet websites are purely for entertainment.

 

[COcheesehead]

Based on this thread and another recent poster citing some stats from a FS web page, I've been looking a bit deeper into the Financial Samurai website and wondering why I ever found it worthwhile:

It looks like a ton of endorsements that I presume are compensated somehow.

It has a ton of stats from Vanguard and other trusted sources with no date reference. So when he refers to AAA muni bonds paying 4% I'm thinking "when was this written?", but there is no date anywhere which is a pet peeve of mine wrt webpages. I'm developing a habit to ignore anything that is not clearly identified with date and author. Is there some way to know when a webpage was written that I don't know about?

Most, if not all, of his posts allow comments. Look at the date of the first comment.

 

[Golden sunsets]

So here's an update on Sam Dogen of Financial Samaurai fame. He and his DW just had child #2 on 12/7/19. He never disclosed that they were expecting until today, which is of course his prerogative, but it does shed some light on his new goals.

At any rate, he feels he needs to get back to work now to stash cash. He does hope to fulfill his new goal by 2022, so it will be interesting to see how he does this. He vaguely indicates it will be a combo of monetizing his blog plus outside work. He has $250,000 in passive income now and wants to increase it to at least $300,000. in this low interest rate environment, he calculates that he will need an additional $2.5M.

He does state that he failed at ER, but I don't think he failed in the traditonal sense, i.e. asset depletion. I think he wants to get back into the hustle and bustle. He admits that he has not wanted to disclose to acquaintances that he retired at 34, so avoids it and says he has been writing and coaching tennis.

 

[jazz4cash]

Most, if not all, of his posts allow comments. Look at the date of the first comment.

Thanks, that's a great idea but for some reason the linked articles I was looking at do not have comments. Super annoying since I was trained to put my name and date on all my work. I did find a web tool that usually returns the date a webpage was initially posted, but that did not work for the linked pages either.

 

[W2R]

This statement by Financial Samurai just floored me.

After a few years, however, the bliss of taking a permanent vacation went away. I started getting the itch to do something more productive than playing tennis and sleeping in.

WOW!!! For me, that would just be impossible. I have been retired over 10 years, and the bliss of awakening each morning to re-discover that I am still, truly on a permanent vacation has not even lessened one bit. I was born for this! After years of searching, I have finally found my niche in life.

Likewise I have zero interest in doing something "more productive" (according to whom? and for what? and why?). Guess we are all different, but FS and I are probably two extremes regarding such matters.

I do wonder if he is tired of being a stay-at-home Dad, and wants to work just to get out of the house and away from the wife and kids for a while. Being responsible for a baby or toddler all day, every day can be a lot of work and is not a bed of roses IMO. But then I have no reason to suspect that is behind his decision, except that it seems like some people don't realize what they are getting into when they become parents.

 

[marko]

As my grandmother used to say "Some people just don't know how to live"

This statement by Financial Samurai just floored me.



WOW!!! For me, that would just be impossible. I have been retired over 10 years, and the bliss of awakening each morning to re-discover that I am still, truly on a permanent vacation has not even lessened one bit. I was born for this! After years of searching, I have finally found my niche in life. [emoji23]

Likewise I have zero interest in doing something "more productive" (to whom? and for what? and why?). Guess we are all different, but FS and I are probably two extremes regarding such matters.

I do wonder if he is tired of being a stay-at-home Dad, and wants to work just to get out of the house and away from the wife and kids for a while. Being responsible for a baby or toddler all day, every day can be a lot of work and is not a bed of roses IMO. But then I have no reason to suspect that is behind his decision, except that it seems like some people don't realize what they are getting into when they become parents.

 

[Teacher Terry]

It might be that he is bored because he is so young. I wouldn’t want to retire at 34.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This statement by Financial Samurai just floored me.



WOW!!! For me, that would just be impossible. I have been retired over 10 years, and the bliss of awakening each morning to re-discover that I am still, truly on a permanent vacation has not even lessened one bit. I was born for this! After years of searching, I have finally found my niche in life.

Likewise I have zero interest in doing something "more productive" (according to whom? and for what? and why?). Guess we are all different, but FS and I are probably two extremes regarding such matters.

I do wonder if he is tired of being a stay-at-home Dad, and wants to work just to get out of the house and away from the wife and kids for a while. Being responsible for a baby or toddler all day, every day can be a lot of work and is not a bed of roses IMO. But then I have no reason to suspect that is behind his decision, except that it seems like some people don't realize what they are getting into when they become parents.

Yep! Reminds me of the kids that were super excited to go back to school 1/2 way through summer vacation! Uh...NO!

 

[Another Reader]

Well, the reason for all the anxiety came out in today's post. FS and his wife just had a second baby. Now two preschools, two private schools, and two Harvard tuitions will need to be funded.

 

[ls99]

Am still trying to find the world's smallest violin to play the world's saddest tune for Financial Samurai.

 

[CardsFan]

Sorry. I can't find my tiny violin

Poor guy.

Well, the reason for all the anxiety came out in today's post. FS and his wife just had a second baby. Now two preschools, two private schools, and two Harvard tuitions will need to be funded.

Sorry, still can't find the violin.

 

[marko]

It might be that he is bored because he is so young. I wouldn’t want to retire at 34.

Oh, I can think of ways to fight off the ennui.

Find a nice beach town in Italy. Sleep till 10. Quiet breakfast and cappuccino in town ( I know...cappu after 10AM is bad form!). Beach until 3. A nap. A cool shower. Meet some new-found friends around 9-10PM for drinks and dinner al-fresco. Bed by 2AM every night.

Change locations from time to time. Repeat for the next 10 years.

Winter option: same as above but in a ski village in the Alps.

Maybe work a few hours a week in a small Nice art gallery; meet some interesting people; maybe find a nice girl who's last name starts with "de" or "von" who's similarly inclined. (Make sure she's telling the truth when she says she's not married)

One should aim to outgrow being bored AND young once one stops being a teenager.

 

[Aerides]

I think this is all BS and creating a new narrative to drive more blog visits and revenue. Just being ER'd doesn't bring as many clicks, gotta shake things up with a new story.

If you're going back to work in any way other than self-employed, you don't announce - publicly - that you only plan to work for 2 years or so. 6 months from now he'll be exactly where he is but maybe writing more about how he's been more "personally invested" in his blog of late...

And yeah it will be hard to tell, because his posts aren't dated, he can move and recycle them. It's all just entertainment.