Finance Xpress

About once a month, I get an email or comment from a reader criticizing adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) as a poor financial choice. Since I’ve been a proponent of ARMs since starting Financial Samurai in 2009, I understand the pushback. However, I still prefer an ARM over a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage because I don’t want to […]

The post How An ARM Can Save And Make You More Money On A Home appeared first on Financial Samurai.

Believing you deserve to be rich is one of the most powerful psychological tricks to boost your wealth. With trillions of dollars circulating in the world, you have to ask yourself: Why not me too? Think about the knuckleheads you grew up with—people no smarter or harder working than you—who somehow ended up making vast […]

The post The Best Psychological Trick To Boost Your Wealth Beyond Belief appeared first on Financial Samurai.

I'm bullish on real estate. Yet I recently sold another rental property. This type of incongruence between thought and action can feel unsettling and even counterproductive to wealth creation. But it doesn’t have to be. Because while maximizing returns is a big goal on your road to financial independence, it’s not the only goal. Sometimes, […]

The post Why It Can Make Sense to Sell Your Property Even If You’re Bullish appeared first on Financial Samurai.

During the recent stock market correction, I decided to buy the dip. But this time, I didn’t just buy my usual dip-buying amount of $25,000 to $100,000. I went much bigger. All told, I spent over $1 million buying the S&P 500 and various tech stocks like Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon. Spending over $1 million buying stocks […]

The post Buying The Dip: How To Overcome Fear During A Correction And Prosper appeared first on Financial Samurai.

Before I retired from finance in 2012, I struggled with chronic back pain, sciatica, and TMJ. The stress was so overwhelming, I even paid a dentist $700 to drill divots into several teeth just so I could close my jaw more easily. At only 34, my body was breaking down, and I had no choice […]

The post Health Issues Or A Disability May Force You To Retire Early: Prepare Accordingly appeared first on Financial Samurai.

To celebrate the launch of Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures, I want to share how you might feel and what you might do as you hit various levels of wealth. Perhaps by sharing, I'll motivate you to take greater action. We'll start with reaching your first million, then move on to $5 million, $10 […]

The post How You’ll Feel Reaching Various Millionaire Milestones ($1M-$20M) appeared first on Financial Samurai.

After three years of writing, rewriting, and refining, I’m thrilled to officially celebrate the launch of Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures! This book has been a true labor of love, not just for me, but for my family as well. It’s the product of countless early mornings, late nights, and weekends hunched over […]

The post Behind The Scenes Of The Millionaire Milestones Book appeared first on Financial Samurai.

There comes a moment when your child might look up and say, with wide-eyed innocence: At first, you may feel a surge of pride. Your hard work is being seen. You’ve become a role model. But almost as quickly, that pride can twist into something else: concern. Because if they truly knew what it was […]

The post When You Don’t Want Your Kids To Be Just Like You appeared first on Financial Samurai.

If we're not already in a recession, we may soon enter one due to aggressive trade policies that are fueling tremendous uncertainty. As companies and consumers pull back on spending, millions of jobs could be lost, trillions in stock market wealth may disappear, and inflation could persist—potentially ushering in a stagflationary environment. If you’ve been […]

The post What A Recession Is Like For Early Retirees: The Good And Bad appeared first on Financial Samurai.

If you’re a personal finance enthusiast with kids, you’ve probably wondered: at what household income level will colleges stop offering scholarships and grants (i.e., free money) to help your child attend? What is that income cutoff? Given that the cost of college is already outrageous — and likely only getting worse — this is a […]

The post The Income Limit To Qualify For College Scholarships And Grants appeared first on Financial Samurai.

Nobody enjoys a stock market downturn, especially those who rely more on returns without active income. But as parents, we can use these sell-offs as an opportunity to help turn our kids into future millionaires. Although I’m a perennial optimist, I believe our kids are kind of screwed. The world is getting more competitive by […]

The post Use Stock Market Downturns To Make Your Kids Millionaires appeared first on Financial Samurai.

In 1997, Gary Winnick founded Global Crossing, a company with the bold vision of laying undersea fiber-optic cables to build a global IP-based telecommunications network. It was a massive infrastructure play, designed to form the core transport layer for the internet, connecting data centers and network hubs worldwide. But as visionary as the plan was, […]

The post The Last Mile Is Where Success Is Made: Always Close The Loop appeared first on Financial Samurai.

To celebrate the launch of my new book, Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures, on May 6, 2025, I thought it’d be fun to explore various millionaire topics leading up to the release. For most millionaires, owning the nicest house they can afford is a top priority. Given that many of us are still […]

The post Income And Net Worth Required To Afford A $10 Million Home appeared first on Financial Samurai.

When it comes to saving for retirement, knowing which account to fund first is like knowing which steps to take when climbing a mountain. You want to reach the summit with enough oxygen (money) and energy (tax efficiency) to enjoy the view. For those aiming to retire early, funding retirement accounts in the right order […]

The post The Early Retiree’s Guide to Funding Retirement Accounts appeared first on Financial Samurai.

Only when the stock market goes down do people start to wonder whether they have too much exposure to stocks (equities). Questions arise: Should I cut back? Should I buy the dip? What’s the appropriate allocation to stocks right now? While the answer depends on many variables—your risk tolerance, age, net worth, current asset allocation, and […]

The post How To Easily Determine The Right Amount Of Stock Exposure appeared first on Financial Samurai.

When it comes to selling a home, first impressions are everything. Yet, many sellers make the mistake of thinking buyers can look past an empty room, outdated furniture, or a poorly lit space. The reality? Most buyers have little imagination. They struggle to visualize a home’s true potential unless it’s presented to them in a […]

The post Staging A Home Is Worth It Because Most Buyers Lack Imagination appeared first on Financial Samurai.

The first year after purchasing a house is the most dangerous and potentially challenging period. This is particularly true for first-time homebuyers who likely stretched their finances to achieve a 10 percent or greater down payment, leaving their liquidity quite thin. Once you've secured the house, you are inevitably confronted with unknowns that only become […]

The post How To Survive The Most Dangerous Time After Buying A House appeared first on Financial Samurai.

With a likely recession and potentially stagflation on the horizon, I suspect many more families will join us as DUPs: Dual Unemployed Parents. Mass layoffs and company shutdowns will ripple through the economy. According to USA Facts, there were approximately 38 million single-income households in 2022. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were […]

The post The Precarious Life of Dual Unemployed Parents (DUPs) appeared first on Financial Samurai.

Creating an investment game plan is a crucial part of building lasting wealth. Without one, you're likely to accumulate far less over your lifetime. Now that the S&P 500 has corrected by 20% in 2025, we've officially entered another bear market. Whether this downturn continues, and for how long, is anyone’s guess. One reason I […]

The post My Bear Market Investment Game Plan: Adjusting the Strategy appeared first on Financial Samurai.

As stocks plummet and recession fears grow, there’s one silver lining worth highlighting: the increasing value of your home, if you own one. A home is a fundamental necessity for survival, stocks are not. So, sacrificing your stock portfolio to strengthen or preserve your housing situation can be seen as a net benefit. Many of […]

The post Sacrificing The Stock Market For The Good Of Your Loving Home appeared first on Financial Samurai.