I firmly believe that above average wealth is largely the result of luck. If we fail to recognize our fortunate financial opportunities, we risk confusing our abilities with good economic times. This overconfidence can lead to poor decisions and increase the likelihood of financial ruin.
Since the beginning Financial samurai In 2009, fortunes rose and fell. Time and time again, arrogance during good times has proven to be people’s undoing. I experienced this myself in 2007 when I assumed my income would continue to rise. This misplaced confidence led me to buy a vacation condo in Lake Tahoe, tying 30% of my net worth into an asset I didn’t need. Over the next three years, the value of the apartment collapsed by 50%. Ooops!
Times are great again, and almost every asset class has performed well in recent years. It’s tempting to chase bigger returns to ride a bull market higher. If you choose to do so, proceed with the understanding that every bull market eventually ends — and often not kindly.
Be thankful for your lucky financial vacations
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to review how your net worth is doing. To truly appreciate progress, look back two, three, five or even ten years. For those who have consistently saved and invested a portion of their income, you have probably witnessed the magic of doubling!
While it’s important to celebrate financial growth, it’s equally important to acknowledge the luck that has helped you along the way. If we do this, we will feel happier and more appreciated.
Let’s think of some lucky financial breaks that keep us grounded and humble. Here are five past and recent lucky events that shaped my life. I hope you’ll share some of your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Lucky Financial Break No. 1: Getting a good job after graduating from a non-target school
The happiest time in my career was when a woman named Kim Purkiss selected my resume from a sea of thousands at a career fair in Washington, D.C., in 1998. Kim was a strong, determined black woman, and she grilled me like a sausage during our interview.
Coming from William and Marya non-target school, I kept moving between different offices at Goldman Sachs in New York City. However, Kim continued to support me through seven rounds and 55 interviews until I finally secured a position in international equities.
Once I got the job, I worked hard to prove myself. But I was young, unpolished, and made mistakes, like over-day trading. Unfortunately, the dot-com crash of 2000 did not help my case as the company began cutting staff.
Looking back, I know I never would have gotten my foot in the door without Kim’s persistence and belief in me. Her invitation was a stroke of luck that helped jump-start my financial journey. Thank you Kim!
Lucky Financial Break #2: Investing in a Chinese Internet company that has been a hit
Before that It wasn’t I was invited back for a third-year analyst position in 2001, and landed one of the luckiest trades of my life: identifying a Chinese internet stock called VCSY. Its home page features a dial pad, where each number leads to a different topic. With stocks like Yahoo and Ariba soaring at the time, I thought Chinese internet stocks would be the next big opportunity.
I invested $3,000 in VCSY, and within three months in early 2000, the amount had increased 60-fold to $180,000. Part of this rapid rise was because I worked in the international office and shared the idea with my colleagues on the 49th floor, including traders. I also mentioned this to my colleagues at Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, and the hype spread like wildfire.
Eventually, I sold the stock when it was worth about $150,000. Fortunately, I kept most of the proceeds in cash as tech stocks began to collapse soon after. This windfall gave me some much-needed financial stability as my career prospects took a hit.
Ultimately, 85% of my after-tax VCSY gains were rolled into a condo in San Francisco that I bought in 2003. This was the beginning of my love affair with owning real estate – it was a source of income and its value didn’t dissipate overnight. , as the VCSY value did over the next two months.
Lucky Financial Break #3: A Helpful Lawyer Prevents Unemployment
Elaine, my Vice President, played a pivotal role in saving my career. She was one of my biggest skeptics during the hiring process, even insisting on meeting me a third time for coffee before making the final decision. Although she was somewhat intimidating, she became a mentor of sorts once I joined her, and we bonded over our shared love of skiing.
Elaine often shared stories about the wonderful people she met on ski trips. As a single woman in her mid-30s, she was trying to balance her demanding career with her personal life, and shift her focus towards dating. I became her best friend during that time.
One day, a recruiter, Michael, who had a nervous voice, called Elaine, hoping to hire her for a position at Credit Suisse First Boston. She wasn’t interested but asked Michael to wait and handed the phone to me.
This moment was serendipitous. Elaine knew my future at Goldman was bleak. If she had not handed me the phone, I would not have gotten a job at CSFB in San Francisco in June 2001, with a pay raise and a promotion to assistant. This break kept my career afloat and gave me a fresh start for another 11 years.
Lucky Financial Break #4: Saved by Google Algorithm Changes
In July 2009, I started Financial Samurai, partly out of fear of losing all my money and getting fired during the financial crisis. It’s also been a pleasure to write and watch the site grow through effort outside of work hours. After several years, the majority of traffic to this site came from Google.
When I left my job in 2012, for more than 10 years, I had expected Google to eventually ignore Financial Samurai after one of its attempts. Countless updates to the search algorithm. It’s a natural expectation after watching so many great independent sites disappear over the years. However, despite all the odds, this site continued to move with difficulty, like a reliable tugboat sailing through stormy waters.
I’m especially grateful for this financial break after reaching out to a friend who also runs a site. He recently hired the co-founder of another once-thriving site to handle sales for him. The basic wage was the minimum wage plus a percentage of revenue.
I was on the floor. This site, which has been around for over a decade and regularly boasted over a million page views per month, is now a shadow of its former self. Due to Google’s algorithm changes, its traffic dropped by 90%, and the co-founders had to pivot to survive.
Now, I feel like my old-school approach of writing three posts a week myself with mostly nonfiction stories isn’t too shabby at all. Although I always feel like a turtle scurrying ahead of hundreds of hares, the leisurely pace allows me to generate additional retirement income, which I primarily reinvest in stocks and real estate.
Lucky Financial Break #5: Being able to invest in AI near the beginning
For many years, I treated my online income as “funny money” – a bonus that I didn’t rely on, but rather saved and invested. Just as rational people save or invest their tax breaks when they suspect cuts might be temporary, I’ve been constantly shifting my online earnings into real estate and stocks. After 10 years of disciplined investing, those investments have grown thanks to a long bull market.
Now, artificial intelligence offers another amazing opportunity. Ironically, I expect the AI will also harm Financial Samurai by deleting my content and reproducing it without attribution. Then I expect AI to wipe the financial samurai off the face of the Internet, which is worse than my prediction for Google. It’s funny how history tends to repeat itself if you live long enough.
Since I couldn’t beat companies like OpenAI and Anthropic – with their resources and armies of talent – I made them work for me. It has invested in them and other leading AI players through venture capital funds, creating a hedge against the potential loss of online income. My goal is to invest enough in AI that the gains from these private investments will exceed my online income over time.
Holding on to the last years of existence
Despite this site’s existential crisis, I’m cautiously optimistic that Financial Samurai can survive another three years, giving me until December 31, 2027, to reach my goal of complete financial independence again. If so, I will be so grateful for this final chapter of my journey. If the site doesn’t work, how good is it that it has helped over 100 million people achieve financial freedom sooner.
While it’s fun to envision the potential end of Financial Samurai on December 31, 2027, it’s also liberating. There’s a new chapter waiting for you—perhaps as an author or pickleball pro 50 or older!
You’ve been blessed with more fortunate financial opportunities than you realize
Take a moment to think about your lucky breaks. It’s easy to overlook them and attribute success solely to hard work and determination. However, one event can dramatically change the course of your life. These moments are often the silent engine of your journey, so don’t take them for granted.
Let’s make the most of every opportunity our luck brings! Thank you for reading, sharing, listening and contributing over the years. It has been a pleasure connecting and growing old with so many of you.
Readers, what are some lucky financial periods you’ve had but might have overlooked? Is it inevitable that we underestimate the role of luck and overemphasize hard work and ingenuity in our success? How can we avoid confusing minds with the bull market so that we and our children stay grounded and appreciative?
Investing in artificial intelligence
If you’re looking to invest in private AI companies, consider this Fundrise project. Unlike closed-end venture capital funds, Fundrise’s investment product allows you to see most of your investments before committing capital. With a minimum investment of just $10 (compared to over $100,000 for traditional venture funds), it provides access to a wide range of investors.
I recently invested another $5,000 into Fundrise Venture and plan to continue doing so throughout my investing journey. My goal is to capture potential liquidity events in the coming years, driven by acquisitions and IPOs. To do this, I build my position now, because these liquidity events are lumpy and cause the price to rise (or fall).
The transformative impact of AI is already clear: my father has lost his editing job, and my content is frequently deleted. These experiences reinforce my belief that artificial intelligence will continue to disrupt various industries and reshape the labor market.
Fundrise is a long-time sponsor of Financial Samurai, and I am an investor in Fundrise. Remember, returns are never guaranteed, so always invest at your own risk based on your financial goals and risk tolerance. You can join over 60,000 other people and sign up for my free weekly newsletter here.