The 23rd edition of our Best of the Best Blogger series features Sam Dogen of Financial Samurai.
Sam’s topic coverage is edgy, compelling and authoritative. He rightfully encourages the intellectually challenged to avoid having children and he demystifies the true income levels of top earners in the US. He has another killer post on the curse of making too much money among many other solid posts.
Sam is among, what I consider to be, the next generation of personal finance bloggers: a new breed in the evolutionary food chain of personal finance blogging. The 1st generation of bloggers in the category are guys like J.D. Roth, Trent Hamm and Ramit Sethi: engaging, passionate, thought provoking bloggers who are undoubtedly committed to their audiences.
They’ve all done quite well for themselves, writing books, making public appearances, making lots of money, etc. Admittedly, I don’t know any of those guys personally and I’m sure they’re probably very admirable, charitable guys in their own right. There’s one thing that has always bothered me about these “heavy hitters” though — you don’t hear much about them giving back or being of service, to the personal finance community in particular, which seems downright piggish to me given what all 3 of them have derived from it.
That’s why Sam is so different than these other guys. Sam’s the founder of the Yakezie Network (pronounced yah-kay-zee), the largest group of personal finance and lifestyle bloggers online. He originally designed Yakezie as a platform that would “helplessly serve others” in the personal finance blogging community. Until the Yakezie Network appeared, the concept of selfless giving was an utterly void concept within the category. Today, Yakezie is an ever-expanding very influential network of some of the very best financial bloggers in the business. The bottom line is that Sam is helping A LOT of people in the personal finance community and he deserves a boat load of credit for doing that.
I spoke with Sam recently about a wide variety of things, including 14 hour work days, the Alexa toolbar and jumping out of airplanes. Here’s what he had to say…
Q: Tell me about your inspiration behind Financial Samurai (FS). How has your measure of success evolved since you first began running the site, if at all?
A: The inspiration behind Financial Samurai is that of a noble warrior who does the right thing and puts others before self. The tag-line is to “slice through money’s mysteries” and make things simple and clear for readers. Money doesn’t have to be complicated. I try and tell stories that highlight a thesis and come to a conclusion. I try and touch on multiple topics to makes things fun. Many of the posts are written with the purpose of making people think about issues. And many others have clear messages that might be controversial, but seem very straight forward and obvious to me.
I’ve found that writing things out has helped me understand things as well. The comments from the community are fantastic. People don’t hold back! I believe all posts should be written with an opinion. Otherwise, we might as well read a dictionary or encyclopedia.
Success is a state of mind. So long as I find joy in writing and interacting with the Financial Samurai community, that is success to me. There are countries such as China who censor free speech. I cherish the ability to write freely every single day. I hardly ever check my blog’s stats either unless someone asks. I find looking at metrics to be distracting and often go for months without knowing what kind of traffic or subscribers I have. The only thing I have is an Alexa toolbar on my web browser.
Q: You’ve indicated that you’re no longer motivated by money but instead “by having a balanced lifestyle”. How much of a difference has a balanced life had on, not only your personal finances, but on your overall well-being?
After graduation, I was eager to make something of myself. After realizing how little I needed to survive and be happy, I figured after a decade of working, it was time to live a more care-free, not as work focused lifestyle. I try to take all 6 weeks off every year to go travel. I’ve pretty much cut weekends out of my work schedule and I delegate much more now. I still feel a tremendous responsibility to do a good job, but as a veteran now, I find myself to be much more efficient at getting things done.
Q: Because of your inclination toward a more aggressive investing style, you’ve said that the “greatest protection I need is against myself”. How does that risk tolerance manifest itself in other areas of your life? Are you one of those guys who likes to jump out of airplanes?
It doesn’t take much for me to live a comfortable lifestyle. Maybe $60,000 here in expensive San Francisco where two bedroom apartments cost $3,500/month, or $30,000 in the Midwest somewhere is good enough. As a result, I’m not really afraid of losing money that I make over that. If I felt I needed $300,000+ to live a comfortable lifestyle like some of my friends do, I probably would be more risk adverse. I grew up very middle class and didn’t have many luxuries at all besides the basics. As a result, I don’t find that I need much at all as an adult either. I guess we are a product of our upbringing and our parent’s values.
Q: How applicable has your MBA been in your life as an entrepreneur? Be honest.
An MBA is clearly not necessary for having a successful career, or being a rock star entrepreneur. I just enjoyed the experience tremendously, and was fortunate enough to have my employer pick up most of the bill. People see the cost of an MBA and shudder. However, if you haven’t found a career you enjoy, or you are unemployed or about to be unemployed, getting an MBA is a wonderful option. The $120,000 median salary or thereabouts for the Top 10-15 schools is just the beginning. The ability to earn more is endless, and you know that you’ve done almost everything possible to prepare yourself for new opportunities. Just try and go to the best school possible.
Q: Attitude and effort are the only 2 things that any individual truly controls. A sports analogy would be highly successful professional athletes being the first to arrive at the gym and the last to leave at the end of the day. How much of your success do you believe is about being the first to the gym and the last to leave?
How could I leave before my senior colleagues who know much more than I? I had a duty to stay back, put in my dues and learn as much as possible. It’s the simplest thing anybody can do to get ahead, and I’m baffled why more people don’t put in the time. Hard work requires no skill. Work ethic and a good attitude accounts for 70% of one’s success in my opinion.
Q: You’re the founder of the Yakezie Network, one of the best-known personal finance blog networks and something of a farm system for personal finance bloggers. What’s surprised you the most about Yakezie? Disappointed you the most?
A: I’ve never thought of the Yakezie Network as a farm system for PF bloggers. However, now that you mention it, sure, I can see the similarities. I always knew there were other bloggers like me who get ignored and rejected all the time. I tried to join networks and submit guest posts myself my first year and got little love. Hence, I wanted to create a Network that was open and supportive to all. The beauty of the Network is that everybody can join the 6-Month Yakezie Challenge to get in. They just have to follow the steps, and if they make it, they are invited to fill out the application and submit a Member Post.
What’s surprised me the most about the Yakezie is the ability to super-charge a bloggers progress and launch them to full-time blogging so quickly if they want to. I didn’t realize people would be quitting their day jobs to go blog full-time after just one year with the Yakezie. I couldn’t imagine after two years blogging I could retire from my day job and blog full-time either. It’s a nice option to have!
On the flip side, I see what money does to folks. Money changes people, especially if people don’t make much money to begin with and suddenly start making a lot. People stop sharing, stop contributing, and start outsourcing everything. Are you really interacting if you are outsourcing your social media activities such as commenting, tweeting, and posting? As a result, I try to continually foster the culture of helping others with no expectations of anything in return. I think this is the best way to lead our lives online and offline. If everybody were always thinking about someone else first, and contributing more than they benefit, how wonderful a world would we live in? Our world would be magnificent.
Thank you Sam for participating in our Best of the Best series.
As one of the new young, turks making such a huge impact in personal finance, we’re really looking forward to all the success you have coming your way.
Just make sure you remember all us little people on your way up!
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Good to interact Bill. I'm glad I come across as a young turk to you, as I'm already an old man!
Best, Sam