Pleased New 12 months 2026 everybody! With one other yr wrapped up, I assumed I’d do a 2025 yr in evaluate so I can someday look again fondly as an outdated man. General, I give the yr an A for effort, which is all I can actually management. Sadly, the consequence didn’t match the trouble, as I give it a B minus, possibly even a C plus.
The primary motive for the B minus is ongoing household points that negatively affected my spirits. I’m naturally a cheerful and joyful individual – a steady-state 8 out of 10. However for a lot of your entire yr, I felt loads of grey clouds and wet days hanging overhead.
The factor is, even if you’re completely happy, when somebody in your loved ones is beneath duress, your happiness will inevitably decline. From every little thing from ageing to caring for kids and sick mother and father, the happiness dip for the sandwich technology is actual.
Coming into The Trough Of The Happiness Curve
Simply have a look at this nice chart summarizing seven main surveys of 1.3 million randomly sampled individuals throughout 51 international locations. Between ages 45 and 55 is the place happiness is lowest – and my spouse and I are 45 and 48.
I wrote this submit first earlier than in search of happiness curves to see the place we stand. It’s comforting that we’re not alone.
However gosh, I assumed I might be capable of keep away from this trough by retiring earlier. Actually, I wrote a submit stating the best reason to retire early is greater happiness sooner and for longer. That section lasted about 11-12 years, however it has now pale.
2025 actually made me admire, as soon as once more, how cash can’t purchase happiness after your primary wants are met. I used to be annoyed this yr that, regardless of how onerous I attempted, the melancholy nonetheless lingered.
It’s unhappy to appreciate that even if you happen to reside in a pleasant home, have minimal debt, have your well being, don’t really feel caught at work, and have completely happy youngsters, you’ll be able to nonetheless really feel down generally. This disconnect additionally feels embarrassing, particularly if you happen to’ve grown up in a creating nation with an incredible quantity of poverty and inequality.
Everyone knows the options: apply gratitude every day, take steps to eliminate regrets, stroll and train every day, cut back want, and decrease expectations Nevertheless, in addition to continually exhibiting up, there’s generally nothing you are able to do when uncontrollable circumstances happen.
Now on to my 2025 evaluate, categorized by Investments, Household, and Inventive Endeavors.
Public Investments – Grade A
General, 2025 was a strong yr financially thanks to a different bull market. My mixed public fairness portfolio rose by about 23%. The explanation for its 6% outperformance in comparison with the S&P 500 was because of my chubby positioning in Google, Tesla, and Nvidia. On the draw back, my shares in Apple, Amazon, and Nike underperformed the S&P 500.
That is now three years in a row of 20%+ returns, which looks like a lottery win after a troublesome 2022 (-24% for my tech-heavy equities). The after-tax features alone are in a position to pay for about 4 years of regular dwelling bills for a household of 4 right here in San Francisco.
The issue with a 23% return is that it took loads of effort to get there as an active investor. And albeit, I assumed I had returned much more earlier than I crunched the numbers.
If I had simply invested all my cash in an S&P 500 index and accomplished nothing, I might have made about 16.5%. I’m undecided if the trouble to make an additional 6% is price it, particularly since I might have simply underperformed. However I keep lively as a result of some huge cash is at stake as DUPs with no regular lively earnings.
Going by the whipsaw of the April tariff tantrums, adopted by attempting to continually work out whether or not the economic system would actually be OK amid stagflation fears, took a toll on my psychological power. However I would like to acknowledge {that a} ~6% outperformance has purchased us a little bit over one yr of dwelling bills. I simply have to be cautious not dropping an excessive amount of this yr.
Non-public Investments – Grade A Minus
As for my personal investments in enterprise debt and enterprise capital, it’s tougher to gauge returns since a lot is illiquid. I do know one 2018 classic enterprise fund holds Rippling, which is doing nice. However the remainder of the closed-end funds stay unclear as many investments are nonetheless within the early stage.
Fundrise Venture was a standout performer. It rose over 45%, making it my top-performing fund funding of the yr. I had about $140,000 invested firstly of 2025, and invested $100,000 on June 20.
In July/August, I additionally determined to reinvest $200,000 price of expiring Treasury payments and open a brand new private account earmarked for my kids’s future. I figured, if I am prepared to speculate over $200,000 in a 529 plan, then I’d as effectively spend money on the very expertise which may make their faculty educations out of date.
My fundamental remorse is just not investing extra originally of the yr after I had a windfall from promoting a property. However out of self-discipline, I maintain personal funding allocation to at most 20% of my investable capital.
The explanation I don’t give my personal investments an A is that one enterprise debt fund (out of three) closed out at a 12% IRR, underperforming the S&P 500. In the meantime, my private commercial real estate investments noticed one other flat yr, though there are optimistic indicators of life.
Bodily Actual Property – Method Too A lot Effort
2025 was the most troublesome yr I’ve ever had as an actual property investor.
The primary motive is that I had three tenant turnovers out of 4 properties, which required my spouse and me to organize every property both on the market or for hire. Then I did one other transforming job. The time, coordination, and emotional power concerned had been vital.
Property #1: Most Current Major Residence Turned Rental
The primary property required about two months of preparation and in the end bought through a preemptive offer. I hit my practical goal gross sales worth and felt terribly relieved that we bought it, particularly after the devastating January fires in Southern California. It was an excellent property with ocean views, however the rental yield was low because of the excessive worth level and the necessity to handle 4 tenants annually was annoying.
After this sale, which solely had a 13-day shut, I assumed the remainder of the yr could be simple road with regard to property administration. Oh, how flawed I used to be!
Property #2: Summer time Rework Job
Given we determined to go to Hawaii for 5 weeks for summer season college and see my mother and father, I figured it was time to remodel the neglected two-bedroom in-law unit related to my mother and father’ home. It was my aunt’s outdated dwelling area, and it hadn’t been inhabited for over 13 years. The place was piled with stuff, crawling with bugs, and had damaged taps and defective wiring in all places.
I assumed the rework would take two or three weeks and price possibly $25,000. Nevertheless it ended up taking 4 weeks whereas I used to be there and one other week after I returned to make the place totally livable, with furnishings, a fridge, and home equipment.
After gut-remodeling a property from 2019–2022, I swore I’d by no means rework one other property once more. It’s a horrible course of, and I might fortunately pay a premium for a fully remodeled home. Nevertheless, I felt my summer season in Hawaii was a now-or-never second to get to work as a result of no one else would after my aunt handed a number of years in the past.
The silver lining is that I acquired the place accomplished and totally furnished, offering my spouse and youngsters with a extra snug dwelling association throughout our 10-day winter vacation journey. That mentioned, I did virtually burn down my parents’ house twice in a single week because of defective wiring for the dryer. Ah, extra stress.
Property #3: Partial Rental Turned Full Rental
After returning from Hawaii in July, I wanted to relaxation as a result of the journey was additionally onerous on my spouse. I additionally felt unsettled because the eating room furnishings, fridge, and washer and dryer weren’t going to reach till early September, after which had been pushed again till the top of November.
Sadly, throughout our time away, our long-time tenants since 2019 at one other property discovered one other place to reside. They had been strong renters who occupied the upstairs portion of a home with two bedrooms and one rest room. They wished a complete single-family dwelling because of having a child.
To accommodate, earlier than we went to Hawaii, I provided to hire them the downstairs portion as effectively, giving them three bedrooms, two bogs, and an workplace. Maintain df, Even after providing a reduction to comparable market rents, they determined to hire a smaller home farther south for much less. No downside, however not splendid for me.
The method took about 5 weeks to search out new tenants. As soon as once more, we needed to clear, paint, backyard, and repair some random issues in preparation for brand spanking new tenants. I additionally hosted a number of personal showings for events. Luckily, we discovered an excellent household who’s respectful and had beforehand owned property within the space. They relocated again to San Francisco because of higher enterprise demand after shifting away throughout COVID.
The optimistic of our tenants shifting out was our semi-passive income elevated by $3,500 a month. This was due to charging market hire after a number of years of undercharging by ~$1,000/month and renting your entire home as a substitute of simply the upstairs for an additional ~$2,500 / month.
Property #4: The Largest Rental That Was Hardest To Lease Out
Lastly, I assumed I used to be accomplished after three property turnovers! However no, the actual property gods had extra work for me to do. Solely a month after discovering new tenants, I acquired one other e-mail from one other set of tenants giving their 45-day discover. Apparently, that they had already relocated to Colorado and had been solely returning sometimes. This was a shock, particularly since their youngsters attended a college simply blocks away and so they had moved in solely 15 months earlier.
As soon as once more, I spent about six weeks coordinating cleansing, repairs, and the tenant search. This time it was tougher. The hire was a 35% greater worth level than my different rental, which diminished the rental pool. Additional, I used to be looking out through the off-peak months of October and November, a part of the worst time of the year to find renters.
Luckily, 5 weeks after I printed my first advert on Craigslist, a girl reached out saying she and her husband had been relocating to San Francisco for work. One labored at a Sequence C personal tech startup, and the opposite at some of the common AI LLM firms at this time, which I’m a shareholder in by the Fundrise.
To my shock, the couple was prepared to pay $10,000 a month for a five-bedroom, four-bathroom dwelling. Given their salaries and fairness compensation, the hire was truly fairly reasonably priced. They wished two dwelling workplaces and area for a house gymnasium.
Because of these new tenants, hire for this reworked dwelling went from $9,000 a month for 12 months in 2024-2025, to $9,200 a month for 3 months in 2025, and now $10,000 a month from November 2025 onwards.
Stable Whole Rental Earnings Progress
General, I boosted my semi-passive earnings by about $4,300 a month, offered there aren’t any unexpected bills. I bought a property bought in 2020 for roughly a 20% internet revenue after taxes and costs and reinvested a lot of the proceeds into private and non-private fairness. Then I made made a two-bedroom in-law unit very nice for all members of the family to remain.
In consequence, I give the actual property returns an A, however the effort required an F. I really feel like I did 4 years price of standard actual property administration in a single yr.
In consequence, I’m decided to promote one other property after 2027 after I can benefit from the tax-free exclusion rule. Within the meantime, I hope my tenants benefit from the properties and stay self-sufficient. Actual property was my best supply of economic stress in 2025.
The business actual property market additionally appears to be waking up from its lengthy slumber. It’s been a tricky slog since inflation surged and the Fed started mountaineering rates of interest aggressively in 2022. However valuations at the moment are extraordinarily compelling in comparison with the inventory market, and I’m beginning to invest more in private real estate again.
Household Dynamics – Grade B Minus
Because of some complicated points affecting one beloved member of the family particularly onerous, a grey cloud hung over my spouse and me all year long. I attempted to be a rock by maintaining our funds strong, operating Daddy Day Camp each weekend, dropping off and choosing up the children 95% of the time, and at all times being round within the evenings.
My days would typically run from about 5:15 a.m. till 11:30 p.m. as a result of I wished to put in writing earlier than the household awoke and after the household had gone to mattress. Sadly, my effort to be a full-time dad didn’t appear to be sufficient. My spouse has so much on her plate, is doing the very best she will be able to, and is genuinely adored by our youngsters. I’m additionally studying learn how to be extra empathetic to issues and organic modifications exterior our management.
The excellent news is that we now have the monetary sources to offer the very best remedy and care potential. One other brilliant spot is that our youngsters proceed to develop and thrive. They love their college, have pals, and obtain an infinite quantity of high quality time from each mother and father.
In significantly, I spent loads of time educating each youngsters tennis and swimming. They now have decent-looking forehands and backhands, together with improved freestyle strokes. In whole, I gave every little one a minimum of 35 one-on-one classes, every lasting one to one-and-a-half hours.
Instructing your individual youngsters requires persistence, inner prayers for persistence, and sheer dedication. However seeing seen progress has been extremely rewarding.
It’s deeply satisfying to have the ability to assist my household and allow my spouse to be 10 years free from full-time work after helping her negotiate a severance package again in 2015. Nevertheless, the load is getting heavier due to persistent elevated inflation, pointless wishes, and hedonic adaptation. I must make changes with a purpose to final.
Inventive Endeavors – Grade A Plus
As soon as you allow your day job, you’ll most certainly want to search out one thing artistic or purposeful to do. I extremely doubt you’d be completely happy solely watching eight hours of TV a day and enjoying pickleball. Personally, I’ve a must really feel helpful. It additionally feels nice to assist individuals really feel higher and acquire confidence of their funds.
In 2025, I printed one other 156 articles, 52 newsletters, and roughly 30 podcast episodes. Right here’s a recap of the best articles on Financial Samurai for 2025. What made this significantly gratifying had been two issues.
First was the success of my second nationwide bestseller, Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps to Seven Figures. It took two years to put in writing and numerous hours to market. One of many highlights was narrating the audiobook myself. It was some of the difficult skilled experiences I’ve had.
The problem of the method made me understand how a disability or health issue could take away your ability to earn, so please take nothing without any consideration. If you’re wholesome, benefit from your skill to supply earlier than it is gone.
Second was sustaining my publishing streak regardless of Google and AI negatively impacting web site site visitors. As natural site visitors declined, so did income. However as a result of I genuinely love writing, I stored going anyway. I’ve been anticipating at the present time for 5 years, and now the existential crisis from AI is right here. I do not suppose I will ever totally give up.
Shock Video Interview
Lastly, Enterprise Insider released a fun video interview that includes my household and two others discussing cash classes for elevating kids. The inquiry got here out of the blue and felt like an ideal solution to shut out the yr.
As a substitute of paying to take photos and ship out vacation playing cards, I had an Emmy-winning producer attain out and produce a video for us as a substitute.It was a good way to complete the yr and commemorate my mother and father and grandparents.
Cash Is Good, A Pleased Household Is Far Higher
2025 strengthened a reality I’ve identified for many years: the window to live your best life doesn’t keep open without end. That is the principle motive I give up the desire to make maximum money at age 34 and left my finance job behind. As soon as your primary wants are met, cash not brings incremental happiness.
Household and pals matter way more. They’re additionally the individuals who can harm us or assist us essentially the most. To at the present time, I’m nonetheless attempting to raised perceive my mother and father’ personalities. Particularly, I’m attempting to distinguish how a lot of the way in which they’re is because of their personalities versus their ages. They function so otherwise than I do this I discover myself trying to find clues after I’m with them.
I’m additionally dwelling life for the primary time and am fascinated to see how our views change over time. You’d suppose we’d at all times be capable of steadily improve our pleasure the extra we obtain, however I’m not seeing this correlation after age 45. As a substitute, the extra we now have, the heavier we are inclined to really feel and the extra we endure. Having ever-higher expectations is a recipe for unhappiness.
Genetically, we’re all constructed otherwise. Primarily based on twin research, roughly half of our happiness is influenced by genetics, setting a “set level,” whereas the opposite half comes from our intentional actions and life circumstances. So I would like to stay conscious that we’re all distinctive in our personal methods.
Glad 2025 Is Over, However Additionally Miss The Time We No Longer Have
I’m happy with my effort and my perspective this yr. I referred to as my mother and father usually and made time to see them greater than I’ve since I used to be 19. The spotlight was stunning my dad for his eightieth birthday on November 17 by merely showing within the kitchen one afternoon as he got here downstairs.
Well being-wise, I continued to play tennis and pickleball 3 times per week and even began going to Sunday night time basketball at my kids’s college. I simply have to be cautious to not overdo it to keep away from accidents.
Ultimately, I grew our family funds, spent super high quality time with our youngsters, helped many individuals with their funds, and survived a yr of persistent grey clouds. On the flip facet, the time spent actively managing our funds throughout a unstable inventory market, discovering new tenants and consumers, and dealing with significant car problems on the finish of the yr actually beat me up.
A B minus grade feels about proper. However I hope the rays of sunshine will burn off the clouds extra usually once more. Subsequent up are my New 12 months’s resolutions for 2026.
How was your 2025? What had been a few of your hits and misses?
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