Sam Dogen founded Financial Samurai to make sense of the 2009 financial crisis – to “Slice Through Money’s Mysteries,” as his tagline says. 

The William & Mary and UC Berkley graduate had spent 10 years working in the finance sector. But during that global financial crisis, he lost 35% of his net worth in a few months and, with that, his drive to make money. 

Instead, he poured his energy into something new: writing and connecting with others online. Since its creation, the blog has become a must-read for those looking to make their money work for them.

The 2009 financial crisis prompted @financialsamura to leave his finance career and eventually start a blog that now has over 80M visitors. #Stan #ContentEntrepreneur #CreatorEconomy Click To Tweet

Today Sam has broken the site into three broad topics: real estate investing, wealth management advice, and important finance tools. The home page is stacked with the latest finance posts. His most popular pieces are Ranking The Best Passive Income Investments, How To Retire Early And Never Have To Work Again, Scraping By On $500,000 A Year: Why It’s So Hard To Escape The Rat Race, and How Much Should I Have Saved In My 401(k) By Age?, which collected 1.39K comments. 

Sam has published over 2.1K personal finance pieces, has had over 80M visitors to the website, and made Forbes list of top finance bloggers to follow in 2021. 

The writer lives by two personal philosophies, “You will regret more of the things you don’t do than the things you try,” and “It’s important to never fail due to a lack of effort because effort requires no skill.”

Investing most of his time and energy into the blog paid off. He made about $310K in passive income this year. And, his book, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye, brought in $45.6K in 2020. 

You don't need a fancy website to be a hugely successful content creator. Simplicity can do really well, too. Just ask @financialsamura . #Stan #ContentEntrepreneur Click To Tweet

Why we’re a Stan: Sam’s a great example of a content entrepreneur who has found his sweet spot for his expertise and his audience’s interests. He also uses a basic website template, indicating if your visitors find the content value, they are willing to overlook mundane packaging.

About the author

Shameyka McCalman is a wordsmith whose work often centers around fashion, art, and other creatives of color. She earned her communications degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and enjoys sifting through clothes in local vintage shops, frequenting nearby plays, and gazing at exhibitions on view in museums.