Some FIRE blogs under “fire” for self serving & deceptive promos

[Amit M.]

People need to be aware that some FIRE (financial independence retire early) blogs have come under “fire” for self serving and deceptive promotions that serve their interest while potentially taking advantage of their readers. The story below is my experience, but I encourage others to post their own experiences with this topic as well. 

Last year my suspicions were aroused when “Financial Samurai” aka Sam Dogen heavily promoted unproven platforms like RealtyShares, when they were profiting directly from referring them clients. There is now a huge shake out of the various platforms, and RealtyShares folded late last year. Other platforms will likely follow suit. Their need to aggressively scale to satisfy their VC’s demands, can often conflict with deal flow quantity vs quality. Hence people investing with these online firms need to know that they are taking platform risk, in addition to risks inherent in the deals themselves. There is nothing wrong with working with these platforms, as long as people are aware of these real risks, and not deceived by charlatans waxing accolades on their personal blogs!

Unfortunately this is exactly what happened with the Financial Samurai blog run by Sam Dogen. He heavily promoted RealtyShares, as he was directly profiting from doing so. When confronted about this he became very belligerent and vindictive. I decided to dig further into this, as I could smell a rat a mile away!

First, there is almost no public info on “Sam Dogen” the person. But plenty of marketing flair for his blog Financial Samurai. That in itself is suspicious and portends lack of transparency.

Second, when I engaged with him online specifically about real estate investing, I could quickly tell that he doesn’t have a lot of real hands on knowledge about RE investing, unlike a lot of the regulars on BP that do. There are blog posts here on BP and on his own blog that made it clear to me his RE knowledge is superficial at best.

Third, he makes the audacious claim that he has a $16+ million net worth, and that his blog generates tens of thousands of dollars in profits per month. (He claims that the $800,000 he potentially lost on RealtyShares is only 5% of his net worth.) I find this claim *highly* suspicious, for reasons I won’t elaborate on here.

But unfortunately there were many people who got taken by this guy and brought RealtyShares on his recommendation. People really need to beware of the self interest, and often straight out lying and exaggerated claims that some of these personal FIRE financial bloggers make. Be cautious folks.