Thank you for stopping by the Best Interest. I’m Jesse Cramer. I’m an engineer and an avid reader/writer. The Best Interest started as my creative outlet, but it’s gained national recognition for explaining complex personal finance ideas in simple terms. And now I want to bring those ideas to you.

Hey there. My name is Zach. I’m 26 years old and I’m passionate about personal finance, weightlifting, and data visualization. I created Four Pillar Freedom to document my journey to financial independence, as well as to share my thoughts and ideas on how to live a rich life.

The name’s Amanda Holden, but my pals call me Mandy, Mandicakes, Manderson Pooper, A.Hol (get it? like J.Lo but…grosser??) and—you guessed it—Dumpster Dog. Ahhhh yes, ol’ Dumpster Dog, that’s me. What you’re probably not thinking is: For a young and single working gal, that is one darling nickname!! It’s okay—I love it. The nickname took root during a eight-month stint where I didn’t buy food (see this post for the gruesome details) and it has really stuck, glued to me like day-old bean burrito guts on a Taco Bell wrapper. The easy fusion was surely thanks to my preference for Birkenstocks and half-eaten gyros over stilettos and grooming; creativity over tedium, always. This brand of scrappiness is the very essence of Dumpster Dog, and accordingly, the perfect name for my blog on money!

I started Banker On FIRE to achieve the following three objectives: Give me a creative outlet from the pressures of my job as an investment banker. Explore, document and debate the various ways to build wealth and achieve financial independence. Help others make better decisions, grow their net worth and live their best life possible

Hi there! glad to have you on my blog. I am a big fan of personal finance and I am looking forward to sharing everything I know as well as point you to a plethora of resources available at your disposal. Now, a little bit about me. I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1980 and I think that makes me a border line millennial with some behaviors from Generation X. I was raised by frugal parents who taught me the value of hard work and saving for the future.I truly believe my journey to FI started with the lessons my parents taught me when I was a kid. I can still remember my dad saying .. “son, when things are going great that is when you should be saving the most because you don’t know when things are going to go bad“. In the context of FI, I can say this has been one of the most important lessons in my life so thanks Dad! The journey continues but now I plan to bring others on my quest for achieving Financial Independence.

Financial Samurai was founded in 2009 to help make sense of the chaos during the global financial crisis. Sam worked in investment banking from 1999 - 2012, got his MBA, and finally decided to engineer his layoff in 2012 to be free.