As we are all busy cleaning our homes of any remnant of chometz, take the time to get your finances in order as well.
By AARON KATSMAN
With Pessah fast approaching, we are celebrating that we have gone from being slaves to being a free people. In Gemara tractate Pessahim (10:5), the Mishna states that “man is obligated to view himself as if he himself left Egypt.” In other words, we must internalize that we were once slaves, but now we are free.Although we are free in a spiritual sense, are we financially independent? Have you put off saving for the future? Do we still rely on our parents for help? Has overdraft become a way of life?If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then our eating of the “bread of affliction” may have more than one meaning.START SOMEWHEREThere is a common perception that only people with a lot of money are able to make money. This is just flat-out not true. If you want to achieve financial independence, you need to start investing.By saying “financial independence,” I don’t mean getting rich. I mean that you are self-sufficient, have retirement savings and don’t fret when your toilet breaks and you need to come up with some money to pay a plumber to fix it.Don’t think that $25,000 to $50,000 isn’t enough to start with. With that sum you could start an investment account, you could make a down payment on a rental property, or potentially even do both. But if your mind-set is that you are destined to always have a small nest egg and always be reliant on someone else, you will never get anywhere.MAKE ‘SEDER’Everyone needs to start somewhere. Your $50,000 isn’t going to double or triple magically. For this reason, it’s important to create a financial plan and start understanding what your short- and long-term needs and goals are. A financial adviser can help you define them.When creating a long-term plan with an adviser, it’s important to take future expenses into account. These include the purchase of a car within five years, or possibly marrying off children in another eight, 10 or 12 years. Such relevant information is necessary for the adviser to provide an accurate picture of what should be done to meet these future expenses.START BUILDING WEALTHAnother common mistake is thinking it’s impossible to save while living in Israel because “common knowledge” says one can’t save on an Israeli salary. But this is not really the case. If you make saving a priority, then you will be surprised at how much you really can save, even in Israel.We all tend to make certain lifestyle choices that impact our financial situation. Whether it’s living in a certain community or choosing to take a particular vacation, our expenses are directly impacted by these decisions. But if we make financial independence an actual priority, we can make the lifestyle changes necessary to save a couple of thousand dollars a year.Putting aside just a few thousand dollars each year may not seem like away to grow your wealth. However, taken with your starting sum,investing a few thousand dollars every year for 10 to 15 years couldpotentially leave you with a couple of hundred-thousand dollars. Beforeyou know it, you could be financially independent.As we are all busy cleaning our homes of any remnant of chometz, takethe time to get your finances in order as well. Use this time as a newbeginning and get on the path to financial independence.Hag somayach!aaron@lighthousecapital.co.ilAaron Katsman, a licensed financialadviser in Israel and the United States, helps people who openinvestment accounts in the US.
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