Episode Transcript
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Speaker 0 (00:00):
Good morning
everybody and welcome to the
Trust Factor.
This is the podcast that'sgoing to guarantee your success
when you implement its divine,age-old teachings.
We're going to dive deep intowhat we've been talking about
here, for two reasons.
Number one I got a questionfrom a friend of mine, moj, who
asked me a very importantquestion about okay, we get all
this concept about not worryingwhere it's coming from and that
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God's going to provide, but atthe end of the day, do we have
an obligation to save?
Do we have an obligation toinvest?
Right, that's one question.
Then I read into it for today,preparing for today and I see
that the Art Scroll version thatwe're reading through over here
discusses that specifically.
I also have a financebackground, which is what I did
for so many years.
I managed people's money, Iinvested their life savings, and
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so I know a thing or two aboutit, and so let's dive into it a
little bit, because it'simportant.
Up until now, we've been sayingrely on God, god's going to
provide.
It doesn't mean he's only goingto provide for you in your
earning years, when you're youngand capable and you're out and
you're working and earning allkinds of livings and you're
supporting people, then he'llhelp you get that money.
Well, what about when you stopworking?
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What about, well, intoretirement?
Where's that money going tocome from?
How does one plan forretirement today?
We need to save right.
Did they not retire 300, 500,3000 years ago?
Did they stop, not stop workingafter a certain period of time?
Certainly they did.
We're not all cut out to workuntil our very last day and earn
a living, so clearly thereneeds to be efforts to be made
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to make sure that we havesavings.
We want to marry off ourchildren.
We all have unexpected expensesthat pop up that we need to try
and be prepared for right.
So how do we approach that?
And I just want to read fromthe book what it says and then
give you a little bit ofadditional insight.
He's discouraging hoardingmoney, but he says it does not
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mean that one should not saveanything for the future.
It is in fact reasonable tothink that some of one's extra
income is meant for upcomingneeds.
Certainly if he anticipates afuture expense like we said, a
child's wedding is coming up orwill eventually come up, god
willing it's fiscallyresponsible to set aside money
for that event and for others.
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The focus here is on one'sattitude.
It's in what's in your head.
Is all the money that God senthim meant for his own use or is
some or much of it potentiallymeant to be shared with others?
And if one has funds in savings, does that provide him
assurance for the future or doeshe look to God to ensure that
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he will eventually be able toput it to use?
It's your state of mind.
What am I thinking here?
The more I save, the morecomfortable I will be, the more
security I will have, the betterI will feel going out and
tackling the challenges of thisworld.
In other words, if I don't haveX amount of dollars in my bank,
then I'm going to live in aconstant state of fear.
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What if this person comesknocking?
What if this breaks down?
What if I have to do A, b or Cand I cannot afford it?
I'm constantly going to beliving a life of worry and
concern that I don't have enough.
Is that your mindset?
Or are you saving because youknow it's responsible?
I need to be responsible.
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Money is an important thing.
It is an important tool.
It can be utilized to be ableto do the things that are
necessary in this world and inorder to survive on the most
basic level.
So it's clearly important.
I need to plan around it.
But when I'm planning, am Idiluting myself to believe that
if I only put in a valianteffort, if I choose the right
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stock portfolio, if I choose theright money manager, if I
choose the right asset mix, if Ido all these wonderful things,
then I will come out successfuland I'll be able to live a long
and healthy retirement?
Not true, my friends.
It does not matter how muchyou've invested and how much
care and time you've taken toinvest.
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We know there have beenscammers throughout history
Bernie Madoffs of the worldwho've taken a lot of money from
very intelligent people, myfriends who've done their
homework but were conned.
People get conned every singleday.
Banks and financialinstitutions go bankrupt.
They have a hard time.
Entire countries go bankruptand leave their citizens with no
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access to their own funds.
So anything can change at thedrop of a hat, my friends.
So at the end of the day, areyou diluting yourself to believe
that your investment genius,your prowess, your wisdom is
what's going to secure yourfinancial future, or are you
recognizing that you're doingthis again as an indication to
god to say I'm doing thisbecause it is financially
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prudent, so I'm going to do it.
But at the end of the day, Iknow number one, where the money
is coming from to invest, andnumber two, where the investment
returns are coming from, andnumber three, where that
security is coming from.
He goes on to say the sages madeclear the need for fiscal
responsibility by ruling thatone should not give away more
than one-fifth excuse me ofone's assets to charity, lest he
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himself become poor and need toaccept handouts.
The Torah, god, in his wisdom,put limitations in place,
knowing very well that twothings can happen.
You can either become the typeof individual who despises money
, despises money, and there areplenty of people who despise
money because we know that thereare sayings such as money is
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the root of all evil.
We've seen the negative,detrimental effects of having
money or too much money, and sothere are people who despise
money.
In their hatred for money, youoften find them giving it away.
They make a dollar.
They give it away.
They don't want anything forthemselves, they barely have
enough to eat, but they will nothoard money.
They do not chase it right.
So God says no, no, no, no.
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I don't care how much you hatemoney.
You have to recognize that itis an important tool and you
have to appreciate and value itsabilities.
And you need to make sure thatyou take care of yourself, that
you have the finances to be ableto not depend on other people.
You should not be a burden onother people if you don't have
to be, which means you have toget up and get a job.
You have to get up and beproductive.
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You have to do the things thatare required by every reasonable
human being to get up and earna living, and then he will
provide for you.
If you're doing it because youdespise money, you're not going
to work, or you're not going todo the important things that you
need to do, or you're going togive away every dollar you have
because of your hatred of money,then the Torah comes and tells
you you're actually sinning, hesays.
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There are numerous exceptions,however, to this rule.
It does not apply to anextremely wealthy person.
If you're making bank, ifyou're making a lot of money, if
you are in a position where youare being showered with much
more excess finance than you andyour entire family need to be
able to survive and thrive.
This policy doesn't apply toyou.
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There's no, no limitation.
There is a limitation, but itis a much greater limitation
than the one-fifth.
You can give away much morethan your one-fifth because it
is expected of you.
In fact, you are being giventhat much more because you are
being tested as a safeguarder,as a keeper of God's wealth and
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a distributor of it.
You need to distribute it tothe correct sources, to the
correct individuals.
People need to rely on youbecause, whether it's
individuals or whether it'sinstitutions that supply
individuals, you have been givenan excess amount of money in
order for you to do the rightthing with it.
It is a test.
My friends, be very careful.
It is a difficult test.
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He also says it doesn't applywhen an exceptional need for
charity funds arises, even ifyou're not a multimillionaire.
But there is an exceptionwithin the community, somebody
is really suffering.
There's a real, real need, andit is dire.
It doesn't matter.
The one-fifth rule goes out thewindow.
Nor when one has a steadyincome that provides more funds
than enough for his needs, sosimilar to the wealthy person.
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It is thus a great challengefor a wealthy person to
determine the true extent of hischarity obligation.
It's not easy.
I suggest, if you're takingcharity seriously, that you
learn about it, that you findyourself a qualified rabbi,
orthodox rabbi, and you learn bythem.
Pick up a book there are manybooks that are written on Stuck
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on Charity and read how muchshould you give?
When should you give?
Where should you give?
It is so complex, my friends.
It is not as simple as takingmoney and putting it in a
charity box.
It is not as simple as givingdonations to large institutions.
In fact, you could be doing theexact opposite.
Remember, we live in a world oflies.
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We live in a world that is runby humanity, and humanity, we
know, has the ability to corruptand be corrupted.
And so many of theseinstitutions if you've done your
research, you know what I'mtalking about.
There are so many institutionsin this world where you give
them a dollar and the recipientthat they claim to be advocating
on the behalf of or collectingon the behalf of receives less
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than 10% of that dollar.
You understand it happens inthe biggest institutions in the
world the CEOs, the topexecutives, the people running
these organizations making huge,huge money, okay, and the
amount that ends up transferringfrom you to the person that you
think you're helping isminuscule relative to the amount
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that you've given.
So you need to be careful.
Figure out how to give propercharity, figure out how much of
your money should stay with youand how much of it should go to
your family and how much of itshould go to your community and
beyond, my friends.
It's a very, very important andworthwhile exercise.
Now I'm going to finish withthis because it resonates with
me.
I know a lot of people and Iknow that the way they are when
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it comes to money, and so I wantto read with you just a little
bit about what we read yesterday, and I want to finish the
paragraph because I think it'svery powerful, and I think there
are a lot of people who I knowpersonally who will benefit from
hearing this.
We said that a foolish person.
When it comes to them and theirmoney, they think the following
they say although he is givingthe provisions that he received
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to the rightful owners, we saidyesterday he's making millions,
but he's providing money for hischildren, for his grandchildren
, for his parents, for hissiblings, for whoever it is, for
his community members.
He's doing the right thing,right.
Even though he's doing thosethings he reminds those people
of the goodness towards them indoing this, as if he were the
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one who provided them withprovisions and sustained them,
and that he was the source ofkindness towards them.
You hear he's the God.
He expects them to thank himand praise him profusely for
this.
Thank you so much for giving mewhat God gave you on my behalf
and to act submissively towardshim.
Be careful what you say.
Don't upset them, because ifyou upset them, they may cut you
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off right, as if theirsustenance were dependent on his
generosity, his or hergenerosity.
He becomes arrogant, his heartbecomes proud and conceited and
he neglects to fulfill his debtof gratitude to God for granting
him this privilege ofdistributing provisions to
others.
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He thinks that were he havewithheld the funds from them,
from his dependents, the fundswould have remained in his
possession and if not for himand his generosity, their income
would have been cut off.
How many times have the wealthychildren heard this from their
parents?
If you don't do what I say, I'mgoing to cut you off.
You're going to starve.
If you don't fall in line, ifyou don't do everything I demand
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of you, we're going to cut youoff.
You're not going to get what'scoming to you, as if they are in
charge of that.
In actuality, however, he sayshe is the poor one who toils in
vain in this world and forfeitshis reward in the world to come.
My friends, if you know somebodylike this or, even worse, if
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you are somebody like this, knowthat you are forfeiting your
world to come.
You are forfeiting all of thethings that you have worked for,
all of the good deeds that youthink you have done, that you
have built a career and a lifeof doing and giving and
godliness, and, at the same time, you think that, when it comes
to money, you're going to holdeverybody hostage.
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You're going to be the tyrant.
You're going to hold everybodyhostage.
You're going to be the tyrant.
You're going to expect fromthem things in return, as if you
are doing them a favor.
If this is somebody that youknow, or if you are this person,
my friends, it is time tocourse correct before it is too
late.
The money is not yours.
It was given to you to put towork, to take care of your needs
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and the needs of others aroundyou.
Those who live alone, myfriends, die alone.
You do not want to be one ofthose people.
You want to use your wealth toimprove your life, the life of
those around you and the worldat large.
My friends, and when and whenyou do that, and when those who
have the means take the time andthe care to research and
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analyze and make sure thatthey're doing the right thing
with their money, the world willbe a utopia.
God willing, we will get thereone day.
Have an amazing Shabbat, myfriends.
It's Friday.
Tgif, tgis for tomorrow.
My friends, we will speak againon Sunday.
Have an amazing Shabbat.