Jewish Wisdom on Money and Life, by Naftali Horowitz

I value Naftali Horowitz’s capacity to comment on Personal Finance and Investment tips, based on his rich experiences as Rabbi (Spiritual Religious Leader in Judaism) and Managing Director at CJ Morgan Chase. His clear mission in serving his clients, and his community, but also a wide audience makes him a great financial teacher, spiced up by his sharp and cunning communication style. Recently, he did several interviews on Kosher Money / Living Lchaim Youtube Channel.

TOP 6 TAKEAWAYS from Naftali Horowitz

1. On Debt and Credit Cards | Jewish Wisdom

• Now Debt is more accessible than in the past. We need to live as if Debt does not exist
• Good Debts :
  • When you put money down on a house, you take a mortgage with doable payments, you get money at low costs because it is secure debt, you get tax benefits, and you live in a home. It is a great way to accept debit.
  • A business borrows money to buy a fleet of trucks, and they know how to pay the money back, that is still good debt
• Bad Debt
  • With purchases through a credit card, you spend money now that you don’t have.
  • Credit Cards should only be a convenience mechanism, for using today’s money. You should not spend money you don’t have
  • Credit cards are horrible instruments as a debt vehicle.
  • You pay usury rates to a credit card company. Credit cards should ONLY be a convenient payment mechanism

2. Money Wasters. Discretionary vs Non-Discretionary Spending | Jewish Wisdom

• There are always places to cut discretionary expenditures
• You need to connect today’s convenience of product and service with the inconvenience of debt, sleepless night
• Tradeoffs are everywhere: even if you are wealthy unless you are Jeff Bezos!
• Many people made the habit of spending money they cannot afford to, because they never stop to think about it

3. Financial Education | Jewish Wisdom

• If you let your spouse get away with staff, saying “What can I do”, it becomes a massive problem
• Parents should be cognizant of how newlyweds are living
• If you have a child who is spendthrift, and send it to marriage without proper education, 10 years later guess who is going to end up picking up the pieces?
• Discipline your child on the value of money and discipline spending

4. Investment tips | Jewish Wisdom

• If you need to open a retirement account or put aside some savings, you don’t need to hire someone. Buy Vanguard Total Market Index. Call it the day. Leave it Alone. Forget you did it. It will grow. It will be unbelievable
• You will take hundreds of important financial decisions in your life. You don’t need to be DIY experts on minor things (but you need to be good with financial ones)
• Do you know how many people I met that put money in 401 (company-sponsored retirement account in the US), in cash for 10 years or more, instead of investing it? It is criminal! I met a 26-year-old that bought bonds because he doesn’t know what to pick, so he picks something “safe”. You don’t want to pick safe when you are 26. You want to be as aggressive as possible
• A Bank statement in nominal value hides the loss of purchasing power due to inflation

5. Side Hustle | Jewish Wisdom

You can watch the original full interview with Naftali Horowitz at Kosher Money, and download my Key Takeaways here.

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