Finance: Insights & Inspiration

We equate money with security, success, power, comfort or self-esteem. It follows then that when we lack money, it feels like we lack everything that makes life worthwhile and meaningful.

As I contemplate my next unit of time, my eyes are on the Selfless Fund. Something tells me it will be a great investment.

Will we wake up one morning to discover we've got back our jobs, but there's no kosher restaurants left where we can celebrate that, our schools have closed down, and our community is left desolate?

If I were a "rich man," I wouldn't be very valuable. A Visa card can't offer sympathy, a T-bond can't read bedtime stories and a stock option can't help make a minyan.

In the wake of the latest business scandals in the news, let's go ahead and ask the real question that sits in the back of the head of every businessman with a conscience: Is business inherently at odds with ethics?

Money is a fiction. It's not a measure of worth. It's a means not an end. What we give is more ours than what we gain. And "financial security" comes from a much higher place than stock portfolios...

By nature, I'm an optimist. Twenty years ago, I knew about the horrors of terrorism. But conventional wisdom said that it couldn't happen in America. So I trusted; and I slept peacefully.

Devastating, destructive, overwhelming, historic. This has been the tsunami of the dollar and in its path it has left people uprooted and fearing the unknown...

How can I inspire him if I myself am uninspired? How can I answer him if I myself struggle with the exact same question? I also don't know what the future holds...

Thousands of years of painful history have taught us how to be resilient in the face of crisis, and how to keep going, forever marching forward...

Noah entered an ark to escape the mighty waters. Where is our ark?

You are fighting a deeply ingrained instinct. A man is a provider--does he have any instinct stronger than this? To provide for his family he will put his very life on the line without a second thought...

I'm grateful that we have food to eat and a roof over our heads. Nothing is lacking as I carefully budget, trying to maximize every penny; but I still can't stop the anxiety from creeping into my heart...

Isn't it strange how just because someone is wealthy there is a widespread perception that they are automatically imbued with all other attributes as well?

Torah's message is infinity; everywhere, all the time and in all matters. We do not aspire merely to "fixed incomes," or fixed anything else...

We often find ourselves inundated with worldly concerns. Are we then spiritually lost? Can the Divine sensibilities of our souls survive the onslaught of "the real world"?

He held two backpacks, one full of sandwiches and the other money. He strolled down the aisle offering the patrons a choice: "If you have, please give. If you need, please take."

Here's perhaps one of the most unfortunate side effects of this financial crunch: It seems that many couples are opting to remain married instead of divorcing—they simply can't afford to divorce...

The physical is really a reflection of the spiritual. If there is a physical recession – a credit crunch – that suggests that there is a spiritual recession—a spirit crunch...

While the news coverage was dismal and pessimistic it didn't quite hit home until I became one of the depressing statistics. I sat in shock that Friday afternoon, staring at my boss in utter dismay...

It's no fun struggling to make ends meet. There is nothing romantic or exotic about living in a slum. Yet, sometimes it is the toughest times that accentuate our innate goodness.

It turns out that the "six financial milestones before thirty" aren't only financial, and aren't only for thirty-year-olds. But these milestones are six wise principles for leading spiritually meaningful, successful—and enriching—lives.

A similar global "recession" of sorts, is spoken about in the Torah, one that resulted in the emergence of a new world order that would forever change the course of history.

I stand in awe of my grandparents' generation, who fought two world wars and overcame a depression in the span of three short decades. But they had a solid work ethic and an unshakable confidence...

The common conception of how the system works is faulty. People see a career as "making a living." But a career doesn't "make" anything

I've always felt slightly self-conscious as the only family on the block whose father was a Rabbi and made less than $500,000 a year...

Our guide pointed out a pale pink flower with that was literally growing out of a rock! The guide explained that despite its dry, rocky environment, the hardy rakefet could grow and thrive...

It seems that the old adage “money can’t buy happiness” has some truth to it. Although wealth has as much as tripled over the past fifty years, mental illness has increased at an equal rate.

I have a confession to make. Several years ago, when I went bankrupt, I was too embarrassed to tell you my story . . .

Maybe the whole problem with capitalism is the script we're writing for it. Maybe if we rewrote that script, the same forces that are messing up the world would be fixing it instead...

Meditation, prayer, mindful eating—those are good. But nothing beats the spiritual transformation that can be accomplished by doing business like a mentch.