This book-like article was written by Rudy and published on SmartMoneyToday.com

There is no doubt that Jewish are successful and wealthy. So, what is their secret?

This article is a research about the riches of Jewish. They are the smartest and most educated group of people in the world and as result the most successful business people out there. Mark, the founder of Facebook is Jewish.

If you struggle with money and success in life, this post is going to open your mind to a new world of riches. Not only it’ll impact positively your life, but also the future of your children.

“Do you love your children enough to spend 5 minutes of your time to learn how Jewish educate their children to make a difference in the world?”

If yes, let’s the party start!

During my research, I came across a quote that is worth to mention:

Poverty is a result of poor choices not of poor luck – Celso Cukierkorn

I think this quote tell all. I hear people faulting their luck for an unsuccessful life. Is it? I’m a strong believer that choices are the most powerful influence in one life.

Anyway, going back to Jewish:

Why are Jewish considered to be more successful in business than other groups in society?
Is just a myth or there is something special about them which attract wealth and money?

Research done has shown that the most difficult part in our lives is dealing with money. When you get this part right, all other areas in our lives are relatively easy to deal with.

STORY AND FACTS ABOUT JEWISH

For understating the Jewish secrets to success and money, first we need to understand their cultural background and religious teaching through Talmud, the Torah, and other texts which are ingrained into their culture over the centuries, making them generally successful as a group.

A little story here.

FACT; More than 3000 years ago, Moses commanded his people to teach their children and become a literate nation.

Jewish were the only group of people that everyone had an education, something which in those times, where the privilege only for the elite.

This is what the high priest commanded: “A community that has no public-school teachers,” the Talmud ruled, “shall be excommunicated.”

Amazing!

Nowadays, there are so many countries with no education. Just look at most African’s countries.

Jewish educational methods were far ahead of anything the rest of the world had ever seen, not only back then, but for today standards as well.

Few of the practices:

The Mishnah and the Talmud demanded critical-thinking skills.
The practice of studying in pairs and learning out loud taught the art of dialogue.
A good student was one who asked good questions and “made his teacher wiser.”

I went to the public school in Italy and it was all about memorizing things and learn how to do a job. I was a data processor on my own.

Group’s projects were uncommon, and exchange knowledge during tests was prohibited (the teacher would make the test null). The school rarely teach ethics or spiritual knowledge because it’s against the law.

Another interesting fact is Jews are only some 13.5 million. About 5.7 million Jews live in Israel, 5 million in USA and the rest are scattered as minorities worldwide.

Jews are only 0.02 percent of the world’s population but 35 percent of all Nobel Prize winners.

In the Hasidic schools, professional matchmakers choose spouses based on brains, so if you’re the smartest, a young man is matched to the most beautiful daughter of the richest family. This is a great incentive to study hard.

JEWISH EDUCATION; THE PILLARS TO SUCCESS

Educating The Whole Child; Jewish traditions are the basis of ethics in their society and they are rich in spiritual inspiration.

Give The Child An Identity; A Jewish child is imbued with confidence and pride to face the world and make a difference.

Give The Best To The Children; Jewish can’t think of anything more valuable in life than ensuring their children will receive the best and strive for the best.

Community; They learn, make friends and they grow within a well-educated community.

Marriage; Most Jewish marry between themselves or others only if highly educated and successful.

WHAT JEWISH TEACH THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT MONEY

In most cultures, talking about money is something evil. I’m Christian, and in my religion/culture, the money matters are extremely delicate which are treated like a family secret.

My father thought me about money while shopping in the supermarket. It’s system was simple, buy the cheapest products to save money.

This was much everything I learned about money management from my family. Not very helpful.

Instead, Jewish have a jar system to teach their children about financial discipline as early as 2 years old. Impressive!

Financial education start at the young age so the kids can develop an understanding about five principles:

TITHE; The paying of the tithes is an important part of the Jewish religious worship. It’s a 10% religious tax.
GIVING; 10% is for your neighborhood if in need.
SAVING; 10% is kept away for emergency.
INVESTING; 20% to invest, and early investment is the best strategy enabling the compounding power to increase your wealth.
SPENDING; The biggest junk, 50% is for daily spending.

You aren’t allowed to move money from one jar to the another and you must allocate the money immediately.

If you are a visual person, watch this video.

10 JEWISH COMMANDMENTS
WHICH WILL MAKE YOU RICH!

Learning these basic principles and practicing them in your life will ensure that you are as successful in business, investing and life as you can possibly be.

#1 – Believe in the Dignity and Morality of Business

Jews are taught to conduct business honestly and with morality, and you have a product or service that people want or need, then you’re making the world a better place, and you’re making people happy.

This principle is wonderful and important to understand that what you do for a living is an act of service to the world and other people. Be valuable to people, and if a business is done right, money will flow to you.

You think that you aren’t a business man?

The truth is we are all in business, from the Apple’s CEO to the stay home mom. We bring value to others in a form or another.

#2 – Expand Your Network

It’s important to meet as many people as you can and genuinely have an interest in them.

Only by actively engage with other people, can circumstances of wealth be created. You might have noticed that people tend to do business and favor others whom they have a relationship.

Keep in mind that the key element here is to be genuine. Take short cuts and fake your relationships will not take you anywhere in life.

Jewish communal life is tied to the Sabbath, the Synagogue, and Jewish celebrations that bring many people together that may not all know each other. These are excellent opportunities to network and build relationships outside the business purpose alone in a “what can you do for me” atmosphere.

These are excellent opportunities to network and build relationships outside the business purpose alone in a “what can you do for me” atmosphere.

Think about some successful person that you know. Does he has many connections?

#3 – Get To Know Yourself

Knowing yourself is important in order to be effective at whatever you do. People want to do business with you only if they can relate.

What people value most in others to do business with is:

Trust; We all want to do business with people who we feel we can trust and even connect with on a somewhat spiritual level.
Determination; Know what you want so you can achieve your goals. Understand what motivate you and others.
Person of Character; When you become a person of character, you become someone that people want to admire, get to know, and do business with.
Constant: Consistency helps you learn to be disciplined and diligent in the completion of any goals you may have in life. People like to deal with stable people.

#4 – Don’t Try To Be Perfect

Life, investing and business is never going to be perfect. There are always problems and imperfections along the way. So, don’t worry too much about it, just move on.

Due to imperfection, there will always be the crook business owners, poor people trying to cheat you and unfear treatments at work. That is life. Don’t blame others or capitalism for it, nothing can be perfect.

In business, rewards those who are driven by cooperation and obligation to other. Jews are firm believer in capitalism even before it existed.

#5 – Be A Leader

Jewish tradition teaches that in some way, we are all leaders. According to Jewish tradition, a leader is simply someone who has followers. You can’t be a leader without followers.

Take action and the opportunities to lead to riches will arise.

According to Jewish, to be an effective leader you need:

Vision; Keep your eye on the big picture while aligning your followers to the ultimate goal.
Learn to Follow; You can’t lead if you can’t follow your leader.
Confrontation; You must have the courage to present and maintain the vision, even in the face of opposition.

#6 – Embrace Changes

The world is dynamic, as people and business. Keep an open mind to changes because they bring prosperity.

This process of “Creative Destruction” (getting rid of the old in favor of newer and better) is an essential element of wealth creation that brings forth long-term prosperity, even though it may cause some turbulence in the short term.

#7 – Forsee The Future

The better you can plan for the future, the more successful you’ll be in life.

Learning from the past, taking the time to analyze the present and spotting trends. This work very well in investing.

Recognize what can and can’t affect you; Any circumstances that will have a direct effect on you, business and life. For example, what would you do if you lose your job?
Interpret events without emotion; emotion blinds the logic. I know isn’t easy but try to make an effort to distance yourself emotionally from anything so that you can make better decisions.
Any circumstances aren’t new; Look at history for your doubts. Somewhere, there is an answer for you.
Watch for patterns; You must have noticed by now that in life there are patterns that repeat itself.
For example, most of the winters have snow. Don’t prepare for winter is fullish because you go against the odds. Learn trends, currency historic prices, market cycles and more to mold your future for the best.
Visualize your future; This state of mind will help to make your thoughts reality.
Educate yourself; Knowledge will let you be FREE.

#8 – Understand Money

Money is a simple system of trade that is built on trust. Any country that is not trustworthy usually has a weak currency.

So I can say that money is a physical representation of what you’ve done for others. The more you have, the more you have changed the world.

However, in some case, the opposite is true, if you ever heard about conmen.

#9 – Give Away

Rich Jewish should give away 10% of their money to charities or other means to help the needed.

This might sound illogical, but Jewish (and Christian) tradition teaches that when you give your money away, more will return to you.

If you are seen as a generous person, that always give and never ask, you will be regarded successful and trusted. More business will go your way.

#10 – Never Retire

According to Jewish wisdom, retiring early isn’t a good thing. Planning to retire at a certain age is a recipe for unhappiness.

God create us to work. Your usefulness to the world is not a finite resource that gets used up, so when you retire and no longer add to the world through work, you deteriorate.

Therefore, one of the keys to longevity is caring for others. Life revolves around relationships, and caring for others through work helps us to care for ourselves as well.

I’ve to agree with this. After I retired from the corporate world at the age of 31, I carry on to work by helping other to achieve financial independence. Technically I’m still working.

Any form of adding value to this world is considered work for Jewish. If we don’t bring any value, we are an empty body occupying space.

So, tomorrow morning while going to work, keep in mind your creative work adds value to the world.

We should continue to add to the world in some way until it is impossible to do so. This is what keeps us moving, fulfilled, and happy.

HOW JEWISH MANAGE THEIR WEALTH

Talmud has a lot of useful information about how to manage wealth through Judaism principles.

The Sages of the Talmud gave a great deal of useful practical advice together with the spiritual motivation.

The most interesting concept found in these principles is diversification.

THE STORY OF JACOB AND HIS CAMELS

In the book, there is a teaching from Jacob who divided his camels into two camps in case Esau falls to the enemy.

In this passage, we can learn that keeping all our investments in the same egg nest isn’t good conduct.

Being prepared for the unknown future by diversifying in different assets classes and geographical location is a smart move to weather any bad storm.

There is some more specific text in the book that read: “A person should always divide his money into three: one-third in land, one-third in commerce, and one-third at hand.”

That is a 33% diversification strategy for each asset class that is similar to the Couch Potato Strategy.

The impressive part is the couch potato strategy has been develop in the last century. Instead, the Talmud has been written some 3000 years ago.

The financial logic behind the three asset classes are:

Land never lose all its value, but the return is minimal. (you can use gold and property too)
Commerce has the highest return but also the greatest risk. (you invest in ETFs or stocks)
Cash is held for an emergency.

I’ve learned that Jew teaching is part of a religious ideal of temperance, prudence, and generally adopting a long-term approach to planning our life.

It’s prohibited for a person to sell a productive asset to buy a house for his benefit only, or sell his house and buy movable goods (cars, bikes, etc).

There is more; shouldn’t engage in business with the money arise from the sale of the own residence.

This financial approach is useful and the Jews who follow these principles can do well in life.

CONCLUSION

It’s been proven that, as a group, the Jewish people are some of the most successful in the world when it comes to business and money.

Why is that? It’s because of the teaching they receive at a young age.

The wisdom taught by the Torah and other ancient texts allow them to develop the right mindset and principles to succeed in life.

My conclusion is that education and self-learning are part of life and the only way to riches. Be greedy for learning, and you will be financially and spiritual rich in no time.

Do you think acquiring financial knowledge from childhood would impact once life? Do you feel your parents didn’t teach you enough about money? Please comment below.