Mesila in Baltimore Tonight!

Via SaraK, this is great:

Join Mesila tonight, Monday, Feb. 20th, and gain some hashkafic views as well as some practical starting points for the budgeting process.

The ad:

Jewish Economics Survey - Redux

A few years back, a number of friends kept asking me questions about finances, particularly when it came to getting married. "What does it cost to live for a young couple in their first few months? First year? First three years? With a kid? In a 2-bedroom apartment vs. a 1-bedroom?" ...You get the idea.

While I would try to answer as best as I could, at the end of the day, everybody's expenses are different. I decided to try e-mailing some questions to friends, and as friends and I thought of more and more questions, it was decided to make it into a Google form. From there, it turned into a questionnaire, and finally, the Jewish Economics Survey was born. Thanks to the help of many individuals (particularly Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky) and through much discussion, the data gathered was formally presented to extremely engaging crowds, and the knowledge gained has impacted many people tremendously - including myself. For example, it was only after creating the survey that we finally took to heart how important having life insurance is. My favorite letter has always been this one:

Right when you came out with the survey, I took it. I also emailed you to say thank you for giving me the nudge to speak to my chasan. I am happy to announce that one year into our marriage, we are DEBT FREE and even have savings (two-months of salary!).

What's truly great (besides this couple) is that this was a completely side benefit of the survey, one which admittedly wasn't realized until after a number of people had already taken it. The primary purpose of the survey was to have information for people to utilize while preparing for different stages of life, whether sharing a singles apartment in Washington Heights, being a newly married couple in Baltimore, having two kids in Brooklyn, raising three teenagers in Cleveland, or surviving five tuition payments in Houston. What people have taken out of the survey for themselves has been nothing short of incredible.

It's now about to be 2012, and with some tweaks, I'd like to give the survey another go-round. A number of organizations have expressed serious interest in the survey and its potential utilities, and it would be incredible if we had the resources to do this in a more formal fashion - but first, let's see what can be done just like this. To have at least some understanding of what the cost of living is in various Orthodox communities in the country is would be fantastic; and to be able to identify just what people are struggling with most - and to what extent - is incredibly important.

The Jewish Economics Survey is completely anonymous and takes most people about 10-15 minutes to complete*. Please take the time to fill out the survey and help us all have a more clear picture of both our present and our future.

Please also pass along and share the survey with friends and family, spouses and Facebook friends at http://tinyurl.com/jeconomics. Please share any feedback you have so this can continually be improved upon, and thanks so much for your time and help!

~ Ezzie

P.S. If you have formal survey training, actuarial skills, and/or programming skills and would like to help, we would love to improve upon both the survey itself and its presentation via a dedicated website which would present information for members of the community to prepare themselves for various changes, from a move to a marriage, from a birth to a child entering high school. If you are interested, please reach out to us at jeconomics@gmail.com or myself directly at serandez@gmail.com. Thank you very much.

* If you find that it takes longer, a) please let me know! and b) it's probably good that you took it. :)

Honesty and the Jewish Community IV: Seeing is Believing (and Ignorance is Bliss)

(continued from here - whole series is here)

Friends of ours once made a comment literally in passing, as we stopped to say hi to one another walking down the street, that has always stuck out. It was shortly after the Jewish Economics Survey was started the first time around, and was quite honest. Our friends commented that they had seen the survey, but they decided after starting it that they didn't really want to take it. When we asked why not, they responded that "We know that right now and for the foreseeable future, we are living way beyond our means. We'd rather not know exactly how bad it is or think about it too much, and just enjoy life and worry about it later when we can do something about it." To be fair, these friends are not blinding themselves - one is now a doctor, the spouse a professional as well - nor living fancily, and they simply wouldn't have had the ability to do too much about their finances for a while. But the attitude is a real one, albeit differing in scope from person to person.

Often in life, we tend to unconsciously (if not consciously) convince ourselves that things are better than they really are. Sometimes, this is a good trait: It allows us to be more optimistic about life, stay sane when times are rough, continue to function well on a daily basis until things really do get better, or maybe even just allow us to continue enjoying watching sports (last one may apply only to people from Cleveland). But it can also get us into trouble, by not letting us recognize problems quickly enough and allowing them to fester and grow until it's too late. People (usually) innately understand this to be true, which is why so much of life seems to be full of advice columns and tips and tricks which essentially are supposed to 'trick' us into thinking about things properly and doing what we're supposed to be doing.

The easiest way to avoid issues in life is to not see them - and the way to solve them, while difficult, is to open one's eyes and honestly assess what is happening. It's why Mint.com, the free personal finance site and (as many friends and readers know) a personal favorite, sold itself to Intuit for $170 million within a few years of its creation - its visual appeal made its popularity take off and they picked up millions of users in almost no time. One of its PR liaisons once explained the site was delaying putting out a Blackberry application due to its lack of visual appeal on the Blackberries out at that time, and how important the visual representations of spending were to the impact the site had on its users. A favorite story are couples who have stopped fighting about their expenses once they could see it all in front of them clearly, and started working to fix their budget. Without that "in front of your face" simple-to-understand representation, all the data in the world couldn't impact a user the same way.

We have so many issues in the Orthodox community, and yet we turn a blind eye so often to the wrongs the occur within it - from white collar criminals to shady business practices, from excusing horrible behavior and commentary to racism and the like, to the way people are treated as ba'alei teshuva/geirim or in the shidduchim process, to the (finally being discussed somewhat) cases of abuse, we let so much slide. Worse yet, we justify so much of it in the name of "the community" or as "necessary evils" to be put up with. As a simple example, this past week a suit needed to get dry-cleaned prior to an event, and Serach brought it to a nearby dry cleaner we have never used before that said they could get it done that day for a reasonable price. When I went to pick up the suit and pay via debit card, they said they couldn't take it for under $25 - and that since they don't advertise that they accept credit cards, they can refuse to take it. I pointed out that this was false, as per their cardmember agreement, and they said to report them but they will not give me the suit, and literally grabbed it away and took it to the back. (Ezzie: I actually did report them, but apparently in NY you can't report a dry cleaner - they have a specific exemption for dry cleaners that they won't take complaints. Odd.) What disgusted me the most was their argument: The owner said to me,

"I don't care what the rule is, I know I'm not supposed to, but (waving his arm motioning to the other stores nearby) every other store here does it, go ask them. They all won't take cards for under whatever, and I won't either accept credit cards for under $25."

Sadly, the thought that goes through the head of listeners to stories like this not automatically that this is a dishonest store not to be visited, but all too often instead that "I have to remember to bring cash when I go to that dry cleaner."

Until we as a community show that we will absolutely not accept dishonesty at any level, we are simply feeding its continuance and growth. Blissful ignorance may sometimes work for one's self, but it translates into and contributes to countless people being hurt, seeing their lives damaged if not destroyed, and placing many of them into truly dangerous situations. These are not merely the people we pass by on the street but don't really know, so we can pretend that it's "not so bad", but these are our colleagues and people in our shul, our neighbors and friends - people like us.

Or us, too.

(to be continued)

EZ Reads 3/7/11

There's actually a really nice spread of interesting news and pieces to start the week... enjoy!

• A bit of self-promotion: I'm starting up the Jewish Economics Survey v.2.0 shortly, and could use some help.
• R' Yitzchok Adlerstein at Cross-Currents with a strong piece in support of R' Horowitz's latest campaign against abuse.

  In a high-profile case now in progress, he anticipates a large showing in court from members of a closed community – on behalf of the accused. Understanding the impact that this will have on the victims (and victims in unrelated cases!), he urges at least a parallel show of support and concern for them. [...] (Dr. David Pelcowitz shared [...] that child welfare personnel [...] all ask him the same question: “Why is your community more concerned with protecting its image than protecting children?)

• Valley Torah yeshiva high school in Los Angeles (a Chofetz Chaim affiliate), led by 6'9 Aaron Liberman, became the first Orthodox school to capture a basketball title. Congratulations! (HT: Josh)
• The New York Times has a really fascinating series of graphs on measuring happiness across the country in all different ways; and the prototypical happiest man in the country is an observant Jew in Hawaii. Very funny story.
• Bad4Shidduchim has one of her best (serious) posts, noting that people have no need to pity her for being 24 and single - she's quite fine.
• On a semi-related note, this Doghouse cartoon on communication among spouses is hilarious... and accurate.
• Speaking of hilarious, Improv Everywhere did an amazing King Philip IV signing at the Met.
• A man in the UK who will soon be unable to speak is recording words so the computer that will speak for him can use his voice... when he reads to his son. Sad and heartwarming all at once.
• Northern Light discusses the weekend article about food expiration dates not being all that bad of a sign - I'll admit to having gotten neurotic about milk, since we've had bad experiences even with milk that has a "good" date, but on most items I'm pretty lax and have never had an issue.

On Jewish Economics, Schools... and Unions?

In the Orthodox Jewish universe, unions are rarely mentioned or discussed; after all, the typical professions that Orthodox Jews enter are professions which don't typically have unions. But a recent article on unions immediately brought to mind the Jewish community and how it approaches its own economic situation, and what steps seem to be needed to revitalize the community and place it in a much better situation for the long term.

The article discusses why unions are suddenly having a much more difficult time raising the support they've been accustomed to in the past, and concludes that it is the access people have to the actual numbers and deficits that states face that are forcing them to conclude that what unions are demanding is unfair and undeserving of their support. Earlier today, I was interviewed via phone by a Jewish magazine regarding how to educate our young about personal finances, and a large portion of the conversation centered around the Jewish Economics Survey. During the interview, I discussed how one of the most important features of the JES (and in actuality, the key to the success of Mint.com) was how it simply forces awareness: When your numbers are staring you in the face, it's much more difficult to ignore them.

One of the most interesting anecdotes that comes to mind is a young father who was discussing how having all of their numbers in front of them was so sobering, it completely cut out his (financial) arguments with his wife. There was no longer any finger-pointing or claims about who spent on what - it was all there in front of them, and all that mattered now was "Wow, we need to fix this." As a community, we need to do the same type of fix, but it requires a new level of transparency and a dedication among the community to do its best to work with one another. We need to see the numbers of our shuls, schools, and organizations to understand just what the issues are and how bad they have become, and they will likely need to see ours as well.

A few years ago R' Hayyim Schwartz of Chofetz Chaim was one of the speakers at a symposium on tuition at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. One of the most striking points he made (if I am recalling correctly) was that the economic situation and layoffs had resulted in the reduction or elimination of about ten-fifteen (of about 80?) students' tuition payments - they simply could not pay due to layoffs and other tragedies. This sounds quite bad, but even worse when you extrapolate that type of impact to a hypothetical larger school.

Imagine a school of about 400 students, where tuition is $10,000 annually. If the average family ends up paying about $8,000 per student due to financial and other scholarships, the school will typically have $3.2 million in tuition payments per year, of which they probably would collect almost all (since the tuition being paid is after negotiations). But with a sharp economic downturn, this number could drop anywhere from 10-20%, and suddenly the school is short not just the original scholarship amounts, but another $320,000-640,000 - literally, hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's simply too much of an impact for a school to bear, and delayed payments from other parents can turn this into an impossible cash flow problem before a school can even begin working on a solution.

It seems today that it is clear to all that we need to fix the issues that currently face our schools, shuls, and organizations. A prerequisite to this, however, is that as individuals we must get ourselves in order, or the schools will feel compelled to force it on parents - and some are already pushing for this with some very cogent arguments: That camps [discussed a lot recently], vacations, luxury cars, unnecessarily large houses, or the like that cause people to not have enough for tuition places an unfair burden on those who do not purchase those and/or causes tuition prices to rise unfairly on everyone.

We must all first put our own finances in order if we are to solve the crises that face our community. To that end, I plan on putting out a Jewish Economics Survey v2.0 in the near future; if you have not taken the first version previously, please do so! Then, give as much feedback as possible so that the next version can be as strong as possible. I am looking to improve numerous aspects of the survey and in particular to create a better way to splice, drill-down, and share the various data with the Orthodox community as a whole. Certainly much of the information gleaned in the first version was eye-opening and useful, but it certainly had its flaws (particularly as it was originally designed as a simple questionnaire for some friends), and some of the answers were not clean enough to get a clear picture from.

Finally, if you or someone you know would be willing to assist in the second version of the JES, please let me know. In particular, the project could use people who have strong backgrounds in:

• Financial Planning
• Survey Creation
• Statistical Analysis (Groovin'?)
• Web design
• Programming

If you are interested, please e-mail me at JEconomicS at G mail.com (no space after G) with the subject Offering to Help. Thank you very much!

Agenda Driven Data

About a year and a half ago, I was interviewed by a large Jewish organization regarding the Jewish Economics Survey I was conducting (and am looking to release a second version of shortly). Very quickly, the interview headed downward: The interviewer's questions were extremely leading, and he was clearly looking for me to answer in specific ways, primarily along the lines of "if someone would pump money into this, we'd be able to solve this problem" - or in other words, exactly the opposite of what I actually felt. When I would start to answer "well, not really...", I'd quickly get cut off and another question would be asked in its place. Unsurprisingly, the footage which included me was cut just before the video was aired at a large event the organization ran a few weeks later, which apparently championed the need for people to donate more money to help solve the Jewish world's economic problems.

Agenda driven data is one of the hardest obstacles to overcome - whether in the Orthodox world or the world as a whole. For all the obfuscation regarding the Iraq War, the most legitimate potential criticism is not whether the Bush administration had the data to justify invasion, but whether the gathering and weighing of that data was agenda driven in such a way that they were more prone to give it credence than they otherwise would or should have been. More recently, it was impressive to see three liberal publications discuss how liberal or other agenda driven bias is causing major issues in extremely important scientific fields by placing ideology over science.

In The New York Times about two weeks ago, an article about social psychologists' bias tells an eye-opening story:

[Dr. Jonathan Haidt] polled his audience at the San Antonio Convention Center, starting by asking how many considered themselves politically liberal. A sea of hands appeared, and Dr. Haidt estimated that liberals made up 80 percent of the 1,000 psychologists in the ballroom. When he asked for centrists and libertarians, he spotted fewer than three dozen hands. And then, when he asked for conservatives, he counted a grand total of three.

Prior to that, The Atlantic noted that the structure of academia caused research to emphasize the sensational over fact, stating in Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science that

To get funding and tenured positions, and often merely to stay afloat, researchers have to get their work published in well-regarded journals, where rejection rates can climb above 90 percent. Not surprisingly, the studies that tend to make the grade are those with eye-catching findings. [...] Imagine, though, that five different research teams test an interesting theory that’s making the rounds, and four of the groups correctly prove the idea false, while the one less cautious group incorrectly “proves” it true through some combination of error, fluke, and clever selection of data. Guess whose findings your doctor ends up reading about in the journal, and you end up hearing about on the evening news?

And The New Yorker had a fascinating piece entitled The decline effect and the scientific method about the same time discussing how studies which were (and are) used to explain and create numerous theories and ideas are increasingly difficult to replicate, from the effectiveness of anti-depressants to memory to numerous other fields, causing huge questions to be raised about the efficacy and accuracy not only of the studies but of all that has been based on the findings of them. No matter the study, the more it is replicated, the less true it seems to be.

If we as a Jewish community wish to begin fixing our problems, examples such as these show we can't use agenda driven studies to come to conclusions. If we do, ultimately we'll rush in one direction that looks good, only to find over and over that it's just not working the way it's supposed to - and then it will be too late. When the JES began two years ago, the primary purpose was to put together a simple guide for young singles and couples to help them when they began living independently or started their marriage. As the data came in, however, its findings taught so much about what problems existed and how people viewed those problems and the community's economics as a whole - and pointed to, but didn't prove, what might be able to help.

It is high time we put in the effort to collect and truly understand as much data as possible about the Jewish community and its various underlying problems and their causes - and its strengths and what allows those to thrive. Perhaps (!) a data-driven approach will allow us to ultimately help the Jewish community, rather than simply push off what seems to be an increasingly close, inevitable collapse of the structure currently in place.

EZ Reads 2/22/11: Could You Survive on $1,000?

This challenge (by a charity site) is really something: PlaySpent. What would you do if all you had was $1,000? Try the challenge. Sadly, the various difficulties that arise are all too familiar and true: From bank fees to insurance to any wrench thrown in your plans and its spillover effect on everything else. It's scary to think about, and it's scarier to realize that there's really no good answer. But it ultimately helps you prepare for the future by understanding what you need to focus on now.

Some other worthwhile links to start your day with...

• The community-wide hesped for R' N.W. Dessler in Cleveland will take place Thursday evening at 7:45pm at the Yavne campus on Green Road. Audio of all the hespedim from his levaya and burial are available online here; numerous articles which are all worth reading if only for the various stories from his life which are so telling have been compiled by the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland on their website here.
• Via JonB, the effectiveness of GroupOn. I'd say it's about what I'd have expected, which is to say pretty good for most and not so much for a significant group of others. 
• R' Natan Slifkin with an obviously ironic post, discussing WikiLeaks' contrast to many even democratic people and the Rambam's views that there are subjects which are not meant for the general public. One close relative said exactly that to me upon hearing another relative give a Science & Torah shiur during the Shabbos of my aufruf, noting that "everything he said is true, but it doesn't mean it should be said [because they can't understand it]."
• On the Main Line with an interesting historical view on the line about how the Jewish people were healthy until Rabbis became doctors.
• Elder of Ziyon shows just how crazy this world is, with people honestly believing - at least according to their tweets - that Israeli F-16s are dropping bombs on Libyans, or that Israel trained African Jews to shoot people. Nice.

Saving Young - Now, Even Harder

(Hat tip: Diana) There's a very interesting article on The Simple Dollar which discusses the differences in costs now versus the past, and why it's actually much more difficult for a young person or couple to "get ahead" now than it has been in the past. Adjusting for inflation, et al, people are taking home less pay, homes are more expensive, education is more expensive, and minimum requirements and essentials for getting and keeping a job have grown.

This led me to wonder if this was true as well of young couples in the Orthodox Jewish world: Do we face more "start-up" costs as compared to generations past? I wish I had information to back this up, but a quick guess would be that Jewish inflation has far outpaced actual inflation and wage growth. I also believe that societal standards in the Orthodox community, even the base standards, are substantially higher than in the past. Anyone have any actual data, input, or even guesses?

JES makes BusinessWeek!

In a Business Week article that discussed a number of online financial websites, one of the sites discussed is my personal favorite, Mint.com. I was called up a few weeks ago by David Bogoslaw, who wrote the Business Week piece, and we spoke for about 10 minutes about Mint and what's great about it (and what its drawbacks can be). I think he took the most important point well, in addition to a small shout-out for the Jewish Economics Survey!: 

Ezzie Goldish, a young New York accountant, began using Mint just before the birth of his first child in June 2008. A month later, he lost his job while his wife was still working part-time so she could care for their baby. With Mint's help over the next year, the couple organized their finances and managed to pay off 40 percent of credit-card debt despite a 40 percent cut in income.

"As much as we thought we knew what we were doing, until you see [how you're spending] in front of you, it's a lot harder," he says. Goldish, who had already been getting calls for financial advice because of his profession, posted an economics survey on his blog for people in his Orthodox Jewish community. He has received hundreds of comments expressing interest in Mint from around the world.

 Awareness is absolutely the key to managing finances, and this is possibly more true for those who think they have a good handle on their finances. There's simply a huge difference between keeping track normally and actually seeing it all in front of you in a big chart that shows where all your money has been going.

What's great about Mint is how it just shows it all in front of you so clearly. A few friends have said since starting on Mint that it just makes tracking everything so much easier (and as someone noted, it also stops fights over spending like "you spend $XX on A" vs. "no I don't, it's not even close!", for those interested in the shalom bayis aspect - hard to argue with the numbers right in front of you), and that makes it a lot easier to cut back.

I commented to him that the biggest 'drawback' was that Mint only helped you for the past and present, but wasn't great for the future - though to be fair, neither were most any other sites. It's hard to adjust your spending to save for the future well. What was especially cool at the Intuit meeting I went to was that they're actually unveiling a tool to do exactly this soon: It will not only let you set goals and suggest goals, but will factor in as many details as it can to help you save, including acknowledging that you will need to save different amounts at different times to meet your goals, and that helps make goals feel reachable. Saying "you need to put away $85,000" is a lot harder to do than "put away $40 this month toward your son's college fund". It will even factor in things like presumed inflation and various changes in your spending habits, including changes that happen over time. It's a brilliant tool that will really round it out well.

Now, if only they had a Blackberry app...! :)

JES: Panelist at Intuit's Town Hall Meeting

Tomorrow, April 28th, I have been invited to be a panelist at the Mint.com/Intuit Town Hall meeting at the NASDAQ Marketplace in Times Square. As some of you may recall, I originally wrote a letter to Mint.com regarding the Jewish Economics Survey, asking for their assistance in taking it to a new level in order to help the greater community. I was thrilled when someone representing Mint.com contacted me in response shortly thereafter, expressing some interest in the concept. We're still in contact as we try and determine if there is a way for them to easily help me with the project in some way, even as their primary focus is on their recent acquisition by Intuit (which owns Quicken, Quickbooks, TurboTax, etc.).

Meanwhile, the representative contacted me recently and asked,

We are going to be hosting a Town Hall event on April 28th in Manhattan. The topic is Personal Finance, and it will be hosted by Aaron Patzer [Ez: the founder of Mint.com] and Beth Kobliner (www.bethkobliner.com). We’re hoping to gather a group of 15-18 participants together to talk about the current concerns  in the Recession. Given your details on the specific budget/finance issues of the Orthodox Jewish community, I’d love to invite you to participate.

I happily agreed to take part, and am really looking forward to both contributing to and learning from the panel. As it says above, I'm going to be a part of the Personal Finance panel, which is from 3:45-5:00pm, and moderated by Beth Kobliner. There is a streaming link that you can sign up for in advance here; in Aaron Patzer's post about the panel he notes you can ask questions via Twitter or straight to Intuit.

The panel is being billed as "Personal Finance: A discussion with NY folks on how they’ve changed their financial habits, what they’ve learned, and how they’re coping with the changes in the economy. Personal finance expert Beth Kobliner will moderate." I'm certain that the panel will be really interesting and perhaps a bit eye-opening for many, and that there will be much to learn from it. Please take part online and feel free to post your questions! In addition, there are two other sessions earlier in the day which are probably very interesting to many SerandEz readers: 9:30-10:45am on Small Business, and from 12:45-2:00pm on Kids & Money: A Discussion on Financial Literacy.

Enjoy, and thanks so much to Mint.com and Intuit for this opportunity.

JES Letter

I received this e-mail in the morning, and it meant a lot to me in showing the usefulness and impact of the Jewish Economics Survey.

Right when you came out with the survey, I took it. I also emailed you to say thank you for giving me the nudge to speak to my chasan. I am happy to announce that one year into our marriage, we are DEBT FREE and even have savings (two-months of salary!). You truly did a mitzvah, and for that I thank you!!!

Mazel tov to the couple on their anniversary and for getting ahead of the game early, rather than behind. Hopefully they can continue to move further and further ahead as their lives and family move forward and grow!

JES: Letter to Mint

The following is a letter I wrote to Mint.com (as friends and readers know, one of my favorite sites/tools) this evening about the Jewish Economics Survey and an idea a couple friends and I have discussed in the past. Hopefully they'll respond positively to the idea; meanwhile, I thought it was worth sharing with readers here, many of whom have expressed great interest in the JES and the future plans for it.

Dear Mint,

I've been using Mint.com for a couple of years, and countless friends and family (whether through me or others) do as well, and we all love it. It's truly changed our lives - when I was laid off in July 2008, barely a month after my second daughter's birth, Mint helped us not only cut down our expenses without feeling any negative effects, but actually cut down on some of our debt and really get ourselves organized.

While I was unemployed, I had more time to spend on my blog, which caters primarily to the Orthodox Jewish community. Within the Orthodox Jewish community there is often a large but ignored financial squeeze on families due to some of the inherent costs of living within such a community - more expensive housing, due to the need to be close to synagogue; private religious school tuitions; Kosher food; etc. In addition, many Orthodox Jews marry young - my wife and I were married shortly before we turned 21. This often translates into an even greater difficulty when it comes to managing finances, as young couples and families are both unprepared for the financial difficulties that come with marriage and raising a family, and many are still in college or graduate school during the early years of marriage, adding to the pressures.

As a favorite topic of mine on the blog was always economics, I determined to write about the difficulties a young couple might face, and decided to ask a few friends in similar situations to compile a little data before writing. As I developed what questions I wanted to ask those friends, it turned into a larger questionnaire, and then a survey - for singles, couples, parents and grandparents. I decided to post the whole thing on the blog, figuring I'd get at least a handful of responses which would be useful as well. The survey took on a life of its own, and resulted in hundreds of people submitting their information over a few months, two presentations including one that was filmed and reviewed by a Jewish cable TV channel, a couple other interviews, etc.

While the primary purpose of the survey was (and is) to prepare people for various stages of life across different demographics and in different communities by seeing what people in similar situations typically spend, one of the great outgrowths of the survey was how simply answering the questions the survey posed made them more aware of their own expenses. About half of all respondents noted that just taking the (basic) survey made them more aware of their own expenses, and most seemed to feel they had a better realization of just how much they didn't know. Many took the suggestion at the beginning and end of the survey to use Mint.com to help manage their finances, and some wrote in months later, thankful for the suggestion and noting how much it helped them really get a handle on their finances.

Thankfully, in July 2009, I found a great job in a wonderful start-up company which focuses on bringing great ideas to life. (Too bad Mint didn't come out now!) Unfortunately, as the company has grown and my own responsibilities have increased, this has left me with little time to work on the survey, so it's been put on hold temporarily. In addition, as wonderful as GoogleDocs is, it simply hasn't remained stable enough for the survey, sometimes randomly reordering the questions or having other glitches. However, I and the people who've helped me out think the project is a really important one, and want to make sure that we turn it into something strong and useful. One of the trickier aspects of the survey is that people's finances change over time - prices go up, prices go down, situations change... what a person responded in March may have changed by September. In addition, even when they're responding, people sometimes forget or estimate wrongly some of their expenses.

We started to wonder: What if we could help the people taking the survey, but at the same time, have them help us? Let's help them track their expenses - but allow us to use that information to help other people, too. Of course, we would need everyone's private information to remain that way - while it was amazing that so many people voluntarily shared information with the original survey, that was on a more basic level. After musing how it's too bad we don't have something like Mint, we realized - why not ask Mint?!

Our idea is to partner with Mint in creating opt-in opportunities within Mint. Let people choose to take part in projects such as ours by allowing their information to be relayed securely and anonymously through a trustworthy site such as Mint.com. Let projects such as ours design specific categories and subcategories within Mint.com that are applicable to the communities we live in and are working to assist, and teach Mint to recognize vendors common to such communities. Seeing the trends and issues within such communities can help not only to prepare those people for the issues that await them as they move through their lives, but also can help communities to solve problems by working together to address those issues.

We think this is something that would be a great opportunity not just for us, but for any community or sub-community that wishes to carry out projects like this to help one another. In addition, communities can simply encourage their members to take part - even if the data won't be used, the members themselves will gain from that extra awareness Mint provides them with. And of course, Mint itself will be adding countless new members as projects encourage people to use Mint to help themselves and for the projects' sake.

We would love the opportunity to partner with Mint on this project, and believe that this can be a mutually beneficial relationship that could positively impact the lives of entire communities.

Thanks so much for your consideration,

Ezzie Goldish
Jewish Economics Survey, Creator
http://SerandEz.blogspot.com

Quotable

DeepThroat on marriage, dating, and shidduchim:

"People want to make it seem like there's only one way to [get married], and if you do it any other way you'll be ostracized... [But] it's one of those things, once you get married, nobody cares how you did it."

(via RD) Erica Jong on advice:

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."

A young teenage boy with a married brother who is expecting his second child telling Erachet's teenage sister:

"I learned from my brother not to get married before I can support myself."

Amen to all three.

JES Presentation #2 this Shabbos in KGH

*sticky post* please scroll down for the latest from SerandEz

I will be speaking iyH this Shabbos, August 8th at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills at 150-05 70th Road as part of their summer lecture series. The description they are using at the YI of KGH is that I will be discussing "an economic survey of the Jewish community and what it means".

This will be somewhat different from the presentation I gave in Washington Heights a couple of months back, as the focus is a bit different, the crowd a bit different, and the inability to show slides (it is Shabbos, after all) dramatically changes how I will be able to demonstrate findings. It'll be an interesting challenge to talk about statistics with little in the way of visuals to use. I may have to print a few things out.

The speech/presentation is at 5:00pm Shabbos afternoon, and it is one hour for both the presentation and the question and answer session.

I'll try to post some notes and some of the questions and answers Sunday morning as best as I can recall them.

Everyone is of course invited to attend, and if you'd like to read up on some of what has been discussed so far on the blog, please feel free to do so by clicking here.

This should be great - I know I'm excited!

A Thankful Reminder

I'm speaking this Shabbos in Kew Gardens Hills on the Jewish Economics Survey, and hope that this weekend I'll be able to start on Stage II of the survey, which is to seriously expand its reach, particularly in smaller communities. I have to thank both a couple of major organizations and a couple of individuals (whom I believe wish to remain anonymous for the moment) who've been instrumental in gathering contacts and the like to help in this endeavor. If you have further contacts that can be helpful in spreading the survey, please don't hesitate to contact me at serandez@gmail.com - just place JES somewhere in the title, thanks!

If you haven't yet taken the survey, please take it here! For more discussion on the survey and its findings so far, click here.

Unfocused Study?

UPDATE: Just tuned in for a few minutes of the live conference, and it's far better than the release would have indicated in terms of what is being discussed, though with the caveat that 72 Board Presidents may not be a great sample as it is spread over all types of Jews.

At 12:00 noon today, July 13th, YU will be hosting a live interactive conference on a study they conducted regarding the high costs of Jewish education, allowing viewers to submit questions in real time to the presenters. Having received the press release and after reading through it a few times to ensure that I was in fact reading it carefully and correctly, I am terribly saddened and dismayed at the approach they seem to be taking and in particular at the misleading headline they used to pitch it. The press release is here: 1, 2, 3. However, there is a bright side, as you'll see below.

The (mis)leading headline states the following:

Institute for University-School Partnership at Yeshiva University:
‘Day Schools Could Gain $100 Million Through Better Management’

While this sounds wonderful, implying that a focus on elimination of wasteful spending would severely cut down on the cost of Jewish education and reducing the burden on families and supporters, the rest of the press release offers barely a mention of this. Instead, the focus throughout the memo is on fundraising, fundraising, and fundraising:
{Note: all quotes from the release}

• Only about one-third of presidents strongly agree that board members give their schools their top personal philanthropic gifts or that they generate financial support for school events.
• Only about one-quarter of presidents feel that board members are actively engaged in identifying and cultivating potential major donors for their institutions.
• ...presidents overwhelmingly say that fundraising/advocacy and strategic planning, the two areas in which their boards are underperforming, are the two areas that impact most on overall school performance and affordability.
• “While schools must find ways to cut spending, this survey suggests that we can help preserve the educational core of the school and maintain school quality by maximizing fundraising and strategic financial planning.”
• ...in support of communal fundraising, advocating for increased government funding and promoting inter-school collaboration. At the same time, we are also focusing on helping day school boards learn to increase their engagement in financial planning, fundraising, and expense management.
• "...it is incumbent upon the board members to serve as leaders both in planning as well as fundraising and their own personal giving.”

Meanwhile, there was very little focus on cutting costs, no mention of transparency, no real mention of keeping costs in line with revenues, and no discussion of looking at alternatives to the current structure in any way to make tuition more affordable.

This is very much in line with the overall feeling I got when I was interviewed by YU's Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) a number of weeks ago regarding the Jewish Economics Survey. They filmed me as part of a documentary they are showing at their ChampionsGate conference taking place this weekend in Orlando, and the impression I was left with from the questions being asked and the reaction to the answers I was giving left me disappointed. I came out of that interview with the impression (and hopefully this is incorrect) that they were looking to hear from me how dire circumstances were, how awful of a state we were in... and that the solution required a huge influx of donations to organizations and schools who can help manage the situation and make everything better. Seeing this press release was equally disheartening, further reinforcing the implication that problems will be best solved by throwing money, rather than starting from the bottom to create a base understanding of the communal economic state and how schools function

On the flip side, perhaps this is a misreading and just a poorly presented release. Harry Bloom of YU's Azrieli Graduate School, quoted throughout the release and presenting at the press conference today, is chairing a discussion at ChampionsGate called "Re-Envision and Re-Engineer Our Day Schools - Evaluate, and Craft New Community and School Economic Models". Hopefully, today's press conference will be positive and forward-thinking, looking for ways to understand that we need to start from the bottom up, not the top down, if we are to fully understand what are and how we can approach the problems that are facing us.

Cleaning Out Closets

Those who know us know that I love to clean out closets and houses fully to create space, which is perhaps why I found this post by ProfK so interesting. Excerpts:

She asked the people present: "If you could keep all but 1-5 things, which things would you get rid of and why?" Within a very short period of time all of the participants had come up with their list of items to discard. Many had put down far more than 1-5 items.

The leader then asked this question: "If these items are of no importance to you, and you wouldn't miss them if they were gone forever, why do you still have them?" My friend reported that the group leader then went on to discuss how any closet/room system of organization is going to break down and stop being useful if items keep getting added in but no items leave. [...]

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why such little change comes to the organizations of Klal. We know they aren't working the way we need them to work, there is no "space in the closet" to keep everything that is in place, but we keep on trying to rearrange things without getting rid of things, because we might need them later. Perhaps, and if we have the space for them later we can buy them/put them into place then. Then again, maybe we'll discover that we can live just fine without these things.

So, what 1-5 items would you get rid of if doing so meant that your "closets" would have all the room needed to store the things that really matter to you? What things could Klal get rid of that would give us some breathing room?

I think it's a fascinating question, and I don't think we can know the answer as a klal until we know what is important. Unfortunately, because people will always differ on what is and is not important or a priority, we often end up with each person or group ensuring that what they feel is priority remain on the list - essentially leaving everything there.

As a community as a whole, I think we need to step back further and start from scratch. It's harder to throw out something once you view yourself as having it, but it's easier (albeit not easy) to not add something when you know you don't have the resources for it. One of the purposes of the JES is to take people back on an individual level to those basics - in the hopes that we can then do the same on the communal level.

The Financial Restructuring of the American Orthodox Community

Hat tip: Harry-er than them all

This article in the Jewish Action (the Orthodox Union magazine) by Mark (Moishe) Bane is one of the best articles on the future of Orthodox Jewry in terms of economics that I've read, and he covers just about every major point that needs to be covered perfectly and succinctly.

Most of all, he notes the need for a more bottom-up approach, including advocating transparency, efficiency, and proper utilization of resources after first understanding what resources are available.

One of my hopes for the Jewish Economics Survey is a twin approach: Creating (and educating) individuals and families which have a sense of control and responsibility over their own personal financial situations, not only for themselves but also to better gauge what we have as individuals and communities available, and to reduce the necessity of organizations and charities in the first place. The more responsible and efficient people are with their own money the more money will be freed up for those in need, while simultaneously reducing the need. It will also foster a greater appreciation and demand for organizations, schools, shuls, and the like that are as cost-conscious and efficient as the people in the community are themselves.

Emerging Jewish Communities

Hat tip: Jack

This coming Sunday, June 14th, is the OU's (Orthodox Union's) fair on emerging Jewish communities around the country. For those interested, you can register in advance at www.ou.org/communities, for the chance to win a laptop computer and other valuable prizes. For more information call 212.613.8188.

One of the primary purposes of the Jewish Economics Survey I've been carrying out is to gauge costs of living in different communities around the country, including smaller towns such as the ones listed. Obviously, data is harder to come by in those communities, but my guess is that those smaller communities which wish to pitch the idea of relocating to their communities would gain tremendously by being able to demonstrate just what their actual costs of living are.

The list of communities at this fair are interesting; some are obviously larger than others, and may have the advantage of being able to pitch "small but not too small" to people. I wish I could go, but alas, Serach is taking part in a fair in Brooklyn, selling her tichels and headbands. All the cities I've wanted to hear more about (Dallas, Memphis, Phoenix, et al) will be there, and I'm curious to hear how they each pitch their communities, particularly economically.

We'll actually be spending this Shabbos in one of those small communties, Harrisburg, PA, for my nephew's bris.

If anyone at the fair wants to mention/pitch my survey to representatives of different communities, I'd be really thrilled - the more this can spread, particularly to smaller communities, the greater the impact it can have in helping people determine where to live, understanding what things should cost, and hopefully improving how our Jewish communities run by making them more efficient and helping them learn from one another.

Communities that will be there according to the flyer:

Allentown, PA; Atlanta, GA; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Des Moines; IA; Fairfield, CT; Harrisburg, PA; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; Malden, MA; Memphis, TN; New Orleans, LA; Phoenix, AZ; Providence, RI; Richmond, VA; San Francisco, CA; Southfield and Oak Park, MI; St. Louis, MO; Stamford, CT; Stony Brook, NY; Upstate, NY - Albany, Schenectady, Troy.

The Cost of Keeping Kosher

Hat tip: Susqhb

This appeared on Money; it's a short clip discussing the high costs of living in a frum community, in this case, in Houston, Texas. Well done, well presented. Now, if more people can fill out the Jewish Economics Survey, maybe we'll have a better idea just how much more it costs. :)

Credit Cards & Orthodoxy

One of the issues I talked about in my presentation on the Jewish Economics Survey (take it here, if you have not already) was one that is common to many: Credit card debt. Interestingly, credit card debt in the Orthodox community is slightly less of an issue than in the United States in general, but the rather high percentage of people who have personal loans or Gemach loans keeps the percentage of people who have debt approximately the same.

I was looking at some of the responses last night regarding credit card debt for Sephardi Lady (of Orthonomics), and there was one pattern in particular that really struck me as both interesting and sad, depending on how you read the numbers. The question asked is:

Credit Cards *
Do you have credit card debt?

• Yes
• No
• Only monthly expenses but I pay them off in full each month.

When you break out the answers by number of children, you get the following percentages.

(0, 1, 2, 3, 4*, 5+ kids)

• No: 38.1%, 32.7%, 25.0%, 18.0%, 20.0%, 17.3%
• Monthly: 36.4%, 38.8%, 51.6%, 38.0%, 42.9%, 28.8%
• Yes: 25.4%, 28.6%, 23.4%, 44.0%, 37.1%, 53.8%

What seems to happen is that as people get to the stage of life where they have two kids, they start to use credit cards more - but try to be careful to pay them off in full. As they have more kids, however, this becomes increasingly difficult, and they slowly slide into spiraling credit card debt.

As a quick example, people with 0 kids who had credit card debt listed an average of $8,725 in credit card debt. 1 kid, $11,136. 2 kids, $12,302 (we're below average - woo!). When you get to 4 kids, the average credit card debt of people who have it is approximately $31,640 per family.

It's difficult to pinpoint just what drives people into credit card debt in the first place, whether it is extravagant spending or the simply high costs of Jewish life. But certainly, while it is difficult, credit card debt is not unavoidable, and responsible financial control early on is a major key to staying away from debt. About half the people with 4 or more kids do not have revolving credit card debt. Be on (and grow) that side.

* 4 kids is the smallest sample

Kollel & "God Haters"

I was completely disgusted by this article on Cross-Currents by R' Doron Beckerman of my alma mater OJ, and I suggest reading it through in context before reading my commentary, to which I'm adding a little bit at the end from the Jewish Economics presentation.

Is the motive of those who currently oppose Kollel, utilizing the Rambam as their model, that they just can’t bear that people are taking money for its study? Such an attitude can, virtually by definition, only come from someone who is exceedingly meticulous not to waste a spare moment available for Torah study. I think it safe to surmise that the percentage of people in this category, who did not spend at least a portion of their married life learning in Kollel, is infinitesimal.

?! More likely, those who oppose Kollel oppose it on the grounds that many of the people who are taking the money are NOT reluctant to "take the money". Moreover, they likely oppose Kollel on the grounds that it IS an imposition on the public.

To create a false choice of "opposition must come from someone meticulous not to waste a spare moment" to learn and then make another gross assumption that such people are few and far between is disgusting.

The undercurrent of the ideological gripe against Kollel is invariably the placing of the burden on the community to support it - and yet the Rambam writes that if the multitudes were asked at the time of the Tannaim to support Torah they would have gladly showered the Talmidei Chachamim with the greatest wealth!

This is also a horrible argument. There's a far cry from a poor man clearly dedicated to his learning not asking for anything, who, if he did ask, people would have no qualms giving versus a lifestyle which asks for the money upfront to live a rather comfortable lifestyle. Moreover, those same people back then - despite their complete trust that the poor man was in fact learning seriously - did NOT give the money anyway!

Based on the Rambam himself, in light of the consensus among the Halachic decisors from the time of Rambam and on, one would expect that there would be a communal sigh of relief, that we are able to fulfill our most fervent wish which is to increase Torah study and need not be concerned about the problem of the Kollel learners accepting funds, since Kollel has become universally accepted as legitimate.

This is just silly.

Has any one of those saying it is a burden recommended pro bono investment on behalf of the learners (they do often have wedding money!), which the Rambam (Avos ibid.) considers meritorious? Have they agreed to pay taxes on their behalf, which is obligatory for people engaged in full time Torah study?

Why don't they use that wedding money to cover their bills? Wedding money is not worth risking on short-term investments usually. What taxes, exactly?

It is meant to underscore the idea that we must sometimes examine what lies at the root of opposition to a particular system of widespread Torah study, and be certain that it does not stem from begrudging accomplishments of others.

...and we must be extremely careful when doing so to not only understand that not only does it serve nobody to make up or focus on negative arguments which serve no purpose, but to address the primary issues which are legitimate reasons to oppose. Nowhere does R' Beckerman address any of the legitimate reasons people are opposed to kollel, merely dismissing it as something people can place in the comments. He only not-so-subtly hints that those who are against kollel are "begrudging accomplishments", should "breathe a communal sigh of relief" that nobody looks twice at people taking money for being in Kollel, or should be coming up with more ways of handling their financial responsibilities.

Perhaps it is not "begrudging accomplishments" which upsets those who are against kollel, but the actual facts on the ground. What does not help, however, is the seeming attitude of those who are for kollel that implies that not only is what exists now wonderful - while ignoring and dismissing its drawbacks - but that everyone else should be doing even more to make it easier on them.

Let me add to that something I touched on during my presentation: The problem is not kollel. My brother is 34 years old and still learning - married, 4th kid on the way iyH. He also has zero dollars in debt, and doesn't take any tzedakah. One of the most interesting comments both people I spoke to from Mesila said was that as they discussed opening up in Lakewood, someone argued that they can't come into Lakewood and tell guys who are making $30k between their wives' jobs and their kollel checks that they aren't making enough to support their lifestyles: You'd be basically telling them to leave kollel and get a job, and that simply wouldn't fly there. They responded simply that those people are missing the point: The problem isn't learning, it's people who earn $30,000 spending $70,000 - and it's the exact same problem as someone who makes $150,000 and spends $300,000. If you show people that they simply need to understand their finances and live within their means, those who truly wish to learn will find a way to do so on less money - much like my brother has done. Those who are there merely to live an easy life will likely leave and start working, which is better for everyone.

One of the primary arguments against kollel is the financial burden it creates on the community at large. R' Beckerman does absolutely nothing to lessen that argument, instead choosing to imply that those who are against kollel must be jealous God-haters. He is in essence fostering the hate he's claiming to wish to diffuse. A better approach to the subject would be helping to determine what can be done to alleviate the burden perceived by those who are not in or who are against kollel, by minimizing waste within the kollel community and by ensuring that those who are there wish to be there and are willing to sacrifice to do so. By doing this, it would remove the primary qualms people have with kollel and will both reduce the amount needed while increasing the likelihood that people can - and are willing to - support it.

The Jewish Channel's Coverage of the JES Presentation

While the $100,000 number is overstated (I didn't mean it for everyone), the point itself is a good (and scary) one. The Jewish Channel picked out pretty good excerpts for this shorter clip for their online Week in Review. A huge thanks to Rebecca Honig Friedman and her crew at TJC for coming out, filming, and interviewing myself and others, and doing a very good job at presenting everything well. And again, thanks to Pazit and Mt. Sinai for sponsoring and hosting the event.

I'll have to see if I can get the full version somehow.

Notes to self: Presentations during sfira will look scruffy and shaggy. And get new glasses. :)

Not a Hypocrite

One of the best things about having a blog is that it typically forces you to hold yourself to a higher standard. It's hard to write about something you perceive to be an issue without at least trying to overcome the same issue yourself.

One of the major themes I've found while carrying out the Jewish Economics Survey is the troubling trend among frum Jews to not have life insurance (over 40%). My father is a financial planner who of course sells insurance himself, and when I mentioned the numbers to him he was appalled, though not surprised. At the same time, however, we didn't have ourselves. Both times we started the process before this year we never ended up actually completing it. Around the same time as the survey began and the responses started coming in, we decided we couldn't continue to go without something so important, even if the hope is that we're just "wasting" the money.

A couple of weeks ago we were told our policies were active; today our agent came by with the actual policies themselves and we handed over the first checks. While we can always add more later or get other kinds of insurance, for now we have basic term insurance ($1m on each) and we're paying $1,310 a year in total from a well-known company (and just in time - rates are about to rise, apparently). In retrospect, I don't think that what holds people back from getting life insurance is the money; it's just not on people's radar. I'm not an expert on life insurance, but it's a rather cheap investment for something you'll hopefully never need; a great primer on life insurance was posted by a guest on Orthonomics here. Just as a quick note for those who should be getting it: You may not need $1 million in coverage at this point in life, especially if you're a young couple like us. The rates are level on term, so had we gotten $500,000 on each of us we'd be paying $655/year combined. Talk to a financial advisor you trust.

Finally, Pazit.org now has a blog as well - Pazit's Money $marts - including some of the basic tips it handed out at last week's presentation. The tips are good for anyone, and women will gain tremendously by joining Pazit and especially by taking part in its Money Club.

Jewish Economics Survey Presentation #2

In another exciting turn for the Jewish Economics Survey (take it here), I will iy"H be speaking Shabbos, August 8th at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills as part of their summer series of speakers.

While I haven't officially decided on a topic, it will almost assuredly be at least partially focused on the survey and "Orthonomics" (the subject, not the [great] blog) in general. It will obviously be a little different without a Powerpoint presentation to show some of the numbers and other fun stuff on, but I'm really looking forward to the opportunity, and I hope that all those of you who will be in Kew Gardens Hills that Shabbos will feel welcome to attend!

JES: Post-Presentation Musings

It's 2:00am and I'm exhausted, but post-presentation first thoughts before they fade:

• Huge thanks to: Tamar Snyder and Pazit, which women should join up forces with, Mt. Sinai for hosting and Shlomo B. for helping set up.
  
• Crowd was really great. The room was full (50-60 people someone said), the people were really interested, and they asked numerous good questions in the Q&A following the presentation. A couple people knew more about certain subjects/aspects than I did, such as Canadian information (in response to a question about international responses).
  
• As my own not-so-harshest critic, I'd give myself a B+ as a presenter; really a B, but as a first-time presenter it would be A-, so B+ works. :) One of the most interesting things when you're speaking in front of an audience is the intense awareness you have of all the things you're doing wrong: "Um"s, "okay"s, long pauses as you find yourself (which are better than trying to babble your way out of a hole), trying to babble your way out of a hole anyway, standing with your back toward part of the audience for too long when showing a slide, etc. That said, none of those were too horrible, certainly for a first time, and as it got going it calmed down. [continued this morning] Lessons learned (including that I need a printer so I can practice while viewing the slides, since I prefer speaking more off-the-cuff; over-preparing hurts, in that you end up being more rote for parts you've essentially memorized and try to "get back" to what's on the paper instead of just telling what you want to tell; etc.).
  
• Being interviewed (by TJC) was oddly comfortable.

I'll write more about the actual presentation later or next week, once I have a chance to go through some of the audio and video.

I hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did (and it seemed people did), and if you were there, feel free to leave any comments or critiques on the presentation, delivery, content, Q&A, the handouts at the end, etc. Thanks so much for coming!

JES Presentation - Tonight!

Just as a reminder, tonight I'll be giving the first presentation about the Jewish Economics Survey: [take it here]

Playing - and Praying - in the Black, But Living in the RED
...just how much does being an Orthodox Jew cost?

The presentation will be at the Mt. Sinai Jewish Center in Washington Heights, 135 Bennett Avenue, New York, NY, 10040. It's called for 8:00pm, but there's a mincha/ma'ariv minyan there [7:40] so it probably will actually start closer to 8:20 or so.

The Jewish Channel will also be there recording the event, and Tamar Snyder of the Jewish Week will be talking briefly about her new organization, Pazit.org.

After Tamar speaks for a few minutes, I'll give my presentation, followed by an open question-and-answer session.

I'd love to see all of you there!

JES: Video Cutout

This is the video I wish I could play at some point during the presentation. It's hilarious. Thanks to my good friend AppleJuiceGuys for reminding me of its existence; we were talking about all the problems people have been listing as the largest problems facing the Orthodox community, and he said "Forget all the other ones, there's really just one: STOP BUYING STUFF YOU CAN'T AFFORD. It's like that old SNL skit..." So, I hope you enjoy it as much as we have:

JES: Ready

:::Whew!::: (If you haven't taken the survey yet, please do so here.)

Bas~Melech put it well when she asked me a couple of hours ago:

"You're ready with more than a day left? What's that like?!

Honestly, it's odd. While it's nice that that pressure of preparing is off, and I don't have to worry about that, I'm the type that actually thrives off the pressure. I enjoy being given more difficult or time-impossible tasks, then coming up with ways to pull them off anyway. That said, I now have over a day to drive myself crazy about it. Ah well.

The responses have been flying in the last couple of days. Rather than analyze more numbers (I think my head is about ready to explode, and I like this stuff), I'll just note a few interesting comments left on some of the questions near the end:

• Great idea. The current system is broken. There are years when my wife and my take-home pay is less than our combined tuitions for just 4 children. Yeshivas and girls schools are teaching the children that it is wrong for a young married man to earn any money at all until several years into the marriage, yet yeshiva and girls' school tuitions are astronomical. This paradigm cannot survive for another generation given the recent economic meltdown.
• Go to public college, not private!!
• Move to Eretz Yisroel before having children or when they are very young, where all types of Jewish education is MUCH more affordable than in the U.S.A. (I would not recommend moving with adolescent children.)
• do not buy what you can't pay for right now. practice delayed gratification
• save, save, save. forget what everyone else is doing or what you did when you were single. stop spending money.
  

I thought these were especially interesting. The first one is one heard many times, but the number is scary: Take-home pay less than tuition alone? But it's pretty understandable: Even a couple earning $100,000 is only taking home about half that if they work in Manhattan. Sadly, $50,000 might not cover tuition for more than 3 kids.

Public college vs. private: While people take for granted that private college is somehow better, I've yet to find a frum person I know who chose public over private who later suffered for it. Or for that matter, someone who chose a "name" school over a non-name school. Interestingly, there was a study (either UCLA or Harvard) years ago that tracked similar students - one who would pick an Ivy school and the other who would pick a decent state school. The students years down the road were doing equally well. It's definitely something worth at least thinking about.

I thought the Israel approach (while mentioned by nearly anyone who moved to Israel) was interesting, and I thought it nice that the person balanced a non-economic consideration. Whenever people discuss finances there's typically a weight of economics over everything else, and not without reason; but it's important to find a good balance there. That exists on the other side, too, as noted well by the next comment: An overwhelming number of comments feel that delayed gratification is something that simply does not exist among their peers, whether due to pressure to "keep up" or something else.

Finally, I especially enjoyed the last comment. While many people are able to ignore what everyone else is doing in terms of their expenses, they aren't necessarily able to do the same when it comes to their own self from before. People get married and can't seem to let go of some of the things they "always" spent money on, whether entertainment (baseball games), clothing (shoes), food (eating out), or the like. Marriage is a whole new financial ballgame compared to being single.

JES: Cutouts

Here's some good stuff that I'm cutting from the Jewish Economics Survey presentation that I found interesting, just not important enough to discuss during the presentation itself... First, a few little factoids:

• Over 75% of those who have a car own it outright. That's pretty good, I think.
• About half the respondents have two cars. About 10% don't own a car.
• About 34% have 4 bedrooms or more.
• 19.7% of the respondents are 40 and up. 34.8% are in their thirties.
• Over 15% are single.
• While 87% of married couples outside of NY/NJ (which includes West Hempstead, Monsey, and Highland Park for the sake of characterization) are members of a shul, just 72% of those within NY/NJ (which does not include those areas) are members.
• On the flip side, singles within NY/NJ are more likely to be members of a shul by a 63-56% margin.
  

I thought the average utility costs per month by residence size was interesting:

• 1-bedroom apt.: $95
• 2-bedroom apt.: $126
• 3-bedroom apt.: $255
• 3-bedroom house: $371
• 4-bedroom house: $475
• 5-bedroom house: $561
• 6-bedroom house: $626

While certainly, all else being equal, people are better off in houses, it's imperative that people who are looking to own instead of rent be well aware of the uptick in their other expenses, from property taxes and home repairs to utilities. For example, a family in Queens who rents a 2-bedroom apartment pays about $121/month in utilities; if they want to buy a 3-bedroom house* in Queens, their utilities almost quadruple to $475/month.

* smallish sample, but the numbers are mostly consistent

Actually, as I was writing that I decided to include it. I thought the next comment was interesting, as it was somewhat opposed to earlier comments by many suggesting people shoot for higher education due to the higher salaries they bring in in the long run; this respondent felt advice to young people should include the following:

Improper preparation of young people to be productive wage earners. Tell people about CLEPs, self study, industry certifications, etc. College degrees can be had in 2 years, not 4. One can earn a living as a CFA, MSCE, A+, Actuary, etc. with minimal college.

Finally, a really cool idea from a family in Lakewood:

Something we do it put all our coins into a big pretzel container at the end of the day (we don't spend coins) and that usually gives us $1,200 - $1,500 a year (no pennies). This way we can afford to go on a one or two vacation, overnight with the kids in the summer

That's a pretty clever way of doing things, and really lets you appreciate just how much small coins add up to - let alone putting aside a couple hundred dollars a month or so. On the flip side, this makes me nervous just to read, in response to the questions about debt:

We usually get "off the book" jobs here and there and are able to cover the credit card debt around August-September each year. Our credit card debt is only on credit cards with 0% interest and no fees.

While the 0% interest/no fees is great, this family (of five) is essentially living on a wing and a prayer. Not only are their jobs "off the books", which [forgetting that issue in and of itself] means that they could easily not get paid or something could go wrong. It also means the income is not steady, cannot be relied upon (especially in a year like this), and if they suddenly can't make a payment on those credit cards, they'll get nailed with fees and their interest rates will shoot up.

Feel free to add any comments, and if you haven't taken the survey yet, what are you waiting for?! If you have, please send it out to friends and family - thanks!

JES: Wordle of Problems

These are the comments people made in assessing what they think are the greatest financial problems facing today's Orthodox Jewish economy. Wordle picks out all the words people mention and sizes them accordingly in a word cloud.

See a theme? [Click to enlarge.]

JES: Parents' Auto Insurance

Often, when talking to friends about finances or cars or cellphone bills or something along those lines, friends will note that their parents cover their cellphone or auto insurance bills - whether they're simply remaining on their family's plan or whatever. While cellphones are less problematic, I've always thought that auto insurance could be - especially if the person moves out of state, it may even be illegal.

But even assuming that most people are doing it legally, it seemed widespread enough that on the question about how much auto insurance costs a person, one of the options is "Someone else covers my insurance." In total, 14.2% of respondents have their insurance covered by someone else, but obviously it's more important to focus on those in the younger crowd... and the numbers are really surprising. While I expected a sizable portion to answer that it's covered, I didn't expect 47% of the people between 18 and 24 years old who have cars to say that someone else covers the insurance. Even if we factor in singles vs. marrieds (and say that singles, especially if they're close to home, will likely stay on their parents' insurance), 39% of marrieds and 63% of singles have their insurance paid for.

Interestingly, all singles between 25-29 who have a car pay for their own insurance, while 81% of marrieds do - so the trend is not long-lasting. But for almost 2/5, then still almost 1/5 to have their insurance paid for while they're in their twenties is a pretty nice savings for the couple - while quite a drain on their parents' finances.

Pazit: Empowering Jewish Women

Some of you may have noticed that one of the sponsors of next week's presentation on the Jewish Economics Survey is a new organization called Pazit. Pazit (www.Pazit.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Jewish women to take control of their financial futures.

Last week, I drove to Philadelphia to spend some time with my grandfather, who was very active in Jewish communal affairs over the last 65 years or so, while my grandmother got hip surgery after a fall. I was talking to him about the survey, and I mentioned Pazit and its purpose, and he noted while nodding that it's a serious problem: Many Jewish women are brought up with the attitude that the husband is in charge of the finances, despite the fact that many of them are the ones managing the day-to-day finances and bills. As the website says, it's important to empower Jewish women to transcend stereotypical roles and take control of their finances.

Interestingly, since I added a couple of questions about how aware a person thinks they are of their finances a couple of weeks ago, over 3/4 of men but just 2/3 of women answered "Pretty Good" or "I've Got It Covered". (32% of the men and just over 1/4 of the women answered "I've Got It Covered"; 8% of men and 13% of women answered "Not Good" or "Poor".)*

If you're interested in learning more and attending upcoming money management workshops and other events, sign up for the Pazit Google Group on the Pazit homepage.

* Also interesting, at least to me, is that men were more likely to downgrade their opinion of their grasp of their financial situation after taking the survey, while women were more likely to upgrade theirs.

JES Quote: Seamstress

One of the most interesting respondents so far answered the following to the question "What question(s) do you think should have been asked on the survey that were not?"

How much people pay for Simchos, to make them or to go to them.
Makeup, wigs, gowns, etc.
I'm a seamstress and I see what people buy for Kallahs, and it's terrible, the attitude that girls have about what they NEED in order to get married, and it's even more terrible how cowed the mothers look, and how they jump to do what the girl wants.
I'm only --, so I can't talk about the 'good old days' yet, but what's going on?
I bought my own clothes from when I was 18. These mothers are spending hundreds of dollars on alterations alone, and I am not the most expensive seamstress in town.
Why do people pay to have their two-year old's hair put up in pins?! Or anyone's, except the kallah's?
The whole industry is scary.

Extravagant simchas and similar answers are among the oft-mentioned responses to "biggest financial problems facing the Orthodox Jewish community today". I'm curious - do people think this is a "keeping up with the neighbors" phenomenon or do people have a skewed sense of what is necessary to make a "nice simcha" in the first place, or both? Or perhaps most of the time people really are not being extravagant, and making a simcha is just really expensive no matter how you slice it?

On a slightly different note, we did a little informal poll of friends around our age asking if they'd rather have had the wedding they did or a pretty simple wedding and some of the rest of the money spent toward a house. I think that all the guys wanted the money for a house. The girls were a mixed bag - some wanted the house, some said "I have to admit I really want the wedding", and some wanted something in between. Most felt that the wedding was a lot more for their parents' desires.

JES Presentation - May 6th

The first presentation on the Jewish Economics Survey (take it here) is two weeks from today, May 6th, at 8:00pm at the Mt. Sinai Jewish Center in Washington Heights. The address is 135 Bennett Ave., New York, NY, 10040.

In the days leading up to the survey, I'll try to post a few things about both the survey and related subjects, likely touching on issues that I'll be mentioning either during the survey or a Q&A session which will follow.

One issue which I probably will not get into too much, but is extremely important, is touched on by Ariella in a post today: Paying yourself for your time. What people often think is pampering (saving an hour by sending laundry to the dry cleaner instead of doing it yourself) is often far more costly (because you'll work three hours after taxes to earn the same money). It's also money you don't have which can be better used to save or earn you money, whether by paying off credit cards or investing.

An interesting tidbit regarding life insurance responses on the survey so far, when you break it out - the % of each group which has life insurance:

• Single, no kids: 7.7%
• Married, no kids: 26.7%
• Single, kids: 50.0%
• Married, 1 child: 62.1%
• Married, 2 children: 64.4%
• Married, 3 children: 92.6%
• Married, 4 children: 96.2%
• Married, 5 or more children: 78.8%
  

There are actually more responses of 5+ children than either 3 or 4, so it's not the sample size [there are actually a similar number of responses in each slice, there are simply far more "No" answers in the 5+ group]. Most likely, once people have families of a certain size they are pressed for money, and life insurance is an expense that is deemed less necessary than others - understandable when pitted against expenses for current, tangible items. Of course, the flip side of this is that the devastation to the family (and by extension, the community) has that much more of an impact in a large family if chas v'shalom something happens.

In addition, the other groups I've highlighted are also a little troubling. (The single with kids group is a small sample size, however - just a handful of responses.) While it is more understandable that a family with no children or a single person living on their own might not have life insurance, that over a third of families with 1-2 children also don't have is a concern.

Again, the survey is available here; please pass it around to friends, family, shul e-mail groups, community organizations, and the like. The more data we can collect the more useful the survey can be and the greater the impact it can have. Thank you so much!