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.

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 Presentation

I posted a couple of weeks ago about a possible announcement, and noted at the time that a lot of people would guess one of three things - all way bigger than what it actually is. The three guesses I predicted were:

• Are you moving?!
• Is there a third Goldish kid on the way?!
• Did you get a new job?!

For now, at least, all of those are "No"s. Meanwhile, about a dozen people guessed the first, a little less the second, and a handful the third. What is actually happening is the following:

Playing – And Praying – In The Black,

But Living In The Red

Just How Much Does Being Jewish Cost?

From Kosher food and dating to Shul membership and Yeshiva tuition, SerandEz's Ezzie Goldish will discuss the initial findings of the first ever Jewish Economic Survey*. The presentation will focus on discussing the current economic picture of the Orthodox Jewish community, providing knowledge and ideas you can use to plan your future. Both singles and married couples are invited to attend.

Moderated by Tamar Snyder,

Business & Philanthropy reporter at The Jewish Week, and founder of Pazit

Wednesday, May 6^th, 8:00 P.M.

at the Mount Sinai Jewish Center of Washington Heights

135 Bennett Avenue, New York, NY 10040

* Take the survey in advance at http://www.SerandEz.blogspot.com

This program is being sponsored by Mt. Sinai and Pazit, an organization charged with empowering Jewish women to take control of their financial futures.

Obviously, I'm really excited at the opportunity to take this to another level. The ideas behind this are important on both an individual and a communal level, and bringing those ideas into people's day-to-day lives are really important both in the present and especially for the future of the Jewish community.

A quick thank you to C^2 (who started this ball rolling), Tamar Snyder, G, Orthonomics, and others for helping it get this far already. I've been really impressed at the willingness and desire on the part of those who have seen it or heard about it to help out. Tomorrow I'll hopefully post some other interesting tidbits that I'm seeing in the trends. Meanwhile, please pass the survey along far and wide! The more data, the better the impact. Thank you!