Financial lessons from Olympians and biblical figures

As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on July 27, 2024.

Gold medals are made out of sweat, blood and tears and effort in the gym every day. – Gabby Douglas

With times still tense in Israel, people are looking for any small diversion to take their minds off the “situation” for a short period. That diversion may come from the Summer Olympics, which have started. I love watching athletes who plugged away day in and day out for years, competing against each other with the drama of who wins. How each one deals with the pressure of the moment after training their whole life for an event that may only last seconds is intriguing.

This day in and day out approach is mentioned in this week’s Torah portion and may very well be why Joshua was revealed to succeed Moses as the leader of the Jewish people and bring them into the land of Israel. Up until that revelation, I would have expected that either one of the sons of Moses or Pinchas would be picked because leadership is often passed from father to son. Regarding Pinchas, the Torah says, “Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Aharon the Kohen, turned back my wrath from upon the Children of Israel, when he zealously avenged Me among them, so I did not consume the Children of Israel in My vengeance.

This week’s Torah portion

Therefore say: Behold! I give him my covenant of peace” (Bamidbar, 25:11-12). Such a bold and heroic action would certainly put him in the running for leadership, and the nation would get behind him as they were saved from death by his zealousness.

Thursday marked the first anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Shalom Gold. As I have quoted here numerous times, he asked what quality Joshua possessed that merited his being chosen to lead. He answered that if you look at the juxtaposition of verses, immediately after his being chosen, we have the section that deals with the daily offering in the Temple, the tamid. One lamb was offered in the morning, and the second was offered in the afternoon. He said it is the day in and day out commitment that is important in leadership, not a one-time heroic event.

I think the lessons we can learn from these athletes can be applied to our personal lives and especially our finances. These athletes earned their spot in the Olympics. No one gave them anything (except for maybe some banned substances, but that’s another story). They didn’t sit back and wait for the government to take care of them. The financial sacrifice made by many families so that their children can “go for the gold” in a world that in many ways lacks that concept of sacrifice is heartening.

I am referring to the rest of the world, not Israel, where these last nine months have been a prime example of self-sacrifice for a greater goal. We learn that hard work, dedication, the fortitude to overcome injury and other setbacks, along with strong will is the recipe for athletic success. While luck may occasionally be the difference between gold and silver, it plays virtually no part in getting to that stage.

I spend a fair amount of time meeting with newly married couples and help counsel them on setting up their households in a financially correct way. Often, I can tell that they don’t want to listen to me and are just meeting me because their parents insisted. I am well aware that they aren’t going to live within their means; they are going to go into debt and in a few years will be back to meet with me to learn the tools to get out of debt and live in a financially responsible manner.

This week was different. I met with a newlywed couple and found myself both uplifted and full of hope after the meeting. As I gave my usual spiel on how to budget, the need to be in control of your spending, starting to invest, and setting up an emergency fund, the couple asked me about buying an apartment.

Now, understand that they are both students, getting some family financial support but working part-time to bring in extra money. They told me they have a five-year plan to save money for a down payment. They were laser-focused on meeting this goal and wanted to know how to invest to make it happen. They said they agreed to not go out to restaurants, not overdo it on clothes shopping, and in general, live an incredibly simple lifestyle to save for the down payment.

I told them they were going to end up saving more money on their tiny little salary than people making NIS 25,000 to NIS 30,000 a month. With their approach to money, once they buy that apartment in five years, they should write a book on how they did it, I said.

In many ways, they are following the same game plan as our Olympic athletes: personal sacrifice, strict adherence to a goal, and not relying on anyone else to do it for them. Financial success is much like athletic success. It’s about day in and day out being disciplined and focused on a goal. Following the template of our Olympic heroes and from the newlywed couple I mentioned above, you, too, can achieve financial gold.

The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.

Aaron Katsman is the author of Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), and is a licensed financial professional both in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the United States. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. (www.prginc.net). Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, SIFMA, FSI. For more information, call (02) 624-0995 visit www.aaronkatsman.com or email aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il.