Some Unsolicited Financial Advice for Successful Businessmen

God says to Abraham: "Leave everything you know, go to a place I'm not going to tell you about yet, and I'll make you into a great nation."

Now, from a purely financial standpoint, this is insane.

And yet he goes. And he becomes wealthy.

But here's what I find interesting: The text tells us that when Abraham left Haran, "he took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth they had accumulated, and all the persons they had acquired in Haran."

So, for all intents and purposes, he was already rich. Abraham is seventy-five years old. In modern terms, he's three years past retirement age. He should be thinking about annuities and estate planning. Not nation-building. But the lesson here for all of you successful businessmen is that this wasn't a desperate man with nothing to lose. This was a successful businessman walking away from everything he'd built and becoming richer for it.

Why?

I think it's because Abraham understood something that most financial advisors will never tell you: Security is the most expensive thing you can buy.

Let me explain.

Most financial advice is designed to help you avoid risk. Diversify your portfolio. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Save for a rainy day. Buy insurance. Hedge your bets. Protect your downside.

This is all perfectly sensible advice, and the financial services industry makes its money by selling you this security, or at least the illusion of it. They'll tell you that if you just save enough, invest wisely enough, and plan carefully enough, you'll be safe. You'll be comfortable. You'll be fine.

And you will be fine. You'll be perfectly, adequately, comfortably fine. You'll be like Abram. But you’ll never never be like Abraham.

Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone here should liquidate their assets tomorrow and wander off into the wilderness. That would be foolish, and you'd rightly blame me for it. Your families would certainly blame me for it.

But I am suggesting that the Torah is trying to tell wealthy and successful people something important.

G-d doesn't promise Abraham security. He promises him significance. "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing."

Notice what's missing from this promise: guaranteed returns, predictable cash flow, stable income, comfortable retirement. G-d offers Abraham something that cannot be put in a portfolio or deposited in a bank: legacy.

Here's what I think the Torah is telling successful Jewish business owners:

You can spend your life accumulating enough to feel safe, or you can spend it building something that matters. You probably can't do both.

Most businesses are built on the Haran model: minimize risk, maximize predictability, grow steadily but carefully, don't make any sudden moves. This is how you build a nice business that provides a good living for you and your family and employs some people and pays its taxes and eventually gets sold or passed down or quietly closed.

There's nothing wrong with this. The world needs stable, sensible businesses.

But that's not what Abraham did. And that's not what built the Jewish people.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "That's all very inspiring, but I've got payroll to meet on Friday."

Fair enough.

But consider this: Every business decision you make is either a Haran decision or a Lech-Lecha decision.

Haran decisions are about preservation. Lech-Lecha decisions are about transformation.

Haran decisions ask: "How do I protect what I have?" Lech-Lecha decisions ask: "What am I supposed to become?"

Haran decisions optimize for safety. Lech-Lecha decisions optimize for significance.

Most of the financial advice you'll ever receive will be Haran advice. And most of it will be correct, in its way. You should have insurance. You should diversify. You should plan for contingencies.

But if that's all you do, you'll retire and pass away rich, which is a fine goal.

But Abraham's true wealth wasn't what he accumulated in Haran or even what he acquired in Canaan. His wealth was in the promise, in the covenant itself, in the relationship with something larger than himself, in the audacity to believe that significance matters more than security.

So here's my unsolicited financial advice to successful Jewish business owners:

Don't just build something. Build something worth blessing.

The money will follow, or it won't. Abraham certainly became wealthy. But that was never the point.

The point was the promise. The point was the covenant. The point was becoming who you're supposed to be rather than staying who you've always been.