Financial Tips for the Corona Crisis - Investing

Moshe is an insurance agent who has been in the field for more than 9 years, and has picked up many tips over the years from the clients and families he has helped!

The first time I read the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, I was 22 years old; I was working at my first job after the army at the James Richardson Duty-Free shop at the Ben Gurion airport. I came to relieve one of the women cashiers working in the evening shift and she had that book just laying there next to the cash register. She said, "Here, take it and read it." I snickered, and thought, "What a dumb headline, how can people read these things--can you get any more pretentious?" Little did I know that this book would change my life so profoundly that I would never look at anything the same again. It took me an hour to read, it is not a very thick book, but size does not matter, especially with this book. I remember as I was reading my eyes grew bigger and bigger and I thought to myself, oh my gosh. This man has a point! The book talked about developing your financial intelligence with the aim to reach financial freedom with enough passive income to support your chosen lifestyle's cost of living. This brings me to tip number one: Read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kioyaski, and if you already read it, read more books about real estate, about investing in stocks, and in business. Warren Buffet said, "The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself…The more you learn, the more you'll earn." This quote couldn't be more true. I took Robert Kioyaski's advice to heart and decided to quit my job at the Duty-Free shop and start developing my financial intelligence. I went for weeks to the library, reading books on investing, business, real estate, but I was looking for a way to learn more. The answer came to me in the form of a real estate course to learn about Israeli real estate through the "Building" college. The course was very extensive; filled with legal phrasings and tax laws. It was not easy for me at first, you need to understand, until the age of 22 I never touched anything related to money or finances. I regarded the financial world as something devoid of the soul with no regard for humanity. I was wrong. When the course ended, I decided to try my luck in real estate as a licensed realtor in my hometown and took another course from the Re-max real estate chain to prepare. Here is my second tip: Take courses – When you take courses you meet people. These people are like you, people with ideas and experiences, experiences you can learn from. When you take courses, you commit money and time to the goals you set for yourself. After a year of frustration, I decided being a relator is not for me. I learned a lot from my interactions and hands-on dealings with buyers, sellers, and fellow coworkers and to this day I know a lot about the neighborhoods surrounding my home in terms of price and how to attract buyers or how to look for finds. My third and most important tip: become an expert in something When you go to an area you do not know abroad you usually look (if you are clever) where the locals are eating and try to avoid the tourist traps. So, the same logic applies to investing, you know better than anyone especially from faraway places or abroad about things like your neighborhood and local companies because you live there. You can also decide on an investment area with potential whether in real estate, stocks, or businesses in which you wish to invest time and effort and become an expert. Whatever you choose to be, prepare for an exciting and challenging adventure that can change your life. Good luck!