was the perfect answer to my burning question: what good could a financial institution do for people, its employees, and its clients? The answer was to educate them on how to create financial freedom for themselves!
That’s what we set out to do: find a way to give everyone we could the awareness, the education, and the tools to make wiser choices. Our goal was to help individuals better understand their finances, their paychecks, and their actual expenses, and show them ways they could balance it all more efficiently to create their own growth and prosperity.
Financial Freedom Is for Everyone
Financial freedom is a value that is not just applicable to individuals. The concepts work just the same for families, companies, and non-profit organizations. For any person or group with financial concerns, we as a financial institution developed tools to help everyone become responsible and make the changes that need to be made. We understand that the responsibility lies on the financial institution, its employees, and the client; everyone has a part in creating positive solutions for complex problems.
Our approach to financial freedom offers a concrete way to deal with finances that has been proven to work at virtually all levels of life, whether it is personal or for business and organizations. It works because when you are mindful, responsible, and educated about what you have, then you can do the best you can with the resources you do have, be they modest or plentiful. Once you know and understand your financial situation, you can make the right decisions and choices that will open you up to a prosperous life, while living within the framework of what you have.
We have all seen the results of individuals, companies, and even countries that have not acted in responsible financial ways. The outcome and effects of their actions spin out and affect a much broader scope than just themselves. Unfortunately, these effects have created negative impacts. But your life and your business don’t have to go down that road, and this value was developed to illustrate a better path. The good news is that with proper information, education, and tools, you can reach your own financial freedom.
Changing the Mindset
So once I had this realization many years ago, I believed this vision could be a win-win. I would be able to stay true to my own personal values, while the bank could help people at the same time. But the general feeling about banks was still deeply negative. I knew people in general tend to blame their bank when bad financial things happen to them; I guess that can be easier sometimes than looking at how their own decisions might have contributed to their losses.
I also knew from experience that people don’t tend to look at banks the same way they look at other retail products or services they might purchase. It always boggled my mind that the mark-up on clothing or shoes might be 100% to 300% or more, and yet people still buy those items without a moment’s thought about the actual cost to produce and deliver the item. Yet when it comes to paying a bank for the services it provides, people very often don’t want to pay anything at all.
Clearly, we had several rather big challenges to overcome if we wanted to shift people’s thinking about this, both within the bank itself as well as in the minds of our employees and customers. I wanted everyone to benefit from the shift.
But how could such deeply held views be changed? I felt the only way to really change these views was to create real transformation and help people realize that we are all in this together. We needed to approach this as a partnership where both sides are taking responsibility; we needed to create a win-win for both the customers and the bank so we could all prosper.
That’s how my idea of introducing the value of Financial Freedom came about. My management team at Arison Investments encouraged the bank with my vision, and the bank acted on this by finding ways to translate the vision into practical education, tools, and actions for their employees and their customers. When individuals have a better understanding of their finances, they can make the best choices and decisions for themselves, their families, or their businesses.
Creating Financial Freedom
I’m proud to say that my team at Arison Investments, especially my chairman and CEO, were totally with me on this vision, and since they are also board members of the bank, they were able to instill the same kind of excitement and understanding of how important this vision really is. One of the biggest challenges at the bank was to translate the term “financial freedom” into a term that was understandable and accessible with tools for action. Implementing this concept within such a very conservative organizational culture was not an easy process, and it required engagement from all levels of the operation.
It has been amazing to see the number of financial tools that the bank has created in order to assist both the employees and clients. Seeing the growth and success, including an online education network with advanced Internet tools, has given people of all ages access to learn how to independently manage their personal and family budgets.
The bank has since extended these online tools and training sessions to include even more financial solutions that people might need for every stage of life, focusing in particular on major milestones. The bank now has tools for schoolchildren who might be getting an allowance for the first time, and for young adults who are just starting out in their careers. As they settle down, buy a home, start a family, and plan for their children’s educations and their own retirement, the bank is with them with tools and training to help them along the way.
As a logical next step, the bank also launched a new personal financial planning service that serves as a major step forward in the quest for financial independence. And even more recently, there has been incredible adoption of financial planning apps that are easy to download and use in everyday situations.
A nostalgic addition to the bank’s new branding has been the re-launch of a cartoon character that many adults in Israel knew and loved as children—a character from the 70s and 80s called “Savings Dan.” Dan has proved to be a reminder to parents and an engaging and playful character for a new generation of children, to teach them the benefits of saving money for their futures.
Another key focus for the bank has been to support small businesses, whether they are our clients or not, by creating the Small Business Initiative, with hugely successful events and programs, including a national-scale Small Business Day. More than 35,000 small to mid-size businesses participated last year, which raised awareness for their companies, and their overall sales increased by 17% on that day.
At the same time, the bank continues to deepen its community commitment, to the point that the bank, as a leader in the Israeli economy, has become one of the largest donors in the country and a major source of volunteers for non-profit organizations. The branch network gives them a way to reach virtually all parts of the country.
The branches undertake local activities in two main ways. The first is to contribute corporately to worthwhile causes, and the second is to actively encourage and support employees toward volunteerism. In particular, the bank tends to support projects in which it can integrate financial education activities into its giving, helping non-profits and community members to stay financially strong so they can keep up their good work.
From its current leadership position, the bank is able to make a huge contribution in creating financial freedom. It has taken close to a decade of steady progress since I first envisioned “financial freedom,” but now I hear endless numbers of stories of the personal impact that is being made, and not just at the bank. We at the Arison Group have implemented this value across the board in all of our businesses and philanthropic organizations.
Financial Freedom in Action: Getting Ready for Retirement
One of the stories that touched me tremendously is Ilana’s story. She has been
