anyone at our main offices. She supports herself and is nearing retirement. Over the years, Ilana had different roles within our philanthropic organizations, and for the past few years, she has been operations manager for the Arison Group, supporting both the business and philanthropic sides.
I don’t usually attend the forums; however, at one particular meeting, I was invited because the forum members wanted to update me across the board on what all of the businesses and philanthropic organizations were doing to implement the first four values, namely Financial Freedom, Sustainability, Giving, and Volunteering.
It was amazing to me to see and hear all that had been done, but I was most moved when Ilana took a spontaneous stand and asked if she could share what financial freedom did for her personally.
“Anyone who knows me knows how much energy I have, how I love to check each product four times, get five price quotes, and sharpen pencils on both ends to save money for the group,” she began. “But for me, for my own finances, nothing! I know it might not look that way. I have kept my personal papers neat and tidy in folders for thirty years, insurance papers and all that, but if you asked me what it all means, I could not say. I didn’t really know.”
By this time, Ilana had our attention. She spoke so candidly and passionately. “Then I came to the financial freedom workshop,” she said. “I had begun receiving payments from the national insurance institute because of my age, so I put those funds aside. But with regard to my own insurance and investments, after I attended the workshop, I realized that I actually had no idea what I had and I knew I needed to look into it.
“The next day I set up a meeting with the consultant, the same one who lectured in the financial freedom workshop,” Ilana continued. “I brought him in the whole stack of about ten kilos of paper. He went through everything, and I left the meeting with one single plastic sleeve containing ten pages, and I knew exactly what was on each page.”
I felt her excitement and enthusiasm as she continued explaining how empowering it was to finally know what she had and how she could better secure her financial future. “I learned to differentiate between an insurance salesman for a particular company and an independent consultant who speaks frankly and lets me know what’s best for me,” she said. “I learned you can negotiate better commission rates, management costs, and there is a whole variety of programs to consider, especially for my age group, what’s more risky and what’s less. I feel now that within five years when I want to retire, everything will be in place, because I was able to get this education,” said Ilana. “I don’t think I would have woken up to it on my own.
“But as it is now, I have made many fundamental changes in the programs and funds that I have, including transferring a substantial amount to a different company that will really help me manage my money well. After all, this is the money that I will have to live on and it is the same for you. I encourage the younger people sitting here to really look at your finances now, while you have time to implement the right changes that will work best for you in the long run,” she said. At that point, Ilana turned to me, looking me straight in the eye, and said, “Thank you!”
I was so deeply touched, and I could see the people in the room were too, while listening intently. I was happy that the message and the tools related to financial freedom had such an impact. I was amazed to see that the vision I had and its ongoing implementation had deeply impacted a human being and made a real difference in her life.
The Impact of Financial Freedom
There are many other stories like Ilana’s. Let me tell you about the outcome of the financial freedom workshops held at Salt of the Earth, one of our Arison Investment companies. Employees and their spouses were encouraged to attend and learn financial management skills to help them with their personal lives and goals.
The statements that we received after the workshop were personal and moving. One forklift operator said, “My eyes were opened after the financial freedom workshop, and already from the first meeting, there is apparent change and it is a big change—how to manage my affairs and make more informed financial and calculated choices. Following the seminar, I realized that many things rely solely on me. I decided to commit my family and myself to this purpose. We all joined forces and followed the workshop manual.”
A spouse who attended with her husband shared her perspective this way: “Our experiences before with finances included stressful feelings and many arguments. This workshop opened my eyes. We got rid of our bank overdraft. Today we have a savings account and everything is under control.”
One of our welders at the salt plant said, “I see now that I was a big spender. I have changed drastically. Why didn’t I think of this before?”
When I hear these kinds of stories firsthand, I am moved by the impact, realizing that the value of Financial Freedom has transformed the lives of so many people. These changes have occurred not only in the bank and in our other companies, but the circles have expanded through employees, their spouses, and clients alike. When I hear how people talk about how their lives have been changed, I see how genuinely touched and grateful they are, and I think, wow!
This all started out with a vision of a new approach I had for the banking industry almost ten years ago. It took years of perseverance and patience, finding the right people with professionalism and heart in order to implement this. I am grateful for the leadership of so many people within our companies to stay the course and to continue advancing and implementing this incredible vision. It is not easy to make such a fundamental shift within such a large corporation, and it is an ongoing process, but I am thrilled that we are not giving up, and there is more understanding and impact every day.
Now, I’d like to show how Financial Freedom has gone beyond the individual, permeating all parts of our businesses and organizations.
Financial Freedom in Action: From Personal to Organizational
For years, I’ve been thinking about how to drastically de-leverage the loans of my businesses while continuing to grow. I have been watching as people and corporations around the world have become too highly leveraged, taking on too much debt, and then I have seen what kind of effect it has when those debts cannot be paid back. It causes a domino effect of people losing jobs, suppliers going bankrupt, and other harsh economic consequences.
In 2013, Arison Investments wrapped up about ten months of a negotiation process for financing a mega-transaction worth several hundred million dollars. This complex deal was done with my wishes in mind, as the owner, seeing the bigger picture and making sure I could de-leverage quickly and efficiently while ensuring continued growth.
There was an event held between Arison Investments and the funding partners to mark the occasion of completing this agreement, which was specifically structured by my team the way that I wanted. At that event, speeches were given by our CEO and CFO that specifically referred to the values-based moral compass that we use. It was important to us that our new financial partners truly understood where we were coming from and, in this case, how our value of financial freedom was interpreted and applied within this mutually successful negotiation. We felt that by staying true to our values, we created a win-win partnership.
One of the comments from the CFO was, “When we talk about financial freedom—we are talking, simply put, about aligning between desires and capabilities. From our viewpoint, it is an existential value, and the foundation for any wise financial planning or conduct. I am convinced that each of you here have experienced it in action—whether through this loan, or the way it was structured, the negotiation process, the issues brought to the table and insisted upon, or just as longterm partners measuring our operations for the long run. A process like this is intriguing and profoundly interesting, even more so during such challenging times. We are happy to be the recipients of your trust and
