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My friend Sruli said something the other day that stuck with me.He was talking about potential — how sometimes, everything you want is already there, just waiting. You just have to turn the dial. Like a bubblegum machine.You know the ones: a glass globe filled with colorful gumballs. You drop in a quarter, turn the dial, and out comes a gumball. The gumballs were always there. You just had to turn the dial. I’M STEALING THIS Sruli called it The Bubblegum Effect. It’s mine now. The idea is simple: the potential is already there. Waiting. But nothing happens until you turn the dial. TWO SESSIONS Here’s something that surprises my clients:Within two sessions — about three hours of actual work — they gain clarity on their numbers. Income. Expenses. The flow of their money. Something they’ve been avoiding for months. Years. Sometimes forever. Three hours.And they always say the same thing: “That was nothing.” I DO THIS EVERY YEAR I’ll be honest — I hate doing taxes.Every year, I push it off. Every year, it sits on my to-do list, getting heavier. And every year, when I finally sit down and do it? Same thought: Wow. That was nothing. But this year? […]

The other day, my wife said something I can’t stop thinking about:“Desire got you to eat the first chip. Guilt made you finish the bag.” She’s right. She usually is. 🤓 I KNOW THIS PATTERN WELL Twelve years ago, I joined a men’s weight loss program. I was all in—tracking everything, following the rules, and I lost 49 pounds in a year.I looked great. Felt even better. That kind of energy you get when everything’s clicking? I had it. Then came Purim. If you’re not familiar, Purim is a Jewish holiday where kids dress up in costumes and collect mountains of candy. It ends up everywhere.One day, a chocolate bar mysteriously ended up in my mouth. I don’t remember picking it up. I don’t remember unwrapping it. But suddenly—sugar rush. That old, familiar kryptonite hit me hard.Oh. I remember this. ONE CHIP BECAME THE WHOLE BAG It didn’t happen all at once. It never does.A little nosh here. A piece of candy there. “Just this once” on repeat. Eventually, I gained it all back. Not because of one chocolate bar. But because of what came after.Guilt. “Well, I already blew it.”“What’s the point now?”“I’ll start fresh on Monday.” Sound familiar? […]

The other day, I got a message from a reader named Akiva: “Yours is one of the few emails I get that I have to go back to later on my computer because I don’t have a browser on my phone. Always a good read.” Akiva built a system to avoid distractions — no browser on his phone. And somehow, my emails made the cut for “worth coming back to.” That message? It made my day. It reminded me why I write these emails in the first place. It also got me thinking: why do people like my emails? HERE’S MY SECRET (HINT: IT’S ABOUT NOT HAVING SECRETS) I wasn’t born with good money genes. I’ve bounced checks. I’ve spent emergency money on beer in Jamaica. I’ve felt that sinking feeling when I logged into my bank account and saw less than I expected. So when I write these emails, I’m not writing from a pedestal. I’m writing as someone who’s been through it. HOW THESE EMAILS HAPPEN I listen. Clients say things that stop me cold. I write them down. Readers send emails that stick with me. Conversations with family and friends spark ideas. I steal from everywhere. From […]

I was 19. Jamaica. I was traveling with an older friend, Rino. My mom was a flight attendant, so I was flying standby on her employee pass. Free flight — if there was a seat. No seat, no flight. A few days before heading home, I checked the flight. Looked wide open. It’ll be fine. So, naturally, I did what any 19-year-old would do: I spent my emergency money. More Red Stripe. Souvenirs. Whatever else seemed like a good idea at the time. Then I got to the airport. Overbooked. That means I’m not getting on the flight. ZERO My brain went into a spiral. Avraham, you’re so stupid. Why did you do that? Then the panic: What am I going to do? I’m all alone in Jamaica. Where am I going to sleep? The resort might not even take me back. What is my mother going to think? And finally: Those pilots better say yes. I’ll beg if I have to. I had zero money. Not “low on cash” — zero. And I was stuck in a foreign country with no way home. Rino? He had a confirmed ticket. Paid in full. He shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” […]

Someone called me a “self-made man” the other day. I’ll admit — it felt good to hear. But here’s the truth: it’s completely wrong. THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS SELF-MADE I didn’t make myself. And I definitely didn’t get here alone. Let me tell you about some of the people who got me here. CHRIS REYNOLDS I was 17. He was starting an investment company. Thirty people. He gave me a shot. He used to call me “Junior.” Said he saw himself in me. I wasn’t the most responsible kid. One day, I smashed the company car. Couldn’t pay for it. He gave me another shot. That company now has over 1,000 people. And because he gave me a second chance, I got to witness that. I still think about what it meant that he believed in me when I didn’t deserve it. SETH GODIN He let me lead his community — 25,000+ people from the circle he built up over the decades. But more than that, he taught me something I still carry: Pick yourself. Don’t wait to be picked. That one idea changed how I move through the world. MY RABBI I had a mentor a few years […]

Today was one of those days with my kids. The kind where every interaction feels like a negotiation—and I was losing every single one. By the afternoon, I was fried. And when I’m fried, I do what a lot of people do: I start thinking about food I don’t need. Specifically, salmon lover’s sushi. There’s a spot in Toronto I love. $17 for a little tray of the good stuff. I wasn’t hungry—not really. But I wanted it. Because when I’m stressed, I reach for something that feels like relief. So there I was, standing in line, about to order. And then I caught myself. Wait. I have a choice here. I didn’t have to buy it. I wasn’t hungry. I was just stressed. And buying that sushi wasn’t going to fix the stress. Sure, it would taste amazing for about four minutes. But after that? I’d feel… kind of bad. Seventeen dollars poorer. Still stressed. So I didn’t buy it. And here’s the surprising part: I felt better not buying it than I would have felt eating it. 🍣 $17 ISN’T LIFE-CHANGING—BUT THE PATTERN IS I know. It’s just sushi. Not a car. But here’s the thing: I do […]

I was fifteen. Riding shotgun in a Chevy Astro. Pitch-black back roads. No streetlights. And the gas tank? Empty light on. Somewhere between ‘we might make it’ and ‘we’re going to die out here.’ Danny was driving — my cousin’s cousin. Eighteen. Built like a linebacker. This was my first big trip without Mom. Two weeks of relentless begging before she finally said yes. Wasaga Beach. Freedom. Except I spent half the trip staring at the fuel gauge. At one point, we were scraping together coins. Just enough to keep going. The needle taunted us the whole way. We made it. Barely. When I got home, I noticed something I’d never paid attention to before:My mom’s tank was full. It was always full. She never let it drop below half. Forty-plus years as a flight attendant. Emergency drills weren’t just something she knew — they were drilled into her. “If there’s a crisis, you need fuel. Don’t wait for the empty light.” Half tank to full tank. Always. Just in case. Fast forward ten years — August 14, 2003. I was 25. And Mom’s lesson was about to pay off. The lights went out… Fifty million people lost power that day. Detroit. New York. […]

I’ve seen this story play out hundreds of times. And I’ve lived it. (Just ask my wife.) Here’s how it goes: Your car’s service light came on two weeks ago. You’ll deal with it next week. Your kid’s sneakers are hanging on by a thread — he needs new ones before the weather turns. The Hulu subscription renewed again, even though you’ve been meaning to cancel it since November. And that budget you swore you’d make on January 1st? It’s now the end of February. One spouse brings it up. Cue a week of marital tension. That heavy, unspoken “we really need to figure this out” energy hanging over the house. So you sit down. You open the spreadsheet. This time, you mean it. You really do. But then… Your brother-in-law needs help moving on Sunday. A client email can’t wait until Monday. You’ve had a brutal week, and honestly, you’ve earned a night on the couch with a novel that doesn’t require brainpower. All reasonable. And the can gets kicked. Here’s the part no one wants to hear: You’re not just avoiding your finances. You’re avoiding the truth. That you’ve been underperforming with your money — for years. You […]

I’ve only seen it happen twice in 15 years. A client sits down. I show them the numbers. They look at the spreadsheet, make a decision, and execute. Cold. Logical. Done. One of those clients? He realized the math didn’t work. He was living in a country where taxes were too high, pay was too low, and his dream lifestyle was a pipe dream. So, he got a new job. In a different country. Within two weeks. Six weeks later, he and his family had relocated. Hundreds of thousands of dollars gained. No hand-wringing. No “let me think about it.” Just: this is the logical move, so I’m making it. His family followed. That was it. I sat there thinking: That’s how it’s supposed to work, right? See the numbers. Make the change. But here’s the thing: that’s not how it works. Not for most people. Not even for me. When I started as a financial coach 15 years ago, I came from the financial advisor world. I believed the answer was tools. Systems. Tracking. Show people where their money is going, and they’ll fix it. So, I built an app. Not just any app — a 12-month projection tool. […]