There are a number of topics society has told us we aren’t supposed to discuss in mixed company. Religion, for example, has long been a forbidden subject between people of different faiths. Politics is mostly swept under the rug among people of different parties. Money, something that we all have feelings about, has never been a polite conversation piece.
Rebecca Rothstein, a managing director at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Beverly Hills, focuses on helping high net worth and ultra-high net worth investors with estate, tax and financial planning. But she hasn’t always been a Barron’s top 100 financial advisor. A high-school dropout who went on to get her GED and an associate’s degree in design and merchandising, Rothstein started out as a buyer for the Robinson’s department store chain but left the job because it required too much time on the road away from her four young sons.
At the dawn of the 20th century, the British royals were privy to a spiffy new system for infusing drinking water with carbon dioxide bubbles. It would take 53 years for SodaStream to reach commoners, and another 42 until it was acquired by an Israeli distributor and transformed into an international DIY product called Soda Club.
Neal Frankle has worked as a certified financial planner for 25 years. A father of three daughters, Frankle and his wife regularly attend Chabad of Oak Park. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from San Diego State University, and is founder and president of Wealth Resources Group, a personal asset management and funds investment company based in Agoura Hills that serves more than 200 clients. Here Frankle shares tips for financial success from his book “Why Smart People Lose a Fortune,” as well as from his blog at wealthpilgrim.com.
Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer was named the central bank governor of the year.
Following Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s final State of the State speech and as his last budget proposal circulates, it is time to assess the long and winding road we have taken with our celebrity governor.
The Madoff scandal, which involved so many Jews as both perpetrators and victims, inevitably raises deep questions in people’s minds about the relationship between Judaism and business. Let me ask the question that none of us wants to face: Does our tradition and the culture it spawned actually encourage fraud? Are the anti-Semites right about Jews “Jewing” everybody — even fellow Jews?
A 54-year-old father of four is playing basketball with his sons, collapses and dies of a heart attack. A mother and father of six are broadsided in an intersection; both die instantly. A mother of five dies of cancer four months after being diagnosed. Situations similar to these unfortunate tragedies can be compounded by a lack of estate planning.
After extensive negotiations with the Conference for Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Germany eased some eligibility requirements so more low-income survivors like Aviva can receive so-called Article 2 pension payments.
Where should you donate your money? How? How much? How do you know if you\’re getting your money\’s worth?
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