Don’t Blame Yourself for Failed Investments
A Silly and Irresponsible Business Decision
The Chovos HaLevavos begins with an example of a person who purchased inventory, but he can’t move it. The ba’al bitachon will, however, remain calm and serene—knowing that the Ribbono shel Olam ordained it all for his good.
One may ask, why can’t it be that this person simply made a bad business decision to purchase more inventory than he needed? Perhaps he was hasty and impulsive, thinking that he’s about to strike it rich...“I will invest and buy lots of merchandise and turn a quick profit.”
Often, he was even warned beforehand: Don’t do it. You must be careful with such an investment, because it can go bad, he was told. But this person was smarter than everyone, and he didn’t listen. Now he is stuck with this inventory. How can this person have bitachon and think that it was all ordained from Above? He did it to himself! Now, he’s reaping the fruits of his bad and hasty decision.... In such a case, it is difficult to remain calm with bitachon, because this person blames himself for his bad decision.
What to Do When We’re at Fault
This dilemma bothers many people who invest badly in a certain project or product, and they later blame themselves. “Where were my brains?” they lament. “Why didn’t I listen to older and wiser people who warned me to stay away from that investment? I did this to myself with my own two hands!”
And the rule is that when we’re talking about things that aren’t in our hands, it is much easier to have bitachon and believe that it’s from Hashem. After all, it’s very clearly from Above... because we had nothing to do with it. Even then, it’s not always so easy... but it’s so much harder when we did it with our own two hands. How can we have proper bitachon in such a case?
Your Actions Have Nothing to Do with the End Results
The first thing we must know is that this would be a fair concern—if the end results had anything to do with the person’s actions.
That is, if a person’s success were connected to the actions that he took, and failure would also be connected to a person’s actions, then this concern would be legitimate. “I made a bad decision, and this was the result.”
(Sometimes, it is proper to reflect on the results of our actions. For example, a father knows that it’s improper to yell at his son for something he did, because the child isn’t in the frame of mind to accept criticism. But this father lost himself and gave the child a scolding to remember.... But upon reflection, he realizes that it was the wrong thing to do. Because the previous time, he “lost the child” for an hour, and this time, he lost him for three days. He doesn’t want to look his father in the face; the father has severed his connection with the child. The father realizes that his action was a big mistake and brought about a terrible outcome.)
But when it comes to business and parnassah, there’s never such a concept as your actions bringing about a result. There’s never a case when a person could say, “If I remained stuck with inventory, it is due to my rash decision to buy it.” When it comes to money, there simply is no such thing!
Same Actions—Different Outcome
When it comes to business and money, results have no connection to the actions that a person took—and we see this clearly every day. Two people do the very same thing with wildly different outcomes. One person was very successful and became wealthy, while the second person failed miserably—and there is nothing that we can point to where the second person went wrong.
We believe with emunah that outcomes aren’t based on our actions, but we also see it with clarity. How many times does a person invest hishtadlus into one area, and the successful outcome comes from a completely different corner. This is how the Ribbono shel Olam designed our world; a person does his part, and the Ribbono shel Olam sends the results, unconnected to the precise actions that he took.
Your Actions Have Nothing to Do with the Situation
Thus, one can never make the cheshbon that his business failure is due to his bad decision. This is incorrect. It may very well be that you didn’t make any mistakes at all, yet you nevertheless failed, because this is what the Ribbono shel Olam wants, and this is the best thing for you.
It’s true that we should take seriously the advice of older and wiser people, and it may be that we have made mistakes. Perhaps we should have inquired more or davened more. But don’t conclude that because the results weren’t as we would have liked, it automatically means that we were mistaken. We shouldn’t link the two.
The first thing is for a person to calm himself: I made the decision according to the information that I had at the time. And if that information was that this wasn’t an overly risky move, then the fact that it failed must be that this is the ratzon Hashem for my own good.
Reasonable Risk
We see this in so many situations. People invest money in secure investments, with a very rational cheshbon, and still, it ends in failure—not because of anything they did or didn’t do, but because this is the ratzon Hashem.
Suppose a Yid invested a few million dollars into a property where he can build many homes. There’s some risk, but this person inquires about the home prices and the demand for homes in this area, and the experts tell him that this is a rational investment.
But after purchasing the lot, the laws changed, and now he’s unable to develop the area. This happens all the time. Can we fault him for making a bad investment? Should he have stayed home and done nothing? Of course not! He made a proper and rational business move. He took a risk, but every investment has some risk. It was within normal and reasonable actions; the results have nothing to do with him.
Don’t Be Aggravated by Failed Investments
The same can happen when a person buys a product with the intention of selling it for a profit. But later things changed, and the item couldn’t be sold, or he couldn’t get his hands on it due to government bureaucracy. This person took a reasonable risk according to the information he had at the time—only in Shamayim it was ordained for a different outcome.
This is the first rule that we must keep in mind: In most cases, when a person gets stuck with merchandise that he can’t move, he shouldn’t become aggravated by it, and he shouldn’t agonize that he should have done differently. At the time, you made a very reasonable decision—even if others would not have undertaken this risk—so long as it was a normal investment, you fulfilled your mission of hishtadlus.
You engaged in the pursuit of parnassah as we are obligated to do. Proof of this is that your friend made the same investment and made out very well, while you lost everything—because this was the ratzon Hashem. You can and must have full bitachon that the Ribbono shel Olam is doing everything for your good.
When Your Sechel Is Confiscated
Sometimes, there is a situation wherein a person knows the truth; he really messed up... he made a really foolish move. He invested without thinking things through, and he didn’t investigate it enough. His older friend tells him, “I told you that it wouldn’t work. You’re young and brash... you wanted to make a quick buck.... I warned you that you should stay away from such things.”
Even in such cases, it’s very possible that the person didn’t have a choice in the matter. From Above, they took away his clarity and sechel for that moment, because this outcome was bashert for him. It was ordained that he should do this move, against all logic and reason, and thereby lose his money.
How often do we see seasoned and experienced businessmen with decades of business experience who always think things through before they make a move... and in one case they cannot get over how foolish they were. “This is so out of character for me,” they agonize. “Where was my sechel?... I am so not the type to do such a brash business move.”
This person must take into account that yes, often the Ribbono shel Olam removes a person’s clarity of thought and sechel for a short time, because this is what must happen—for his good. The ba’al bitachon will always remain calm, even when he knows that he made a foolish mistake, for he knows that he was led from Above on this path.
