Purim is one of my most favorite chag, full of festivities. We all meet up to hear the megilah, gather together with family and friends for the Purim seudah, and give mishloachei manot to our family, friends and neighbours – a lovely way of connecting with the community. Talking about the community, giving donations is also a Purim mitzvah. We all dress up in costumes, from babies to grandparents, Purim is the festival when everybody has a good time.Yet. with the recent sharp rise in prices, Purim can be financially challenging for some of us. In this newsletter, I will...
In the midst of a pandemic, the work market becomes very volatile. What happens when suddenly one of the breadwinners is made redundant? What do you do? For those of you who work with a budget, you make adjustments until employment is found again therefore the family is not put under financial stress and does not spiral into debt.So how does one streamline expenses as quickly as possible? STEP ONE – It is imperative to know what your spending habits are before the change. If you do not have a budget, take the bank and credit card statements from before the...
Many of us are familiar with New Year’s resolutions — eating healthier food, staying in touch with friends, and exercising more are popular ones. While these resolutions might do you a world of good, it also pays to think about some of the financial changes you could undertake in the New Year. Here are five financial tips for 2022 that are easy to implement and keep. These tips will jump you onto the path to financial success. If there is something that we have learnt from the pandemic, is the importance of savings. I know that some of you might...
Time and time again, when I work with my clients, both Israeli and Anglo Saxons they are not aware of how many vacation days they are entitled to. Here is what you are entitled to by law and you will be surprised that you are allowed to take 2 days off without it being deducted from your vacation days.According to the January 2017 Annual Leave Law Years of seniority or experienceVacation days1-5Up to 16 vacation days6+Up to 18 vacation days7+Up to 21 vacation days8+An additional day for each year of work up to a max of 28 days a year...
I have just returned from working with a family with three teenage daughter and they wanted to plan their summer budget. After we worked on their vacation budget, their main concern was keeping their children financially happy during the summer months.Together we formulated the following plan:VACATION JOBFinding a vacation job – after the unpaid vacation leave is finishing at the end of June, this is not an easy feat as there is a lot of competition. Also sometimes the teenager is tempted to play computer games or hang out with their friends. Therefore, as an incentive to find a job. I suggested that the...
Click on this link to download the Pessach Shopping List 2021. Pessach shopping list The key to dealing with Pessach is planning in advance: Make a list of expected expenses and include all the components: food, wine, disposable utensils, trips and family entertainment, etc. Add the final amount to your annual budget. The idea is to prepare ourselves during the year for the extraordinary expenses of Pessach, define the monthly amount of the cost of the expected expenditure on Pessach, divide it to 12 months, and save this amount each month – thus saving enough for Pessach. What happens if you...
I recently started working with a 47 year old man who has been divorced for 10 years and has two children. He felt that his finances were out of control and wanted to plan for the future. After sorting out his everyday expenses, we started long term financial planning. I asked him whether he has a pension, to which he replied he does. In 2008, a law was passed in Israel mandating that every employer had to pay into each employee’s pension fund; noncompliance means that legal charges can be – brought against them. When I asked how much was...
We all cherish our children and grandchildren, and want them to have the best opportunities for a good start in life. To help them, many of us recognize the importance of setting up a saving plans for their future. This article will lay out the various options for saving and explain each one’s advantages and disadvantages. As parents, we are responsible for providing our children with shelter, food, clothing and education. We also like to celebrate milestones in our children’s lives, such as birth, bar/bat mitzvah, and weddings, all of which require considerable financing. We may also want to assist...
When are now in the 3rd lockdown and hopefully the last one due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Bituach Leumi has changed a lot of their conditions. In this article, you will receive guidelines about your rights if you are employed. Question: It is the first time that I have been asked to go on unpaid vacation (Chalat – חל”ת) what is the procedure? Answer: There are 3 Steps to be taken: 1. You need to report to Bituach Leumi that you are on unpaid vacation. 2. You have to register to the Ministry of Employment לשכת התעסקה . 3. You have...
I ordered some sandals on line In August and they have not arrived yet. Am I entitled to compensation? The month of November, usually a rather quiet month has become an extremely busy month due to crazy sale days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In fact, in just two days, Israelis purchased NIS 190 million worth of goods for the Chinese Bachelor Day, which was a 50% increase from last year. How can you ensure that you receive what you’ve bought? And how can you make sure that you actually receive what you ordered? This year, the Coronavirus crisis...
