Without painful compromises and without cutting back: Ten simple steps that will win back the money that credit card companies, banks, and insurance companies trim from you "blindly".
One phone call to the credit card company that can save you hundreds of shekels a year
According to the Supervisor of Banks' report, the average cost of managing a current account and credit cards jumped from NIS 349 in 2024 to NIS 378 this year. In fact, 51% of credit card companies' revenue from households comes from card maintenance fees alone. The multipliers – NIS 17 to NIS 20 a month per card, multiplied by two or three cards in the average wallet, and you easily reach NIS 500 a year on thin air. How do you save? One phone call to the credit card company, an explicit request for cancellation, and there is a good chance that the fee disappears for a year. And there is also a permanent alternative: Employees' clubs and student cards offer a total exemption, but pay attention, if you received a card that entitles you to a "first year free" – mark it in your calendar.
Stop gambling: This is how you stop losing thousands of shekels a year on the stock market
The data on day trading leaves no room for illusions: Between 60 and 70 percent of private day traders lose money, and less than one percent manage to generate a consistent return over time. The reason is not just a lack of knowledge, it is structural. About 70 to 80 percent of all stock transactions today are executed by algorithms of financial institutions, which process millions of data points per second and identify trends days before a private trader even sees them. Beyond the technological disadvantage, the human mind works against the trader: Cognitive biases such as overconfidence, revenge trading after a loss, and chasing opportunities are a permanent and known pattern for financial loss. In contrast to all this, long–term investment in diversified indices has historically yielded an average annual return of 8 to 10 percent. The big profit is found in patience, not in speed. And if you still cannot give up the thrill involved in day trading – allocate a sum of money for it, a few single percentages of the portfolio, and in any case never take a loan from the bank for this purpose.
Why leave the money in the current account?
According to Bank of Israel data, over NIS 230 billion is sitting in the current accounts of Israelis and doing nothing. The average current account balance of a household stands at about NIS 35,000. All of these shekels are quietly eroding: The bank profits from them and pays you an interest rate close to zero. The solution is simple: A rolling three–month deposit currently yields about 4 percent annually. On NIS 50,000, that is about NIS 2,000 a year before tax, and about NIS 1,700 after a capital gains tax deduction of 15 percent. The money becomes available every quarter and remains liquid. Anyone who wants to lock it for a year and receive up to 4.3 percent will get slightly more, but will lose the flexibility. In both cases, this is significantly better than doing nothing.
The hidden price of the cigarette: The effects of smoking on your pocket
The price of cigarettes is only the tip of the iceberg. A pack–a–day smoker spends about NIS 14,400 a year on the addiction alone. But the true cumulative economic damage is higher than that: Insurance companies price active smokers at 1.8 to 2.5 times higher than their non–smoking peers, a gap that translates into thousands of additional shekels a year and expands with age. Added to this is dental health: Smoking increases gum damage and accelerates tooth collapse, which leads to frequent and expensive treatments. Private gum treatments reach thousands of shekels, and a single tooth implant costs between NIS 4,500 and NIS 9,000. When you add up all the items, direct cost, insurance, and dental health, the annual bill easily exceeds NIS 20,000. This is before a single sick day. At the Abrahamson Center they note that while dependence on nicotine feels binding, the truth is that it is a mechanism that can be untangled much more easily than it seems. Our body is endowed with a rapid regeneration capacity and an impressive self–purification ability, and the brain too, once provided with the right strategy, is capable of breaking free from the need for the substance. Bottom line: You have every reason to undergo smoking cessation. It robs the account of an amount that could have funded an annual vacation in Thailand, shortens life, harms fitness, and wrinkles the skin and life itself.
Not just canceling double insurance: The way to lower insurance costs
The government's Har Habituach website allows you to get a full status picture of all active policies in your name and their cost. One of its useful features is identifying double insurance – a situation where you pay two different companies for the exact same coverage. A common phenomenon that costs hundreds to thousands of shekels a year. Before turning to an insurance agent for advice, it is worth knowing that his income model is based on commissions from the insurance companies. Ask him to detail which companies he represents and what the commission rate he receives for each product is. This information is legal, transparent, and you are entitled to it. Finally, with every car or apartment policy renewal, request offers from several companies. The difference between the first offer and the cheapest one can reach significant percentages of the annual premium.
Three areas, three phone calls, and hundreds of shekels that can stay in your pocket
In television, where competition among providers is fiercest, a disconnection request and a transfer to the retention department usually yields discounts of tens of shekels a month or opens premium channels for free: Savings that can easily reach a few hundred shekels a year. In cellular, where prices are already low, a request to match competitors' joining promotions may reduce about NIS 10 per line. For a family with four lines and home internet, this could add up to another few hundred shekels you saved. Water bar subscribers are also more flexible than it seems – one call towards the end of the commitment can certainly end with a permanent discount or two free months. Total: Two hours a year, and quite a bit of money expected to be saved.
A mistake worth up to NIS 900 a year: Check how many people are registered in the water bill
According to the Water Authority tariffs, each person is entitled to 3.5 cubic meters per month at the reduced rate of NIS 8.51 per cubic meter. Anyone who consumes beyond the recognized quantity pays NIS 15.62 per cubic meter, almost double. The problem: Anyone who has not updated the water corporation with the exact number of people is automatically charged according to two people only. A family of five that did not update loses about NIS 75 a month, about NIS 900 a year, just because of a form that was not filled out. The solution: Check the invoice to see how many people are registered, and if the number is not accurate, report it to the corporation. You can receive a refund for up to four months retroactively.
Don't pay full price: Abandon the shopping cart
Want an online discount? Leave products in the shopping cart and exit the site. Large sites use automatic "cart recovery" systems, and will frequently send you an email with a coupon of about 10% within one to three days. The trick usually does not work in small stores, so it is recommended to try this only on large and familiar sites. Treat it as a possible bonus and not as a foolproof method.
The financial trap of credit cards: Why you must not use "fixed debit"
Credit card companies market the "fixed debit" mechanism (revolving credit) as a tool for controlling expenses, but in practice, it is a financial trap. The mechanism allows for limiting the monthly charge, with any amount beyond the ceiling deferred to the next month plus expensive interest. The gap is significant: While the average interest rate on revolving credit stands at about 16%, in a regular consumer loan it amounts to only about 9%. Thus, on a loan of NIS 20,000 for 12 months, you will pay a cumulative interest of about NIS 1,780 in revolving credit, compared to only about NIS 940 in a regular loan – a savings of NIS 840 in the first year alone. As long as the debt is spread over a long period, the compound interest swells.