A retired couple met me in my Jerusalem office and within minutes of sitting down, it was clear that they each had drastically different views about how to handle their retirement nest egg. The husband wanted to invest heavily in the stock market and the wife wanted more conservative investments to protect their nest egg from breaking…. Read more
A recent widow in her seventies came into my office in Jerusalem for an initial meeting on how to increase her investment income. She said that the $25,000 per year from her portfolio and pensions was simply not enough income to maintain her lifestyle.
The pension stopped – Oy!
Her husband’s pensions stopped when he died,… Read more
When you withdraw money from your IRA (or if you inherited an Individual Retirement Account from someone and you take yearly distributions), don’t fool yourself.
Just because you withdraw money from a retirement account does not mean that you actually made that money. Rather, you might just be pulling out your principal…. Read more
What should you do with your American IRA account (Individual Retirement Account) when you live in Israel?
Your initial thought might be to cash out your IRA account and transfer the funds to Israel. But that’s probably not too wise because of the tax-deferred nature of an IRA.
Moving your retirement account to Israel may be expensive
IRAs are good vehicles for retirement saving because they let you defer paying American taxes on capital gains,… Read more
Retirees who diversify globally protect themselves from investing with too much home bias.
If you are saving for a future retirement, your goal is probably to grow your capital. If you only focus on higher returns, though, you may take risks you cannot afford. Markets can be volatile. Diversifying globally may be a good way to lower volatility and smooth out returns…. Read more
Israeli law requires that full-time workers who have worked for longer than six months receive a pension plan through their employers. This is part of the government’s plan of making sure individuals have private pensions to supplement their governmental pensions. Pensions are a highly regulated field, and as such the details are in constant flux…. Read more
Does reaching retirement age mean you have to stop working?
In Israel, the official retirement age for a man is 67. For women, it fluctuates between 60 and 62, depending on date of birth. Retirees until the age of 70 (or 69 for a woman born before 1950), are eligible for a state pension,… Read more
Knowing the right time to let go of financial responsibility to a trusted individual is one of the biggest challenges that an investor may face.
Why should you want to let go?
As you get older, it becomes more difficult to keep on top of your finances. Most senior citizens,… Read more
American citizens living in Israel can claim Social Security benefits if they put enough “quarters” into the system. At what age should American-Israelis claim Social Security?
Waiting may be worthwhile
The youngest age to claim Social Security is 62. While retiring early and claiming benefits may seem tempting, the monthly payments received at age 62 are significantly lower than if you claimed at full retirement age (around 66)…. Read more
Much has been written as to whether women should retire at the same age as men or earlier. Currently, both American social security and Israeli bituach leumi begin at an earlier age for women than for men. But regardless of how old a woman is when she retires, often women have a more difficult time financing retirement than men do…. Read more
