Is this enough to live on in Israel?

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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> Israel related Inquiries & Aliyah Questions

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amother

Aquamarine

Sun, Sep 23 2018, 7:26 am

Thinking about aliyah with 3 kids (ages high school to elementary school). We love Israel.

I have school debt though. (I'm a physician). My payment is $900 per month. It won't be paid off anytime soon.

We have some savings.

Initially, until I master Hebrew, I think my job will require me to fly to the states one week a month to do locums work. I can work and get paid 10K per week. But that also means I will be away from family for a week at a time.

It will take my DH a little while to find a job in Israel. He is in nursing and doesn't speak Hebrew yet.

Is there any "penalty" that I'm not aware of if my job is overseas?

2gether

Sun, Sep 23 2018, 7:34 am

Speak to an American-Isreali CPA about dual taxes
35000 shekal/mo. is more than enough to live off if in Israel even with your loans
Go to Ulpan (DH too) don't live here the rest of your life like a foreiner, its not worth it

amother

Aquamarine

Sun, Sep 23 2018, 7:49 am

For sure, we do not want to live like foreigners however, the idea of going back and forth is in of itself foreigner like. How do I find a CPA? I guess I would owe takes in the states and Israel.

amother

Blush

Sun, Sep 23 2018, 9:21 am

amother wrote:

$9000 a month should be enough. What specialty do you work in?

grace413

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 12:16 pm

Have you consulted nefesh b'nefesh? They probably have names of accountants who can help you.

There may be specific medical/nursing ulpans that would be helpful in terms of getting jobs.

How do your older kids feel about the aliyah plan?

heidi

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 12:39 pm

I think there's a law that exempts people who make aliyah from paying taxes on their foreign income. It used to be for the first 10 years. I think it's less now. Definitely talk to an accountant.
As an MD please be aware that you might have to do a 6 month- a year long stint as an "intern" if you want to get a job here. Also, if you're not board certified where you live now you might have to take the boards here.
Good luck!

amother

Dodgerblue

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 1:07 pm

$9000 a month? I have no idea how much taxes you would pay, but I'm guessing you would be left with at least $5000. That would be almost 18 000 nis, which is definitely a doable salary. Many of the imamothers here live off of much less, but they live very frugally.

18k is a good salary to live decently, especially if you don't have to live in the most expensive areas. Look for cities that have good transport to Ben Gurion airport, since you will be flying so much. The train that goes there is excellent. (That rules out Jerusalem though, since they have no train to the airport). Tons of cities connect to the Ben Gurion train route, from the south to the north.

Much better to take the train to the airport than drive, in most cases.

amother

Salmon

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 1:26 pm

as of today there is a 28 minute train from jerusalem to the airport

amother

Dodgerblue

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 1:31 pm

amother wrote:

as of today there is a 28 minute train from jerusalem to the airport

Wow. I heard they wanted to open a route, but they've been wanting to for a decade already.

How often does it run a day?

Another mom

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 4:10 pm

amother wrote:

Wow. I heard they wanted to open a route, but they've been wanting to for a decade already.

How often does it run a day?

Not finalized as far as I know, Very new!!!

amother

Cerulean

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 9:34 pm

If you are being paid on a 1099 then you will have your accountant arrange for you to pay estimated Bituach Leumi every month and then they will adjust at the end of the year. This will allow you to get all BL benefits not just health insurance. Then when you pay your US taxes they will deduct anything that you pay in Israel from what you owe the US government. It is very easy if you have good accountants. My US accountant and my Israeli accountant work together (not in the same office) so they will communicate with each other. If you are on a w4 it is a different process. However you should speak to an accountant because I am in a very different tax bracket (I'm a SW). Also you will need both an Israeli accountant and a US accountant familiar with Israeli tax law to be able to do everything correctly. It is an added expense but needed especially if your husband is working on a Tlush(legally in Israel). Good luck!
Also I have friends who work for US hospitals here. But he is a radiologist so if you aren't it may not work out Smile

amother

Cobalt

Mon, Sep 24 2018, 11:25 pm

Yes, you can live quite well on that. Remember schools are very inexpensive, you don't need two cars and depending on where you choose to live you can make it work. If your husband is a nurse he should be able to start working in about a year after aliyah. I am a nurse and Israel definitely needs nurses. And doctors. They need doctors.

shevi82

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 1:26 am

I am not knowledgeable of the financial part. But are your kids on board? do they speak Hebrew? Are you sure you have the right schools for them? A place to live where they will have friends, feel at home, like the shul etc. These are points that are just as important as the financial asppects. Even if you love Israel very much, you can end up with angry teens who will hate Israel and hate you. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but I have seen and been in this situation when it did not end well. Hatzlacha!!

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 3:46 am

shevi82 wrote:

While all scenarios are possible, we made Aliyah with four kids all high school and middle school aged and it has been amazing. Nothing is perfect but don't let poele scare you away. Find the right community and schools and have a positive attitude.

amother

Red

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 4:23 am

I think I would get pretty sick of flying all over like that. Where would you stay?

Could you rather spend summer all of you in the US? 12 weeks salary in one go? Or something like that?

The problem I see is that you are trying to get the benefit of your US salary and at the same time get the benefit of living in Israel. Now ALL OF US would do very well if this were possible. I guess it's "possible". But the practicalities are perhaps more complicated than you are thinking about (even though you are clearly super intelligent to have the job you do). This is why most people do not commute internationally.

But OTOH there are increasingly more people who ARE managing even a weekly commute. Here is an article about it

https://jewishweek.timesofisra.....-u-s/

Good luck

FranticFrummie

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 6:05 am

amother wrote:

I think OP needs to hear both sides of the coin. She knows her kids best, but I think it's really important to know that kids can do amazing here, or they can really hate it. Sometimes you don't know until you get here, so try to have a plan in case things get difficult.

If I could do ONE thing different about Aliyah, I would have made sure that DD and I were at least semi-fluent in Hebrew before we got here. I think it would have made all the difference in the world for us.

I also second everyone who said to meet with your N b'n coordinator, and find out what the rules are about traveling overseas, how many days a year you can be out of the country, and what to do about declaring income, taxes, etc.

Have you picked a community yet?

Aylat

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 7:58 am

If you are planning to ultimately work as a doctor in Israel, Terem (emergency clinics) are a great way to ease in. My D

ETA I just wrote a whole long post and it disappeared and posted just this. My kids are calling me now, I'll try come back later.

amother

Lawngreen

Tue, Sep 25 2018, 12:43 pm

There are tax advantages when making aliyah on foreign earned income, however that is much more complicated than it sounds, so check with a CPA who understands how to legally classify your income as such.

You receive some benefits from Misrad Haklita upon making aliyah. Check with the Jewish Agency (they have an online calculator) to find out how much. Benefits are based upon household size and marital status, and are a gift from the Israeli government- this is not need based. Baruch Hashem we've received thousands of dollars in aliyah benefits, which was a huge help.

If you leave the country during the first 6 months following aliyah sal klita benefits from Misrad Haklita are stopped. The benefits can be reinstated by going to Misrad HaPanim (good luck-that can take half a day) and reporting your return to Israel. If you leave once a month, obviously that can be an issue here, so have someone on the inside who can guide you through that (perhaps the Jewish Agency can assist you now).

All I can say is make sure 1) you know where your kids will attend school; 2) that they're on board with aliyah; and 3) That you find a good fit kehilla wise. Israeli kids can be really tough on new olehs and the wrong kehilla will make you miserable (I know this from experience), so please choose your place of residence and schools carefully.

When you find the right place here and your kids become fluent in Hebrew, they'll probably LOVE it. That was our experience.

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