The toolbox provides weekly tips to help olim adjust to life in Israel.

Note: Olim Paveway’s Olim Toolbox is a series of short articles offering timely tips and useful information for anyone who is moving to Israel. In the weeks to come, Olim Paveway will be sharing tips on how to start a business, find a reliable renovation service, buy a car, choose an HMO for you and your family, optimize professional networking, get the most out of local resources available to olim and much more..

If you have a question or suggestion for a topic, please write to [email protected].

(Courtesy of Olim Paveway) One thing holds true for all American olim. Sooner or later, you have to transfer funds from the U.S.. Whether purchasing a home in Israel, buying a car or shopping for some high ticket appliance, olim know they are going to need shekels, not dollars.

That brings us to this week’s toolbox tip: Don’t wait until the last minute to change dollars to shekels. Waiting puts you at the mercy of a volatile market. Waiting could also cost you a lot of money unnecessarily.

Play it smart. Start the process about two months before you expect to make the transfer. And do your due diligence. Use a reputable international payments provider instead of a bank. Banks charge for sending and receiving payments — sometimes up to 3% of the dollar amount you want to exchange. If you’re exchanging $100,000, that would be an additional $3,000 charge! An international payments provider can help you choose the best time to transfer your money and help protect you from exchange rate fluctuations with options to lock in rates.

Moreover, you’ll know how much you are getting in shekels early in the process, something banks can’t tell you because of intermediary charges they add in the exchange process.

So don’t leave things to the last minute. Do your research. Choose an international payments provider who’s right for you. It’s never too early to save.

Find olim-recommended international payments providers on Olim Paveway’s list of vetted service suppliers (sapakim) at www.olimpaveway.com.

Using an international payments provider rather than a bank gives you the advantage of better rates than you normally get from a bank. You also avoid paying sending and receiving charges from a bank which can be hefty margin of the money you want to exchange – sometimes up to 3%. It doesn’t seem like a lot but if you’re moving $100,000, that would be $3,000 dollars of your exchange rate.

You can avoid that by going through an international payments provider to exchange your currency. In addition, at Clear Currency you will be dealing with a personal account manager who will be your point of contact during the entire process. You also will know exactly how much you will be receiving in exchange for your dollars. Clear Currency payments experts will help you choose the best time to transfer your money to or from the USA based on the mid-market rate, considered the fairest exchange rate globally. And help protect your money from exchange rate fluctuations by providing options to lock in rates. You will know how much you are getting in shekels at the beginning of the process, something the banks can’t tell you because of the intermediary bank charges they add during the exchange process.