Israelis pay an average of NIS 5,000 to 10,000 a year on unnecessary fees and management fees. The Israeli company Better has managed to find a solution and reduce all these fees to the minimum possible, without haggling over the phone: “Our goal is clear – to help people save money and not waste time on bureaucracy.”
Ekroni (middle): “We obtain the information and scan at any given moment how we can save money everywhere: in taxes, insurance, pensions, mortgages, investments and, by and large, in every field related to finance.”
“I was sure that I was in control of my finances. Excel spreadsheets and stock investments are a hobby for me,” says Michael Shapir, a CEO in the high-tech industry. “I usually have my finger on the pulse when it comes to large financial expenses – mortgages, tax returns, pension funds. The main thing is not to be a sucker.” But Michael discovered that, like many Israelis, he too was a sucker, when he paid unnecessary payments of thousands of shekels a year on commissions and management fees: on pensions, insurance and mortgages. Over time, these are huge sums that accumulate to hundreds of thousands of shekels, which simply disappear from our pockets.
“Everyone already knows that you have to bargain everywhere to lower fees, but most of us don’t have the strength to do it, especially since it usually seems like a small amount of money,” explains Tal Ekroni, one of the founders of the Israeli company Better. “Who wants to start bargaining with the bank, talking to three different insurance companies, dealing with pension funds? It’s just too much. But all these sums together, already become something very significant that can completely change our financial situation.”
Big savings on a half-hour session
Meanwhile, for Michael, “interest rates went up, mortgage payments went up, I went into reserves and expenses kept flowing. Then I remembered my friend, Tal, who served with me in the army, went on to a freelance career and then founded Better. When we met recently, he told me about the solution he had developed – an algorithm for your personal savings based on your personal situation and savings. Alerts you to every opportunity that pops up in a WhatsApp message.
“I went to the after-school program and took the opportunity to meet with a Better representative who would go over all my expenses with me and try to maximize my savings. The decision to devote half an hour to the story was worth a lot of money to me.” In the end, Michael saved no less than 348,000 shekels thanks to steps such as changing his pension plan, refinancing a loan at a lower interest rate, and eliminating unnecessary double insurance. “And the hand is still outstretched,” he smiles.
We have developed technology that automates what people do manually.
Ekroni, one of the three founders of Better, is a financial education expert with 15 years of experience, having founded three startups in the fintech industry, built national financial education programs, and is also an economics lecturer.
“We are three founders who understand finance. We got used to family and friends always asking us questions about money – what to do with their pension, whether to refinance the mortgage, how to invest their savings, etc. We constantly received letters on WhatsApp from the bank that our friends didn’t understand, asking us what to do when the dollar exchange rate drops or when inflation rises, and we always helped everyone along the way.”
“Ultimately, we got tired of doing it manually, and we developed technology that does all this work for our clients. We obtain the information and scan at any given moment how we can save money everywhere: in taxes, insurance, pensions, mortgages, investments, and basically – in any area related to finances. As soon as we identified potential for savings, we ask the client to do it, and without permission, to do the action. To date, we have saved an average of 200,000 shekels per client in commissions and management fees that accumulate over the years.”
Everyone asks: What’s the catch?
Since its inception, Better has managed to save more than 15,000 customers in Israel a fortune. “At first, everyone asks what the catch is and how come 99% of our services are completely free,” laughs Ekroni. “The answer is simple: the technology we developed does most of the work and we profit from the third party – the insurance companies and banks, when we put you on a better path.” In fact, Better only charges customers in two cases: tax refunds (10% of the amount) and mortgage advice (3,000 shekels), and only if the customer is interested in taking advantage of the offer.
“No phones, everything on WhatsApp”
“We believe in complete transparency,” emphasizes Ekroni. “All communication is done on WhatsApp, everything is documented and accessible, without wasting valuable time for customers. There is no need to travel to the bank branch, wait hours on the phone for a response, or try to understand letters full of unclear concepts. We make everything simpler and easier, our goal is for everyone to earn more money. Losing? It’s simply not putting it off with everyone’s solution and we put ours off. Developed manages to do it.”
