Finding old pension funds: locating them and weighing your options

The search took two minutes. You filled in your details, clicked, and a list came up of the institutions holding an account in your name. Two names you recognise straight away, from your current job and the one before. Then a third line appears, with the name of a financial institution you don't remember at all. Maybe a fourth.

A moment of confusion. Where did that come from? Then it comes back: the year waiting tables after the army. The startup that folded. Maybe the summer job in high school.

Plenty of people know that moment, and plenty more haven't reached it yet, because they've never looked. If you haven't looked yet, it doesn't mean you're disorganised. It means nobody showed you where to look.

Inactive pension accounts: how money gets left behind

Every change of job can open a new fund. The previous one doesn't disappear. Pension funds now run an arrangement that merges inactive accounts into the active one unless the member refuses, but not every fund or situation falls under it, and whatever isn't merged stays where it is. After three or four employers, it's easy to lose sight of one.

Two common assumptions keep things that way:

• "Small amounts, not worth the hassle." Maybe. But you can't know how much until you look, and what built up over years can be a surprise.
• "If there were money there, they'd have told us." That's not something to count on. Addresses change, phone numbers change, and statements go to a flat you left long ago.

There's one more thing. A fund nobody pays into is still being managed, and a management fee is usually charged on the balance. The exact rate is on the fund's statement. Meanwhile, that money sits outside every picture of the household: not in your net worth, not in your planning, not in any conversation about the future.

Why the search is easy to put off

Part of you is curious. How much do we actually have? What built up over all those years? It would feel good to know the past wasn't lost.

Part of you would rather leave it closed. What if it turns out you let things slide, that something should have been done ten years ago? And the paperwork looms: forms, calls, call centres. As long as you don't search, there's nothing to sort out and nothing to feel bad about.

Both are on your side. And here's what's worth knowing before you put it off again: the search itself commits you to nothing. Seeing is not acting.

Har HaKesef: what it is and how to start

Har HaKesef ("mountain of money") is the public search engine run by the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority for locating money in provident funds, pension funds and other savings products. You search on the Har HaKesef site itself. What exactly it shows, and which details it asks for, are set out there; it's worth reading before you start.

The Capital Market Authority has also set rules for inactive accounts, including the management fees charged on them and the option of merging them. Check the rules as they stand today on the Authority's site and on Kol Zchut, the public rights guide, under locating money in provident and pension funds and merging inactive accounts. These rules are as of September 2026 and may change.

Before going further: merging, transferring or withdrawing from a fund is pension advice when it's given to a specific person. This article explains how things work and what people weigh; a licensed pension adviser can look at your own case.

See everything before deciding anything

The aim is deliberately narrow: one search, a list of everything it finds, and every fund recorded in the household picture. No decision about merging yet. No giving up after one name you don't recognise. No sorting it all out in a single day.

Lost pension money: from one search to a line in the picture

Step 1: search. Go to the Har HaKesef site, have the details it asks for ready, and search. If there are two partners in the household, each searches separately.

Step 2: list. For each fund found, write one line: the managing institution, the type of fund (pension, provident fund, or keren hishtalmut, a tax-advantaged savings fund), and the balance. The search shows only the institution's name; the fund type and balance come from the fund's latest statement, or from the institution if you ask.

Step 3: add it to the picture. Every fund you find goes into the household picture before you decide anything about it. That way it's already part of your net worth, with a management fee you can see.

The old-fund search

• I searched Har HaKesef
• My partner searched too
• For each fund I wrote down the institution, type and balance
• I asked for a current statement from any fund I had no details on
• I added every fund to the household picture

0 of 5 done

Step 4: understand what people weigh when merging. This is where seeing turns into deciding, so go slowly. People who merge funds usually describe considerations on both sides. On one side: fewer funds to keep track of, and fees that are easier to compare. On the other: an old fund may carry terms no longer sold today, insurance cover, or annuity conversion factors fixed when it was opened. Fees can be compared in the Capital Market Authority's public tools, Gemel-Net and Pension-Net. The questions go to a licensed pension adviser. The decision is yours.

To see why the fee deserves a look even in a fund nobody pays into, put the balance and the fee rate from your statement into the calculator. The return here is an assumed 4% a year above inflation and the fee an assumed 0.5% of the balance; both are for the example, not a forecast.

What a fee takes from an old fund over time

Yearly fee on the balance0.5%

What the fee takes over the years

₪4,027

₪39,796 at the end with the fee, ₪43,822 without it

The rate here is an assumption for the example, not a forecast.

In AlphaHome: on the pension page, add each fund you found with its owner, its provider, the balance and the two fee rates from the statement, on deposits and on the balance. Funds are grouped and totalled for the whole household and counted into net worth, and you can link a fund to the public data to see the fund's published average fees beside yours. The page doesn't locate funds, doesn't pull data from the fund and doesn't recommend merging.

When it gets stuck

The institution doesn't answer, or asks for forms. How to read it: that's a normal part of the process, not a sign anything is wrong with you. What to do today: one call, or one form. Not everything in one day. What to change: give yourself one call a week until the list is closed.

You merged, then found the old fund had a term you gave up. It happens. How to read it: you decided with the information you had. What to do today: ask the institution what's possible now. What to change: next time, ask first, and take the question to a licensed adviser.

A name you don't recognise at all. Institutions sometimes merge and change names. Contact the one shown in the search and ask where the fund came from.

All our money in one picture

Money nobody looks for usually stays where it is, with the same fees, outside the picture. Not because anyone neglected it, but because nobody looked.

One search turns old funds from an open question into a line on a list. From there, any decision, if there is one, gets made calmly and with numbers. To see how it all fits together, the household portfolio and net worth guides show every fund joining one picture, and pension when changing jobs helps the next fund not get lost.

And a fund that's in the picture can't quietly be forgotten again.

This week: search Har HaKesef, and add every fund you find to the pension page, with the balance from its latest statement or from the institution.