Planning money for parental leave: the cash flow of the months at home

One in the morning, the baby has finally dropped off, and a message pops up in the parents' WhatsApp group from the older child's kindergarten: "Does anyone know when the first payment from Bituach Leumi arrives?" Within ten minutes there are twenty answers. Three different dates, two different amounts, and one person writing, "Ours took forever."

The birth was planned. The room was ready, the pram had arrived, the hospital bag had been by the door for a month. And still, the first month at home brought a few things nobody mentioned: that the payment doesn't necessarily land on the same day as a salary, that some weeks of the leave may not be paid at all, and that spending actually went up.

That isn't carelessness. It's information that never arrives in one table.

Maternity pay and salary are not the same thing

The common assumption sounds reasonable: "Maternity pay replaces the salary, so there's nothing to plan." In practice it has rules of its own. According to Bituach Leumi (the National Insurance Institute; maternity-pay booklet, January 2026), a mother who worked as an employee or self-employed and paid contributions gets 105 days of maternity pay if contributions were paid for 10 of the 14 months before she stopped work, or 15 of 22; and 56 days if paid for 6 of 14. For an employee it is based on her pay in the 3 full months or the 6 months before she stopped work, whichever is higher. The maximum from 1 January 2026 is 1,752.33 ILS a day, and income tax, national insurance and health contributions are deducted.

The leave you plan to spend at home can be longer than the paid period, and what applies to you depends on your work history, your pay and your family. The current details, including payment dates, are on the Bituach Leumi site and on Kol Zchut, the public rights guide. The rules change, and your case may differ from the neighbours' in the group.

There's another layer. The Women's Employment Law allows, in some circumstances, the leave to be shared between both parents, and there are rules about pension contributions during the leave. Check those on Kol Zchut and with your fund too. Once you get into questions about the pension itself, a licensed pension adviser can look at your particular case.

Parental leave and money in the same conversation

Part of you wants calm months with the baby. No checking the account every morning, no going back to work earlier than you'd like just because the money ran out.

Part of you would rather not do the sums. "It feels wrong to think about money while we're waiting for a baby." "We'll manage; everyone manages." That protects something that matters too, the excitement: there's a fear the numbers will show you need to give something up, or go back early, and that would spoil the picture.

Really, you want the same thing either way: a peaceful leave. The only difference is whether you meet the leave's cash flow in advance, or as it happens.

One table and one dated goal

The aim is clearly defined: one table of the leave months, income against spending, and one savings goal holding the gap, dated to the birth. No guessing your entitlements from the parents' group. No funding the leave from an overdraft. No giving anything up in advance before you've seen the number.

The big advantage: the gap is known months ahead, and those months are the pregnancy months, while income is still full. That's exactly when to build it.

Saving before a baby: from your entitlements to the first month back

Step 1: the entitlements, from the source. Go to the Bituach Leumi site and write down, for each parent: how many weeks are paid, how the payment is calculated, what the ceiling is, and when the payment is expected. If both parents are thinking of sharing the leave, check the conditions on Kol Zchut.

Step 2: the month table. One row for each month of the leave, plus one for the first month back. In each row: what's expected to come in, from whom, and what's expected to go out. For the baby's own costs, line by line, see what a baby costs per month.

Step 3: split the gap across the months left. Add up the gap column and divide by the number of months until the birth. That's the monthly amount the goal needs.

How much to set aside each month until the birth

Monthly deposit₪2,500

Time to the target

7 months

These amounts are only an example. Put in the gap from your own table and what you already have, then move the monthly amount until the date lines up with the due date.

Step 4: the first month back. Many plans stop on the last day of leave. But the first month back at work brings new costs, daycare or a nanny, transport, and sometimes a partial salary. It belongs in the table.

In AlphaHome: create a savings goal called "Parental leave" with the amount and the due date, and the dashboard shows how much it still needs each month. You can also add the leave to the savings plan as a large future expense, and the plan works out the required monthly deposit. During the leave, payments from Bituach Leumi are recorded as ordinary income, and the "Free to spend until the end of the month" figure updates with them.

When the plan meets real life

The payment came later than expected. How to read it: this is exactly what the goal is for. What to do today: use it, without guilt and without feeling you failed. What to change: check the claim's status with Bituach Leumi, and note the actual payment date in your table in case there's a next child.

The baby came early, and the goal isn't full yet. How to read it: what you've saved is what you have, and that's far more than nothing. What to do today: sit down with the table and decide what to postpone, a big purchase, something that can wait. What to change: update the date on the goal, and keep depositing what you can during the leave, if you can.

Spending in the first month is higher than planned. That's almost always the case the first time. What to do: record it as it is, and correct the table for the coming months. This is also where your emergency fund comes in, which is there for the unknown. The leave goal is there for what is known.

Parental leave for both parents: getting ready with money too

Without a table, you meet the leave's cash flow as it happens: in a message at one in the morning, in an account emptying faster than expected. With a table, you meet it in advance, while there's still time to do something.

The numbers don't take the excitement away. They protect it. When the figure is known, the months at home can be what you wanted them to be.

And when both parents sit with the same table, the hard decisions, when to go back, who takes which part of the leave, get made together and from numbers, not in a moment of pressure.

This week: write a table of the leave months on paper, expected income against spending, and create a "Parental leave" savings goal holding the gap, dated to the birth.