My Number is Out There
And I can’t take it back As I wrote about in the post about my THEO account, I broke down and submitted my My Number to them. The reason I did this is that without it they would not have opened the account. I am still reluctant to use My Number if it can be […]
Robo-advisor THEO
Successful completion My account at THEO is now open and operating. The last few steps to open the account were: receive a phone call from THEO last week to confirm my address receive a letter in the post (to confirm account details) upload my My Number information transfer 100,000+ yen to the account Once you […]
RL360: Buyer Beware?
An interesting PR strategy A bit of a diversion today 😀 As you know, I am very suspicious of complicated investment products with complex rules that pay large commissions to ‘advisors’ who recommend them to unsuspecting people. A reader (who also has a personal finance blog) was recently contacted by lawyers representing a company called […]
Making an Investment Plan
Keep it Simple Making an investment plan is one of the less important things you have to do. Figuring out your values (or what motivates you), living within your means, earning and saving as much as possible, and automating your finances are all more important than what you do with your savings. Once you have some […]
Investing is different
Two counter-intuitive elements Investing IS different. A lot of the rules of thumb we normally use to guide us through life don’t apply, so unless we are aware of the differences it’s easy to lose our way. Two of the most important differences are action and cost. Normally it is better to take action. Action leads […]
Financial (In)Security
The important things you have control over We have some degree of control over all the things that can greatly affect our lives: relationships, health, success, and of course money. All of them benefit from mindfulness, from investing time and effort in them. In all of them, prevention is better than cure. I had a […]
Robo-advisor THEO: Opening an Account
Pretty easy, but no US citizens allowed I just finished my application to open an account with the THEO robo-advisor service I wrote about last week. It was very easy and smooth, by far the easiest of any account I have opened in Japan. Starting at the website, you first fill in a questionnaire that generates […]
Doing Stuff
It mainly comes down to doing it Today’s post is not about money per se, but it is about getting more from your day to day. Recently I’ve found myself becoming more productive. Or at least, I feel like I am more productive. This has come from some specific habits I have implemented. The most […]
Japan Robo-Advisor THEO
Might have potential, but only as a backup? So I mentioned new robo-advisor service Theo in my update on March 7th, but much like the fully armed battle station I didn’t realise it was already operational. I had a quick look at the site, and the system seems fairly simple.​ You apply to open an […]
A Few Small Things
Instead of one big thing A bit of a random collection today. This post is a roundup of recent items of interest. It’s tax season in Japan. I got my taxes done by my wife’s accountant this year, and he found that I owed 30,000 yen. Oops. I’m glad to be paid up and legal […]