The Japanese Pension System
A nice light topic Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about the Japanese pension system, which made me realize that I don’t understand it perfectly. The pension service website seems like a good place to start, but there are still unanswered questions. What exactly is required to join if you haven’t been […]
The Latest My Number
It never gets old… Playing with the mess ‘My Number’ makes of English grammar, that is. I am sure you are sick of reading my thoughts on it 😉 To recap, I am opposed to the My Number system in its current form for two reasons: I don’t believe the Japanese government is competent enough […]
In 20 Years Time…
…I have no idea what will happen. I’ve been thinking about opening a NISA account for my granddaughter. Seems like a no-brainer really: 800,000 yen a year can be paid in and she won’t owe taxes on dividends or capital gains. She’ll get control of the account when she’s 20, by which time it should […]
NISA update
I erm seem to have missed this. Just noticed that my NISA allowance for this year is 1,200,000. A most welcome change!
Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, Share It-book review
I thought I was going to hate this book Wealth is written by an heir to a vast fortune in the US, giving advice mainly to other families in the ‘dynastic wealth’ bracket. I really didn’t think I was going to enjoy it very much, but it was recommended by a friend so I picked […]
The Grey Pill
What if I told you…? I loved the Matrix when I first saw it in university. I was studying in China at the time, it was cold, and I didn’t have much money or things to do. I ended up watching it over and over again.I’ve mentioned the Red Pill before on this site. I […]
NISA vs. iDeCo: Japan’s Tax-free Investing Titans
Discover the advantages and differences between Japan’s NISA & iDeCo accounts, the two best tax-free and low-cost systems for investing.
The Stock Market
Ugh, really? So, stocks are down again. The markets as a whole are down, and individual shares are down more. A lot of the shares I own, and a few I bought last week, are down too. It’s not fun to ‘lose’ money, even if it’s not really a loss. The number today is smaller […]
Electricity Market Liberalization
Set my electrons free! A huge change is coming to Japan, and I only found out about it a few weeks ago. The electricity market is going to be opened up from April this year, and consumers will be able to buy their electricity from a number of companies instead of their local monopoly. I […]
2016 RetireJapan Annual Plan
Happy New Year! For the last three or four years I have been doing annual plans and reviews instead of New Year’s resolutions. They’ve been working much better for me. This is the first RetireJapan annual plan, for 2016. Last year was great for me and pretty good for this site, despite me neglecting it […]