RetireJapan Guides
They are coming, apparently I had some comments last week asking about when various guides might be coming out. As ever, I have more projects than I have time/willpower. This site has always planned to have more detailed guides for sale (both to offset the cost of running the site and to increase the chance […]
Telephone Scams in Japan
Be careful, be aware, be firm To my great shame, I fell for a telephone scam the other day. Normally I am very careful. At home, I use my phone sales technique. At work, I tell people we don’t accept cold calls. Very simple, very effective. Unfortunately this time they caught me at a very […]
Buy to Let in Japan 1
Here’s why it’s a good idea This is the first in a series of three articles about buy to let (investment real estate) in Japan. You can see part 2 here and part 3 here. The author works in the sector, has written for “Asian Property Review” (Malaysia), “iProperty Group” publications (Singapore), “Bigger Pockets” & “Real […]
UK State Pensions
A surprisingly good deal? This post is for UK nationals only, I’m afraid 🙂 Recently I’ve been reading about the UK social security system, particularly the New State Pension. This is thanks to Gareth S., who I owe an apology to: he tried to tell me about this several times, and I didn’t listen because […]
Review: The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need
Big talk for such a small book This book, written by Andrew Tobias, makes a bold claim: this is the only book you need to read about personal finance. That assumes you are not interested in the subject and just want to cover your bases and learn the basic information. If you are in the […]
Peace of Mind
It’s only money I had a minor traffic accident the other day. Well, I didn’t, but someone else did and it might have been my fault. It ended up more expensive than we were thinking so we will probably claim on our insurance to pay for it. So far so normal, right? The thing I […]
Summoned to the Tax Office
Someone’s been a very bad boy I often say the tax office is one of the best public offices to deal with in Japan. Staff are polite, helpful, and supportive. They don’t seem to see their job as getting money out of you, but instead try to support and help you through the system. A […]
Review: iDeCo (J401k) Book
The new edition of the best guide I’m a big fan of Minako Takekawa, a financial journalist, author, and speaker. Hope to make it to an event and meet her one of these days. In the meantime I will have to make do with her excellent rewrite of her J401k book. I was a big […]
The Ghost of Pension Future
A “conversation” with Desmond P. A new type of blog post for you today. This is a slightly edited version of an email exchange I had with Desmond P. a couple of months ago about the pension system here. Read on if you want some early Halloween chills 🙂 Desmond P. “Just had a really […]
Email Newsletter Scheduling
Your input appreciated The RetireJapan email newsletter (you can sign up at the bottom of most of the pages on the site) is sent out at lunchtime on Mondays, Japan time. Normally there will be three posts per week: 1. Wednesday postThis is the main story and is usually a bit longer and more informative […]