REVIEW: Living a FI blog
Surprisingly gripping Someone on RetireJapan recommended the Living a FI blog and I got really into it and read it from start to (almost) finish. It’s the story of one man’s financial journey from college through a variety of jobs all the way to financial independence. The detailed write-ups of the jobs (in computer support […]
Selling Personal Finance
Don’t waste your time One of the most frustrating aspects of getting into personal finance is how hard it is to persuade others of the benefits. I imagine it’s a bit like being some kind of evangelical, convinced that yours is the only path to salvation and desperately trying to get others to join you. […]
Shopping for Electricity
Appears to be unnecessarily complicated, boring, and confusing From April 2016 consumers in Japan have been able to choose their electricity provider, smashing the previous monopolies and opening up exciting new options. Cheaper, greener, better. Or so it was supposed to go. For many people though, nothing has really changed. You can find comparison sites […]
The State of Retirement in Japan
Things are pretty bad here too The retirement crisis in the US seems to be getting worse. Here’s a nice post by Retire By 40 on the subject. Here in Japan things are not much better! This is a new guest post by Desmond P. who is rapidly putting me to shame with his contributions. I […]
Robo-Advisor Updates
Seriously dude, everyone is sick of this robot stuff already… A few quick robo-advisor updates -I know you’ve been waiting for these 😉 1. Rakuten has started a new robo-advisor service! It looks very similar to Theo (100,000 yen minimum, 1% in fees). I’ll be opening an account soon so expect a full review once […]
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
A different way of looking at the world I was talking to a friend recently, and we started talking about work. My friend mentioned wanting to move to another job, as it would probably be better-paid. Making an extra million or two a year would make a huge difference, he said. Unfortunately his wife thought […]
RetireJapan Book(let)
20-minute Guide to Personal Finance I’m working on a 20-minute Guide to Personal Finance in Japan, based on the same concept as Air Miles and Hotel Points in Japan and Get a Job Teaching English in Japan. Once it’s finished, I’ll put it up on Amazon for free for a week or so and let […]
Real Estate in Japan
I own a flat now Finally finished buying our flat. I’m planning to write something longer about this in the future, but for now a few thoughts on the process. 1. It was relatively painless, mainly because I knew and trusted the estate agent. With him looking out for me I felt better about stamping […]
Market Turmoil
Storm in a Teacup? Well, the unthinkable happened and the UK voted to leave the European Union. I am personally extremely upset and haven’t really been able to focus since Friday (you can tell by the lack of blog posts). I think this is terrible for the UK, bad for the EU, and bad for […]
Brexit
The next crash or a damp squib? Japanese TV seems to be loving the Brexit situation. I’ve been watching long, detailed analyses for the last few days. This is an important event for me, as a British citizen with deep connections to Europe. I had even hoped to live and possibly work there in […]