2017 Roundup: January to April

I don’t remember writing that Last year we ran Roundup posts: for Jan-Apr 2016, May-Aug 2016, and Sep-Dec 2016. The idea is just to highlight the better or more perennial posts that new readers may have missed and old-timers may want to re-read. It’s also an easy post for us to write 😉 Earlier this […]

2017 iDeCo Progress Report

Finally This year iDeCo accounts became available to dependent spouses, some company workers enrolled in corporate DC schemes, and… public servants! I am one of the latter, so years after first getting excited about iDeCo I finally got to open my own account this year. According to this article, the number of new iDeCo accounts […]

The RetireJapan Guide to NISA

Just in time to open your 2018 account Wordle of the full content of the Guide​Well, the RetireJapan Guide to NISA came out yesterday 🙂 I hope it will be a useful resource for people who are thinking about getting started investing through NISA but don’t really know what to do. It includes information about […]

The Three Elements: Investing

Much simpler than they want you to think Great film. Click on the photo to see the trailer. This is the last post in our Three Elements series. You can read about saving/spending here and earning here.​To recap, you need to get a handle on saving/spending first. If you don’t, it’s like making your way […]

iDeCo in English

What are you waiting for? iDeCo is probably the best investment option for almost everyone who is planning to stay in Japan until retirement. It gives you a decent tax break, tax-free investing, and a mostly tax-free payout at the end. It forces you to invest regularly over the long term and doesn’t let you touch […]

The Three Elements: Earning

No upper limit Great film, by the way. We talked about the three elements a while back, and about saving/spending last week. Basically the three elements of personal finance are earning, saving/spending, and investing. Saving/spending is the base skill, because if you don’t have control of your spending/if you can’t save money then it doesn’t […]

Transferwise Revisited

Still love it Last year we discovered Transferwise and did a big write-up on the site. That post is the most-commented on so far on the blog, and there is a wealth of information in the comments alone. Well worth a read if you need to send money from Japan to other countries. The consensus […]

Only in Japan: Buying Randoseru

Yep, did that last week We mentioned randoseru in the Only in Japan: Expenses post. I was a tad scathing about them and got told off on Facebook 😉 Well, last week I went out to buy one with my daughter and granddaughter. In Japan, the grandparents often pay for randoseru so we set off […]

The Three Elements: Saving

You MUST master this Last week we wrote about the three elements of money mastery: saving, earning, and investing. We also talked about how it’s important to master saving first, as it forms the foundation of successful personal finance. Personal finance is like a boat: it’s pointless upgrading the engine unless you fix the leaks […]

Housing Options in Japan: Rent or Buy?

There is no spoon ​We looked at housing options in Japan last month: broadly speaking you can choose a flat or a house and both have their advantages and disadvantages. Today we’re going to look at whether it is better to buy or to rent, and the kinds of things you might want to think […]