The Monday Read
Spring is here! This weekend was a little… challenging, so the post was late this week. I’ll try not to let it happen again! Here are this week’s stories and links: Energy-efficient house builder awards. Financial Samurai has a weird view of what a middle-class lifestyle looks like. What are your default settings? A new […]
Salaries in Japan
So how much money do people make in Japan? We were talking about salaries on Facebook the other day, and someone posted this fascinating website. I’ve always wondered about salaries here in Japan, and how much ‘normal’ people make, so the website was a wonderful find. Here are some highlights (all data is from 2017): […]
Investing in Health: Update and BJJ
So far so good The largest morning class I have attended so far! Mostly it’s just 2-3 people.Pretty much every year for the last ten years or so, at some point during the year I have said something like ‘this year I really am going to get in shape’ and every year it hasn’t happened. […]
The Monday Read
I want to buy shares in hayfever medication Another week gone! Spooky. Here are the stories that lit up the RetireJapan Facebook page this week. Speaking of Facebook, do you think they should be: a) shut down, b) nationalised, or c) boycotted for seemingly contributing to both Trump and Brexit? 😉 TELL (Tokyo English Life Line) […]
Book Review: How to Think About Money
My new favourite personal finance book How to Think About Money is a really slim book. It’s only 146 pages long and I was actually a bit disappointed when it arrived last week. However, after racing through it and finishing it in a couple of hours I don’t think it needs to be any longer. […]
Choose Wealth
And it is a choice Choose wealth.Choose a job.Choose a career.Choose a lifestyle,Choose a really big emergency fund.Choose whether to spend money on washing machines, cars,Compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.Choose good health, low cholesterol, health insuranceAnd pension payments.Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments (or floating ones).Choose to rent.Choose investments.Choose to open an iDeCo account.Choose a […]
Seven Years On and The Monday Read
The Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Seven years ago one of the biggest earthquakes in history happened off the coast of Miyagi. Luckily my family made it through without any permanent damage, but many many people around us were not so fortunate. It had a big impact on my lifestyle and psyche that continues to […]
Kaigo Hoken (Nursing Care Insurance)
What exactly is it? I got this in the mail the other day I got an email from HR the other day telling me about changes in the rate of kaigo hoken (nursing care insurance) and kosei nenkin (employee pension) from this year. Now, I’m not sure what the current rates are, but I assume […]
Buying a Car in Japan
Could we? Should we? Would we? Our current car, on its last legs Today’s post would be really easy if someone had emailed me this question. Complete no-brainer. Of course, because it’s actually my own situation, things are not as black and white as they might seem 😉 Some Background We currently have three cars […]
The Monday Read
March 5th, 2018 I had a really busy/intense weekend, so here are the best of the things I read this week. More from me when my brain recovers. Derek Sivers tell us to get specific. I like this a lot. Cake now or cake tomorrow? The crux of personal finance. This ‘starve and stack’ idea […]