All in one place
We’re going to continue this year’s trend of writing single, longer posts instead of multiple ones in this year’s roundup. Only having written one post per week instead of the multiple ones of past years is going to make that easier too š
So what was 2019 like for RetireJapan? We’re going to take a look back at the year and then list up the best posts we published in 2019. Here is the 2018 post if you want to see what that year looked like…
2019 was pretty good too
I’ve been busy this year, and my mind has been elsewhere at times. Still, I think 2019 was pretty solid for RetireJapan, and I’m still having a lot of fun running the site.
The main goal of the site is to help people by providing information and a place to ask questions and share ideas. I think we are more or less succeeding at that.
We continued running the coaching service, and I enjoyed meeting a few people through that. The range of queries was interesting, but it all boiled down to figuring out the next step to take and making sure they had everything they needed to take it.
Making some money would be nice, but after the site redesign and accounting for running costs, we failed to break even this year. Not to worry though, as it was a close run thing and next year should make up for it (and I don’t mind funding RetireJapan as a public service/hobby).
Looking at the numbers, we made gradual progress. The mailing list went from 900 people last year to 1,410 today. On Facebook, we had 1,076 followers last year and 1,220 today. And perhaps most importantly, on the RetireJapan forum we went from 371 members and 2840 posts last year to 564 members and 5507 posts today.
We’ll look at what is in store in the first post of 2020, but for now I would just like to ask everyone to spread the word about RetireJapan to friends, colleagues, and random people you meet in izakayas. I’m sure there are plenty of people who could improve their lives by learning a little bit more about personal finance and getting some encouragement to get started.
Best posts of 2019
And now one of my favourite things: a look back at the best posts of the year š
We only had about forty blog posts this year, so I am going to be ruthless and choose the best ten*. Let me know if I missed one of your favourites! In no particular order order:
- Think and Grow Rich is not about the book by Napoleon Hill, but rather about our experience with investing. And Investment Losses is very complementary š
- It’s Good to Talk is a salutary tale about talking to your partner about the future. You’d think I would have gotten this right, at least.
- Problems in Japanese Schools was probably my favourite post of the year, and it had nothing to do with personal finance. Recommended reading if you have kids in school.
- Disaster Preparation in Japan is another post that might just save you a lot of trouble.
- Air Miles Revisited is the ultimate resource for budding mile freaks. Best way to get tickets at the last minute or travel in business for the price of economy.
- Surgery and Disability Benefits in Japan. Hopefully you won’t need the information in this post, but you’ll be glad to have it if you do.
- The Cost of Children in Japan. How long is a piece of string?
- The Nenkin Thing is basic information about public pensions in Japan. Nenkin Calculations will give you a basic idea of how much you might be eligible for in retirement. And The Problem with Nenkin debunks some of the scary headlines we’ve seen this year. Hooray for Fuka Nenkin takes a look at a little known way to boost your kokumin nenkin pension.
- Who Wants to Work Forever? Lots of people I talk to, that’s who. Better to have the option not to, in my opinion.
- Dodgy Utility Bills reminds us of the need to pay attention to where our money is going.
*for some categories I ended up cheating a little and featuring multiple articles. Apologies!
So what do you think? Which was the best post of the year? Did we miss any good ones? Let me know in the comments š