The Monday Read: happy new year
New year, new you? The new year in Japan starts in April. January to March is just the tail end of the previous year, so it doesn’t have to count. How is 2024年度 shaping up for you? Any exciting projects on the horizon? RetireJapan TV The next episode of RJTV will be on April 15th […]
Understanding price and value
Possibly the most important aspect of personal finance Price and value are at the heart of money and personal finance. Money is a store of value, and value is subjective Each person is going to have a different perception of value. How much are things worth to you? How much value you get from a […]
The Monday Read: Last week of the year
Starting the year in April I have kind of grown to like the rhythm of the years in Japan. Starting everything in April seems right now. Accordingly, this is the last week of the 2023 academic and work year. People are finishing up jobs and graduating from schools. Next week they will be starting new […]
The Monday Read: Mission Accomplished
Finishing a big job We finished the latest cohort of our flagship course, Your First Ten Million Yen, today. Had a wonderful group of participants and the new flipped format of the course was really enjoyable to teach. I can’t believe it is over. (sign up for news about the next one here) I need […]
The Four States of Personal Finance
What should your focus be? Last year we ran a poll on social media. The results were pretty consistent! YouTube Twitter LinkedIn The results didn’t surprise me. But I am not sure I agree with the results. Do you need to make more money? This might seem like it obviously applies to everyone (more money […]
The Monday Read: It’s okay to take time off too
Sometimes the best thing we can do is recover I have been much more active recently. That is largely a good thing, but today I hit a wall. I went to jiu-jitsu practice on Friday and Saturday, then went snowboarding today on Sunday. It was too much. I felt exhausted, with no energy. I pushed […]
Setting goals effectively will transform your life
Two contradictory strategies for success When it comes to setting goals there are two excellent strategies, and I think both of them are extremely valuable. Which is kind of counterintuitive, because they are exact opposites. But they both work. Two effective ways to use goals to help you get what you want The first strategy […]
The Monday Read: This changes everything
What if you didn’t have to do it, but rather got to do it I have it pretty easy in life. I got a good start, have been more than averagely lucky, and have made a few good moves. I wake up when I want, pretty much do what I want, and have very little […]
Guest Post: Getting solar panels in Japan in 2024
Might be worth looking into This is not quite a full guest post, but rather is adapted from a post in the RetireJapan Forum. The author kindly agreed to let me run it on the blog as I found it very useful. For those of us in Tokyo there are still huge government subsidies for […]
The Monday Read: From the R to the J to the G
Do we need to sit down and talk about a midlife crisis which is starting? I’ve been playing with AI a bit recently (Google’s Gemini, ChatGPT 3.5) and even though the hype seems to be dying down in the media, these things are getting better and better. I watched Daniel Priestley talk about it in […]