The English School Owner
A new reader profile for you. Like many of our readers, Sean owns an English school and is thinking about the future. He asked some questions over email and then very kindly agreed to write about his background.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Originally from the UK I’ve lived in central Japan since 2001. I try to spend most of my free time cycling in the Gifu/Aichi/Nagano countryside
How did you get started with personal finance?
I basically got swindled on a mutual fund product in 2006 like a lot of expat teachers. It’s well documented in one of Andrew Hallam’s books. Since then I’ve tried to be wiser and more cautious with my finances.
What are you doing at the moment?
I run a two small schools just outside Nagoya and have one full-time and 2 part-time teachers working for me.
What books/websites/companies do you recommend?
Andrew Hallam’s books.
What’s your plan going forward?
Just to be content with whatever I choose to do with my life. To do so I need the financial freedom to do so.
Any other thoughts?
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A timely reminder to be careful when dealing with ‘advisors’ or salespeople in finance. Please consider sharing RetireJapan with your friends and colleagues -you could save them from making a catastrophic financial mistake.
For anyone who is self-employed or owns their own business, definitely check out the tax advantaged J401k account and the small business savings plan. Between them you can reduce your taxable income by over 100,000 yen a month!
Finally, if anyone would like to be featured in a reader profile, just get in touch through the contact form -I’d love to hear from you 🙂
The j401k’s look great with all the tax relief, but all the long term expat residents I know in my area will not touch the Japanese state pension, which is a prerequisite of being able to set up a j401k. This is especially the case where as a Brit I am still able to contribute to the British state pension, which in the short and long term will be worth more more and be more viable, compared to Japan’s lopsided demographics.
Hi Gareth
That’s very common, but unfortunately the state pension here is not optional, just currently unenforced. I predict that will change soon as the government revs up the My Number system.
Pension blog post coming soon 🙂