None of them worth a blog post in themselves
Had a bunch of things kicking around the blog ideas list, but none of them were really worth their own post, so here they all are. At once. Exciting!
1. The Not-so-new Forum
The new Forum is really taking off now, and it’s turning into a great place to ask questions and get advice. We have over 100 members and there are almost 500 posts on the site. However, anything like that works better the more people participate, so if you haven’t checked it out yet please do so! And if you do use it please encourage others to do so as well.
2. Republishing Old Blog Posts on Steemit
Elliot mentioned Steemit in a comment last month, and I wasn’t particularly interested at first. Luckily he was kind enough to explain it to me and I opened an account there.
Basically Steemit is a blogging platform/SNS built on blockchain/cryptocurrency. It’s quite interesting if you are into that kind of thing, but it’s also an easy place to post content.
I’ve been going through the old posts on RetireJapan and reposting the ones that are still relevant, making small edits, etc. It’s been fun, and there is a lot of good stuff in there.
We’re only up to September 2015 so far (I am posting one or two posts per day) so it’s a good chance to start at the beginning and read through the RetireJapan archives.
Have a look at steemit.com/@retirejapan and if you have a Steemit account, upvote some posts 🙂
3. Patreon
I’ve had a Patreon account for a few years now. I use it to support web comic artists I like, as well as bloggers (was supporting Wait But Why for a while, but they don’t really post anymore so I stopped).
After I wrote about running RetireJapan, a few people suggested setting up a Patreon account for the site, so I have. You can see it here: patreon.com/retirejapan
If you really want to, it would be great if you could support the site, but there is no need to. I will carry on writing regardless 🙂
4. Guest Posts and Reader Profiles
I would love to run more guest posts (only genuine content from people in Japan of interest to people in Japan -you would not believe the amount of spam guest post ‘offers’ we get) and reader profiles on the site. If you have something you’d like to write about, or would be willing to be interviewed for a profile let us know!
5. Online Course
I am hoping to be able to announce the first RetireJapan online course next week. Just waiting on permission from my main employer. The course will be four 90-minute sessions plus homework in January, and should be a great way to think about your finances if you are not quite sure where to start.
It’s also a chance for people who haven’t been able to come to a live RetireJapan event to get a chance to have an interactive group experience. Stay tuned!
6. RetireJapan Guide to NISA
The next RetireJapan Guide is still due out on November 30th. You can pre-order it here for the special launch price of 1,000 yen: The RetireJapan Guide to NISA. At the same time, the price for The RetireJapan Guide to iDeCo will go up to 2,000 yen, so if you were thinking of getting a copy or have friends that might be interested make sure you purchase by November 29th.
7. The Facebook Page
RetireJapan has a Facebook page, and the main benefit of liking and following it is that I post a lot of links there. If I come across an interesting blog post or article I will normally stick it on Facebook. If you are interested in that kind of thing, click on Follow on the page, and select ‘see first’. That means you’ll actually see the posts 🙂
If you would like the occasional link roundup on the blog itself rather than on Facebook, please let us know in the comments. Any other suggestions also most welcome!
Bitcoin / crypto guide? 🙂 I could be tempted…
I have nothing to add to that conversation 😉
This might help: https://taylorpearson.me/crypto/
I second this. But agree that it is an insanely daunting topic. I have been into crypto pretty deep in the last 3 months and I have barely scratched the surface.
As for a guide, there is no way a short one could be written up. There is a great starting guide on Reddit, (https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6jlop4/rbitcoin_faq_newcomers_please_read/) But it is still a daunting and a long read with many branching chapters and videos to watch.
It is a such a volatile market there is not much advice to be given. Just this weekend we saw pump and dump action going on in with Bit Coin Cash (an alt coin) with an attack against the original Bit Coin. So BTC dropped about 15% in just 24 hours while BTH rose nearly 200%. Trade volume for BTH went from about 1$ billion dollars to nearly 11$ billion in a 24 hour span, and only has a market cap of $24 billion! To say its volatile is an understatement.
I love cyrpto right now because its super fun to learn about. The community is super active. Its easy to get into and start trading and there is the potential to make mega bucks here. I am nowhere near experienced to do a write or give any real advice on cyrpto currency but there are some big names like Mark Cuban and other who say you should consider putting 10% into cyrpto and I have even seen other news articles that are calling bitcoin “the first new commodity in a hundred years” to hit the market.
Personally I think if you are serious about investing, 10% would not be a bad idea. I mean… I have already met guys who put in 80k a few years ago and just cashed out with a million$ last week when BTC hit ATH. Bitcoin just got the %^#$ kicked out it this week and still sitting at 6 to 7,000$. Most people agree 10K is a given soon. There are annalists that say $100,000 or even 250,000$ per coin in our lifetime is not out of the question. I know thats probably insane, but just remember BTC used to sell for a few bucks, they even gave them away at the start. Now 7k a pop.
Here is a good site to compare ALL the cyrpto in the world. Defult view is top 100 with market cap, total supply, 24h chance, etc.
https://coinmarketcap.com/
If you want to start trading in Japan you need to get verfied with an japaense drivers licence or your residents card.
Bitflyer and Coincheck are the 2 biggest in Japan. I found Coincheck to be a tad cheaper when buying Bitcoin but Bitflyer is MUCH cheaper when buying alt coins.
The only real advice I can confidently give is buy whats called a hardware wallet. Do NOT keep your coins in these exchanges. They can and have been hacked. Japan’s first exchange Mt. Gox was attacked and went bankrupt. Exchanges are much safer today, but even safer if you have a hardware wallet which can not be hacked (and can always be regenerated with a special SEED password that is generated when you activate)
Fair play to you. That is still in my ‘too hard’ drawer. Could be an amazing opportunity, could be a bubble about to pop. I have no idea.
Trying to ignore it and focus on my plan, which should see us in a very good place in about five years’ time through conventional means 🙂
I read an interesting story about Mt. Gox the other day: apparently they only have to pay people back at the rate Bitcoin was at when they went bankrupt in 2013 -they’ll be able to keep the rest of the money from the Bitcoins they have at current rates…