Online Conference Edition
In the before times I organised a few RetireJapan events. I gave a talk, took questions, then everyone kind of hung out and chatted. They were really fun.
I also did an online finance round table this week, and it really brought home to me once again how many people are really lost when it comes to this stuff. They know they should be getting their finances in order, they know they should be saving and investing, but they have no idea where to start.
They are paralysed.
So for them, and also for people in our community who are less lost but would like a chance to hang out and ask questions/chat about personal finance, I thought it might be fun to organise an online conference. If you have any thoughts or would like to help, please post in that thread, on this post, or drop me an email at info@retirejapan.info.
Currently thinking about doing it on Labor Thanksgiving Day (November 23rd). Mark your calendars!
The Forum
The Forum is doing well. There’s a thread about the November conference too 🙂
This week’s books
Ordered Minako Takekawa’s new book about upcoming changes to NISA. Seems like a brief summary of the NISA systems, a description of changes, and a basic Q&A section. I’ll do a post on the blog summarising bits I found interesting. Seems like it doesn’t have the investment advice found in her other guides, so I would stick to those if you are just getting started with NISA.
This week’s links
- The Mad Fientist checks out (15m podcast): Fifth (and Final) Annual Update
- Wonder if we will see more flexible working in Japan? Inflation vs wages
- A simple life hack if you want to be successful: The best advantage in life
- Cautious optimism on climate: After alarmism
- Personal finance should be a core subject in schools: Today’s Lesson: Our Schools > Day Trading
- CTC’s Japanese dividend growth portfolio (Twitter)
- This was a decent read: CWS Market Review August 24
- These all make sense to me. I also tend to go for rough, ‘good enough’ numbers when thinking or planning: Rule your world
- Enjoyed this article: I’ll tell you the secret of cancer
- Bah, humbug. Totally agree: Welcome to the weird
- Some personal finance resouces from the recent OTJ event: Padlet
- I’m a crypto sceptic, but I found this well-written and interesting: Convergence
- Nice: Rules, Truths, Beliefs
- A cynical bull case for Bitcoin: Why wouldn’t it go to $100,000?
- Interesting side hustle: PORTRAIT OF A PROFESSIONAL BABY MAKER
- Eeeek. “Investors who are male, or above the age of 45, or married, or have more dependents, or who self-identify as having excellent investment experience or knowledge tend to freak out with greater frequency”: When Do Investors Freak Out? Machine Learning Predictions of Panic Selling
- Culture matters: The softer side of value investing
- Some great Yamagata mountain content: Mt Gassan
- A lot of these laws probably need updating: Media Mix age of consent
What do you think? Anything good in there? I found #6 a source of inspiration -will be taking a closer look at a lot of those companies.
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#8–I’ve always been a rule-of-thumb, napkin, or back of an envelope, kind of planner.
#17–sort of, but not really. This one mentions Buffett, and I’d only point out that if you’ve ever known anyone who had to make a claim with Geico, seeing why it’s a money-making business will click into focus, kind of gestalt-like.
#12 and 14 are both interesting reading.