The Monday Read

Being Ill Edition

I caught a really bad cold this week: heachache, sore throat, nausea, lethargy. Even lost my voice for a couple of days. No fever though, which still seems to be a condition for doctors here to consider you for a Covid test.

Feeling better now thankfully.

YouTube

We’re going to try to get the RetireJapan YouTube channel going, so please check out our latest video and like/subscribe as long as you don’t hate it. Every little bit helps!

Also if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to hear me ramble on about, feel free to post them in the comments on this post or on YouTube.

RetireJapan Guides

I’ve said this before, but I am really going to make an effort to rewrite the RetireJapan Guides (to iDeCo and NISA). Anyone who bought a guide will get new versions for free automatically.

The question is: which one to do first? So far the consensus on Twitter and the forum is to go with NISA first -if you have an opinion please feel free to leave a comment below!

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (20,940 posts so far). Someone on the forum reminded me that we have an RSS feed for new posts. You can post it into any reader and get new forum posts delivered to you 🙂

https://retirejapan.com/forum/app.php/feed

Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

I finished Just Keep Buying, by Nick Maggiulli. It was a very well written, concise, solid, and useful little book. I will be doing a full review on the blog soon(ish) 🙂

Started The Premonition, by Michael Lewis, about the US response to Covid. Really interesting and readable so far.

  1. I don’t keep a journal, although this blog comes close: How to Think and Act For the Long-Term
  2. I’m still shocked at how transparent this whole thing was: Former Nissan Executive Greg Kelly Recounts Japan Ordeal
  3. Enjoyed this (obvious in hindsight) rant: Successful Investors, Stop Telling People how to Find Happiness!
  4. Very true, as long as you give yourself much more time than you think you need: Travel is best with young children
  5. I’m looking at more things through this lens: Some Things I’m Not Going to Regret in 20 Years
  6. I’m a big fan of this book (video): The Best Book I’ve Ever Read about Making Money
  7. Sign up for Craig Mod’s new temporary newsletter about travelling to Europe
  8. I’ve been watching A LOT of this guy’s videos recently: Revealing My Investment Portfolio
  9. This will change the world if it works: Google Live Translation AR Glasses Prototype Google I/O 2022
  10. Didn’t realise things were quite this interesting: 15 of the Craziest Charts Right Now
  11. I approve of this message: Shaquille O’Neal wants his kids to earn their way: ‘We ain’t rich, I’m rich’
  12. Just keep buying: Living with the bear market
  13. This is a step in the right direction. Still a long way to go though: NPA urges police to avoid impression of racial profiling in questioning people
  14. A new Cat Forehead: The Lie of the Land
  15. This Twitter thread is such a good idea on how to learn a new skill
  16. The always interesting Undervalued Japan blogger is feeling unappreciated: 10 Years Blogging: Japan Still Undervalued
  17. Everyone says they are surprised by this data: The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. And Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is, Either.

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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6 Responses

  1. Nice video Ben… thanks! And sorry to be negative, but a couple of points that struck me are:

    1. Volume too low (compared to other videos on Youtube). Probably my crap laptop speakers and old-age hearing, but I was straining to hear it with the volume on full whack! I’ve had this problem too when producing videos for my students, and it doesn’t really show until you’ve already uploaded the thing. I fix it using the amplify function in Videopad. There are probably better ways?

    2. Not looking at the camera all the time. This is a minor “problem” I also have sometimes (e.g. Zoom lessons), and is caused by the screen being too far from the camera. Not much we can do about it except try to minimise the distance between screen/notes and camera. I guess in your video the distance was a bit larger than usual? Or it was intentional to avoid too much direct eye contact?

    Again, sorry for raising negative points. Just thought it might help for the next ones. Thanks again!

    1. Appreciate the feedback! My goal is to slowly improve these by fixing one thing each week. I will see if I can do something about the volume for the next one ^-^

      1. Lots of improvements on the 2nd one. Mic position (solved the volume issue), eye contact with the camera. Good stuff!

  2. As always, Ben, I enjoy receiving these links every Monday. They have gone a long way towards financially edumacating myself, and keep adding to the knowledge pile one drip at a time. Long may they continue to, er, drip.