The Monday Read: Banshee and Focus

Welcome to The Monday Read, RetireJapan’s weekly collection of content, musings, and links related to personal finance and life in Japan.

I’ve been binging Banshee, a TV show from 2013, this week. It’s a bit hit and miss, but I love the starting titles and theme tune. The titles change each time and foreshadow the plot slightly. Great concept.

On a completely unrelated note, I have recently been enjoying content produced by explicitly Christian authors, mainly From the Trash Man to the Cash Man and 10x is easier than 2x. I found this kind of interesting because I am a fairly militant atheist in real life.

A lot of my current issues come from a lack of focus. I have a bad case of shiny object syndrome at the moment and getting over it should really help in various areas of my life.

Going into hospital on Wednesday for a minor operation. If all goes well I will see you again next week!

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This week’s books

Finished reading 10x is easier than 2x, and it was perfectly timed for some things I am grappling with at the moment. The main concept, 10x vs 2x, as well as the idea of focus/buffer/rest days, the gap vs gain concept, all really useful.

Recommend if you are thinking about your work or career or business.

Gadget of the week

Not really a gadget, but I love these Pilot pens. They are good enough to have replaced my former favourite, the Jetstream 0.7 pens.

I use them to write my daily journal, to-do list, notes, memos, and anything else. Silky smooth and satisfying.

This week’s links

  1. I love this. Might have found my new goal: Edsger Dijkstra’s One-Day Workweek
  2. #29 resonates: Niall Doherty’s latest momentos
  3. Maybe the journey is the point, as you never actually arrive anywhere: Everything is cyclical
  4. Electric vehicles can’t come fast enough for me, just in terms of air pollution. I’m glad Tesla sped things up: What Apple did to Nokia, Tesla is now doing to the motor industry
  5. Now this is concerning. How long before NatWest close my account? 92-year-old debanked by NatWest after move to Jamaica
  6. I’m not aspiring to great work, but work I can enjoy and be proud of. Good stuff here: How to do great work
  7. Derek is clearly an alien or some kind of advanced cybernetic organism from the future. I remain in awe: A Real Estate Matter that Illustrates a Variety of Things
  8. Brutal to not have AC or not be able to use it in this heat: Not cool
  9. Can definitely see this around me. My wife’s school is similar: when to sell is the question. Too soon and you’re leaving potential on the table, too late and it’s no longer worth much: ‘Era of mass closures’: The Japanese firms with no successors
  10. Seems good news: One in Four Japanese Listed Companies Raised Average Annual Salaries by ¥300,000 in 2022
  11. I like this policy: ‘Paul McCartney winked right at me’: the fans who buy nosebleed seats – and get whisked to the front
  12. Definitely. And taxing jet fuel encourages people to develop low emission alternatives: Private jets are awful for the climate. It’s time to tax the rich who fly in them
  13. This makes a lot of sense. I am definitely finding a lot of meaning in working after ‘retirement’: Worth a Read
  14. This doesn’t sound very fun: He visited all 195 countries without flying. It nearly broke him
  15. I’ll keep this in mind if we build a home: The Australian town where people live underground
  16. Not just about English teaching: You just have to be a bit above average, that’s all
  17. Hoo boy. Hope they don’t come asking for it! Japan’s national debt stands at 10.25 million yen per person
  18. Small positive changes + time make for enormous results: The Aggregation of Marginal Gains (revisited)

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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12 Responses

  1. #5 How about the HSBC Ex-Pat account? Would be even better if HSBC provided retail services in Japan.

    1. I looked into it a few years ago and the minimum deposits/fees were not attractive at the time.

      1. The main problem with the HSBC Ex-pat account is the required £50k deposit which is not covered by the UK treasury.
        As per the article at #5, the question is how many other banks will also close UK bank accounts for customers no longer residing in the UK?
        As for Wise, it looks good on Trust Pilot but elsewhere it’s described as a scam that holds onto money for longer than necessary.
        https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/transferwise.html#scroll_to_reviews=true

  2. On #5 would Wise not be a better option?
    I was last Friday night trying to make a transfer of about 1,200 STG from Natwest account to another Natwest account and was a frustrating experience…
    1) I navigated a bunch of screens and at the final one was requested to enter my debit card in the card reader to approve the transfer
    2) As I had lost/mis-placed by debit card I was not able to approve the transfer
    3)I phoned them and after a long wait was told they would send me a replacement card which would take a week, but was told that using their App I could approve/make the transfer anyway
    4)After installing the App, I was informed by the app it could only support transfers of 1,000 per day..
    5)Chatting with their support (I decided not to phone them this time ,as already spent an hour on this) I was told that I could increase the limit using my debit card and card reader… see 2 above… I eventually did my needed transfer with Santander bank which took all of about 5-10 minutes…

    1. I have a Wise account so that would be a fall back. My NatWest account has various Direct Debit coming out of it, so I would prefer to keep it if possible. I find the online banking fairly easy to use (I haven’t lost my debit card or card reader!).

  4. #9 – I’m interested in the prospect of eventually selling your wife’s school. I don’t know the details, but I would be interested who you would think would be a buyer. It seems to me, you need to be a pretty big operation to get bought out, and the potential buyers (probably current teachers) generally can’t afford it. I would love to know your thoughts.

    1. I wrote about this a few years ago on my teaching blog: https://sendaiben.org/2016/02/10/selling-a-language-school-in-japan/

      My wife’s school has grown and improved quite a lot since I wrote it. You are right in that finding a buyer will be tricky. It’s a medium-sized single-location school with 400 students and 18 staff, so my back of the envelope valuation is in the 30-50m range (more if we can grow it to full capacity).

      We’re not in any rush though so just taking profits for now is fine while we try to improve the business.

      1. Thanks Ben. It’s an interesting problem. I suspect that while it is worth that money in theory, it is only worth that if someone is willing to pay that, and can afford it.

        1. Well, of course. That is how price is determined 😉

          A buyer would probably need to be a larger school that wanted to expand to Sendai, or a company in a related market (juku or similar). We have a fair amount of systems and IP that would be useful to a larger company.

  5. Two comments:

    1) Rent vs Own (really good vid, thoughtful, thx) .. my dream / plan is to own. I know it prob makes sense to rent, but I want to restore an old kominka (and the trees + gardens!).

    2) Electric Vehicles – I hear you, we want cleaner air, less pollution, but … the mining?