The Monday Read: Xmas 2022

Honestly cannot believe we are less than a week from Christmas. Like, where did the last (three) year(s) go?

Fortunately we agreed not to do presents for the adults this year, which takes an enormous amount of pressure off. I’ll be doing my Xmas shopping tomorrow for the grandkids.

My turkey is due to arrive on Tuesday, and I’ll be cooking all day on Saturday. We eat Xmas dinner on the evening of the 24th so that we can relax and enjoy leftovers on Christmas Day.

Hope everyone is successfully winding down and looking forward to the winter break!

Kyushu Roadshow

I’ll be giving a couple of presentations in Kyushu in January. First, for Kitakyushu JALT on January 21st, then Fukuoka JALT on January 22nd. Looking forward to seeing some of you there 🙂

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. I made a new video about the new eternal NISA accounts due to start in 2024.

Also, please save the date for this month’s RetireJapan TV. We’ll be doing a livestream on YouTube at 20:00 on December 26th and it would be great to have a few people join us this time.

New bilingual kids book about money

Leonard Loo (previous guest poster on the blog) has been writing bilingual kids books and his latest on is about money -and it is free this week 🙂

MANNY THE MONSTER IN: THAT THING CALLED MONEY | モンスターマニー： おかねって なんだろう？

A child realizes that their parents can run out of money buying stuff for them by running out of money themselves, courtesy of Manny the Monster. Written and illustrated in the first person, it is the author’s hope that little readers will be able to easily put themselves in the main character’s shoes and learn a thing or two about money.

Manny the Monster is a bilingual picture book series written in both Japanese and English. The latest installment, “THAT THING CALLED MONEY”, will be available for free (ebook only) on Amazon from Dec 22, 5 PM JST to Dec 27, 4:59 PM JST. There are two other titles that are free to read online.

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (24,896 posts so far). Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s links

1. Probably. Is now a good time to invest?
2. Not sure this rule is in society’s best interest: Japan maintains ban on welfare recipients going to university
3. That’s a pretty crazy headline: Taiwan to surpass Japan in GDP per capita this year
4. Similar, but with a moaning/helpless vibe that I am not a fan of: Japan’s middle class being gutted as salaries fall
5. I like that Japan doesn’t charge for this, unlike the usurious fees in the UK: How much did it actually cost to naturalize?
6. Really enjoyed this video by Ali Abdaal (YouTube): How I Failed in 2022…
7. I see small reasons for hope, but the overall picture is pretty dire: The climate disaster is here
8. I feel the appeal of this, balanced by the self-interest of using social media for my businesses: On Teenage Luddites
9. The transfer of wealth in Japan is going to be incredible: Demographics vs. the Stock Market
10. Kind of reassuring, although past performance does not guarantee future returns: Fun with numbers: Historic Stock Market Returns
11. Worth thinking about: Ideas That Changed My Life
12. This interview surprised me with how thoughtful it was: The Rise and Fall of Tai Lopez: Here In My Garage
13. Links within links: J-Links of Interest
14. The Mad Fientist (Spotify podcast): Raising Money Smart Kids
15. Food for: Some Thoughts About Investing
16. From my writing, clearly I am a genius: Simple is Smart
17. I’m glad we decided not to do gifts for the adults this year, just the kids: How to become a truly excellent gift giver

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

The Monday Read, going out to more than 2,748 subscribers each week. Please share this post/email with friends/colleagues who may be interested in it.

If you were forwarded the email you can sign up to the list here.