RetireJapan

You do not specific the current net value of your Canadian investments. The 4% rule is a super common rule of thumb used in the Retire Early community. It was derived from back testing historic returns. The result being that even if you retired right before the great depression with a 4% withdrawal ...

Thought this might be the thread to say this: but wow SBI's Furikomi + TransferWise is fast. Now that all my identification and verification is settled with TransferWise I was able to pay a contractor and him receive the money in less than 12 hours. This despite the contractor being on the other sid...

Great. I had to go to the post office and change my name to the shortened version of my first name then cut the middle name. Seeing as that was possible, I then had to go back and change my name on Rakuten. That sounds like more pain for the future. I would have said bye-bye to Rakuten at that point.

Oh look that famous ponzi scheme managed to post "record" numbers of 50% of the last peak. Wow, I've never seen such a wonderful Ponzi before /s

Yeah that sounds about right for setting up Japanese accounts. Took us 6 back-en-forths with Nomura.

Why borrow to invest when you could just leverage your investments rather than paying a high interest rate on a loan? If you want to increase the risk(and thus the return) that's just another way to do it, and I'm pretty sure the costs would be lower than those of an expensive loan. I haven't tried...

You are legally obliged to be in the pension but I’m not sure there is an obligation to have health insurance, if you’re prepared to pay 100% of the cost every time. Japan has what would be called a "universal mandate" in America. Every resident young or old is required to have health ins...

The big expenses: housing, transport, food, communications, entertainment are where most people are going to find fat to trim. I agree 100%. So often when people think of savings they first think of food. Yet saving money on food requires making multiple decisions and actions everyday. Instead the ...

Cellphone plans are a big/easy place to pull in an extra 万 of cashflow. So many families are stuck with Softbank or its ilk.

I agree with TokyoWart. I also think that list of priorities is a good list.

If you planned on living in Japan forever then for sure use a Japanese broker. Otherwise you should repatriate the fruit of your labour so it work for you where you need it.