RetireJapan

Thanks. So it’s a locked-in account where you can’t access funds for the duration. Is that right? Either 3 months at higher rate or one year at lower rate. Can’t you just do the 3 months first then transfer into a 1 year one? After the year it reverts to a no(low) interest account? Yes, it's locked...

My wife is using it at my instigation, though not the three-month one. We opened a 12-month one in December, and the process was reasonably smooth.

Personally I wouldn't be keen at all on paying gift tax for this purpose. You, as a couple, may save on tax from gains sheltered in the NISA in the future, but what is guaranteed is a double digit hit at the outset.

The OP may intend to live in the UK property for however long it takes to have it classed as his primary residence. Otherwise the CGT differential between Japan and the UK may not be that large?

Yeah, I also thought it was expensive. It comes with a ten year warranty which is good, and there was some electrical bits that needed replacing when the old one leaked all over them. In the UK in 2017, I had a boiler replaced for around £3500 (but had higher quotes). Given inflation since then, I ...

Same as PR, naturalization tests for stability so applying immediately after switching jobs is not a good idea since you need to demonstrate stability. I'm not gonna tell you to stay in a bad situation but do know that a 5 year history of working for the same company looks better to the MOJ than a ...

I’m strongly leaning towards the business one, as opposed to the kids one, purely because I don’t know if I can keep up the energy to teach kids all day every day, 5 days a week, just for the “better salary”. Makes sense. Enjoyment and stress are huge factors, too. I did a similar job when I was yo...

My wife opened one of the SBI campaign accounts for new customers last month. Top of the list Adamu posted a link to. At 0.85 fixed for a year it's not wonderful but passed the inertia test for us.

IDECO has the benefit of tax savings as you invest from pre-tax income. So for you, for whatever amount you invest it would likely reduce your tax bill by 15% (5% national tax and 10% local tax). For each year you invest you get a 400k tax free allowance on withdrawal, more after a certain number of...

7. In June 2023, I moved the majority of my UK savings into a Skipton International fixed rate bond account, which had an 18 month maturity. How did you do this? I used to have an account with Skipton but they refused to change my address to my address in Japan and refused to let me buy new product...