Anyone buying yen these days?

[TBS]

What is the best accumulating Japanese-only stock fund to buy that has low fees and high yield? And preferably is available on SBI since that's what I'm applying for. Thanks!

Take a look here: https://shintaro-money.com/index-cost/#i-5

[TJKansai]

Solar panels are on my list!
Interest rates in USD are still pretty pathetic, still well under 1%, so 100% J stocks are likely. I need to move it from Prestia to SBI first.

Yeah, I have one already, kind of a portable camping one, and am very impressed with it. I'd like to install some bigger ones permanently on the roof but it's not south-facing, so that puts me off. I need a quote and some expert advice

Several institutions are predicting 0.5% Fed rate hikes in May, June and July, and a rate of at least 2.5% by the end of the year. Banks/brokers take their cut of course, so still not a great yield. It's just something to bear in mind.

I wasn't keen on solar as we too are not south facing, but after a bit of research it seems E-W is not too bad.

[adamu]

I was just purposely reducing the new money invested in the accumulating fund each year to make the total investment amounts the same in each case. Why? So we can compare the results of each strategy like for like.
Don't forget that the distributed dividends in Case 1 pay towards the new 1.2 million allocation each year (after the 1st year) so you won't need to use as much of your own money to fill the allocation.

Let's try saying it another way.

Assume you reinvested all your dividends over the first 5 years and they added up to $5000. Then for the next 5 years you rolled over, and you got a further $5000 of dividends (but you already used all your allowance so can no longer reinvest).

If you instead had used an accumulating fund, first of all you could have invested an additional $5000, because the allowance previously required for the reinvested dividends is now available for new money. So both the extra $5000 *and* the dividends will compound. Additionally, you cannot reinvest the dividends of the last 5 years because your allowance is full, but with an accumulating fund that latter $5000 will also be reinvested and compounded. So you got an extra $5000 invested in the first 5 years which compounds for the full 10 years, and and a further $5000 of dividends reinvested in the latter years with the accumulation strategy.

[zeroshiki]

It seems like northsaver's sole purpose in these comparisons is just to fill up the NISA slots (so 1.2M invested per year). Purposely reducing the value of the fund already in NISA is seen as a positive because he can then use this money to fund a new NISA slot in subsequent years and then making that comparison.

1.2M compounded over 5 years at 10% interest is 1.9M
10% of 1.2M every year (what you're suggesting) is 600k so add that to your initial outlay of 1.2M and you get 1.8M

Its a 100,000 yen difference in just 5 years. I don't see how "its almost the same"

[Haystack]

I think we are monstrously off topic now, but it may be worth it for North to revisit the Tsumitate+Taxable vs Regular Nisa thread as well.

For those who cannot invest a large amount, early in the year, Tsumitate +Taxable can often match a regular Nisas performance.

The benefits are it is completely hands off as well.

[northSaver]

I really am not following your math. Would you mind mapping it on Excel?

I have just redone it in Excel and yes, as suspected, my calculation was a bit off. I'd like to attach the xlsx but can't find a way to do it. Maybe we can only insert images and URLs?

Anyway, the final results for 5,336,940 yen invested over a ten-year period are:
Distributing fund: 15,804,943
Accumulating fund: 16,945,761

Clearly the accumulating fund is a big winner. You could narrow the gap by investing the dividends in a taxable account after Year 5 (total dividends received = 2,826,274), but you're never to gain the same as in the NISA. Plus it's a lot of hassle.

Thanks for all the recent comments. No time to reply to them all sorry. And yes, this is monstrously off-topic! My apologies for that.

[Bubblegun]

I am going to transfer my pounds into yen soon. I have no idea where the yen will go, but months ago 1 pound was buying about 145 ish yen, and today I can buy about 167 ish yen for the same pound. I have set an automatic alarm on Wise. That if a pound reaches 170, It'll notify me, but I really have no idea what the pound and yen level will be.
From what I read somewhere in the wild world of the internet, if the BoE increases its interest rates, the pound will strengthen against the yen. So frankly ( whoever frank is) I have know idea when I'll buy the yen, but I know I will be soon, if we decide to buy a house. At the moment, I can only just watch the pips.

[Beaglehound]

I am going to transfer my pounds into yen soon. I have no idea where the yen will go, but months ago 1 pound was buying about 145 ish yen, and today I can buy about 167 ish yen for the same pound. I have set an automatic alarm on Wise. That if a pound reaches 170, It'll notify me, but I really have no idea what the pound and yen yen level will be.
From what I read somewhere in the wild world of the internet, if the BoE increases its interest rates, the pound will strengthen against the yen. So frankly ( whoever frank is) I have know idea when I'll buy the yen, but I know I will be soon, if we decide to buy a house. At the moment, I can only just watch the pips.

As your post indicates, you, like I, have little idea which way the rate will go. The situation now is a whole lot better than 145 yen (which was what it was when I sent money over to buy a house). So maybe send half now and wait a bit for the other half if you feel there is more upside to come? Even if it falls, at least you will have sent half at a historically decent level.

[eyeswideshut]

Over 129 to the dollar now. Will convert some USD at 130 if we get there but I am really hoping this is where we bottom out.

[Bubblegun]

I am going to transfer my pounds into yen soon. I have no idea where the yen will go, but months ago 1 pound was buying about 145 ish yen, and today I can buy about 167 ish yen for the same pound. I have set an automatic alarm on Wise. That if a pound reaches 170, It'll notify me, but I really have no idea what the pound and yen yen level will be.
From what I read somewhere in the wild world of the internet, if the BoE increases its interest rates, the pound will strengthen against the yen. So frankly ( whoever frank is) I have know idea when I'll buy the yen, but I know I will be soon, if we decide to buy a house. At the moment, I can only just watch the pips.

As your post indicates, you, like I, have little idea which way the rate will go. The situation now is a whole lot better than 145 yen (which was what it was when I sent money over to buy a house). So maybe send half now and wait a bit for the other half if you feel there is more upside to come? Even if it falls, at least you will have sent half at a historically decent level.

Beagle hound.
You're absolutely right. I think I'll do that. I just watched the BBC news and they were talking about the yen to the dollar and how the yen is weakening because of US and Japanese bank interest rate and the growing gap. I can't see how Japan will be able to raise its bank interest rates with the sheer amount of debt it has and the interest payments the JP gov would have to pay its own bank. For sure the BoE will increase its interest rates. So I think I will take you're advice and bring half over and watch how it moves for the rest.

Yesterday it touched 168 yen to the pound.