What is the best option for me

[KCLenny]

Hi all, some of you may remember my situation but I want to give an update.

So I have got a bit of a pay rise.
Basically I now get on average ¥268,000 a month.
My wife can earn anywhere from ¥20,000 to ¥60,000 a month (as of may this year).
Since last July we’ve been on a 50% exemption rate for our pension and are still in the process of back paying it due to confusion over whether we had to pay it immediately or not (we don’t!).
We just got our new pension payment slips today saying we have to pay the full the amount. Although I guess we’re able to go to the ward office to apply for another exemption (50% or 25% exemption being most likely if any).
My question is this.
Would it be better to pay the full pension? Or try the exemption and continue putting ¥10,000 a month into a tsumitate NISA like I’m doing now? It’s a big different from ¥26,000 (50% pension x2 and ¥10,000 NISA) to ¥42,000 (full pension x2 and ¥10,000 NISA).

What about iDECO? (Don’t know anything about how this works)
What about fuka nenkin? (Have a rough idea of this one, but not completely)
What about kokumin nenkin kikin? (Don’t understand this one very well at all!)

Other background info
My company doesn’t have any benefits or plans.
We pay ¥25,000 a month national health insurance (that’s gone up ¥5000 since last year despite doing the health care deductions for spending something like ¥150,000 on health care last year).
Residence tax for this year is total ¥100,000.
Qualify for category 3 UK national insurance contributions.
Currently have 7 full years of UK pension contributions and 3 partial years totalling something like £1500 which I have in a UK account available to pay at any time.
Rent is ¥47,000
All other bills and expenses (electric, gas, internet, phones, groceries, etc) coming out to anywhere between ¥100,000 and ¥150,000 recently and trying to work on reducing some over spending that occurred since moving apartment and getting trigger happy on Rakuten.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Thanks for the help in advance.

For someone who has a disabled SO, guaranteed income in retirement is pretty essential.

1. Pay full Nenkin

2. Add Fuka Nenkin (only 400yen a month).

3. Anything remaining - Tsumitate Nisa.
Set a minimum of 5000 monthly, and top-off with the bonus setting when you can.

................

4. Ideco Would be nice, but it doesn`t offer enough flexible for someone in your specific situation.

If you can fill 2x Tsumitate Nisas monthly, then definitely go forward with IDeco.

5. Kokumin Nenkin Kikin is just a little too complicated. Not as good as iDeco long term.

[RetireJapan]

Hi all, some of you may remember my situation but I want to give an update.

Main thing is you are taking concrete sensible steps for a better future. Many people are not.

I would concentrate on paying UK state pension and nenkin. Unless you pay full nenkin, iDeCo and fuka nenkin are not allowed.
Full nenkin + fuka nenkin would be a good start.

iDeCo works better for people with higher incomes. I agree that tsumitate NISA might be better.

High medical expenses won't affect your NHI payments. They are an income tax deduction.

Apologies if this has come up before, but has your wife looked into disability here? Getting registered for 障碍者手帳 can provide a monthly income in some cases.

[KCLenny]

Thanks for the help in advance.

For someone who has a disabled SO, guaranteed income in retirement is pretty essential.

1. Pay full Nenkin

2. Add Fuka Nenkin (only 400yen a month).

3. Anything remaining - Tsumitate Nisa.
Set a minimum of 5000 monthly, and top-off with the bonus setting when you can.

................

4. Ideco Would be nice, but it doesn`t offer enough flexible for someone in your specific situation.

If you can fill 2x Tsumitate Nisas monthly, then definitely go forward with IDeco.

5. Kokumin Nenkin Kikin is just a little too complicated. Not as good as iDeco long term.

So forget Kikin and iDECO for now, pay full pension with fuka and try to max my T-NISA where possible. Sounds like a good solid simple plan for me, thank you! ^_^

Main thing is you are taking concrete sensible steps for a better future. Many people are not.

I would concentrate on paying UK state pension and nenkin. Unless you pay full nenkin, iDeCo and fuka nenkin are not allowed.
Full nenkin + fuka nenkin would be a good start.

iDeCo works better for people with higher incomes. I agree that tsumitate NISA might be better.

High medical expenses won't affect your NHI payments. They are an income tax deduction.

Apologies if this has come up before, but has your wife looked into disability here? Getting registered for 障碍者手帳 can provide a monthly income in some cases.

障碍者手帳 What’s this? I was told by a local elderly Japanese friend that it would be too much hassle to get any kind of disability benefit here. I googled the Japanese and am struggling to find anything on the Japanese gov site about applications and what benefits are actually available. Do you have anywhere I can start to read up on it? Thanks for the advice.


So I’ll pay the full nenkin with fuka for me and my wife, top up my T-NISA as much as financially possible/safely possible, and start contacting UK pension office to get my 3 years paid off to get my minimum 10 necessary.

A follow up question about the fuka nenkin, is it just a case of going to the pension counter at the ward office and filling out a form? Or is there something more complicated?

[captainspoke]

...
障碍者手帳 What’s this? I was told by a local elderly Japanese friend that it would be too much hassle to get any kind of disability benefit here. I googled the Japanese and am struggling to find anything on the Japanese gov site about applications and what benefits are actually available. Do you have anywhere I can start to read up on it? Thanks for the advice. ...

Minor point, but that second character is usually this way: 障害者手帳

That refers to the booklet itself, typically used as an ID for getting discounts (museums, parks, shinkansen tickets, etc).

I'm not sure what the specific nenkin benefits are, apart from one--that if you are a worker who is so classified, you can retire a little earlier (62? 63?) and get benefits equal to what a non-disabled person would get at normal retirement age.

One healthcare benefit is that your out of pocket cost is reduced from 30% to 10%, if your income level is also below a certain threshold. This usually happens when you're older (over 70? 75?), but with a disability classification, it can happen earlier (after 60?).

There are some non-nenkin benefits that vary by city/prefecture, googling 障害者 and the name of your city/prefecture might get you to that (PDF of a handbook for that location).

**

Becoming a 障害者 can be a lot of paperwork (and hassle) for what sometime might seem to be little benefit--this is probably what your elderly friend was referring to. Tho for some conditions the classification is almost immediate (eg, when I got a new heart valve), for other conditions the process can apparently challenge one's patience. I've heard that for strokes, the bureaucracy seems to wait quite a while before granting a disability level, since some people do regain some/most/all function, and I think such folks are classified on the level of disability after any improvement has ceased, rather than on their status immediately following the stroke. Arguably not the best/easiest way of doing things, but it is what it is. Some people give up, some hire others to help (as a foreigner might hire someone to assist in getting PR, or naturalization).

[RetireJapan]

Thanks, CS, I was hoping you'd find this thread.

Fuka nenkin is super easy: fill in a simple form at the nenkin desk/office, and the 400 yen a month will be added to your nenkin payments.