Time to coast/barista FIRE - things to prepare?

[goran]

Don't mean to pry, but will you be willing to share more about your journey? I take these stories as inspirations or something to look forward to.
Totally understand it if you don't want to, though!
Congratulations, btw!

Thank you very much!
I'm happy to share updates. Guess I'll keep this thread updated once in a while when something happens.
If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask me anything.

No specific question. But may be something about your age, how you reached where you've reached now, and things like that. Were you really frugal? And so on. And if you are still open to discuss further then how have you divided your assets and things like that.

Btw, I actually live near central Osaka. 15 minutes bike ride from Osaka station.

[fiskebyxa]

To be honest, most of the advice that would be relevant or helpful would all depend on one thing: How much you have saved already.

Would you mind sharing?

(The story of 1000万円-san really scares me as he is one major repair away from financial disaster.)

I'm happy to share. You're right, feedback/suggestions from you would be more relevant the more financial information I provide.

Total assets (roughly):
3500万円（4000万円 if I include value of Ideco and amount I paid into Japanese pension）
5 year NISA maxed out

Liabilities (roughly): student loan 60万円 (less than 0.5% annual interest)

Monthly expenses (currently): between 5-10万円 (I pay around 18,000円 in rent, including internet and water)
So that 5-10万円 I spend monthly covers the 18,000 rent, electricity, gas, and all my private expenses such as groceries, restaurant, fun, travel etc.

[fiskebyxa]

No specific question. But may be something about your age, how you reached where you've reached now, and things like that. Were you really frugal? And so on. And if you are still open to discuss further then how have you divided your assets and things like that.

Btw, I actually live near central Osaka. 15 minutes bike ride from Osaka station.

I'm turning 40 this year. Been in Japan pretty much exactly 10 years now.
I've been working for two different Japanese companies during these 10 years.
My salary is OK, but nothing extraordinary. Think it's about average salary man level for my age.
Roughly 40万円 per month with bonus twice a year. 5.6 million annually in total if I get my bonus like normal.
Subsidized housing is a big additional bonus though!

I should probably look over my asset allocation. NISA is mainly in low cost index funds.
Then it's a mix of funds and individual stocks in my 特定口座. I bought quite some restaurant chain stocks at the beginning of the pandemic.

I don't think I've skimped too much in daily life.
- I enjoy cooking, and buy groceries at gyuomusuupa
- I rarely buy anything new.
- I enjoy buying junk or getting free junk and repair stuff.
- I never take the train. Bicycle everywhere. It's faster and more fun.
- I use 株主優待券 for restaurant visits
- I use miles to travel

A fellow Osaka-jin! I'd be happy to meet up!

[goran]

I'm turning 40 this year. Been in Japan pretty much exactly 10 years now.
I've been working for two different Japanese companies during these 10 years.
My salary is OK, but nothing extraordinary. Think it's about average salary man level for my age.
Roughly 40万円 per month with bonus twice a year. 5.6 million annually in total if I get my bonus like normal.
Subsidized housing is a big additional bonus though!

I should probably look over my asset allocation. NISA is mainly in low cost index funds.
Then it's a mix of funds and individual stocks in my 特定口座. I bought quite some restaurant chain stocks at the beginning of the pandemic.

I don't think I've skimped too much in daily life.
- I enjoy cooking, and buy groceries at gyuomusuupa
- I rarely buy anything new.
- I enjoy buying junk or getting free junk and repair stuff.
- I never take the train. Bicycle everywhere. It's faster and more fun.
- I use 株主優待券 for restaurant visits
- I use miles to travel

A fellow Osaka-jin! I'd be happy to meet up!

This sounds exactly like my life's description. (with some differences; lower age, lower salary, and married)

If you don't mind me pestering you about life, then I'd love to meet up. A can coffee at Nakanoshima Park in one of these summer evenings, discussing about life and all things in general sounds nice to me.
I will send you a pm, if you really don't mind meeting up.

[TokyoBoglehead]

To be honest, most of the advice that would be relevant or helpful would all depend on one thing: How much you have saved already.

Would you mind sharing?

(The story of 1000万円-san really scares me as he is one major repair away from financial disaster.)

I'm happy to share. You're right, feedback/suggestions from you would be more relevant the more financial information I provide.

Total assets (roughly):
3500万円（4000万円 if I include value of Ideco and amount I paid into Japanese pension）
5 year NISA maxed out

Liabilities (roughly): student loan 60万円 (less than 0.5% annual interest)

Monthly expenses (currently): between 5-10万円 (I pay around 18,000円 in rent, including internet and water)
So that 5-10万円 I spend monthly covers the 18,000 rent, electricity, gas, and all my private expenses such as groceries, restaurant, fun, travel etc.

I think the issue is:

A. Housing - Your rent will not stay this low. You need to predict a budget for the area you want to live in. Include Key-money, moving fees etc etc. And price in future higher energy costs.

Without a job financing a home for purchase or renewal will be very tough. You may have to dip into your investments.

B. A partner - Understand that it will be harder to find a partner if you embrace this lifestyle.

[beanhead]

I think the issue is:

A. Housing - Your rent will not stay this low. You need to predict a budget for the area you want to live in. Include Key-money, moving fees etc etc. And price in future higher energy costs.

Without a job financing a home for purchase or renewal will be very tough. You may have to dip into your investments.

B. A partner - Understand that it will be harder to find a partner if you embrace this lifestyle.

And one other thing to be careful of is future pension. Not an issue as such, but just be aware that because you now have potentially 20-25 years of paying into kokumin nenkin rather than kosei nenkin, the pension you receive will be much less than those on a standard salaryman track.
Of course if you continue to work part-time, you should pay kokumin nenkin yourself and that gives you the ability to pay more into iDeCo (if you plan to stay long-term in Japan).

Ben always reminds us that pensions provide a valuable floor of income in retirement. In your situation, yours will just be less than for others. Not a reason to not go ahead with your plan, but something to remember.
Good luck! I am envious

[fiskebyxa]

This sounds exactly like my life's description. (with some differences; lower age, lower salary, and married)

If you don't mind me pestering you about life, then I'd love to meet up. A can coffee at Nakanoshima Park in one of these summer evenings, discussing about life and all things in general sounds nice to me.
I will send you a pm, if you really don't mind meeting up.

Sounds like a pretty awesome evening, please do!

[fiskebyxa]

I think the issue is:

A. Housing - Your rent will not stay this low. You need to predict a budget for the area you want to live in. Include Key-money, moving fees etc etc. And price in future higher energy costs.

Without a job financing a home for purchase or renewal will be very tough. You may have to dip into your investments.

B. A partner - Understand that it will be harder to find a partner if you embrace this lifestyle.

A. Housing will definitely be an issue. Definitely have to spend more time thinking about this. Dipping into current investments would not feel good at all.
B. Maybe it would be easier to meet someone like-minded if I embrace this kind of lifestyle?

[TokyoBoglehead]

I think the issue is:

A. Housing - Your rent will not stay this low. You need to predict a budget for the area you want to live in. Include Key-money, moving fees etc etc. And price in future higher energy costs.

Without a job financing a home for purchase or renewal will be very tough. You may have to dip into your investments.

B. A partner - Understand that it will be harder to find a partner if you embrace this lifestyle.

A. Housing will definitely be an issue. Definitely have to spend more time thinking about this. Dipping into current investments would not feel good at all.
B. Maybe it would be easier to meet someone like-minded if I embrace this kind of lifestyle?

A. This would be my main focus. As an experiment, pick and area, choose and apartment on Sumo, or the like. And plan a budget. Can you live with that budget? Play with different margins or era and costs.

B. Shrinking your dating pool so dramatically is limiting imo. In a country like Japan, you will be harder pressed to find FIRE advocates. Unfortunately, you will be much harder pressed if you are looking for a female partner.

[fiskebyxa]

And one other thing to be careful of is future pension. Not an issue as such, but just be aware that because you now have potentially 20-25 years of paying into kokumin nenkin rather than kosei nenkin, the pension you receive will be much less than those on a standard salaryman track.
Of course if you continue to work part-time, you should pay kokumin nenkin yourself and that gives you the ability to pay more into iDeCo (if you plan to stay long-term in Japan).

Ben always reminds us that pensions provide a valuable floor of income in retirement. In your situation, yours will just be less than for others. Not a reason to not go ahead with your plan, but something to remember.
Good luck! I am envious

Another 20-25 years working as a salaryman just isn't an option for me. Working 10 years has been an invaluable experience, but I've had enough for now
I'm currently contributing 37,500円 in kosei nenkin + 23,000円 monthly to iDeCo.
This will be changed to 16,520円 kokumin nenkin + 67,000円 iDeCo + 400円 fuka nenkin.

Not sure how much my final pension will change based on these changes. I will see if I can do some calculations on it.