Advice for an investment in Japan for the next couple of years.

[Liveintokyo]

First post on here in ages and it's a big question that I assume is a little unusual. I was all about to start setting up a retirement nest egg in Japan and the pandemic hit and destroyed everything. My work stopped (I used to play piano in hotels) so I had to get back into teaching. As the bills mounted we sold our apartment and then moved back into Tokyo for work. When that job turned out to be not that great we took a contract in Thailand and I'm currently writing from there.

We have about 6,000,000 held in an account in Japan for when we return and are hoping to be able to add to it from here. The main perks of my current job is that my children both go to an international school for free and we get flights for the family back to Japan or Australia once a year.

The money is just sitting in the bank in Japan so is there anything that we could look at using it for that would be better than the absolute 0% interest we are getting at the moment? I do have PR and my wife is a Japanese national so maybe there is something we could do with that? We were just about to set up the Ideco and NISA accounts when the pandemic struck so we didn't get around to sorting them out and I think it would be impossible to do an a non-resident for tax purposes. We do still have our business (blue tax form) but it's on hiatus until we return, but we do have a tax agent looking after things for us.

Thanks in advance for helping with what I assume is an unusual question.

[zeroshiki]

So, NISA is out but iDeCo is possible with the condition being that you continue optionally paying into the pension, which sounds great until you look it up and find out that you can only pay into the Japanese pension system from overseas if you're a Japanese national full stop. So your wife can do it but you can't.

This article has an explanation how to do it and suggestions of brokers (seems like SBI is the best for this): https://globalsupportthailand.com/2022/05/01/ideco/

[sutebayashi]

we took a contract in Thailand and I'm currently writing from there

I was just curious and looked at this assuming you are a tax resident in Thailand:
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/thailand/i ... ermination

It looks like capital gains do not apply to you if you earn them from a source outside of Thailand, and you do not remit them to Thailand in the year you receive them.

So, even without iDeCo and NISA you might be able to invest that money without worrying much about taxes in Thailand. You could open an account with a reputable broker and invest in whatever you please, and not pay taxes, I imagine. Interactive Brokers is mentioned here as an option for internationally mobile types.

[Liveintokyo]

Thanks for the advice so far. The Ideco in my wifes name may be a good option as we are still paying her pension. However I'm looking for something like a term deposit or bonds with a set length/return I think. I'm probably going to want to buy a family house when we return to Japan in 2-3 years so would like to set something up that is relatively short term, but gives me better than the 0% at the moment.

Paying into the Ideco is probably a good idea too

[Tkydon]

viewtopic.php?t=2732&sid=346f1f10723947 ... d891baaee8

[sutebayashi]

I'm probably going to want to buy a family house when we return to Japan in 2-3 years so would like to set something up that is relatively short term, but gives me better than the 0% at the moment.

I see, so the money is earmarked for buying a house in Japanese yen in the not to distant future.

That’s tough, I suspect. To get some return you need to take some risk - currency risk or market risk etc. But then you might find your 6 million is worth 4 million in 2-3 years, if luck is not with you.

It is still a couple of years away, so if you were prepared to invest say 1 million in something riskier but growthy (international equities say), you might find it has made (or lost) say 200,000 yen by the time you want to use it. And don’t risk the other 5 million yen.

(I was thinking about international bond funds, hedged against currency fluctuations, but these funds don’t seem to have done well recently either, with bonds selling off as global interest rates have risen - but not so much in Japan. So to get some of those higher rates you need to take currency risk…)