Good CC + Brokerage + iDeCO + 積み立てNIISA + Bank Combos

[Senny]

Apologies if this has been answered before.

Recently, I've been sitting down to think more seriously about my financial health and future.
I just got a job that gives me much more financial stability than I've ever had before, and I've been thinking about getting a new credit card. Not to have a larger credit line, but to try and maximize value from things like points and cashback rewards.

When I was looking into the SMBC credit card, I noticed that if you designate an SMBC bank account as the account that receives your paycheck, you get even more points. So, it got me thinking. Should I be aligning all of my financials with a specific financial institution? Does it even matter in the long run?

Right now, my checking and saving accounts are both with MUFG, my iDeCO is through MUFG, my CC is the JAL card (still connected to MUFG, though...!), but I use Rakuten for its brokerage and 積み立てNIISA.

However, I'm thinking of switching all of this over to SMBC because of how lucrative their system seems to be.

What do you guys think?
Thanks in advance for any information or wisdom

[adamu]

I think that chasing points is a trap. There's a reason the companies try to lure you in, and that's to make it very easy to end up using one of their expensive financial services, and making money on transaction fees for your spending in the meantime.

I think for a solid financial grounding, focusing on the basics (where your loyalty is to yourself, and you are paying yourself, not a company first) is a good start: first by regularly saving at least a double-digit percent of your income. Then allocating it towards paying off debts (including the CC if it carries a balance), building an emergency fund of at least a few months of expenses, and when those are done, investing.

Those are the important steps. Much more important than which company you pick and what point schemes they have.

For brokers, Rakuten is pretty good because of their low fees and high availability of low cost funds. I wouldn't move from them to SMBC because of a points system, but it's up to you to run the numbers. Just make sure you are covering the basics without getting led astray by loyalty schemes. Of course you should maximise the benefits available to you, but I think the benefits of optimising this completely is minor compared to the other things you could spend your time on (such as spending time with important people, furthering your career, pursuing a hobby, etc.).

For iDeCo it could be worth checking what fees you are paying with MUFG. It might be worth switching (to SBI/Rakuten/Monex but probably not SMBC) but there are costs and risks involved with switching iDeCo too, so again would be good to run the numbers there.

[Senny]

Hmmm... Yeah.

I guess it probably isn't worth the headache and time of maximizing things at this level of granularity.
It definitely seems worth it to look around on iDeCo though, so I guess I'll do that!

Thanks so much for the advice!

[Tkydon]

Hmmm... Yeah.

I guess it probably isn't worth the headache and time of maximizing things at this level of granularity.
It definitely seems worth it to look around on iDeCo though, so I guess I'll do that!

Thanks so much for the advice!

The thing to check with iDECO and NISA is the list of funds available from each provider and plan, as they differ, and some providers or plans may not have the exact funds you want to buy...

[Senny]

Hmmm... Yeah.

I guess it probably isn't worth the headache and time of maximizing things at this level of granularity.
It definitely seems worth it to look around on iDeCo though, so I guess I'll do that!

Thanks so much for the advice!

The thing to check with iDECO and NISA is the list of funds available from each provider and plan, as they differ, and some providers or plans may not have the exact funds you want to buy...

Makes sense! It's not something I've had to worry about so far because I'm an American citizen, so I just park cash inside the account. But, I'm hoping to naturalize soon, so I guess it will become a concern in the near future.

[beanhead]

Makes sense! It's not something I've had to worry about so far because I'm an American citizen, so I just park cash inside the account. But, I'm hoping to naturalize soon, so I guess it will become a concern in the near future.

What do you invest in / can you invest in with 積み立てNIISA ? Are there 'safe' options for US citizens?

[RetireJapan]

Makes sense! It's not something I've had to worry about so far because I'm an American citizen, so I just park cash inside the account. But, I'm hoping to naturalize soon, so I guess it will become a concern in the near future.

What do you invest in / can you invest in with 積み立てNIISA ? Are there 'safe' options for US citizens?

I believe there are not

[beanhead]

I believe there are not

That is what I thought too. I heard about the cash option in iDeCo which the OP is using. If there is no similar fund in the t-NISA, they could be in trouble.

Not a U.S. citizen, so not a concern for me, thankfully.

[Senny]

Yeah. My NISA is just sitting there right now... I learned about the restrictions after opening it. But naturalization prep is going well.

[adamu]

Perhaps a bit cheeky, but the Naturalisation wiki article is a bit sparse...

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Naturalisation

I'm sure there is a lot of useful information that is not published about Naturalisation, especially in English. If you felt like documenting it for the benefit of others, edits to that wiki page would be very welcome.