2019 NISA allowance

[Rezz]

Hi all,

Hope you're all having a great Christmas and New Year!

It'll soon be that time of year again; a new 1.2 million yen allowance to play with for the NISA account. How is everyone here planning to use it? Fill it all up in one go, or spread it over a few deposits through the year?

In previous years I've always deposited the entire 1.2 million in one go shortly after January 1st and tried to forget about it for 12 months, but this year I'm having a few second thoughts following the recent stock market slaughter. I'm sure that as with others here, I've lost a large chunk of my wealth these last few weeks. It's hard to know if this is the bottom or not or what the next 12 months will bring. I'm tempted to put the entire allowance in, but weigh my emerging markets and bonds a little heavier than usual just in case.

As for choice of funds, from reading around a little on here, it seems like the eMaxis series are the new cheapest "easy" way to invest. I was previously buying mainly TOPIX 1348 and MSCI 1550 with a sprinkling of emerging markets and bonds on top. This year, I guess I'll go for a few of the eMaxis series instead. How about others?

Regards,
Rezz

[RetireJapan]

Hi Rezz

I'm rolling over stuff into NISA this year for the first time, so won't have a full allowance to play with. Planning to continue buying dividend paying stocks and topping up with eMaxis Slim funds. Don't have much cash now so probably buying monthly as spare money surfaces...

[adamu]

I usually invest any excess cash monthly, in taxable accounts once the NISA is full, so I don't have a lump sum sitting around ready to invest in January (except the FU fund, but I keep that in cash).

One option is obviously to sell some purchases from taxable accounts and redirect into the NISA. This is appealing because I have some stuff that I'm not too keen on anymore - mostly US ETFs - but like you I don't really want to sell at a loss, even if I am just repurchasing at the same price (or possibly lower!), so will leave things put for the time being and invest monthly as the funds are available.

I'm planning on putting everything in eMaxis Slim All Country going forward.

[mikeinjap]

I've also been thinking about how to use my NISA this year after reading this forum.
I played around with it last year as I didn't actually understand how it worked.

I'm thinking of spreading it out throughout the year.
I'm planning for 100% stocks and am thinking of just the 1 fund for now, the eMaxis Slim World ex-Japan Fund which includes the Emerging markets.

[RetireJapan]

Sounds good

FYI there is a new eMaxis Slim fund (オール・カントリー) that includes Japan for a truly all-world single fund: https://emaxis.jp/lp/slim/index.html

[mikeinjap]

Actually I did see that fund as well but decided on the ex-Japan fund for a few reasons:

1. I'm already investing in individual stocks in Japan so I feel like I don't need to double dip.
2. I wanted some more weighing on the emerging markets but not confident in going for the complete Emerging market fund.
3. The fund is still quite new and the NAV is still quite small. Maybe when it gains a bit more popularity.
4. The biggest reason is however, I want to see how the Japanese market performs after the sales tax increase in October and the Olympics in 2020 before going all in but thats just me.

[Rezz]

Interesting comments. I went with half the NISA limit (600,000) for now, 80% in the the eMaxis world fund (ex Japan) and 20% in a Nikkei fund. I don't mind overweighing Japan a little because I live and get paid here, but also I'm not confident enough to throw the whole 1,200,000 in (yet). I also think the tax changes will cause some upset to the markets.

[TokyoWart]

My wife and I rolled over our NISA accounts because the 2014 investments did well and it effectively allowed us to exceed the 1.2 million yen limit. For my kids' Junior NISA accounts I chose individual Japanese stocks because buying mutual funds here brings complicated reporting requirements for US citizens. I always maximize the investments immediately. The stocks I chose (you'll laugh at these a year from now since my picks generally go down ) were Asahi (2502), Kirin (2503), Itoen (2593), Softbank (9434), Docomo (9439), 7 Bank (8410), Sapporo (2501), Itochu (8001), Mizuho Financial (8411) and KDDI (9433).

[robster]

Similarly to Rezz i put half my 1.2m allowance into ニッセイ外国株式インデックスファンド (which last year lowered its expense ratio to match E-Maxis slim's 0.11772% on the same MSCI Kokusai Index) , and I'm keeping the rest of my powder dry for the moment. I must admit it was quite painful watching the stock prices plummet around Dec 24 and not being able to take advantage of it for NISA until it bounced back up again in early Jan.

[eyeswideshut]

I usually wait until my taxes are filed to make sure I have sufficient cash to cover any unexpected tax liabilities before contributing to my NISA. Depending on where the market sits at the end of March I will either do my usual 60/40 stocks and bond funds (I like the Nissei Funds as they are cheap and easy to buy) or, if stocks decide that it is time for a sale, I may go 100% global stocks. As tempted as I am to pick and choose individual stocks, past results indicate I am about as good at it as I am at picking winning horses at the Fuchu Keibajo (i.e.: not good at all) so I will stick with broad market funds.