Retirement fun in USD - cash out now?

[TokyoSurvivor]

Hello All

I'm pretty much a complete novice at investment.

I've got a 15 year retirement fund I pay into October each year in USD and so far I've paid 8 years of contributions.

I'm actually paid in JPY and so for the first 6 years it was a great deal. However with the fall in JPY vs USD, I'm wondering whether I should just cash out now rather than continue to the full 15 years.

Any opinions?

[RetireJapan]

We'll probably need more details in order to comment. What is the product? What are the fees? Who did you buy it from? etc.

[TokyoWart]

I would make the decision based on what the product is rather than the exchange rate. I feel your pain everytime I convert yen to dollars to invest in my US brokerage accounts but I remember in 2022 that I thought 130 yen/dollar was an incredibly bad, temporary disaster and we're now closer to 150 with some pundits arguing that worse exchange rates are ahead (and I have no idea where they are going).

Regarding the product, it sounds like you might be describing a LIRP and regardless of exchange rates those combined insurance/retirement products have pretty bad return characteristics and can create some unexpected tax traps. I hope this is not what you're dealing with.

[beanhead]

I've got a 15 year retirement fund I pay into October each year in USD and so far I've paid 8 years of contributions.

Any opinions?

Is it an 'offshore' plan? Sold to you by a 'financial advisor'?
In which case the decision to cancel it and start buying lower-cost index funds will usually be the sensible one.

You may have to pay a penalty to cancel.