Paying down Mortgage or Invest with Weak Yen

[concerned]

So as been previously discussed it does not make sense to pay down ones Yen mortgage with the low interest rates here, as you can expect to make a greater return with stocks.
But I am wondering with the slide in the Yen, does it really make sense to keep buying foreign index funds with money that could instead be used to pay down ones mortgage ? One could face a double whammy of declining stock market and strengthening Yen..

[Deep Blue]

Nobody can predict what is going to happen with the FX rates.

The answer "should I pay down my mortgage or invest?" is a personal decision that involves more than just finance - also to do with your personal life, your health, job security, risk tolerance and many other factors.

Personally I have been expecting the yen to reverse its decline for many months now and been dead wrong. I also have a relatively less secure job so took the decision to be debt-free and paid off all our mortgages around a decade ago. This has definitely been sub-optimal in terms of financial returns but it has let me sleep well at night.

So in short, it's your decision and there is no right or wrong answer.

[sutebayashi]

One could face a double whammy of declining stock market and strengthening Yen..

This is kinda like a financial crisis scale scenario I think.

The yen is weak now. These things do sometimes ebb and flow… but sometimes they don’t, too.

How much, and how fast, would the yen have to strengthen for you to regret investing in foreign assets? Is there an evident catalyst for a change of the magnitude that you would regret? I’d only change course once I see something that makes me think the yen has reverted back to a multi-year strengthening trend. In the short term, the yen might go up 10-15 yen versus the dollar, but this is not necessarily the same thing as a catalyst for a multi year strengthening trend. It’s just garden variety natural volatility.

All just my humble opinion and merely the way I think about it.

[RetireJapan]

double whammy of declining stock market and strengthening Yen..

That is something I worry about, so I make sure we have enough cash to be able to wait for a stock market recovery in that situation before needing to sell anything.

[concerned]

Thanks! Everyone for the replies on this