When to take your Japanese pension?

[Roger Van Zant]

For the UK Pension for residents of Japan, the triple lock applies up until the time you start receiving your UK Pension so projected benefit grows each year until you start receiving your pension.

However, as soon as you start receiving your UK pension in Japan, the amount is locked and no longer benefits from the triple lock, unless you re-patriate to the UK, or move to another country for which the triple lock is protected under the law of that country.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewlqxv0n1qo

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you ... te-pension

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... te-pension

It's not ideal, but it's not so bad for UK citizens living in a country like Japan....
No way is inflation in Japan ever going to outstrip the annual increases due to the Triple Lock in the UK.
Twenty years from now, when I come to draw my UK pension, I'm guessing a full pension will be about 1500 quid per month?
Meanwhile, in Japan, the average monthly salary where I live will still be the bog-standard 280,000 yen per month, or some such ridiculous figure.

[bryanc]

as i understand-the uk pension will start increasing again if you move to uk or a country where it will increase-even if you start taking it when in japan and then move later? or is that wrong?
cant imagine the triple lock will still be around though-quickest way to bankrupt a country

[RetireJapan]

as i understand-the uk pension will start increasing again if you move to uk or a country where it will increase-even if you start taking it when in japan and then move later?

Yes, if you move back to the UK or a country that has increases your future pension payments will go up to the current level and get future increases. It is reset, as it were, or unfrozen.

[Bubblegun]

I'm like you; we're in the best of both worlds. Will get a full UK state pension, plus probably 30/40 of a full Japanese pension. The way the Japanese economy is going down the toilet, and that fact that the Triple Lock exists in the UK, means we'll probably be able to live in Japan comfortably on just the British pension.

I would like to think we can get a benefit. Although with the current Bank of Japan manipulating its currency. We might see peaks and troughs.I remember when a pound was about 225 yen then went all the way down to 125 yen ish post Lehman.
What do you think you'll do with your JP pension? Take it early? or wait until 65? I can't imagine what state some expats are going to be in when they hit 65. It's a math thing, money in V life expectancy+ quality of life?.

I'll try to hold off taking my Japanese pension as long as possible....
My company will kick me out the door at 62. I do have the option to continue working for them until 65, but probably on half the salary for the same workload; this is the Japanese way of thanking their employees for working for them for thirty years.
I think I can draw my UK pension from 67?
I am saving now using iDeCo and NISA so that I have funds to cover me from 62 to 67.
Luckily for me, I don't have a family to provide for, so this reduces stress levels quite a bit.
I know many foreigners here who avoided paying into the Japanese pension system and who also do not bother paying into their own countries' pension systems; gross irresponsibility, simple as that.

Gotta love japanese age discrimination.I understand holding off.But i wonder why they kick you out at 62? Is it a cost cutting thing? You can claim your pension, cut your work down, still earn, but somehow be cost/tax neutral? I have no idea. I can see it as a way to reduce company costs, and bring in a new young college grad.
Yes,I have to agree it is gross irresponsibility if they stick their head in the sand, but I also think some don't know they can pay their N.I back home. especially when the system here is so complicated and convoluted. Back in the day the internet wasn't that great, and I'm not even sure HMRS even had a website. The ones that do know, and can't be bothered, it does lean towards to irresponsible, but i also understand if they are having problems here with poor job security, poor contracts, and maybe just earning enough, it might not be a priority.

[Bubblegun]

So the triple lock is safe and secure, and there's no political risk to it or anything like that?

It'll be a Labour government that will scrap it.
I can't imagine the Tories sabotaging such a huge part of their voter base.
A Labour government basically doesn't give a toss about pensioners.

Possibly! I don't think they'll scrap it completely though. They might fiddle with it, as it will become completely unaffordable as the pensioner numbers increase.
I think the labour gov do think about pensioners, but "WE" don need to think about the RICH/Wealthy pensioners? Some do not need a winter fuel payment, and they save it just to pay for their flight abroad while others need it, especially up north in the colder areas. I think about 850,000 pensioner who never get their PENSION CREDIT, that they should get! The tories promised to plug that, but didn't. and that's worth a whopping 2,600 pounds per year. So the Tories want to bang on about £300 a year, but nearly 1 million aren't getting the pension credit. I would like to see the chancellor plug that hole, so that pensioners DON'T HAVE TO APPLY, And on top of that, there are 1.4 million who are so poor they need to get pension credit. and it was Gordon Brown who brought in Pnesion credit in 2003 when he was chancellor. Thats a lot of cash!
You're spot on about the tories NOT wanting to cut the triple lock from pensioners. Especially the richer ones, who as a voting block tend to lean more conservative. To be honest I don't think the tories really bothered about anyone during austerity. As far as they were concerned, Food Banks, child benefit cuts, and the Universal Credit were the way to go, and thats before the services.

[JimNasium]

For me it’s too early to say. I’ll really need to see what the economy in Japan is like, how my iDeCo and NISA are doing, what my family situation is, my health, etc. Once I’m around 60 I’ll take a good hard look at things. I voted for 65 because that’s currently what I’m thinking, but I doubt I’ll have the same thoughts in 20 years that I do now.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

For those of us foreign men with Japanese wives, the data on longevity would seem to suggest the husband taking the pension at 65, and the wives delaying would make the most sense. {This is dependant on age gaps}

When do you plan on dying?

[Bubblegun]

When do you plan on dying?

And also how healthy we are. Is it better to take a smaller amount of pension while we are healthy, and could work a bit less? Or retire later, but being unhealthier? If only we had a crystal ball.

as i understand-the uk pension will start increasing again if you move to uk or a country where it will increase-even if you start taking it when in japan and then move later?

Yes, if you move back to the UK or a country that has increases your future pension payments will go up to the current level and get future increases. It is reset, as it were, or unfrozen.

I maybe wrong, but if we leave the UK,and return to Japan, it will revert back to level we originally had, when it was initially frozen?

I thought maybe we could go back a for a few months, unfreeze the old pension to the new uprated pension, then return.All the while retaining the new higher level. But I think HMRC have cottoned onto that.But my understanding is, it only returns to the higher amount aslong as we stay in the UK.

[RetireJapan]

it will revert back to level we originally had, when it was initially frozen

I've never heard that. Do you have a source?

[Bubblegun]

it will revert back to level we originally had, when it was initially frozen

I've never heard that. Do you have a source?

Yes, I read it here. So from my interpretationi it will be unfrozen while you are in the UK, or treated countries, but if you repatriate back to a NON treaty country I.E Japan it was frozen. On your return it will revert back to the original amount.

On a short stay, IT WILL ONLY BE HIKED FOR THE DURATTION OF A TRIP, but the gulf between the frozen and the standard amounts can be so huge that it is worth it even then.

Very elderly people might not often travel to the UK, or the other 'unfrozen' countries where you can also get your payments increased temporarily

I keep digging around, and I think there is an article in the telegraph, that says something similar,but it is behind a payment wall

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pen ... 20the%20UK.