Passive Investing -> Beyond NISA and iDeCo

[Kanto]

You've also got peer to peer lending (social lending in Japanese), REITs (index funds for real estate), investing directly in real estate (the tax write-offs can be helpful, especially for higher earners).

How 'risky' ETFs and mutual funds are is going to depend entirely on what is in them, and how they are run.

Contast a Japese government bond ETF with some triple leveraged Russian stock ETF, for an extreme example. I used to own a triple leveraged Russian stock ETF, by the way. It didn't end well

This is definitely true, but my point was that passive investing methods that have a somewhat decent return in western countries are terrible here.

Many Japanese government bonds have negative interest rates, and bank accounts have .1% or so.

If you want your funds to be accessible, and you want to protect against inflation, there seems to be ZERO options here.

Am I correct on that? I do not want to be correct....

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

• NISA and iDeCo are regulated types of investment accounts in which you make investments.
• Term deposits are a type of cash savings where you lock your money away for a fix interest rate.
• Government bonds are basically the same thing, except you lend your money to the government. Buying bonds directly is not very practical, so most people invest via a 3rd party fund.
• Mutual funds are a group of people that pool their money to buy a larger variety of investments than they could buy individually. It can be managed by someone that picks the investments, or pegged to an index.
• Index funds are a type of mutual fund that tries to follow the value of a specific market index.
• ETFs are a type of mutual fund that is traded as a stock on the stock market, instead of you making a contract with the fund directly. ETFs can be index funds, or any other type of fund. The only difference is that you buy it on the stock exchange, rather than directly from the provider.

Thank you. Very helpful.

[adamu]

If you want your funds to be accessible, and you want to protect against inflation, there seems to be ZERO options here.

For cash, I think you're right. Inflation is the price for holding cash.