Dependent Spouse System

[Beaglehound]

When I came to Japan a couple of years back my Japanese spouse landed a job quickly while I, as a freelance English teacher in the sticks, have taken longer to get going. So I went on her shakai hoken initially.

Now I have started earning more that the 1.3m yen annual limit for shakai hoken so I will have to come off. However, by my calculations I could stay earning below 108k a month and not pay a penny for pension or health insurance while as soon as I go to 109k, these premiums suddenly whack you for around 30k a month. In fact, it’s not until you start earning over 145k that you are better off.

Now this is irritating for the likes of me, who will spend a while worse off than I would have been as a dependent, but I will hopefully eventually end up earning a reasonable amount, so it should be relatively short term. But having such a cliff edge in place seems a massive disincentive to get folk to work more, especially women.

Can anyone explain the logic here?

[captainspoke]

...
...But having such a cliff edge in place seems a massive disincentive to get folk to work more, especially women.

Can anyone explain the logic here?

I think you nailed it.

[RetireJapan]

Yeah, I loathe this system, which subsidises middle-class households in a way that poorer ones don't get, disincentivises women from working, and gives housewives a free pension that the working poor have to pay for.

Apparently the housewife lobby is a powerful influence on the LDP, go figure.

[Beaglehound]

...
...But having such a cliff edge in place seems a massive disincentive to get folk to work more, especially women.

Can anyone explain the logic here?

I think you nailed it.

[Beaglehound]

Yeah, I loathe this system, which subsidises middle-class households in a way that poorer ones don't get, disincentivises women from working, and gives housewives a free pension that the working poor have to pay for.

Apparently the housewife lobby is a powerful influence on the LDP, go figure.

That’s very well put, you should take up writing for a living

[beanhead]

Related question (not sure if it warrants a new thread).
What are the best savings / investment strategies for non-working spouses?

My understanding is:
1) NISA is a good idea, whether working or not.
2) iDeCo, maybe not so much. No tax reduction benefit and also somewhat inflexible with products which can be purchased and the timeframe as well.

How about the Japanese pension? Is there any benefit for my wife to pay any extra? Can she pay in to kokumin nenkin if she is attached to mine? (kousei nenkin).
She worked for a number of years before we married, and has been a dependent since the first child came along.