How are people choosing between Rakuten/SBI/Monex?

[Ravlen]

My wife and I will be starting up our first NISA/Ideco accounts soon, and are having trouble picking an institution to start with. I've read through a lot of posts, and these 3 are the companies most people go with, but it's hard to find any information on pro/cons for each company.

Is there a page/thread that discusses how to pick a company, or do people just feel like they are all essentially the same? The biggest difference I could find was that Monex has emaxis All Country for Ideco... after that, I couldn't see any clear differences.

Personal information is probably not needed for this question, but I'll share anyways:

- Canadian, 41, Japanese not good enough for most banking, so my wife (Japanese, 38) will handle most things. This means we do hope to "set it and forget it" for the most part, but I'd like to check in from time to time online.
- In Japan for life, with permanent residency, house, car, 2 kids.
- Live in Kagoshima and using Kagoshima Bank, which is terrible and I want nothing to do with them, but my mortgage and such is all with them because my previous company (and my wife's current company), would only use them.

[RetireJapan]

They are all pretty similar, especially for NISA. Basically if you are in the Rakuten ecosystem, you can get points if you invest with them. SBI seem to have slightly worse service(?). I have Rakuten and Monex, they are both fine.

[mighty58]

They all offer the same functionality, so it comes down to your personal preference on the user interface. Unless you're native Japanese, being able to cut through to what's important and what's not in a sea of kanji is important.

I started out with SBI but always found it unintuitive and difficult to navigate. I've switched to Monex now find them much easier to use. Never gave Rakuten a chance because I find their e-commerce user interface to be horrible, so can't comment on them per se.

[mule96]

I currently have SBI, my Wife "has" Monex (I manage it) and I started Junior Nisa for our Baby at Rakuten. My impressions:

- In total SBI is probably the most matured Online Broker, but for Ideco/Nisa that is not important.
- I also think that Monex has the best interface and Rakuten is imo just plain horrible. But there are people who like it.
- The combination of SBI with SumShin SBI Netbank is quite nice. Not sure about Rakuten Bank and Rakuten Shoken.
- The application for Rakuten was a struggle.
- But for Rakuten the whole Point Ecosystem is probably their largest benefit.

[Kanto]

To be honest I chose Rakuten because they are most likely to accept foreigners with poor Japanese. That is is a bit embarrassing to admit, but it worked out fine.

Being able to purchase mutual funds with Rakuten Points is an awesome advantage.

HOWEVER, I cannot set up my Tsumitate NISA with my Rakuten Gold credit card due to a name mismatch. To fix this apparently requires lots of phones calls and I am avoiding attempting it for obvious reasons.

My wife has a family card through me. No issues setting it up with Tsumitate. Free points!

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My wife also uses Rakuten for her taxable.

We both think the interface is horrible BUT the products are great, and we buy only mutual funds so it really does not matter.

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Maybe apply for all 2/3?

Monex for the Emaxis All- Country in iDeCo.
Rakuten for the NISA and the point system and payment with Rakuten CC.
SBI for...?

[adamu]

The only thing I can think of where Rakuten is functionally worse than SBI is USD currency exchange fees. SBI wins there. But that only applies if you use the linked bank account to get the lower fees and if you want to buy US-listed stocks/ETFs. Last time I checked ,SBI's linked bank account was charging ~0.04 yen per dollar. The SBI and Rakuten securities accounts were about ~0.25 yen per dollar. Not sure about Monex.

[Kanto]

The only thing I can think of where Rakuten is functionally worse than SBI is USD currency exchange fees. SBI wins there. But that only applies if you use the linked bank account to get the lower fees and if you want to buy US-listed stocks/ETFs. Last time I checked ,SBI's linked bank account was charging ~0.04 yen per dollar. The SBI and Rakuten securities accounts were about ~0.25 yen per dollar. Not sure about Monex.

To backup what Adamu is saying, here is a write-up from Shinatro-Money.

https://shintaro-money.com/sbi-sec-usa-etf/

[eyeswideshut]

Rakuten - the design and interface are horrible and their system just loses the plot with foreign names requiring numerous customer support calls to set things up but the point ecosystem and being able to buy up to 50,000 per month via Rakuten Gold credit card just adds up significantly over time. I honestly have no idea how Rakuten makes money given how much they give away in points.

[Roger Van Zant]

I chose Monex because they offer the eMaxis Slim All Country via iDeCo.

I already have a つみたてNISA account with SBI, through which I also buy into the above eMaxis fund.

I also have a Rakuten account which is just there if I ever decide to use it; would be taxable though, as I have the above two accounts already.

[Ravlen]

Thanks a lot for all the replies! I guess I'm leaning towards Rakuten for the points, but SBI seems OK too. (My wife hasn't heard of Monex, so SBI/Rakuten seem to be the options for us).

Is there any advantage if you open a bank account with Rakuten/SBI along with the NISA/Ideco accounts? Easier application, for example, if you have a Rakuten/SBI bank account first? Cheaper fees or bonuses?