RetireJapan

adamu wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 2:46 pm This is probably going to be unpopular, but focussing on your career/increasing your income and improving your Japanese ability are probably going to have bigger short/medium term improvements on your quality of life over saving, which will in turn increase the amount you can put towards retirement. Of course you should do the saving too.

Agree with the others that gold is probably a distraction (I also did that when I was starting out btw, thankfully I sold it after learning more about investing and before the price plummeted, but that was pure luck).

When you are in your mid 30s with no university degree and a young child a career change might be hard to finance. However, we have no specifics to go off of here. A native speaker English can with no degree can make a decent income in parts of Japan where demand is high, and supply low.

I would say something we overlooked is your wife, she needs to be onboard. You need to be a team. You need to map out your shared goals. and make a 1,5,10+ year plan. You will need a shared budget as well.

Is she Japanese? If so you may want to look into some specific Japanese language resources.

Just wanted to mention that shinsei bank has a fully English interface and English customer service. I used them when I came to Japan first. Nowadays I use Rakuten Bank with a google translate browser plugin that translates the whole page, which works reasonably well.

I didn’t expect so many replies! Thank you everyone. My response might be a little late though, since I’m very busy with work and at home, but I plan to comment on everything that’s been said. So without further ado…

About focusing on my career:
While this is generally good advice, especially to someone younger, it would be much more difficult for someone in my position. I don’t say this in order to complain or make excuses but in my case the odds are kind of stacked against me in more than one way.

First and foremost, Like I said, I don’t have a university degree or anything similar. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is a HUGE disadvantage in Japan. And while it might not be too late to get a degree in theory, in reality, it probably is. I’m also passed 35, which is considered “old” by Japanese standards - at least when it comes to the job market. And the fact that I’m neither Japanese or a native English speaker is icing on the cake. Not to mention that my resume so far isn’t exactly impressive, as I’ve had a rough start in life and there’s a lot of gaps in there.

All that being said, I can see two things which I could do that would still be worth it. That is improving my Japanese (which includes passing at least N2) and getting a Japanese drivers license. But both of those are mid- to long-term improvements that might help me find a slightly better job.

My current job is more or less a so called “dead-end job”. Getting additional qualifications wouldn’t necessarily help as I’m already a supervisor, which is the highest position within this company at this specific location. To get a better job in the same company/field I’d most likely have to sidestep, and that would require a completely different set of skills, including (most likely) a university degree. Which means I’d probably be better off finding an entirely new job at a new company… since I don’t like me boss anyway.

I guess getting into possible career alternatives for someone like me could have is an interesting discussion in itself but it might be better suited for a different thread?

Regarding banking and credit cards:
The Rakuten card I have is connected to my wife’s account. I’m not really a customer myself, just registered as a family member who has their own card. Not sure if that disqualifies me from getting my own Rakuten account or not (it says you can only have one), if so then I’d not be able to open a NISA or iDeCo connected to them (although, my wife could).

Shinsei Bank seems to be the most English friendly alternative. Heck, it even says they’re going to update their English website on March 24th? Interesting! This bank intrigues me though which makes me wonder, is there any direct drawback to them? Any high fees or other problems that anyone has encountered? Also, would they be a good option for opening an iDeCo or NISA account with (although, I assume even if I could those accounts would still be in Japanese of course)?

Regarding iDeCo and NISA:
I’ve thought about it and reconsidered my earlier position after reading though this thread and some other forum posts. I was aware of the difference before and the reason I looked at iDeCo as my first option was to save that little extra on income tax which is something I wouldn’t be able to do with NISA. But, I’m not sure how much that would really be, even if I maxed out the monthly average deposits at ~22.000yen? Probably not THAT much, right? So it might actually be more profitable, or at least more flexible, to go with a regular NISA account and have the option to access and/or re-invest my money into something else if I needed to within the next 1-5 years.

Although I’m under the impression that I’d have to setup that regular NISA this year before it’s discontinued?

So to clarify, right now I’m leaning towards setting up a regular NISA first, then double down with iDeCo in the future and probably open a tsumitate NISA once the 5 year NISA expires (by then I’d be 41 years old and might have different ideas though). I’ll look into the “eMAXIS Slim All World” fond as well. With NISA and iDeCo I’d prefer to just “set-it-and-forget-it” for now, as I don’t really have a lot of time to micromanage anything.

As for gold:
I’m well aware gold is not something to consider an investment. I see it more as a hedge/safety net and as a part of my savings account, not my investing account. So yes, if I were to buy gold it would not be right now, as I have no real need for it until my savings account have grown much larger. In the long run though, I might consider buying (physical) gold (coins) as part of my emergency savings.
The plan would be to have enough cash to solve any urgent financial situation anyway, but in case of something bigger I’d be able to trade in the gold coins and free up extra capital without selling any assets on my NISA. It would also be less painful to have some of that emergency money in gold rather than just cash, as anything in the bank just gets slowly eaten up by inflation (even if Japan’s inflation is incredibly low!).

Oh, and if I ever DID buy any gold I’d buy it back in Europe where there’s 0% consumption tax and you can get it for spot price + premium. Whenever a family member or trusted friend comes and visit they can bring a 1/2 OZ coin with them since they’d not need to declare any “gifts” valued below 200.000yen… unless I’m mistaken? When I later sold said coins in Japan at some point, I might not get the premium back but I’d probably get spot price + the 10% tax so it would be a far better way to accumulate that gold… if I ever wanted to. As far as I’m aware, this would all be legal too.

Well, that’s still not something that requires a lot of thought right now. I mainly wanted to get some general information on how gold would be traded in Japan.

Regarding Crypto:
I forgot to mention that I actually own a bit (not that much) crypto. I bought it on the exchange called CoinCheck some time ago and I admit part of it was due to FOMO, but I have seen a small profit so it’s not that bad. However, I got in without really knowing anything about Japanese crypto taxes or how to cash out, which brings me to my next questions.

First of all, how do I calculate my crypto profits? It would be easy if I had put in one big lump sum and then sold everything in one go but that’s not how I did it. I’ve made several smaller deposits where I’ve bought the same coin at different prices, including selling another coin at a loss and re-investing that capital into the first coin. It’s a bit messy.

Secondly, how crypto friendly are banks in Japan? I know for a fact that some banks in Europe block transfers to and from crypto exchanges and that it can be a real hassle to get your money out. It wasn’t always like that but nowadays it is. How is the situation in Japan? Any bank(s) that anyone knows of that is crypto friendly?

Regarding other things:
1) Rikai Chan/kun browser plugins and WaniKani seems worth checking out as well. I’ll make sure to look into it, thanks for the recommendations!
2) I do not have a life insurance but my wife do. Reason I don’t have it is because I’m not allowed to buy one for another ~2 years since I had a stroke a few years ago. I do intend to get that as soon as I’m able to though.
3) My wife is Japanese, but about her being onboard, well, not as much as I’d like her to be. She is not interested in economy and think stocks and investing is risky (well it is, just not as risky as she think). Her way of thinking is mostly due to her parents upbringing I’m sure. I guess it almost sounds mean when I write it like this, but they are simple people with simple ideas of how you make money. Basically; —> go to school —> get a job —> work and put saving in a bank account —> get your pension.
To be fair, that’s what most Japanese people I know seems to do, and it’s probably the reason why so many already are, or will be, forced to work past retirement. I guess this way of thinking comes from experiencing the bubble era first hand. Apparently back then you could do OK just stacking yen in the bank and a lot of people who invested lost a lot of money so there’s some trauma there.

In any case, my wife’s not impossible. She isn’t stopping me from doing it, she just don’t want to help or invest time or (her own) money into it at this point. If I can prove her assumptions wrong, she’ll probably change her mind though. I know her well enough to bet on that.

Regular NISA has been renewed to "New NISA" so it will be available until at least 2028. I think in your case Tsumitate NISA would be better unless you're planning on buying stocks/ETFs instead of funds. The only advantage of regular NISA is the max limit of 1.2M but based on what you've said maybe that's not for you right now. T-NISA would be a better long term bet (assumed investment of 33,333 a month). You can switch NISA accounts every year so if you reach a point where you can/want to invest more, you're able to easily do so.

zeroshiki wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 11:25 am Regular NISA has been renewed to "New NISA" so it will be available until at least 2028. I think in your case Tsumitate NISA would be better unless you're planning on buying stocks/ETFs instead of funds. The only advantage of regular NISA is the max limit of 1.2M but based on what you've said maybe that's not for you right now. T-NISA would be a better long term bet (assumed investment of 33,333 a month). You can switch NISA accounts every year so if you reach a point where you can/want to invest more, you're able to easily do so.

+1 Tsumitate NISA will suit your needs, as it seems you will not be able to fully utilize the regular NISA.

IDeco + Tsumiate NISA through Rakuten/SBI/Monex.

Emaxis Slim All Country is the best be (Or Rakuten/SBI Global Equities).

Crypto

A. The responsibility is on you to track buy/sell prices. You must pay capital gains on any profit.
B. I recommend using a Japanese exchange. I like Kraken.

Credit Card

I would try to get your own card. Through Rakuten or Amazon (easiest usually).

Gold

You reasoning seems a bit confusing. Gold is a commodity, the price fluctuates widely. You do not want to keep your emergency fund in gold.

Gold will be MUCH more of a hassle to deal with in an emergency situation. Cash in the bank and some cash in hand (10万 or so for a natural disaster is essential). Gold will be rather useless in these scenarios...

Coins -> Why pay a premium to handle coins? Why not bars?

Wife:

Ben recommends a Japanese financial journalist and analyst who writes quite well on these subjects (竹川美奈子.). I suggest asking your wife to read over her comments on iDeco and NISA. This will be a much more helpful middleground.

Haystack wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 11:57 am Ben recommends a Japanese financial planner and analyst who writes quite well on these subjects (Admin insert name here please). I suggest asking your wife to read over her comments on iDeco and NISA. This will be a much more helpful middleground.

I think she's a financial journalist, but I found her books very clear and solid: 竹川美奈子.

Both her iDeCo book: https://amzn.to/3qioS9o
and NISA book: https://amzn.to/36960m4
are good

LeoMyra wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 7:16 am First and foremost, Like I said, I don’t have a university degree or anything similar. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is a HUGE disadvantage in Japan. And while it might not be too late to get a degree in theory, in reality, it probably is. I’m also passed 35, which is considered “old” by Japanese standards - at least when it comes to the job market. And the fact that I’m neither Japanese or a native English speaker is icing on the cake. Not to mention that my resume so far isn’t exactly impressive, as I’ve had a rough start in life and there’s a lot of gaps in there.

Please don't sell yourself short!

At 35 you are literally in the prime of your life and it doesn't matter if SOME Japanese think you're too old for the job market. I have plenty of US military buddies who were stationed in Japan, got married to a Japanese woman, stayed in Japan after their military service and worked low-paying jobs but later decided to go to Temple University or Lakeland University in their mid-30s. No problem. You just need to have a strategy and set goals for yourself.

For example, did you know that US universities will accept previous college credits including CLEP credits? If you take enough CLEP tests to cover the core subjects like Biology, English Composition, US History I, US History II, etc, then you can literally eliminate several semesters of relatively pointless courses from your program. In that sense, a BA in two years is certainly possible but it will require a lot of work. Just remember to take the CLEP tests before matriculation as most universities won't allow you to CLEP out of subjects once you've matriculated.

My military buddies who got their degrees all went on to high paying careers in finance, recruitment, and technology sectors. Mostly working at foreign companies in Tokyo which pay better than Japanese companies and don't require Japanese language skills. You say your English is not native but if your spoken English is as impeccable as your written English then you probably speak better English than 95% of native speakers. Seriously.

Haystack wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 11:57 am
Crypto
A. The responsibility is on you to track buy/sell prices. You must pay capital gains on any profit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/c ... tax_guide/

See the section on “declaring taxable gains”.

I think you need to pay income tax. Not capital gains.
And depending on income level this could be advantageous.

LeoMyra wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 7:16 am Shinsei Bank seems to be the most English friendly alternative. Heck, it even says they’re going to update their English website on March 24th? Interesting! This bank intrigues me though which makes me wonder, is there any direct drawback to them? Any high fees or other problems that anyone has encountered? Also, would they be a good option for opening an iDeCo or NISA account with (although, I assume even if I could those accounts would still be in Japanese of course)?

I think their fees are average, neither particularly cheap nor expensive. They have a step-up program, so ATM fees / bank transfer fees decrease if you have more money in your account. But I literally only used them to get cash from the ATM and make 1-2 bank transfers per month. So I cannot comment on anything else. They do not offer a debit card, only a prepaid card, which was one of the reasons I eventually opened a second account with another bank.

I think they offer iDeCo, but not sure about NISA. And those will most probably be in Japanese (iDeCo only appears on their Japanese website, not on the English one).

Interesting answers. There's quite a bit of stuff that I'd have to look into now.

As for Crypto, I'm still not really sure how to calculate what gains you've made. Let me give a made-up example of what confuses me:

Let's say I've bought and hold 300 "coins", and that I first bought 100 coins for 100 yen each, then I bought 150 more for 90yen/coin and finally an additional 50 for 130yen/coin. In total I'd have 300 coins but when I later decide to sell... let's say 50% (150 coins), I'm not sure how to calculate the value of said coins because it's not like you sell specific coins with a specific purchase price attached to them? I assume the same problem would arise if you dollar-cost averaged your purchase of stocks or just about anything else were you'd be expected to pay taxes.

As for gold. well, I'm not an expert but I know that government backed bullion coins are easier to sell than gold bars. In part because not everyone can or want to buy a whole gold bar (expensive!), and in part because most fake gold that's floating around is bars. It's way more difficult to fake a coin than to make a tungsten bar, apparently.
Not that I'm rushing out to buy gold. I'm just looking into the market as a whole, trying to learn a bit about everything and hopefully I'll be able to narrow down what's actually worth doing.

Also, I did tell my wife about Minako Takekawa's books. I even offered to buy her one if she wanted to read it but she said she wasn't interested. Like I suspected, I'll have to start off on my own and hope that she follows once I've cleared a path. At least we have separate accounts. I feel for my Japanese co-workers who tell me their wife handles all the money and they have to beg for some pocket money when they want to buy something. That is ridiculous!

@Teflon
Thanks for that information, and the compliments. Although, I doubt I'd have the time to get a degree right now anyway between work and family. As for my language skills, I'm actually trilingual (Swedish, English and Japanese). Unfortunately for me, Swedish is pretty much useless though.
I also hold a ~10 year old TOEIC score that has served me well and helped me land two jobs up until now, although going forward it might not be as useful since some companies seems to only accept recent scores within the last 5 years. Meaning that if I'd want to find another job, I might have to retake it. If I do, I might as well try to do so when I have a chance at acquiring the N2 certificate since they hold a lot more weight together.