RetireJapan

How about working out a schedule for how much he will have access to per year, and put the rest in time-deposit accounts? For example, if he decides 500,000 a year is reasonable (giving him 14 years of spending) he could leave 500,000 in his account and put the rest in a 1-year deposit account. Then repeat each year going forward...

^^^ Thanks RJ--I think that is probably the best solution. Certainly the least risky!
I wonder if there are such time deposit accounts in Japan. I'll look into it.

Thanks again all who chipped in!

Very common. Look for 定期預金.

Here is the JP Bank version: https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/kojin/ ... teiki.html

Cheers RJ!

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Tue May 22, 2018 7:29 am How about working out a schedule for how much he will have access to per year, and put the rest in time-deposit accounts? For example, if he decides 500,000 a year is reasonable (giving him 14 years of spending) he could leave 500,000 in his account and put the rest in a 1-year deposit account. Then repeat each year going forward...

If he wants to really lock it in, somewhat annuity-style, he could do the first 500k in his account as you say, but then instead of the rest in a single-year teiki that needs to be renewed, he could put 500k in a 1-year, another 500k in a 2-year, and so on until it's all allocated, and set them to not roll over. That way he gets 500k in his account automatically every year with no further action.

^^^ another good suggestion--thanks Bitey!