RetireJapan

Hi all, I’m self-employed, 45, British, and wanting to invest to supplement my pension. The advice I’ve already received has been along the lines of 1. Go with iDeCo, and 2. iDeCo plus NISA is a killer combination.

But since I’m already in the lowest tax bracket and can’t afford to max out iDeCo (at ¥68,000), how should I use, say, ¥50,000 a month? All in iDeCo or split with Tsumitate NISA?

Thanks.

When choosing between iDECO and NISA, you need to ask yourself the question of whether the benefits of iDECO (double tax free) outweigh the fact that you can't pull the money out until you turn 60. If you have a good solid liquid savings account (people recommend 6 mos to a year of expenses) then you should put everything into iDECO.

The only reason to go to NISA is if you have extra leftover after iDECO OR you foresee a situation where you will need to pull out the money between now and in 15 years before you turn 60.

@zeroshiki, Thank you. That simplifies matters. I'll just go all in on iDeCo then. I have other funds available to cover emergencies.

There's a nice little simulator here where you can plug in your numbers to calculate the tax savings and see how much you're likely to end up with.

I tried signing up for iDeCo, but no luck. Even though my Rakuten Securities name matches my bank account name, the system insists on using its automatically abbreviated version (stripping off my trailing middle name) and therefore fails. I can't see any way around it.

nickr wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:05 am I tried signing up for iDeCo, but no luck. Even though my Rakuten Securities name matches my bank account name, the system insists on using its automatically abbreviated version (stripping off my trailing middle name) and therefore fails. I can't see any way around it.

Have you tried the paper application?

Also, you do not actually need to go through Rakuten or a securities company to get iDeco setup. You can go through JS&T or even most banks. (Though the bank's offerings aren`t the best. My wife has Tawara No Load funds, which are "decent", but not as good as Emaxis Slim or Rakuten Vanguard).

@Kanto, I've edited my name on Rakuten in a way that might work, but I have to wait for them to manually confirm the changes. I'll try the iDeCo application again after that.

If I still can't do it through Rakuten, I'll probably just give up. I'm bound to have the same problem regardless which provider I go through, and It'd be much easier for me to put the money in my Kokumin Nenkin Kikin thing instead.

nickr wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:38 am @Kanto, I've edited my name on Rakuten in a way that might work, but I have to wait for them to manually confirm the changes. I'll try the iDeCo application again after that.

If I still can't do it through Rakuten, I'll probably just give up. I'm bound to have the same problem regardless which provider I go through, and It'd be much easier for me to put the money in my Kokumin Nenkin Kikin thing instead.

Depending on how confident you are with your Japanese skills, you can actually call Rakuten up. They're very used to foreigners having problems with the name (or so they tell me) and they'll bend over backwards to try to help you with it (it took me 4 calls to Rakuten Securities and Rakuten Card to finally fix my name so it can be done). Give it a shot, you have nothing to lose.

@zeroshiki, I actually spoke to them on the phone last week when my name prevented me putting in a test deposit, and they helped me fix the problem. Which is why I'm surprised I'm having trouble again. Anyway, I'll give it another go on Monday. Cheers.

nickr wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 2:07 pm @zeroshiki, I actually spoke to them on the phone last week when my name prevented me putting in a test deposit, and they helped me fix the problem. Which is why I'm surprised I'm having trouble again. Anyway, I'll give it another go on Monday. Cheers.

It is worth persevering. Mine came back with issues a couple of times, and with phone calls and extra paper work got it sorted. Also with Rakuten.