Investing for a undetermined period

[jez321]

Does anyone have any tips on investing for an undetermined period? I may stay in Japan for good, but I also may leave and go back (to Australia). If I invest for the long term, then have to sell when prices are down due to leaving thatd be bad, but if I dont invest and end up staying for the long haul Ive lost out too.

To give a rough idea Im 35 now, Id say theres a 50% chance ill be gone after about 5 years, maybe a 60% chance to be gone in 10 years.
After setting aside an emergency fund plus a bit extra just in case Im happy to take on a decent amount risk to raise the 'expected' value of my savings.
Would it be a terrible idea to buy up a global stock fund and throw it in a NISA?

[RetireJapan]

It's a great question. NISA seems fairly reasonable, as it gives you tax savings and instant access to your money.

If you are particularly worried about this you could open an account with Interactive Brokers, and then keep the account when you moved.

Anyone else?

[jez321]

Thanks for the info, interesting I will have to check out Interactive brokers and see how that would work re taxes etc. You just gave me another idea which would be to transfer any excess funds back home and invest them there, bringing them back if needed or on retirement if I am here till then.

[RetireJapan]

The main drawback from investing with IB or in another country is that you will have to do your own taxes.

You can minimise this by choosing accumulation funds (as opposed to distribution funds) as they don't pay dividends. As long as you don't sell, you won't have anything to declare or pay.

[jcc]

Even if you move, you'd still be investing back home right?

The only real issue is that you would have to pay out capital gains as you withdraw from japan and then reinvest back home. Selling when prices are down and rebuying the same stuff at home would mean the only loss would be trading and exchange costs. One caveat is if you did happen to have a loss upon exit you couldn't set that against future gains either I suppose.

[jez321]

Hm thats a good point, hadnt thought of it that way, if I invest it again anyway its not as if its locked in as a loss. Since Ill probably have all or most of it in NISA if I understand correctly setting losses against future gains isnt something Id be able to do anyway.
I think Ill just invest here then after all since it looks like the easiest, feeling alot better about now thanks to the both of you!

[adamu]

Even if you move, you'd still be investing back home right?

The only real issue is that you would have to pay out capital gains as you withdraw from japan and then reinvest back home.

I'm in a similar situation, and have wondered about this too. It's the reason I didn't set up an iDeCo, although after a cataclysmic tax bill because of crypto currency this year I'm regretting that a little now.

I wonder how long it practically takes to move Japanese-domiciled investments abroad. I could see getting everything liquidated, transferred, accounts closed, opened and reinvested could take around a month or two. That's quite a lot of out-of-the-market risk - I suppose opening the non-Japanese accounts in advance is one way to try to reduce it.