RetireJapan

Corona is kind of ending soon in Japan with the changing of mask guidance and the downgrading of covid. Regardless of your thoughts about that, I was wondering how everyone was feeling financially? I guess compared to 2019 before the pandemic started.

For me, I have chosen “a little worse off” because, despite having saved money in iDeCo and T-NISA since the start of the pandemic, work has decreased so income has dropped. I feel I need to be much more careful with money than before corona.

So how are you feeling financially? It’s not scientific of course. Just how you feel.

For me work is the same as before, but I’m personally doing better because I don’t think I would have started investing if Corona hadn’t hit. It gave me some time to think about my future and see how sad my projected pension income was going to be.

My wife's school saw new student numbers fall slightly, but we were forced to really improve our system and classes due to school closures and teaching online in 2020. I would say net positive as we're in a much better situation to grow the business going forward.

RetireJapan is doing a lot better now. Zoom culture allowed me to do online coaching and run online courses, which is where the majority of our income now comes from. Strong positive.

Our investments are at a similar level, they look better in yen terms due to the weak yen but are still down. Neutral.

My health is not good though, I've had breathing issues, fatigue, and joint problems since 2020. It does take a toll on life. Like the saying says: a healthy man wants many things, but a sick one wants only one.

2 Kids in the last 3 years and the wives on childcare leave.

However we started 2x JNISAs 2X TNisas and 2X iDeco and our savings have doubled.

Expenses are low, and food is the the only thing we overspend on.

I don't make crazy money so I was hesitant to put "very well" but the pandemic did make me stop and re-evaluate how I've been spending money which led me to this site which led me down the path of investing. I only wish I started sooner but I'm happy that I've started to save up for the future and am building a good nest egg.
One bad thing though is I have to stare at the dumb bets I made with random stocks that have lost >50% value that I don't want to sell. I guess that's a reminder to me that I'm not as smart as I think I am and to just keep everything simple going forward.

zeroshiki wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:20 pm One bad thing though is I have to stare at the dumb bets I made with random stocks that have lost >50% value that I don't want to sell. I guess that's a reminder to me that I'm not as smart as I think I am and to just keep everything simple going forward.

I have a few of those too Fortunately I only speculate with small sums.'
Since the NISA allowances are so much greater from next year, my plan is to sell the buggers off, even at a loss, to help me try and max out this new NISA.

TokyoBoglehead wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:13 pm 2 Kids in the last 3 years and the wives on childcare leave.
...

Either that's an english usage mistake, or it's not...!

Working in consumer facing tech/entertainment, corona was probably good for the company. I also bought a house and car, but they're both well within means and thus easily manageable recurring expenses so I'd say overall things are good.

Only real concern now is whether they end remote work or not. I have no attachment to the loud office environment or limited space on desks, so I really hope they don't or I may well be looking for a new place

I'm not sure how to vote. I had retired before the pandemic (no side work), so no financial hit, nor bonus. My wife was still working, and unfortunately she was one of the few computer/zoom literate folks at her school, and was quickly burdened with 'helping' lots of (recalcitrant) other faculty to get their butts in gear (and I know of someone else locally who had the same responsibility happen to them).

It wasn't the exclusive factor, since she wasn't very happy with the admin side of her job anyway (and who is..?!? ), but it was at least part of the reason that she decided to retire a couple years early--to get out of that grind.

At first I hesitated to post on this topic because of the misery Covid has caused so many people. Upon consideration, however, I thought it might be a good study in identifying opportunities.

It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while an obvious investment opportunity presents itself. We’re not talking market timing here but something that is a complete no-brainer.

Let’s take gold for example: If the price per ounce were to drop to $400 (a classic bottom) you would definitely see me taking a fresh sack of Krugerrands to my safe deposit box. The return would be as near to a sure-thing as you can get.

When the first news stories of Covid emerged a similar opportunity presented itself. I immediately took short term positions in certain pharmaceutical companies which, of course, paid off big time.

During the same time period my spouse was furloughed for about a year (with full pay) and subsequently laid off. This also was a great opportunity as they were able to spend a lot of time researching the employment landscape. By that time it had become a buyer’s market for job seekers and my spouse was able to negotiate a doubling of their prior salary.

So we did “very good.” There are times when you just need to strike while the iron is hot.