RetireJapan

Hi, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. Yoroshiku!
I started investing way too late, and with little knowledge, picked WealthNavi a couple of years ago.
I have a few million invested in it, and so does the wife, after being prodded by me. Both of us are using the service's Omakase NISA, and I've maxed for 2022 and 2023.
Thanks to the cheapening yen, things look rosy when calculated in yen, over 10% gains, but in reality, this is all FX earnings, and we're minus on the dollar side of things, which is rather discouraging. Given WealthNavi's hefty management fee of 1% py, and reading various posts on this forum, I'm seriously pondering whether it might be wise to get out of WealthNavi and put my money in an index fund like eMaxis SLIM All Countries. My reseach suggests that if I want to get out before New NISA starts in 2024, I have to do so by the end of this month.
The dearth of posts in this Roboadvisor section of this forum in recent years suggests that few people here even consider them these days, which only increases my doubts about the wisdom of sticking with WealthNavi. I guess the purpose of this post is therefore to get advice or reassurance from people on this forum, most of whom appear to be far more experienced and knowledgable than I am. If you were me, would you ditch WealthNavi for index funds? Thanks in advance for any pearls of wisdom.

My take on roboadvisors in Japan is that the fees are too high and you could probably get similar results with a passive low-cost mutual fund (0.1% fee vs 1%+). Over time, this will make a big difference to your results.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 3:15 am My take on roboadvisors in Japan is that the fees are too high and you could probably get similar results with a passive low-cost mutual fund (0.1% fee vs 1%+). Over time, this will make a big difference to your results.

This advice is spot on. I do think Wealthnavi is a reasonable product and if they offered it at 0.1% I’d recommend it. But the fee is simply too high for anyone who wants to maximize their investment and is prepared to put in a bit of effort to do so. In other developed markets like the UK and US a these sort of robo-advisors charge 0-20 bips not 70-100.

Thanks very much for your collective responses, confirming my suspicions that I could do a lot better than WealthNavi if I were to devote a little more effort to the task. I must say that together with Ben's videos and blog, this forum is a great way of learning. I'm steadily reading my way through all of the topics. Reminded me of when, 24 years ago, my main source of income dried up, and I switched to Japanese to English translation as the only realistic option at the time. It turned out to be a very good move, thanks largely to all the knowledge I gained and help I received on 2 very active J<>E translation mailing lists. I shall continue to be a faithful reader of the forum (though probably infrequent contributor, at least until I have something to contribute).

marihana wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 8:33 am Thanks very much for your collective responses, confirming my suspicions that I could do a lot better than WealthNavi if I were to devote a little more effort to the task.

WealthNavi is certainly better than nothing, but you can do a lot better with a small amount of effort

While it's not ideal, rather than panicking to sell out, it might be better to focus on getting a NISA set up with SBI/Rakuten/Monex for next year for new money. Doing things in haste is never a good idea, so you can get the NISA set up and start investing in it in 2014 with new money.

As for your current funds, selling out of the Wealthnavi NISA will forefit any remaining tax free allowance (although you'll get the current gains tax free). It might work out better to sell out if you switch to a lower fee fund even in a taxable account, but it's not guaranteed, so I'd be tempted to just cut your losses (or rather, lower gains) and let it sit to maturity for the sake of simplicity. Once the tax free period expires, sell.

adamu wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:33 pm Doing things in haste is never a good idea, so you can get the NISA set up and start investing in it in 2014 with new money.

I wanna get in on this. Where can I invest new money in 2014?

Sorry. Beer jokky, aka wine, 辛丹波1合 influenced.

adamu wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:33 pm it might be better to focus on getting a NISA set up with SBI/Rakuten/Monex for next year for new money.
......As for your current funds, selling out of the Wealthnavi NISA will forefit any remaining tax free allowance (although you'll get the current gains tax free)

Thanks for this. For some reason, I thought I had sell out all my WealthNavi NISA to set up a NISA elsewhere. (I already have a Rakuten tokutei account.) Now I realize I can keep that money there, and I can see the sense in doing so, so much appreciated.

marihana wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 8:17 am I thought I had sell out all my WealthNavi NISA to set up a NISA elsewhere

I don't think so, but you do have to do some paperwork. I've never done it, but my understanding is that from October you have to submit a request to change provider for next year (金融商品取引業者等変更届出書), then submit the certificate that generates (勘定廃止通知書) to your new provider (Rakuten?). However, since next year the New NISA is starting, probably nobody quite knows what's going on. Good luck.