RetireJapan

Hello All

I'm pretty much a complete novice at investment.

I've got a 15 year retirement fund I pay into October each year in USD and so far I've paid 8 years of contributions.

I'm actually paid in JPY and so for the first 6 years it was a great deal. However with the fall in JPY vs USD, I'm wondering whether I should just cash out now rather than continue to the full 15 years.

Any opinions?

We'll probably need more details in order to comment. What is the product? What are the fees? Who did you buy it from? etc.

I would make the decision based on what the product is rather than the exchange rate. I feel your pain everytime I convert yen to dollars to invest in my US brokerage accounts but I remember in 2022 that I thought 130 yen/dollar was an incredibly bad, temporary disaster and we're now closer to 150 with some pundits arguing that worse exchange rates are ahead (and I have no idea where they are going).

Regarding the product, it sounds like you might be describing a LIRP and regardless of exchange rates those combined insurance/retirement products have pretty bad return characteristics and can create some unexpected tax traps. I hope this is not what you're dealing with.

TokyoSurvivor wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 7:07 am
I've got a 15 year retirement fund I pay into October each year in USD and so far I've paid 8 years of contributions.

Any opinions?

Is it an 'offshore' plan? Sold to you by a 'financial advisor'?
In which case the decision to cancel it and start buying lower-cost index funds will usually be the sensible one.

You may have to pay a penalty to cancel.