Current Rakuten Securities - RCash - RCard (gold?) situation.
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 6:36 am
Hello again,
I finally got set up with Rakuten Securities this year and managed to fill my annual allowance.
Now that is all sorted, I'm theory crafting the most efficient way to fill next year's allowance.
Rakuten sucked me in and I ended up also switching my phone and signing up for the Credit Card (finally, my first in Japan!).
I just signed up for the basic card because, while I really want an ETC card, the shop lady suggested holding off for now due to the annual ¥550 fee.
She said I could get a free card from another company with the ETC included. I still want an ETC, but not sure if I want the hassle of dealing with another CC.
I was checking the process for maximising points (to re-invest) for tsumitate transfers.
It looks like you can get:
So by combining RCash & RCard you can make monthly payments of up to ¥150,000 while earning points.
Now I'm thinking of upgrading to the Gold card because:
Lastly I have a question about charging Rakuten Cash. Browsing this forum, it seems it might be possible to earn 0.5% points from charging Rakuten Cash with a Rakuten Card, then using that RCash to earn an additional 0.5% points when purchasing mutual funds, giving a total of 1% points(!) on the RCash portion. But none of the Japanese materials I have read seem to mention this path... Is it really a thing? Perhaps it used to be a thing, but doesn't work any more? (If it was it'd bring that free total to ¥12,800, tasty!)
I finally got set up with Rakuten Securities this year and managed to fill my annual allowance.
Now that is all sorted, I'm theory crafting the most efficient way to fill next year's allowance.
Rakuten sucked me in and I ended up also switching my phone and signing up for the Credit Card (finally, my first in Japan!).
I just signed up for the basic card because, while I really want an ETC card, the shop lady suggested holding off for now due to the annual ¥550 fee.
She said I could get a free card from another company with the ETC included. I still want an ETC, but not sure if I want the hassle of dealing with another CC.
I was checking the process for maximising points (to re-invest) for tsumitate transfers.
It looks like you can get:
From what I have seen those are basically the three options for earning points while buying mutual funds.0.5% points on transfers of up to ¥50,000 with Rakuten Cash. (250 pts)
0.5% points on transfers of up to ¥100,000 per month with Rakuten Card. (500 pts)
0.75% points with a Rakuten Gold Card* (750 pts)
*¥2,200 annual fee, 'free' ETC, some other benefits...
So by combining RCash & RCard you can make monthly payments of up to ¥150,000 while earning points.
Now I'm thinking of upgrading to the Gold card because:
While:Annual points with Basic Card = (¥)6,000
Adding the points from RCash Tsumitate brings the total up to ¥9,800 of free mutual fund purchases per year... Not too shabby!Annual points with Gold Card = (¥)9,000
Minus the ¥2,200 annual fee = (¥)6,800
So you earn an extra ¥800 and get ETC and some other benefits for free...
Lastly I have a question about charging Rakuten Cash. Browsing this forum, it seems it might be possible to earn 0.5% points from charging Rakuten Cash with a Rakuten Card, then using that RCash to earn an additional 0.5% points when purchasing mutual funds, giving a total of 1% points(!) on the RCash portion. But none of the Japanese materials I have read seem to mention this path... Is it really a thing? Perhaps it used to be a thing, but doesn't work any more? (If it was it'd bring that free total to ¥12,800, tasty!)