RetireJapan

Hi all,
I just received the yearly results of my pension funds from my home country and have spent quite some time this fine Sunday gathering information about investing some money in Japan (with beer in hand).

I have come to the conclusion that I would like to do both iDeCo and NISA. Not necessarily sure what to prioritize, but I think maxing out NISA first would be the best.

When it comes to NISA, I've come across information that it is ending 2023, though the tsumitate option will continue indefinitely. Hence, I thought I'd start with the tsumitate option and invest 40man per year. I believe it's possible to start with regular NISA and invest more - then transfer to tsumitate, though I'm not sure.

I'm currently using MUFG but considering opening an account over at SBI. Most information online tells me SBI or Rakuten - but not much information about the downsides of the MUFG and SMBC options.
For what it's worth, I cannot open a NISA account without sending in additional documents to MUFG... so I'm not sure there are any benefits here.

My preference would be low maintenance, low-medium risk options for funds. Basically I just want to place my surplus money somewhere it can see some growth without having to cry if I lose too much upon selling the funds.
I've noticed the regular advice tends to be picking the best performing eMAXIS slim option at the time of purchase.

What do you think, is SBI+eMAXIS slim a solid option - or anything else you would recommend?

Thanks in advance

fuuras wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 12:23 pm not much information about the downsides of the MUFG and SMBC options.

In general, banks have less choices of funds, and they tend to be on the expensive side. That's why historically you see more people here recommending Rakuten or SBI, which have generally given more choices, at lower costs. It's not impossible that MUFG/SMBC would step their game up at some point, and that a lot of veterans here don't even notice, given that most of us already made our choice a while ago. So, it's always worth comparing by yourself, of course. (and, eMaxis being a MUFG product, wouldn't it make sense it if was cheaper, or at least same price as the competition, if that's what you get? I don't know honestly)

I just looked it up out of curiosity:

- MUFG doesn't offer eMAXIS slim in their iDeco lineup, just more expensive funds and their monthly fees are also significantly more expensive.
- eMaxi Slim is also not avaiable in their Tsumitate Nisa lineup, again just more expensive funds. The account itself is free.
- You can buy eMAXIS slim for NISA or a normal accounts over kabu.com which MUFG is using.

I also don't see any benefits for sticking with MUFG when it comes to investing.

Thanks for the advice.
I ended up opening a tsumitate NISA with Rakuten Securities. Not sure how long the process will take but I imagine I have quite some time browsing for what open-end funds I can place my 400,000 yen into.