The Next Crash
Is coming… someday. The US stock market seems to be getting expensive. It looks somewhat like a bubble, but things aren’t the same as they were in 2007. Basically no-one knows what is going to happen, but there is going to be a stock market crash at some point. Could be this month, this year, […]
New RetireJapan Seminar
Save the date (September 9th in Kitakyushu) Tokyo event in March 2017 I’m really happy to announce there will be another RetireJapan seminar this year, in Kitakyushu on September 9th. Right now this is the only RetireJapan live seminar in the works, although I am also planning an online, more in-depth course in January together with iTDI […]
GREENa Electricity
Truly green power? I read an interesting blog post a couple of days ago by Mark Brierley, and in it he mentioned that GREENa has a 100% renewable energy electricity plan. I’ve been looking for one of those since the electricity deregulation was announced, so was very interested to hear about this company. Personally I […]
Building a House in Japan 2
We’re just getting started The rather terrifying quote we got yesterday At the end of last month I posted the first in this new series describing our adventures as we look into our options to move in with my in-laws. A lot has happened since my wife told me that this was important to her, […]
Pareto in Personal Finance
Don’t be intimidated A couple of weeks ago I wrote about relativity in personal finance -the way things seem to go really slowly until one day you wake up and there have been enormous changes, seemingly overnight. Today’s post is similar. At first personal finance seems baffling, overwhelming. We don’t learn it in school and […]
Building a House in Japan
The nightmare begins Regular readers may remember that I bought a manshon last year, and renovated it by installing inner windows and a second door at the entrance. I am very happy with my new home and was not planning to make any changes. Earlier this month my wife told me that it was extremely […]
Interview: Wilhelmina Penn
Author of The Expat’s Guide to Growing Old in Japan Last week two different members of the RetireJapan community got in touch to tell me about The Expat’s Guide to Growing Old in Japan. Intrigued, I took a look at it, then bought it, read it, and was so impressed that I got in touch […]
Travel Hacking for Emergencies
When you need it most The very cool Lufthansa 747-800 that took us to Frankfurt. We were on the upper deck this time. We’ve talked about travel hacking before on the blog. It’s a great way to travel for free, or (my preference) to travel in luxury for about the same price. It’s also useful […]
Building a Low-Energy Home
The best solution? Mark’s beautiful homeI’m really pleased to have another guest post from Mark Brierley for you today (you can see his first one here). Mark is a certified Passivhaus consultant and blogger, and he is generously sharing his knowledge and experience with us today. You can read more of his writing at his excellent […]
Investing in Less Energy
Be more comfortable, spend less money The old Japanese house I used to live in -we got through 100 litres of kerosene a week in winter! I’m really pleased to have another guest post for you today. My friend Mark Brierley is a certified Passivhaus consultant and blogger, so it was inevitable that I would […]