The Monday Read
Happier New Year edition How was your New Year’s break? Hopefully you had one, and it was restful and enjoyable. We went to the in-laws’, watched kohaku, and ate and drank a bit too much. All good. I was also awarded my blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu last week -quite a big deal. Took me […]
The Monday Read
Bonenkai season edition Too soon? Had to book a bonenkai the other day, so that is it, the year is officially over. I did our end of year financial spreadsheet the other day. To my surprise, our family net worth seems to have gone up by more than twice my annual salary over the last […]
The Monday Read
Cheat day edition I’m on a (so far pretty successful) diet at the moment, but today kind of turned into a spontaneous cheat day as we all had the day off, lots of amazing food was cooked at home, and I happened to walk past one of our favourite cake shops. It’s all good though, […]
Who wants to work forever?
Depends on a lot of things Work Some people can’t wait to be done with it. Others can’t imagine living without it. Due to running this site, I often hear people say something like “I’m not going to be able to retire, so I will just work until I drop”. The Japanese government is trying […]
The Monday Read
The snow is gone now thankfully We had our final snowfall this week. Snow under the cherry trees. Thankfully it didn’t last long 🙂 We’re more than a quarter through 2019. How is your year going? Are you making progress towards your financial goals? Do you have financial goals? I’m feeling very mid-life crisis-y at […]
Nenkin Calculations
Show me the money We had a lot of follow-up questions to last week’s nenkin post. One of the most common ones was ‘how much nenkin am I going to get?’. It’s a tough question to answer, so we’ll try to give some more information here. Kokumin Nenkin Basic kokumin nenkin is extremely easy to […]
RetireJapan Progress 2018
Pretty good year Every year since 2013 I have done a personal annual review. I really recommend it. I basically just sit down for a couple of hours and list up what I accomplished this year. What went well? What didn’t go so well? Then in January sit down and set out some goals and […]
US Citizens and Green Card Holders
Understand the tax challenges faced by US citizens living and investing in Japan, and what options are available.
The Monday Read
Just the links, ma’am Apologies. Had a pretty heavy week and completely forgot to write the Monday Read yesterday. Here is a very bare-bones version with just the links. Will try to do better next time! https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/14/climate-change-taking-action-rebecca-solnit​ https://www.epsilontheory.com/we-were-soldiers-once-and-young/ https://soranews24.com/2018/10/15/lawson-begins-first-self-service-convenience-store-in-tokyo-no-line-ups-necessary/​ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/15/how-much-damage-can-saudi-arabia-do-to-the-global-economy​ https://www.raptitude.com/2018/10/its-okay-to-feel-bad-for-no-reason/ https://japantoday.com/category/politics/gov%27t-eyes-making-daily-necessities-eligible-for-2-rebate-scheme https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-6285665/Flat-rate-state-pension-rise-2-6-4-25-week-168-60-April.html ​What do you think? Anything good in there? #1 and #2 hit […]
Reader Profile: Dave and Amy
The English School Owners I’m really happy to be able to bring you another Reader Profile today. Dave and Amy run a number of English-teaching related businesses and are active in the teaching community. I finally met Amy last year at the Tokyo RetireJapan seminar and she’s been an enthusiastic member of our gang ever […]