The Monday Read: Where are we going?
You need to know where you are and where you want to go I’m sick at the moment. Either I have a bad cold, or hayfever season just started, and it is way worse than usual. I’m not thrilled about either of those options, to be honest. But it doesn’t seem to have really affected […]
The Monday Read: More learning ahead
RetireJapan is full steam There is so much going on now at RetireJapan. Our flagship annual live course started this week. If you’re interested in the next cohort, you can sign up for the waiting list here. YouTube and the blog are going really well this year. Thanks for watching and reading! Please tell other […]
Don’t pay your children’s university fees in Japan
Well, you can if you really want to. But read this first I talk to a lot of people about money, and there seems to be an unwritten assumption that parents should just pay for their children’s university fees in Japan. I’m not sure where this comes from. My wife and I did not pay […]
The Monday Read: Crossing that Bridge
Why do we do things? I was looking at my spreadsheets this week. It looks like our net worth went up by 16% in 2023. And then went up another 10% in January. In 2021 our spreadsheet reached my arbitrary ‘we are financially independent’ number. It’s now 34% above that. And yet on Friday I […]
How to be rich
It might be both harder and easier than you think I think Derek Sivers nails it in this post. It’s not how much you have. It’s the difference between what you have and what you spend. If you have more than you spend, you’re rich. If you spend more than you have, you’re not. If you live […]
What happens if US citizens don’t file their IRS tax return?
A small chance of a disastrous outcome (this blog post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not a tax professional, nor a lawyer, nor an IRS employee. I don’t know you. I am not even American! You are completely responsible for your choices and decisions) I often talk to Americans about personal finance, and […]
The Monday Read: A Time of Dragons
Well, 2024 started off on the wrong foot! Not only was there a large and serious earthquake, it seems the government bungled the response somewhat by not taking it seriously enough at first. I hope everyone affected can get the help they need soon to get back on their feet. The main thing on my […]
2024 Planning
Happy New Year! I hope the year of the dragon treats you well. I also hope our readers in Hokuriku are safe and doing okay and can get back to normal as quickly as possible. I know from personal experience how draining recovering from an earthquake can be. Take the time you need to adjust […]
2023 Roundup
All in one place This is the RetireJapan roundup post for 2023. We’ll be going through some successes and failures, as well as my lists of favourite blog posts and videos. Here is the 2022 post if you want to see what that year looked like. 2023 was the year of rapid evolution I finally […]
The Monday Read: Merry Christmas
Happy holidays to one and all. I hope you are enjoying the end of the year and have some time off. I hope things are going well for you, financially and otherwise. I hope you are optimistic about the future. We had our Xmas dinner last night as usual (Christmas Eve, Spanish style) so today […]