Good suggestion. Stay consistent with the plan. It is, however, a bad time for relatives who are receiving smaller dollar amounts from their Japanese pension payments every two months here (in the USA).
Correction. My cellphone was a US cellphone but connected to a Japanese provider. And the laptop was bought in the US and is not hooked up to Japanese internet. And I use English on both. Not sure if that makes a difference.
From the perspective of someone living in Japan, I would say now is the right moment to readjust portfolio to buy less foreign funds and more Japanese assets like Topix.
Buy Yen! Buy Yen! Buy Yen! But then expect to get a letter from the Japan Tax Office asking you to explain the source of all these dollars you are using to buy Yen and the purpose of having so much Yen. You better have all your source douments in order! I've had this experience.
Wow... how much money had triggered that?? What was your reply to them?!? I was planning on doing that very thing soon too...Im moving there and have a bunch of cash stashed... thanks.
@@madmax8620 I usually make a large transfer sum to save on wire fees so I only do it twice a year. That money is our sole support in Japan as I am retired. At the beginning, I did smaller amounts like $10,000. Before any payment got into my Japan Post account, I would get a letter asking me the source of the funds and the purpose of the funds. I had to attach copies of the source bank statement showing it was mine, my passport, my alien registration card, and I had to check of boxes that I wasn't sending the money on to North Korea or Iran. Sometimes the money was put into my account soon after I sent off the letter. One time, it took them a whole month to credit my account! Last year I made several transfers because the dollar kept getting worth more Yen. After these transfers, and having answered those silly letters each time, I got a new letter out of the blue telling me to go to my local tax ofice and explain in person why I was bringing so much money to Japan. I explained about the falling Yen, and I brought along my American bank statements and my Japanese tax return to show that I was including my American dividends and interest, the source of that money, on my Japanese tax returns. This seemed to satisfy the tax office fellow. Hope that helps.
@@madmax8620 The smallest amount I had wired to me was $10,000. Any size seemed to trigger these letters. The letter contains a form which you fill out. It is in English but strange English. You have to check off boxes saying you are not sending the money to Iran or North Korea. You have to give the source and the purpose of the funds. For each one, they want some documentation like a copy of the bank statement showing it's your account. They also wanted a copy of my passport and alien registration card. I would be very leery of bringing big sums of cash on the airplane with you. The USA authorities have been seizing cash from Americans under the civil forfeiture laws. It's very hard to get it back. I would suggest opening a Japan Post account and havning the money wired there. Or you can use your American ATM card if it doesn't have too onerous fees. I've heard good things about Charles Schwab investment accounts for being hassle free for American expats.
I am a Japanese and living fire life in Japan from the first of this year. My main dividend currency is dollar, so I seem to be able to live with relative peace of mind at the moment, but I worry when the yen gets strong. Foreign assets are expensive right now, so I am interested in J-REITs, which is cheaper than Japanese stocks.
Was wondering if you could do a video regarding the proposed government legislation to revoke permanent residence status to those who do not pay taxes and or social insurance premiums. Presently this is being brought up in various media channels....saw a good article a day or two ago in the Japan Times.
I have my stocks and funds divided between international and japanese, so I have peace of mind in both fronts. I’m not thrilled with the yen being so low, but I will tighten my belt a bit more… specially since energy costs are crazy high coming summer
I'm leaving Japan with a fair chunk of savings in yen, and am definitely having some difficulty deciding what to do 😅 i do have PR and may return so might try to keep some in yen. As you mentioned though, we really don't know if things will be better or worse.
Almost all of my liquidity is in foreign stocks, government bonds and gold, so the weak yen has made my net asset value in yen quite high. However, I don’t plan on cashing out on anything for at least a few more years, so I don’t let myself get excited about it. A stronger yen is better for my daily living in the short term.
I’ve just started using my NISA account. Maxed out the anual growth portion on an all-countries fund but haven’t decided yet what to do with the tsumitate portion. Should I also go with all countries for it or given the yen price invest in Japan instead?
That is the 100 million yen question, eh? I think both could make sense. The key is to make sure you are comfortable with your decision regardless of the outcome.
I am a huge fan of your videos and watch them religiously. I am having a strange problem. My Japanese wife bought me a Japanese cellphone with a Japanese provider. She also got me Japanese internet access for my home laptop computer with a Japanese provider. But when I try to access some Japanese websites on my phone or on my computer here in Japan, they block me. Is it because I am using English? I even tried a Japan VPN and it still blocked me. Any ideas about why my wife can access Japanese websites on her Japanese cellphone, but I cannot ? I am trying to get reservations at a Japanese Disney hotel through the Japanese Disney resort website. And I am also trying to sign up for massage membership at Karada. But I can't access either site.
Interesting. I haven't run into that issue myself. I use an Android phone set to English and have never seen a website I couldn't access here in Japan.
@@RetireJapan_OG I have a friend from the UK who helped me solve the laptop problem. He suggested I try incognito mode. i tried it with the chrome browser and it didn't help. The Tokyo Disney website still blocked me. But when I did incognito mode with MSFT Edge, I was able to access the Tokyo Disney website. My friend thinks there is some cookie or setting in my browser or somewhere that the Japanese websites are detecting. I still need to figure out how to access Japanese websites from my cellphone.
By the way. I misspoke. It was US phone that I brought to Japan and my wife hooked it up to a Japanese provider. So the fact that the phone was purchased in the US might be a problem too. Not sure.
my opinion is that if your main income is a salary and that's in Yen then you should definitely invest outside of Japan. I'm 100% invested outside of Japan and my net worth in Yen has skyrocketed. The yen went from 100 yen/usd to 160 yen/usd. That's +60% net worth in Yen just like that.... and the dividends are worth 60% more. it's a good time for me 😂
Just starting out. Been living in Japan for 4 years and finally got a NISA account through Rakuten. Not really sure where to begin, but I feel like Im wasting money having it just sit in my bank.
Opening a NISA account is a great start! As long as you're not a US citizen, any diversified low cost (under 0.2% annual fees) mutual fund will be fine. TOPIX, S&P500, world are all fine choices.
We know: it is going much cheaper. Japan can't increase rates. The next two inflation waves will imo make the yen weeeaker. I have no doubt in this. 30 years of bonds. The rates can't get increased. You just can have a temporary relief, as long as you replace us treasuries for local currency. When this ends . . . . .
Take a long term view. Get a brokerage account in your home country and drip feed every month into a global equity EFT. Get a buy-to-let property in a country which has property asset appreciation eg UK, USA, Australia: put down the deposit and rent it out to pay the mortgage. Have some exposure to hard currencies such as gold and Bitcoin. Avoid bonds at all costs as all developed economies are going to have to print money like crazy for the foreseeable future. Anyone living in Japan needs to diversify their investments, which means having exposure to assets outside of Japan because while Japan will remain an amazing place to live, its long term economic outlook is not great. It’s foolhardy to try and predict currencies, but a ¥200 yen to the dollar exchange rate is not out of the question at some point this decade. Do these things and you’ll have the best of both worlds - appreciating wealth and the pleasure of living in the beautiful and safe country of Japan.
Make money in USD and then retire in Japan. Invest outside of Japan since Japan has no future. Japan is poorer and poorer which means Japan is better for retirement
Good suggestion. Stay consistent with the plan. It is, however, a bad time for relatives who are receiving smaller dollar amounts from their Japanese pension payments every two months here (in the USA).
That is always the risk when your income is in a different currency than your expenses!
Correction. My cellphone was a US cellphone but connected to a Japanese provider. And the laptop was bought in the US and is not hooked up to Japanese internet. And I use English on both. Not sure if that makes a difference.
From the perspective of someone living in Japan, I would say now is the right moment to readjust portfolio to buy less foreign funds and more Japanese assets like Topix.
That is certainly a good suggestion that might work for some people 😀
happy holidays...enjoy your goldenweek🎉
You too! Loving this weather 😄
Buy Yen! Buy Yen! Buy Yen! But then expect to get a letter from the Japan Tax Office asking you to explain the source of all these dollars you are using to buy Yen and the purpose of having so much Yen. You better have all your source douments in order! I've had this experience.
Wow... how much money had triggered that??
What was your reply to them?!? I was planning on doing that very thing soon too...Im moving there and have a bunch of cash stashed... thanks.
@@madmax8620 I usually make a large transfer sum to save on wire fees so I only do it twice a year. That money is our sole support in Japan as I am retired. At the beginning, I did smaller amounts like $10,000. Before any payment got into my Japan Post account, I would get a letter asking me the source of the funds and the purpose of the funds. I had to attach copies of the source bank statement showing it was mine, my passport, my alien registration card, and I had to check of boxes that I wasn't sending the money on to North Korea or Iran. Sometimes the money was put into my account soon after I sent off the letter. One time, it took them a whole month to credit my account! Last year I made several transfers because the dollar kept getting worth more Yen. After these transfers, and having answered those silly letters each time, I got a new letter out of the blue telling me to go to my local tax ofice and explain in person why I was bringing so much money to Japan. I explained about the falling Yen, and I brought along my American bank statements and my Japanese tax return to show that I was including my American dividends and interest, the source of that money, on my Japanese tax returns. This seemed to satisfy the tax office fellow. Hope that helps.
@@madmax8620 The smallest amount I had wired to me was $10,000. Any size seemed to trigger these letters. The letter contains a form which you fill out. It is in English but strange English. You have to check off boxes saying you are not sending the money to Iran or North Korea. You have to give the source and the purpose of the funds. For each one, they want some documentation like a copy of the bank statement showing it's your account. They also wanted a copy of my passport and alien registration card. I would be very leery of bringing big sums of cash on the airplane with you. The USA authorities have been seizing cash from Americans under the civil forfeiture laws. It's very hard to get it back. I would suggest opening a Japan Post account and havning the money wired there. Or you can use your American ATM card if it doesn't have too onerous fees. I've heard good things about Charles Schwab investment accounts for being hassle free for American expats.
I am a Japanese and living fire life in Japan from the first of this year.
My main dividend currency is dollar, so I seem to be able to live with relative peace of mind at the moment, but I worry when the yen gets strong.
Foreign assets are expensive right now, so I am interested in J-REITs, which is cheaper than Japanese stocks.
Was wondering if you could do a video regarding the proposed government legislation to revoke permanent residence status to those who do not pay taxes and or social insurance premiums. Presently this is being brought up in various media channels....saw a good article a day or two ago in the Japan Times.
That's a great idea, thank you!
I have my stocks and funds divided between international and japanese, so I have peace of mind in both fronts. I’m not thrilled with the yen being so low, but I will tighten my belt a bit more… specially since energy costs are crazy high coming summer
Diversification for the win 😎
I'm leaving Japan with a fair chunk of savings in yen, and am definitely having some difficulty deciding what to do 😅 i do have PR and may return so might try to keep some in yen. As you mentioned though, we really don't know if things will be better or worse.
Oh, that's a tough call! I hope things work out well for you 😀
3:30 - Yes 😁
Almost all of my liquidity is in foreign stocks, government bonds and gold, so the weak yen has made my net asset value in yen quite high.
However, I don’t plan on cashing out on anything for at least a few more years, so I don’t let myself get excited about it. A stronger yen is better for my daily living in the short term.
Pretty much my situation. It's going to be painful seeing those numbers go in reverse if the yen strengthens though 😅
I’ve just started using my NISA account. Maxed out the anual growth portion on an all-countries fund but haven’t decided yet what to do with the tsumitate portion. Should I also go with all countries for it or given the yen price invest in Japan instead?
That is the 100 million yen question, eh?
I think both could make sense. The key is to make sure you are comfortable with your decision regardless of the outcome.
I am a huge fan of your videos and watch them religiously. I am having a strange problem. My Japanese wife bought me a Japanese cellphone with a Japanese provider. She also got me Japanese internet access for my home laptop computer with a Japanese provider. But when I try to access some Japanese websites on my phone or on my computer here in Japan, they block me. Is it because I am using English? I even tried a Japan VPN and it still blocked me. Any ideas about why my wife can access Japanese websites on her Japanese cellphone, but I cannot ? I am trying to get reservations at a Japanese Disney hotel through the Japanese Disney resort website. And I am also trying to sign up for massage membership at Karada. But I can't access either site.
Interesting. I haven't run into that issue myself. I use an Android phone set to English and have never seen a website I couldn't access here in Japan.
@@RetireJapan_OG I have a friend from the UK who helped me solve the laptop problem. He suggested I try incognito mode. i tried it with the chrome browser and it didn't help. The Tokyo Disney website still blocked me. But when I did incognito mode with MSFT Edge, I was able to access the Tokyo Disney website. My friend thinks there is some cookie or setting in my browser or somewhere that the Japanese websites are detecting. I still need to figure out how to access Japanese websites from my cellphone.
By the way. I misspoke. It was US phone that I brought to Japan and my wife hooked it up to a Japanese provider. So the fact that the phone was purchased in the US might be a problem too. Not sure.
I see it hitting 180-200. I will then move to Japan
Good luck with your plan!
my opinion is that if your main income is a salary and that's in Yen then you should definitely invest outside of Japan. I'm 100% invested outside of Japan and my net worth in Yen has skyrocketed. The yen went from 100 yen/usd to 160 yen/usd. That's +60% net worth in Yen just like that.... and the dividends are worth 60% more. it's a good time for me 😂
Just starting out. Been living in Japan for 4 years and finally got a NISA account through Rakuten. Not really sure where to begin, but I feel like Im wasting money having it just sit in my bank.
Opening a NISA account is a great start! As long as you're not a US citizen, any diversified low cost (under 0.2% annual fees) mutual fund will be fine.
TOPIX, S&P500, world are all fine choices.
@@RetireJapan_OG Thanks for the tips
@@shalankwa Nope, no issues for Canadians 😀
Only Americans get a big asterisk.
We know: it is going much cheaper.
Japan can't increase rates. The next two inflation waves will imo make the yen weeeaker.
I have no doubt in this.
30 years of bonds. The rates can't get increased. You just can have a temporary relief, as long as you replace us treasuries for local currency. When this ends . . . . .
its 152 now
The rollercoaster continues. I thought it was weak at 120 😅
The YEN is going to weaken longterm.
I'm not sure what is going to happen, but that would not surprise me.
Take a long term view. Get a brokerage account in your home country and drip feed every month into a global equity EFT. Get a buy-to-let property in a country which has property asset appreciation eg UK, USA, Australia: put down the deposit and rent it out to pay the mortgage. Have some exposure to hard currencies such as gold and Bitcoin. Avoid bonds at all costs as all developed economies are going to have to print money like crazy for the foreseeable future. Anyone living in Japan needs to diversify their investments, which means having exposure to assets outside of Japan because while Japan will remain an amazing place to live, its long term economic outlook is not great. It’s foolhardy to try and predict currencies, but a ¥200 yen to the dollar exchange rate is not out of the question at some point this decade. Do these things and you’ll have the best of both worlds - appreciating wealth and the pleasure of living in the beautiful and safe country of Japan.
All fiat currencies eventually got to zero. Save in assets. I like bitcoin and S&P 500
Make money in USD and then retire in Japan. Invest outside of Japan since Japan has no future. Japan is poorer and poorer which means Japan is better for retirement