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 things to work on for the next year.

We also do the same here on the site.

All in all, I think RetireJapan had an excellent 2018. This post will be a quick review followed by a list of my favourite posts from this year. Check out last year’s post if you want to see where we started from.

RetireJapan exists in order to help people. It started for that reason, and it continues to run for that reason. I’m always incredibly grateful to everyone that joined our community and make it what it is: somewhere normal people can come to ask questions and get information about personal finance.

2018 saw the launch of our coaching service, the move to posting twice a week on the blog, and the launch of the new website here at retirejapan.com.

The mailing list has gone from 610 subscribers last year to 900 today. On Facebook we had 767 followers last year and 1076 today. And the forum (which I think is one of the best things about the site) went from 151 members and 868 posts last year to 371 members and 2840 posts today.

It wasn’t all good news though. We didn’t manage to publish any new RetireJapan Guides (although I am quite proud of the free one you get when you join the mailing list), and the move to the new website wasn’t as smooth as it could have been.

Still, I’m really happy with our progress in 2018 and am looking forward to helping more people in 2019.

And of course it would be great if you could help too. The best thing you can do is to tell people about the site, and help them take action to improve their financial situation. Send them here or to the Facebook page. If they follow through and do some reading they will undoubtedly end up thanking you for it!

And here are my favourite posts from 2018:

• My planning post for 2018 is interesting to look back on. Seem to have accomplished about half of what I wanted to do. Not too shabby!
• This post on staying warm is pretty timely. It can be done, but you’ll probably end up paying for it.
• Nothing has changed since I wrote my anti-bucket list post, except that my work made me apply for tenure, which was similar to applying for a job 🙁
• My rant about things I hate in Japan got a lot of comments at least.
• What are your bear necessities?
• I spent 4-5 years working as a wedding celebrant.
• Still think making slack in your life is crucial.
• What would you buy if you were rich?
• Renovating my in-laws’ house actually cost us 14 million yen!

• We still have all three of our cars and didn’t buy a new one.
• Seeing some figures for salaries in Japan was interesting.
• This was a conceptual breakthrough for me: pensions are not investments.
• Have you thought about disability insurance?
• How much do you save for retirement?
• Do you ever feel overwhelmed?
• It’s probably a good idea to delay taking your pension.
• Wonderful guest post about your local bank.
• Many people don’t understand inheritance tax.

• Do you know how dividends in Japan work?
• Everyone should be paying into the Japanese state pension.
• I don’t really recommend listening to a financial planner.
• Are you worried about the environment?
• Sometimes bad things happen.
• Maybe don’t buy cryptocurrency.
• How much money do you need to retire in Japan?

How about you? Did I miss any good posts? Anything you’d like to read about in the new year?