RetireJapan

I had to have Shinsei join my first and middle name into one single monstrosity to be able to connect to monex.

It's not an "either or" situation. All people living in Japan aged 20 to 59 must be enrolled in national pension, either directly, through an employer/mutual aid, or as a dependant. Some people will buy supplementary private pension on top of that (like you friend). Link I'm pretty sure al...

I enjoyed The Boggleheads Guide to Investing.

I got really lucky with the momentum plays 2 years back, AMC, blackberry, etc (not GME). I did some research, and realized it was 100% pure luck. I did more research, I realized most stocks don't even outperform 6 month Treasuries. Then I found Bogle through Buffett.i cannot go back to single stock...

Like anything in investing it comes down to risk tolerance. But I remember reading a break down (although I can't find it for the life of me now) where if interest rates stay this low on variable loans for the first 10 years of the loan, even if interest rates go up past the current level of fixed r...

We have OCN Hayabusa Hikari. It's 5610 per month for 1Gbps up and down (best effort). I'm using IPoE to connect instead of PPPoE to avoid the IPv4 congestion. Nuro is only available in 2Gpbs in my area, and you are forced to use their router and put up with double NAT if you want to use a better rou...

pension is a tax I agree with your post but this is incorrect. Nenkin is a legal obligation for residents of Japan, but it is not a tax. Its an amount the government requires people to pay which in my eyes makes it a tax. I'm not sure of the specific legal terminologies but it functions like a tax....

If you take out the pair loan, both your wife and you will qualify for the mortgage tax break, as opposed to doing a loan in your name with her support. For a loan that large, a loan just in your name would max out your tax break fairly quickly. However you will also have to pay double the fees for ...

We had solar panels included in our mortgage when we built the house. It's a 4kW system (I believe), and don't remember how much it cost. But for me it was an investment in quality of life. Consuming the solar power we generate means I can run the airconditioner 24/7 in summer and keep the house at ...

We had a Rinnai one installed when we built the house. I specifically wanted a Western style pull down door, instead of the more common Japanese draw type dishwashers. We love having it. There's only 2 of us in the house, so we usually only run it once a day, and usually I set it on a timer so it ru...