RetireJapan

You can buy stuff from Amazon UK, sometimes there's a customs duty sometimes not. But separate from that - don't know where you live but there are some big DIY and home renovation stores nearby with a truly impressive range of tiles for floors, walls etc. There are lots of things you can really only...

? As we have experienced a long bear run, eventually the stock market will go into negative territory. As you are 53 it will most likely happen before you retire. You mean a long bull run. We're basically on a 10-year bull run, longest in history. We will have a bear run at some point, it's a matter...

Not much else to add on the retirement plan side of things, but my resting heart rate is in the mid-high 30s (I'm 51). But I'm in pretty good shape (biking a lot, running marathons). Although should also note that my doctor this year has kept me coming in for tests just to rule out bradycardia. Many...

Yes, you can bargain, but as mighty58 points out, how successful it is depends on having a justification for your lower offer vs simply fishing for a lower price. The first house we purchased, we negotiated the price down from the original offer of Y28 million to Y25 million. I'm purchasing a second...

Dear god those fees are obscene. 2% in annual charges? And on top of that the second one takes out 3% off the top? Both Vanguard and Morningstar did studies and concluded that a financial advisor ' adds 3%' to the value of a clients investments https://advisors.vanguard.com/iwe/pdf/FASQAAAB.pdf No,...

I guess teaching English would be an option, but - and take this with a grain of salt, I managed to almost entirely avoid the English teacher stints my entire time in Japan - by all accounts it can be a painful, soul-crushing experience. Imagine sitting in a class for an hour with six middle-aged ho...

As noted, I don't think investors really should be investing in individual stocks as a general rule, although I do see some potential utility in taking a small portion of your portfolio and using it for certain one-off trade ideas. I did just that in 2008, buying a big chunk of Nissan shares at arou...

Looking at an 8 year lock-in period with an annual 1.2% administration charge, which then falls to 0% after the 8 years, 0.5% adviser fee per annum and ETF charges from 0.2% . <SNIP> Another firm based in Dubai, proposed opening a Nedbank Private Wealth Focus Account and invest using ' an evidence ...

Ah - ok. So basically it's an insurance policy that pays out if you die? 5.2% over 18 years is pretty bad - that's nominal, not real returns. You'd need to double-check if that is net of any fees. It may require annual payment (not monthly etc) - not an issue if you're paying monthly. May need to do...

Sorry for my ignorance, what is this JA fund you're referring to?
Is it some sort of insurance product with a payout if you die etc?