akiaji wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:22 am
This is a topic I am thinking about as well. With me and the kids having US citizenship, options are not too great. Starting with things like the Junior NISA would be nice, but I'm not sure if the selection would be useful or safe from a PFIC perspective. Plus even though it is tax-free in Japan the US would take its share anyway.
For now, I am thinking maybe best to just put away a bit each year to bank accounts in their names, staying under the yearly gift tax limits. Then when they get older, they will have some cash to their names.
Or maybe follow runmanTX's advice and keep everything central until the kids are older! lol
When it comes to the Junior Nisa the 20% tax savings may be enough to counteract the risk of only being able to invest in Japanese equities. I am unsure about the US tax liabilities.
Regardless you would have to scramble to get a 2021 allocation set. So most likely you would only have 2022 and 2023 left. Then the Junior Nisa comes to an end.
Pretty sure 18 the the key age for Americans regarding finances. In Japan too, I guess.
I got my son an Etrade account when he was 18. He was in the US at the time and had a US phone number, address and state ID. Without those I am not sure what would have been possible. I tried to set him up with a Vanguard account but we had ID issues and I gave up. With Etrade he can buy Vanguard ETFs etc so it really doesn't matter.
I need to figure out what do to about my younger son, about to turn 18.
akiaji wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:22 am
This is a topic I am thinking about as well. With me and the kids having US citizenship, options are not too great. Starting with things like the Junior NISA would be nice, but I'm not sure if the selection would be useful or safe from a PFIC perspective. Plus even though it is tax-free in Japan the US would take its share anyway.
For now, I am thinking maybe best to just put away a bit each year to bank accounts in their names, staying under the yearly gift tax limits. Then when they get older, they will have some cash to their names.
Or maybe follow runmanTX's advice and keep everything central until the kids are older! lol
Money into the kids' Japanese bank accounts is good but unfortunately the interest is essentially 0%. Both my high school aged girls have Japanese bank accounts as I wanted them to learn "financial responsibility" and have some control of their money.
As far as investing, though, you could probably do much better investing your money (or the money you allot for them) in the market, stateside. PFICs really scare me so I have yet to invest in Japan.
TJKansai wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:40 am
Pretty sure 18 the the key age for Americans regarding finances. In Japan too, I guess.
I got my son an Etrade account when he was 18. He was in the US at the time and had a US phone number, address and state ID. Without those I am not sure what would have been possible. I tried to set him up with a Vanguard account but we had ID issues and I gave up. With Etrade he can buy Vanguard ETFs etc so it really doesn't matter.
I need to figure out what do to about my younger son, about to turn 18.
This is something I hadn't thought of....opening a brokerage account in the kids' name. I am not familiar with Etrade either. So is your son investing in the market himself or are you investing for him in his account?
As for the Vanguard account, I wish I could set one of those up for myself.
