How hard is it to take money out of NISA?

[Oliver]

I was having a discussion about NISA with my adult son. We have some savings but we are unsure about investing more heavily into NISA as we may need the money next year or the year after and we were wondering
“how hard it is to get the money out in case of a need”?

With the current inflation it unlikely that we will make our money work for us by leaving it in the bank. In fact we may be losing money by doing that. But, we don’t want tie up our money just in case another pandemic hits us.
I am self employed so having extra large cash buffer is important to me.
But, this mindset does not have to be the case with my son.
What is your advice?

[TokyoWart]

You can take money out of a NISA account effectively immediately. The only thing you need to wait for is the settlement date for selling the stocks or mutual funds in the account.

[Oliver]

So, correct me if I am wrong. You can sell it at a loss at anytime and get whatever money you have left out of the NISA in my case SBI within about a weeks time?

[Tkydon]

So, correct me if I am wrong. You can sell it at a loss at anytime and get whatever money you have left out of the NISA in my case SBI within about a weeks time?

Yes, you can sell the units or shares in your NISA at any time.
If you issue a sell order, the trade will clear in 3 to 4 business days, depending on what the units are and where they are located, and the money will be deposited in your account as soon as the trade is cleared / settled.

[Oliver]

Do you have any advice on where else my son can park his savings for a few years besides NISA. I don’t know of any high returns savings account in Japan. I think it is either put it in NISA and hope for the best, or leave it in the bank and watch inflation take its course.
Any advice for dad to give to his adult son?

[beanhead]

Do you have any advice on where else my son can park his savings for a few years besides NISA. I don’t know of any high returns savings account in Japan. I think it is either put it in NISA and hope for the best, or leave it in the bank and watch inflation take its course.
Any advice for dad to give to his adult son?

If he does not need it any time soon, why not invest it in something sensible in NISA?

As you said, high interest bank accounts don't really exist here, sadly. So if he does need the money for something specific relatively soon, there really aren't any good options.

[sutebayashi]

Do you have any advice on where else my son can park his savings for a few years besides NISA. I don’t know of any high returns savings account in Japan. I think it is either put it in NISA and hope for the best, or leave it in the bank and watch inflation take its course.
Any advice for dad to give to his adult son?

If you are worried about inflation in Japan, then why not put say half the money in a foreign developed market bond fund?
Or in a USD MMF?
(If he wants the money in a year or two, stocks are probably not the best, but it depends if he really needs the money in one or two years…)

If you are unlucky, the yen will be much higher by the time your son wants the dough, but these foreign assets will pay a higher yield and further yen weakness might occur too.

[Roger Van Zant]

So, correct me if I am wrong. You can sell it at a loss at anytime and get whatever money you have left out of the NISA in my case SBI within about a weeks time?

I had to do this a couple of years ago to cover some unforeseen expenses.
I had the cash available to me after about five days; maybe even less.