I do not know where to start

[Karune]

2. Probably not worth it.

Is it not worth it because of the fact I would have to deal with the taxes myself? Or because the potential returns are not worth it?

[adamu]

2. Probably not worth it.

Is it not worth it because of the fact I would have to deal with the taxes myself? Or because the potential returns are not worth it?

For retirement saving, the NISA has everything you need. So you'll be losing the tax benefits and giving yourself the obligation to declare it on the tax return, for no benefit in terms of investment options.

The only benefit is portability to Australia (I'm taking your word on it, I've not looked into how IB handles a country transfer). My suspicion would be that the portability is worth less than the tax savings you'll get from the NISA over 7 years. But it will certainly be quite nerve-wracking if/when you sell the NISA to transfer the funds back - it can be a risk to be a out of the market for a significant period of time if the market rises while you're in the process of transferring, causing you to miss out on the gains (or it could drop, which is theoretically good because you avoided a loss, but then you might be too nervous to reinvest your cash back in Aus - eventually missing out on any subsequent gains).

[ChapInTokyo]

All this stuff can be a bit overwhelming, but think of it this way. It's ok to make mistakes and learn from that as you make your first steps. It's only natural.

Would recommend doing some basic reading to get to know the territory.

I personally got a lot out of "The Long and the Short of It: A guide to finance and investment for normally intelligent people who aren’t in the industry" by John Kay. It's well written, and is written for 'normally intelligent people' like a lot of us.

[adamu]

I personally got a lot out of "The Long and the Short of It: A guide to finance and investment for normally intelligent people who aren’t in the industry" by John Kay. It's well written, and is written for 'normally intelligent people' like a lot of us.

That was my intro too - there's a fitting quote in there about "two and twenty" hedge funds, especially after OP's thoughts of signing up to a 1.9% fee fund.

Over the forty-two years that Warren Buffett has been in charge of Berkshire Hathaway, the company has earned an average compound rate of return of 20% per year. For himself. But also for his investors. The lucky people who have been his fellow shareholders through all that time have enjoyed just the same rate of return as he has. The fortune he has accumulated is the result of the rise in the value of his share of the collective fund. Suppose that Buffett had deducted from the returns on his own investment – his own, not that of his fellow shareholders – a notional investment management fee, based on the standard 2% annual charge and 20% of gains formula of the hedge fund and private equity business. There would then be two pots: one created by reinvestment of the fees Buffett was charging himself; and one created by the growth in the value of Buffett’s own original investment. Call the first pot the wealth of Buffett Investment Management, the second pot the wealth of the Buffett Foundation. How much of Buffett’s $62bn would be the property of Buffett Investment Management and how much the property of the Buffett Foundation? The – completely astonishing – answer is that Buffett Investment Management would have $57bn and the Buffett Foundation $5bn. The cumulative effect of ‘two and twenty’ over forty-two years is so large that the earnings of the investment manager completely overshadow the earnings of the investor. That sum tells you why it was the giants of the financial services industry, not the customers, who owned the yachts.

[RetireJapan]

3. I have also been talking to a wealth manager from Argentum ... I honestly don't mind paying someone with much more expertise and experience to help me out with that

In my experience most of the people working at 'advisory' firms in Japan targeting non-Japanese customers are not experts/experienced but rather salespeople working off a script. Once you sign up they are not going to be around to help you other than when they want to sell you some more stuff.

(the reason they target non-Japanese customers is because the Financial Services Agency does not seem interested in enforcing the law when it comes to non-Japanese victims. Source: I called the FSA to report them, and they just told me to 'be careful' )

[Karune]

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your comments and help over the last month or so on this topic.

Happy to say I have opened a brokerage account in my native Australia, and opened a NISA account through MONEX. Planning on purchasing some eMAXIS S&P 500, eMAXIS all country, nasdaq and then some local stocks through the NISA and using that as a base. I guess my last question for this forum (since I have started now) is what do you guys think?

PS; looking forward to learning more and more through this forum and working on my portfolio!

[RetireJapan]

Happy to say I have opened a brokerage account in my native Australia, and opened a NISA account through MONEX. Planning on purchasing some eMAXIS S&P 500, eMAXIS all country, nasdaq and then some local stocks through the NISA and using that as a base. I guess my last question for this forum (since I have started now) is what do you guys think?

Congratulations on getting started. Take it slowly and learn as much as you can. Don't sell anything for a year or two. Don't put in more money than you can afford to lock away for a while.

[beanhead]

purchasing some eMAXIS S&P 500, eMAXIS all country, nasdaq and then some local stocks through the NISA and using that as a base. I guess my last question for this forum (since I have started now) is what do you guys think?

Make sure you get the Slim versions of those funds. They are cheaper and it is easy to make a mistake.

Nasdaq is already included in both the eMaxis products you mentioned.
You would just be overweighting your exposure to US tech stocks. If that is what you want to do, go ahead. If too much TESLA or Apple makes you a bit worried, just stick to the broader funds when you start.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your comments and help over the last month or so on this topic.

Happy to say I have opened a brokerage account in my native Australia, and opened a NISA account through MONEX. Planning on purchasing some eMAXIS S&P 500, eMAXIS all country, nasdaq and then some local stocks through the NISA and using that as a base. I guess my last question for this forum (since I have started now) is what do you guys think?

PS; looking forward to learning more and more through this forum and working on my portfolio!

If Monex Australia accepts transfers from Monex Japan it is likely the only accept efts and stocks, not mutual funds.

Mutual funds are almost always limited to the country the are domiciled.

You will want to confirm this all with them.

If you have no plans to transfer, but simply will sell and rebuy, you are fine.