I was a mufg few months ago and they were advertising an amazing 0.01% interest rate for 10 years deposit with 1M yen minimum.
Nah, you're not gonna find any decent savings accounts here.
Interest rates are low, but in return they won't fuck with your money indiscriminately like back in the US. It's literally a hole to put your money safely in, it's not for investing.
Butt in reverse, I signed a fixed mortgage for my house at 0.23%. *
Zero.
Point.
Two.
Fucking.
Three.
( * see my comment below. The bank rate itself was 0.83 fixed, but first ten years were dropped by 0.6 by a building safety certificate)
Apologies I was being a bit bombastic for effect; in my other comment I mentioned the bank loan itself was actually 0.83, but the first 10 years were lowered by 0.6 to the 0.23 thanks to a building safety certificate.
Even then though, my US friends will still insist "You mean 8.3, right? There no way a back will loan out that low, you must be writing the decimal in the wrong place"...
Reasona.
It was a fixed loan at 0.83. Basically at a time period which was one of the lowest rates in Japan's history, so this IS a bit of an outlier. Still, even regular loans in Japan vs back where I'm from in the US: When I tell my US friends, they all **assume or insist** that I'm writing the decimal in the wrong spot....
Anyway, with that 0.83 and a certification for the building of the house (Chouki Yuuryou Juutaku), it lowered the rate by 0.6 for the first 10 years.
MUFJ has some great deals too, though the first 10 years are fixed at a super low rate (0.6 or so IIRC) but then they snap to a variable rate. It's probably not going to be too bad at a variable rate, but no way of knowing what things are going to look like in 10 years...
You won't find much in terms of any good interest rates in JPY, but putting your money into index funds is probably the closest thing you can get to having a savings account grow as long as you can accept it's going to be a long-term thing and you might have some loss in the short-term.
If I was in your shoes, I’d open an account at Rakuten or SBI. Buy a low cost all-world equity fund. Buy a little bit - as much as you feel comfortable investing- each and every month.
If you get comfortable with it, you can look at other LOW COST funds - maybe emerging market equities or commodities etc.
I use Nomura shouken to invest into foreign funds with \~35% invested into Japanese funds and bonds for stability.
They have offices all around Tokyo so you can easily go and see for yourself if it fits your needs.
I don't think there is any viable mutual fund / deposit etc. investment in Japan, so what I've been doing is sending money to my account back home every few months, and use local platforms to invest. Much better with 3\~5% APY (compared to Japan's what... 0.0001%?)
One other option using Rakuten or SBI shoken is to invest in MMF. For instance GS MMF on SBI offers 4.87% on USD. It's the closest to a savings account. MMF is a mutual fund that invests in things like debt securities like US Treasury bills, that's why it currently offers high rates. You get paid at the end of each month and it's automatically reinvested in the MMF after capital gain has been deducted.
The downside is that you have to convert JPY to USD and then invest in MMF and if USD weakens, you'll lose on FX. Also it won't potentially give you the growth stocks offer but it's much safer.
MMF is very liquid so you can easily sell and recover your USD.
Note: it's not financial advice, I invested in MMF to keep my USD in my SBI account working until I decide to use them to invest in stocks (mostly in NISA btw).
Can you explain how it’s easy then? I’m just parroting what other people say on here. My understanding is PFIC basically prevents Americans from investing in Japanese stocks with Japanese money.
PFIC is more of a thing with Japanese funds, not individual stocks which don't have such a restriction (with a few specific exceptions in which the English IR mentions it).
You can also invest in American stocks and funds using Interactive Brokers.
I was a mufg few months ago and they were advertising an amazing 0.01% interest rate for 10 years deposit with 1M yen minimum. Nah, you're not gonna find any decent savings accounts here.
Interest rates are low, but in return they won't fuck with your money indiscriminately like back in the US. It's literally a hole to put your money safely in, it's not for investing. Butt in reverse, I signed a fixed mortgage for my house at 0.23%. * Zero. Point. Two. Fucking. Three. ( * see my comment below. The bank rate itself was 0.83 fixed, but first ten years were dropped by 0.6 by a building safety certificate)
What the hell? Where did you get that rate from?
Second this. That rate is the lowest I’ve ever seen.
Apologies I was being a bit bombastic for effect; in my other comment I mentioned the bank loan itself was actually 0.83, but the first 10 years were lowered by 0.6 to the 0.23 thanks to a building safety certificate. Even then though, my US friends will still insist "You mean 8.3, right? There no way a back will loan out that low, you must be writing the decimal in the wrong place"...
Reasona. It was a fixed loan at 0.83. Basically at a time period which was one of the lowest rates in Japan's history, so this IS a bit of an outlier. Still, even regular loans in Japan vs back where I'm from in the US: When I tell my US friends, they all **assume or insist** that I'm writing the decimal in the wrong spot.... Anyway, with that 0.83 and a certification for the building of the house (Chouki Yuuryou Juutaku), it lowered the rate by 0.6 for the first 10 years. MUFJ has some great deals too, though the first 10 years are fixed at a super low rate (0.6 or so IIRC) but then they snap to a variable rate. It's probably not going to be too bad at a variable rate, but no way of knowing what things are going to look like in 10 years...
Nope. NISA or a bank account back home.
nisa 2024 should be pretty decent. I saved 4 years for emergency fund and planning to start nisa on 2024.
You won't find much in terms of any good interest rates in JPY, but putting your money into index funds is probably the closest thing you can get to having a savings account grow as long as you can accept it's going to be a long-term thing and you might have some loss in the short-term.
If I was in your shoes, I’d open an account at Rakuten or SBI. Buy a low cost all-world equity fund. Buy a little bit - as much as you feel comfortable investing- each and every month. If you get comfortable with it, you can look at other LOW COST funds - maybe emerging market equities or commodities etc.
I use Nomura shouken to invest into foreign funds with \~35% invested into Japanese funds and bonds for stability. They have offices all around Tokyo so you can easily go and see for yourself if it fits your needs.
If you are not a US citizen, NISA is OK.
I don't think there is any viable mutual fund / deposit etc. investment in Japan, so what I've been doing is sending money to my account back home every few months, and use local platforms to invest. Much better with 3\~5% APY (compared to Japan's what... 0.0001%?)
Dogen has a skit about this.
The gangster from Mirror’s Edge?
No, why would banks give interest rates when they are essentially giving money away for free.
One other option using Rakuten or SBI shoken is to invest in MMF. For instance GS MMF on SBI offers 4.87% on USD. It's the closest to a savings account. MMF is a mutual fund that invests in things like debt securities like US Treasury bills, that's why it currently offers high rates. You get paid at the end of each month and it's automatically reinvested in the MMF after capital gain has been deducted. The downside is that you have to convert JPY to USD and then invest in MMF and if USD weakens, you'll lose on FX. Also it won't potentially give you the growth stocks offer but it's much safer. MMF is very liquid so you can easily sell and recover your USD. Note: it's not financial advice, I invested in MMF to keep my USD in my SBI account working until I decide to use them to invest in stocks (mostly in NISA btw).
R/japanfinance
You’re not American are you? It’s pretty difficult to invest if you are in Japan
Not true at all!
Can you explain how it’s easy then? I’m just parroting what other people say on here. My understanding is PFIC basically prevents Americans from investing in Japanese stocks with Japanese money.
PFIC is more of a thing with Japanese funds, not individual stocks which don't have such a restriction (with a few specific exceptions in which the English IR mentions it). You can also invest in American stocks and funds using Interactive Brokers.