Growing our money together

kez2 · 17 December 2017 at 11:34AM

Hello everyone!

Foreword
I want to start a diary but was unsure about which section of the form to post it in. Debt free diaries seems to be the most popular, but as I'm mainly concerned with saving (as my only debt is my student loan which I don't intend to overpay on) this section or the 'boost your income' section seemed the most relevant. My main interests are on saving money and making more so, if some experienced members of this forum could advise me on where to keep this diary I would be grateful!

I am an early 30s British man living in Japan! I am able to live in Japan long term so I intend to base myself here, and send money that I make surplus to my living expenses back to the UK to save. My short term goal is to save for training to become a therapist. This will involve travelling to Europe several times in 2018, it will cost me around £8000-9000 in total which is expensive but its been a dream of mine for 5 years so I'm committed to making it a reality.

I've broken down my state of affairs below, and I will be updating this blog at least weekly with updates on my progress. Feel free to ask me any questions pertaining to life in Japan!

Monthly Income After Tax
Main Job: ¥280,000 / £1866 (after tax)
Air BNB: ¥45,000 / £300 (after tax)

Total Monthly income: ¥325000 / £2168

Expenses:

Rent: 0
Taxes
NI:
Electricity: £30
Gas: £30
Water / Sewage: £20
Mobile Phone: £30
Internet: £50
Groceries: ?
Gym: £50
Travel: ?
Health Insurance: ?
Japanese Pension: ¥14,660 / £96.76
Haircuts: £25
Entertainment: ?

Assets:
Cash Savings: 397.82

Debts:
Student Loan: £20000*
Outstanding Legal Fees: £800
Medical Bill: £40
Travel Expenses: £90
Outstanding Japanese Pension: £600*
Outstanding National Insurance: *
Late payment penalty for self assessment: *

Savings Goals:

Emergency Fund: £6000
Therapist Training: £2500 by March 2018, £6000 by August 2018, £9000 by December 2018

*approximate amounts

This weeks action steps:
1. Figure out how much my student loan is
2. Get the dates of my therapist training course and calculate the travel and accommodation expenses
3. Contact the bank as I have a problem with one of my cards
4. Start moving my monthly recurring payments over to a single account so I can keep track of them more easily
5. Make a list of my monthly recurring online payments
6. Fix approximate amounts

savingwannabe · 17 December 2017 at 9:21PM

hello, konnichua - I wrote earlier to welcome you but it didn't print. Please do post here. We are all friendly and saving for a purpose of some kind.

Your salary seems good and you are saving which is great. Have you seen the film 'Kes' ? it's amazing.

May I ask why you are doing the course in Europe? Wouldn't it be cheaper in the UK if you have just moved abroad? or in Japan?

kez2 · 21 December 2017 at 5:04AM

Hello! thanks for your support, of course I have seen that movie! Back in the olden days it was part of the inspiration for my handle!

The reason I am doing the course in Europe is it is facilitated by a couple of mentors of mine who I really admire and will retire at some point in the near future. The course has great reviews and its definitely something I have wanted to do for about 5 years now. Its a good question, and I have questioned the expense myself but everyone I know who's been has said its one of the best things they've ever done so I'm going to go with it.

1. Student loan calculation (*to do)
2. Course dates: 10-15 Apr, 16-20 May, 19-24 June, 11-16 Sep, 24-28 Oct, 24-28 Apr. Course Fee: £3157-4157 (* calculate travel & accommodation)
3. Cards fix (*Done )
4. Start moving my monthly recurring payments over to a single account so I can keep track of them more easily (*to do)
5. Make a list of my monthly recurring online payments (*in progress)
6. Fix approximate amounts (*in progress)

Skint_yet_Again · 21 December 2017 at 7:47AM

Hi kez well done on getting organised and saving. The course may be expensive but as long as it is a recognised qualification in the field you want to work in and the country/countries you want to work in then I think it will be worth it. Good luck !

kazwookie · 21 December 2017 at 8:07AM

No rent?
£50 hair cuts is this per month or a yearly figure?

kez2 · 24 December 2017 at 8:17AM

Thanks for the support its been an exciting week of taking action on my financial life.

Firstly, I contacted the UK tax office and confirmed the status of my tax situation. It seems after completing my final self-assessment in January, I am officially released from the burden of filing self assessments in the UK. According the gentleman I spoke to I also do not need to pay tax on income I send over from Japan to my UK accounts. Regarding NI, I have to fill out a form to see if I will be paying class 1 or class 2 contributions. I have 9 years paid NI contributions so far. So once I have 10 years I hit the minimum threshold for a state pension, but I would like to keep paying as I see myself retiring in the UK. There is also a hotline you can call where they can calculate your estimated pension for you based on your contributions so far. This is called the "future pension department" and their number is: 08007310175 / +44 191 218 7777

In other financial news, I am buying £75 worth of crypto currency. I would rather not get into a debate here about crypto. This is a relatively small amount to invest and i'm writing about it to show I am taking pro-active steps to aggressively engage with investing.

If anyone is interested here are the steps to buy crypto currency, if you are interested but intimidated, its very easy:

1. Buy some bitcoin from localbitcoins.com, changelly.com or bittylicious.com
2. Download and install Exodus Wallet: exodus.io
3. Transfer your bitcoin to Exodus
4. Use Exodus' built-in Exchange feature to exchange some/all of your bitcoin into currencies with philosophies you believe in.

Bad news is, as I have not been paying Japanese pension contributions and health insurance for the past year I may need to pay these back dated which would run into hundreds of pounds. I must visit my local city office this week to check up on this. As I was not working for some of the year I am hopefully eligible for a significant subsidy.

Feels great to be taking action.

Thanks for your supportive replies:
@Skint yet Again: Thanks! Yes it leads to an internationally recognised qualification
@kazwookie: My accommodation is provided through my work however I'd like to stop this job by the end of 2018 so that will be another expense I will be incurring in future. Yes, haircuts are super expensive in Tokyo unless you go to the budget barbers. I currently go once every 8 weeks, and it costs £51 so I have adjusted my balance sheet. Thanks for pointing this out, I am looking for cheaper, quality alternatives!

savingwannabe · 24 December 2017 at 10:15AM

OMG What haircut do you have? Grow your hair. That's all I can say but I don't think that is 'in' any more.

I have no idea of what crypto currency is. I'm a bank account person only. Someone clever will come along in a bit. It takes real guts to travel abroad and work there. Well done you.

You sound really switched on to me. Merry Christmas.

kez2 · 24 December 2017 at 3:54PM

Hello! I promise you I may give the impression of being organised but it's only because I am working on being accountable here. In terms of books I like Ramit Sethi's I will teach you to be rich for no nonsense applicable advice and "your money or your life" - though long winded for revealing the realities of waged work. Ramits book in particular I feel fills a gap in the money book market and is a great manual

kez2 · 23 January 2018 at 7:51AM

Happy January everyone

Quick update from me, and checking in.

Managed to stay fairly frugal over the break and had to due to less earnings from Job due to holidays. This month I have £535.41 in old expenses I need to pay off plus my national insurance contributions which I am in the process of registering for an as expat. Will be using my Japanese bank to do this, unless I can get transfer wise working (for lower fees) Spent about £200 on new clothes during sale shopping trip with a friend which I feel super guilty about despite loving what I bought. Have also been using tony robbins "Rapid Results Method" to keep track of goals and make small incremental progress. If anyone would like information on this please let me know. Stay positive folks. x

savingwannabe · 23 January 2018 at 10:23AM

I hope you pay off your expenses. Sales shopping on clothes is fine I am sure. I hope you got some bargains.

I will look up this Tony Robbins.

Growing our money together

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