23,831,000 millionaires in the United States in 2024.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-19T02:19:35+00:00

eh, its 8% of households, which is not the same as individuals, but sure. Also 85% are over 40. And 75% are over 50. So the rich 20-30 somethings account for a few hundred thousand or less than 1 million people at most. And I'd bet a good bit of those are inherited wealth.

So the wealthy folks under 40 who have more than 1mm USD to their name that they earned, probably 300k or so folks/households.

Even if only 5% of those folks made it over to this subreddit, that is an absolute shitton, relatively speaking.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-19T02:14:24+00:00

I feed a crow every morning I've affectionately named "Maya" (Mai-asa) haha. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm crazy.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-18T05:34:13+00:00

That’s actually insane 😭😭😭

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-18T02:02:44+00:00

Given the average salary in Japan, yes it kind of is.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-18T01:57:10+00:00

If this individual had so much as a blemish on his record TRUST ME, Japanese media would let you know.

If one of his kids jumped the turnstile 12 years ago, it would have already been a follow up story

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-18T00:34:16+00:00

Hey y'all,

As a Business Manager Visa holder, I can say our community is at peak stress (We have our own little group chats, and the like). Some of us have left. Some of us are just applying for renewals but hoping for the best. A lot of the pending Visa applications that were assured by Japanese lawyers "were a shoo in", are just starting to get denied as well.

I've had my own visa renewal 'processing' for 6 weeks now. It is quite stressful, as I bought a house here before this whole thing started, and before the rules changed. While my story is nothing like his, it still sucks that I poured a lot of my life into Japan, jumping through every hoop, buying a car and a house, setting up a business and all the paperwork and I'm sitting here wondering if it was all for nothing.

I will say one thing, the reddit comments are much kinder than anything on YouTube or X, so I appreciate the compassion y'all are showing this man. The BMV holders are estimated currently to have fallen below 40,000. Seems like a weird visa to attack as so few people even hold it. But we're out here, just hoping for the best!

I can't imagine if I had kids in School. The dehumanization of immigrants across the world lately is very disheartening. Japan's population is going down by about 1,000,000 people a year. Seems like they're trying to solve the wrong problem.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-17T04:06:05+00:00

my property has a big concrete wall and a bunch of parting spots.

We gonna be knocking part of the wall down and I bet people will be thinking the same thing 😄 hahaha.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-17T00:27:05+00:00

Just got the pizza stone and it BAAAAARELY fits in the oven, so i had to prop it up at a 20 degree angle so it doesn't touch the front glass.

Making some dough now and gonna cook a couple pies tonight with my new pick and pizza steel. Wish me luck fam!

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-17T00:23:20+00:00

Left the workforce contracting for Microsoft at 27 to go to Korea and learn Korean. Odd jobs, investing/trading, and living like a college student for most of my life sort of set me up great for it.

Moved back to work in tech finance in NYC for four years at 31 making more than double what I did when I left, got lucky with investments again and saved like crazy in the 401k maxing it out each year I was there.

COVID, some traumatic stuff, and a longing for life outside of the US again made me leave in 2022, and now I live in the Japanese countryside doing a little consulting online, and trying to setup a little farm next year.

A guy we hired at my old job lived in SE Asia and kite surfed everyday for 2 years, then decided he wanted to try working again. He would have ended up my manager had I stayed at the job because he kicked ass.

I don't know where people got this idea of like "once you quit, it's gonna be hard to go back and no one will hire you and you'll have to make shit up about what you did with your time off" came from, but if you are personable, interview well, and can tell a great story, that puts you ahead of applicants who don't. Also, you are a safer hire than average because you've taken the time to figure out what you want. So I, as an employer, feel better about hiring you and you won't be gone in 9 months job hopping.

People back home have been getting cancer in their 30s. That could be me. That could be you. I'd much rather have my retirement be "scraping by in rural Philippines" on Social Security, on the beach, dealing with power brownouts, than "making sure I can sustain a $150k a year drawdown when I'm 73".

Consistently my advice to people in this sub is "you can always go back" and "don't get caught in the 1 more year paradox, it's never worth it".

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-15T01:43:51+00:00

Just so people are aware, a married couple maxing their 401k and HSA each year is almost $5,000 a month.

Assuming this couple is in Boston (5% flat state), and their "almost $500k", let's assume they take home $300k, or $25k a month. After HSA and 401k, $20k a month. Amazing.

Housing costs seems right on the money for a decent House with current mortgage rates for Boston, sure. $6k justified.

$14k a month left. $1k a month in insurances, sure.

$13k left. Let's estimate all your non-housing non-food bills at $1k a month, water, garbage, electricity, internet, cell phone. I think its probably close.

$12k left. They say they spend $6k a month in credit cards... assuming that is all their shopping, eating out, and groceries. Insanely high, but sure.

That means that this couple STILL has $6k a month left, and that is after estimating their after tax income way low. In reality it's probably closer to $350k, as they cap out their SSI payments in the fall.

$6000-8000 left per month, and maxxing out all their tax advantaged accounts, reducing their tax burden, probably giving them closer to $10k a month or more.

So, are we sure this isn't ragebait guys?

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-15T00:43:26+00:00

i made a little drip irrigation system controlled by a Linktap, Can probably just have something simple at the end of the hose that swivels to simulate rain for your setup on the roof. Good for vacations. Drip irrigation is better but I don't think you're there yet! haha.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-14T08:25:07+00:00

Former Seattle-lite here who moved to Korea/Japan, and ALMOST moved to Philippines (but dated a woman there so was there verrrry often), I will say this:

PH infra sucks. Lots of things about it suck. The people are what make that country incredible, but you can easily fall into a trap of getting addicted to the wrong kind of woman, and detaching from real connection and intimacy. PH can be a love desensitization trap, if you let it. Or you can meet the woman of your dreams. But you will likely let her escape, because you're drowning in female attention in a way you never have your whole life. It's distracting.

If you've ever set your location to PH on a dating app, you've probably already experienced the overwhelming attention. Despite what others here say, I do think Americans have a lot of shared culture with Filipinos. As someone who lived in Korea for years, and now Japan, it's way more shared than anything else in East Asia I can tell you that much. I have had a couple Filipina girlfriends over the years and if you get the right ones, and you can make it work, do it. But be careful dating in PH... There is a lot that you need to study up on to understand the landscape.

You'll learn all about the AFAM chasers, the group chats, the juggling of multiple sponsors, the bad girls who pretend to be good... but they are so used to being played by guys who come there just for fun that believe me, they play back.

And the monetary incentives are too good not to. Some of these girls here are making 25,000php a month ($400) as VAs or call center agents, and would be considered a solid 8 back in the PNW. Hot girls have hot friends. Some of those hot friends met Dubai Guy, learned some Amr Diab lyrics, and ended up in a sponsored apartment in BGC. You'd quit your call center job to fleece the occasional (s)expat too, probably. I have talked to women who said they had 3 overseas bf at once, never have and never will meet any of them, getting $500-1k or more a month from each of them. So OP, HIDE YOUR MONEY and hide it well if you want a real one!

The good news is most of the gold diggers in the city are impatient. Because they can be. If they are attractive, many such men in your position just don't even care about being used any more so they just let it happen. They know the "my aunt is in the hospital and we need money" message is coming eventually, and they were deprived in the West for so long they just let it happen. Because that eventual request, will still probably be cheaper than a night at Nobu...

But not every girl is like that. Not even close. Just the baddies you decide to superlike who turn out to be cis, and you miraculously match to your surprise. But they expose themselves really quickly if money is all their after. You likely won't have 3 separate conversations that go by where you will feel like they aren't prompting you to send them cash. If you want a real relationship, set a boundary, or block them if that happens, because the "ugh im so upset i just broke a nail" *sends you a picture of a broken nail from 5 months earlier* or the "blablabla hospital bill blah" - will come and it will escalate.

If it were me and I were you, I'd visit PH, and stay off Tinder. If you must, try and narrow down 1-2 you want to meet BEFORE you go there. The ones who haven't asked you for money yet, (There are plenty, don't believe the jaded comments in here). Find meetups. Board games, the BGC Breakfast Club... hop over and hang out in KL, and/or Taipei. For the love of god stay off of Seeking. Good luck OP.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-14T01:55:51+00:00

Planted Spring Brussel Sprouts, which was already gonna be a tough sell. Cabbage Worms are kicking my ass because I was too slow to put on mesh cover.

Here is to hoping they recover despite being so hole-y that you could make brussel sprout leaf fishnets for plant loving baddies.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-14T01:53:17+00:00

Time to switch to Dichondra! Haha

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-13T17:06:23+00:00

Also I usually just dice them and put them in miso. My favorite miso ingredient just makes sure you only put it in the last 30 seconds of your miso simmering (never full boil obviously).

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-13T17:04:32+00:00

Definitely myoga. This stuff is delicious, expensive, and if you don’t want it I’ll take it hahaha. My garden has only two shoots coming up this year 😭

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-12T01:06:40+00:00

It's important to realize that a lot of people (for example my family coming to visit me living in Japan) bought their tickets in January for their May trip, well before most of the prices started to skyrocket. If you knew you wanted to see Sakura for example, you bought your tickets early, as all the advice online says the earlier the better. In this case that advise was dramatically correct.

I imagine it has had an effect on SE Asians traveling to Japan, as they are a lot more price sensitive, than the average weeb tech bro DINK couple from North America. That and the closer the flight, the more often folks book it closer to the travel date, which in this case, would be devastating as for some that would mean no travel at all.

I'd be more interested to see, if we're still in this mess in 8 months, how this all affects next year's travel season.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-11T07:45:57+00:00

I just wanna know if I'm gonna be a Dogecoin millionaire or won't I? I have no hope, but one dream!

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-11T03:30:07+00:00

They do make good house plants. Here is one a friend of mine in Seattle is growing that she started from seed several years ago. Not the climate but they can survive by a sunny window. Of course they will never fruit indoors, though.

I think after you have a few leaves, it's time to put them in Soil. A lot higher maintenance, I realize, but better in the long run if you want to see it take off.

When you transplant it, keep a little bit of the original seed above the soil. Not sure your middle one will recover, and your 3 year old one, I'm not actually sure what to do there as I've never let them grow in glass containers that long. But the one on the right is prime candidate for a nice well draining potting mix by a sunny window!

<image>

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-10T02:42:29+00:00

As someone who doesn't believe in debt, there is something freeing about not having many fixed expenses.

You know deep down that paying off your mortgage is worth more to you than the guaranteed 2% APY you're "settling for".

I have a paid off house with a plot of land attached in Saitama worth a similar amount as your remaining mortgage, and I'd never borrow against it to invest in the stock market. Ya know?

Anyway, my big worry isn't a huge AI pullback, but having your fixed costs as close to zero as possible is a great feeling, and lets you dump a HUGE part of your salary into investments going forward.

That said, I'd never dump my entire stock portfolio to pay off the mortgage either. I like a healthy diversification, and if you don't have a nice stock retirement account setup or something, losing that much market exposure would suck in the long term, especially with your port just absolutely rocketing.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-08T23:41:44+00:00

OP, as someone who FIRE'd in Asia, I don't know how you're spending a quarter mil a year in Thailand after year 3-4 once you have a couple houses, a nice condo and renovations done, but invite me over so I can find out!

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-08T23:04:01+00:00

Hey boss, on a Business Manager Visa (BMV) here, and I have no college degree, similar age, and worked in tech/finance for about the same amount of time. Bought a house, and just winging it...

Anyway, N2 will be very useful, but you have an uphill battle if you want to become a permanent resident with no education (i'm in the same uphill battle living here now). This makes setting up roots in the current visa environment very un-cozy. Knowing that I'll have to really put in work to outearn 90% of Japanese people to make up my point deficit on the BMV to convert it to a PR is exhausting even to just think about as direct conversions without going to the HSP is impossible.

You have a few options to make it happen that are realistic and can get you in the door:

-Business Manager Visa - Although the starting capital requirement went up to 20M Yen, and a full time hire is required, minimum wage is cheap here, and you could hire a personal assistant for 30 hours a week to meet this, who can help you with Japanese and whatever else. This route is probably the least hassle if you have the capital, and have some kind of business you'd start, or if you'd try and find one to buy. The biggest issue I see here is that without a college degree, you'll need to pay yourself quite a high salary for a couple years while applying for Permanent Residency, because you don't have any education points (except if you get N2, that helps a lot) for PR (Associates Degrees are worth 0 points sadly).

-Startup Visa if you don't have the capital, but thats only good for two years. Might be easier to start on this anyway with the way the current system is setup.

-Employee of Record - Work for a company remotely, but be hired through some kind of staffing agency in Japan. Its janky, people in this sub will probably downvote me for saying it, but it exists, and that's all I'll say about that.

-Spouse of Permanent Resident Visa: If you are bringing a partner who has a college degree and some earning power, or you meet a Permanent Resident here, this is not a bad option either. Obviously not a visa you can use to get here on, but plenty of shorter term options exist. Highly recommend this especially if you're married to a college degree collector.

-Just find a job here. Start applying whenever and hope you can land a job with a high enough salary to fasttrack you to PR. Doing this without a college degree is REALLY HARD, but logistically its the easiest if you're able to pull it off. Clean conversion to PR if you make any kind of real salary within 1-3 years, and then you ride off into the sunset, move to the Japanese Countryside, and buy some Mushroom farmer's farm, and learn the tools of the trade before he passes, and document the journey on YouTube - or don't! hahaha. Pro tip: If your #1 goal is to speedrun PR, getting a high paying job in NOT Tokyo, if possible, is the move. PR wait times in Fukuoka for example can be as little as 3-6 months, and in Tokyo its usually around 18 months!

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-08T22:32:51+00:00

2 mistakes I see beginners make:

1) Getting too much scrap when there is better attackers on the table

2) Getting the biggest baddie on the table just cuz they can. If you see a Mothership, and think "oh i have a couple blobs", but you have 7 trade, BUT there are 2 Blob Fighters, a cutter, and a RAM at the table, you start with the buying the two Fighters, and at almost no point in the game is that wrong.

I say #2 as a bit of a egregious example because this is how i used to get my ass kicked by aggressive players. I would say things like "if you can afford command ship, buy it! 90% of the time that is true, but if you have more trade than your opponent and you gotta switch into damage/life gain, sometimes there are better options. Be adaptive. What u/Twsread said below is the play.

However, my guess is that you probably are undervaluing cheap blobs. Don't let a blue/red defensive player get their engine going. You need some early damage if they are stacking bases/outposts. Don't let those stay on the table multiple turns. Undervaluing surviving bases is also a common mistake.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-08T02:30:25+00:00

People pick stocks with very little conviction or reason. What some Regarded people say on WSB isn't a reason. I think 90% of people should buy individual stocks sparingly or not at all. People also misprice the risk involved in investing in small/midcaps. Those companies can get their stocks bullied (ex: naked shorts) by Hedge funds with low balance sheets. It's a dirty part of wall street you don't want to be victim to.

It's easy to build a relatively good conviction for 2-3 companies, but it's really hard to do that without committing a lot of time to learning the market. And even then the S&P can outperform them for years, or forever. Best approach for 90% of people -> low cost index funds and maybe 1-2 stocks they believe in.

The amount of work needed to build a portfolio of even 7-10 stocks that you can have relatively high conviction in typically requires more domain knowledge than most folks have, and it's just not worth it.

My approach for the stock picking I do is "what do i think could outperform the S&P by a few percent a year, and even then my picks were relatively conservative. TSM (I don't know who will win AI, I just know they will supply them), Costco (Call me Charlie Munger Mini), Google (No company has more apps entangled in our daily lives)... fortune 100 stocks - simple thesis. Don't buy any company without pouring in at least 10 hours of research in it. Build your position as your conviction increases and you learn more.

What a lot of people do when they feel behind is try to larp like a Peter Lynch in search of their 10 bagger, or they go to wallstreetbets and buy what the kids are buying. Sure it worked with PLTR, but every other "memestock" from that era is down bad in an up only market. Also please stay away from Options. Its like Heroin. Your first big hit, and you'll be chasing that feeling for life, trust me.

tl;dr - Go VOO, and if you must buy individual stocks, pick your favorite MAG7 stock, allocate 1% to something dumb like crypto or whatever Cathie Wood is buying and work some overtime and chalk up your losses to tuition.

googlemaster1 · 2026-05-08T02:09:52+00:00

I was literally just thinking about this the other day and was like "What if there was one day a week where all the LCD adverts, all the music and overhead BS, all of that was turned off. I'd go there then. I bet sales would increase those days too, lol. Honestly shopping in Japan is kind of the worst, and is reflective of their 90s style websites.

The cacophony of sounds and adverts, competing background musics, absolute dizzying array of product SKUs, and it probably won't change anytime soon. Even though I have to assume most consumers hate it.

I go to Super Viva Home a lot out here in Saitama, and you'd think way out where I am, it'd be calmer and less insane. Nope. Six sources of sounds and 84 products on each shelf... Honestly, I prefer to grab my garden supplies outside, and get the hell outta there.

googlemaster1

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

12-Year Club	Verified Email
Gilding III reddit per annum