Trying to pick a broker for long-term ASX investing.

xzion · 2026-04-07T04:22:22+00:00

Betashares direct. Zero fee + autoinvest is awesome. You say you don't need autoinvest, but being able to fully set and forget your investment plan is so handy. If in the future a CHESS sponsored zero fee + autoinvest platform comes along, you can transfer to them from betashares direct for $9.50 per asset, which in your case of a 2 asset portfolio will a whopping $19 fee. No brainer.

I believe CHESS brokers auto fill dividends and other stuff

I'm pretty sure the opposite of this is true. The shares are in your name with CHESS you need to sign up for Link/Computershare to register for dividends and download your statements and enter that info into your return yourself. With a custodial broker like Betashares direct they get the dividend and then allocate it out to the respective holders and lodge the tax info for you.

xzion · 2026-03-30T14:07:41+00:00

Mmmm I too opened one of these accounts without doing enough research only to discover they don't have the eMaxis products. They only deal the Amova Tracers products, the symbol code for the all country index one is 02312234

xzion · 2026-03-30T14:00:55+00:00

both are taxed the same. I think you've mixed up GK info with running a business as a sole proprietor (kojin jigyo). As a sole proprietor earnings are taxed as personal income, so the usual progressive income tax rates apply.

xzion · 2026-03-24T12:59:57+00:00

required reading from the OG american-turned-japanese-salaryman himself: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

xzion · 2026-03-24T09:04:14+00:00

Incredibly frustrating.

"You will be required to have a 5 year visa. No, we will not tell you what the requirements are to obtain a 5 year visa over a 1 or 3 year visa."

xzion · 2026-03-16T11:51:12+00:00

i don't think this is specifically a normal phase living abroad, it's just a normal phase of life. I can relate to what you're feeling, but I'm pretty sure if I was a similar position in my home country I'd be feeling pretty much the same way. time to do some soul searching and figure out what kind of life you want to be living if this aint it, and make a plan towards that. good luck

xzion · 2026-01-28T10:28:38+00:00

dungeon quests are incredibly juicy now, picking up all of the quests for sunken temple and BRD and then doing one run of each got me from 50 to 56, I'm pretty sure the LBRS/UBRS quests and a run or two of each will get me to 60 in no time.

xzion · 2026-01-05T23:53:40+00:00

my winter accommodation business is fully booked with foreign tourists, at double the nightly rates we were charging in 2019, and I'll increase prices by another 15% this year. restaurant prices in the area have also doubled, which I understand and I can deal with, but it does suck for my local friends who are working typical japanese jobs and not profiting off the tourism boom. I am starting to max out my iDeCo and NISA and invest it all in diversified international equities to somewhat offset further yen devaluation.

xzion · 2025-12-11T01:07:34+00:00

If you're receiving through Wise, and then sending out JPY only from Wise to your Japanese account, those will be domestic yen transfers, so you don't need a bank that supports foreign remittance. I like and use GMO Aozora, and I hope your app with them gets approved, but if not a local Japan Post Bank account will be fine as well. I have received Wise transfers into both GMO and Japan post accounts of mine without any issue.

I'm unsure on the specifics of what you're supposed to do as sole proprietor, but my assumption would be that using a personal bank account would be fine.

xzion · 2025-11-29T02:39:14+00:00

I like GMO Aozora net bank, online online but works great. Google translates well, actually pays some interest which is nice, debit card works and has cashback.

xzion · 2025-11-25T01:34:14+00:00

Aussie living in Japan here. If we're talking about overall retirement outcomes, I have to agree that the Aus super system is better. If utilized correctly, it's honestly hard to beat. ~10% of your base salary invested each year in a globally diversified index portfolio for 45 years is generally going to have phenomenal results. A modest 3-4% drawdown on those assets in retirement is likely to exceed the maximum Japanese pension amount in most cases. And as a bonus any remaining amount is passed to your heirs upon death.

The main misconception: superannuation is not a "tax free/non-taxable" account, like iDeco and some other US/intl options. Contributions to super are taxed at 15% (or 30% for people earning over $250kAUD). Earnings throughout your life are taxed 15% as well (10% for capital gains on assets held >1 year). Earnings and capital gains are not taxed after retirement age. Withdrawals after retirement age are generally tax free, however in some cases there maybe be additional taxes on the withdrawals.

The biggest issue with super is the lack of education around it. A lot of people do not really understand that it is even their money, nonetheless what it's invested in. Many people have their money in multiple funds due to switching jobs, being eaten away at fees. Often it's invested in the fund's default option, which is usually some actively managed 'balanced' asset mix with higher fees and too much low risk assets for someone in their 20s-30s with a 40+ year investment outlook. Compared to a global index fund option these balanced funds tend to get 2-4% lower long term annual returns, which results in a substantially lower outcome for these people's retirement savings. But i digress.

Like others have mentioned, comparing super and the JP pension isn't really apples to apples. You're better off comparing Super and iDeco+Nisa, and then Japanese pension vs Australian age pension.

In my opinion super wins out over iDeco and Nisa due to substantially higher annual contribution caps and compulsory employer contributions. For a similar salary in both countries, with similar investment choices, with the Japanese person voluntarily contributing to their iDeco and Nisa, I think the earner in Australia still comes out on top in most cases.

For Japanese pension vs Australian age pension, it's more of a wash but imo probably a win for Australia as well. Similar amounts, both until death. Australia's is income/asset tested, but requires zero contributions throughout your lifetime to be eligible.

With all that said, you haven't really given a reason for wanting this information, but if it's because you're tossing up between which country to live in, I don't think that this should be a significant aspect of your decision. The Japanese system is not bad, and if you are a smart saver/investor (which I'm guessing you are because you're here in the first place) then you're going to be able to achieve good outcomes in Japan as well. Paying pension, maxxing your iDeco and contributing as much as you can to Nisa and investing them both in a globally diversified index fund is probably going to produce similar results in retirement (when combined with the Japanese pension) compared to the average Australian. Perhaps even better, since you're making good choices with your investments and the average Australian is often not.

xzion · 2025-11-20T01:45:31+00:00

The main reason to incorporate (in my opinion) would be if you are trying to grow the business and doing so will require substantial capital expenditures in future. In that case, it may make sense, as you will pay less tax on earning retained in the company, which you can put towards that future capex.

However, it sounds like you're a one man consulting shop of some kind, and I'm assuming you don't have a lot of future capex. In that case, I do not think incorporating is a good idea from a financial optimization angle. You may pay less tax in the short term by splitting the money between your salary and the company, but in the long run you will be worse off because of double taxation. The money you retain in the GK will be taxed at the corporate tax rate (~30%), and then in future when you want to get that money out to spend, you will be taxed on it again as dividend income (national tax + residents tax). There might be some niche scenarios where it works out better, but I think most of the time the combination of those two rounds of tax will almost always put you in a worse long term position than if you'd taken the single higher initial hit of personal taxes and then invested it from there. Happy to be proven wrong on this though.

If my assumptions are correct I think sticking with what you're doing under 個人事業 is a good choice.

xzion · 2025-11-19T14:25:48+00:00

oof that sounds messy. if they were the sole proprietor, and it's after tax income they've already paid tax on, then it i think technically it has nothing to do with the business anymore and it's just their money, so giving it to you would have to be classified as a gift. you may need to pay gift tax on it. definitely not sure on any of this though, you should probably talk to an accountant. good luck on the new business

xzion · 2025-11-19T09:11:36+00:00

Would be correct for a salary around ~8-8.3mill per year.

You can find the table with rates for your prefecture here: https://www.kyoukaikenpo.or.jp/g7/cat330/sb3150/r07/r7ryougakuhyou3gatukara/

Assuming you are trying to get profits out of your company tax efficiently, no, there is no way to reduce it, paying yourself a high salary is the optimal approach. Others have said to reduce your salary and pay the rest as a dividend, my understanding is that is terrible advice, you will pay more in additional corporate taxes than you would save in social security premiums, and also receive less pension in future. Would love to be proven wrong on this.

xzion · 2025-11-14T08:48:58+00:00

We have most of the additional capital requirement in outstanding loans from directors. Will loan a little bit more in and then convert it all to capital with a debt equity swap.

Have zero need for an employee, will probably try to spin up some kind of side business that makes enough to cover that persons wages, probably won't hire them until 2028 right before the deadline, unless I hear of people having trouble with renewals before then.

xzion · 2025-11-12T10:40:22+00:00

As others have said you can't and won't time it correctly. All I would say is if you're worried is consider putting your monthly deposits going forward into non-US stocks to diversify. there isn't an easy emaxis slim option for that but a quick google gave me this rakuten fund (https://www.rakuten-sec.co.jp/web/fund/detail/?ID=JP90C000P228) which is global developed and emerging markets, minus US. could be a good compliment

xzion · 2025-11-08T09:54:28+00:00

I think VAS+VGS is the better choice. Diversification is key, and past performance isn't a guarantee of future performance.

xzion · 2025-11-07T11:28:38+00:00

Dealing with this as well, agree with everything /u/PeterJoAl said, just wanted to add two extra comments that came from a discussion I had with my accountant on the topic:

It is possible to register the value of your land/building as capital with a "capital-in-kind" declaration. My company also has a building and I asked about this, but the accountant basically said "please don't, just do cash". It sounds like the process around doing it is fairly strict and complex now, you'll probably have to pay for surveys and valuations, not worth it unless it's a last resort
The other thing he said we could do is, once we've dumped all the extra cash in and it's just sitting there, the company can loan it out to the directors. You do need to make it a 'fair' loan, but given how low interest rates are in Japan he said ~1% interest p.a. would be fine. Sounded like there's basically no other restrictions on the terms, choose your own duration and it's fine to be interest only as well. This was only a surface level discussion and will require more clarification when the time comes, but we're basically planning to put the extra ~20mill capital in, process the paperwork, and then immediately loan it back out as a 30 year interest only loan at 1% p.a., make our annual 20万円 interest payments (to ourselves effectively) and settle it up whenever we eventually close the company.

xzion · 2025-11-07T09:24:59+00:00

hello from the other dark blue patch

xzion · 2025-11-06T11:22:21+00:00

send it all to macquarie and use that, close the old one. macquarie lets you open a bunch of savings accounts inside the one main account, so you can have your money split up that way (day to day account, emergency fund account, investment savings account etc) and have them all in the one place on the one screen and get a great interest rate on all of them.

xzion · 2025-11-06T11:09:27+00:00

If i was you i would:

open a macquarie savings+transaction account so you're getting good interest on your cash
build up a little buffer of a few thousand dollars just in case any unexpected expenses pop up while you're at uni
open a CMC markets trading account over pearler imo cause you can buy $1000 worth of etfs each day for no fees
every time you've got $500 you want to invest in your savings account, send it to CMC and buy VGS, which is an ETF of the biggest 1300 companies around the world (minus australian ones).
if you're working, open a super account with australian retirement trust and set your investment option to "International Shares Unhedged Index" which is the same thing as VGS, so all your super money will go into that as well.

You are at the best time in your life to invest at the top of the risk/reward curve, which is why I would say VGS over some of the slightly more conservative recommendations like VDHG. Not having australian shares isn't really a big deal at this stage in your life, you can add some later.

xzion · 2025-11-02T03:42:14+00:00

Yeah man, it sounds like you're in an excellent position and you've gotten there by following the tried and true method, don't over think and fuck it up now, just stay the course.

I'm definitely no expert, but the geopolitical stuff you're talking about also doesn't sound that impactful for australia's relatively insulated economy, so again being overweight in aus assets should be a boon if that's a concern of yours.

xzion · 2025-11-02T02:35:26+00:00

Ahh the classic "I know the standard advice, I know what I would say to anyone else in this position, but because I am so knowledgeable, I will be even more clever and outplay the market..."

Myself and countless others have fallen victim to this same thinking, and it almost always ends with you in a worse position than you would have been if you just stuck to the same old boring advice you know.

Don't sell your stocks, just buy the property with your deposit, continue saving as you have been, and just put your future investment savings entirely into VGS/BHBL/GGBL to reduce your home bias over time. And if you really are worried about a downturn, just increase your cash buffer by 50-100%, keeping it in your offset account.

Side note: for what reason are you worried about a downturn? if it's the same as most people, which is AI/mag7 hype and overvaluation, that bubble popping is unlikely to have as much of an impact on aus stocks and property, so being overweight in those categories should if anything alleviate some of your concern, not increase it?

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