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I need to buy some US stocks because they have been lagging behind recently, but that's just rebalancing, not tilting. Japan is up something like 66%? Of course you have 'lost' most of that on the currency, but a phenomenal performance. Stop investing, and start spending! That's what the radical li...

I need to buy some US stocks because they have been lagging behind recently, but that's just rebalancing, not tilting.

If somebody thinks they can run a large house off grid in case of a disaster it really relies on either a huge battery or sunny days around their outage. Do most folks really need to run the whole house in case of disaster? Some companies around here sell systems that are grid-tied, but that also h...

Logically, it would not seem necessary to file an 8621 for a PFIC held inside an IRA, but I don't think you will get a definitive answer here. The only organization that could give a definitive answer is the IRS, but of course they are notoriously loathe to a) give definitive answers and b) stand by...

That's good to hear, marcos. Thanks for reporting.
Good to hear from kramer and cbeck, too.
Useful to get a collection of reports on what did and didn't work for people.

The expense ratios on those funds are very high, around 1.3%. I'd go for an unhedged foreign bond fund instead. Or else I Bonds, or maybe a short-duration TIPS fund. If you really want just foreign cash, not bonds, I'd buy some physical currency and stick it in a drawer. That would cost less than t...

The expense ratios on those funds are very high, around 1.3%. I'd go for an unhedged foreign bond fund instead. Or else I Bonds, or maybe a short-duration TIPS fund. If you really want just foreign cash, not bonds, I'd buy some physical currency and stick it in a drawer. That would cost less than th...

I'm reporting interest received from a Japanese bank account on my US tax return (I live in Japan), specifically Schedule B on Form 1040. I happen to know that Japanese banks withhold 20% of the interest. However, the amounts shown on my bank booklet (通帳) and online statements makes no reference to...

Hi Thomas, My guess is that since you don't actually get cash interest paid out from I Bonds, you could defer the accumulated interest until cashing them out and then declare the accumulated gain as miscellaneous income, similarly to a zero-coupon bond. But that's just a guess! Couldn't hurt to call...

How about not heating the whole house, but only the room(s) you are actively using?
There may be a big efficiency savings there, depending on the house.

What I mean is that you are not allowed to contribute to an IRA in one year more than you made in taxable earned income that year. Excluded income does not count as taxable earned income, so unless you have some un-excluded earned income (wages, salary, etc. -- not interest or investment income), t...

I'm working outside of the US and due to my salary I don't have to pay any tax inside the US (If you make under ~90,000, then your exempt). My question is this: I have a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. Because I don't pay taxes right now, would it be better to be placing my money in the Traditional...

I'm working outside of the US and due to my salary I don't have to pay any tax inside the US (If you make under ~90,000, then your exempt). My question is this: I have a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. Because I don't pay taxes right now, would it be better to be placing my money in the Traditional...

With the Japanese tax filing season coming to a close on March 15, some notes on tax changes coming up, for planning purposes. As mentioned above, the temporary 10% rate for capital gains (on stocks held through Japanese brokers) and dividends is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2013, and both rates wil...

Or "o-u-mu" (オウム), like the terrorist group, depending on how you feel about financial advisers who charge by AUM.

Thought I read that Honda is going to the CVT in some of it's vehicles next year, such as the Pilot SUV. They are already known for good highway mileage in the V-6 engine due to their system that shuts down some of the cylinders when cruising. If Honda adopts the CVT that could mean even better mil...

I'll raise a toast in his honor with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

Note: looks like the treaty also specifies that interest is treated like dividends, with the source country (if one lives in the other country) getting dibs on the first 10% in taxation, and one's country of residence getting anything above that. Capital gains are taxed first in one's country of res...

Hi neko, Let me preface this by noting that I haven't bothered with the foreign tax credit much on either my US or Japanese taxes, so am probably not the best person to discuss this complicated subject. What follows is based on what I have read of the US-Japan tax treaty, and IRS and NTA filing inst...

For stocks, my foreign allocation consists of whatever is in the Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF outside of where I live (Japan). For bonds, my foreign allocation currently consists of 50/50 BND/EMLC (Vanguard Total (US) Bond Index ETF / Market Vectors Emerging Markets Local Currency ETF). Abov...

Additional note: Other issues If you are a US taxpayer (US citizen or green-card holder), and you buy US-based ETFs through a Japanese broker, the brokerage should ask you to fill out a W-9, in which case US taxes will not be automatically withheld from dividends in that account -- you just report t...

Thanks, Barry!

Filing Japanese tax returns (確定申告) What follow are some notes put together during offline discussions between Karamatsu and bpp on how to handle various questions an investor may face while filing taxes in Japan. This is NOT a comprehensive tax guide, and we are NOT experts. These are just some sub...

Petunia wrote:When inquiring about recasting my WF mortgage, I was told the $250 fee is charged by Freddie Mac who owns my mortgage, not be WF who merely services it.

I see. Then I wonder why Freddie Mac charges for the recast, and not (presumably?) to shorten the term...

I would always go for the recast over shortening the term, all else being equal. Here is what I wrote to someone else who had decided to recast: Good choice. Whenever I make a mortgage prepayment, I always choose the option to lower the monthly payment, rather than to shorten the remaining term. Thi...

OK, I didn't hear back from anyone, but I thought I should post what we concluded to be our best option. Just contacted Wells Fargo, and they confirmed that they will allow us to recast our mortgage for $250 and no other fees. So, no need to refinance. Since we have been paying down our mortgage qu...

I'm trying TurboTax now, because TaxAct stopped working this year on my Japanese version of Windows. Haven't tried to e-file yet, but so far so good. TurboTax handles some things better than TaxAct (foreign earned income is much more logically handled by TT now), some things worse, but overall simi...

I I had a question about moisture in wood floors and radiant heating. Is this a common problem? A builder said white oak for our main floor, which sounds nice, but I don't want cupping or shrinkage as the wood fluctuates between moisture. Concrete on the main floor is not an option, but maybe a hig...

I tested their online application up to a certain point, and this is what it says: -- More information Vanguard funds are not registered for sale outside the U.S. You must provide a U.S. address. [...] Doesn't say "registered with who [whom?]" though! :confused Registered with the relevan...

If the DOW were up 216 today, all the talking heads would be raving. But a move like that in the Nikkei never gets noticed. Why are the moves in the Nikkei often so large, and why isn't it a big deal to all the market yip yappers? I assume you are not watching/reading Japanese news, where the moves...

marcos123 wrote:Just wanted to acknowledge that it was in fact plats and bpp who assisted me, the OP, in this matter. Thanks again to you guys.

Cheers, marcos123. Glad to hear it worked out for you.
Always nice to get that kind of feedback.

Will do, Kramer.

I'm trying TurboTax now, because TaxAct stopped working this year on my Japanese version of Windows. Haven't tried to e-file yet, but so far so good. TurboTax handles some things better than TaxAct (foreign earned income is much more logically handled by TT now), some things worse, but overall simil...

Kind of silly if you ask me to lend money to the gov., corporations etc. at 1.6% via TBM when you have a mortgage that is higher in %? When stocks decline you can't pull money back out of your mortgage to buy stocks without taking out another loan with interest, and if you did that, why pay it off ...

It could be argued, to the contrary, that if your mortgage has higher interest than your bonds, then you shouldn't own any bonds until you pay off the mortgage. +1. Doing so creates negative cash flow. Borrowing at 3% and loaning at 2% is the opposite of what you want to be doing. This is what has ...

Because it runs on my system, whereas TaxAct doesn't.
(Haven't tried TaxCut.)

So my question to you is: How should I, as a Dutch investor, allocate the equity portion of my portfolio to U.S./European/non-european international markets? As a Dutch investor, you should be dividing the world into Eurozone/non-Eurozone markets. US/non-US is a meaningless distinction in your case...

Every time I buy an individual stock, I pretend I bought an equal amount of the index fund I use as my benchmark. Then I just compare total values of my basket of stocks and the pretend index fund holdings. I ignore dividends, so if my dividend yield is significantly different from that of the index...

Where were you living before you went abroad? You might want to make sure that after return, you declare at least temporary residence in a different state from that one. Some states will try to claim you were really a resident of that state the whole time you were abroad, and demand back-taxes, if y...

xatlasm wrote:b
Thanks again for your advice! よろしくお願いします！

頑張ってください！

I generally agree with Karamatsu. Regarding taxes, I would guess that whether the stipend/fellowship counts as earned income (eligible for FEIE or IRA contributions) depends on whether it is characterized as you being paid to do something (e.g., teaching assistantship or research assistantship), or ...

I pretty much know, for a reason I cannot publicly say, that we are going to be in the top tax bracket in the US (what is it now? 50%??). So assuming that is the case, do you think it is more financially appealing to live in the US or Switzerland? I feel that despite Switzerlands wonderful tax laws...

Thank folks. I've never had a problem filing overseas with TaxAct or TurboTax. Entering foreign income has always been puzzling, though. Never tried either on a Japanese OS. I never had a problem with TaxAct before -- it has worked great until this year. Very disappointing. I'm not sure whether it h...

Thanks, dratkinson. That thought had crossed my mind, but I'm not quite ready to trust The Cloud with my personal accounts information, so would prefer something I can run on my own computer.

I started using TaxACT several years ago to do my US taxes, because that was the only program that handled various issues related to overseas filers correctly. Unfortunately, this year the latest version seems to have suddenly become incompatible with my Japanese version of Windows -- the program al...

missybon wrote:An interesting suburb of Tokyo, Mitaka, hosts the Ghibili Museum (Totorro, Spirited Away, Ponyo)- its very well done but gets very crowded.

To avoid disappointment, note that that museum requires reservations in advance.

stan1 wrote:As you walk past Tokyo Tower look carefully at the top to see the "leaning tower" caused by the recent earthquake.

That's been fixed, hasn't it?

Another worthwhile day trip is Nikko, about two hours by train from Tokyo. The Tokyo Sky Tree is the newest tourist attraction in Tokyo, if that is to one's taste. The Edo-Tokyo Museum in Sumida-ku is interesting for historical details on life in the Edo period. The graves of the 47 Ronin at Sengaku...

50 years? Would have to suggest VT (Vanguard Total World Stock Index).
She can add bonds later.

Hi Joe, The question of what Vanguard recommends to Japanese investors has come up before, with no clear answer found as I recall. Looking through their site again, I find lots of "diversify and keep costs down" statements, but no actual suggested portfolios with percentages. For example, ...