Background: ethnic Chinese couple (33), no kids (might have 1 in the future) currently working in the US, considering moving to Japan for early retirement. Depending on the investment/job return, we may end up with somewhere between $2M – $5M net worth (Equity, 401k, etc.) when we hit 40, and that's the moment when we will quit our job, leave the US and seek early retirement in Asia. I have some preliminary plans below after doing my research, but I definitely appreciate any suggestions on whether they are realistic or not, and if there's anything I can do to make it more reasonable.
———— Budget: we live a simple lifestyle, so we will target a monthly spending of $3,000-$4,000 in today's price. That should cover our rent, public transportation, dining out, local travel, medical expenses, and potentially school tuition for the kid, if we have any.
———— Visa: this is the trickest part. Our jobs won't allow remote working. Thus we have to find a visa option to allow us to stay in Japan. I cannot find any retirement visa unfortunately. I'm willing to make a concession by working in Japan for at most 3 more years and applying for PR at the same time. I do have a PhD in Engineering, some 50 scientific publications and 2 US patents. Language wise, I passed JLPT-N2 many years ago, and I'm willing to pick up my Japanese language by practicing more. I hope those certifications will allow me to apply for a PR based on skill. On the flip side I dropped out of the academia and started working in the renewable energy industry in the US many years ago. So I'm highly uncertain about whether there's still any colleges in Japan that are willing to hire me as researcher/professor. Also I've heard that Japanese companies rarely hire foreigners from abroad. With that being said I'm very skeptical about whether I will be able to really find a job in Japan, let alone applying for PR. Another option may be investment visa, but I cannot find any info either and I doubt I have that much money to qualify.
———–Education and healthcare: if we were to have a kid, he/she will probably attend an international school. I'm wondering if it is realistic with our budget, and if the quality of education in those schools is acceptable? In terms of healthcare, I've heard many good things about that in Japan compared to the US. I'm wondering if that's true that Japan offers better healthcare with reasonable price compared to that in the US.
———–Job income and tax: I'm not worried too much about this part. As long as I can find a job in Japan, I'm willing to take a 80% salary cut and my wife will not work, which will redcue our family income from ~$450k/yr to ~$50k/yr. Once we obtain a long term visa, we will live solely on our savings, and with that income reduction I don't think I will pay much tax in the US anyway.
———-With all those being said, I really appreciate if there's any suggestions on this plan and what I can do in the next several years to improve its success rate.
by Stardust-1