Hi, I hope you all had a good new start of the year !
I just started to work in a Japanese company (Toyota group) coming from abroad (Switzerland), I already browsed through the wiki but I still have a lot of questions that I hope you can help me through ! FYI my Japanese is still very limited right now and I basically can't ready any kanjis. I'm also very new to the whole credit card and cashback system, since I was a student without any credit card.
- NISA: I want to save and invest some money, I saw that I should do a NISA and am considering opening one with IBKR. I am not considering iDeCo, since I don't know until when I'll stay in Japan and I'm not sure if it is compatible with the Toyota group pension system.
1.1: If I were to leave Japan, can I transfer my NISA account just like if it was a regular IBKR account ?
1.2: Since I open a NISA, will I be forced to do my own tax filling (my company is supposed to do it otherwise, I think) ?
1.3 If I wanted to buy an etf (let's say S&P500), which currency would be the best denomination ? USD/CHF/JPY ?
1.4 I have some small previous savings, one part would be my "Swiss safety fund", that I would keep in case I ever need to settle back in Switzerland, the second part I would like to invest. Would it make sense to put it straight in my NISA account or more gradually to avoid to much FX fees (Revolut free limit or idk how IBKR works).
- Banking: My company requires that my salary is deposited in MUFJ, which is a pain because nothing is in english.
2.1 I already applied for a MUFJ credit card, because it was free and I had support to help me through but I've also seen that Rakuten credit card is often recommended. Which one would be superior ? and also would it be easy to setup the rakuten card with a MUFJ account ?
2.2 There is also a 0.5% cashback on my debit card so I'm not sure if trying to get my credit card was even worth it ?
2.3 I'm a bit confused with all the different fees in Japanese banking. If I understood correctly, a bank transfer to a MUFJ account is free but to another bank I would have to pay a fee, so there is no free national payment method ?
2.4 Is a credit card still worth it when everyone always use & accept paypay ?
2.5 As said previously, I have a Swiss bank account with some emergency funds. It is now linked to "my number", is it sufficient for my company to fill my tax (if they can) ?
- Everyday life and spending.
3.1 Are the different pointcard worth it or are they too much of a headache for what they offer ? (For exemple I have a Welcia and a Okuwa close to my home, are their point rewards worth anything ?)
3.2 Any other general tips that a foreigner might not know about ?
Thank you very much for your help, if any information is not clear or I forgot to include it, please feel free to ask me
by Gravity_is_a_Lie