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Post by seriouslee on Apr 7, 2023 4:45:13 GMT 9
Hello! I am a recently shortlisted CIR for 2023 !
I wanted to ask how all of you are able to budget with where you're located?
If I go to JET, I currently have a car and braces I would need to pay for, and I was wondering if working for JET would enable me to pay for those while being to able up for investments and going back home once a year (USA East Coast).
I would love to hear how you all managed to do so!
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Post by Springjay on Apr 7, 2023 8:46:49 GMT 9
Hi. So many things will be ESIS, so I'll tell what it was like for me, and you can do with that what you will.
Pre-JET: I had a small savings I built up during my days as a student, and since I knew I was applying for JET, I saved as much as possible. I came with around 5 thousand USD in my wallet, which was all of my money (as I never intended on living in the US again, so I converted everything into yen and brought it with me).
Arriving on JET: Luckily, my pred had only been here for 1 year, so I was able to inherit her apartment. She charged me for all the furniture though, but I figured it was worth it rather than doing the hassle of rebuying everything on my own little by little. I paid her exactly 1 thousand USD for everything, sent to her before I actually left Japan. With the costs you have to pay to move into / get set up in an apartment, plus what I paid for the furniture, I think I spent a total of 2 or 3 grand right off the bat, out of that initial 5 grand I brought with me.
Car: I was the first in my arrival group to get a rental car. There was a local garage who rented to the ALTs specifically. I forget what I paid per month, but I do remember it cost about 2 thousand USD for 1 entire year of renting. After that, I bought a car (for almost the exact same price), so if you're only going to be here for 1 year exact, I think renting is fine. Any longer and it might be cheaper to just buy it. My CO required me to have both the legally required mandatory insurance and the legally "optional" insurance, the latter which I had to find on my own.
Rent: My CO didn't subsidize anything. They got me the apartment (through my pred, the name on the lease was my CO's not ours) and that was it. I got really lucky with cheaper rent, but I would say on average for my city, it is typical to pay 50,000 yen for rent.
Monthly expenses: I lived alone for the first 1, maybe 1 1/2 years. After that, my best hulemdo moved in with me (secretly), and after her my bf/now husband moved in instead (I also didn't tell my CO or landlord about it). So keep in mind that my expenses were being split between 2 people. When I was a JET, I was paying about 165,000 yen a month for all my bills and student loan repayments. I was saving about 3 or 40,000 yen a month, which I supplemented by doing under the table English lessons.
Money transfer: I use TransferWise (now just called Wise) and it's so quick and easy. I love their travel card too for when I occasionally go back to the US, as I can transfer yen to USD with one touch in the app. It's really easy and affordable. I was paying 80,000 to 100,000 yen per month in student loans, which was my biggest barrier for building up a good savings again.
Overall, I didn't prioritize saving as much as I maybe should have when I was a JET, at least until Covid. For the first 3 years (2017-early 2020) I spent most of my savings on travel, visiting 3 countries, the US once, and going to tons of different prefectures around Japan. After travel haulted due to the pandemic, plus getting married, I switched focus to saving money, which is where I'm at curently.
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Post by zoomien on Apr 14, 2023 11:54:50 GMT 9
My advice is to pay down as much debt as possible before coming to Japan, especially the car payments. You will lose money exchaning your salary (Yen) into USD, and depending on your placement this can put a lot of strain on the classic 50/30/20 budgeting strategy. I don't know your financial situation, but getting ahead on payments will save you some headache while you are getting settled in during your first few months in Japan. It is possible that you won't receive a full paycheck until your second month, and factoring the initial costs of moving in to your apartment (deposit, key money, first+second months rent), in the event you have a minimum payment to make it may put you in a bind.
This is not financial advice, but you will be paying into the National Pension every pay period. At the end of your time with JET (assuming you go back to the US), you can apply for a lump sum withdrawl that you can then reinvest in your choice of investment account. I suggest doing your own research into this before determining if this fits your personal investment goals.
Leaving out the details, in the context of the 50/30/20 system, I am able to keep my "needs" catagory at 50% so it is possible, but manage your expectations because this is highly dependant on where you are placed. Large cities have a higher cost of living when compared to more rural placements.
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Post by Dee on Apr 14, 2023 14:20:01 GMT 9
Hello! I am a recently shortlisted CIR for 2023 ! I wanted to ask how all of you are able to budget with where you're located? If I go to JET, I currently have a car and braces I would need to pay for, and I was wondering if working for JET would enable me to pay for those while being to able up for investments and going back home once a year (USA East Coast). I would love to hear how you all managed to do so! Congrats on being shortlisted!! Here are my 2 cents: If you are planning to keep paying for your car and braces in the US I would highly recommend that you only bring what you will need for startup costs in Japan, and keep the rest in your US bank account. As Zoomien mentioned, the dollar is strong so you'll be at a loss when transferring yen to USD. When my family and I moved here we brought around $4-5K (we needed to buy a car) and left everything else in the US account to help pay for student loans and some other bills. I didn't have to start transferring money back for a while and I think it really helped out. I've also heard good things about the Wise international bank account. A lot of expats here use Wise to transfer funds as well. As for day-to-day budgeting, it is very ESID so I will tell you a little bit about my experience. I am in the deep inaka and live in townhall employee housing. My housing is very cheap (just under 1万）and my utilities aren't that bad either. We spend more money on groceries than anything else. That being said, I've been able to save more than I thought over these 6 years. If you get lucky with your placement and can budget well you might be able to manage a trip back to the states each year. As always, it will depend on your placement and living conditions. |
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