Nobody's fool

A fool and his money are easily parted, they say. These days, with temptation and obligation lining up for a crack at your paycheck, you don't even need to be a fool, you just need to be here. This month, KS reflects on managing those huge quantities of yen we all earn.

So, it turns out the dog's name is Qoo.
Even occasional viewers of Japanese television are probably already well aware of Qoo, who, along with the middle-aged nebbish ostensibly serving as his owner, appears in the TV ads for a loan company known as Aiful. Aforementioned nebbish somehow or another gets himself into a 'hilarious' pickle in each commercial — botching a home haircut in one, literally painting himself into a corner in another, screwing up a suntan in yet one more — with Qoo then reminding him (and viewers at home) via signboard to “Always Plan Ahead.”

The astonishing success Aiful has found in pushing Qoo's stern financial punditry on the citizens of Japan — while at the same time selling them loans with rates that soar as high as 29 percent — has not been lost on other loan companies, who have also decided to go for the soft sell.

Sultry TV mainstay Waka Inoue fronts for credit company Promise, while a beaming model named Mayumi Ono chirps the jingle for loan company Acom (“Hajimete no, Acomu!”); thus are interest rates that would make loan sharks blush hot with shame hidden behind the friendly countenances of curvy swimsuit models (in Inoue's case) and fuzzy white Chihuahuas (in Qoo's). (And don't think it hasn't worked — Aiful chairman Yoshitaka Fukuda, currently listed at Number 80 on Forbes magazine's list of the World's Richest People, is said to have a net worth of $5.6 billion. That's probably way more than you're worth.)

The above, of course, is to simply remind that no one country has a lock on being careless — or careful — with money. As debt-ridden as, say, many Americans are — the average credit card debt for most US citizens is said to hover right around $8,500 — their counterparts in a dozen different countries overseas are, perhaps, just as absent-minded with their dough and just as apt to meet the grim consequences that go along with that carelessness.
So now, a bit of Chihuahua-free financial advice.

Keeping the Home Fires Burning
(While Also Putting Some Out)

Last April, US Congressman Dennis Kucinich used less-than-cheery phrases like “squeezed dry” and “unforgiving prison of debt” to describe the effect the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consu-mer Protection Act of 2005 would have on his constituents.

“We are protecting the profits of the credit card industry,” he thundered on the House floor in Washington, “instead of protecting the economic future of the American people.” (The bill, which makes it much harder for Americans to declare bankruptcy, passed anyway.) Combining this with some fairly scary credit card news (minimum monthly payments for most US credit cards and most of the consumers using them are set to double — just because, and set to begin this month) is reason enough to understand why it is always a good idea to keep an eye on the bills owed back home.

Fortunately, most credit card and student loan companies are more than happy to allow consumers to pay their bills online; unfortunately, most of these companies insist on getting their money from local — “local,” meaning located in the same country — banks.

So then, to send money home. Japanese banks like Mizuho and UFJ are more than happy to do it for you (as well as more than happy to charge you astoni-shing fees for the service); professional remittance services such as GoLloyds will also lend a hand, for about half the price of the banks.

Still, many opt for the Japan Postal Service: a ¥400 ~¥1,700 charge, depending on how fast you want your cash to get home. The newest option — moving money online through companies like PayPal.com — costs a fraction of the prices of any of the former and is relatively easy to use (the caveat being that a Japanese credit card is needed to complete the transfer from this country to another).

On a related note, in addition to keeping up with the bills back home, most countries also still require their expatriated citizens to file foreign income tax returns. Rules vary from country to country; however, local embassies (you do know where your country's consulate is located in Osaka, don't you?) are easy to contact and mighty helpful about doling out the proper forms. It pays to get those taxes in. As they say, even if you forget, your government probably won't.

For A Few Dollars More

Bills and taxes are important ones; here are two more places where at least a little of your money should be going.
Marvel now at the sad plight of Mr. Yasuo Fukuda, driven in disgrace from a cushy government job over failure to make timely payments to the national pension system. "The system [for making pension payme-nts] was very complicated, and I regret my misunderstanding of it meant that I didn't make the payments," he told the BBC early last year. Unfortunate, particularly in light of the fact that the job Mr. Fukuda left behind was that of Prime Minister Koizumi's chief cabinet secretary.

The excuse Fukuda proffered (he had changed jobs earlier in his career, and simply thought he was covered under a different plan) see-med reasonable enough — which is in itself worrisome because after all, if he couldn't get it right, what are the odds that you will?

For people not expecting to stay in Japan more than 18 months, the “pension system” is a whisper of a glimmer of an afterthought, with many foreigner-heavy companies for-getting(?) to mention about the retirement system to employees whom they know won't ever retire here. (It is such an afterthought that many people are quite unaware that they can get a partial refund of any money they put into the system, provided they file a claim with the Japanese government within two years of returning to their home country. Yes, really.)

Even for long-term residents, the monolithic Pension System really isn't so difficult to navigate — just make sure that 1) your employer takes your pension payment automatically out of your check; or 2) you head down to the National Pension section of your local city office and pay by yourself every month. The gist is that every employee must — from ages 20 to 60 — pay into the system to receive any kind of retirement benefits later on.

As well, citizens must make at least 25 years' worth of payments in order to be eligible for any benefits; the good news is that the system now allows for any pension payments you have previously made in your home country to be credited to your pension accounts here. (And vice-versa.)

As far as nationwide government programs go, the pension plan is right up there with the National Health Insurance program — certainly flawed, but gets the job done for a lot of people. Compared with the “Social” insurance many Japanese companies offer their employees, the monthly payments for the National plan trend toward high (and that 30 percent hospital visitation premium is nothing to sneeze at, either).

However, the national insurance won't “go away” even if you lose or change jobs — a fact that, depending on what country you are from, could be a terrifically pleasant surprise. Considering the dramatically awful prospect of getting sick
in a foreign country and not being able to do anything about it, there are certainly worse investments one could make.

Planning For the Future

Not that the banking system in Japan is bad, per se; there is just something unfortunate about the annual spate of expats who, helpless and frenzied, circle the streets of Kansai around the New Years' holidays wondering why their banks simply aren't open. (Hard lesson to learn, this; the positive news is that it never happens to the same person twice.)

That much said, there are certainly places other than the local banks where you could be putting your money.
So, investments. And while 'investment strategizing' sometimes conjures up images of motivational speakers with unnaturally white teeth tossing glib phrases such as “cash flow quadrant” and “Let's make your money work for you” through the air like self-help confetti, it's not, truth be told, as scary as it seems.

More, “ethical” investment houses, such as John Scott & Partners Ltd and Barchester Green in the UK or Glebe Asset Management Ltd in Australia, let you feel doubly good about doing something useful with your money. Useful, for a change. And it sure beats going to Aiful, at any rate.

Money Transfers

• Japan Postal Service: www.post.japanpost.jp/english
• GoLloyds Overseas Remittance Service: www.golloyds.com/en
• PayPal: www.paypal.com

Tax Info

• US Embassy: http://japan.usembassy.gov/t-main.html
• Australia Consulate-General, Osaka: www.business.australia.or.jp/osaka/english
• British Consulate-General, Osaka: www.uknow.or.jp/be_e/about_us/general

Investment Companies

• Magellan Financial Planning Co: www.magellantt.com
• John Scott & Partners Ltd: www.jsandp.co.uk
• Barchester Green: www.barchestergreen.co.uk
• Glebe Asset Management Ltd: www.glebegroup.com.au

Text: Jeff Lo • Photos: KS

*The images are for illustrative purposes only, and are not intended as reproductions or for use as tender.