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chi-chi-
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 194
Location: In la-la land
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 Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2005 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Mike L. wrote: |
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| The mistake everyone makes is looking at everything from the money-side of things |
Many of these people have or want famillies and don't want to pay rent for the rest of their lives so money is definitely a major issue for them. I'm one of those people. It's no mistake.
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| I'd rather be happy in a country I love than be rich and bored in a country I've grown tired of. |
Agreed but there again money can make this possible. If you are rich you go where you please and can do what you want. I also think you, not the place, are the catalyst in your own happiness.
Just my 2 cents..... |
Money does not buy happiness, companero. I find it more than coincidence that lots of people lose their happiness when they begin making lots of cash. They begin to worry about losing it, making more of it, are people only dating them because of it, etc. My own grandmother said that the happiest time of her life was the Great Depression, it brought her family closer. On the other hand, I know Kennedys who are unhappy and strung-out. But whatever you think. It would explain a lot of the griping on the board. A lot of rich, unhappy people. Enjoy Japan and the golden tree.
Peace out. |
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MindlessFudge
Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 40
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Osakajojo,
Right now I'm a bartender, and I can agree that I make more now than I'm going to at an eikaiwa. At the same time, when most of our salary goes unreported, though we do pay less in taxes, we can potentially hurt ourselves in the long run, especially when when we need to apply for an important loan or, god forbid, we should need to collect disability. Plus, I don't know about you, but I don't have any health insurance, so for me, although I bring home lots of cash, if I were to need medical care, I'd be royally screwed, whereas in Japan I could have health insurance that I could afford. So all in all, for me (and this may be different for you), teaching in Japan is more beneficial. That, and teaching has professionally been a goal of mine for a few years.
Just wanted to draw on a personal anecdote to show that just because you make more cash doesn't mean you get the better deal. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:02 am Post subject: |
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| MindlessFudge wrote: |
Just wanted to draw on a personal anecdote to show that just because you make more cash doesn't mean you get the better deal. |
Just want to bring up one extra point,
I make a good income, provide for wife and kids and making money is great, but if your health packs up, you get injured and cant work you are well and truly screwed. Drop dead and your paycheck disappears.
(Heard a story about a soldier killed in Iraq and his widow missed out on receiving his bonus or last paycheck as he wasnt alive to collect it. thats what they told his widow.)
Making money is not fun if you don't have the time to dont enjoy it, you dont see your kids grow up becuase you are working all the time, or worse, you are dead from a heart attack or stress.(lost at least one friend here from complications of asthma at age of 51). |
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SEndrigo
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Posts: 437
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:11 am Post subject: |
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| Mike L. wrote: |
Many of these people have or want famillies and don't want to pay rent for the rest of their lives so money is definitely a major issue for them. I'm one of those people. It's no mistake. |
I think you and Nismo both have very valid points...the reality of the situation is that a 250,000 yen per month salary is not going to support a wife and two kids in Japan, nor would it in the UK, USA, or Canada either, if you wanted to buy a house, car, etc.
But I think what Nismo really meant (and I could be wrong) is that whilst the money factor is important, it's not the only factor in the equation.
I know plenty of people both in Japan and abroad who make lots of money but either are stressed out, never see their families, and/or miserable.
But I don't need to tell you this, you know this better than I do, having lived here in Tokyo for years and seen the hordes of salarymen on their way home from a grueling 16 hour work day.
What good is that money if you can't ever see your wife or kids....what good is that house, and car?
If I was in that situation (although I'm not), I'd rather rent, not buy a car, but spend more time with my family.....but that's just me.
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Agreed but there again money can make this possible. If you are rich you go where you please and can do what you want. I also think you, not the place, are the catalyst in your own happiness.
Just my 2 cents..... |
Brilliant, that's spot on....it's all about your outlook and perception of things that makes you happy.
I've seen heaps of people who aren't happy here in Japan, and they weren't happy in their home countries either.
They keep thinking they'll find a place where they'll be happy. Not realising that the place is right inside of them...they've no need to move, only look within. |
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osakajojo
Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:18 am Post subject: |
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| Right now I'm a bartender, and I can agree that I make more now than I'm going to at an eikaiwa. At the same time, when most of our salary goes unreported, |
you are lucky! I have to report probably 95% because I get mostly credit card tips. And I will have to give over 2 Grand to Uncle Sam in a few months! Thats another cool thing about Japan while I was there- I didn't have to file for taxes. It was all figured out for me and I didn't have to figure out a form to pay MORE taxes.
And I know what you mean about insurance. I have never worked at a place that offered it in the different restaurants I have worked at in America(oh yea, at Planet Hollywood that offered it but i didn't take it). However, at Nova in Japan I did have it-and it was nice to use it the few times I actually needed to. It is nicer security to have it, though I had to pay the hospital cash up front and then be reimbursed in my paycheck the next pay period. |
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MindlessFudge
Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 40
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Thats another cool thing about Japan while I was there- I didn't have to file for taxes. It was all figured out for me and I didn't have to figure out a form to pay MORE taxes |
According to US tax law, you are REQUIRED to file taxes when working abroad, you just don't pay anything to uncle sam unless you make more than $80,000 USD a year.
Not filing is not that cool, especially if you ever get audited. I've heard horror stories of people who worked abroad, didn't file (even though they wouldn't have paid anything) and then went through a very long, very painful audit.
Just to help you avoid future tax problems |
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osakajojo
Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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i didn't file the years i didn't work in the states. I better get that sorted. Didn't have any W2s or aany interest to claim or dependents or anything like that. Who should i talk to about that? Do i just call the irs or go to irs website? now i recall reading something about that just recently but seemed to conviently forget about it. thanks for the reminder. How did i go through life not knowing this?
Well advice to those in the states that are going overseas to work: YOU STILL GOTTA FILE! |
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MindlessFudge
Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 40
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:30 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, your Japanese employer won't provide you any W2 or equivalent tax form that I know of, so it's up to you to tell the IRS what you owe them. I'm really not the person to ask about this, since I haven't yet been employed in Japan. I would get in touch with the IRS, or better yet solicit help from a US citizen who's filed while working abroad (not necessarily in Japan, but anywhere since the rules apply no matter where you go).
I wish you luck. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:46 am Post subject: |
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| MindlessFudge wrote: |
Osakajojo,
we can potentially hurt ourselves in the long run, especially when when we need to apply for an important loan or, god forbid, we should need to collect disability. |
Without an income in your own country, you cannot get a loan when you get back. That includes credit. If you have a credit card and the credit card company knows you are outside of the country, you cannot get a new one.
So, if the OP has any plans of ever buying a house, car etc. in the US, he would be better off saying in the States where he has credit. If he goes overseas for a few years, it'll be gone, and he'd have to start over if/when he returned.
| Quote: |
| the reason that teaching does not pay well in most places in the world is that if it did, the kind of people who we need to become teachers would never do so. |
 So keeping teachers in poverty is a good thing, then? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| MindlessFudge wrote: |
Without an income in your own country, you cannot get a loan when you get back. That includes credit. If you have a credit card and the credit card company knows you are outside of the country, you cannot get a new one.
So, if the OP has any plans of ever buying a house, car etc. in the US, he would be better off saying in the States where he has credit. If he goes overseas for a few years, it'll be gone, and he'd have to start over if/when he returned.
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I live in Japan and bought a condominium back home in 1998 and the mortage is being paid by the tenant. All the bank cares about is
1. you have sufficient deposit
2. your income will cover the mortgage payments and you are not heavily geared. I have not missed a payment in 7 years.
Buy a new car anyway and it drops in value as soon as you drive it off the sales lot. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:25 am Post subject: |
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It took me over an hour talking to ever increasingly senior people to just get a reissue on my credit card, and even then they would only send it to my parents, who sent it to me and its expire date is far earlier than normal, with a note in my record saying the absolute last month I will be out of the country (I'm on the JET programme).
It was a manager at the credit card company who told me the information I posted earlier. |
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