Job Discussion Forums

[t_murakami]

Please forgive me if this is a dead horse, but have been away from the Asian forums a while. I am surprised that I am considering taking a 25/26 man job (250,000/month) but I am so bored being back in the states that gotta do something. I spent 6 years in japan b4 and I really can not remember how much money I saved then. My wages were varied the last few years due to schedule changes.

My 3 years in the Arab World were pretty dull but very good lucre

Some of the new US tax laws have made me rethink the importance of good $$. For instance the US now uses foreign earned income to calculate
income totals for the rate you pay on stock gains (was no relation at all until 06)
In other words I kept a much lesser chunk of money this year than usual, and I do not plan to give up selling some stock winners and having that income each year to invest in others (or real estate).

which leads me to accepting less pay in 07 & to thetwo questions above:

1. Can you still save some on 25 man-en and go out to dinner say once a week (brown bag lunch)?? about how much?

2. Maybe I should start investing thru a "J" broker. Anybody know what you pay on capital gains there? Can you buy most US stocks in Japan?

(Of course you can buy Sony,Honda etc. On NY exchange so logically Japanese buyers can....???)


I know the wage I am going for here is lower than what I can get but I see the next year as finally some fun...and actually I want to learn about the Japanese Nikkei etc. in spare time....and eventually switch to being a broker or analyst (Japan specialty)...which can not really do in the ME.

Anyway, any good observations would be appreciated.

cheers, T.

[Chris21]

As far as I know, you can only invest in Japanese stocks with a Japanese broker (i.e. Daiwa, Nomura, etc). Although, I'm not entirely certain of this. The good news is that it's fairly easy to open an account through E*Trade in Hong Kong, and trade on US markets (even if you live in Japan). The bad news is that I think US citizens have to declare all of their capital gains (which E*Trade does automatically).

[G Cthulhu]

Hate to rain on your parade, but remember that you still pay US taxes on Japanese earnings from all sources other than direct salary or wages (where you get an ~US$80,000 margin). If you're a yank there is little to no benefit to trading stocks through a Japanese broker. Unless you intend to defraud the IRS, that is.

Oh, and Japanese brokers can be rather dicey. Lots more cowboys out there. Buyer beware & all that.

[Precise]