Hi
Since I have started posting (after stalking the boards for a long time), I thought I should introduce myself. I am an Ohio boy in Kyoto. In all I have been here for 14 years. I am not on an expat package. I started teaching English in a conversation school factory and worked up from there.
My investing track record has not been great but is getting better. I started at a 300 year old Japanese full service broker which went under 3 months later. Then I went to Merrill Lynch. But they got their fanny spanked and pulled out of retail service in Japan after maybe 2 years. My wife then invested the money offshore with a British firm. We got pushed into some bad funds (and a couple of good ones) there but I really learned about fees. After a year, I got cold feet but the advisor held my hand so I wouldn’t bolt. They went out of business six months later. That was about six months ago. Floundering around, I read The Four Pillars and a couple of other books people recomended on this site.
Now I am pulling most of the money out of the underlying funds. I am in process of opening an account with Charles Schwab to buy mainly Vanguard Vipers. So you all may want to look out. These companies may soon be gone.
Actually, we have been lucky. We weren’t saving any serious money and we got almost it all back. I am on a learning curve. I think I took my knocks and am stronger for it. I stabilized job wise last fall. We have bought an apartment. We got a 1.5% interest rate (just like telling everyone I meet that. I don’t know why). Now we are ratcheting up the savings and zooming towards early retirement.
One other thing is that I am losing my English so please bare with me
Anyways
Nice to meet you all
Since I have started posting (after stalking the boards for a long time), I thought I should introduce myself. I am an Ohio boy in Kyoto. In all I have been here for 14 years. I am not on an expat package. I started teaching English in a conversation school factory and worked up from there.
My investing track record has not been great but is getting better. I started at a 300 year old Japanese full service broker which went under 3 months later. Then I went to Merrill Lynch. But they got their fanny spanked and pulled out of retail service in Japan after maybe 2 years. My wife then invested the money offshore with a British firm. We got pushed into some bad funds (and a couple of good ones) there but I really learned about fees. After a year, I got cold feet but the advisor held my hand so I wouldn’t bolt. They went out of business six months later. That was about six months ago. Floundering around, I read The Four Pillars and a couple of other books people recomended on this site.
Now I am pulling most of the money out of the underlying funds. I am in process of opening an account with Charles Schwab to buy mainly Vanguard Vipers. So you all may want to look out. These companies may soon be gone.
Actually, we have been lucky. We weren’t saving any serious money and we got almost it all back. I am on a learning curve. I think I took my knocks and am stronger for it. I stabilized job wise last fall. We have bought an apartment. We got a 1.5% interest rate (just like telling everyone I meet that. I don’t know why). Now we are ratcheting up the savings and zooming towards early retirement.
One other thing is that I am losing my English so please bare with me
Anyways
Nice to meet you all
