I found out a lot about money and it's a lot different from what I used to think.
Last year on June, starting from just 100,000JPY or about 700USD, I started to work in Resort jobs or called "resoba" in Japan.
Resoba are hotel related jobs mainly at the front desk, restaurants, or housekeeping jobs that don't require much skill to start.
The worker saves on living expenses like rent and food which is usually fully provided, and hotels can cover the shortage in staffs, a win win.
Japan stretches north to south and each province is quite unique. I was always fascinated by the system that you can travel across Japan working for resoba.
And interestingly, I save a lot more than when I used to make much more in the city.
This blog is my log for traveling across Japan taking resoba jobs.
This post is my balance for August, 2024.
My income for August, 263,000JPY
First of all, my income. For August 2024 it was 263,000JPY.
I decided to resign from the fish shop in Tsukiji to go to a sushi academy.
I enjoyed working in the fish shop, but I wasn't able to work in the kitchen without the necessary skill.
Traditionally it takes years for you to be able to work in the kitchen. I'm not that patient. Chores just start to pile up, and the odd thing about working culture in Japan is that it doesn't really appreciate getting the work done fast.
I wanted to work in housekeeping which I found, but the rent in Tokyo is scarce and high.
My living expenses rose quite a bit, and it's going to be harder to save for me for a while.
My expenditure for August:
The total is 217,000JPY.
- rent, facility bills：61,000
- Health Insurance, pension, income tax: 30,000JPY
- Food outside：40,000
- Food in the house：30,000
- Books：8,000
- Daily necessities：10,000
- Others：38,000
Total：217,000 JPY
Left with 46,000JPY
- 40,000JPY⇢Monthly Installment Savings
- 6,000JPY: Half to EMF, half to use freely
Monthly installment savings: 40,000
I've been installment saving 50,000 JPY on a monthly basis, but decided to decrease it to 40,000.
The reason is my cost rose temporarily for 2 reasons.
- I'm going to sushi school.
- I pay higher rent to go to the school
But I learned something important. There are periods and stages in life when its easier to save and when it's not.
it's a lot harder to save in the city than in the countryside.
And even harder when you're investing to learn a skill.
Does it put more money in my pocket?
Financially, I should ask this question.
"Does going to the school put more money in my pocket in the future?"
After the sushi school, I already know I can earn more than I am now, so it's an investment for the future.
The tuition will be temporary, for 3 months. Which is ok. Investment for me to put more money in my pocket in the future.
Other things I found out during August
Figure out a way to grow your income by just even a little
We can't jump to the top of the mountain. We gradually have to take the hike up. And the journey is the reward.
In Japan, people talk a lot about stressing to put more money into investments, but not a lot about gaining the ability to earn more tomorrow.
The law of compounding does help to grow assets over time, but it's a lot more important to be able to earn more with less time.
The fact that I can earn 5USD more/ hour than the month before without raising my cost allows me to put more money on investing.
Although the 5USD isn't much, it really compounds.
Instead of trying to make a one time fortune, it's a lot better to steadily increase the amount I can make at the same given time.
I think it's close to playing a computer game. You gradually increase your level over experiencing battles and completing challenges, and it becomes easier over time to complete the previous levels.
If things don't work out for a while on the new level, I can always go back to the previous level, too.
The importance of an Emergency Fund (EMF)
Moving to another house forced me to use more money than I usually do.
I also changed my job which created a 2 month time lag on my salary coming in, which made me use my emergency fund.
I had more things that I had to pay in advance like rent and transport fee, and more income streams coming in later than it used to.
So having a bigger emergency fund allows me not to have to worry about my balance running out while I wait for the income.
Having 6 months worth of my monthly living expense is a good amount to have, which is about a million JPY.
I deposit 10,000JPY every month to my EMF, but I need to speed this up.
When I had money left over every month, I initially put half to investments, and the other to use freely.
But I'll change it to half to EMF, and the other to use it freely.
Thanks for reading:)
Thanks for reading the content!
Logging my balance every month allows me to look back and improve my financial literacy.
I will share things I learned as well, which might help you with your finances as well.
Japanese are relatively good savers when it comes to money, and I've been realizing it comes from good habits and mindsets that anyone can learn.
So, over time I'd like to share what I learned about finance, and hope to learn from you, too.
【Ryu Aomi】
Born in Yokohama, Japan. Raised in San Francisco, California.
After gaining experience in private banking in Singapore, I went on to writing for a few Japanese media online. Covid led me to pursue what I love the most which was discovering the street foods around the best food countries. This blog will be how I fund that life.
Comments
Post a Comment