Breaking news on the yen front: the Japanese central bank decided to raise interest rates again, now up to 0.25%. Immediately afterwards, the Fed declined to raise raises, and apparently hinted at a rate cut next quarter. As a result, the yen has rapidly strengthened, currently at 146.6 as I write this, which is over 10% strengthening in about 3 weeks. In addition, the Japanese stock market has plunged and is now in correction territory, potentially headed for a bear market. While volatility usually isn’t great in that it causes people to panic, I’m happy that the yen is finally starting to strengthen a bit after years of its value being eroded away. I stopped remitting money into USD around 2021 when the yen started to weaken (back in the days when I felt 115 / USD was a poor rate!), so as a result I’ve accumulated a huge balance of JPY savings which have been trapped here for years, earning almost nothing. However, if the yen strengthening continues back to a more “normal” exchange rate range, I might be able to justify restarting my remittance and using it to invest in stocks again. At the very least, it will make me feel vindicated for hanging onto so much JPY for the last several years waiting for it to strengthen!
For the Europe trip, I’ve tentatively booked hotels for all our travel days, but I can rebook them if needed or our plans change. Looking forward to going soon.
Here’s a summary of my financial position this month:
| Description | 7/24 |
|---|---|
| Total Expenses | $5,409.36 |
| Gross Income | $5,425.58 |
| Taxes | $1,263.94 |
| Net Income | $4,161.64 |
| Savings | -$1,247.72 |
| Savings Rate | -30.0% |
| Net Worth | $503,129.88 |
Projected time to FI (assuming 6% growth and 4% withdrawal rate): 11 years, 0 months.