Well, it's finally done. I successfully moved to Japan.
There are still a couple of things that I need to finish setting up before I would consider myself completely "settled", but I'm about 95% of the way there at this point. I've started my new job and I think I've been making good progress transitioning to my new career field given my limited prior professional experience until now.
High moving expenses are an almost unavoidable aspect of moving internationally, and this month was no exception. The vast majority of my expenses are related to housing, as Japan requires large up-front deposits / fees when moving apartments. My monthly rent for my apartment will be somewhere around $1000 / month (depending on exchange rates), but this month I had to pay the equivalent of 4 months' rent in upfront deposits and fees. I'll likely receive some if it back if/when I eventually move again, but it will likely go towards the next apartment's fees, rather than into my long-term savings!
In Japan, paychecks are typically paid monthly, so I won't receive my first one until later in November, which is why my savings rate this month is so terrible. Hopefully when my expenses stabilize and I start receiving an income again, my statistics will go back to normal and I'll be able to continue saving towards early retirement again.
In order to simplify my expense tracking, I will be recording my expenses in Japanese yen in my spreadsheet, and converting to US dollars at the end of the month for my records. I will continue to report my expenses in US dollars on the blog, but take note that the amounts may fluctuate slightly due to exchange rate differences from month to month.
Here's a summary of my expenses for this month:
| Category | Oct-19 | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | $3,998.29 | Apartment move-in payments in Japan are expensive! |
| Internet | $0.00 | Nothing this month |
| Cell Phone | $25.27 | Extra data SIM card until my home internet gets set up |
| Natural Gas | $0.00 | Nothing this month |
| Electricity | $0.00 | Nothing this month |
| Water | $3.17 | Initial water payment |
| Groceries | $211.81 | Not too terrible, but I'll reserve final judgement until I get a feel for baseline grocery expenses. |
| Transport | $271.33 | Paid for a 6 month commuter pass for work. |
| Health | $9.39 | Cold medicine |
| Other | $237.37 | Haircut, shipping, mail forwarding |
| Necessary | $4,756.63 | Pretty high, but this will drop dramatically starting next month |
| Restaurants | $160.59 | Not too bad, considering how much more often I'm eating out than the US |
| Entertainment | $0.00 | Nothing this month. |
| Shopping | $1,055.20 | Furnishing my new apartment |
| Travel/Parking | $283.26 | Discounted hotels.com gift card, airfare for travel in December |
| Gifts/Donations | $0.00 | Nothing this month. |
| Software/Games | $0.00 | Nothing this month. |
| Business | $8.72 | Residual amazon fees |
| Other | $0.00 | Nothing this month. |
| Discretionary | $1,507.77 | Pretty high, but this will drop dramatically starting next month |
| Total Expenses | $6,264.40 | Pretty high, but this will drop dramatically starting next month |
| Gross Income | $162.24 | Interest |
| 401(k) Match | $0.00 | Nothing this month |
| Taxes | $0.00 | Nothing this month |
| Net Income | $162.24 | Not much to speak of |
| Savings | -$6,102.16 | Really, really low |
| Savings Rate | -3761.19% | Really, really low |
| Net Worth | $316,624.30 | Only slightly below last month, which is great considering how much I spent moving this month |
Projected time to FI (assuming 6% growth and 4% withdrawal rate): 6 years, 2 months.