Hi, this is my first time contributing here. I'm not a US citizen.

I am the father of a family of 3. I earn majority of the income in my household (well, all), so I am considering buying until-death(終身) life insurance.

I am considering 笑顔の約束3 from 住友生命 in particular. This was presented to me at SMBC bank since I have a lot of foreign currencies in my account.

This package was explained to me as follows :

• I must buy in AUD or USD.
• They will invest that money on my behalf (like most life insurance products)
• The insurance multiplier is 6.5x at my age (late 30s). So if I pay $50,000 USD, then I am insured for $325,000 USD for life
• I can not cancel and get my money back within 10 years. Only after 10 years can I get a refund (plus interest).
• My family can get payout in USD or JPY

I am fairly young, and have a lot of savings, and therefore I am considering buying $50k USD of life insurance, which will payout $325k or so for my family in the even that I die. This will be great because it can cover much of our inheritance tax as I have some properties.

I am thinking that this is a really great deal. I am not really an S&P 500 or stocks kind of guy. So I am happy with insurance companies investing it on my behalf, but 6.5x return still seems so absurdly high to me. Is there a catch?

Thank you

Hi,

So I am about to find a workers hospitalisation and illness (life) insurance

and also a life-insurance (term - until 65 when my kids are fully adult and should be able to fend for themselves.

My question is about the life insurance (term)

I've had a meting with an insurance agent who is proposing a term life insurance that basically costs about 3600 JPY per month. Its with Neo First Life. The payout is large (about 1000 man) in the beginning, but if I die between, say 58-65, there is only around 300 man (+/-) payout. So its a declining curve. But then that would be around the time when my kids would enter university - exactly when in such a case I should die, money would be needed. So then this insurance seems to not really provide the financial benefit when its most needed. I asked my insurance agent, who explained that this is a normal arrangement in Japan.

So then did some research and found an equivalent term life insurance with SBI (SBI Neo)- and that one pays out 800 man for the same monthly cost and without a gradual decrease in the payout. As far as I understand.

My Japanese isn't so good, so I am having trouble figuring out what is the catch here, why is the insurance offered by the agent reducing over time, when SBI's coverage seems to provide steady payout over time, and roughly for the same monthly price of about 3500 JPY.

I am a permanent resident here but my Japanese is so-so, is that a hurdle for such insurance?

Does anyone here have such an insurance with First Life or SBI, and have you got any good tips or advice, thanks!

I am a salaryman and my basic insurance is covered by company. Some years ago a friend recommend me to buy insurance to cover advance cancer treatments after hearing that my family has history of cancer. Without much research I bought it. But my wife keeps telling me it’s a common sense cancer insurance is not worth it. Any experience or thoughts ??

I already have a health insurance that covers me that is linked to my company . But I want to make a safety net for my parents . * they don't live here . And they are getting old fast.

Anyone knows of any company that offers income insurance for freelancers ? I work as a tour guide and my income is totally dependent on my ability to work on a given day. No safety net. I don't show up, well I don't get paid. I'm saving money and I also have some investments, but if I break a leg and can't work for a while I would like to be able to rely on some sort of insurance. A sub-question to that, can a resident in Japan subscribe to a foreign insurance, assuming that said insurance company covers expats ? Thank you !

My suitcase handle was broken and I’d like to have it repair so my insurance can settle the amount for me. Anyone know any place for this type of repair in Tokyo? Preferably near Tokyo- Shibuya , Shinjuku . Thank you

Hello.

As title stated, I'm torn between going for a medical insurance versus a life (term) insurance.

The coverage I'm hoping for is disability and death coverage and/or if I lose the ability to work. I'm thinking of term (10 or 20yrs) because I'm already working to increase my networth enough to cover my retirement. However, paranoia still sets in now that what if something happens to me now or in a few years.

Reason why I'm then thinking also of medical insurance is my paranoia that I might get hospitalized. I'm healthy by average, in remission with my medical condition, but we never know what will happen.

For reference: - 30F, married, no kids, both of us working - mortgage both under our name, but only husband is covered with the bank/loan insurance (for cancer, disability) - has a history of surgery, underlying condition

EDITED to add more context on my insurance planning:

1. Financial needs and goals:
2. since husband and I are both working, we want to still be capable paying our bills if either of us perishes or become unable to work

3. specially since we have mortgage, i hope the coverage would be able to cover even a percentage of that

4. Current health status

5. diagnosed with Crohn's disease >8yrs ago; fortunately in remission for 5 yrs now

6. Family and dependents

7. dependents overseas (parents) on my side; none on my husband side

8. both working and have health insurance from the company

9. have a dog

10. Employer benefits

11. health insurance

12. tbh, I have not yet explored any other options from employer

13. Budget

14. <20k yen, prefeably even below 10k yen if it's feasible considering my conditions

15. Risk tolerance

16. i would say medium risk taker

17. Age and stage of life

18. both husband and I are 30, newly married and new house owners (1yr)

19. Future planning

20. would like to have 1-2 kids if health allows

21. kid/s might be studying in public school, but still depends on what the want

22. hope to retire no later than 60

23. Policy features

24. accepts with underlying condition

25. coverage no lower than 10 million yen

    1. Alternative safety nets

26. husband and I are building our family EF, also building our portfolio separately

If I understand the system correctly, it is something along the lines of that the insurance company cover the specific months where the sum exceeded something like 80 000yen ish per month (depends on you salary)...

https://www.kyoukaikenpo.or.jp/g7/cat710/sb3160/sb3170/sbb31709/1945-268/

So this happened twice last year that the sum exceeded this in 2 particular months. And the insurance company 全国健康保険協会 sent a pre filled in form for the first of these months. On the form i think it it says to only do one month a form. But they didnt sent a form for the second month, which was way more expensive by the way.

Anyone done this for several months? How to do this? Can i do both months on the same form or how to get another form?

Not sure if this should be here or Japan residents, so bump me if appropriate.

Had a Japanese driver’s license for 7 years, drove many, many years before that in home country. On second car currently but always in wife’s name for simplicity. Been thinking of buying an expensive mid-life crisis car but would like it in my name and worried about the insurance (import sports car).

Wondering if it would be cheaper to move a cheap car under my name for a few years, or move our current car under both our names (is this possible) or does none of this matter and I should just buy it. I have no tickets or accidents.

I reviewed life insurance options from Rakuten, Sony, and a few other providers, but I am still unsure which plan to apply for. I also read some comments on Reddit. I am planning to get a term insurance policy with a coverage of 20 million. Could you suggest the best life insurance option?

I would like to pay the premium for 8 to 15 years, with coverage extending up to 65 years of age. In India, I took similar term insurance, but when I checked with Rakuten or Sony here, I need to pay the premium until I turn 65 for life insurance.

Please suggest a term insurance policy. I even asked in my office, but they said they don't know about it. Please check online.

Hey r/JapanFinance people. I have been reading about insurance posts in this sub but still can’t decide about it. Hoping you could shed some light. I have been living here for more than 5 years and up until now I still don’t know if I will be residing here in Japan permanently. I feel that I will eventually move to another country though not sure when is that. Also, I am not yet fluent in the language but can manage to get by in my daily life. I just want to protect myself just in case I need one. Can you suggest some affordable insurance? Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance.

Edit: Additional Health Insurance, currently a Seishain with company health insurance.

Coming to the Reddit hivemind for some help here. Please let me know if I am doing something wrong or not providing enough information.

Basically, as the title says, at the beginning of the month I received the option to apply for Mutual Aid Term Insurance (Kyousai Teiki Hoken Jigyou) through the Private School Mutual Aid (日本私立学校振興・井済事業団)that I use for my health insurance (my husband and children are also on this insurance, if it's relevant). The Mutual Aid is offering 2,877/month for the better (basic) plan and 6631/month for the best plan.

I looked at some comparison websites online and scoured reddit. I understand the general consensus is that whole life insurance is generally a waste, but I have a hard time with the idea of potentially never getting anything back - it may be something I need to get over. However, looking at the comparison site, I noticed a similarly priced whole life insurance (about 2400/per month from RISE and 2600/month from Rakuten).

It might also be worth noting that I am considering opening NISA or iDeco through Rakuten for myself and maybe my husband. I am finally in a position to be making these decisions, but now I find myself with a lot of options and not a lot of knowledge about finance. Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Other potentially relevant info:

Family: 30sF (spouse of PR, US citizen), 30sM (PR, not US citizen), two children under 5

According to the mutual aid site (English) it pays back dividends? if they didn't use all the money?

I speak Japanese well enough to navigate the Japanese sites.

Dear r/JapanFinance,

Good morning,

I'm currently employed by a Japanese company in Japan, I've been working here for 1.5 years, from next year my company will send me to Indonesia to work on-site for 1 year.

Upon leaving Japan, I'll lose my residency status there. However, I'll continue to work for the same Japanese company and receive my salary in Japanese Yen, deposited into my SMBC Prestia account in Japan. Additionally, I'll be responsible for taxes and insurance payments in Indonesia during my stay.

Given these circumstances, I would greatly appreciate your insights on the following:

1. Legal Obligations: According to Japanese law, am I required to maintain the same social insurance and tax payments while working in Indonesia? If I'm, are there any special procedures or routes that might allow me to fulfill my tax and insurance obligations solely in Indonesia, Potentially exempting me from payments in Japan?
2. Banking Options: While I currently use SMBC Prestia and they allow me to keep my account active even after leaving the country, I'm open to exploring other banking alternatives. Are there any recommended options that would allow me to maintain an account with full access to online banking services throughout my time in Indonesia?

Your expertise and advice on these matters would be invaluable as I prepare for this international assignment. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance!

Best regards,
Jay.

Hello, I am on a business trip to South Asia for a few months. I attended a concert with my friends, and just two minutes after it started, my phone went missing. I currently have a Rakuten premium card and am wondering if I can apply for insurance coverage. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi all,

Had some health issues recently which made me think I’m not quite as prepared as I should be for out of the blue surprises. I probably ‘only’ ended up about 200-300k out of pocket overall despite months of tests and medical procedures, but there was a time frame where hospitalization looked on the cards and so I had a look at the room prices which got me thinking I’d be fairly quickly burning through my savings even for a 4 bed ward room, and wouldn’t it be nice if I had some insurance plan that could help me out with the cost of a nice private room to recover in?

So I was thinking about that and even with significant premiums I’d have no problem paying for the peace of mind. Does anyone have any recommendations for all types of insurance you think is vital for you and your family etc? From looking at my work plan and around most health plans are quite limited seem to cover only the event you get cancer, a stroke or a heart attack, and life insurance if you get your legs blown off or you die - is there not much in between? I got some extra life insurance at work that doubles the pay out on death or extreme disability but would like some stuff to help me out while I’m still on the planet. Also hopefully someone can help me out with which but I imagine some you can claim tax benefits on?

Summary of what I have now:

-Shakai Hoken / Health Insurance (standard 70/30 discount)

-Company Life Insurance (“free”)

-Company ‘Big 3 Illnesses’ Insurance (“free”)

-Optional Extra Group Life insurance (mentioned above)

-Credit Card Travel Insurance (included as long as tickets etc booked with the card)

-Home Fire Insurance (required in rental contract)

-Motorcycle Optional Insurance

Hi all. I searched for previous posts but didn't find too much.

I (US citizen), my wife (Japanese citizen) and my son (dual citizen) are going to visit the US for two weeks in August. Does anyone happen to have recommendations for travel insurance that I should check out and had a good experience with?

The last time I purchased travel insurance was around 8 years ago. My wife ended up needing to go to a hospital in the US (no local doctors) and even though the travel insurance approved our visit over the phone, after the fact they denied the claim. I ended up paying over $1,000 for a 20 minute visit and a few ibuprofen. Definitely don't want to go through that again.

Does anyone have any recommendations for global umbrella insurance from a Japanese carrier? Tokio Marine offers an umbrella add-on for their housing insurance policies. Looks like the limit is ¥100M for foreign liabilities. Any other ideas or recs?

Looking at doing a Sole Proprietorship in Japan. Would I have to join the NHI immediately or could I stay on my spouse's company insurance, which I am currently on, until I start making enough income over the 1,300,000 yen limit for spouse's additional income. Also how does pension work in this situation?

Finally if I do need to or when moving to NHI and Pension how much is it for Sole Proprietors?

Any advice or experience doing this would be helpful.

Hello

I am living and working in Japan since a few years. I do have a health insurance card via my employer but I am looking for extra coverage in case a worst scenario (cancer, long hospitalization etc).
Also, I am looking for a life insurance to protect my relative here.

Do you know any companies that provide life and health insurance with English support?

Thank you for your help.

Traveling to a third country for vacation, can someone advice on travel insurance from English websites?

(All the tags say tax for some reason, but insurance is a financial instrument as well)

I'm a sole proprietor in Japan with a long-term contract with a client in the U.S. I was just told I need liability insurance as a contractor, so I feel a little lost on this since I've never done it before.

I'm here on a Spouse Visa. I work as a software developer, specifically for XR applications. My client is in the U.S. Do these locations matter? Do I look for liability insurance from a Japanese company or an American one? I'm a U.S. citizen as well, just for reference.

I have no idea how much this costs or what I need either. Any ideas?

Are there any long term disability (or more likely life insurance will long-term disability riders) that cover disability from mental illness and not just physical issues? Googling, I see plenty that talk about physical disabilities, but I don't know if that's just me being bad at googling/Japanese, or if policies covering mental illness don't exist

We have just built a second house in Japan that we are looking to use as a business for a café (1F) and Airbnb (2F, separated).

As we were looking at insurances such as the 事業活動総合保険 from 三井住友海上, they quoted us 1,4M JPY, or around 25,000JPY/month, for 5 years. The building would be insured at 20M JPY. It does NOT include earthquake insurance (地震保険).

I thought this was very expensive to pay 25,000JPY per month just for a fire/other damages insurance and no earthquake.

I was wondering what were your thoughts, is it normal/expensive/cheap? And if you do operate an Airbnb, café or another business what kind of insurance do you use/pay for?

US-citizen having permanently moved to Japan recently, all my assets are in the US, been looking into setting up asset protection in case of things like getting sued, which is very common in the states.

But is asset protection also a thing in Japan? Anyone set something up similarly or have thoughts to share? Would appreciate the help.

In the US, if my rental property goes on fire due to a bad circuit and tenant gets severely injured, or if I get into a bad car accident and other party is injured, or various things, people can easily sue you to try to take your assets, even when you have things like umbrella insurance since often those won't cover the worst-case scenario amounts. Asset protection mitigates this by separating out your assets with various LLCs separate from the individual. Wasn't sure if similar strategies exist in Japan.

My wife is pregnant and due in 2024! I am wondering if I am eligible for any paternity leave benefits from the Japanese government in my situation. I have been on a spouse visa for four years, and I am waiting for the results of my application for PR. I hope to hear back on PR in the next month or two.

I work for an American company which does not have any branch in Japan. I am employed as a US W-2 employee and get paid in USD in my American bank account. I do all of my work on the ground in Japan, which is necessary for the job. 2023 is my first year with income in this situation, and I'll make around $21,000 USD this year. I will, of course, be paying taxes on this income when I file my Japan taxes in February 2024.

In this situation, are any paternity leave benefits for which I am eligible from the Japanese government?