Foreigner's Finances

Another ALT (assistant language teacher) and I were recently talking about post-college life. He’s been out of college for a little over a year, while I have just been out for five months.

I told him how I was really enjoying the freedom and doing what I wanted for the first time in my life. For 22 years I felt like I was doing what was expected of me, and was never doing what I truly wanted. That finally changed when I got on the plane to Japan in July.

I told my friend I was enjoying not having to go to the library to study for a test, or having to keep myself awake through morning classes, but I mostly enjoyed coming home at four or five in the afternoon and being completely done with work and obligations.

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Planning to go abroad can be a stressful process. From insurance to Visas to money, there are a lot of areas to cover before departure. One of the most important areas to cover before leaving for a vacation or move abroad is your financial accounts – bank, credit cards, investing accounts.

It’s vital to simplify these accounts before departure so you can enjoy your time instead of wondering about that extra $43 sitting in an unused checking account somewhere. I’ve spent just two-weeks abroad and I’ve spent up to three and a half months, so I’ve seen the best and worst ways to prepare your accounts before departure.

This will be the first of a mini two-part series in preparing financial records before a trip. Today, I’ll show you how to go about preparing financially for a vacation, a month in time or less.

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Transitioning my life to Japan has been something I didn’t have to do in 2007. I was a student and only here for two months so I was more of a temporary visitor. However, now that I work here I need everything a normal citizen would have, minus the jet black hair. Bank account, insurance, identification, and taxes are some of the items I’ve had to sort out since arriving. I’ve also signed up for a Japanese Post Office account. Yes, a post office account.

This was suggested before I arrived because the post office in Japan is a little different than in America. Where in America you mostly find grumpy workers telling you that stamp prices have once again gone up; in Japan the post office acts as a place to send letters, and as a bank.  Since the post office is run by the government, I can find any one of the 2,560 post offices across the country and access my money, whereas my local bank account only allows me access to my money in my hometown.

I find my post office account to be a good thing. I’m treating it as untouchable and forced savings. Forced savings might not sound good to everyone, but I have certain savings goals in mind that I’d like to accomplish in the next two to five years and having an untouchable savings account will allow me to accomplish these goals. The post office is the physical barrier that I need to separate my checking account – my discretionary spending – and my savings account – money for future goals.

It should be a pretty painless act. A day or two after I get paid I will trek over to my bank, withdraw the amount I want to save, walk across the street, and place that money into my post office account. It’s an easy way to separate checking and savings and avoid tempting myself by leaving extra money in my checking account that would probably be spent on candy or convenience store sushi (incredibly delicious).

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