I'm a European working in Japan, 35yo.
My company gives me the possibility to either join a DC plan, or to receive the same amount each month as taxable income.
On paper, DC sounds great: tax-free income, tax-free capital gains.
However, DC pension is taxed, either by Japan, or by the country of residence.
I think by the time I'm 60 I will probably be residing somewhere in Europe, and many countries there seem to have pretty heavy taxation on pensions (up to 40% / 45% for high brackets).
By running the math, I have the impression that the tax savings of DC would become nearly irrelevant after the pension is taxed. For so little return, I find it very hard to justify the extra complexity of dealing with iDeco in Japan, plus freezing the funds for decades.
I'm curious to hear the experience of other Europeans (or residents in countries that are not special-cases such as US).
Especially curious to hear from anyone that actually already retired!
by Latter_Ad9172