When I first got to Japan, I was sending a lot of money back home using WISE. But now that the JPY to USD rate is around 75%, what is everyone else doing? Biting the bullet and still sending money anyway? Keeping it in your Japanese bank until the conversion rate improves?
Is waiting for the rate to improve pointless?
Please share your ideas/comments/suggestions regarding sending money back home. (any currency)
11 comments
Couldn’t you just put your yen in Wise until the rate improves? Not sure you need to keep the Japanese bank account after the funds are transferred into Wise.
Just depends if you mind holding large sums in Wise.
Hoarding it like a dragon. Then sending it the minute we get a reasonable rate. Idk if/when that will happen but…hey, it’s the 2020s I’m not surprised by much anymore.
Much like trading stocks, crypto or any other volatile asset, trying to time the exchange rate is – at best – a risky proposition. There’s no real way to know if we’re at the bottom of the yen value, and it’s going to come back up; or if it’s got further to fall. We also don’t know how much it might recover – will it go back to Feb ‘22 levels? Aug ‘21? Dec ‘20? You might wait for a better rate, only to be hit by an even worse one. Take a look at a 1Y or 10Y chart – you could have spent that whole time waiting for the rate to recover, and never return to a rate you’re happy with.
If you just send back a portion every month, then you average out the wild swings – sometimes you get a decent rate, sometimes you get an awful one, but the bad gets balanced somewhat by the good. It seems true that, on average over the past decade, JPY is worth less USD over time.
But who knows, maybe the midterms will spook the markets and bring the dollar down a few points 🤷
No way I’m sending it now that’s for sure.
With worthless treasure bonds compounding, personally I take the lose and send some home to invest. I see no reason having it in my JpN account doing nothing but losing value daily.
Could always convert half the yen now and wait to convert the other half. If you ever plan on travelling to Japan again, having some yen ready to go will save you from being hit with foreign exchange fees.
I have a currency account with wise that enables me to transfer the money out of my bank account in Japan and hold it in a WISE yen account. When I score on a ‘good’ transfer rate I send money from the currency account to my US bank account. I don’t have a huge amount of money saved (around 700,000 that I haven’t transferred to my US account, I was able to send a lot back and pay off some loans before the rate crashed) but at least that way I can access it. It isn’t the best but it is what it is.
The Yen is in a 20 year low. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. You can either wire it to yourself and take the hit. Or you could set up a foreign money account and sit on the bulk of it and try to wait for the yen to jump or the dollar to fall. It’s a gamble like many things in life.
I’m in debt and I don’t have enough money to just let my yen sit and wait for a better transfer rate, so I have no choice but to transfer before I leave.
Just buy USDC with your Yen and take it with you wherever you go, for free, and withdraw it to your U.S. bank account when ready.
Im going to be a new jet in July. When people here say transferring money from their Japanese bank, are they saying they are transferring to a checking account in their home country? I was planning to close my chase checking as I won’t be receiving direct deposits and they charge for not having a certain amount or a deposit of at least 500 a month. I instead have an online account with Charles Schwab where I intend to move my money to access over there (no international fees and reimburse all atm fees). What else should I know/do when getting paid in japan?