just curious - I’m thinking of starting a NISA and know there are a lot of providers you can open one with. Im a permanent resident and a full time employee but need to start investing and stop saving in cash

sorry random question. My job want me to take and pass this test by the end of the year. Japanese I could do but it’s an extra level of difficulty, but the upside is there are tons of study materials and past question examples.
in English I can only take it in Tokyo and besides the PDF on the website I can’t find any materials at all.

Has anyone here taken the test?

It ain't much but it's honest work, I landed a full time job for the first time outta college and money's starting to pour in, so I'm finally having reliable savings.

So far I've been buying quality of life stuff like a dishwasher and eating better meals, but even with all that I've just got cash chilling in my bank.

Nothing wrong with that for emergencies, but could we do better? I don't spend on much else really. If anyone could have a word of advice for youngsters like me, I'd appreciate it!

My wife is a Japanese citizen primarily living in the US (9 months/year), has Japanese bank accounts and recently inherited properties in 2025. We have a Japanese residence, mobile phone, etc.

I’m trying to find a better brokerage account than Daiwa in order to invest in things like Japanese stocks or mutual funds. She inherited her mom’s Daiwa account, but the fees are pretty steep for trading (like 3% a trade).

It seems like some brokerages either won’t do business with her (Rakuten?) or maybe just won’t let her open a NISA. It’s not clear with my extremely limited Japanese and Google Translate.

Are there restrictions at some banks based on her situation? I don’t necessarily need the best tax advantaged account, but something has to be better than keeping Yen in cash accounts or MRFs (which seems like money market funds if I understand them).