Foreigners get nod to skip social insurance

Posted on 3rd March 2010 by admin in Blog

Everybody needs health insurance, especially when they live and work abroad. However, insurance systems in foreign countries are often difficult to understand without native language proficiency and difficult to explain to foreign employees whose reference points are often the completely different schemes they are used to in their home countries. By taking on Private healthcare insurance you can save money and provide 100% worldwide coverage. We are happy to provide a competitive quote from at least 3 providers.

Here for both employees and employers, we introduce a short guide to health insurance options available to foreign workers resident in Japan.

Foreigners get nod to skip social insurance; http://www.bannerjapan.com/immigration-bureau-guideline-update/

Social Insurance (Shakai Hoken)

Not everyone is eligible to join.
Application is made via employer.
Monthly premiums are salary linked and deducted directly from employee’s paycheck.
Employers pay an equal contribution each month.
Must also join the Employees’ Pension Insurance scheme.
Members of this scheme pay 30% of their medical costs, covering sickness, injury and necessary dental work.

National Health Insurance (Kokumin Kenko Hoken)

All foreign residents with a valid visa, allowing them to stay in Japan for a year or more, can join.
The scheme is open to people who are not employed (expectant mothers, students, retirees, etc.)
Premiums are calculated on a yearly basis (April – March) based on the insured person’s resident tax, property owned and number of dependents. Social and National Health Insurance premiums are based on salary.
Premiums can be paid by bank transfer or at the local ward or city office.
Primary members and their dependents pay 30% for inpatient or outpatient costs.

Private Health Insurance

Private health insurance in Japan is open to all nationalities and their dependents, regardless of their visa status and employment contract.
Private health insurance premiums are age-related and operate in a series of age brackets.
Premiums are usually paid by credit card, bank check or bank transfer.
The amount of deductible (the cost of treatment the insured individual must pay) can be tailored to the insured person’s needs.
Plans cover in-patient and outpatient treatment as well as dental treatment.
100% Coverage is worldwide.

Points to Consider

One of the advantages of using private insurance in Japan is that many English-speaking medical practitioners do not accept national health.
The law currently states that foreigners living in Japan for more than one year must have health insurance; each city office is left to interpret this independently and while some accept private insurance as an adequate means of health insurance, others might not. Not having Japanese National insurance does not hinder ones visa http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100202a1.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes+(The+Japan+Times%3A+All+Stories)&utm_content=Google+Reader and Foreigners get nod to skip social insurance; http://www.bannerjapan.com/immigration-bureau-guideline-update/

Private health insurance typically covers not only medical treatment in Japan but provides worldwide coverage, which is really important for frequent travelers.
Teacher Healthcare Special Rates for teachers!

To find out more on Private health insurance with 100% cover contact us at Banner Japan for complete assistance. 03 5724 5100

Good news! FreeChoice petitioned against the Immigration Bureau guideline linking social insurance to visa renewal – and we’ve won! The fruits of our labors together have been realized. Guideline No. 8 has been officially deleted as of today, March 3, 2010. The newly revised (showing seven instead of the present eight) guidelines is now posted on the Ministry of Justice’s website.

While the Immigration Bureau will continue to require non-permanent residents to present an insurance card at the visa application window, not doing so will cause no negative effect whatsoever upon an individual’s visa renewal. (The guideline never applied to permanent residents; as previously, they are not required to present an insurance card at all.) Although Immigration will encourage enrollment in Japan’s social system by distributing brochures, individual offices and officers are “forbidden” to pressure anyone to join. In fact, the new guidelines state clearly that “enrollment in the social system will in no way be tied to visa renewal.” Additionally, the Ministry of Justice will set up a new hotline to field complaints from visa applicants who feel that they were in any way pressured or coerced to enroll.

The Japan Times, Daily Yomiuri, and other media have yet to report that the guideline ‘was’ (past tense) deleted. It would seem that Free Choice has the jump on the news – again. That’s because, due to your invaluable support, we ARE the news! The foreign community united together in standing up to the bureaucracy and our voices were heard. We at the Free Choice Foundation would once again like to express our heartfelt thanks to you for your participation in this important issue.

To download the new guidelines, please go here: http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan70.pdf

As you can see, No. 8 is gone!

If you want private health insurance that has 100% cover click here

BRANDEAUX UPDATE

Posted on 1st March 2010 by admin in Blog

BRANDEAUX

BRANDEAUX’S STUDENT ACCOMMODATION ALREADY
OVER 75% BOOKED FOR 2010/2011 UNIVERSITY TERM

To download a printable PDF of this Brandeaux Update, click here

Students attending UK universities are clambering to book their 2010/2011 accommodation. Brandeaux’s accommodation is already over 75% booked to date, seven months ahead of the university term beginning late September 2010. With such strong demand at this early stage, Brandeaux is well on track for 100% occupancy, to keep up its previous three years track record.

Eighteen of Brandeaux’s forty-five residences are already 100% booked for students of our university partners, including those in the major university cities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Coventry, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The net rental price increases for 2010/2011 across the portfolio average 7.75% against 2009/2010 on a like-for-like basis. Rental price increases have not lessened the demand for quality, well managed accommodation in mainstream university locations.

The strong demand for accommodation, coupled with nearly 8% net rental price increases, is good news for BSAF(£) investors, as performance is driven mainly by:
• net rental income derived from occupancy; and
• the ability to increase rents the ability to increase rents year-on-year.

The outlook for 2010/11 is very positive and BSAF(£) looks set for another top-of-target performance.

March Finance in Focus

Posted on 1st March 2010 by admin in Finance in Focus

Finance in Focus

GOLD

The IMF stated that sales will be conducted in the open market, which is interesting because until now, gold has only been made available to central banks. While the IMF remains open to central banks buying some of the gold, sales will be conducted “in a phased manner over time” to avoid disruptions to the open market.

So, will IMF sales depress the gold price? Well, remember the price rose with the first sale, when it was announced India was buying 200 tonnes of the 212 for sale. But that was an off-take deal, not an open market sale, so the question is legitimate.

One way to look at it is this: global mine production was 80.9 million ounces in 2009, so the IMF’s 6.7 million ounces could be a market-jolting 8.2% addition if dumped all at once. And an 8.2% load would indeed upset a market if we were talking about strawberries or anything else that people buy only for the purpose of consuming.

But most gold isn’t bought for the purpose of using it up. It’s bought for the purpose of holding it. So the relevant comparison for the IMF’s 6.7 million ounces isn’t annual mine production. Instead, we should compare it to the world’s existing stockpile of gold, which is roughly 2 billion ounces. The IMF sale would add just 0.3% to global inventory – hardly a market trasher.

Further, we’ve been down this road before with the IMF. When they sold gold in the 1970s, the price dropped upon the announcement of the sale, but then rose when actual sales took place.

And the dirty joke is this: when the IMF sold gold in the 1970s, it marked a bottom in the price.

The IMF provides some very cushy jobs for the right people, along with a perpetual series of exquisitely catered conferences for the politically connected and politically correct. These people are not exactly known for being the brightest economic decision-makers. However noble their cause, the fact that they’re selling at all in the current environment, given the enormity of the monetary crisis that will only worsen as time goes on, tells me I want to be doing the opposite.

What happens if China buys the IMF’s gold. . .

Debt Watch

The debt-to-GDP ratio for Italy exceeds Greece’s at present, and Japan’s is well above the other countries. Indeed, Japan has the most highly indebted government among OECD countries when measured as a percent of GDP. Note that the U.S. government has a debt-to-GDP ratio that is more or less equivalent to Portugal’s, where yields on government bonds have backed up somewhat this year due to concerns about fiscal sustainability. Is Greece the Tip of the Iceberg?

Uranium

Quite simply the demand for uranium is outstripping the primary supply. In fact, starting from now, uranium supply needs to double just to catch up with current demand. And that’s not even taking into account the expected surge in demand as hundreds of new nuclear reactors come on linein the next ten years.

Even in the United States, which has not built a new nuclear plant in thirty years, US President, Barack Obama announced loan guarantees for two new nuclear plants to be built. But since the mid 1990s the nuclear energy industry has been lucky. In a way, nearly half of the demand for uranium has been met thanks to the end of the Cold War.

How so? You may not believe this but almost half of all uranium used in the world’s nuclear reactors has been sourced from… ex Soviet nuclear warheads! Maybe you have heard of it, it’s been referred to as the “megatons to megawatts” program. And it’s been running since 1993, but it ends in 2013.

Key Fact: There are currently 436 nuclear reactors in operation worldwide.
Right now there are over 50 reactors under construction in 13 countries along with 142 nuclear power reactors planned and an additional 250 which are being proposed. (source: World Nuclear Association)

According to Steve Kidd at the World Nuclear Association, another 142 are in the pipeline, and 53 of these are already under construction. Of the latter, 20 are in China. “We forget that in France in the 1970s they were building five new reactors a year,” he said. “The Chinese are just doing what the French did, but on a Chinese scale.”

The mining boom has been boosted by a surge in the uranium price. “For three decades uranium cost $10 a pound because nuclear power wasn’t seen as very desirable. Now that we have all these concerns about the environment and going low-carbon, it’s different. It hit $137 [a pound] two years ago,” said Joe Kelly, head of nuclear fuel markets at ICAP Energy. Today the spot price for un-enriched uranium is $42 a pound, enough for most projects to go ahead.

Stories of Interest:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. states face a total shortfall of at least $1 trillion in their funds for employees’ pensions and retirement benefits, and their financial problems are quickly mounting, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States on Thursday http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61H13X20100218

http://www.news.com.au/business/secret-summit-of-top-bankers/story-e6frfm1i-1225827289543

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4684108.stm

http://www.news.com.au/money/property/melbourne-hits-1-billion-property-mark/story-e6frfmd0-1225835436896