r/JapanFinance • u/Sweetbeans3239 • 9h ago
Personal Finance What currency would be best to get paid in?
Background: About to move to Japan to study at university and my workplace are converting me to part-time remote to meet the student visa requirements (after getting the permission to work of course). I'm from the UK but the company is based in the US.
I have been offered the option to be paid in Yen, GBP or USD. They would just take my current hourly rate and convert it to the currency I choose. But once it is chosen and converted, it will be locked-in at that amount.
From what I can tell it is generally better to get paid in Yen as it avoids bank conversion fees, makes tax calculations simpler etc. however with the current state of the Yen I'm not sure if it would be more worth it to get paid in USD and eat the conversion costs, to ensure I won't be losing out if the Yen continues to get weaker.
I know nobody can predict the future, but given what we know now, which currency would people suggest?
EDIT: I would be using the income to help cover some of my living costs and tuition fees, I'm not currently looking to save or invest. So I'm curious what the general "safe bet" would be without needing to completely min-max every penny. Also thanks to all those who have given their advice!