From our other sites
The story
Fueled by the spread of NISA (Japan’s tax-free small-investment program) and a rising stock market, interest in personal investing has surged among young people in Japan. While “FIRE” — building enough wealth to retire early — is drawing attention, the term “NISA-poor” has also emerged to describe people who cut back on daily life just to keep investing, prompting experts to warn of the risks of getting too deeply invested. After the Yomiuri Shimbun profiled a woman who lives comfortably while making videos on the side, 5ch users split over whether investing is “gambling or solid asset-building” and whether FIRE is good for society. Some called long-term, dollar-cost-averaging investment “a gamble with great odds of winning,” while others took a cooler view, distinguishing between unrealized gains and locked-in profits and arguing that “most people actually end up losing in the end.”
Against a backdrop of NISA’s spread and a rising stock market, interest in personal investing is climbing, especially among younger people. Investment amounts through NISA have also surged, and the “FIRE” lifestyle — building up assets to retire early — is drawing attention. At the same time, some people are getting too deeply invested, giving rise to the term “NISA-poor,” and experts are warning that an excessive focus on investing carries real risk. (By Kotaro Hirose)
A Leisurely Lunch
In the morning, she helps her eldest daughter get ready and sends her off to school, then works on the videos she streams. After a relaxed lunch in the early afternoon, she settles in to enjoy some reading.
Source: yomiuri.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
What's the deal with investment products from insurance companies anyway? Aren't the fees baked in like crazy?
Everybody's Mr. Bourgeois
Everybody's Mr. Passive Income
Graduating from the proletariat — what's wrong with that?
Honestly, steady investing from a young age is the best way for an ordinary person with no special talent to escape the proletariat. Anyone can do it, and it's highly repeatable.
Yeah, with the 4% rule that's just not doable.
It's just a stepping stone.
You max out your NISA allowance, then move to a taxable account.
That part is the real crazy thing here.
That's just… running a business from home, isn't it?
I wonder if she's properly filing her tax return.
Ah, I see — so the video income is the main source, not investment returns.
Retiring before 40 with a wife and kids on just 50 million yen — bold move.
However you look at it, that's too early.
Forget two years — with NISA the investment horizon is more like 20 years.
20 years from now, the US might be in decline though.
Only God could predict that — same goes for exchange rates and stock prices.
There are options — switching out of the US, or who knows if NISA itself will even still be around by then. Given the contribution caps, it's designed as a long-term thing, so even through economic crises the approach is basically to keep going on autopilot.
So it's gambling, then.
The world economy's upward trend hasn't broken since humanity began, so… yeah, it's a gamble, but one with ridiculously good odds of winning.
There's no such thing as a gamble where every single participant wins. Think about it rationally — an unprecedented correction is coming at some point.
That's just wishful thinking on your part lol. Well, if you're convinced everyone's headed for huge losses, just leave them to it.
Even if people say they've grown their assets with NISA, it's just unrealized gains until they actually cash out. Sure, some people cash out and win the game of Old Maid (i.e., don't end up holding the bag), but the only reason winners exist is because so many others lose and get stuck holding it. In other words, the majority end up losing in the end — which is just obvious, really.
Nearly 40% is already cashed-out profit lol. Even if there's a crash, I can easily buy more.
No idea about margin traders, but most people doing cash investing are probably winning.
If the cream of the crop can't or won't do work that actually contributes to society in the first place, that's a society in its death throes.
People who think like this just don't understand capitalism, honestly. Switching from wage laborer to capitalist doesn't cause national strength to decline.
They've already started steering the yen stronger — you sure that's fine?
And? Stock price gains far outpace currency swings anyway. Talk data, not vibes. You just resent people wealthy enough to invest, don't you lmao
Honestly, the mentality and character it takes to try to be the one who cashes out first in this whole 'Old Maid' game of investing just strikes me as ugly.
Because it's more efficient that way, obviously.
If you can cut it, it was surplus to begin with.
Starting young also means the compounding effect is huge.
Then again, new grads these days get paid well, so they've got real firepower to invest with too.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
NISA was overhauled in 2024, expanding the tax-free holding limit to 18 million yen and making the investment framework permanent — a change that sits behind both the article and this thread, since it triggered a surge in account openings and contribution amounts among young people. FIRE is a concept that originated in the US, commonly using the “4% rule” — the idea that withdrawing 4% of assets annually shouldn’t meaningfully deplete the principal — as a rule of thumb; the thread itself raises the point that “the 4% rule makes it impossible,” and it’s easy to overlook how much the required asset amount varies depending on family situation and living standards. It’s also worth noting that “unrealized gains” and “realized profit” are different things — a rise in valuation during a long holding period doesn’t mean the gain is locked in. The thread’s central divide is between an optimistic view that sees regular investing as “the most reproducible way to build wealth” and a risk-focused view holding that “a major correction will eventually come” or “in the end, only the ones who sell out in time actually win” — both are commenters’ own market opinions, not something stated in the article itself.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “[FIRE in the Spotlight] Investment Fever Rising Among Young People, Some Eating Just One Meal a Day for “NISA Poverty”… A Reminder That Investing Always Carries Risk“.
Leave a Reply