Self-Diagnosis Checklist for Those Afraid of Investing: What Type of Anxiety Is Holding You Back?
“Maybe I should start investing.”
You think that.
You are concerned about your future finances and have even researched investing.
It is not that you have no interest at all.
And yet, for some reason, you cannot take action.
You can manage to look up information about accounts.
You can read articles for beginners.
While watching videos,
“Maybe I can do this too”
there are moments when you think that.
But when it comes to actually moving your own money, you stop.
Or, perhaps you started once but quit because you were afraid of the price dropping.
If you have had such an experience,
“Maybe I am not cut out for investing”
you might think.
However, the phrase “I am afraid of investing” alone does not tell you what is holding you back.
People who are afraid of losing money.
People who are afraid of choosing the wrong thing.
People who are afraid of starting without enough knowledge.
People who are being cautious because it is family money.
People who feel burdened by the idea that once they start, they have to keep going forever.
Even if it is the same “fear,” the underlying reasons differ slightly.
That is why this time,
not to determine “whether you are suited for investing,”
but rather
to find out “where exactly I am feeling afraid,”
we will use 10 questions.
You don’t need to worry about how many apply to you.
Rather,
please remember the points where you felt,
“This question specifically bothers me”
or “This might be about me.”
There, you might find hints to help you think about investing with peace of mind.
The content of “fear of investing” differs slightly from person to person
If you lump your anxiety about investing into “I’m afraid of losing money,” you might overlook the real reason you are standing still. Some people are afraid of the price drop itself, while others are afraid of a lack of knowledge or making a wrong decision. First, try to recall what situations trigger your emotions when you think about investing.
You can’t move your money just by imagining a loss
You haven’t started investing yet.
You haven’t actually lost any money.
Even so,
“What if 100,000 yen becomes 80,000 yen?”
Sometimes, just thinking about it makes me scared.
Those 20,000 yen don’t just look like numbers.
Money that could have been used for a family outing.
Money that could have been used in case of an emergency.
Money earned from working for several days.
When you think about it that way,
“Why bother putting it somewhere where it might decrease?”
you think.
Even if you feel positive while researching investments, the moment you see talk of price drops, your feelings revert.
If this feeling is strong, it might not just be a “lack of investment knowledge” that is holding you back.
You may be reacting strongly to the very possibility that your money could decrease.
Feeling like you “still don’t have enough knowledge” no matter how much you research
I read books.
I read articles too.
I watched videos too.
There are fewer words I don’t know than before.
Even so,
“I still don’t have enough knowledge to start”
I feel.
I’ll research a little more.
I’ll start once I know a little more.
Months have passed while thinking that.
If that is your situation,
is it really a lack of knowledge?
Or,
are you thinking,
“I want to know until I’m sure I won’t make a mistake.”
It might be worth considering these separately.
There is an endless amount of information on investing if you try to look for it.
Therefore, if you use “knowing everything” as your standard, you may never finish.
You have the desire to start, but for some reason, you stop at the very last step.
You can do this much.
Researching.
Comparing.
Checking about accounts.
Thinking about the amount.
But you stop at the very end.
Right before purchasing.
Right before setting up a savings plan.
“Are you really sure about this?”
When you see a screen that asks for confirmation, you suddenly feel anxious.
This is because the investment, which you had previously viewed as information about others, becomes
your own decision
at that moment.
If you tend to stop here,
rather than being “afraid of investing itself,”
you might have strong anxiety about
“making decisions yourself and accepting the results.”
Let’s look at this in a bit more detail.
First, find the “anxiety holding you back from investing” with these 10 questions.
I will list 10 questions below. You don’t need to strictly decide between “yes” or “no.” A feeling of “this applies quite a bit” or “I understand a little” is sufficient. What is important is not the score, but which question made you feel a little uneasy the moment you read it. Please use that reaction as a clue to understand your own anxiety.
Just thinking about a price drop makes you want to quit investing.
Even if the price hasn’t actually dropped yet,
you get scared just by imagining,
“What if it decreases the month after I invest?”
You feel like you might check your balance every day after you start.
Even if it drops just a little,
you feel like you might think,
“I really should have stopped.”
That is what you might think.
Do you have such a feeling?
If this strongly applies to you, you might have a relatively high level of fear regarding price fluctuations or losses themselves.
There is no need to judge whether you are being too fearful here.
However,
“I react strongly when I imagine a scenario where my money decreases”
just keep that in mind.
You keep putting it off, saying, “I’ll start after I study more”
It is important to study before you start investing.
But,
“I’ll start after I study a little more”
how many times have you used that phrase?
You thought you would start after finishing one book.
But when you finished it, another question came up.
Next, you watch a video.
Then you look at a comparison article.
And more things you don’t understand come up.
And then months pass by.
If this sounds familiar,
it is not just anxiety about a lack of knowledge,
but rather, “I cannot make a decision unless I understand it fully.”
There is a possibility that you have strong feelings of this.
You have strong anxiety about deciding where to invest on your own.
You can make a decision if there is only one option.
But you suddenly feel anxious when there are multiple options.
You compare A and B.
A looks good.
But there are also people who recommend B.
Then option C even comes up.
And then,
“What if only the one I chose turns out to be bad?”
you think.
You want someone to,
“This is absolutely safe.”
say to you.
If that is the case, what you are afraid of is not just the loss,
making the choice yourself
it might be that.
When you see stories of losses on social media, you feel like it will happen to you too.
When you casually open social media,
posts from people who have lost money on investments appear.
Numbers that have dropped significantly.
Posts expressing regret.
Warnings like “Beginners should be careful.”
Then, even though you were feeling a bit positive until that point,
“Maybe it really is dangerous after all”
you think.
Even if you know it is just one person’s experience, you end up imagining a future where the same thing happens to you.
After that, you find yourself looking at related posts over and over again.
If you have had such an experience, your judgment might be easily swayed by anxious information coming from the outside.
You cannot make a decision when you think about the possibility of losing your family’s money.
If it were just my own money, I feel like I could make a decision a bit more easily.
But,
Children’s education expenses.
Monthly living expenses.
Housing costs.
Money set aside for emergencies.
When things like that come to mind, you suddenly get scared.
“What if I lose my family’s money because of my own decision?”
you think.
You even start thinking about how you would explain it to your partner.
If this is a major concern for you, there is a possibility that your anxiety contains a significant amount of
a sense of responsibility to protect your family’s livelihood
.
You are worried that you have less investment knowledge than those around you
When investment comes up at work.
When friends talk about wealth building.
When you see posts from knowledgeable people on social media.
“Everyone knows so much about this.”
You think.
Compared to that, you feel like you know nothing.
You feel embarrassed to ask questions.
It would be dangerous to start in this state.
Do you ever feel this way?
It is not just the knowledge itself; sometimes,
“I am the only one who doesn’t know”
the comparison can also amplify your anxiety.
You feel like you would consider it a “failure” if you lost even a little bit
When the money you invested decreases slightly,
“It’s just market movement, so it can’t be helped”
can you think that way?
Or perhaps,
“Starting this was a mistake in the first place”
is what you might end up thinking.
If the latter feeling is strong,
you might be equating loss with failure quite closely in your mind.
Money decreases.
It equals,
my choice was wrong.
When you feel that way, even a slight drop in value becomes a significant psychological burden.
The more you compare things, the less you know what is right
You look for information for beginners.
You compare.
You look at even more detailed information.
And then, you are more confused than when you started.
Have you ever had that experience?
Even though you thought gathering information would make you feel secure,
A looks good too.
B looks good too.
But there are also opinions like this about A.
There are also points to be careful about with B.
You find yourself increasingly unable to choose.
If this strongly applies to you,
it is not so much that you lack information,
but rather that you have not yet decided on your criteria for choosing.
That is a possibility.
I feel like once I start, I won’t be able to stop easily.
When you start investing,
you have to continue for decades.
If you stop halfway, it’s a failure.
You have to stick to the amount you decided on once.
Do you have that kind of feeling?
If so, the act of “starting” becomes quite heavy.
Because today’s first step
feels like a promise
for the next several decades.
When you consider the possibility that your life might change,
“Is it really okay to decide this now?”
you want to stop.
What is holding you back is not just investing,
but the idea that “you must not change what you have once decided.”
It might be that kind of feeling.
I sometimes think that I am not suited for investing.
This is the last one.
When you are hesitant about investing,
“I am not suited for investing”
do you ever think that?
Because it gets scary.
Because I cannot make a decision.
Because I don’t think I can handle a price drop.
Because I lack knowledge.
Because I don’t have the confidence to keep it up.
If you ever think that,
before you reach that conclusion,
“Why did I think that?”
please keep that in mind.
“Not suited” can sometimes be a term that bundles various anxieties together.
Breaking down what is inside that is the most important part of this self-diagnosis.
Look at “where you paused” rather than the number of items that applied to you.
Some people might have felt anxious seeing the 10 questions and thinking, “Seven of these apply to me.” However, this diagnosis does not view a higher number as meaning you are less suited for investing. Instead, look at which questions made you feel, “This is me.” Hidden there is the preparation you need to think about investing with peace of mind.
People who were concerned about price drops are the type with strong “fear of loss.”
Price drops.
Seeing your balance decrease.
The prospect of losing money.
If you reacted strongly to these questions,
the “fear of loss”
might be relatively strong for you.
For this type of person,
“price drops are normal in investing”
is not enough to make you feel at ease.
This is because understanding something intellectually is different from being able to stay calm when your own money decreases.
What is important
is not to try
to “become someone who isn’t afraid.”
How much of a change in your money makes you feel anxious?
Is it mixed with money you need for daily life?
Are you checking the numbers too often?
Looking at those aspects might be more necessary for you right now.
People who keep searching for the right answer are the type with a strong “fear of failure.”
You can’t decide even after comparing.
You want someone to tell you the correct answer.
You might feel like you made the wrong choice if you lose even a little bit of money.
If this resonates with you,
the fear of failure
might be strong.
This type of person may be trying to avoid the feeling of
having made a wrong decision
more than the actual loss of money itself.
That is why you look for the correct answer.
You research more.
You compare more.
But the options increase, and you become even less able to decide.
What you need might not be a massive amount of information to guarantee a correct answer, but rather
a core principle
of what you use to make your decisions.
Those who think of family or daily life are the type with a strong sense of responsibility to protect.
When you think about investing,
your children’s faces come to mind.
Living expenses come to mind.
Housing costs come to mind.
You worry about sudden expenses.
For such people,
the “responsibility to protect”
may be growing within their fear.
If it were only your own money, you might be able to accept some changes.
But when it comes to family money, it becomes difficult.
This is not simple cowardice.
It can also be considered that you are being cautious precisely because you have a strong desire to protect your current lifestyle.
For this type, in addition to studying about investing,
which money should be kept for living expenses?
How much can be considered separate from the household budget?
Organizing such boundaries can sometimes lead to peace of mind.
People who keep gathering information are the type with a strong “fear of the unknown”
You cannot stop researching.
The more information you get, the more anxious you become.
You think you haven’t studied enough yet.
If many of these items apply to you,
a “fear of the unknown”
might be strong.
You don’t want to put your precious money into something you don’t understand.
That in itself is a natural feeling.
However, if you aim to “understand everything first,” you will never see an end to it.
Therefore,
What do you need to understand in order to make a decision?
What will you do when you don’t understand something?
What kind of information will you use as a standard?
Decide on these things little by little.
Sometimes, it is more necessary to create a standard you can return to than to increase the amount of information you have.
The diagnosis result does not determine whether you are “suited for investing” or “not suited for investing.”
When you perform a self-diagnosis, you might want to immediately judge yourself as “suited” or “not suited” based on the results. However, what we want to find here is not aptitude, but the conditions under which anxiety arises. Even if your fear is strong, if you understand the reason for it, there are things you can prepare. Please use the diagnosis results not as an evaluation of yourself, but as a note to learn how to handle yourself.
Having strong fear and being unable to invest are two different things.
“I am very afraid of price drops.”
You realized this.
Then,
“I guess investing is impossible for me after all.”
You might think that.
But there is no need to decide that much based on this diagnosis alone.
The fear is strong.
This is,
“The fear is strong”
—that is the information.
“I can’t invest.”
That is a separate conclusion.
For example, if you have strong anxiety about price drops,
think about how much you can realistically handle.
If you are worried about your family’s money, think about the boundary between that and the money needed for daily life.
If you are afraid of what you don’t understand, start by thinking within the scope of what you can understand.
If you know your own characteristics, you can prepare without ignoring them.
If you understand your anxiety, it becomes easier to narrow down the necessary preparations.
When you feel vaguely afraid of investing,
“I need to study more.”
“I need to save more.”
“I need to be more courageous.”
It feels like everything is necessary.
However,
“I am afraid of failing”
if you realize that, things change a little.
What you need might not be to increase information infinitely, but to organize your own criteria for judgment.
“I am afraid of the impact on my daily life”
if so, it might be better to organize your household finances before looking at investment products.
“I am afraid of price drops”
If so, you need to consider the range you can handle.
Once you give a name to your anxiety,
you can move a little bit away from the state of
“not knowing what to do.”
Finding “conditions for peace of mind” rather than overcoming it
When you see your fear,
next,
you might think,
“How should I overcome this?”
However, I don’t think you need to aim only at eliminating the fear itself.
For example,
don’t put money into things you don’t understand right away.
Think of it separately from the money needed for daily life.
When you feel anxious, don’t make big decisions on the spot.
Have a purpose that you can be satisfied with.
In that way,
look for “what conditions would make me feel a little more at ease.”
Instead of eliminating fear, create an environment where it is easier for you to make decisions even with that fear.
That might be a way to deal with it without forcing yourself.
That way, you can live with it more comfortably.
Once you know your type of anxiety, try returning to the question of “why you are investing”
When you understand your own anxiety, you will want to find a way to eliminate it immediately. However, before that, it is also important to return just once to the question of “why am I considering investing in the first place?” If your purpose remains vague, it is difficult to decide how much anxiety or price fluctuation you are willing to accept. Try looking not only at your fears but also at the future you want to protect.
It is difficult to have a basis for judgment based solely on the desire not to lose money
“I don’t want to lose money.”
That is a natural feeling.
However, using only that as a criterion for judgment can be a bit difficult.
Do not invest.
If you do that, you can avoid price drops caused by investing.
But,
“Will my future money be okay as it is?”
Another anxiety may remain.
Conversely, if you invest in a hurry because you are anxious about the future,
then you will become afraid of price drops.
No matter which way you move, anxiety remains.
At such times,
“Avoiding losses”
is not the only thing; try thinking about
“what you want to prepare money for in the first place.”
Once you can see that,
it becomes a little easier to think about what you want to prioritize.
When you can see your purpose, it becomes easier to think about “how much risk is acceptable.”
For example,
I want to increase my peace of mind for retirement a little.
I want to have some flexibility in how I choose to work in the future.
I want to prepare a little for my family’s future.
You can see your purpose a little bit.
Then,
“For that purpose, how much am I willing to consider?”
This question arises.
Conversely, if you have no purpose,
the moment the price drops,
“Why am I putting myself through this scary experience?”
is what you are likely to think.
Even if you look at other products,
“Is this one better?”
you are more likely to waver.
A purpose is not magic that makes anxiety disappear.
Even so, it becomes a place to return to when you are lost.
It is okay to start by thinking about how you want to use your money in a way that is important to you.
When people talk about the purpose of investing,
You might feel like you have to decide on numbers, such as “reaching X amount of yen in assets”
or “increasing your assets by X percent.”
However, I think it is fine to use words that are closer to your daily life.
I don’t want to limit my options in the future because of money.
I want to live with a little more peace of mind in my old age.
I want to prepare for the future while protecting my family’s lifestyle.
I want to prepare without sacrificing my current life too much.
Words like these are perfectly fine.
Before thinking about how to grow your money,
think about what kind of peace of mind you want to secure by using your money.
It is perfectly fine to start from there.
Once you have completed the self-diagnosis and realized, “I have a strong sense of this particular anxiety,” there is no need to rush into finding investment products.
In fact, if you take a step back and ask yourself, “What is my purpose for investing in the first place?” it becomes easier to see how to manage your fear.
Do you want peace of mind for your retirement? Do you want to prepare for your family’s future? Or do you want to gradually reduce your vague anxiety about money?
If you want to organize your thoughts starting from your own personal purpose, please check “Article 11: Long-Term Investment Concepts and Goal Setting You Should Know Before Starting” to confirm the meaning of starting long-term investment and establish your own core principles.
Once you see your fear, even that alone will change your next step.
Even after the diagnosis, you may still have some anxiety about investing. However, the “vague fear” you felt before the diagnosis is a little different from the “I might be afraid of this specific thing” you feel after. Once you give your emotions a concrete name, you can stop blaming yourself for what you lack and start thinking about what you can prepare to feel a little more at ease.
Giving a concrete name to an emotion that was just “fear”
Before the diagnosis,
you might have felt like you were just afraid.
“Investing is scary.”
That was all it was.
But now,
“Maybe I’m afraid of the price dropping.”
“I’m afraid of making a mistake.”
“It’s my family’s money, so I’m being cautious.”
“I’m afraid of deciding while I don’t understand.”
Such words might have come out a little.
This is a small change.
The fear itself is still there.
But, the true nature of it is becoming slightly visible.
With vague anxiety, you don’t know where to start.
If it is an anxiety with a name,
“Then, what is needed for this anxiety?”
you can think.
Even if you don’t go as far as erasing the anxiety,
it has changed slightly into a form you can handle.
You can see the necessary preparations, rather than what you are lacking.
“I am not suited for investing”
When you think that, you feel like you have to change yourself.
Become a more courageous person.
Become a smarter person.
Become calmer.
Have more decisiveness.
When you think about it that way, it is very difficult.
However,
If you are “afraid when prices drop”
then you just need to think of rules for when you get scared.
If you are “afraid of what you don’t understand”
then you just need to organize what you need to understand to make a decision.
If you are “afraid of the impact on your household finances”
then you should think about the boundary between your investments and the money needed for daily life.
The target for change shifts
from “yourself”
to
“preparation.”
It changes to that.
Even just doing that can sometimes make it easier to take action.
Save your diagnosis results and proceed to the solution that suits you now.
Finally, please leave just one word about today’s results.
You don’t need a long analysis.
For example,
I seem to have a strong fear of loss.
I stop because I’m looking for the perfect answer.
I can’t decide because I feel like it’s my family’s money.
I get anxious when I see too much information.
That much is enough.
And then, just one more thing below that,
What would make me feel a little more at ease than I do now?
try writing that down.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have an answer right away.
Until now, you were,
stopped by,
I can’t do it because I’m scared.
But now,
you’ve reached the point of saying,
I’m scared of this. So, what do I need?
You might not have started investing yet.
The anxiety hasn’t disappeared either.
Even so, you can see what’s happening inside yourself a little better than before.
From that state, it should be easier to choose your next step than it was before.
Once you finish the diagnosis, try saving the results in a smartphone memo or notebook instead of just closing them.
For example,
“Strong fear of loss”
“Afraid of failing”
“Being cautious because it is family money”
“Too much information to make a decision”
Short phrases like these are enough.
The important thing is not to look at the diagnosis results and decide, “I guess I’m not cut out for investing after all.”
If you know what is holding you back, it becomes easier to choose the preparation that suits that anxiety.
In the Anshin Asset Lab’s “Beginner’s Guide to Long-Term Asset Formation,” we also provide a checklist to help you think about the next steps that suit you while organizing the results of such self-diagnoses.
First, save today’s diagnosis results.
Then, try thinking, “Given this fear, what can I prepare to feel a little more at ease?”
It is not too late to decide whether or not to start investing after that.
We have started an official LINE account to reduce investment anxiety
“I want to start investing, but I’m afraid of losing money.”
“The more I look into the new NISA, the more confused I get.”
We have started an official LINE account for people like you.
On our official LINE, we deliver information such as how to think about investment amounts that won’t make your life difficult, criteria for making decisions without being swayed by information, and rules for not panicking when the market drops.
The important thing is not to copy someone else’s correct answer, but to decide for yourself, based on your own household budget, what level is “okay for me.”
Let’s think together about how to continue building assets without strain while protecting your current lifestyle.
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