The Pitfalls of Making Investing 'Pretentious'
Hello,
I’m Piro.
When I joined a securities company
about 20 years ago,
there was still
a lot of prejudice against ‘investing’.
It was sometimes treated
like ‘gambling’ or ‘betting,’
and the image of securities companies
was just plain bad (laughs).
But for me personally,
that wasn’t the case.
The reason is that
my family had held stocks since my grandfather’s generation,
and I was raised being told,
‘You enjoy stocks for the dividends.’
So, I didn’t have a bad image of it to begin with,
I had no resistance to joining a securities company,
and I didn’t have any other job offers anyway.
People treated me like a weirdo
for joining as a woman
in a general career track.
No one envied me at all.
Twenty years later,
thanks to the new NISA,
the environment surrounding ‘investing’
has truly changed.
From savings to investing
This phrase,
which I’ve been hearing since I joined the company,
I finally feel
‘it has really changed,’
and it’s deeply moving.
Hmm…?
Isn’t this heading in a strange direction?
Are you turning ‘investing’ into some kind of
pretentious trend?
Things I often see on social media:
‘I’m doing NISA,’
‘I started Tsumitate NISA,’
‘I’m interested in gold investing.’
To me, looking at the world with a cynical eye,
it feels off…
‘Are you showing off?’
In Japan, there are still so many people
who think
‘bank deposits are the only option.’
People who think that way
are still in the majority.
In such an environment,
people who go out of their way to announce
that they’ve started investing
‘Look how sophisticated I am.’
That’s how it looks to me,
as if they are making that appeal.
(That’s sharp-tongued, but it’s my honest opinion.)
No, no, no, no,
wait a minute.
Working at a securities firm and
having over 20 years of investment experience,
‘Isn’t investing just common sense?’
Yes, that is what I end up thinking.
Of course, I am
fully aware that people like me
are in the minority.
However,
what I learned through investing
was not just how to make money.
What is happening in the world
Why are interest rates rising so much?
Why is the yen weakening?
Why do stock prices rise
while wages do not?
I have come to understand
what is happening in the world,
including domestic and international economy, finance, and politics.
Before I started investing,
news would just go in one ear
and out the other.
Now, I can see the news
as being connected
to ‘my own money’.
In other words, for me,
investing is not a pretentious trend, but rather
‘adult education’
I’m not saying you have to become an economic expert,
and I’m not saying you have to master perfect knowledge of economics and finance.
You’re an adult now,
so you should think for yourself about what is happening in the world
and what to do with your own precious money.
Isn’t that just normal for an adult,
rather than being ‘pretentious’?
Treating investing as something pretentious
means losing sight of the essence of what can be gained through investing.
I often feel that such a ‘pitfall’ exists.
Starting to invest becomes the goal,
but starting is not the finish line.
Knowing what is happening in the world,
and then thinking about what to do with your own precious money—
that is what I believe ‘investing’ truly is.
Even if you say that,
where can you learn about investing?
They didn’t teach us in school, did they?
For those of you who have that kind of anger? Or lamentation??
Starting at the end of November,
I will begin accepting applications for ‘Individual Investment Support.’
This is for those who want to firmly solidify their ‘foundation for investing.’ Details will be announced at a later date.
I also post on my blog about parent-child study abroad and investing,
with a bit of a unique flair.
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