Why I'm Not Financially Stressed Even with 4 Kids: The 3 Pillars of Saving, Side Hustles, and Investing

The reason I’m not financially stressed even with four kids and working reduced hours is because I consistently practice three things: saving, side hustles, and investing.

People tell me all the time, “It must be so hard to manage money with four kids.”

Honestly, I’m really not struggling financially. Sorry to everyone else out there.

As of November 2026, my assets are in what’s called the “upper mass” bracket. At this pace, I feel like I’ll reach the “quasi-wealthy” bracket by next year.

Why am I not struggling? The conclusion is saving, side hustles, and investing. Today, I’m going to talk about how we actually implement these three things.

If you save by cutting fixed costs, you can keep money without having to sacrifice.

First is saving. Even though I say saving, we aren’t a household that sacrifices much. However, we cut fixed costs significantly.

For example, insurance. We have almost no private insurance. The only thing we have is the prefectural mutual aid.

Insurance is something everyone is already enrolled in anyway. I’m talking about national health insurance and social insurance—so-called public insurance. This is incredibly strong. When you go to the hospital, you only pay 30%, and even if you have a major illness and medical expenses pile up, there’s a system where the amount exceeding a certain limit per month is returned to you.

Since we are already enrolled in this kind of insurance, I believe we hardly need private insurance. That’s why what we pay for insurance is at a level like 10,000 yen a year.

Another big thing was reducing our cars from two to one. It also helps that I live within walking distance of my company.

When you own a car, you have to pay for vehicle inspections and insurance. You have to replace the wipers, replace the battery, and change the oil. Just the consumables cost a huge amount of money. So we reduced it to one, and by coordinating our schedules with my wife, we manage to get by with just one.

Also, neither my wife nor I buy many things. We have absolutely no interest in brand-name goods. The only things I buy are nuts from the convenience store and books.

フッフッフ。
今日は特に何もしてないのにメンシプ5人増えたので、甘いヤツと塩っ辛いヤツを同時に食ってやろうと思います😎 pic.twitter.com/UAe4nL9NTJ

— シンプリストやまだ (@yamada_simple) July 14, 2026

Other than that, I just join a few note memberships, so I hardly spend any money.

Side hustles should be grown as an additional pillar on top of a foundation where you can live off your main job.

Next is side hustles. This is huge. Right now, my side hustle income exceeds my main job income.

マクドでMacカタカタ。今月も副業収益が本業を超えた。PC1台の「書く副業」が、僕の人生を180度変えてくれた。2年前、不安でいっぱいの中で書き始めたあの日。滋賀の田舎で、4人の子どもを抱える会社員パパが、本業以外の収入を持てたのは「継続」のおかげ。 pic.twitter.com/Xhd4QOjk7h

— シンプリストやまだ (@yamada_simple) February 28, 2026

However, the order is important. First, establish a life where you can live off your main job income alone. Build a foundation where you can live on your main job even without a side hustle. On top of that, I use my side hustle income for entertainment, investing, and in my case, outsourcing work to colleagues.

Whether or not you can have a source of income outside of your company—I think this is incredibly huge.

Companies are stable, but they don’t give you that many raises, right? Even if some people get small increases, it doesn’t go up explosively.

Side hustles can grow tremendously if they hit. I was surprised myself. If you put in a little effort, it directly translates into income.

For example, I provide support for Kindle publishing. Sometimes, I receive a lump sum for a single support project. In a corporate setting, you’d only really expect that from a bonus. With a side hustle, that’s possible.

My note membership has also started to bring in a stable monthly income. This is the result of a lot of hard work building it up. I also handle corporate note operation management for clients.

副業会社員が収入を安定させたいなら「法人案件」は狙い目。今日は企業さんとnote運用代行の打ち合わせ。法人案件は高単価・継続契約につながりやすく、毎月の収入も安定する。しかも、企業の課題を解決する経験が自分のスキルになる。稼いで終わりちゃう。収入もスキルも積み上がる。… pic.twitter.com/bIkkoTN4fT

— シンプリストやまだ (@yamada_simple) November 5, 2026

If you leverage your skills and experience, you can create income sources. Especially now, in the age of AI, you can do anything. You can create images, text, videos, and websites. Make AI your ally and secure work for yourself. I truly believe this is essential for growing your assets.

I have summarized all the ways I’ve built my income pillars on note here👇

For investing, don’t pick individual stocks; just accumulate All Country and S&P 500 funds

Finally, investing. I consider myself an investor by trade. Investing is my main business, while being a company employee and content creator are my side hustles.

I invest almost all of my side hustle income and company bonuses. I put them into the All Country (Orkan) and S&P 500 funds. Those are basically the two I use.

I started investing early, around 2010. It was right after the Lehman Shock, when the Nikkei Stock Average was around 7,000 or 8,000.

However, I started out with individual stocks. I researched various companies and invested in ones I thought were interesting. But that didn’t go well at all.

Picking stocks that will grow is impossible for the average person. They say it’s difficult even for professionals. I recall an experiment where the performance of stocks chosen by a monkey was about the same as those chosen by a professional.

That’s why for us, investment trusts are enough. Orkan is like a bento box packed with good stocks from various countries. You just need to buy that. You should use NISA to accumulate Orkan or the S&P 500.

In our family, we are accumulating in a total of six accounts: mine, my wife’s, and the four children’s. Since the NISA for children starts next year, I have already applied to open accounts for all four of them. I manage all six accounts—two for adults and four for the children. My wife doesn’t know anything about investing, so I handle everything.

I give the children their allowance from the ‘gains’ in their investment accounts

My rule for the children’s allowance is, you can use the amount that has grown in your investment account.

Here is how it works.

1. First, put a lump sum into the child’s account

2. Use that money to buy S&P 500 or Orkan

3. Set a base amount (for example, if it’s 500,000 yen, you can use whatever amount exceeds 500,000 yen)

And it grew tremendously. I was surprised.

My eldest son, when he was about in second grade, suddenly bought a PlayStation 5 with those profits. A PlayStation 5 costs about 50,000 yen, right? I thought, ‘What is a second grader doing making a 50,000 yen purchase!’ but since I told him he could use it, I had to let it go.

【息子日記】
長男(小4)が投資の運用益でPS5をゲット!!
今年から始めていきなり7万円の収入。
今までに頂いた
✅お祝い
✅子供手当
✅お年玉
を投資にまわしました。
小学生からストック収入の大切さを教えております。
こんだけお金増えたら将来働く気なくなるわ（笑）
その投資方法とは↓↓… pic.twitter.com/hsjrTrWFu7

— シンプリストやまだ (@yamada_simple) February 17, 2024

They would withdraw money from their accounts to make purchases. My eldest daughter also buys things like a Switch or an iPad.

Even now, if they want something, the children look at their investment screens themselves and just wait patiently for the value to go up. Once it rises, they sell, withdraw the money, and buy what they want. I have created a system like that for them.

Therefore, in our household, I only gave them an allowance once at the very beginning. From then on, it has been an automated system where a money tree drops cash for them.

Holding only Japanese yen is the most dangerous thing

Among the three, investing is especially huge. It really grows your money.

I want everyone to take responsibility for their own actions, but I personally think holding onto cash is risky. Holding only Japanese yen is the most dangerous thing.

When inflation happens, the value of money goes down. So, if you don’t convert it into assets, you lose out significantly. If you buy something like an ‘All Country’ fund through an investment trust, it will rise in value along with the prices of goods.

Even when the news says ‘prices have gone up,’ from the perspective of someone who is investing, I think, ‘Great, my All Country fund is going up too. My assets are growing.’

Summary: The reason I don’t struggle with money even with 4 children is because I do these 3 things: saving, side hustles, and investing.

Let’s summarize today’s talk.

• Saving is not about deprivation, but about cutting fixed costs

• Side hustles should be cultivated as an additional pillar on top of the foundation that supports your living through your main job

• For investing, don’t pick individual stocks, but accumulate All Country or S&P 500 funds

Let’s all work steadily on these three things: saving, side hustles, and investing.

▶ Survival Strategy for Side-Hustling Employees | Click here for membership to expand your life’s options through simple thinking and writing side hustles👇