You don't have to try hard to 'keep going' with investing. The first week of building a small investment habit

When you decide to start investing,

‘Will I be able to keep it up properly?’

you might feel anxious.

For the first few days, you have motivation.

You read books.

You watch videos.

You check price movements on your smartphone.

If there is a word you don’t understand, you search for it right then and there.

‘If I’m going to start, I want to do it right.’

You think.

But after a few days, you start to get a little tired.

Work was busy.

The children’s schedules overlapped.

You come home, eat dinner, and take a bath.

By the time you finally sit on the sofa,

you no longer have the energy left to study investing.

You look at your smartphone.

An investment article you saved catches your eye.

‘I have to read it.’

You think.

But today, I don’t want to open it.

I just close it.

Then the next day,

‘I couldn’t do anything yesterday’

bothers me a little.

If I don’t do anything for two days in a row,

‘I guess I’m just not the type who can keep things up’

I think.

More than the investment itself,

the feeling that ‘I must keep doing this properly’

can sometimes be exhausting.

However, when considering long-term investment,

being in a state where you think about investing every day is not necessarily the ideal.

You don’t have to check price movements every day.

You don’t have to gather new information every day.

You don’t have to make decisions every day.

In fact,

‘I didn’t think about investing today’

is a perfectly normal day to have.

Even so, what you decided to do continues quietly.

Sometimes, that kind of approach is easier to fit into your daily life.

That is why the first week,

will not be a ‘period of trying hard to invest every day for 7 days’.

It will not be that.

Write down your goal in one line.

Confirm an amount that is comfortable for you.

Decide on rules for checking information.

Make one promise to yourself for when the price drops.

And on the 7th day,

instead of asking,

‘Did you do it properly?’

‘Was this easy to keep in your life without feeling burdened?’

you check.

That is all.

Rather than building a habit of continuing,

it is about creating a form that is easy to follow without having to try hard.

I will use the first week for that purpose.

The more you try to keep up with investing, the more tired you gradually become

The more you think, ‘If I started investing, I have to keep doing it properly,’ the more you may start to worry about daily price movements and information. Even though you were enthusiastic about researching at first, you might feel like you ‘failed to keep it up’ just by taking a few days off. However, working hard every day in long-term investing is not the same as continuing for a long time. First, let’s try to separate what you are tired of.

Checking price movements every day and letting your emotions fluctuate along with them

When you start investing, you become concerned about the numbers.

You wake up in the morning and check them.

They are higher than yesterday.

You feel a little happy.

You look again during your lunch break.

This time, they are down.

You feel a little anxious.

You look again after getting home.

They have dropped even further.

You think, ‘Should I do something?’

You wonder.

The next morning, they have recovered.

You feel relieved.

Even though the money you have invested is the same,

your feelings alone go up and down many times throughout the day.

At first,

‘It’s important to keep a close eye on things’

is what you might be thinking.

But checking every day

can sometimes lead to making decisions every day.

Even though you intended to stick with it for the long haul,

your feelings are pulled by today’s numbers alone.

If you get tired every time you check,

‘I need to be calmer’

before that,

you could consider whether you can set it up so you don’t have to look at it every day in the first place.

It’s okay to think about that.

Watching only investment information because you feel you ‘need to study more’

Because you’re still a beginner.

Because there is a lot you don’t know.

When you think that way,

‘I need to study more’

is how you feel.

Watching videos during your commute.

Reading articles during your lunch break.

Checking social media before bed.

On your days off,

‘I’ll study investing today’

and opening many tabs.

Your knowledge keeps increasing.

However, the time you spend not thinking about investing starts to decrease.

Even when spending time with family,

you suddenly check your smartphone.

There is a post that catches your eye.

You look it up again.

And then,

‘There are still things I don’t know’

you feel anxious.

Even though you intended to study to feel at ease,

the more you study,

the more it feels like the things you need to do are increasing.

If that is happening,

what you want to make a habit

‘studying every day’

might not be it.

Rather,

deciding how much to look at before calling it a day

is sometimes a more necessary habit.

Feeling down because you ‘couldn’t keep it up again’ just by slacking off a little

I couldn’t do it for one day.

I couldn’t do it for two days.

In that moment,

you decide,

‘I was a quitter’.

However, investment habits are

a little different from working out every day

or writing in a diary every day.

In the first place, there are times when you don’t need to do it every day.

Even so,

if you make ‘doing something every day’

the standard for continuity,

days when you did nothing all look like ‘failures’.

There are days when work is busy.

There are days when you have family plans.

There are days when you feel unwell.

There are also days when you have things you want to think about more than investing.

Just because you didn’t do anything on those days,

it doesn’t mean that long-term asset formation itself has stopped.

‘I didn’t do anything today’

and,

Don’t make ‘I couldn’t keep up with investing’

the same thing.

Just separating those two things can slightly lighten the burden of continuing.

The secret to continuing is not ‘trying hard at investing every day’

When you hear ‘investment habit,’ you might imagine yourself studying every day or checking price movements. But if you want to keep it up for a long time, it’s easier not to assume you’ll be ‘the kind of person who can try hard every day.’ Life goes on whether you’re motivated or not. So, instead of relying on motivation, decide on a small, specific ‘when and what to check’ to reduce the number of times you have to make a decision.

Long-term investing doesn’t require you to do something every day

If you’re thinking long-term,

it’s not always necessary to do something in response to daily price movements.

Even so, when you’re a beginner,

‘doing nothing’

makes you anxious.

If you do nothing,

you feel like you’re being left behind.

You feel like you’re missing out on a better way.

So, you end up checking information.

You look at the numbers.

You look for something that should be changed.

But,

having time where you do nothing and

not thinking about anything at all are different things.

I decided on my goal.

I checked my household finances.

I thought about the range I could handle.

I also made rules for looking at information.

Once you’ve prepared that much,

there are days when you don’t have to look for new answers every day.

The phrase ‘building an investment habit’

doesn’t have to mean

engaging with investing every single day.

Creating a state where you can check only what you need when you need it.

That is also, quite sufficiently, a habit.

Deciding ‘when and what to do’ in small steps is better than relying on motivation

On days when you have motivation,

you can do anything.

Study for 30 minutes.

Check your household finances.

Organize information.

But, when thinking about a system to keep going, the standard you want to use

is not yourself on an energetic day.

It is yourself on a day when you are tired from work.

Your self on a day when your schedule is packed.

‘I don’t want to think about anything today’

is your self on such a day.

Make it small enough that you can do it even on days like that.

For example,

instead of ‘studying investing every day’,

try

‘checking for just 10 minutes on the weekend’.

Instead of ‘watching price movements every day’,

try

‘you don’t need to look except at the times you’ve decided’.

Instead of ‘managing your household budget properly’,

try

‘just checking if the investment amount is manageable after payday’.

When you make your actions small,

the amount of motivation required also becomes small.

Build a ‘habit of not hesitating’ before a habit of continuing

What makes you tired from investing is,

more than the actions themselves,

often the act of making decisions every time.

Should I look today?

Should I not look?

Should I add more?

Should I reduce it?

Should I believe this information?

Should I switch to something else?

Thinking from scratch every time.

This piles up and becomes tiring.

That is why what I want to create first is,

rather than a ‘habit of continuing’,

a ‘state where you have already decided what to do when you are unsure’

.

Decide on a time to check information.

If the price drops, do not make a decision on the spot.

If you are unsure, reread your goals.

If your daily life becomes difficult, review the amount.

If you decide in advance,

you won’t have to think about everything on the spot.

Investment habits are,

not about increasing your actions, but

You can also start by reducing the number of times you have to make decisions.

For the first three days, focus on setting your own rules rather than ‘increasing’ your assets.

You don’t need to cram all your investment knowledge into the first three days. What you are creating here are three small criteria: ‘why I want to continue,’ ‘how much I can invest without making life difficult,’ and ‘how much information I should look at.’ Having these criteria means you won’t have to think from scratch every time you feel lost later on. Try to make it an action that takes just a few minutes, one per day.

[Day 1] Write down your investment goal in just one sentence

Day 1 is,

not a day to buy anything.

not a day to study investing either.

Just write one sentence.

A note on your smartphone is fine.

A piece of paper is also fine.

‘I am considering long-term investing for the sake of ________’

Fill in the blank.

For example,

‘I want to feel a little more secure about money for my old age’

‘I want to prepare for my family’s future’

‘I want to prepare for the future while still valuing my current life’

‘I want to change the state of feeling anxious every time I think about future money’

It doesn’t have to be polished.

You don’t need numbers either.

It’s not something to show anyone else.

What is important is

when you are hesitant,

‘What was my purpose in the first place?’

to be able to return to that.

Once you have written it down, you are done for today.

Even if you want to do something else,

that is enough for the first day.

[Day 2] Confirm an amount that won’t make your life difficult

On the second day,

take a quick look at your household finances.

There is no need to create a detailed household budget.

‘How much comes in every month?’

‘How much is needed for living expenses?’

‘What money will be used in the near future?’

‘What money should be kept for sudden expenses?’

Check those points roughly.

And then,

‘With this amount, it seems unlikely that my current life will become difficult even if I set it aside for the future’

think about that range.

There is no need to look for a large amount.

Rather,

Instead of asking,

‘What is the maximum amount I can put in?’

think about ‘How much can I put in while still living normally?’

instead.

If you don’t know,

it’s fine to just write down ‘I don’t know’ and finish for today.

After checking your household finances,

you might find that it’s safer not to rush into deciding on an amount right now.

That, too, is an important result for the second day.

[Day 3] Decide on the time and place to look at investment information

On the third day,

decide on one way to handle information.

For example,

‘Only look at investment information for 20 minutes at night’

‘Do not look at it before going to bed’

‘Do not make decisions based solely on information seen on social media’

‘Even if I’m curious about price movements, I won’t check them while at work’

‘Even if I see new information, I won’t act on it right away’

Just one is fine.

If you make too many rules,

you will eventually get tired of following them.

Therefore,

choose just one area where you are most easily swayed.

And, if possible, save it in your smartphone’s notes.

My information rule: ________

This concludes day 3.

The ‘information viewing rule’ for day 3 is surprisingly important.

When you start investing, you’ll want to increase the amount of information you have, thinking, ‘Maybe I should know more.’ However, the more information you look at, the more your judgment will waver, and you may even become anxious about things you had already decided on.

If you find yourself in a state where you ‘don’t know how much research is enough’ or ‘your thinking changes every time you look at social media,’ try deciding in advance what information you don’t need to look at, using **Article 14: ‘The more investment information you collect, the more confused you get. How to create discarding criteria to organize information overload.’**

Days 4-6: Preparing for ‘the version of yourself that gets anxious’

What is difficult about continuing to invest is not creating a plan on a calm day, but how to handle that plan on a day when you feel anxious. Days when you see prices drop, days when you are confused by other information, days when thinking about investing itself becomes a chore. Instead of blaming yourself, prepare small rules in advance. Days 4-6 are three days for creating a ‘way to return to center when you are shaken.’

[Day 4] Decide just one line on what to do if prices drop

On day 4,

imagine a slightly unpleasant scenario.

You opened your smartphone.

The numbers are down.

It has dropped more than you expected.

You feel anxious.

What will you do at that moment?

Decide on just one line.

For example,

“Even if I see a price drop, I won’t make a decision that day.”

That works too.

“Think after checking your goals and household budget.”

That works too.

“If you feel anxious, close your smartphone once.”

That works too.

What I want you to decide here is,

not the perfect response to a price drop.

It is a single action to avoid making an immediate decision the moment you feel anxious.

That is all.

Leave just one line for your future self who might feel anxious,

something you can decide now while you are calm.

[Day 5] Reread ‘your purpose’ to return to when you are lost

On the fifth day,

do not do anything new.

Reread the one sentence you wrote on the first day.

“I am considering long-term investment for the sake of ________.”

That is all.

When you read it,

‘This is fine after all’

you might think.

You might think it’s a little different.

You might want to change the words.

It is fine to change them.

The purpose is,

not a slogan that you must follow once you have decided on it.

It is a phrase to confirm where you want to head right now.

When you continue investing,

you become concerned about the numbers around you.

I should increase it more.

A different method would be better.

When you feel that way,

you may lose sight of your purpose.

So, return to it occasionally.

Day 5 is,

a day to practice the habit of returning just once

.

[Day 6] Find one thing that is becoming a burden with your current method

On the sixth day,

instead of looking for

what you ‘accomplished’,

look for

what you found ‘troublesome’.

I set a time to check information, but even 20 minutes felt too long.

Checking my household budget was harder than I thought.

Writing down my goals was easy.

Thinking about a scenario where prices drop was a little scary.

Anything is fine.

Then,

choose just one thing that felt the most burdensome.

At this point,

do not think,

‘I guess I just can’t keep it up’.

Instead,

ask yourself, ‘How can I make this a little easier?’

think.

If 20 minutes is too long, make it 10 minutes.

If checking every week feels heavy, reduce the frequency.

If checking your household budget in detail is difficult, try checking it roughly instead.

Adapt the habit to yourself.

Do not adapt yourself to the habit.

On the 7th day, look at whether it was ‘reasonable’ rather than whether you ‘kept it up’

What you want to do at the end of the week is not to grade your completion rate. Rather than counting whether you did it all 7 days or how many days you skipped, confirm whether ‘this format seems like something I can keep in my daily life.’ If there was something you couldn’t do, that is not proof of weak willpower, but material for making the habit smaller. Even just one thing to carry over to next week is enough.

Even if there are days you couldn’t do it, don’t call it a failure

You did it on the 1st day.

You did it on the 2nd day too.

But you forgot on the 3rd day.

You didn’t do anything on the 4th day either.

That might be what your week looks like.

Even so,

‘Failure’

is not what we call it.

Look at why you couldn’t do it.

You forgot.

You were busy.

The content was troublesome.

You hadn’t decided on a time to do it.

You didn’t feel the need to do it every day in the first place.

There, you will find the next hint.

Even if you do nothing for three days,

if you can return on the fourth day,

that also counts as keeping it up.

Investment habits are

not something that resets to zero once interrupted.

It is enough to have a place to return to.

Rather than ‘eliminating days where you couldn’t do it’,

I will try to value

‘being able to return to normal after failing’

more.

Change things that were troublesome into even smaller habits

When a habit doesn’t stick,

people sometimes try to increase their own effort.

Try harder.

Make time.

Try not to forget.

But, before that,

think about whether you can make the habit itself smaller.

‘Review household finances for 30 minutes every week’

If it feels heavy,

‘Just look at your balance and major expenses for 5 minutes’.

If ‘studying investing’

is vague and feels heavy,

‘Check just one word you don’t understand’.

If ‘not watching price movements’

is difficult,

‘Don’t look in the morning’.

Instead of a perfect form,

make it a little easier than yesterday.

The more you want to continue something for a long time,

the more it might be okay to feel a little unsatisfied.

Choose just one rule you want to keep for next week

When the week is over,

it’s okay not to try to keep all seven.

‘This was useful’

Choose just one thing you think that about.

Keep one line about your purpose.

Decide on a time to look at investment information.

Do not make decisions on days when prices fall.

Check only on weekends.

Any one is fine.

Keep one.

And try using it again next week.

Once you get used to it, add another one if necessary.

Instead of creating a perfect investment habit from the start,

build up little by little only what remains in your life.

That way, it becomes a more sustainable form.

An investment habit is about creating a ‘form that continues even without trying hard,’ not a ‘version of yourself that tries hard’

When you try to keep investing for a long time, you tend to think, ‘I need to strengthen my willpower.’ However, in a life filled with work, housework, and child-rearing, it is difficult to maintain the same level of motivation every day. Therefore, what you need is not a habit based on your best days. Leave behind, little by little, a form that doesn’t get in the way even on days when you are tired, and one you can return to even after you’ve forgotten about it.

Aim for a state where you don’t have to think about investing every day

Once an investment habit is formed,

you might think you will start thinking about investing every day.

You might think so.

But, there is actually the opposite state as well.

The purpose is decided.

You have confirmed the range that won’t make your life difficult.

There are rules for viewing information.

You have also decided what to do when you feel anxious.

Therefore,

You don’t have to think about it every day.

Go to work.

Spend time with your family.

Go out on your days off.

If you’re tired at night, just go to sleep.

Even if days go by where you don’t think about investing,

you can still check what you need to.

Instead of making long-term investing the center of your life,

keep it on the edge of your life, without forcing it.

I think it’s perfectly fine to aim for that kind of state.

If your life changes, it’s okay to change your habits too

Right now, you can check on the weekends.

But in a few months,

you might get busy with work.

Your children’s schedules might increase.

Your household finances might change.

At that time,

there is no need to force yourself to keep the habit you made now.

Once a week can become once a month.

Change the time you check.

Review the amount.

Stop for a moment.

That is perfectly fine.

Habits are,

not meant to restrict your life.

They are meant to be created so that,

even when your life changes, you can keep investing without strain.

Therefore,

instead of fixing yourself when you can’t keep it up,

it is better to,

fix the habit when you can’t keep it up.

Keep that in mind.

Use the first week to learn ‘the way of continuing that suits you’

In these seven days,

you won’t complete a perfect investment habit.

Rather,

‘This was a hassle’

‘This was surprisingly easy’

‘I don’t want to look at it every day’

‘Reading back on my goals was good’

Knowing that much is enough.

The first week is

not a period to test yourself.

It is a period to test the habit itself.

Does it suit you?

Does it get in the way of your daily life?

Does it increase your anxiety?

Does it seem doable without trying too hard?

If it doesn’t suit you, change it.

If it feels heavy, make it smaller.

If it’s not necessary, stop it.

And then,

keep only what you feel

is worth keeping.

By repeating this process,

investing will gradually

stop being something

you have to work hard at every day.

There will be days you forget.

But you can return to it when you need to.

If you can keep going with that kind of distance,

that is also an investment habit.

---

Once you’ve read this far, you don’t need to try to memorize all seven days.

First, just try doing the first day.

Open a notebook or your smartphone,

“I am considering long-term investment for the sake of ________”

and write just that one sentence.

“I want a little peace of mind regarding money for my old age”

“I want to prepare for my family’s future”

“I want to change the state of feeling anxious every time I think about future money”

Words close to your current self are fine.

Once you’ve written it, try ending it there for today.

Even if you want to look up a little more,

try making it,

“That’s it for today.”

You don’t have to decide about tomorrow today.

First, try carrying out the first day,

“This much isn’t a burden”

and see if you can feel that way.

If it’s a bit troublesome, you can make it even shorter.

“For peace of mind”

“For my family”

Even just a few words like that are enough for now.

In the Anshin Asset Lab’s “Beginner’s Guide to Long-Term Asset Formation,” we have also prepared a practical checklist so that you can continue these small actions without hesitation.

What is necessary to continue investing is not to keep trying hard every day.

It is about leaving behind one form after another that allows you to continue without having to try hard yourself.

Rather than aiming to be someone who can do everything for 7 days,

try leaving one thing you can do today.

Please start that first week with today’s one line.

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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 those people.

On our official LINE, we will 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.

What is important is not to imitate someone else’s correct answer, but to decide for yourself what is “okay up to this point” based on your own household finances.

Let’s think together about how to continue asset formation without strain while protecting your current life.

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