Thanks to my papa supporters, I’ve managed to save around ¥500,000–¥600,000 in allowances since around July.

I’m Paper Airplane, a male member. I think the safest bet is to buy, through NISA, a mutual fund with a name like shogi player Hifumi Kato’s—without overthinking it.

I’m Tetsu, a male member. I’m by no means wealthy, but because of my work, I’ve met many people who have been successful with investing. There’s one thing they all have in common: they aren’t fixated on making profits, and they approach investing with a relaxed mindset. I feel that people who think like Mac tend to be more successful. It really comes down to how you view the money you’ve earned through papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan). Could you put the 500,000–600,000 yen you’ve received so far into horse racing? You might multiply it several times if you win, but if you lose, it’s all gone. Financial products are somewhat similar to horse racing. There’s no guarantee you’ll win, and if you lose, your money will definitely decrease. After reading your question, it sounds like you’ve been saving your allowance, so I get the impression that you’re not planning to gamble that money away right now. If that’s the case, I think the best option for now would be to invest it conservatively through NISA. As long as your transactions stay within the tax-exempt allowance, you won’t have to pay tax on your profits. (With stocks, profits are normally taxed at 20%, so being tax-free is a significant advantage.) For example, let’s say you want to earn 1 million yen a year in investment profits. With 1 million yen in capital, you’d need an annual return of 100%, or about 6% per month on a compound basis. In other words, you’d have to generate profits equivalent to 6% of your initial capital every month. But with 10 million yen in capital, you could earn 1 million yen a year with an annual return of 10%, or about 0.8% per month on a compound basis. In short, investments made with a small amount of capital can’t offer returns that justify the risk. Right now, you’re at the stage where you should focus on safely building up your capital. If you’re able to receive 500,000–600,000 yen in allowance over a short period, you should still be able to save quite a bit more. One of your papas (male supporters) may even be successful at investing. For now, I think it would be best to gain experience through low-risk investments, build up your capital, and learn by listening to successful investors talk about their experiences.

Maezawa from the CEO’s office here as well. Haven’t any of your past papa (male supporters) been good at investing? If you don’t have any knowledge of it, I think it would be best to learn everything step by step from someone. If it’s around 500,000–600,000 yen, you can simply say it’s money you’ve saved up over time. Of course, there may be people who only claim to be good at investing, so it might be difficult to tell who’s genuine. But I think learning from someone who’s successful is the fastest way.

I’m Flagmaker, a column writer. The financial products you choose will depend on factors like the investment period, level of risk, and liquidity, but broadly speaking, there are two approaches: 1. Products designed to grow your money (with the risk of losing some of it) 2. Products that reduce your taxable income through deductions, thereby lowering your income and resident taxes If you don’t have much financial knowledge, option ② may be the safer place to start: using iDeCo (a defined-contribution pension plan) with relatively conservative investments, or savings-oriented life insurance to take advantage of the life insurance premium deduction. Sorry for offering such a practical, unexciting suggestion. I’d be happy to advise you on more conservative investments. If you’re struggling, please apply to the “Papa-katsu Advice Room.” Instructions on how to apply are listed at the very bottom of the column below: https://universe-club.jp/column/onayamisoudan

I’m Kazu, a male member. This is a topic I really like! If a date partner I’m close with asks me about it, I’ll usually talk about this topic. Stock prices have already recovered quite a bit, and with Japan having just changed governments and the U.S. presidential election coming up, I think stocks are difficult right now. If I were to buy something, I’d go with commodities or an ETF or mutual fund focused on emerging markets. I had been investing in gold until last month, but it had risen too much, so I decided the risk was getting too high and closed out my position. Of course, this is only my personal opinion, so if you take it at face value, invest based on it, and lose money, that’s not my responsibility. For a first investment, I’d probably recommend a mutual fund. You can buy one through a bank, and the price movements aren’t that drastic. As for learning, I believe that managing your assets over many years is the best way to learn.