Common investment strategies of people with assets exceeding 100 million yen
Many people have wondered, “What exactly am I working for?” When your salary arrives each month and vanishes into rent, groceries, and taxes, with what remains tucked into a bank account, you spend years like that, and before you know it you’ve reached your 40s. Only then does the question “Is this really okay?” quietly rise from the depths of your chest.
In Japan, it is said that more than 1.5 million households currently hold financial assets of at least 100 million yen, a group commonly called the “wealthy.” It accounts for only about 3% of the total, but the number is increasing year by year. Were they born into a special family? Not necessarily. Some have inherited billions of yen from parents, but many ordinary office workers have built 100 million yen in assets over 30 or 40 years while working.
So, do people whose assets exceed 100 million yen share any common thinking or behavioral patterns? The answer is yes. And the truth is shockingly simple, not something that requires extraordinary talent or luck. It’s just that most people either don’t know it or know it but cannot put it into practice.
In this article, I will describe, as concretely and honestly as possible, the investment philosophy and daily habits common to those whose assets exceed 100 million yen. Rather than a “secret method to become rich,” I hope you read this as an honest answer to the question, “Why can’t most people become rich?”
First, there is something you must know: almost no one who has asset levels over 100 million yen made their fortune by “shooting for a one-time windfall” through investments.
Many people envision the wealthy as those who made a fortune in stocks or cryptocurrency, or those who earned millions overnight through forex. Because such stories dominate on TV and social media, it’s easy to think that only those kinds of people can reach 100 million yen. But in reality, such “one-shot windfall” wealth is only a tiny fraction of the wealthy.
The path followed by the overwhelming majority of wealthy people is remarkably plain and perhaps boring: contribute a fixed amount every month, steadily, for a long period, and hold onto it. That’s all. Yet few have managed to commit to that “just that.”
Let’s think about concrete numbers. If you invest 50,000 yen per month at an annual rate of 5%, after 30 years you’ll have about 41.6 million yen. At 100,000 yen per month, about 83.2 million yen. If you increase your monthly contributions as your salary grows or invest bonuses as well, reaching 100 million yen in 30 years becomes a realistic goal.
What’s important here is that an annual rate of 5% is not a “dreamly high return.” The past 30 years’ average return of global stock indexes has generally ranged around 6–8% per year. In other words, you don’t need special skills or luck or connections with a securities company. If you simply keep money in the right containers, such returns have been achievable in the past.
Then why can’t most people do that? That is the fundamental difference that separates the windfall millionaires from ordinary investors.
When you talk with people whose assets exceed 100 million yen, almost everyone mentions one thing: “I did not let emotions move my money.”
In investing, emotions are your biggest enemy. When prices rise, you feel you should have bought more; when prices fall, you feel you must sell everything out of fear. Following these emotional swings leads repeatedly to the worst pattern: buying high and selling low.
During the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, the Japanese stock market fell about 60% in just over half a year. At that time, many individual investors yielded to fear and dumped all their stocks. Yet many people who exceed 100 million yen did almost nothing during the crash. Some even increased their purchases as prices dropped.
Why could they do that? Because they had the conviction that crashes will come and will eventually recover. This conviction comes from studying history: after every crash—Lehman, the IT bubble burst of 2000, Black Monday in 1987—the market has repeatedly reached new highs. Those who deeply understand this know to view crashes not as losses but as sales opportunities.
Conversely, emotional behavior when the market is rising is dangerous too. After the COVID-19 crash and the subsequent rapid rebound in 2020–2021, many rushed into leveraged products and high-risk stocks, thinking they would miss out. As a result, many suffered large losses in the downturn of 2022.
People who exceed 100 million yen counter these “emotional traps” with systems. They set up automatic monthly investments on a fixed date and amount, so emotional decisions like “wait for now because the market is scary” or “buy more because prices are surging” have no room to enter.
This concept of automation may seem plain, but it is actually a sophisticated self-control mechanism. Studies show human willpower is finite, and people are more prone to emotional decisions when tired or anxious. Smart investors therefore eliminate emotion by relying on systems rather than willpower.
Next, we should discuss the unique sense of time held by those with assets over 100 million yen.
Ordinary investors judge investment success by yearly gains. A 5% annual return feels small, while 20% feels large. They chase high-risk investments to aim for 20% gains. This is common thinking.
But those who exceed 100 million yen steer their money by looking 10, 20, or 30 years ahead. They care little about short-term returns. Rather, they feel that an average annual return of around 7% over ten years is enough and don’t oscillate with every year’s result.
This is what is called a “time horizon difference.” With a longer time horizon, the attitude toward risk changes.
Money to be used in ten years and money to be used next year have completely different characteristics. It’s foolish to invest money you’ll need next year in stocks, because there is a risk prices could halve by then. But investing money you’ll need in ten years in stocks makes sense: there will be time to recover from any drawdown.
Looking at the portfolios of those who exceed 100 million yen, you can see money clearly separated by purpose and time horizon. Money you may need within five years is held in cash or short-term bonds. Money you won’t need for more than ten years is actively invested in risk assets like stocks and real estate. This “bucket strategy” helps prevent emotional selling; when a downturn tempts you to sell, you can calmly think, “I won’t sell because I’ll need this money in ten years.”
Long time horizons also maximize the power of compounding. It is often said that compounding is the eighth wonder of the world, a line attributed to Einstein (the truth of which is dubious), but the math is indeed astonishing.
If you invest 1,000,000 yen at 7% annually, after 10 years you’ll have about 1.97 million yen; after 20 years about 3.87 million; after 30 years about 7.61 million. In 30 years you’ve multiplied the original by 7.6. And that calculation assumes no additional contributions; monthly contributions would yield even larger final numbers.
To maximize compounding, two principles matter: “don’t withdraw at any point” and “invest as long as possible.” People who exceed 100 million yen rigidly adhere to these. When you need a down payment for a house or education expenses for children, they seek long-term investment assets to cover those needs instead of dipping into funds prematurely. They understand that ten or twenty years later, the difference will be substantial.
When discussing the investment strategies of those who exceed 100 million yen, one concept cannot be omitted: costs.
The costs that many ordinary investors hardly consider are among the factors that most strongly influence long-term returns. In particular, the fees for mutual funds, known as management fees, matter a great deal.
For example, compare an actively managed fund with a management fee of 1.5% per year to an index fund with a fee of 0.1%. If you save and invest 50,000 yen per month for 30 years, under the same expected returns, the fee difference can cause your final assets to differ by several hundreds of thousands to over a million yen.
1.5% vs 0.1% is only a 1.4% difference, but over 30 years that extra 1.4% compounds and meaningfully reduces final wealth.
Those who exceed 100 million yen understand the compound-cost effect well, so they choose the lowest-cost products available. In Japan recently, ultra-low-cost index funds such as eMAXIS Slim and SBI V-series have become common, with management fees around 0.05–0.2%. Using such products gives a decisive long-term advantage to asset-building.
Additionally, tax costs are equally important. Nearly all people who exceed 100 million yen maximize tax-advantaged accounts like NISA and iDeCo (individual-type defined contribution plan).
New NISA, starting in 2024, expanded to lifelong investment allowance of 18 million yen and annual investment limits of 3.6 million yen (1.8 million yen for the regular NISA plus 2.4 million yen for the growth investment frame). Within these limits, gains and dividends are tax-free. Normally, investment profits are taxed at about 20%. If you earned 10 million yen in profit, 2 million yen would be taxes. But within NISA, that 2 million stays with you.
iDeCo offers three tax advantages: contributions are deductible from income, investment gains are tax-free, and withdrawals receive additional deductions. The tax-saving effect is especially large for those with higher income, making it a no-brainer for high earners.
People who exceed 100 million yen think not only about how to use the money they’ve earned, but also about how to legally minimize taxes. This isn’t merely tax avoidance; it’s about ensuring the money that should stay in one’s own hands does so correctly.
Looking at the asset mix of Japan’s wealthy, many hold a blend of real estate and financial assets. More people mix both than those who have only stocks or only real estate to reach 100 million yen.
Why is real estate part of wealth for the wealthy? There are several reasons.
First, real estate is an asset that tends to withstand inflation. When prices rise, rents generally rise as well, and asset values tend to increase. Stocks are also inflation-resistant, but real estate more directly benefits from inflation.
Second, real estate is an asset that can use leverage. You don’t need 100 million yen in cash to buy a 100 million yen property. With a 20–30% down payment and a mortgage, you can acquire an asset worth several times your own funds. If managed well, the return on your own funds can be very high.
Moreover, real estate provides a steady monthly cash flow. While stock dividends depend on company performance, rental income tends to be relatively stable. This is a major advantage for those aiming for FIRE or those who want to fund retirement from assets.
However, real estate investing also carries risks: vacancy risk, maintenance costs, rising interest rates, and lower liquidity—risks not typically faced in stocks. Many who exceed 100 million yen fully understand these risks and diversify by combining real estate with more liquid stocks and cash.
In stock investing as well, diversification is thorough. It is rare to find someone with more than 100 million yen who puts all their wealth into a single company. Their portfolios diversify across regions—Japanese stocks, US stocks, developed markets, and emerging markets—and across asset classes—stocks, bonds, real estate, and cash.
The essence of diversification is not to chase the best in every situation but to prevent collapse in any situation. If one market crashes, other assets can cushion the blow. This safety net, consciously designed, is a hallmark of those who exceed 100 million yen.
Here is something many people overlook: before investing, you must first “secure the defense.”
What those who exceed 100 million yen share is that they first solidified their financial foundation before starting to invest. Specifically, they set aside an emergency fund covering 6 months to 1 year of living expenses, completely paid off high-interest debt (especially credit cards and consumer finance), and ensured positive monthly cash flow. These are prerequisites for starting to invest.
There is a saying: “Before trying to grow through investment, plug the holes in your bucket.” If you begin investing without addressing wasteful spending, you won’t grow wealth beyond the returns you earn from investing.
Almost all those who exceed 100 million yen have a clear grasp of their money flow. They understand exactly how much they spend each month, what is fixed versus variable, where there is waste, and then calculate exactly how much they can allocate to investments.
Managing a household sounds mundane, but it is the backbone of an investment strategy. Even with the same rate of return, someone who can invest 30,000 yen a month will end up with far less wealth than someone who can invest 200,000 yen a month. To increase the amount you can invest, you must either increase income, reduce expenditures, or both.
Regarding increasing income, many who exceed 100 million yen actively pursued side jobs, job changes, or career advancement. They didn’t rely solely on investments; they also took actions to grow the funds that would become their investment capital. Especially in one’s 40s, investing in oneself—skill development, acquiring qualifications, networking—can yield higher returns than investing itself.
If increasing your market value raises your annual income by 1,000,000 yen, that is like earning a guaranteed 1,000,000 yen per year. To reliably earn 1,000,000 yen annually through investments, you typically need about 20,000,000 yen in principal, which shows how valuable investing in yourself can be.
In discussing the investment strategies of those who exceed 100 million yen, psychological aspects cannot be ignored. One of their most distinctive traits is how they relate to money emotionally.
For many people, money is a source of worry. They feel perpetual shortage, fear retirement, worry about illness, and this anxiety fuels financial scams and dubious investment pitches, such as promises of “10% monthly returns.” Many who fall for such promises carry deep-seated money anxieties.
Those who exceed 100 million yen respond to money with remarkable composure. It’s not merely because they have money; it’s because they understand the essence of money itself.
They view money as something that represents their time and labor. Therefore, wasteful spending feels like “time wasted.” At the same time, they readily spend on experiences of value, learning, or ways to enhance productivity.
They also have a sense that money should work for them. They understand that wealth comes not only from working for money but from creating a system where money itself generates more money. They feel a strong aversion to keeping cash idle in a bank, seeing cash as “money that’s sleeping” and as an opportunity loss from the returns money could otherwise produce.
Even more interestingly, almost all those who exceed 100 million yen do not use money for showy displays of status.
When incomes rise, many upgrade their lifestyles accordingly—buy new cars, move to pricier homes, buy brand-name goods. This is called “lifestyle inflation,” one of the biggest barriers to wealth accumulation.
Even if income grows from 5 million to 8 million yen, if expenditures rise in tandem, the amount that can be invested hardly changes. But those who, when income rises, hold their living standards, and continue investing the majority of the increase, will reach a materially different asset level in a few years.
Many who exceed 100 million yen live quite modestly even with annual incomes over 10 million yen. They don’t drive luxury cars, eat out at ordinary restaurants, and travel only 1–2 times a year. Some may call this frugality, but they don’t find value in spending for show. They weigh the happiness money can buy against the future freedom that continued investment provides, and they find the latter far more valuable, thus acting accordingly.
Although it might seem abrupt to discuss it when talking about investment strategy, many who exceed 100 million yen place importance on reading habits and ongoing learning.
What they read is not limited to stock-picking guides. They study a wide range of disciplines—economics, psychology, history, philosophy, management—believing that a broader worldview improves investment judgment.
For example, studying history reveals recurring patterns: booms and busts, wars and postwar recoveries, technological revolutions and their impacts. Those who know history can calmly place what is happening now into a larger context.
Studying psychology reveals one’s own thinking biases: loss aversion where losses loom larger than gains, the recency bias that overemphasizes recent events, the familiarity bias that favors known companies or familiar stocks, and dozens of other cognitive biases. Recognizing these allows one to pause and examine whether current judgments are biased.
People who exceed 100 million yen possess humility, not the certainty that they are always right. They practice thorough diversification and avoid concentrated bets borne of absolute conviction. They understand that when you think “this stock will definitely rise,” that is precisely when danger lies.
Reaching 100 million yen and maintaining it are two different matters altogether.
Many have heard that most people who win the lottery end up running out of money within a few years. This is supported by statistics: strangers who suddenly come into a lot of money often face financial difficulties within years.
What distinguishes those who built 100 million yen gradually from those who obtained it suddenly is their money-handling philosophy.
People who built wealth over time acquired wisdom to defend and nurture their assets: their thinking about money, investment principles, the relationship between risk and return, the importance of costs, and emotional control. By continuing to follow these same principles after hitting 100 million yen, they can keep increasing their wealth.
In other words, the essence of wealth-building lies in acquiring the right philosophy and habits. Chasing the 100 million yen target itself can be a paradox; focusing on the same mindset and actions as those who already reached it brings one closer to that goal.
In wealth-building, today’s small actions may seem minor. Yet when accumulated over ten, twenty, or thirty years, the daily differences become the massive wealth gap. If you can invest an extra 10,000 yen per month for 30 years, you’ll gain hundreds of thousands in difference. If you can cut annual fees by 0.5%, you’ll gain hundreds of thousands in the long run. If you don’t sell during crashes and hold, your long-term returns will change significantly.
Believing in the power of these accumulations and continuing to act steadily may be the path to reaching the level of 100 million yen.
In Japan today, more people are starting to invest. The launch of New NISA has led to a new high in securities accounts, and a growing sense among younger generations that investing is normal. This is a very good development.
However, starting to invest and continuing to invest correctly are two different things. Merely opening a brokerage account and buying random stocks will not lead to a 100 million yen asset in decades.
What matters is clarifying the purpose of investing. Is it for retirement funds, for your children's education, for early retirement, or for achieving financial freedom? With a clear goal, you can stay focused on the long term without being swayed by short-term market fluctuations.
And the question of “what kind of life do you want to live” cannot be separated from investment strategy. Money is a means, not a goal. Many who exceed 100 million yen pursue not money itself but the freedom and choices money affords: the ability to work when they want to, rest when they want to, study what they want to study, go where they want to go. They aimed to gain this freedom in life through money.
With that goal in mind, they steadily continue monthly contributions, endure drawdowns, minimize costs, avoid emotional decisions, and maintain a long-term horizon. These cumulative efforts can, after decades, yield the result of “somehow eventually exceeding 100 million yen.”
100 million yen is not a summit reserved for a few talented people. With the right knowledge, the will to act, and a long-term outlook, it is within reach for most people.
But the path to that point is not dramatic. It doesn’t require sudden inspiration or lucky breaks. It simply requires doing the right things quietly and persistently for a long time.
Whether you can accept that quietness may be the final dividing line between those who exceed 100 million yen and those who do not.