Why does life change when you succeed in investing, as explained in the column on Toyo Keizai ONLINE?

Good morning, this is Matsushita.

I became successful in investing,

and my life changed completely.

At first I failed a lot,

but I decided in my heart that I would surely succeed,

and I made it happen.

Many of my students whom I taught investing

have said, “Thanks to Matsushita, my life has changed.”

I have also seen the behind-the-scenes of many such people.

If you read this, you might think that the reason is

having earned a large amount of money and that your life would change,

but that is not the case.

There is a clear reason for this,

so today I will talk about it.

Investing is not simply about acquiring techniques or methods,

and then implementing them to achieve success.

It is about learning knowledge and theory, forming rules as hypotheses that seem profitable,

and through verification and testing,

to prove them, that is the process.

Your profits are something you create yourself.

This is what in psychology and philosophy is called

“self-realization.”

American psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed the

“five levels of needs” theory as a hierarchy of human happiness,

saying that after satisfying the lower needs in sequence,

one then satisfies higher-level needs,

and by doing so, happiness increases.

Among these five levels of needs,

“self-realization” is the highest need,

and through realizing oneself, we achieve the greatest satisfaction and

happiness.

In fact, succeeding in investing is

connected to this highest-level need,

self-realization,

so when you succeed in investing,

you become happy—that is, your life changes.

Of course, there is also the joy of obtaining money at that time.

However, obtaining money is far less joyful than achieving self-realization.

To put it very clearly,

it feels like you are “brimming with confidence.”

In Maslow’s five-level theory,

it is said that before Maslow’s death,

the next higher level was added.

In other words, there is an even higher need above self-realization,

and there is happiness there as well.

And investors who have achieved self-realization

become aware of even higher happiness and desires,

and they move toward them.

That is why they say, “Thanks to Matsushita, my life changed.”

I, too, have had my life changed by investing, thanks to many teachers.

I started investing just to increase money or assets,

but I never imagined there would be such a world beyond that.

That’s why, while teaching investing, I also tell you about the following.

Seeing the faces and the backs of such people every year

makes me happily excited again and again,

and I cannot quit (laugh).

There are joys and happiness awaiting you in the success of investing

that you cannot even imagine.

Because such things can be obtained, the effort along the way is of course necessary.

With that in mind, sincerely facing your own figure,

please keep striving.