Why not leave your dependent status and work full-time? -- I used AI to find the answer to that question ~A 45-year-old's decision~
Every time I was told, "It's time, isn't it?", I felt like something was being chipped away from me.
--Me, a part-time worker within the dependent limit, and wealth building
"It's time, isn't it?"
When 4:00 PM rolls around, someone always calls out to me.
At first glance, it's consideration. But to my ears, it always sounded like this:
"Are you still here?" "It must be nice to be able to go home early."
It wasn't explicitly said. But the atmosphere said it all.
"It must be nice to be able to go home early."
I knew that was what they thought. But my day doesn't end when I clock out at 4:00 PM.
If I go grocery shopping for dinner on the way home, it's already past 5:30 PM. From there, it's driving my second son to cram school, then driving my eldest son to his part-time job. Making dinner, doing laundry, cleaning up. I don't even have time to sit down.
"Length of time tied to work = proof of hardship." By that measure, my day is invisible.
I work 13 days a month, until 4:00 PM. The others work 17 days a month, full-time.
Finishing work efficiently and going home on time. For some reason, that alone became a target of jealousy.
"Why don't you leave your dependent status and work full-time?"
When I was told that, I once seriously used AI to research it thoroughly. It wasn't that long ago. It was the end of last year.
If you're interested, here is the prompt I created at that time to calculate how much my income would increase in a year after joining social insurance. I didn't even know what a prompt was until then, but I created it while asking four different AIs.
↓Here is the prompt↓ Give it a try♪
Hourly wage of 1,150 yen. 120 hours a month. 140,000 yen take-home pay. After deducting social insurance premiums, it's less than 120,000 yen.
That's not all. Over 200,000 yen a year disappears just in social insurance premiums. Deductions are also lost, and my husband's tax burden increases. When I calculated everything together, I couldn't figure out where the "increased amount" had gone.
What do I get in return?
When I turn 65, my pension will increase by a little less than 800 yen per month.
The answer was already there.
But at the same time, I also thought this.
Will I continue this tightrope walk forever?
I couldn't see my retirement at all. What would happen if I kept working as a dependent? I only had a vague sense of anxiety.
Back then, every time I tried to start something, the fear of 'maybe I'll lose my dependent status' would cross my mind.
When Bitcoin became a hot topic, I looked it up and found out it would be considered 'miscellaneous income.' LINE stickers were the same. No matter what I tried to do, I felt like I would hit the wall of being a dependent.
That's why for years, I couldn't move.
That was when I learned about NISA. 'Since this is tax-free, it has nothing to do with being a dependent.' With those words, I felt like the wall had disappeared for the first time.
The unreasonable nature of my company taught me something. The calculations for the dependent wall taught me something.
I must cultivate the 'ability to earn for myself' right now.
That was the conclusion I reached at 37.
Eight years have passed since then. The content of the tightrope walk has changed, but the tightrope walk continues.
Three months ago, my third son became unable to move due to unexplained fatigue. Days spent just staying close to my child who cannot go to school. I am still in the middle of that, while receiving help from my mother and mother-in-law.
That was when I thought again.
'If I had been able to work from anywhere, I could have provided more peace of mind.'
But what I started eight years ago is making my life a little easier right now.
My principal of about 3.38 million yen has almost doubled to about 6.78 million yen. The other day, there was a day when I lost 180,000 yen in a single day. Even so, I have no intention of selling.
When I was 37, I couldn't see my retirement. Now at 45, with 15 years left until I'm 60, and thinking that my husband's retirement age will likely be the entrance to my own retirement, I feel like the door to retirement is starting to look smaller. I truly believe I'm glad I started back then.
It was never too late.
If you are interested in the story from back then ↓, check this out too.
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I'm Miki💕