Self-Introduction. Individual Investor, Author🖋️

Introduction

Nice to meet you, I'm Natsu Ueno.
It's been quite a while since my first note, so I thought I'd write a self-introduction for the first time in a while.

Things have changed quite a bit compared to before.
And in a happy direction, at that.

Self-Introduction

• 30s, married, two children

• Between a systems engineer and an IT consultant

• Holder of three national certifications from the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA)

• Passed AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (validity period expired)

As an individual investor

• Assets: 65 million yen *As of June 14, 2025

• Annual dividends: 1.66 million yen *Projected dividends

I invest primarily in index funds centered on the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100, as well as high-dividend stocks in the U.S. and Japan.

As an author

• Published 7 e-books (Kindle books)

• Of which, 6 have achieved Amazon bestseller status

• Surpassed 6 million pages read across the series

• 2024 royalties were 2.6 million yen

I write with the concept of "making useful business books easy for anyone to understand..." Since I love thinking about asset formation and investing, I write many books on investment.

Looking back on my investment history and writing activities

Originally, my investment targets were individual stocks for capital gains, such as my employer's company stock, and index funds in my corporate defined contribution pension plan.

My bibles during that time were "Winning the Loser's Game" and "The Lazy Investment Method," and the mindset I cultivated there remains unshaken even today.

By the way, when it comes to investing, you cannot take risks to earn returns without the understanding of your family. If things go poorly, there is even a possibility that you might have to give up on the path of asset formation through investing because you couldn't gain that understanding.

Therefore, to involve my investment-averse spouse, I wrote the following book.

"The Wife Who Doesn't Want to Lose Money, The Husband Who Wants to Increase Money"

This is a book where I answer the questions of an investment-averse wife who keeps asking them one after another.
I wrote this to help eliminate the vague fear of investing.

What disappears when your understanding of investing deepens is not the "fear" itself, but the "vague" part of it.

Personally, fear still accompanies investing for me even now, but it is fear based on a correct understanding. If you start investing without this understanding, you might end up panic-selling when the market drops and losing assets before you can achieve wonderful returns.

I wrote this book to eliminate such damage.

"I don't want to increase my assets, I want to increase my income."

A turning point arrived for me, as someone who had focused on capital gains and index investing.

After my child was born, I began to think deeply about "money" and "time," and I became interested in stock investing not as an asset, but as an income stream.

In particular, the influence I received from Professor Jeremy Siegel's "Stocks for the Long Run" and "The Future for Investors," the monumental works on high-dividend investing, was significant, and I still keep physical copies of these books on hand.

Since then, I have shifted to high-dividend investing, focusing on dividends rather than just aiming for price appreciation.

Of course, I still keep index funds to a certain extent due to the existence of "Tsumitate NISA," "Corporate DC/iDeCo," and the "NISA Tsumitate Investment Quota," but my portfolio is skewed enough that I can say high-dividend investing is my main focus.

As of June 2025, my projected dividends are 1.66 million yen, which has become a quite powerful source of income.

"I don't want to increase my assets, I want to increase my income."

With this as the concept, I wrote the following book.

"Lump-sum Investment vs. Dollar-Cost Averaging"

Now, was the transition from capital-gain-focused individual stocks and index funds to high-dividend investing easy? It was not.

There were significant unrealized gains, and selling would incur taxes. Moreover, compared to index investing, which is fundamentally a bet on the glorious future of human growth, high-dividend investing does have something of a contrarian aspect to it.

Should I cash out all at once, or invest all at once?
This book is a compilation of my agonizing thoughts on what to do.

In short, it addresses the proposition: 'I understand that long-term accumulation investment is important, but what should I do if I have a large amount of money right in front of me now?'

In my case, as mentioned earlier, it was a switch of assets, which made it even more difficult, and I could not come up with a clear answer for this.

However, if we assume an investment from 'cash' to an 'index fund,' the question of whether a lump-sum or installment investment is better can be thought of more simply, so I performed simulations using various patterns.

As an extra touch, I didn't just simulate based on past data; I also conducted pessimistic simulations, such as 'What if the Lehman Shock and the IT bubble burst were to happen again?' This is a recommended book for those who want to be extra cautious.

'There's no way you can achieve FIRE with All Country.'

When you are actively pursuing investments, sometimes people throw cold water on your plans.

'All Country' is an abbreviation for 'eMAXIS Slim Worldwide Equity (All Country).'
It is a wonderful product that allows for broad, diversified investment in stocks around the world.

However, on the other hand, the returns are, if I dare say, 'average.' Since it tracks the performance of global stocks, that is only natural.

That is both its strength and its weakness.

It has been a while since 'investing' became widely recommended to the general public, but there is also the painful reality that 'you cannot get significant returns with small-amount investments.' That is what leads to the statement, 'There's no way you can achieve FIRE with All Country.'

This book seriously examines that proposition: 'Well then, how much money and time do you actually need to achieve FIRE (become a multi-millionaire)?'

'Get a side job and invest.'

Currently, I live on three pillars: my main job, a side job, and dividends. Basically, I pay for my living expenses from my main job's salary, and I put the income from my side job and dividends into investments.

By continuing this cycle, my assets will grow like a snowball, and my plan is to gradually reduce my dependence on my main job.

In fact, I changed jobs from my previous one to a company with less overtime, even though my annual income dropped by about 2 million yen. I am earning more than the drop in my annual income through my side job, I have more time for child-rearing, and my responsibilities have decreased, so I am satisfied with my current situation.

Going forward, I would like to realistically consider when to quit my main job or move to a workplace with a lower time and mental burden. First, I would like to try reducing my working hours to about four days a week.

This is also partly influenced by 'DIE WITH ZERO'.

In any case, for us ordinary people to achieve something in terms of asset formation, increasing our ability to deposit funds is essential. To do that, we cannot just wait leisurely for a promotion; we should explore the path of increasing income through side jobs.

…I also wrote a book on that subject.

I also write articles on note.

Conclusion

When I write books in a story or conversational format, I naturally want to try my hand at creative writing.

However, unfortunately, the genres of novels and essays require talent and the ability to ride the current trends, so it is unlikely that anything I dash off will be read.

But then, I received some good news from note:
“note Creative Awards 2025 Announced!!!”
And there, I found categories I excel in, such as the “Work-related Novel” and “Business” categories.

I have to enter this!!!
That is what I thought.

I am currently in the process of hurriedly revising a manuscript I had been writing for an e-book (Kindle) to suit note.

I plan to upload it to note soon, so please follow me and stay tuned.
And please, do read it and let me know what you think!

Even if I don't stand a chance in the note Creative Awards, I plan to release it as an e-book eventually, so I would be very happy to receive your feedback.

Well then, see you in the next article!

6/21 Creative Awards 2025 Submission