Dual-wielding savings and investments! The Broccoli family's money situation after stashing away 1.78 million yen a year [2024 Edition]

Yo, are you planting seeds today too?
I'm This Parch, the investment mafia of the field world.

Today, I suddenly thought to myself,
"How much exactly am I saving per year?" I'd like to share with you, as a special treat, how much I saved last year.

🥦 Conclusion: My annual savings amount

To get straight to the point, my total savings for 2024 were approximately 1.78 million yen. On a monthly basis, that comes to about 148,000 yen per month.

• Cash savings: 1.23 million yen

• Investments (New NISA): 550,000 yen

The ratio of investments to total savings is about 30%, I suppose.
"Huh? Is that all the investment mafia is putting into investments?" some of you might be thinking.
I was honestly surprised myself when I looked back on it.
However, there is a solid reason for this, so please watch until the end.

🥦 Detailed breakdown: Breaking down cash savings

Let's take a closer look. First, let's start with cash savings.

🥕 Breakdown of cash savings

◆ Total: 1.23 million yen
- Children's savings: 480,000 yen
- Other: 750,000 yen

🥕 Regarding children's savings

As for the children's savings, as I mentioned in a previous article, I personally feel that putting all of their educational funds into investments is a risk.Because the investment period is limited. Therefore, I put money into the old Junior NISA until 2023, and since then, I have switched to cash savings.
- Child allowance: 10,000 yen per month
- From monthly income: 10,000 yen
- Total: 20,000 yen per month x 12 months = 240,000 yen (per child)

🥕 Other cash savings: The meaning of 750,000 yen

Now, as for the other 750,000 yen in cash, is this a lot? Or is it a little?

I believe that considering unexpected expenses, a certain amount of cash savings is necessary. Basically, I don't want to touch my investment assets while I'm young. It's to maximize compound interest.
For that, "standby funds" that can handle sudden expenses are essential.

For example, even recently, the Broccoli family had these unexpected expenses.

• Vehicle inspection: 100,000 yen

• Car repair costs: 60,000 yen

• Fixed asset tax, automobile tax: 180,000 yen

• Wedding attendance: 150,000 yen (including travel/accommodation expenses)

• Relative's hospitalization: 160,000 yen (reimbursed later via high-cost medical expense benefits)

I'm a father, too. I want to be able to take my family on trips. Thinking about that, you can see why it's necessary to have cash savings rather than betting everything on investments, right?
By the way, I also keep a separate, solid "complete emergency fund." Someday, I'd like to reveal my entire asset portfolio as well.

🥕 I'm also prepared for market crashes

It might be imprudent, but I'm partly waiting for a temporary market crash. Since recent NISA accounts have a growth investment quota, I'm keeping cash on hand as standby funds to purchase ETFs or index mutual funds when the market crashes.

Of course, if you expect long-term economic growth, you might think, "Doesn't it make no difference if you just buy now, regardless of a crash?" However, these standby funds also serve as emergency savings in case of an unforeseen event. Since you can't use the money once it's invested, in a sense, it's a "two-sword style."

🥦 My investment strategy: NISA and risk diversification

In 2024, I was contributing 50,000 yen per month to my new NISA.
By the way, starting in 2025, Mamaccoli will also open a NISA account, and we are set to start a total monthly contribution of 60,000 yen.

The reason I'm separating Mamaccoli's account is for risk diversification in case something happens to me. For example, if I were to become unconscious and in critical condition, I've considered the possibility that my account might be frozen, so we are diversifying our investments as a couple.
I've written about that in detail in this article, so please take a look if you're interested.

🥦 My simple savings rule: Save the entire bonus

Lastly, I'll introduce one of my savings rules.
That is "Never touch your bonus."

It might look like I'm saving 140,000 yen a month, but in reality, it's impossible to scrape that much together from regular living expenses.
That's why I strictly follow a simple system of putting my entire bonus into savings. I put a large amount of the bonus into a savings account, and the monthly NISA contribution is set up to be automatically deducted via credit card.
In other words, it's like storing broccoli in my own personal "broccoli field" and using it for investment.

Furthermore, it's cliché, but I've also set up a system where savings for the children are automatically deducted from my monthly salary account into a separate account.
...Other than that, the spare savings generated from everyday frugality go into cash savings, but this is a part that fluctuates depending on daily life and the degree of frugality. I'd like to introduce my frugality techniques in detail in another article.

With that, I've roughly summarized the reality of my 2024 savings and investments. Looking back at it again, it was a pleasant time for me to organize not just the numbers, but also how I thought about my cash savings.

I hope this serves as an opportunity for everyone to review their own "sowing strategy."
Well then, see you in the next article. Arrivederci.

If you found this article even a little bit "interesting," please support me with a like or follow. In my magazine, I introduce the "Broccoli-style asset formation" practiced by Dis-Parchi in an easy-to-understand way using real experiences and numbers, so please check it out.
Let's grow the Broccoli family together and cultivate our field of assets 🥦