I have seen and heard more and more about Shibusawa Eiichi, who is depicted on the 10,000 yen note that will be introduced in July. I also took advantage of this boom and read a novel about him. In contrast to Yataro Iwasaki, who founded the Mitsubishi zaibatsu and was all about making money, Shibusawa built his wealth on the premise of the common good of society as a whole, based on his samurai spirit and business acumen. As someone once said, he was indeed a man of fortune. In this article, I would like to write about my feelings towards money, as represented by the 10,000 yen note.
 
First, let's talk about preparing for retirement. As retirement is no longer in the distant future, I hope to get on board with the government's plan to make Japan an asset-management nation, which means that households' idle cash will be invested in companies, which will then use it to take on new challenges, and the returns will enrich the household budget. I am a little worried, though, because I am part of the generation that remembers the bursting of the bubble economy. I hear that today's children have the opportunity to learn about such money in class. I think it's a wonderful thing.
 
When you are young, I think it is just as well to have a little bit of money. Because a sense of urgency allows for frantic trial and error. So I think it is better not to think too much about leaving money to your children. If children are spoilt by it, it robs them of the opportunity to work hard. A certain amount of hunger is essential for their development. Like a boxer who relies only on his fists, who uses the frustration of poverty as energy and does not mind hard training.
 
Furthermore, once a person has raised their standard of living, it is difficult to bring it down. The other day, a criminal who was caught for fraud or something stated that his reason for committing the crime was that he wanted to regain the kind of life he once had. I don't want my children to have excessive luxury, and although it would be an exaggeration to call it honest poverty, I would like to encourage them to be frugal.
 
There is another benefit of being frugal. It is to avoid unnecessary jealousy from others. This feeling is very bad. It can sometimes drag you down. So frugality and modesty are essential. More and more people are not adorning themselves with flamboyance, even if they have become wealthy, and when I see the flamboyantly decorated posts on social networks, etc., I feel a sense of danger, although it is probably due to a high need for approval. Perhaps they are taking such things as a lesson to the contrary.
 
When your cousin buys land, it hurts your stomach.
Korean proverb
 
On the other hand, I think I need to leave money to do what I can manage with the money I earn! Like the book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad', which used to talk a lot about 'getting money to work for you'. I also don't want to fall into the trap of just saving. I want to be willing to invest actively (not speculate) in things that will improve my quality of life, such as my children's education, so that I can expect a large return on my investment. I want to improve the productivity of my life in this way.
 
Having discussed money above, it is very interesting that a person's attitude towards money seems to be an expression of their way of life. If we have a dream, there is absolutely no such thing as a dream. On the other hand, it is also absolutely disgusting to be obsessed with money and status, and to become strangely dirty. Therefore, I want to keep a good distance from money.
 
What is the root of wealth is humanity and morality. Without the wealth of right principles, the wealth cannot completely last.
Eiichi Shibusawa