午夜剧场

Turning 60 in March 2016, looking back on my life, I have spent my career in the financial industry since graduation, spending a total of one-third of my time overseas and two-thirds in Japan. I was studying abroad in LA during the Los Angeles Olympics, working in the City of London when the Gulf War broke out, and even experienced serving as president in Frankfurt when the Euro was launched. After returning to Japan in 2000, I built up experience in the foreign asset management industry. Just before turning 60, the president of the asset management company I was with at the time told me, "Knowing you, if there's something you want to do, I'll release you at the milestone of 60." This made me want to take on a new challenge as the final chapter of my career.

Around that time, I believed that "FinTech" would become a new trend replacing existing businesses, and I was starting to look for ways I could contribute to that field. If people build assets properly from a young age, they can avoid the risk of running out of retirement funds and survive the era of the 100-year life. While I was wondering if there was a system that would allow people to invest steadily even before they have significant assets, I learned that "investing with spare change" had grown into a major business in the U.S. two years ahead of Japan. Bringing the same business model to Japan was extremely difficult due to various barriers, but fortunately, I met some experienced friends and managed to establish TORANOTEC three years ago.

By downloading the asset-building app "Toranoko," for a monthly fee of 300 yen, the app tracks the "spare change" from your registered shopping data (credit cards, electronic money, etc.) and allows you to invest in investment trusts in increments of 1 yen starting from 5 yen. It is a system where the equivalent of one month's worth of spare change is withdrawn from your bank account and automatically invested into an internationally diversified portfolio. Currently, the user base is expanding mainly among millennials, but it's not just for the youth. In the current environment where people in their mid-50s can work until around age 70, the senior generation can also build up assets with a sense of creating a second pension. I believe people can truly experience the importance of steady saving through the power of compound interest. With the slogan "Making Everyone an Investor," TORANOTEC sincerely hopes that a wide range of people will start investing.