Hiroto Kiritani is famous as an investor in stocks that offer shareholder perks. He has built a fortune of over 400 million yen solely through such investments. Kiritani’s secret is simple: the fundamental rule is to buy stocks when their prices are low. He patiently waits for these low-priced stocks to rebound and rise in value. He focuses exclusively on spot trading—buying actual shares—and avoids margin trading. It seems he uses cash only for essentials like rent, utilities, and phone bills; remarkably, he lives almost entirely on the goods and vouchers received as shareholder perks, covering most of his clothing and food needs this way. His benchmark for a “cheap” stock is a combined yield—dividends plus the value of perks—of 4% or higher.
I have acquaintances who also enjoy owning stocks with shareholder perks. As they approach the age of 80, they began looking for ways to be useful to others. Some shareholder perk programs offer support for “children’s cafeterias” (community-run dining programs for children). By selecting these options and engaging with the cafeterias, my acquaintances feel a genuine connection to society. Another acquaintance enjoys interacting with sparrows and Japanese tits. He cuts the ends off peanuts, threads a copper wire through them, and hangs them up; the birds then flock to peck at and eat them. He finds great joy in watching this scene and hopes to keep seeing it forever. When I jokingly said, “You won’t be able to see it once you’re dead, will you?” he replied, “Actually, I’m setting up a mechanism so I can.” That mechanism turned out to be a stock that pays about 20,000 yen in annual dividends. A bag of peanuts costs around 200 yen a week, allowing him to observe the birds; essentially, he has been enjoying this delightful sight for an annual cost of roughly 10,000 yen. He said that he intended to keep those shares even after his death and pass them on to his son (or someone who loves small birds).
According to a report by the major Swiss financial firm UBS, it is estimated that by 2025, there will be approximately 27.7 million adults in Japan with a net worth of $100,000 (about 15 million yen) or more. This means that one in three people in Japan will fall into the $100,000 net worth bracket. Another reality to consider is the number of deaths; the annual death toll in Japan is approximately 1.59 million. Meanwhile, the number of births in Japan is projected to be around 730,000 in 2023, 690,000 in 2024, and 670,000 in 2025. Asset ownership in Japan is said to be skewed toward the elderly population. It appears that out of the roughly 1.59 million people who pass away, between 600,000 and 700,000 are individuals who hold $100,000 in assets. What would happen if those 600,000 to 700,000 individuals with $100,000 in assets were to pass those assets on to the newborn children in the form of shareholder-benefit stocks? Those children would receive annual stock dividends (amounting to approximately 600,000 yen) and shareholder perks. From the perspective of a parent, this creates a paradise that having more children makes life easier.
