Nearly one in four people in Japan invests in securities such as stocks, bonds, and investment trusts, the highest level ever thanks to the government’s tax-exempt investment program for individuals, a recent survey showed.
The Japan Securities Dealers Association’s survey also suggests, however, that financial education is still lagging in the country known for its high household savings rate.
The survey, conducted every three years, found that 24.1 percent of respondents owned securities in 2024, up from 19.6 percent in 2021, marking the highest level since the association began collecting such data on individuals in 2006.
The rise comes after the government expanded the tax-free investment program in January in its push to encourage a shift from savings to investment.
The survey was conducted in June and July and polled 7,000 people aged 18 and older. It found that the revamped tax-exempt program led 60.3 percent of the respondents to become interested in wealth building and 22.2 percent to start securities investment using the government program.
The survey, however, also highlighted lagging financial literacy among the Japanese public, with 7.5 percent of the respondents saying they had received some form of education on securities investments, a slight increase from 6.4 percent in 2021.
Asked if they know about basic risk mitigation strategies, such as portfolio diversification, 19.5 percent said they are aware of them, compared to 14.8 percent in 2021, it showed.
A separate survey conducted in September by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. found that only 4.3 percent of respondents with investment assets had received financial education, while 72.1 percent said they relied on the internet to gather investment information, and 64.3 percent want to improve their financial literacy.
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