Japan-Insights: Asset Management Is Becoming A Norm Among Younger Generation In Japan

TOKYO, Feb. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to recent research released by "RENOSY", a one-stop comprehensive real estate service platform operated by GA technologies Co., Ltd (Headquarters: Minato-Ku, Tokyo; CEO: Ryo Higuchi / Securities Code: 3491) has shown that more than 70% of the young generation in their 20s tend to discuss "investment" and "asset management" with their friends. The research was carried out online by RENOSY and has interviewed 444 people between age 20~50 who are interested in financial investment and asset management.

From the result of the research, we could see that more than 70% of the interviewees (in their 20s) showed that they have an interest about asset management and do talk about such topics with their friends or people around them. The average amount for such finance planning is about 50,000 JPY per month. And more than 80% of the interviewees (all age groups) feel that they do not have sufficient financing for retirement if they rely on pension only. Less than 70% of the interviewees answered that they pay more attention to how to manage their assets effectively than saving money merely.

[Key Highlights]

• More than 70% of the young people interviewed (in their 20s) say that they do discuss "asset management" with their friends while only 30% of the older generation (in their 50s) answered "Yes".
• More than 80% of the people interviewed answered that they feel they do not have enough money to support their lives after retirement relying on pension only.
• More than 60% of interviewees in their 20s said that they do not worry about the assets build-up arrangement they are doing for now.
• While the average amount of investment for the younger generation is about 50,000JPY. This number increased to 150,000 JPY per month for the older generation.
• More than 50% of the interviewees (between ages 20s~40s) answered that they are interested in using smartphones as a device for investment and asset management.

♦ Data Collection Method

Time: Nov. 4th 2021~ Nov. 8th, 2021

Primary method: Online questionnaire

Replies received: 444 people (Users who are interested about investment with an annual income above 4,500,000 JPY)

♦ Details of the Research

1. More than 70% of the young people interviewed tend to discuss asset management with their friends, while only 30% of the older generation do so. 

There is a significant difference between different age groups when it comes to the topic of asset management. About 73% of the young people interviewed answered that they do talk about investment or asset management with their friends. There are only 38% of people in their 50s answered "Yes". We can see an obvious difference between different generations when it comes to "finance". Since "asset management" will become part of the new high school curriculum starting from April 2022, we are expecting to see the younger generation become more cautious and familiar with "money". In fact, we received several feedbacks from our users this time that they purchased real estate using RENOSY because of advice from people around them. 

[Users voices (※2)] extracted data

• "I purchased a real estate from RENOSY (※1) because my friend's advice." (Male, mid 20s)
• "I have always been interested in real estate investment, and happened to know about RENOSY through my friend. I also think the agent is reliable." (Male, mid 20s)
• I had friends who had used the service before, and was recommended by them to the service." (Female, 20s)

2. More than 80% of the interviewees said that they are worried about their finances after retirement if they relied on pension only.

"Do you think you can be financially flexible by relying on a pension only after retirement?" 87% of the total interviewees answered "No". When we take a closer look at different age groups. The answers are as follows: 91% for the 20s, 85% for the 30s, 92% for the 40s, and finally 77% for the 50s. As people tend to live longer nowadays, the issue of finance after retirement will become a more and more serious problem for most people. As a result, we could see from the research result that 87% of the people we interviewed feel anxious about the financial arrangement after retirement.

3. Younger generation prefers asset management than savings. With that being said, more than 60% of the young people do not worry about their current asset management plans.

When it comes to the question "How do you feel about your current finance plan for the future?" 66% of the younger generation answered with "Do not really worry about that" and "Do not worry about it at all". On the other hand, when it comes to "the average amount of investment being put in every month"; it is about 50,000 JPY for people in their 20s and the number increases to about 150,000 JPY for people in their 50s which is a significant rise along with an increase in age.

4. More than 50% of the interviewees (people in their 20s~40s) are interested in using smartphones as device for investment or asset management.

When asking about do you prefer using a smartphone as a device for investment or asset management. The younger generation (people in their 20s) showed the highest interest about it. According to research released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications (MIC) in June 2021※3, the percentage of the population owning a smartphone is 86.8% and the number keeps rising. The prevalence of smartphones is even more than 90% among groups of people between age 20 to 39 which is higher than the percentage of owning a computer. Within this large context, we could expect the interest of using smartphone for assets management is going to become more prevalent among the digital native generation (digital immigrants). 

RENOSY is a comprehensive real estate service platform offers a one-stop service to its customers. The entire transaction process can be completed online with the RENOSY App. Property owners could manage everything about their houses easily on their smartphones with as specialized App called "OWNR by RENOSY". Our goal is to provide an efficient and smooth customer experience with the introduction of cutting-edge technology. 

♦ About RENOSY Real Estate Investment Service

RENOSY focuses on used compact apartments in the city parts of Japan. The brand was ranked as No1 in the pre-owned apartments transaction sector in both 2020 and 2021 in research done by Tokyo Shoko Research. It also topped the newly built properties sector for the first time in 2021 (※4). One of the most unique points about RENOSY is that half of our customers are younger generations between ages of mid 20 to 30s which is quite rare for real estate investment industry. We also actively introduce cutting edge technology into our service lineup with the following characteristics: 

1. Focusing on the introduction of online transaction using AI technology.
2. Providing a one-stop service covering all areas of real estate from rental & lease management to renovation. 
3. A quick inventory turnover rate that is 1/20 of the industry's average (※5). 

RENOSY combines both online and offline tricks, especially with the implementation of AI technology, it is certainly the first choice for customers when it comes to real estate investment in this digital era.

♦ About RENOSY Marketplace Business

The business mission of RENOSY is "To impress people and create a world leading company with the power of technology x innovation". The mother company of RENOSY is GA technologies which is a public listed company with stocks listed in the Tokyo mother's stock market. RENOSY is a comprehensive one-stop platform provides a full range of real estate service from "rent", "buy", "sell", "lease", "renovate" to "invest", basically everything you could think of in the real estate sector. The service has about 240,000 members registered and have more than 150,000 listings available on our website (※6). We focus on making the traditional real estate industry more tech-savvy and efficient. Our goal is to provide a more sophisticated customer experience with both online and offline services.

♦ About GA technologies

Company: GA technologies Co., Ltd.

Representative: Ryo Higuchi

URL: https://www.ga-tech.co.jp/en/

Head office: 40F of Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower, Roppongi 3-2-1, Minato District, Tokyo

Year of founding: March 2013

Capital fund: 7,219,146,516JPY （by October 2021）

What we do:

• Running the RENOSY service, an online, one-stop real estate service platform
• Running the ITANDI BB service, a cloud service targets at real estate management companies

Sub companies: ITANDI Co.,Ltd, Modern Standard Co., Ltd, Shenjumiausuan Co.,Ltd and 8 other companies

※1 Industry trend research: "customer satisfaction about website's image" (Aug. 2020 version)

Reference release: https://resources.ga-tech.co.jp/Release/210225_renosy_no1_ff.pdf 

※2 Customer satisfaction research. A specific research carried out among RENOSY users by the brand. Reference release:  https://www.renosy.com/asset/reviews

※3  Please refer to the research released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communication of Japan about "trend of public's habits regarding means of communication."

※4 The research was released by Tokyo Shoko Research

※5 The inventory turnover refers to the period of time needed for a stocked listing to be sold counting from the point where the property has been acquired. The average turnover period is 14 days for RENOSY (statistics in 2020) compared to an average of 277.5 days (statistics in Oct. 2020) in the industry. 

※6 Number of RENOSY members by Oct. 2021; number of listings available by Oct. 2020

CONTACT: Judy Yu, [email protected], +81-3-6230-9180

SOURCE GA technologies Co., Ltd.