Dormy Inn. A hotel I truly love.
My routine during business trips is waking up early.
In the large public bath at 6 AM, soaking in the tub, I suddenly remembered the anxiety I felt in my mid-20s.
At the time, I was working as an MR for a major domestic pharmaceutical company, and I was on the so-called 'promotion track,' being entrusted with key facilities earlier than my peers.
While my boss's evaluations were high and I believed deep down that my future was secure, my heart was eerily cold.
'If I keep working diligently like this, become a manager, and then a director, where will the "growth potential" of my life hit a ceiling?'
My annual income at the time was around 6.5 million yen, but I was shocked once when I saw a senior colleague's pay stub in his 40s. The gross annual income was 12 million yen.
'After working for nearly 20 years, the annual income is less than double...?'
I was deeply disappointed at the time.
Now for the main point: there is a cruel formula proposed by economist Thomas Piketty, 'R > G' (Rate of Return on Capital > Economic Growth Rate).
As long as you consume this as a macroeconomics lesson that 'the rich get richer,' you will remain a laborer for the rest of your life.
I define this 'G' as 'the growth rate of an individual's salary' or 'the growth rate of market value as an employee.'
Working diligently as an employee, being evaluated, and getting promoted.
Of course, that is important.
However, no matter how much you win the bloody promotion race within the company, your salary will never continue to increase by 30% or 50% compounded every year.
The company's evaluation system, seniority, and industry standards. All these factors push down a ceiling, saying, 'This is your limit.' In other words, there is a definitive limit to a salaryman's 'G'.
When I realized that fact, I decided to quit the promotion race.
I realized that if I didn't stop setting 'being evaluated by the company' as my life goal and move to the side of cultivating 'R' (capital) in my own life, I would never escape this rat race.
The 'R' I'm talking about here isn't just mindlessly investing a few tens of thousands of yen into index funds every month.
It's about investing hundreds of thousands of yen to set up your own business environment. Creating systems for outsourcing. Polishing your own skills, influence, and credibility.
All these things that 'generate returns exceeding the growth of my labor income' were capital (R) to me.
Of course, I didn't suddenly quit the company and go rogue.
Rather, at first, I thoroughly utilized G (salary and credit as an employee).
For me, who got married with zero savings, the initial principal could only be born from my main job's salary.
Using the overwhelming housing allowance of the pharmaceutical company as a shield, I reduced my living costs to the extreme and poured the saved funds into business and self-investment.
I used the company's brand (credit) to pull funds from financial institutions and buy physical assets like real estate. Then, late at night after my main job, I stared at the PC screen in a dimly lit living room, sacrificing sleep to scrape '1 yen from zero' through overseas exports.
At first, it was desperately unglamorous, and the returns were minuscule.
But that 1 yen, which was not a salary given by the company but something I took a risk to create myself, was unmistakably my own 'R'.
I continued to reinvest the profits born from that small 'R' back into 'R'. The moment I entered the cycle of making the capital 'R' I had grown work for me, rather than fighting with labor alone, the angle of the compound interest applied to my life changed dramatically.
When I entered the sauna at Dormy Inn, the news on TV was talking about 'rising prices' and 'falling real wages' again today.
Facing the work in front of you with all your might as an employee is the minimum foundation for surviving capitalism.
But if you just crouch within the framework of 'G' decided by others while wearing heavy armor on that foundation, you will eventually be swallowed by the muddy stream of inflation.
Will you leave the power over your life and death in the hands of the company or the state?
After the bath, I drink the provided Yakult. (I hold back the urge to drink two.)
Now, let's start another day of cultivating my 'R'.
By the way, in my case, 'R' was overseas exports, and I will provide an opportunity to logically explain why that method, thinking, and the career of 'main job x side job x investment' are superior.
This is a collaboration project with BMR Small Business Research Institute.
6/11 21:30~
You can apply from the link below, so if you want to 'try earning 1 yen on your own while being an employee' or 'want to feel "R" other than investing in financial products,' please take a step forward.
【Apply for the seminar here】https://sub.bmr.bz/p/rXA1nGgR3RC7?ftid=FX9c2ON9ACuy
