From 20 million in unrealized losses to 300 million in assets! What is the new index of high-dividend stocks, the “Margin Index,” which “billionaires” who made a big turnaround have arrived at?

March is already here in ’26. Since most Japanese companies close their books at the end of March, it is a good time to invest in stocks to take advantage of dividends and shareholder benefits.

However, the Nikkei Stock Average temporarily rose to 57,650.54 yen and is now looking toward the 60,000-yen level due to the continuation of the “Takaichi trade” following the LDP’s overwhelming victory in the general election that dissolved the Diet in January. As the overall level of Japanese stocks has risen, it is no longer so easy to aim for dividends and special benefits.

We asked Mr. Pelikan, an expert in dividend stock investment with total assets of over 300 million yen and annual dividends of 7.51 million yen in 2013, how to find stocks that continue to pay high dividends in a stable manner.

Profile: Pelican

Mr. Pelikan began investing in stocks in the late 1990s, when he was just starting out as a working adult. After going through a number of historic crashes, he quit his job in 1919 and became a full-time investor, living off the dividends from stocks. Annual dividend income in ’25 was 7.51 million yen, and expected dividend income in ’26 is 8.5 million yen. Current total assets are over 300 million yen. He is the author of “Hajimete no Hi-Dividend Stocks” and plans to publish his second book in March, which will show the latest screening techniques using AI. 48,000 X followers (@Pelican_Blog) and his blog is also popular.

2.5 million turned into 50 million!　Great success with IT stocks

First, let us look back at Mr. Pelikan’s path to becoming a “billionaire,” quitting his corporate job, and becoming “FIRE” (financially independent).

Mr. Pelikan’s investment roots began in his early twenties when he deposited U.S. dollars in a foreign currency. He deposited the money for the high interest rate of the U.S. dollar, but as the yen depreciated, he ended up earning capital gains in the form of foreign exchange gains.

I was only able to increase my 100,000 yen deposit to about 110,000 yen, but it was there that I was awakened to the fun of price fluctuations of financial instruments. That is when I decided to start investing in stocks.

At the time, in the late 1990s, there were no online securities companies in Japan. When he started investing, he simply bought and sold stocks recommended by brokerage firms and did not consider stocks on his own. When the U.S. online brokerage firm E-Trade Securities (now SBI Securities) arrived in Japan in 1999, Mr. Pelikan immediately opened an account. He was then able to apply for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) for SoftBank Technology, and he won.

I think I bought the shares for about 2.5 million yen, and within a week of the IPO, they soared to 40 or 50 million yen. Looking back now, it seems absurd, but at the time, the IT bubble had already started, and I was riding the wave perfectly. I thought stocks were fun!　and I got into it in one fell swoop.

Unrealized loss of over 20 million yen due to the Lehman Brothers collapse

After his great success with SoftBank Technology, Mr. Pelikan invested in popular stocks during the IT bubble, such as Hikari Tsushin, and his stock assets approached 100 million yen. However, his unrealized assets quickly plummeted to a few million yen when the IT bubble burst.

I was shocked, but I also felt a sense of resignation in my heart, like “I knew it was coming,” like it was only natural. Even though I was investing in stocks, I felt as if I was gambling. It wasn’t money that I had worked for, and I felt that it was no good if I lost what I had gained.

The real test came later, however, when he realized that even after the IT bubble burst, there was no major change in his investment style, and by around 2008, he was mainly trading stocks on a short-term basis.

At that time, Nintendo’s stock price was about 60,000 yen, and each unit cost about 6 million yen. I could earn about 10,000 yen for just a small move, so I repeatedly traded on a day-trade basis. Then we were hit by the Lehman Shock.”

Like many other stocks, Nintendo’s stock plunged downhill, falling from around 60,000 yen to the 7,000 to 8,000 yen range. During that time, Mr. Pelikan made nine “nanpin purchases. Nanpin buying refers to buying more shares as the number of shares held declines, thereby lowering the average purchase price. As a result, he now owns 1,000 shares of Nintendo stock at an average purchase price of 23,000 yen, but his unrealized losses have ballooned to a maximum of more than 20 million yen.

He said, “The “buy-and-hold” strategy completely failed. I stopped investing in stocks and pretended not to notice the unrealized losses, while devoting myself to my work. Fortunately, I was busy with work.

Salted stocks are treasure?　Big turnaround with dividends

After a year or two of “pickling” his Nintendo shares in salt, Mr. Pelikan noticed something. He found that the dividends were a “delicious taste”.

When you hold 1,000 shares, the annual dividend is several hundred thousand yen,” he says. At that time, I would receive a check for the dividends in the mail, which I would exchange for cash at the post office.

Even if there is an unrealized loss, as long as I hold on to it, there is no actual loss, right? So I began to think that if I could receive these dividends all the time, the unrealized losses would eventually disappear.

Since then, Mr. Pelikan’s approach to stock investment has changed dramatically.

I switched my mindset from chasing gains in price to focusing on dividends. Until then, I had been trading short-term, and I realized that I lacked a good sense of how to trade. I thought I was not suited for it. Then, I came to the conclusion that it would be better to invest in stocks with generous dividends and shareholder benefits and hold them as long as possible. From there, I began to think about dividend yields and shareholder benefits.

Continuity is the lifeblood of high-dividend stocks

The investment approach of holding high-dividend stocks and shareholder benefits over the long term is compatible with the NISA (small amount investment tax exemption) program that began in 2002, and dividends are tax-free as long as they are held in a NISA account. In addition, if one repeatedly buys and sells stocks, the maximum investment limit is quickly exceeded, but if one simply holds stocks, the limit expands with each passing year.

The stocks he invested in were stocks that everyone knew, such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and other megabanks, regional banks, and general trading companies. He steadily bought more and more of these stocks. At that time, many of these large-cap stocks had dividend yields in excess of 6%.

However, it is true that there were quite a few stocks with higher dividend yields. However, Mr. Pelikan emphasized “not only the level of the dividend yield, but also the ability to pay a high level of dividends on an ongoing basis. This stance has not changed to this day.

A New Index for Detecting Dividend Increases, the “Remaining Strength Index

Mr. Pelikan’s investment in high-dividend stocks is characterized by the fact that while he uses dividend yields and shareholder benefits as a factor in investment decisions, he also emphasizes continuity: “Is it possible to continue to provide dividends and benefits in a stable manner? This is because they assume long-term ownership of the company.

Until now, the company has been investing in undervalued stocks with a price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of less than 18 times and a price-to-book ratio (PBR) of less than 1 times, with an equity ratio of 45% or more as a condition for demonstrating the “strength” to pay dividends. Recently, a new index called the “Margin Power Index” has been introduced. This index is calculated by subtracting DOE (dividend on equity ratio) from ROE (return on equity), and is said to indicate a company’s “room for dividend increases” in the future.

Mr. Pelikan, who has built up total assets of over 300 million yen, has arrived at a “truly profitable investment technique” after overcoming numerous failures and crashes. ……

The surprising stock analysis technique using a new trend, the “Remaining Strength Index,” which measures the likelihood of dividend increases in the future, and the true nature of the “high dividend + hospitality” stocks that professionals recommend now more than ever. The “three specific stocks (actual names)” to target this March, taking into account this Margins Index, are introduced in detail in the paid version [FRIDAY SUBSUKU].

Click here for Mr. Pelican’s X

Click here for Mr. Pelican’s blog, “FIRE in your 40s! Pelican Blog – Shareholder Benefits and High Dividend Investing.