“I used to think stocks were scary”…! What a full-time homemaker who built a 400-million fortune in 8 years “made a point of doing”
A 56-year-old housewife with no prior stock market experience…
The U.S. stock market is experiencing an unprecedented AI boom. On June 12,SpaceX—a company led by Elon Musk (55) that handles rocket launches and AI development—made its debut on the Nasdaq. The stock closed at $160.95, significantly exceeding its initial public offering price of $135, bringing its market capitalization to $2.1 trillion (340 trillion yen).Thanks to the proceeds from the IPO, Musk became the world’s first “trillionaire” (with assets of $1 trillion, or over 160 trillion yen) and the world’s richest person.
Major IPOs are also scheduled for “Anthropic,” known for its generative AI “Claude,” and “OpenAI,” known for “ChatGPT.” The U.S. market is attracting the attention of investors worldwide, and capital from around the globe is likely to continue flowing in.
“Mr. Musk is often mocked as a ‘madman,’ but he has driven one innovation after another through companies like Tesla and SpaceX. As he recently stated—‘The humanoid robot “Optimus” will enter homes and handle household chores’—he sees a future that ordinary people cannot. He will continue to change the world.
It goes without saying that the businesses led by such a genius will grow and their corporate value will rise. I may buy more Tesla and SpaceX stock, but I will never sell what I have. I will continue to hold these shares out of my belief in and support for the future of Mr. Musk’s ventures.”
These are the words of Nasudakko (65), author of *Full-Time Housewife Makes 400 Million Yen Through Stock Investing: Starting at 56 with No Experience* (Forest Publishing).
She is a full-time homemaker and investor who began managing U.S. stocks at age 56 and, over the course of eight years, grew her 60 million yen in assets eightfold to 400 million yen. After graduating from junior college, she worked at a publishing company for three years before marrying a newspaper reporter—eight years her senior—at age 26. She would wake up at 5:30 a.m. to make bento lunches and support her family.Having lived as an ordinary housewife for 30 years, her interest in investing was sparked when her husband announced his retirement at age 63, choosing not to extend his tenure.
“I’ll never panic-sell again.”
“I had 60 million yen in assets from 30 years of mutual fund investments and personal pension plans, so while I was able to overcome the ‘20 million yen retirement problem,’ I was facing a situation where I would have zero income for the year leading up to my pension payments.
When he was a reporter, my husband was prohibited by his company from trading individual stocks, and he was held to strict ethical standards—even family members living with him would be fired if they bought stocks. I started investing in U.S. stocks in 2017, the year my husband retired, but I had no experience with stock investing at the time. I didn’t know where to start, so I had no choice but to invest in what was familiar to me.
“Amazon has completely transformed the way I shop; I can’t go back to life without it. I concluded that ‘Amazon has become part of the infrastructure of daily life and is highly unlikely to decline in the future.’ Although the stock price had already been rising, I invested 5 million yen in a single lump sum,” (Nasudakko, same below)
Nasudako’s investment philosophy is simple : “Identify growing markets and companies,” “hold them for the long term,” and “believe in them and don’t sell, even during a recession.” Her current assets total just over 500 million yen, and her portfolio consists of Tesla, as well as major semiconductor companies such as NVIDIA and Micron Technology.
“As they say, it was ‘beginner’s luck’—within six months of starting, my 60 million yen had swelled to 90 million yen, a 1.5-fold increase, and I was absolutely thrilled.However, during the ‘Christmas Shock’ of 2018, tech stocks plummeted across the board. I still regret that I couldn’t withstand the decline at that point and panicked and sold my NVIDIA shares. After this failure, I vowed never to panic-sell again.
Looking back, even the market recovered from the Lehman Shock within three years. Even companies with strong earnings can experience temporary, sharp declines when pandemics or wars occur. The key is not to panic in those moments. If you hold on, stock prices will eventually recover. In fact, I tend to buy more when prices drop.“If you buy with the mindset from the start that ‘a 30% drop is to be expected,’ the likelihood of getting flustered drops significantly.”
From $12 to Over $200
It was NVIDIA that turned “Nasudako” into a “hundred-million-yen earner.” For gaming enthusiasts, NVIDIA’s “GeForce” graphics processing unit is indispensable for enjoying high-end 3D games.
Whenever I went to Akihabara to buy games or electronics, or visited high-tech industry trade shows as a hobby, I noticed that NVIDIA products were widely used. In the PC semiconductor market, Intel was rapidly losing ground, and as the term “AI” gradually spread throughout society, a game-changing shift had begun.
“Back then, the general public still had no idea what NVIDIA was all about.Even when Toyota and NVIDIA partnered in 2017, the news was reported as, ‘Toyota has teamed up with a mysterious company.’ The general public didn’t understand how amazing NVIDIA was, and even those who knew of it saw it as just one of many component companies providing GPUs (graphics processing units) for gaming. The stock price was also quite affordable.”
The company’s stock price was $12 when it went public in 1999. Although it stagnated at around $6 just before the COVID-19 crisis, NVIDIA products became indispensable to major cloud services like “Google Cloud” and “Microsoft Azure,” causing the stock price to skyrocket. It has now become a high-flying stock trading at around $200.
“NVIDIA for Life”
That phrase is trending among investors. It’s a play on the chorus of Michizō Miki’s hit song “Lifetime Respect,” and it represents a pledge among investors to hold onto their shares for the long term, believing in the growth of NVIDIA, the leader in AI.
“I’m often asked, ‘What’s the next big thing after NVIDIA?’ Until recently, I’d answer, ‘Tesla.’ Mr. Musk is a visionary entrepreneur who will continue to make world-changing inventions. NVIDIA is also a company with a bright future ahead. Autonomous driving isn’t yet the norm, and both AI and robotics will continue to evolve.
The hurdles to realization are high, but there are even plans for SpaceX and NVIDIA to team up and build data centers in space. On other planets, there are no land issues, solar energy shines down endlessly, and since space is a subzero environment, there’s no need for cooling. Since the company has become a magnet for the world’s brightest minds, it will surely produce innovations that will take us by surprise.Sooner or later, people will ask, ‘Was there ever a time when you could buy NVIDIA stock for $200?’”
Nasudako, who has grown her assets to 500 million yen, started a business in Aoyama and opened a showroom and salon. She also runs a snack bar in a corner of a Ginza building on Friday nights, finding her purpose in life through conversations with many people.
“Thanks to my investments, I’ve been able to make my dreams come true. I don’t have to worry about money in my retirement either. From now on, I want to give back.”
We may not be able to create innovations that change the world. But we can own shares in companies led by geniuses. Isn’t it a pleasure, just like Nasudako-san, to watch the world change while holding those shares?
Reporting, Text, and Photos： Daisuke Iwasaki