From cleaner to worth 200 million! She earns only 600,000 yuan a year and relies on "this trick" to turn herself around

From cleaner to worth 200 million! She earns only 600,000 yuan a year and relies on "this trick" to turn herself around. (Bloomberg, diagram)

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] Many people believe that "it is impossible to get rich with an annual income of 3 million yen (approximately NT$600,000)." However, investor Masanori Ohara broke this myth and successfully accumulated a net worth of approximately 1 billion yen (approximately NT$200 million). Originally living on 50,000 yen (approximately NT$10,000) per month, she worked as a part-time cleaner after graduating from university. Although her annual income after switching to a full-time job was only about 3 million yen, after getting married and having children at the age of 26, in order to provide a better educational environment for her children, she decided to completely change her economic situation and make a side job by earning price differences from commodity trading. After saving 1 million yen (approximately NT$200,000), she entered real estate investment. She also shared her experience in getting rich, believing that the starting point for asset formation is not how much money you already have on hand, but first thinking about "what you can do."

Japanese media reported that Masanori Obara lived on his parents' monthly living allowance of 50,000 yen during his college years. Because he liked watching movies and did not want work to take up too much time, he once worked as a cleaner after graduation. Although he became a full member later, his annual income was about 3 million yen. After getting married at the age of 26 and having a child the following year, he began to realize that it was not easy to afford family life and the future education expenses of his children with his current income alone, so he seriously thought about how to increase his income.

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He finally set his sights on the real estate field. Believing that professional knowledge could become an asset in the future, Obara quit his job and concentrated on preparing for the real estate appraiser exam. He obtained the qualification the next year and successfully changed jobs, and his income also increased. However, increasing income is not the end. His next goal is to accumulate enough funds to invest in real estate.

The problem is that if you only rely on your monthly salary after deducting living expenses and slowly save money, the accumulation rate will still be limited. As a result, Obara began to try a side business, starting from the purchase and sale of commodities, studying the prices of different channels, and looking for commodities that could be purchased at low prices, resold, and left with a profit.

At the beginning, he also mistook "having a turnover" for "making money". After actual operation, he discovered that purchase costs and other expenses would eat up the income. What is really important is to control the overall capital flow. Through repeated attempts and failures, he gradually figured out which products were profitable and at what price he should purchase them, and his sideline income also gradually increased.

For Obara, the biggest gain from this experience is not just how much extra money he made, but the fact that for the first time he was convinced that in addition to the company's salary, as long as he thinks and takes action, he can also create income.

After accumulating an investment of 1 million yen (approximately NT$200,000), he made his first real estate investment in 2013 with bank financing while working in the industry. At that time, he bought a single-family house in poor condition for 3.9 million yen (approximately NT$780,000), and then used his weekends to DIY to tidy up the house. Finally, he successfully sold it and still made a profit after deducting related expenses.

Obara believes that if you want to get involved in asset formation, you don’t necessarily have to prepare a large amount of capital from the beginning. For her at that time, the most important thing was to first find a way to gradually increase the money on hand, and then use the accumulated funds to find the next opportunity.

However, her journey was not smooth. Obara revealed that he once tried stock investment but failed, and real estate investment also stalled because he could not obtain expected financing. The lesson she learned from these experiences was not to rush into something you didn’t understand with a vague imagination, but also not to try nothing just because you didn’t know what you were good at.

She said that it is impossible to be "perfectly prepared" before starting a side business. The abilities accumulated from past jobs and even the experience in daily life may come in handy. What is really important is to try first and gradually find the direction that suits you in the actual process.

Obara, who has now accumulated 1 billion yen in net assets, recalled that the formation of his assets actually started from a very simple question: "I need more money, so what can I do?"

She also suggested that instead of setting a goal of a large amount of wealth from the beginning, you might as well start with 100 yen or 10,000 yen, gradually increase the amount of money you can keep, and then find a way to accumulate assets that suits you.

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