The 65-year-old Abo panicked when the stock market crash happened! 4 million pension "clearance and stop loss" ended so badly that I regret it

In recent years, many people have begun to use AI as a consulting object for investment and financial management. However, if they leave all investment decisions to AI, they may pay a heavy price. Stock market diagram. (Reuters photo)

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] Many people have begun to use AI as a consulting object for investment and financial management in recent years. However, if all investment decisions are handed over to AI, I am afraid that there will be a heavy price to pay. A 65-year-old man in Japan received a 20 million yen (approximately NT$4.13 million) pension after retirement. He originally wanted to increase the value of his assets through investment, but because he was worried about missing out on the stock market rally, he constantly sought advice from AI and even handed over investment decisions to AI. Unexpectedly, the global stock market plummeted. The man panicked and sold everything, claiming a loss of about 3 million yen (approximately NT$620,000). He also missed the subsequent rebound, and the asset gap was as high as 5.4 million yen (approximately NT$1.11 million).

According to Japanese media reports, 65-year-old Mr. Noguchi (pseudonym) has worked for a large manufacturing company for more than 40 years and received a pension of approximately 20 million yen after retirement. Affected by rising prices and the investment boom in the new version of NISA, as well as the fact that his colleagues were opening securities accounts one after another, he worried that "if you don't invest, you will suffer losses", so he also opened an online securities account.

Due to his lack of investment experience, Mr. Noguchi did not know how to choose products. Although his wife tried her best to dissuade him from investing, he finally chose the global stock index fund that ranked among the top online brokers and invested 100,000 yen on a regular basis every month.

Unexpectedly, the market continued to rise and the net value of the fund continued to hit highs. He began to worry that his investment speed was too slow and he was afraid of missing profit opportunities, so he invested the new version of NISA's growth investment limit of 2.4 million yen at a time. Adding the original regular fixed amount of funds, the total investment was 2.6 million yen.

As the market continued to rise, Mr. Noguchi became increasingly anxious and even began to consider using a general taxable account to increase the total investment amount to 15 million yen. Since there was no suitable investment consultation target around him, he turned to the mobile phone AI for inquiry, but unknowingly, he gradually handed over investment judgment to the AI.

Experts pointed out that Mr. Noguchi’s psychology at the time was actually FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in behavioral economics, which is the fear of missing out on rising market opportunities and being left behind by other investors. When investors become more and more concerned about how much others earn, it becomes easier for them to pursue higher investments without sufficient evaluation.

Unexpectedly, global stock markets suddenly plummeted, and the fund's net value fell from 27,000 yen to around 22,000 yen in about two months, a drop of about 20%. During this period, Mr. Noguchi continued to invest 100,000 yen per month, with the cumulative investment amount reaching 15.2 million yen. However, the book assets shrank to approximately 12.2 million yen, resulting in an unrealized loss of approximately 3 million yen.

Faced with the rapid shrinkage of his assets, Mr. Noguchi felt unbearable fear, so he asked AI for help again late at night, asking whether he should sell quickly. AI replied that if you are too anxious to fall asleep, it is reasonable to choose to exit.

Mr. Noguchi sold all the funds the next day, officially turning the book loss of about 3 million yen into actual losses, and also canceled the regular monthly fixed investment.

However, the market bottomed out shortly after he sold it and hit a record high in just half a year. The rise even continued into the following year. About a year later, the fund's net value rebounded to around 32,000 yen. Experts estimate that assuming it was continued to be held, the value of the asset would have reached approximately 17.7 million yen, which is a gap of approximately 5.4 million yen compared to the 12.2 million yen received after the sale.

In addition to missing out on the rebound, Mr. Noguchi also faced the problem of reusing NISA tax-free credits. According to the Japanese system, after the NISA account sells investment products, the corresponding non-taxable holding limit is not restored immediately, but can be reused the next year, and is still subject to the annual investment limit of 3.6 million yen.

"I shouldn't believe what artificial intelligence says...". The analysis pointed out that AI is becoming more and more popular among the elderly, but depending on how it is used, it can be either poison or good medicine. AI is not a completely objective investment advisor, and the way the user asks questions may affect the direction of the AI's answer.

For example, if you ask "Is this investment right?" and "What are the risks of this investment?", the emphasis of AI may be completely different. If the user already has a preset position, the AI ​​may even give a positive answer based on the user's thoughts.

This phenomenon is called the "flattery effect", which means that the AI ​​caters to the user's opinions or emotions during the conversation and tends to provide answers that the other party wants to hear. In addition, AI may also experience "hallucinations" and regard erroneous or non-existent information as fact. Therefore, AI answers should not be directly used as the basis for investment decisions.

The analysis pointed out that AI is suitable for organizing information, understanding investment systems, or providing different perspectives of thinking, but the final decision-making power should not be given to AI. In particular, pensions are an important life guarantee after retirement. Before investing, you should evaluate your own asset status, risk tolerance, and long-term life needs. If necessary, you can also consult with professionals such as a financial planner (FP) or an independent financial advisor (IFA) to avoid making irreversible decisions due to temporary panic.

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