When People in Japan Say "I Have No Savings," How Much Do They Actually Have?

What's going on

A 28-year-old woman in Japan posted a question that a lot of people quietly wonder about: what is the real average savings for people her age? When friends say "I have no savings," do they mean zero, or ¥100,000, or ¥500,000, or ¥1 million? She herself has about ¥1 million, but she assumes that's low for 28, so she tells people she has none.

A quick guide to the numbers: at around 158 yen to the dollar, ¥10,000 is a little over $60 and ¥1 million is roughly $6,300. Dollar figures don't tell the whole story, though, since salaries and everyday prices in Japan are lower than in the US. For a young worker, ¥1 million is several months of take-home pay. Japanese also counts large sums in units of 10,000 (man), so people casually write "50" to mean ¥500,000. The amounts below are written out in full.

Replies poured in. Some scolded her for calling ¥1 million "nothing," and many simply posted their own age and balance, from pocket change to eight figures.

Comments

Savings amounts are all over the place, but I wonder what the actual average is for people my age. When everyone says “I have no savings,” is that really ¥0? Or ¥100k, ¥500k, ¥1 million…? I have about ¥1 million, but I figure that’s low for 28… so I just say I have no savings. Because I don’t feel like I have any breathing room… 😢😢

貯金額って本当に幅広いと思うんだけど、同年代のガチの平均はどのくらいなんだろう。みんなの「貯金ない」は本当に0円なのか、10万円なのか50万円なのか100万円なのか……わたしは100万円くらいだけど28歳でこれは少ないだろうな……って思ってるから貯金ないって言っちゃう。余裕ないので……😢😢

@21poruco · View on X

Never say you have no savings again

2度と貯金ないって言わないで

You ok in the head? Don’t you ever say you have no savings again

頭大丈夫そ？二度と貯金ないなんて言うな

Ah, it’s the same thing as people who say “I didn’t study at all~” before an exam, where only a tiny few actually didn’t study…

試験前に「全然勉強してない〜」と言う人間のうち、本当に勉強していない人間はごく少数というアレですね…。

35 and genuinely ¥0!!! I have this bad habit where once I save up a decent amount (like ¥1M) I go and blow it all at once, did that about 4 times. Plus I took a job at a garbage black company, 290 hours a month for ¥190k take-home and no bonus, wrecked my body and mind, and ended up in non-regular work. So here we are!! (A “black company” is Japanese slang for an exploitative employer with brutal hours and poor pay. “Non-regular” work means contract or part-time jobs without the security of full-time employment.)

So ¥1M at 28 means you’re doing plenty!!!

35歳ガチ0円です！！！ある程度（100万円くらい）貯まるとドカーッ！と使う悪癖で過去4回くらい散財したのと、転職先の月労働時間290時間手取り19万円ボーナス無しのゴミブラックで心身ぶっ壊して非正規になったのでこうなりました！！だから28歳で100万円は充分頑張ってる！！！

Wow, way more response than I expected! The black company originally promised ¥260k take-home, 8:00–16:00 shifts and 110 days off a year, but once I joined, well, you see how that went!! Honestly I hate them so much I’d like to fire a missile into the office, but I got in through a referral from someone who’d done a lot for me, and it seems they didn’t know what it was really like either, so I quit quietly and said I had to care for my parents!!!

思ったより反響あってびっくり！ブラックは最初手取り26万、8:00-16:00勤務、年休110日って言われてたけど入社したらご覧の有り様！！ホントは職場にミサイル撃ち込んでやりたいくらい憎いけど、恩人の紹介で入ってその人も実情知らなかったぽいから親の介護って理由にして穏便に辞めた！！！

As for the spending habit, that’s just me being trash!!!

Suddenly going to Korea and playing at a casino like an idiot Throwing money at boat racing when I’d never even tried it (Boat racing is one of the few forms of legal betting in Japan.) Buying weirdly nice furniture and suits

Seriously trash behavior!!!!

浪費する悪癖に関してはただただ俺がカス！！！急に韓国行ってカジノでバカみたく遊んでみたりやった事も無いボートレースに金突っ込んでみたりやたらと良い家具とかスーツとか買ってみたりまじでカスの所業！！！！

¥200 (^o^)

２００円(^o^)

Apparently “save ¥50k a month from 18 to 25 and you’ll have ¥4.2 million.” Late 20s here, two days before payday, account balance ¥486… IDIOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!

「18歳から25歳までに月5万貯めれば420万」らしい。20代後半、給料日2日前の口座残高486円…。バーーーーーーーーカ！！！！！！

Over-30 otaku here, about ¥500k in NISA but my current bank balance is ¥1,600 (pathetic💧) I don’t really have a concept of “savings,” it’s basically just “balance” (NISA is Japan’s tax-free investment account, a bit like a Roth IRA or a UK ISA.)

over30オタク、NISAに50くらいあるけど今の通帳残高は1600円(情けない💧)貯金という概念がないので基本「残高」

27, no savings (just a few tens of thousands of yen), so I think you can be confident (¦3[▓▓]

27貯金ない（数万程度）なので自信持って良いと思います(¦3[▓▓]

I genuinely only have ¥100k though 😄

ガチで10万しかないけど😄

24, ¥300k

24歳30万

27, my entire fortune is ¥20,815 and ¥519, hehe (^-^)v

27歳、全財産20,815円と519円でつ(^-^)v

28, ¥500k. I have savings. (?)

28歳、50万です。貯金あります。(？)

23, ¥500k. Living alone and getting by pretty tight. I want to know everyone’s savings, and then panic. Tell me, everyone~😺😺

23歳50万です。一人暮らしして結構カツカツでやってます。みんなの貯金額を知りたい、そして焦りたい。みんな教えて〜😺😺

68, ¥500k

68歳50万

24, about ¥1.2M in NISA, bank account floats around ¥500k–700k

24歳NISA120万くらい銀行預金には50~70くらい変動

Savings (regular account) are about ¥2M

貯金(普通口座)200万くらいです

24 (2nd year working), total assets maybe around ¥5M

24歳(社会人２年目)で自己資産は500万円くらいかも

29 with about ¥6M…🤔 I’m in an apartment now, but back when I lived with my parents I aimed to save ¥1M a year, and I think that’s what did it!

29歳で600万くらいですね…🤔 現在はアパート暮らしですが、実家暮らしの時に毎年100万を目標に貯金をしていたのが良かったのかもしれません！

29, ¥8.5M If you start saving for real in your 30s you’ll be fine I think👍

29歳　850万 30代から本格的に貯金したら大丈夫かと👍

In my 20s I spent everything every month, but in my 30s work got busy, I put the money that piled up into investments, and now at 45 it’s grown to about ¥50M.

20代は毎月使い切ってたけど30代から仕事が忙しくなって貯まったお金は投資に回してたら45の今5千万くらい積もってた。

In my 20s and 30s I had about ¥1M too, but I actually had more debt than that😓 and no breathing room, so I’d say “I don’t have any…”

Now it’s four digits🤔 so I can say I have a fair bit🙄 (Four digits counted in units of 10,000, so over ¥10 million.) There’s always someone above you though~😅

自分も20代、30代は100万くらいで、むしろ借金がそれ以上にあって😓余裕なかったので、ない…。って言ってました。いまは４桁は🤔あるし、そこそこある🙄とは言えます。上には上が居ますからね〜😅

People who truly have no savings are the ones in debt People who say they have no savings have at least ¥50k

ほんとに貯金ない人は、借金してる人です貯金ないて言う人は、5万はあります

I’ve got zero savings and I’m paying off debt every month, so always having ¥1M sitting in the account sounds enviable, I can only imagine… Even at its highest I’m not sure my balance ever hit ¥500k…

貯金ゼロかつ毎月借金返済しながら生きてるとこなので、常に口座に100万あるという状態が羨ましくて想像しかできませんね…口座預金額一番あるときでも50行ってたかどうか…

Me, 27 with over ¥10M in debt: sobbing

27で借金1000万オーバーのワイ、咽び泣く

38: ¥3M! Now 40: minus ¥500k! Gonna do my best and pay it back

38歳300万！40歳現在-50万！頑張って返すぞう

This type. My friend said “I don’t save ✌️ I’m doing the things I can only do now,” and they easily had like ¥2M, so I seriously don’t trust them anymore

このタイプで友達「貯金してない✌️今しかできないことする」って言ってたのに余裕で200万とかあったからまじで信用してないです

Me, 4th year working, lived with my parents until last year, and I still spent so much I feel like I have less than others my age

あちし、社会人4年目で去年まで実家暮らしだったのに、金使いすぎて同世代の子よりない気がする

I kinda envy people who blow their whole paycheck, have zero savings, and just live in the moment

給料全ツッパして貯金ゼロで刹那的に生きてる人羨ましい

Scrolling my timeline makes me think even ¥10M might be on the small side (I don’t have it)

TwitterのTL見てると1000万とかあっても少ないんやないかと思ってしまう(ない)

Got curious and googled something like “savings at age X,” and some kind of average came up. But how much you need to feel safe depends on where you live and stuff…

気になってグーグルで◯歳貯金額みたいなの検索すると平均みたいなのは出た。でもいくらあれば安心かはどこに住んでるかとかにもよりますよね…

In our 20s everyone around me was broke too, we laughed about it and made a fuss like “¥500k saved? You’re rich~” But the moment we hit our 30s, suddenly they’re saying stuff like “I’ve got ¥10M saved” or “I put ¥5M into a down payment on a house so my savings took a hit,” and it felt like the world had changed. Where did everyone who used to laugh about being broke go? Don’t leave me behind.

20代の頃は周りも金無くて笑ったり、貯金50あったら金持ちだ〜って騒いでたのに、30代になった瞬間急に貯金1000万とか、家の頭金で500万使って貯金だいぶ減っちゃったとか言い出すので世界が変わったかのように感じた。金無いって笑ってたみんなどこいっちまったんだよ。置いていかないでよ。

I have ¥50M but I can’t get a girlfriend. Is it the face? It’s the face, isn’t it? Is this off-topic? Sorry.

5000万ありますが彼女できません。顔、やっぱり顔ですか？スレチですか？すいません。

My take

Currencies carry different weight in different places, so these numbers may be a little hard to read from overseas.

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

View original thread →