Household Finances

P3　—　Where does your monthly money come from and where does it go?

Income and expenses, saving, borrowing, housing, retirement, family. We will summarize a year's finances on a single sheet and organize the "when, how much, and who" that you should know in advance.

Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama　／　Reading time (main text): About 11 min (5,476 characters of text at 500 chars/min; exercises and readings not included)　／　Beyond the text: 6 exercises · 1 coins · 3 readings

What this course teaches you to do

• Be able to summarize one's annual income and expenses on a single sheet, using the same categories as official statistics.
• Be able to compare the rate of price increases with pension revisions and distinguish between nominal and real values.
• Be able to state in numerical terms the official limits and scope of protection for deposits, borrowing, and housing.
• Be able to arrange the "when, how much, and who" of inheritance and long-term care in order of their deadlines.

Lessons (8)

1. Income and Expenditure — Condensing a Year onto a Single SheetGross income → Take-home pay → Consumption expenditure → Surplus. The structure of the statistics becomes your own single template.
2. When prices rise — Nominal and realNominal is the face value; real is after adjusting for prices. Read pension notifications alongside inflation data.
3. Saving — Whose debt is a deposit, and how much is protected?A deposit is a bank's debt. Protection is limited to 10 million yen in principal and interest, per person, per financial institution.
4. Borrowing — The Upper Limit on Interest and One-Third of Annual IncomeThe upper limit for interest is 15–20 percent per year, and the upper limit for borrowing is one-third of annual income. Measure yourself with fractions.
5. Housing — To own or to rent, what percentage of expenditure?Home ownership 60.9 percent, rental 35.0 percent. Housing expense categories are defined differently by country, so the figures should not be compared in magnitude.
6. Old age — Pensions: from when, and how muchPensions are about "from when" and "how much." Your amount is on the regular notice, and the starting age is written in the law.
7. Family Money — Giving, Supporting, DecidingGiving: the 1.1 million yen threshold. Supporting: long-term care insurance from age 40. Deciding: adult guardianship. Put names to the three scenarios.
8. Inheritance and Long-Term Care: When, How Much, and Who3 months, 10 months, 3 years. The starting point is the day of awareness. Calculate 'how much' starting from the basic exemption.

Readings (3)

• The wartime boom, the earthquake and the crash　Japan　1920　Tokyo, Kabutocho
  Section 3. 1920, a queue to withdraw deposits. That deposits are a loan to the bank, from the perspective of a bank run.
• A Chronic Low-Grade Fever　South Korea　1970s–1990s　Between the bank and the kye
  Section 2. The race between interest on deposits and prices. Nominal versus real, with the arithmetic of a South Korean household.
• The asiento　Spain　1556–1557　The hall of the abdication
  Section 8. Debt Inherited with the Throne. Inheritance means taking over debts as well.

Assessment

6 exercises in this course (4 check, 0 compare, 2 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.