2025
Summarize your household's month on one sheet: money in and money out.
314,001 yen
Average monthly consumer spending for households of two or more people.
Household Finances, Housing, and Retirement Funds
Where does your monthly money come from and where does it go?
From monthly income and expenses to borrowing, housing, and retirement. We will organize the necessary funds according to their timing.
Time to read the text: about 11 min
The review questions are optional and not included in this time.
What you can read: the course opening and contents are free; the full text is for those who have purchased
After purchase, you can read the full text once your access starts.
Household and Retirement Money in 3 Minutes
1See it
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2025
When prices go up, you can buy less with the same amount of money.
3.2%
The rate of consumer price increase for this year.
FY 2026
The pension increase of 1.9% was less than the 3.2% rise in prices.
Some years, even if the amount increases, its real value goes down.
Your deposit is a loan to the bank. Only the principal up to 10 million yen plus interest is protected.
Per person, per financial institution. Foreign currency deposits are not covered.
You can borrow up to 1/3 of your annual income from money lenders.
If your annual income is 3 million yen, you can borrow up to 1 million yen.
2023
Many people own their homes, but over 1/3 live in rentals.
60.9% and 35.0%
Homeownership rate and the percentage of rental housing.
For retirement, think 'when' and 'how much.' Your personal amount is on your pension statement.
70,608 yen/month
The full amount of the basic old-age pension for fiscal year 2026.
Family money involves three situations: gifting, supporting, and deciding.
The gift tax exemption is 1.1 million yen. Long-term care insurance starts at age 40.
There are three deadlines for inheritance: 3 months, 10 months, and 3 years.
The clock starts on the day you learn of the inheritance.
2In numbers
263,979yen
Monthly expenses for an unemployed household of a couple aged 65+ (2025). The shortfall is covered by savings.
48million yen
The basic deduction for inheritance tax when there are 3 heirs (30 million yen + 6 million yen × 3).
3What would you do?
Your parent has passed away, and you've discovered they had debts as well as assets. To avoid inheriting the debt, by when and where must you file for 'renunciation of inheritance'?
Pick one
Within 3 months of learning about it, to the Family Court.
That's correct. This is the first of the three deadlines. If you don't have enough information to decide, you can apply to extend the period.
Within 10 months, to the tax office.
10 months is the deadline for filing and paying inheritance tax. Renunciation of inheritance must be done much sooner: within 3 months of learning about it, to the Family Court.
Within 3 years, to the Legal Affairs Bureau.
3 years is the deadline for registering inherited real estate. Renunciation of inheritance must be filed with the Family Court within 3 months of learning about it.
3 months, 10 months, 3 years. It all starts with marking these three deadlines on your calendar.
4Read more
Monthly money comes in on payday and goes out at the end of the month. Not many people have looked at that flow for a whole year. The Household Survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications counts the monthly consumer spending of a household with two or more persons as 314,001 yen (2025 average). Is your household above or below that? Which expense items are different? You won't know until you count.
This course divides personal finance into eight areas: income and expenditure, prices, saving, borrowing, housing, retirement, family, and inheritance and care. For each area, we will present a single number published by a public institution. The maximum amount of insured deposits, borrowing limits, pension amounts, inheritance deadlines. All are numbers written in laws or statistics, not numbers created for this course.
The principles are common across countries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.K. Office for National Statistics both count household spending in the same way. The age to receive a full pension has risen to 67 in the U.S. for those born in 1960 or later. In the U.K., it will rise from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028. Japan is presented as one example, with examples from other countries placed alongside it.
We do not give advice. Nor do we name any products. We only write about the mechanisms, the numbers, and where to verify them. The goal is for you to be able to write out your own year on a single sheet of paper by the time you finish reading.
What you will understand after this course
- 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.
More about this course
Course number: P3 — Where does your monthly money come from and where does it go?
Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama
Beyond the text: 6 exercises · 1 coins · 3 readings How reading times are calculated
You will also understand
- Be able to arrange the "when, how much, and who" of inheritance and long-term care in order of their deadlines.
You can start this course without reading any other course.
Also worth reading, to see the connections (optional)
- Deciphering Amounts, Percentages, and Statements
What you learn: Can distinguish between nominal and real values, and can personally calculate the erosion of real value using the inflation rate.
Assessment
6 exercises in this course (4 check, 0 compare, 2 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.
The 8 chapters of this course
- 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.
- When prices rise — Nominal and realNominal is the face value; real is after adjusting for prices. Read pension notifications alongside inflation data.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Read next
Understanding the Basics of Saving and Investing →What you learn next: Can explain how to increase and protect assets based on the four principles of time, diversification, fees, and inflation.
Time to read the text: about 10 min ／ What you can read: the course opening and contents are free; the full text is for those who have purchased
Price
After purchase, the full courses, the illustrated books, every country’s story and the numismatics examination are open to you.
See the price →