Memo: Nominal Assets, Real Value, and How to Live
• Money and assets are not defined by how much you have, but by what you use as the denominator to measure them.
• Gold has preserved value throughout human history, which makes it usable as the denominator of human currency.
• The expected value of gold investment is not “growth,” but is close to 1.0 — meaning its value does not decline.
• Fiat currencies are structurally designed to expand in supply, and therefore are destined to lose value over the long term.
What Happens When We Use the Old Millionaire Standard
• Around the year 2000:
• $1,000,000 ≈ 3,333 oz of gold (at about $300 per ounce)
• Around 2026:
• Gold price ≈ $4,600 per ounce
• To hold the same 3,333 oz, about $15 million is required
In other words:
A modern “millionaire” ($1 million) is no longer equivalent to a millionaire in the past.
The Situation Looks Even Harsher in Japanese Yen
• Exchange rate: $1 ≈ ¥160
• ¥100 million ≈ about $600,000
• In gold terms: roughly 130 oz
When evaluated against the old millionaire standard (3,333 oz of gold):
¥100 million in nominal terms
≈ roughly ¥4 million in real value by historical standards
To meet the same standard in yen today:
About ¥2.4 billion is required in Japan
→ A level that cannot realistically be reached through labor alone.
The Reality Behind the Recent Narrative
“The Number of People with Over ¥100 Million Is Increasing”
• Nominal assets have increased due to inflation and rising stock prices.
• However, because the denominator (currency value) has deteriorated, real wealth has not actually increased.
In short:
It is not that “more people became rich,”
but simply that the numbers were inflated.
Those who celebrate and those who feel anxious are both reacting to
the same broken measuring stick.