Toshio Taki: Eliminating Anxiety About Money

2019/03/12

What does "money" mean to you? The answer our company found when we were founded seven years ago is simple. "Money" is nothing more than a tool for life.

Humans postpone decision-making to a surprising degree in various aspects of home and work. Money, in particular, is difficult to discuss even between couples or parents and children. As a result, necessary actions are delayed, and while worrying about whether things will be okay, a vague sense of anxiety accumulates. Looking at the economic environment of the past few decades, there is a mountain of worrying factors such as employment, annual income, industrial competitiveness, public finance, and social security. Then, people gradually endure more and more, and demand similar behavior from others. That is likely the common image of "money."

Our company is one that transforms anxiety about money into action for the future. We provide automated services related to money, such as household account books that can be completed with a few minutes of work each month, fully automated creation of company ledgers, and savings linked to spare change. Our goal is a society where stressful judgments and tasks are left to machines, allowing people to spend time on truly important decision-making.

Within the movement called Fintech, which represents the fusion of finance and technology, the use of smartphones has become commonplace in the financial industry, and policies are strongly supporting innovation. Financial services that were previously considered difficult to understand or troublesome have evolved to be intuitively easy to understand—for example, it is now possible to invest, join insurance, or send money via LINE. If it is possible to take immediate action toward the future to this extent, anxiety will disappear.

During my undergraduate years, I was taught in the Ikeo Seminar to constantly think about the essential issues of economics. In order to do work that changes society through the flow of money, I took a job at a securities firm researching and making recommendations on financial systems. My work as a researcher was truly stimulating, but while undergoing an MBA at Stanford University, I felt a desire to realize change with my own hands, which led to starting a business with colleagues. With the support of many people, the company has now grown to over 400 employees. My role is also shifting from the phase of building operations to public roles such as policy recommendations and industry promotion. However, even if the form changes, I want to always be a practitioner of change. I hope to continue delivering services that eliminate anxiety from daily life, staying true to the words of Yukichi Fukuzawa: "What we should work hard at is jitsugaku (science) that is useful for ordinary life."