Two-thirds of Japanese retail investors own mutual funds

Most investors are risk adverse, considering most products more risky than profitable, research by Aureum Y has found

Key points:

• Mutual funds are very popular among Japanese individual investors, with 66% owning funds.
• Three out of ten Japanese end investors use a financial adviser, with 42% of them being very or quite satisfied with their financial adviser.
• More than a quarter (27%) of end investors often or always made an investment purchase based on recommendations from AI tools/answer engines.

Mutual funds are very popular among Japanese individual investors, with 66% owning funds, according to research by Aureum Y, the research division of Fundamental Group. This makes them the second-most popular financial asset in Japan, after bank deposits.

The use of mutual funds has increased over the past years, while Japanese investors’ use of stocks and life insurance has decreased. Mutual funds and gold are the only two products that are seen as more profitable than risky – investors consider all other products to be much more risky than profitable.

Between 9 and 19 May 2025, we surveyed 1,049 end investors in Japan about their investments, their views on investment funds and sources of information, their media consumption and their perception of various asset management brands.

Three out of ten Japanese end investors use a financial adviser, with 42% of them being very or quite satisfied with their financial adviser. However, only 16% of respondents delegate investment decisions to their advisers. The other 84% is quite involved, with the majority taking the time to review their advisers’ proposals or actively reaching out to their adviser if they hear about new investment products.

More than half (54%) of those using a financial adviser do so because they don’t know enough about investments, while 42% feels their money will be better managed by a professional. For those not using a financial adviser, 39% state that they find them too expensive, while 36% don’t trust advisers.

More than a quarter (27%) of end investors often or always made an investment purchase based on recommendations from AI tools/answer engines. For online platforms/robo-advisors, this figure is 19%, while 14% often or always follow recommendations from financial influencers.

For 41% of respondents, saving for retirement is the main investment objective. However, 37% believe they are not saving enough for retirement (down from 43% in 2017) and another 37% are unsure if they are saving enough. Almost 40% of investors plan to increase their investments over the next 12 months, although 37% indicate that they’re held back from saving and investing more, as their income is too low.

More than a third of investors find some areas of investing challenging. The main challenges mentioned include timing the market, the complexity and uncertainty of investing, and geopolitical instability.

Other insights from the Japan individual investors report include:

• Those not investing in funds are either preferring stocks or are held back by high costs and perception of funds as too risky. The low use of ETFs is also due to the perception of them being too risky.
• Individual investors in Japan use a wide range of information sources to help them making investment decision. Financial media are the most used, followed by banks, asset managers, advisers, family and friends and financial influencers.
• Financial influencers and experts from large financial institutions are quite popular.
• The use of print remains quite high, with only 24% not reading any print publication at all.

For more information and to request access to the full report, visit our dedicated individual investors reports page.