Spice and Wolf author’s financial portfolio
Spice and Wolf author Hasekura Isuna has sighted some discussion online about his investments and he has decided to divulge his portfolio on his blog.
His current assets:
He has been keeping the ratios relatively the same ever since his debut. His current stock investments consist of 57% Hong Kong, 30% Japan and 13% New York, and his unrealized profits over the past 3 years is approximately 15%.
The bank where he frequents had something where they offered to give financial advice for free, and when he gave the breakdown of his current assets, the lady said “I think you’re taking way too much risk with that amount of money (;;;ﾟДﾟ)”
and then she continued saying
“I really want to help you to better utilize your available assets, but stuff like returns from insurance products…… you’re probably not interested in any of that with your current situation (;;;;ﾟДﾟ)”
His largest unrealized loss was around 15,000,000 yen (US$164,000) from one type of stock (about 60%, around October 2008), but it managed to go back up again.
Breakdown of his portfolio:
Hong Kong market
Japan market
New York market
He says the Hong Kong market and BHP Billiton has been his top gainers so far. (but he’s not trying to recommend any particular stock to anyone)
He also comments that he’s practically thinking about money matters everyday, and he likes it so much that it was why he became the story writer for the Billionaire girl manga in good! Afternoon.
Also, translating listed stock is probably in my personal top ten rankings of meaningless posts.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
cool, a economics mangaka teach real life not must medieval economics too.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Ok, so this does it: Spice and Wolf is Economics = PROVEN REAL.
My main question would be, what came first: Hasekura Iseno, Investor; or Hasekura Iseno, light novel author? Either way, he’s complementing each other perfectly.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
So Hasekura Isuna = Lawrence?
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I shat bricks.
I can see why Lawrence is leet.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I was surprised to hear he(?) is talking about stocks again.
Many volumes of Spice and Wolf talk about how was the stock market is going at afterword page.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
My respect for this author just shot up 1000%. The man practices what he preaches. If only all authors knew their subject matter by heart before writing about it, the world would be a better place.
(… oh wait, no wonder a lot of anime/comic/game is set in high school, they probably didn’t experience ‘life’ after it.)
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I’m going to show this off for proof that I watch Spice and Wolf for the Economics.
@Booger
>(… oh wait, no wonder a lot of anime/comic/game is set in high school, they probably didn’t experience ‘life’ after it.)
Might just be truth.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
That comment is pretty rude for the thousands of people that are giving it their all out there. It’s not easy making a living off otaku works and when they do manage, that deserves respect. Of course, I mean creators. Salespeople are a different matter.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
That’s pretty cool. Not only does he manage to show a good amount of knowledge with how trading worked, he also demonstrates his financial acumen through investing. More people should be taking advantage of this economic slump to invest anyhow.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Hm…not sure if he should focus on Hong Kong so much, though. While it is an international market, I never could quite get my fears of it falling (I’ve lived there for a while) when some shit happens on the otherside of the planet. But in these times I guess it won’t be bad…
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 am
>87% Stock investments
hahaha owow what a stupid fag. have fun with your lost investments
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:27 am
>hahaha owow what a stupid fag. have fun with your lost investments
… you do realize he is doing this for years, and successful I might add.
You might need some Business Basics before trying to comment on this, Stocks can be a powerful way to make money if you understand the workings and have a good Business sense, there are people who got pretty stinking rich from it you know?
Also I don’t know how much he makes but if he can survive a loss of 164,000 $ and get it back up as well as surviving the Last Marketing Crash then he has nothing to worry about.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:14 am
@Anonymous of September 22nd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
>>That comment is pretty rude for the thousands of people that are giving it their all out there. It’s not easy making a living off otaku works and when they do manage, that deserves respect. Of course, I mean creators. Salespeople are a different matter.
If you’re a creator, you’ve gotta have a thick skin. I’ve tried doing doujinshi for almost 3 years, I still suck, and people tell that straight to my face. And I’m not trying to change my day job, it’s just a hobby that I like.
If anything, blame the reviewers who just love to toss almost everything into the ‘mediocre’ pile. A lot of the industry consists of copycat works. I say, don’t stress the mangaka/animators much, give them some breathing room to find time to enjoy and become experts in other fields, then come back when they are proficient to create works featuring new subject matter. Then finally everyone can stop bitching about how cliche the typical anime work is (of which Spice&Wolf is most certainly not).
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:03 am
>87% Stock investments
>hahaha owow what a stupid fag. have fun with your lost investments
Agreeing with this 100%. No bonds? Gold investment? Diversification to mitigate non-systemic risk? I lost a bit of respect for the author after reading this. I’m glad he is doing well though since his manga is so entertaining.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Who (or what) is Lawrence?
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Well his equity-bond mix isn’t too bad considering he probably won’t need to withdraw from this portfolio for another 30 or 40 years. Unless his investment in gold is purely speculative and short term, he’s being stupid with that allocation though. Gold loses money in the long-term, relative to inflation.
Assuming it’s an actual investment portfolio, his stock choices are pretty risky in that he’s essentially heavy in consumer discretionary companies with only an Asian sphere of business. A prolonged downturn or shift in trends can really hurt his portfolio. Buddy should look into consumer staples and diversify into companies that span multiple, segregated markets.
If on the other hand, it’s a speculative portfolio and he’s day-trading, then it’s perfectly fine. Just need some financial stocks in there to go with his oil futures ETF.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:01 am
He must’ve recovered from that stock crash by pretending to be a fortune teller and profiting off pyrite.
September 24th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Anonymous Sep 23 1:16 - Lawrence is the male lead in his manga Spice & Wolf.
Hino - I think he should invest more in wheat to balance his assets spreading.
He has a powerful allied with fluffy tail who can always strengthen wheat production profits.
I guessed in last year during 1st anime series that the author`s knowledge of economics was far above most other mangaka.
September 24th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
A lot of people here don’t even understand that Spice and Wolf is a light novel. And yet so many of you throw around the word “mangaka.” Do you even know what certain words mean? It’s demonstrated that you put so little insight and research into your posts that any opinions you have about the man and his investments should automatically be disregarded.
September 25th, 2009 at 4:23 am
>there are people who got pretty stinking rich from it you know?
Sure buddy, the only ones getting stinking rich are the ones with the connections to get their leverage up the sky. And btw, exactly those guys are the ones who are getting rich on your money. Money doesn’t vanish, it just changes owners.
September 25th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Sorry, sorry, i forgot that it was on the novel animation was based on, without any manga. Do you know what a novelist is in japanese? Sakka.
September 26th, 2009 at 3:43 am
@ Anonymous Says:
September 24th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Ad hominem attacks do not help your argument.
September 26th, 2009 at 3:44 am
@ Anonymous Says:
September 24th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Ad hominem attacks are not valid arguments.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:42 am
sorry, sorry sorry again. I tried to joke about Lawrence`s affairs and relate them to Hasekura Isano`s financial arrangements. I admire the author and love his work myself. I don`t research these things very deeply, sometimes i remember things right, sometimes wrong. I like manga, anime and even novels only for fun.
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
This is strangely badass. Great find!