Mariko Mabuchi, Featured Economic Analyst, discusses her stock selection and future economic forecasts.

--Even if you are interested in investing, it can seem like a hurdle and difficult to actually get started. So, first of all, could you tell us how to gradually step up from being a beginner investor?

Mabuchi: The first thing I would like to tell you is that even if you are just ‘steadily investing in an index every month with NISA’, you are a fine investor. There are many investment targets in the world, such as individual stocks, bonds, FX and crypto assets, so there are actually many beginners who think that they are not real investors if they do not invest in such things.

--There are indeed many stories of people who ‘invested in individual stocks and increased their assets many times over in a short period of time’, so it is easy to think that it is not enough to just invest steadily.

Mabuchi: That is not true at all. Investing without thinking deeply, with the thought that you have to buy this and that, is a very high-risk act. You can start with a small amount of money, and as your knowledge deepens and your assets increase, you can step up and consider other options.