Episode 18: My Story with the New Fund Category
Finding the Right Distance
As I continued answering the survey for the Rakuten Securities Fund Awards, my attention naturally shifted to the New Fund Category.
“I wonder what kind of fresh seeds are waiting here.”
That was the thought I had as I opened the list.
But the first thing I felt wasn't excitement.
It was a quiet sense of hesitation.
Many of the nominees were dividend-paying high-dividend equity funds managed by Rakuten Investment Management.
For a long time, I had felt that these funds reflected a slightly different philosophy from the kind of long-term investing I wanted to practice.
If my goal is to let something grow over time, I want to make the most of compounding.
Receiving dividends isn't a bad thing in itself.
It's simply a different landscape from the garden I want to cultivate right now.
Honestly, I was about to skip this category altogether.
The Fund That Caught My Eye
Then one name stopped me.
Tracers NASDAQ100 Gold Plus.
It felt like a sibling fund to the Tracers S&P500 Gold Plus, which I had seen in the High-Return Category.
It tracks the NASDAQ 100.
It adds gold.
And on top of that, it uses leverage.
It was a design built on layers of risk.
I wouldn't call it a fund for everyone.
But I understood the thinking behind it.
“So this is the idea this fund was built on.”
That thought stayed with me.
And that's why I voted for it.
Later, when the results were announced, Tracers NASDAQ 100 Gold Plus had finished in second place.
I was genuinely happy.
Not because my judgment had been proven right.
But because it meant I wasn't the only person who found that investment philosophy compelling.
That simple realization made me smile.
Keeping the Right Distance from New Seeds
New funds carry a certain kind of hope.
They hold possibilities that no one fully knows yet.
That's exactly why they attract us.
But chasing something simply because it's new doesn't feel right either.
What matters is keeping the right distance.
- Don't get too close.
- Don't ignore it either.
Whether a new seed belongs in my garden is something I can decide with time.
That's how I choose to approach them now.
New things always carry hope. But the things truly worth growing are the ones my own garden chooses. Instead of planting everything in a hurry, taking time to watch and think is also part of investing. Today, once again, I'll quietly water my garden.
- Related Link: Column 3 (Reflecting with Yuto: "How to Approach and Face Financial Products")