Characteristics of Japanese stocks

I am investing.
Mainly index investment trusts, but we also do a few individual stocks.
In the old days, I also invested in real estate.
This time, I would like to explain the characteristics of Japanese stocks.

Shareholder benefits

A characteristic of Japanese stocks is that they have a shareholder benefit program.
If you buy shares of a company that offers shareholder benefits, you will receive your own products, discount coupons, and cash vouchers once every six months or a year.

When considering the dividend yield, it is necessary to convert what you can receive as a shareholder benefit into a monetary amount.
Therefore, even if the dividend yield seems low at first glance, some companies have a fairly good dividend yield when considering shareholder benefits.

Regular dividends are taxed, so the amount you actually get is reduced.
However, there is no tax on what you can get as a shareholder benefit, so it is a little profitable.

However, recently, due to the severe influence of the company’s management due to COVID-19, the content of shareholder benefits has deteriorated and many companies have abolished shareholder benefits.

Many settlements in March

In Japan, many companies settle their accounts in March.
This is because the year starts in April in Japan. The characteristic of enrolling in school and getting a job at a company is that it starts in April.
Since March is the closing month, many companies receive dividends around June.

Frequency of receiving dividends

Many companies receive dividends once every six months or a year.
Very few companies get it once a quarter.