$iShares Semiconductor ETF(SOXX.US) Saw a wealth creation myth yesterday:

ByteDance has a US stock group. The group admin quit after achieving financial independence by trading US stocks. The farewell message he posted in the group when leaving was as follows:

Working a job can only maintain your current lifestyle; only investing can lead to a better life.

The probability of achieving financial independence through investing is far greater than climbing to a 4-1 level within ByteDance.

Looked carefully at his earliest trading record posts,

all were short-term options, many were extremely short-cycle Calls based on earnings reports and event volatility.

The logic of this kind of trading:

Using very short-dated, high-leverage options to bet on a stock surging in a short time. Get it right, one trade yields several dozen times; get it wrong, principal quickly goes to zero.

Many get-rich-quick stories are essentially survivor bias. One person hits the jackpot a few times in a row, and you see a stock god. But from a probability perspective, more people see their principal wiped out playing the same game. I experienced the same thing last year, lost everything in one go, nearly went bankrupt.

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​But after this guy earned his principal through gambling, he switched to value investing. He used online loans + all his savings to buy US stocks, bought NVIDIA in '22, bought memory stocks in '25, finally multiplied his principal dozens of times, and now has $30 million quietly sitting in his account. Then he left the group, quit his job, and retired to a life of leisure. All $30M went into buying the most stable S&P 500 in the US market, earning over $4M a year doing nothing.

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​The most painful part of this story isn't that trading US stocks can lead to financial freedom.

It's that a person working at China's strongest internet company ultimately concluded that:

Grinding yourself to death inside ByteDance, it's still hard to grind your way to a position that truly changes your fate; instead, it's in the capital markets outside the company where you might get higher returns.

This actually illustrates a very cruel fact: in a deflationary, hyper-competitive country, there are too many young people who are hardworking and give their all.

They are all a group of highly intelligent, energetic, physically fit, and resilient people. But in an industry with little growth, the return on investment really isn't high.

Inside it, no matter how hard you work, you're just fighting with a group of equally hardworking people to split a cake that's getting smaller and smaller.

The most valuable part of this event isn't that a big tech employee achieved financial freedom. It's that it reminds everyone:

Don't stake your entire life on an evaluation system that's already highly competitive.

Of course, work hard, but more importantly, constantly look for areas with growth, leverage, and non-linear returns.

Because often, what widens the gap in life isn't grinding two extra hours a day. It's which system you place yourself in.$NVIDIA(NVDA.US)$Micron Tech(MU.US)$Invesco QQQ Trust(QQQ.US)