--- type: "Topics" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/38788889.md" description: "I've encountered this type of friend again, who believes ordinary people shouldn't engage in financial management and investment, and that entering the market should be about speculation, about finding ways to get rich quick. It might be because the principal isn't large enough; if making money is too slow, spending time on research isn't worth it.My view is completely the opposite. I genuinely believe ordinary people should prioritize protecting their principal above all else. People with a large enough principal can afford to ignore a floating loss of 20 million, or even 200-300 million. An ordinary person who loses 200,000 investing in Meituan might end up having to join Meituan themselves.If you decide the path of speculation is more suitable for you, the first thing to learn is controlling losses, not maximizing returns. Of course, this is also contrary to the pursuit of getting rich quick.If you're truly single-mindedly focused on getting rich quick, I think the most suitable method for ordinary people is to directly and regularly invest a fixed amount in buying out-of-the-money options like lottery tickets. For example, doing it 54 times a year, $50 each time, costing 10,000-20,000 HKD per year. One 100x return aims to double your money, two such wins are a huge gain, and doing it 10 times over 3 years could buy a car or fund a nice family vacation. Controlling losses, only losing what you can afford to lose, is more important than anything. Of course, even this won't help you achieve class mobility.If you want to achieve class mobility through the stock market, at least I've tried achieving ultra-high returns in my experimental portfolio. I know a hundredfold return isn't difficult, but I also know that another hundredfold after the first can destroy many people.So, stop telling me that ordinary people are only suited for speculation, not for investment, value investing, or financial management—that's nonsense. Ordinary people should protect their principal. Only after protecting their principal, under the premise that losses are absolutely controllable, can we talk about other things. Your margin for error is smaller than others', so why must your ambition be bigger than others'? Is it because the cost of restarting this life is low?" datetime: "2026-02-19T16:03:10.000Z" locales: - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/38788889.md) - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/38788889.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/38788889.md) author: "[輸棟樓的韭菜](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/10647684.md)" generator: "portal-rs" --- # I've encountered this type of friend again, who be… ### Related Stocks - [03690.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03690.HK.md) - [83690.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/83690.HK.md) - [MPNGY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MPNGY.US.md) - [HMTD.SG](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HMTD.SG.md) ## Comments (44) - **nik · 2026-02-20T03:35:14.000Z**: Why does everyone think it's not hard to make a hundredfold return from short-term speculation? 😅😅😅 Am I just too bad at this? - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-20T04:49:24.000Z): As long as you're not afraid of death and have some skill, the win rate for betting on options can be a bit higher than 1%. - **撒马尔罕的金桃 · 2026-02-20T01:43:25.000Z**: No problem! - **新用户_Y07 · 2026-02-19T21:02:03.000Z**: I don't know who bragged that Meituan has a moat, so quite a few people invested in it. - **500 个退休** (2026-02-20T02:20:05.000Z): This industry certainly has a moat. The moat is not wide but deep. You need to keep pouring money in to grab market share. Once the subsidies stop, the order volume drops to zero. You still don't unde - **新用户_Y07** (2026-02-20T02:22:18.000Z): I knew that companies that make money by exploiting delivery riders would run into trouble sooner or later. - **楚江云 · 2026-02-19T17:38:14.000Z**: If you gamble for a long time, you will inevitably lose. Can long-term speculation be good? The essence of speculation is a probability problem. Is it fundamentally good to speculate with leverage? - **顺势&择时 · 2026-02-19T17:17:20.000Z · 👍 2**: For anyone, at any time, the primary task is to protect the principal and not let one's capital suffer permanent erosion. This applies even to those with no money, as good health itself is capital.Without violating this primary task, whether to speculate can become a choice. Therefore, the choice of - **山上彻野的交易员 · 2026-02-19T17:07:59.000Z**: Ordinary people should start buying US stock indices from the moment they start working, and basically withdraw them for retirement when no one wants them anymore. - **FakePhoenix · 2026-02-19T16:39:47.000Z**: Catch the main upward wave, getting one wave means 10-20% gains. Different sectors have at least one opportunity each year... - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-19T16:42:30.000Z): What if you catch the peak or trough and then a black swan event hits? How do you set stop-loss discipline? Can you execute it resolutely? - **FakePhoenix** (2026-02-19T16:43:21.000Z): Of course, this requires solid technical skills. - **FakePhoenix** (2026-02-19T16:43:40.000Z): For example, I would absolutely not try to catch a falling knife on the left side for Microsoft right now. - **小周不爆仓 · 2026-02-19T16:33:01.000Z**: I totally agree. Financial investment is a lifelong endeavor. The most important thing for ordinary people is to stay in the game. - **浩浩荡荡地 · 2026-02-19T16:24:05.000Z**: Luck can only be used once, but gambling can lose it all in a single try. - **Chumchinyeung · 2026-02-19T16:21:39.000Z**: Let the snowball roll slowly, and put risk control first. - **長野原烟花店交易员 · 2026-02-19T16:20:59.000Z · 👍 3**: I really like a quote from Brother Chive: the rich can speculate, the poor can only speculate, but ordinary people cannot speculate. - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-19T16:28:54.000Z): It's fine, I heard Lu Xun said a lot of things... - **三国杀的交易员** (2026-02-19T16:45:30.000Z): Isn't this what you said? - **艾萨克·牛顿 · 2026-02-19T16:19:31.000Z · 👍 3**: An annualized rate of 12% over 40 years yields 100x; 19% yields 1000x; 26% yields 10000x. You can achieve class mobility without speculation. Slow is steady, and steady is fast. - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-19T16:20:44.000Z): You may not enjoy being the first generation of wealth, but you can make the next generation the second generation of wealth. - **Debruyy** (2026-02-19T20:57:40.000Z): The biggest problem with speculation is that it will only end in losing everything. The next step after doubling is always wanting to double it again. - **等到烟火清凉** (2026-02-20T04:17:29.000Z): That's too absolute. Top speculators have strong drawdown control, but most speculators are poor at controlling drawdowns and are unwilling to cut losses even when they lose a bet. - **長野原烟花店交易员 · 2026-02-19T16:18:34.000Z · 👍 3**: For ordinary people, using spare money from daily life to regularly invest in index ETFs or buy index funds off-exchange is the best investment. It requires no research or extensive investment knowledge, and trying to do it yourself will most likely underperform the index.Dollar-cost averaging into - **Debruyy** (2026-02-20T07:37:24.000Z): The reason for not losing everything is becoming less speculative. - **蓝酱 · 2026-02-19T16:15:54.000Z**: Work hard, protecting your principal is the most important thing. - **AG5 · 2026-02-19T16:12:27.000Z**: But for gamblers, they've already lost their minds in a red-eyed frenzy, lost all reason. Nothing you say will get through to them. It's better for bystanders to stay away. - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-19T16:15:23.000Z): I really know a super short-term trading expert who achieved thousand-fold returns in a few months, then lost his composure and went to deliver takeout in another city for two months. He used to post - **AG5** (2026-02-19T16:20:16.000Z): I tried for several months in a row, making money by trading weekly options from Monday to Thursday, and then losing all the profits on Friday. After trading US stocks for a year, I lost tens of thous - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-19T16:23:00.000Z): That friend is really impressive. I learned a lot of my observations and market intuition about day trading from him. But even though he's that good, I still think his chances of successfully turning - **JensenWu要努力 · 2026-02-19T16:11:23.000Z · 👍 4**: Not everyone is Xiao Gu, possessing the capital for unlimited restarts. - **輸棟樓的韭菜** (2026-02-19T16:13:15.000Z): On: The reason why "Gu God" is considered godly isn't because whatever he buys gets liquidated, but because he has been continuously getting liquidated for 3 years... - **ウルトラマン** (2026-02-19T16:21:11.000Z): Gu Shen is rich, and his wealth is inexhaustible and never runs out. - **临夜的光** (2026-02-19T16:26:27.000Z): So rich 😭 - **不奋东西 · 2026-02-19T16:10:26.000Z**: Can't agree more.This kind of person probably can't be called a friend. - **ricky.sun · 2026-02-19T16:10:20.000Z**: Yes, survival is the top priority; most people don't have a resurrection card. - **2026学会止盈 · 2026-02-19T16:10:20.000Z**: To put it bluntly, it's just gambling... - **西瓜呀 · 2026-02-19T16:08:47.000Z**: Life is the most precious thing❤️ --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**