Author: Liu Jiaolian
BTC continues to hover around 104k. On 5.18, Jiaolian's internal reference said 《Week 19 BTC Stagnates at High Levels, Altcoins' Future Uncertain》. It must be said that these institutional traders are impressive, managing to suppress both bulls and bears, pinning them down at the 103-104k level for over ten days.
Recently, some people discussed how much savings the majority of Chinese white-collar workers have, which is reportedly around 300,000. Once savings reach this level, it becomes difficult to continue saving due to the consumer trap. Luxury bags, mid-range cars, and numerous products targeting the so-called middle class are priced between tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, precisely designed to "harvest" the purchasing power of this massive group.
With savings under 300,000, one can still save by living frugally. Once this threshold is crossed, suddenly feeling financially comfortable leads to comparison and more lavish spending, falling into the consumer trap and hindering further wealth accumulation. Thus, most workers can only maintain their liquid assets at this level throughout their lives.
To overcome this hurdle, the key is to maintain a simple, thrifty lifestyle and not expand consumption desires just because of financial comfort.
Passing A6 (tens of thousands) enters A7 (millions). Just reaching a million, one's mindset might still be at the A6 level. However, once surpassing around 3 million, a psychological transformation may occur. Suddenly realizing one has become "newly rich," vanity emerges, and one starts intentionally or unintentionally showing off to relatives and friends.
With savings under 3 million, relatives and friends might avoid you. Once past 3 million, suddenly everyone knows you've become wealthy. Various people start flooding in, nearly breaking down your door. Some come to catch up and borrow money, others seek help with family difficulties. It's hard to refuse, especially with acquaintances. Rarely calculating accounts precisely, loans are often interest-free and sometimes without written agreements. Money lent out is like water spilled, difficult to recover, making it challenging to maintain this wealth level, let alone continue growing.
To overcome this hurdle, key is to avoid vanity, avoid publicity, avoid showing off, and definitely not act like a big spender. Stay humble, low-key, and cautious. Continue wearing knockoff clothes, driving old cars, splitting bills. Avoid lending money and interactions. Focus more on wealth appreciation and less on matters that don't improve oneself.
After crossing A7, one enters A8 (ten million), entering the high-net-worth group. At this stage, wealth is likely not just cash deposits. We might exclude illiquid assets like real estate and only count high-liquidity assets like cash, stocks, and crypto assets like BTC.
Reaching A8 level suggests initially mastering investment and wealth appreciation methods or becoming a top performer in one's field. We'll use around 30 million as the threshold for formally entering A8, approximately equivalent to 4-5 million USD in high-liquidity assets.
Nationwide, probably only a few million people reach this level. From here, increasing 2-3 times crosses the "self-made" benchmark of one small goal (100 million). The 2025.5.16 Jiaolian article 《Compound Interest Myth》 discussed that only about 130,000 households can achieve this (including property).
At this height, preserving wealth and continuing to advance requires avoiding pitfalls, especially blind investment traps.
People at this level typically didn't just earn this through salary. They usually engaged in capital operations (like venture financing) or financial speculation (like stock, crypto, or real estate trading), initially developing investment capabilities. The biggest risk of initial success is an inflated ego, believing oneself to be an unparalleled entrepreneur like Jobs or investor like Buffett.
After tasting capital's sweetness, they urgently want to accelerate wealth growth and seek opportunities. They stop being low-key and shift focus from wealth preservation to actively seeking investment opportunities, falling into the wealth-seeking trap. (Extended reading from 2025.5.15 Jiaolian article 《Wealth Preservation and Wealth Seeking》)
Various scammers and capital brokers swarm like flies, surrounding you with meticulously packaged projects. Bombarded by seemingly incredible opportunities, you can't calmly assess risks or traps, and hastily invest your precious capital left and right. Then, essentially everything is lost.
Even worse, not only investing capital but also taking leveraged financing. After losing everything, you not only can't recover the principal but also owe a massive debt to financial institutions. The rest of your life is spent repaying debt, crushed by the heavy burden, unable to recover.
This is the old saying: those who know water can still drown.
300,000, 3 million, 30 million - crossing each of these thresholds requires a transformation almost equivalent to being reborn.
