Investment is not only a game of money, but also a test of human nature, especially in times of adversity.
In March, the capital market was extremely volatile. Since March 10, concept stocks in the United States and China have suffered heavy losses, and Hong Kong stocks have continued to plummet. The Hang Seng Index, Hang Seng technology index and Nasdaq China Jinlong index, which tracks the performance of 93 major concept stocks, have successively set the record of the largest one-day decline in recent years. Overseas markets fluctuated violently, and A-Shares were also implicated.
In February 2021, Chinese Internet companies listed in the United States generally reached the peak. However, in more than a year, as of the closing on March 14 this year, the NASDAQ China Jinlong index fell by 75.2% from the highest point.
“The situation in Ukraine, the multi-point outbreak of the epidemic in China, and the supervision of the audit draft of China concept shares by the CSRC… No one may have expected such a difficult and complex start in the first quarter of 2022.” An A-share investor told China business daily on March 15.
Until the afternoon of March 16, with the good news from the meeting of the financial committee of the State Council, A-Shares and Hong Kong shares rebounded violently, the share prices of more than 4300 A shares rose, and the Hang Seng Index soared by more than 20%, the largest one-day increase since the launch of the index. The widely concerned China concept Internet ETF trading limit. In the U.S. stock market, Chinese stocks soared all the way.
Within 24 hours, the mood of stock and fund investors experienced “roller coaster” ups and downs together with the stock trend.
On the evening of March 15, there was still a lot of sadness on major forums and social platforms. Investors of “China concept Internet” mocked themselves that they bought “Chinese beggars pity each other”. In the face of the sharp decline in recent days, some people can’t bear to lie flat in the face of the loss figures, some people seize the opportunity to increase their positions resolutely, and some people clear their positions and leave in panic. Buffett’s famous sentence has been frequently mentioned, “I fear when others are greedy, and I am greedy when others are afraid”.
On March 16, even some experienced investors could not help but sigh: “tonight is worth everyone to seriously reflect on the mood of these two days”, “history will not repeat the details, but the process will repeat and be similar”.
At the end of March, known by insiders as the “largest wave of medium concept share repurchase in history”, driven by Alibaba and Tencent, many enterprises have repurchased shares to “save themselves”.
The stock market is changing rapidly. After the sharp decline, the storm has not subsided. Recalling the time node of “witnessing history” in mid March, the reporter of China business daily talked with several investors about their experiences and mental journey. Through them, we can not only see the various forms of life in times of adversity, but also feel the differences in the world of money.
The following is their story.
“the floating loss of financial management this year is 200000”
Wang Lu Internet industry
In the early morning of March 16th, before I opened Alipay and WeChat, I thought that I lost more than ten thousand yuan today.
I usually take a look at the fund income of the day after 12 p.m. every day. Because it involves U.S. stocks, the income can’t come out so soon. As soon as I got the number on wechat, I knew I was hasty. I reckon, WeChat plus Alipay, or even prudent financial management also lost one thousand and four hundred, plus twenty-seven thousand. I think I’ve witnessed history.
I began to buy the fund, and the acceptable loss was 10% ~ 20% of the principal. Later, I kept refreshing the upper limit, and the threshold of psychological tolerance became higher and higher. Originally, I felt a lot when I fell 6000 a day, and then I felt that I could accept it when I fell 10000 a day. Then I thought I could accept it when I fell 15000 a day? Now the worst day fell to 27000, which is really a little shocking. It’s a day.
One of the reasons why I invest and manage money is that there is no place to put my money.
I am determined not to buy stocks. My biggest tolerance is the fund. The fund is looking for the trend from the perspective of the industry, and there are too many explosive events of stock betting companies, which are too uncontrollable. I am usually very busy at work and have no time to watch the stock market. The fund allows me to leave my money there. It’s enough to set an alarm clock at 2:30 p.m. every day.
At the end of 2019, I bought Zhang Kun’s food fund to test the water. At that time, I invested one or two thousand yuan to make a small fuss. By March and April 2020, the food soared. I panicked and sold it directly. I didn’t see it until the end of the year. I found that I was selling at a low point of the whole year later. So it’s very confusing. I just want to say whether I can buy more funds. Up to now, I have bought dozens of funds piecemeal.
China is almost my worst two funds. I bought China’s Internet 50ETF connection (QDII) A from Alipay, and I bought China’s Internet from WeChat. Before, there was a purchase restriction of 500 yuan per day. I basically bought another 500 yuan after seeing the decline in these two days, but later found that it has accumulated a lot. From the end of last year to now, the overall financial loss is almost 200000 yuan, so there is little psychological pressure.
Fortunately, my overall confidence in the Internet is relatively sufficient. I don’t think the Internet will fall to the end, nor does it exist to say that any business may be stopped immediately like education. We still have a high degree of dependence on the Internet.
I talked about Alibaba’s offer before. I said how many shares were given for entering the function. At that time, it was calculated. When Alibaba’s share price was at a relatively high point, one share could reach more than 1000 yuan. Now looking at Ali’s share price, I feel lucky that they didn’t go. Their shares are included in the overall salary package and exercised on an annual basis. In retrospect, I feel mixed. I am a friend of Ali. He belongs to the one who entered earlier and gave more stocks. He was wailing a few months ago and had lost a Porsche Cayenne.
Anyway, the market is so windy now. I don’t dare to add positions at this time. I’m sure I won’t cut meat. The more I look at it every day, the more anxious I am, so I’ll lie down and return my blood. Many of our groups are looking for some jokes to dispel this uncomfortable feeling. Why is it so green today? There are only three points to stop the decline of the stock market. Which three points? At 3 pm. We can know by chatting at ordinary times that you fall, I fall, everyone falls, and we feel much better. No one points to the stock market to get rich.
“Baijiu highest profit about 300000 yuan, I did not sell, I have learned a lesson”
Yang Yan wine merchant
In March 15th, I had been holding the Baijiu fund in WeChat CAITONG for 719 days.
In March 2020, it was 0.92 yuan when I bought it. Now it is only eight cents short, which has fallen to my cost price. I know that the fund also has risks, but now I have never thought of all this.
The highest point has a 75% profit. I didn’t sell the profit of more than 300000 yuan. Now there is only 10%. The reason why I have never sold is that I don’t need the money. The second reason is that I believe it will have more profits when I need to take it out. I don’t care about periodic floating.
I have always believed in fixed investment of funds and value investment. I also read a lot of Buffett’s books. I always believe that time can change everything. But now the facts tell me that according to the falling method of these two days, it only needs two more days. All my holdings of more than 700 days will disappear.
China Merchants Baijiu index in January
I’m in the wine business and have assets of more than 10 million yuan. Medium and high-risk investment has invested about 4.6 million yuan in total, and now more than 1 million yuan has evaporated. Today, I lost more than 100000 yuan a day. It’s too painful.
I can’t say it’s easy or not to make money, but I’ve lost more than 1 million yuan for two years. People without money lose 10000 or 20000 yuan, which may be the same proportion as my loss of 1 million yuan. What I’m not happy about is that I’m not satisfied with losing so much money, not that I need more than 1 million yuan to buy something.
To be honest, I don’t pursue material things and don’t like buying luxury goods. It’s good to open Tesla. I won’t order takeout without a red envelope. I’ll save $3.5. I know many rich people. They are very rich, but they would rather buy Coke outside and drink it in the hotel than drink the coke in the hotel. I can live a very poor life. But I like playing such money games. I just like making money.
I started investing and managing money at least three years ago. I just started to buy some fixed income. 2 million yuan can earn 200 yuan a day. Later, it gradually became that I could only earn 150 yuan a day, and then I could only earn 130 yuan a day. As soon as I saw that it didn’t work, I began to buy funds and speculate in stocks.
I have always had a firm belief in Baijiu. I think wine is hard currency and essential to the Chinese people. When I’m unhappy, I can use alcohol to relieve my worries. When I’m happy, I drink to celebrate. I have a little drinking problem.
It’s my own problem not to sell at the highest point, so I’ve learned a lesson. I want to tell others that you need to set a profit stop point and loss stop point. Stop selling when you reach 20% ~ 30% of the income. Don’t have fantasies anymore. Also, the fund really can not be fixed for a long time. I really suffered this loss and really should be safe in my pocket.
“the salary is reduced, the rent is increased, but the fund is compensated, and only gives itself a living expenses budget of 1200 yuan per month”
Lobular city planner
I am 35 years old and from Beijing. I have no intention of getting married. At present, I rent a house outside. Now the house price in Beijing can’t afford to buy a house. In the future, I may live with my parents and live in a nursing home without children.
My work is architectural design and urban planning. I also went to investigate the elderly care facilities. It takes 10000 or 20000 yuan a month to have a relatively decent pension environment. Now saving money is to leave yourself a foundation for pension.
Generally speaking, I have to save 80% of my family’s income. I am also very conservative and timid in financial management. After all, I pulled it out of daily stinginess. It can be said that 99% of my total assets are invested, about 85% are regular financial management, 9% are stable debt base and 5% are enterprising funds.
The industry of urban construction belongs to the sunset industry, and there are few projects. Coupled with the epidemic situation, the wage decline is 10% ~ 15%. At the end of 2020, when I looked at other people buying funds, I bought two thousand Yuan pure test water. Alipay had a profit challenge at that time. That was when the fund went crazy. After making a small profit, I came to the end. I spent fifty thousand or sixty thousand yuan in numerous forests. I never expected to go to the top of the mountain and fall all the way to the bottom. Later, I saw someone say, “when you see that everyone told you that the fund wants to make money, it is likely that the fund will start to lose money”, but I didn’t understand at that time.
The whole army was wiped out. I basically learned from Alipay’s wealth page and the community of the merchants bank about some financial management knowledge. Later, I looked at the recommendation of the Alipay financial manager and the financial manager of the China Merchants Bank. What we are buying now is not a special industry type of financial management, but a combination of so and so. Originally, we thought it might be more stable. Who knows that everyone loses.
Fortunately, I’m very timid. I don’t invest much principal. In fact, the amount of real loss is one month’s salary. The loss is not fatal, but psychologically, it’s really hard. Sometimes it’s broken. I have to see how much you can lose. After this, I have a great fear of radical investment. After staying in the comfort circle of sound financial management for a long time, I only wanted to go out and fight for a small step, but I fell down. If I buy regular financial management, it may take me two years to earn back the money I lost recently.
My father suffered a big loss in investment. He used to be very stable. Maybe he was a little floating after the age of 50. He was credulous and had high private placement income. In the end, he lost a small one million yuan, which was saved by my parents for so many years. More or less, it also affected my choice in financial management. The yield of the fund in the first two years was particularly high, but I chose the one with an annual yield of 30% at most. High yield is accompanied by high risk. At that time, I thought that this risk was already very high for me. But I didn’t expect that the positive return may be only 20% or 30%, and the negative return can reach more than 40%.
It’s really cool to go out and live by myself, so I’d rather break the habit of being stingy. This is part of what I pay for freedom. However, I have to face the decline in wages. This year, the rent has increased by 500 yuan, and the financial management has fallen sharply. Only the budget of living expenses has been reduced to about 1200 yuan. Daily consumption is also degrading. The commonly used shopping software has changed from Taobao to pinduoduo. If you encounter something you particularly want to buy, you will try to buy something cheap. Generally speaking, the budget I give myself every day is 40 yuan. The two meals in the morning and afternoon plus the commuter fare is generally between 20 and 22 yuan. I’m lucky. Next door to my unit is the welfare canteen built by the community. It costs 12 yuan for one meat and one vegetable. I can eat very full. Sometimes you can go out and have a meal with the money left over.
The first thing I wake up every morning is to open up Alipay and take a look at yesterday’s earnings. In the past, there were some big news in the world. I just paid attention to the news itself, but now there is a kind of news that I see my money getting less and less while paying attention. I often open Alipay to see my assets and sometimes I will see it in the middle of the night. This is a way to adjust my mood. Sometimes I feel unhappy. Seeing that there is still some money to guarantee the minimum will calm me down. Every time I see a negative income, I feel sad and may not spend money.
The first thing I thought about was that I would invest tens of thousands of yuan. I could not earn thousands of yuan or lose thousands of yuan. I wouldn’t hurt my muscles and bones. Now it seems that it doesn’t hurt muscles and bones, but it’s so sad. I don’t expect to continue to earn. My previous goal was to sell more than 10% of the income. Now I plan to sell it back. I will not continue to invest as those financial management courses teach. I have been afraid, passive resistance and put my hope on time.
“don’t shoot all the bullets on the hillside, otherwise you can only stare at the bottom”
Meng Siqi is a graduate student in engineering
On March 15, my China concept Internet ETF lost more than 40%, far exceeding my risk tolerance of 20% principal loss.
In fact, I have been covering my position from March 13 to March 15. Hang Seng ETF buys more, as well as pharmaceutical ETF and zhonggai Internet ETF Later, I simply didn’t read it, hung up the order and made a deal with it. I was making up my position when zhonggai was scolded by big V for garbage. I was making up my position when others couldn’t stop cutting meat. I was still making up my position when I fell to the fast stock disaster on March 15. At that time, I felt that it should not fall again. On the 15th, Tencent had fallen below HK $300, which was very cheap.
On March 16, when the stock market finally rebounded violently and the bottom reading was successful the day before, I felt a sense of elation.
I opened my account at the end of 2019, when I was still studying undergraduate architecture. My father has been a shareholder for more than ten years.
At that time, I saved a sum of spare money, followed his recommendation and bought an index fund. Within a few months, I met a fuse in U.S. stocks. At that time, I was waiting for my postgraduate entrance examination results, and I had to pay three or four hundred yuan a day. I was particularly impressed by my double anxiety. However, the days of loss did not last long. Before, the position was relatively low, and I made it back with a little extra position.
Investing in this thing is really a test of mentality. Over the past year, the experience of buying A-share ETFs is like picking up garbage in the dump. Only after going through darkness and setbacks can we know how difficult it is to make money in the stock market. In 2020, the market may be better. Just making a little money will be a little floating. I feel like I’m very powerful, but when the market is bad, I will test a person’s position proportion and really see his strategy.
In July last year, I bought zhonggai Internet ETF. At that time, the valuation was relatively low. Up to now, I have increased my position nearly ten times, accounting for about 15% ~ 20% of my overall position. I feel that this floor fund will not die, will not be delisted, and will not become zero. I have prepared for the worst.
My investment strategy is to divide the capital into many parts. For example, divide it into 100 or 200 parts, and the amount I invest each time is one part. In a big fall, especially like zhonggai, it must be on the left. If the left falls, it should be added slowly. For example, if it falls by 10% or 15%, it will be added once. Never shoot all the bullets halfway up the mountain, or you’ll have to stare at the bottom. When it’s at the bottom or right, it must add a little more. This is not a rigorous calculation. The key is to leave enough cash to cover the position. It can’t be said that I can’t invest in the full position after falling a lot. This must not work.
The picture of the illustration of adding positions on the left vs. on the right comes from the network
Every slump is a risk education and growth. If the capital is converted in equal proportion, I estimate that I will lose more in the days when the US stock market was blown the year before last. But at that time, the principal was less, and now when there is more money, it will feel very painful. But if you invest more money in the future, you may feel that the current loss is nothing.
In the short term, I should not try more aggressive investment. I should continue to buy ETFs. I should adjust my position and buy more bonds. After this round of sharp decline, I will feel that the more aggressive investment position is a little heavy, which has made me feel uncomfortable. Positions should be more comfortable and earn less. It doesn’t matter.
I can feel the trend of young people buying funds in recent years. I know students who are non finance majors who usually buy in Alipay, financial professionals or people who have financial management consciousness. They usually open their securities accounts and use China Stock Market News to mark them. There are not many stock speculators, and there are leveraged ones. I don’t understand such people very much.
I think we should learn some financial knowledge. A few days ago, a friend with weak financial knowledge said that he lost 1000 yuan. He felt he couldn’t move, so he cleared the warehouse directly. I very much agree with this saying that people will never make money beyond their cognitive range.
“I made the first 1 million yuan in investment last year, and I’ve seen a lot of stock market turbulence”
Tang Fanxu financial industry
In 2021, my goal is to earn the first 1 million yuan in investment and financial management in my life, which will be achieved in the middle of the year, with a maximum floating profit of 15.6 million yuan. This year’s retreat is indeed relatively large, with a floating profit of less than 1 million yuan.
As a financial practitioner, I have some advantages in the reserve of professional skills. But then again, there are many peers whose stock speculation income is not particularly ideal. In fact, stock speculation is not only the embodiment of professional skills, but also the investment system. It is also closely related to a person’s emotional management ability and personality characteristics.
The situation in Ukraine, the multi-point outbreak of the epidemic in China, and the supervision of the audit draft of China concept shares by the CSRC… No one may have expected such a difficult and complex start in the first quarter of 2022, but I think this is the characteristic of the capital market, and no one can really predict it. Even if you have a relatively perfect system to stop losses and deal with them, when the slump really comes, it is often in an unpredictable way. At that time, you are in a dilemma. I have experienced the stock market crash in 2015. I fell by the limit as soon as I opened in the morning. I have seen a bigger scene.
From 2006 to 2007, when I first came into contact with investment, I was still a student in school and was particularly interested in investment, especially stocks. That was probably the first bull market in this generation’s memory. Later, I experienced the global financial crisis in 2008. As a student, I didn’t have a particularly large position. After working for a few years, I experienced an overall decline in the stock disaster in 2015 and witnessed the continuous decline affected by the trade war in 2018. Therefore, the so-called timing is actually relatively diluted here.
As long as you are in this market, you can’t avoid the “black swan” incident. In fact, there will be one or two particularly uncomfortable declines every year. Because of this, stock selection is more important. The ability of stock selection ensures that your safety is higher than others at least at the starting point. When I choose stocks, I will pay attention to the market situation and the flow of market funds, including which sector may perform better in different years.
I mainly choose some leaders to hold shares in a centralized manner according to several industries I am optimistic about. Basically, I try not to hold more than 5 positions each time, including 2 ~ 3 heavy positions. Baijiu, a hot liquor, consumer and new energy sector, I basically do not follow the big trend to catch up with the hot spots.
I think a mature investor should have such a process and have such a stock to temper his investment philosophy completely. A stock I hold for a long time with a heavy position at present, I think it is the most memorable operation on my investment road. Not that it brought me the first return of 1 million yuan, but that it was the first complete attempt of my investment philosophy. I chose, judged and insisted according to my own philosophy.
My principle is that I will not invest heavily in things I don’t know. Recently, I have been paying attention to China concept stocks and Hong Kong stocks, which have continued to fall to a record low. I know in my heart that this must be irrational and abnormal, but I will not sell easily. I always fear the market. There are many choices in the market and sometimes many temptations. I can only make money within my cognitive ability.
I always think that a thin investment is a process of accumulation. The threshold of the stock market is very low, but it is difficult to succeed. Those who think the stock market is an ATM flock to it, but the stock market is more like a trap. Falling is painful, but for valuable targets, the more falling will only make the value more undervalued. I will patiently wait for the return of value, just like those disasters I have experienced, no matter how difficult the situation is, I finally come out.
(this article does not constitute any investment opinions, and the respondents are pseudonyms)
