In the previous bull market of A-shares, Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Stock Exchange jointly conducted research and obtained a set of data based on the trading situation of 68.21 million accounts: More than 85% of investors in A-shares have funds under 500000, while only 0.5% of investors have funds exceeding 10 million. In the previous bull market, the 85% of investors with less than 500000 yuan lost 250 billion yuan overall, while the 0.5% of investors with more than 10 million yuan made profits exceeding 254 billion yuan. Why do people with more capital tend to make more money, while those with less capital tend to lose more and more? Behind this is not simply luck, nor is there any unknown secret, but a world of differences in mentality, planning, and investment systems. Assuming the goal is to make a profit of 100000, if you have one million, you only need to increase it by 10%. If you only have 100000, you have to double it to achieve the same absolute return. If you only have 10000, you have to double it, which means you have to take ten times the risk and need ten times the luck. For people with a capital of millions, even if their account only increases by 1%, it is still 100000. Here reveals a cruel fact: the size of your capital itself determines the difficulty and tolerance of investing in games. Investors with abundant financial resources usually invest idle money in the stock market, which is long-term capital that cannot be used for three to five years of livelihood. This money has no pressure on their lives, so they can remain calm. When the market is undervalued, he dares to lurk like a hunter, patiently waiting for a good company to have an opportunity at an outrageously cheap price, and then layout in batches. Just like planting a season of crops, planting in spring and harvesting in autumn, not competing for the day and night. For investors with less principal, the situation is often the opposite. That money may have been the hard-earned savings he had accumulated, and watching others make money made him anxious. I always calculate in my heart: relying on this amount of money to generate 20% annual income is too slow. When will I be able to buy a house or change cars? Why not give it a try! So it's easy to treat the stock market as a casino, always looking for the next hot spot, catching the next limit up board, and longing for a turnaround. The result is frequent trading, chasing gains and selling losses, and falling into a vicious cycle of the harder one works, the more losses they incur. I have always emphasized that the biggest advantage of retail investors is precisely what professional institutions do not have: being free from ranking pressure, having patient capital, and stable working cash flow. But if you don't take advantage of these advantages and instead learn institutional games and short-term strategies, and gamble with your own emotions, it's like giving up your home field and going to play away, and the result will definitely be counterproductive. There is a vivid example around me. A few years ago, a friend brought over 200000 yuan into the A-share market and spent a lot of time monitoring the market every day, researching various "technical tactics", "leading tactics", "how to hit the board" and so on, all with the sole intention of hitting the daily limit up. If you see a hot sector, chase after it. Today's AI, tomorrow's low altitude economy. After a year, not only have you been exhausted, but the money in your account has been repeatedly cut and chased, losing from over 200000 yuan to 150000 yuan. Another friend is different. In his early years, he accumulated capital through business and invested one million of it. He only chooses leading companies with stable operations and generous dividends, and values stable dividends of 4-5% per year. He said, 'I just kept a higher interest fixed-term passbook.'. He hardly looks at the market and pays dividends on time every year. Over the years, not only has the stock price unconsciously doubled, but he also distributes a considerable amount of dividends every year, making the investment process easy and calm. ......... People with low capital and urgent mentality are referred to stock prices. The stock price is a dynamic and emotional noise that Mr. Market randomly reports every day and every moment. If you use stock prices as a reference, your emotions will be like riding a roller coaster, being led by the K-line every day. Can you avoid anxiety and frequent operations? And the friend who does business, his reference is the intrinsic value of the enterprise, he is concerned about whether the company's business is good or not, whether the moat is deep or not, and whether the dividends are stable or not. During a business cycle, profit growth will drive intrinsic value upward in the long run. When the economy is in a downturn, he will calmly evaluate whether intrinsic value has changed and even buy more equity at a lower price. He has gained peace and wealth. The real investment is to choose whether to become a farmer or a hunter. The farmer's mindset is to sow in spring and harvest in autumn, select the right seeds, have patience, ignore the weather every day, and ultimately achieve a bountiful harvest, while the hunter's mindset is to chase after prey, which may seem exciting but often returns empty handed, full of uncertainty. So, for friends with limited capital, I not only do not advise you to take a gamble, but also emphasize that small funds are the best time to establish an investment system and cultivate a mindset. At this time, the cost of losing money is the smallest, and the lessons learned are the most valuable. The less capital you have, the more you need to restrain the impulse to make quick money and focus on three things: Firstly, establish a correct equity mindset. Tell yourself that buying stocks is a part of buying a company, you're not trading a string of codes. Secondly, establish and strictly adhere to the trading system. Only take action when the valuation is undervalued and there is a safety margin, and wait resolutely until the price reaches, just like baseball player Ted Williams, whom Buffett admires, only playing sweet zone balls. Thirdly, use spare money and protect yourself in batches. The investment money does not affect your life, and by buying in batches, you can lower costs and manage your cash flow well. The essence of investment is a long test of human nature, patience, and cognition. The amount of wealth may initially be just a difference in numbers, but over time, it will gradually evolve into a division of mentality and pattern. Successful investment is often the art of slow and fast, living oneself as a farmer and ultimately putting compound interest and time on your side.