How can ordinary people accumulate assets worth millions?

Actually, brothers, all the wealthy people you have seen share a common trait.

"Leveraging opportunities."

The times are a trend
Cities are a trend
Platforms are a trend
Industries are a trend
Cycles are a trend

The first step is to wait for the occurrence of a cyclical, global or regional financial or economic crisis. Just like catching a cold in the human body, crises tend to occur periodically.

The second step is to take advantage of the crisis to buy core quality assets at very low prices. At the same time, leverage the inevitable interest rate cuts and monetary easing measures that come with crisis management to take on debt and bottom-fish these undervalued assets.

Rest assured, asset prices are a monetary phenomenon. As long as the central banks dare to pump liquidity, we don't need to worry about prices falling or rising afterward. An ancient saying goes, "Water rises, ships rise"; money is water, and asset prices are ships.

The third step is that after the monetary easing, the economy gradually emerges from recession and enters a period of prosperity. At this point, sell the previously leveraged, bottom-fished assets at a good price, reduce or clear debt, keep profits and some assets, then work and live well, and wait for the next crisis.

The fourth step is to repeat these three steps N times, combined with diligent work and savings in daily life. This is the best way for ordinary people to accumulate assets worth millions. Of course, this process is long and demands keen judgment and operational skills. We must understand that the vast majority of people, even exhausting their lives, will never reach a millionaire level in assets.

The above are the general steps; below, I will explain the details.

Type 1 Crisis (Internal Causes)

The precursor to an economic crisis is a financial crisis, which is fundamentally a debt crisis. When in an economy, a significant portion of individuals accumulates increasing debt, and their profits and cash flow are insufficient to support the debt, even to pay interest, large-scale defaults will occur. These defaults will cause asset prices, such as stocks and real estate, to fall. The decline in asset prices leads to contraction in the balance sheets of enterprises and households, possibly resulting in recession. Financial institutions, due to a decline in borrowers, will face credit contraction. Society as a whole enters a "credit — asset price" spiral contraction. The 2008 US subprime mortgage crisis is a typical example.

Type 2 Crisis (Combined Internal and External Factors)

Under loose credit and rapid credit expansion, when domestic asset prices rise sharply and bubble, credit scales can suddenly contract, causing short-term interest rates to soar. Some individuals or companies, under debt pressure—mainly due to leverage reaching its limit—begin to sell assets, leading to further declines in asset prices. This triggers the "credit — asset price" spiral contraction mentioned earlier. At this stage, if financial liberalization is in place, foreign capital will withdraw in large numbers, or even speculate against domestic asset prices, exacerbating the "credit — asset price" spiral contraction, leading to a sustained decline in asset and liability balances.

If, at this point, the domestic population remains young, urbanization is in rapid progress, and the economy recovers in a few years—like Southeast Asian countries after the 1997 Asian financial crisis—then the crisis's impact can be mitigated. Conversely, if the population ages and economic growth slows down for over a decade or even decades, like Japan, economic recovery may be impossible for a long time.

China implements cross-border capital controls and has not fully liberalized finance. Therefore, after a financial crisis, the worst outcome is the first type of crisis described above.

How can ordinary people resist or even profit from financial crises?

1. Pay attention to external factors, such as Federal Reserve rate hikes.

History shows that when the Fed raises interest rates to high levels for an extended period, either the U.S. itself or other highly indebted, structurally single-industry countries will face debt crises. During this period, the world enters a phase of overcapacity and insufficient demand, causing asset prices, such as stocks and real estate, to plummet.

Currently, as the Fed's rate hikes are nearing the end and federal funds rate enters a neutral zone, individuals should maintain stable cash flow and adequate cash reserves, avoid large-scale investments, and if sensitive enough, sell high-priced assets during the most aggressive rate hike phase and hold cash.

2. Wait for the financial crisis to occur,

and after asset prices fall sharply, patiently watch for signals of monetary, credit, and fiscal policy easing. Use your cash reserves to bottom-fish core assets.

Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, and the linkage of the dollar to oil in 1973, humanity entered the era of fiat currency. The core logic of this system is continuous money issuance, driven by debt to stimulate economic growth—under a credit monetary system, rapid debt growth outpaces economic income, which is the fundamental reason for cyclical financial crises.

In a credit monetary system, the only tool to respond to crises is quantitative easing—continual money printing.

Therefore, during financial crises, when asset prices have fallen sharply, it presents a bottom-fishing opportunity because once QE begins, asset prices will definitely rise—especially core assets, which tend to recover first, last longer, and rise most vigorously.

3. Continuous monetary issuance and debt-driven growth will inevitably lead to wealth disparity.

During crises, almost all asset prices fall, but assets are of different qualities. Some high-quality assets, when their prices decline, are misjudged market risk aversion, offering buying opportunities. Some inferior assets, in the context of credit expansion and monetary oversupply, are just "hot commodities" with little intrinsic value.

Thus, during crises, the best strategy is to bottom-fish for high-quality core assets. Why will these assets appreciate in the future? Because the wealthy are competing for them. Understand this principle: whether your assets will appreciate depends on whom you sell them to in the future. If sold to the wealthy, prices will definitely rise.

With decades of monetary oversupply, the rich are accumulating wealth faster under the Matthew effect. Their purchasing power grows stronger and stronger.

To keep making money and earning big, you must constantly leverage your cognition—identify those high-quality, core assets that are wrongly undervalued during crises, which the wealthy will favor in the future. Then, when liquidity is injected to address crises, sell these assets to the wealthy at a good price.