A child born in the 00s, let me introduce myself. I'm looking forward to learning from you senior members.

Graduated in 2022 and working in Xi’an, earning about 1.2k per month after taxes. The job isn’t busy, stable, and okay. After graduation, I was probably quite frugal, so I had some savings.

In 2023, I started, I can’t remember exactly how, maybe just because I had some spare money, I began buying funds on Alipay. At that time, my understanding of the stock market was only that it was mostly green every day, haha, so I didn’t dare to buy. I was very cautious before figuring things out. Then I browsed the Alipay forum and saw someone recommending bond funds. I learned that bond funds tend to rise when interest rates fall. At that time, I felt there was a lot of room for rate cuts domestically, so I bought bond funds. I diversified by following popular bond funds recommended by influencers on Alipay, collecting gains. Looking back, I only understood the surface—no concept of bond duration.

From 2023 to 2024, bond funds were really stable. I went from earning a few yuan daily, counting my earnings every day, to earning enough weekly for a 70-yuan paper-wrapped fish meal, then as my salary increased, I could eat a paper-wrapped fish every day, haha. That was a really happy time.

Since most of my funds were in bond funds, I took a few thousand yuan to try the SSE 50 ETF to understand index funds. Back then, the index was around 2800 points. After buying, it continued to fall, which scared me, and I didn’t dare to buy more. If I had known the SSE index level at that time, I might have bought more.

Then came September 24. Just a few days, I was impulsive, saw the ChiNext index had risen several 20% gains, and before the National Day, I hurriedly bought a few thousand yuan worth of ChiNext and CSI 300. I made a good profit on the 8th, then had a talk with myself, wanted to hold for another day, but on the 9th, it corrected sharply, so I quickly sold.

Later, in November 2024, I saw a recommendation from a client manager at Galaxy Securities on Xiaohongshu, and I opened an on-market account. The nostalgic rambling above is a bit much, but it was my entry into investing.

After opening the securities account, I gradually transferred all my money from Alipay, including my own and my family’s 100,000 yuan, totaling about 45,000 yuan at that time. I was still cautious, bought some bond ETFs on the exchange, and basically didn’t buy much afterward. Coincidentally, I watched a video by Hulu Army on Bilibili explaining dividends, low-volatility dividends, Hong Kong stock dividends, and the logic of dividend indices. Later, I added some positions in low-cost, low-volatility dividend ETFs.

Since I had bought Nasdaq through Alipay before, I was pleasantly surprised to find it available on the exchange, so I bought some Nasdaq. I don’t understand individual stocks well, so I’ve only bought ETFs, including broad-based ETFs like CSI 300, ChiNext, STAR Market 50, Hong Kong biotech stocks, and Nasdaq. But in 2025, I got shaken out because Nasdaq kept oscillating and trading at a premium, and securities ETFs kept falling, though low-volatility dividend ETFs performed slightly better.

Then came April 7. I can say I’ll never forget that day. Most of my funds were in cash, and that day, I lost 14,000 yuan. I was stunned, but I watched Snowball and saw everyone saying to bottom fish, so I didn’t panic and bought some. Unfortunately, the next day, it fell again, and I cut some losses.

In the subsequent bull market, I mainly bought ETFs, including CSI 300, ChiNext, STAR Market 50, Hong Kong biotech stocks, and Nasdaq, which was also rising. But because I often T+ and chase highs and sell lows, my total return in 2025 was about 14%.

I’m usually frugal and careful with money. My total funds now are about 60,000 yuan. My current allocations by category:

Cash 20%: Short-term bond ETF
Overseas 20%: Nasdaq + Nikkei + Germany + Asia-Pacific + Brazil
A-shares: ChiNext + Hang Seng Tech + some individual stocks now and then
Quality 15%: Free cash flow + CSI Dividend Quality + Guoxin Value
Dividends 20%: Low-volatility dividend + Dividend + Low-volatility dividend 100
Broad Market 10%: SSE Index + CSI 300 + A500 + CSI 500 + CSI 2000

In 2026, I made some gains in A-shares, but lost quite a bit on Nasdaq due to premium trading, so overall, my 2026 return was close to zero. Now I feel really confused. I know investing shouldn’t be rushed, but I see people making big money with small-cap quant strategies, and I feel I’m too diversified and tired. Plus, I might need to use some funds later, but I don’t want to withdraw and upset my girlfriend. I want to know if, in the coming bear market, I should clear my positions and wait for the next time the SSE hits 2600 points to fully deploy and margin. Any advice is appreciated—I’m very grateful.

Recently, I plan to study convertible bonds and small-cap quant strategies. If I miss this bull run, maybe there will be another chance. Also, I’ve been dollar-cost averaging into BTC spot and opened a US stock account, but it’s been volatile and I haven’t made money, feeling I lack systematic learning.