In the turning-point year 2019, would you choose A-shares, crypto, or property?

The city cannot shelter the body.

The hometown cannot shelter the soul.

Hello, I am Bicong (Bitcoin Beginner), Zhan Qiangwei.

A nonprofessional programmer writing daily, bringing you crypto stories at an irregular evening time (21:50).

Day 18 of serious writing.

2019 investment direction

Investment and financial planning allocate funds through savings, bank products, bonds, funds, stocks, futures, foreign exchange, property, insurance, gold, and other tools. They manage personal, household, and organizational assets to preserve and increase value and accelerate growth.

Financial planning is not merely saving, depositing money in a bank, or trading stocks. According to needs and goals, it proactively plans, arranges, exchanges, and restructures every asset and liability: tangible, intangible, liquid, illiquid, past, present, future, inheritance, wills, and intellectual property. It is comprehensive, systematic economic activity to preserve and grow value. Saving or trading alone is only a specific investment action, at most a use of cash. Cash management within financial planning is far more complex and difficult. — MBA Lib

People often say wealth does not last three generations. Neglecting financial planning and asset management can lead to decline. For millennials, planning may be a new opportunity through funds, stocks, or digital currencies.

Forty years of reform and opening produced many successful people but immense pressure for millennials. Those born in the 1990s and 2000s fear having children, aging, illness, and death. Thinking about society can feel bleak. Two hundred million Gen Z people, two hundred million seniors, three hundred million middle-class office workers, and two hundred million small-town young people all face housing, living, schooling, and parenting costs. This generation has little personal wealth; without a wealthy father, life may be ruled by mortgages, car payments, and baby formula, or barely cover living costs. That is the situation, perhaps worse.

Most twenty-first-century students grew up online, surrounded by entertainment that consumes time, unlike playing in mud forty years ago. Success requires persistence and action, but “tittytainment” leaves many lost in pornography, games, gossip, Douyin, idol dramas, and reality shows. Apps quietly occupy their time. Others work silently: up at 5 to read or learn English, studying vocabulary on buses and subways, or devising proposals. One group creates while another consumes, and the divide may snowball.

2019 investment direction

Many losses seem unavoidable but arise from our choices.

“Choice matters more than effort” depends on context. Without effort, where do choices come from? They belong to the prepared; when choices exist, choose well.

In 2019 the earliest 1990s-born people approach 30. With self-awareness, perhaps you should know some economics, planning, finance, and current affairs. People mature differently: some see further, understand more, and know what they need and should pursue.

Many call 2019 an economic transition year, perhaps bringing another opportunity. Manufacturing and the internet need rapid development backed by policy. Successful people forty years ago often grasped policy direction. Today, even knowing policy may not change our circumstances: the wealth gap limits choices. We work, collect wages, and calculate mortgages, expenses, and formula costs. Perhaps this is accepting the status quo. Trying creates a chance to win, so learn planning and grow assets.

Domestic and foreign stocks opened high and rose this year, yet Wall Street leaders worry. Some say the bull market and stimulus arrived: the Greater Bay Area, Belt and Road, trillion-yuan pension funds, a trade-war truce, and housing controls. Why would stocks not rise? That may be overoptimistic. Gains may only be a recovery. GDP is forecast at 6.3%, below previous years. Whatever the controls, perhaps the trade war is already lost; per-capita income resembles US levels in the 1980s, a frightening thirty-year gap. The Fed's rate-cutting cycle is not visible yet, and Trump's forceful business approach would only sustain cuts. Perhaps a new president in 2021 improves things; even re-election may allow declines.

So any stock rally may be brief or limited. Sector investing could be an option: 5G, AI, semiconductors, new materials, battery technology, and blockchain-related shares.

Stocks soar and property rises rather than falls. Even if fourth- through tenth-tier city prices plunge, first-, second-, and third-tier cities may fall little because of essential demand: some face drought and others flood. People leave Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen for second- and third-tier hometowns. Rising marginal costs may push internet giants there to reduce development and staffing expenses, stimulate smaller-city economies, commerce, property, and local fiscal income: several benefits at once.

How should we choose among stocks, property, and cryptocurrency?

2019 investment direction

Stocks have twenty years, property forty, with hundredfold or thousandfold returns. Digital currencies, after only just over ten years, have offered ten-thousandfold gains. This may interest speculators and early adopters, but most missed out. Against a domestic population of 1.3 billion, crypto has only tens of millions of participants; blockchain technology is smaller still. The internet produced BATTMD giants; blockchain may produce the next hundred-billion-scale company. Millennials missed reform and property, so crypto and blockchain may offer another opportunity. Digital payments are the future. China's central bank has begun the world's first statutory digital-currency test, Nasdaq today announced BLX Bitcoin and ELX Ethereum indexes, and JPMorgan introduced JPM Coin. Capital markets and governments worldwide are positioning for digital payments, leaving a larger future market.
Many middle-class households have few assets left after a home or car. Others know nothing about investing and leave money in banks. Many southerners see that as depreciation: a difference in understanding. People favor safe routes, avoiding stocks and crypto. Crashes in 2008 and 2015 convinced newcomers that stocks are fraudulent and unprofitable. Speculators fled and cautious people hesitate. After twenty years, domestic stocks remain weak. If markets reflect the economy, it looks poor.
Do not put all eggs in one basket: diversify. I previously mentioned a 43221 asset allocation. Aggressive investors place the 4 in high-risk assets; conservative investors place it in stable-return assets.
To manage money, earn more, and escape a fixed salary, develop a second occupation: writing, video, pastry making, or another interest outside work. This investment may produce unexpected returns. Obsession is also part of success.

Notice:

For digital currencies, currently buy only Bitcoin and Ethereum.
For stocks, buy only thematic shares: 5G, semiconductors, new materials, environmental management, etc.
For property, choose second- or third-tier or new first-tier cities: Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Suzhou, Hefei. Zhaoqing in the Greater Bay Area may also be worthwhile.
Read more to improve understanding and find new investments.

Risk warning: all Bicong articles express personal views and are not investment recommendations. Contact the official channel with objections. Investing involves risk; consider your tolerance, investigate projects thoroughly, and make careful decisions.
Bicong (Bitcoin Beginner), Zhan Qiangwei: contracted Huobi information author and columnist on Jinse Finance, Qianke, Toutiao, Penguin, Jiamiquan, 32know, Zhidian, Bihu, and other platforms.