Looking back, I am already middle-aged and have started managing my own investments.

At middle age, during this Qingming Festival I returned to my hometown in Changzhou to pay respects to my ancestors. Along the way, I kept thinking about my childhood, my years in school, and my experiences at work. I’ll open a post here to record my thoughts.
I started out doing practice problems from my small town. Through a 985 university, I ended up settling down in Shanghai, an “absolute first-tier” supercity. Later I worked there, got married, and became stable. In the first 10+ years of my career, I worked continuously at a commercial bank—technical roles, then management positions—until I stepped down as the branch manager. Not long after, I resigned and left the banking industry. The reason is that I don’t internally like work with overly intense targets. Completing targets often makes me anxious. Also, my health frequently flashed red lights; things like my blood sugar gradually reached the critical level amid constant drinking and toasting.
During my student years, a friend kept taking me along to participate in capital market activities and discussions. Later, he founded a leading private fund management company in China.
I also followed him to participate in various opportunities, including low-risk ones like closed-end fund arbitrage and IPO subscription arbitrage. I did make money. However, none of it was due to my own abilities—I still relied on my friend. During my full-time job, my stock investment returns were average. Although I was profitable, the volatility was quite large. In the past few years, I’ve also taken part in quite a few first-tier investment projects. Looking back now, the chances of success for this kind of project are not high, while the risk of loss is not small. After China moved past the era of dividend/bonus from growth, doing first-tier venture investment with high risk again just has too low a cost-effectiveness ratio.
Starting in 2023, I decided to invest with a medium-low and low risk profile. I gradually exited first-tier investment projects and moved my funds into second-tier stocks, bonds convertible into stock, and other categories. Jisilu provided an excellent learning platform. Here I encountered a group of people with very deep experience in investing, and posts that continued to be shared. Currently, my holdings are mainly Hong Kong dividend stocks, such as China Mythology, CNOOC, PetroChina, and others, along with diversified holdings including property-related stocks like China Vanke?—no, Hua Chen, and China Merchants Poly?—no, 招商保利. Annualized dividend yields are 5–8%. Their distinctive feature is stable operations. In the worst case, each year they can provide ¥500k of interest income, which can be used to pay for Hong Kong insurance and other activity expenses.
A-shares are holdings of high-volatility assets. Convertible bonds have about 20%, cyclical stocks about 50%, and dividend stocks about 30%. Among the cyclical stocks, in 2024 I held coal companies including Shenhua and Shanmei. In 2025, I was mainly in non-ferrous metals, including Zijin Mining, Tonghush?—no, 神火, and China Aluminum. Starting in 2026, I will reduce positions and buy cyclical stocks in the chemical sector such as Wanhua Chemical.
The characteristic of A-shares is that they fluctuate a lot, and the protection provided by dividends is insufficient. So I don’t dare to hold long term—I can only hold for 1–2 years. Also, the industry is in an improving cycle, with the stock price still not having risen significantly. The goal is a return rate of 10–15%, to obtain dividend yields of 3–5%. Dividends can cover basic living expenses. And even if I misjudge a target, it won’t completely destroy my confidence. At the very least, I can still gain some dividend income.
My long-term goal is to start with the simplest high-dividend stocks, expand my circle of skills to include cyclical stocks, and use a 2-year mid-term holding period to capture a “resonance” between industry cycles and stock volatility. Buy at the bottom, lie in wait and wait for the industry to enter a favorable phase, and then gradually take profits when exiting.
My mid-term goal is to master overvaluation and undervaluation phases in A-shares. In undervalued periods, buy assets with high cost-effectiveness—for example, convertible bonds. Of course, I don’t really understand convertible bonds, so I buy them in a diversified, “spread the dough” way.
My short-term goal is simply to chase the degree of market/industry “buoyancy.” For industries I did not pre-position, once I find that the industry has turned around, I chase momentum and buy on the right-hand side. This is what I did this year with China Merchants Trans?—no, 招商轮船. But I only hold for about 1–3 months; I don’t dare hold long term.
That’s it.