When I first founded the CLEC investing and personal-finance channel, I actually had only one very simple purpose: to build and spread, within the world of capitalism, a “philosophy of a prosperous life” that belongs to ordinary people. I have always believed that wealth should not be the privilege of a few, but the birthright of everyone.

Looking back over the development of human civilization, no system of thought that has endured for hundreds or even thousands of years was ever completed by its founder alone. From the dialogues of the ancient Greek philosophers, to the records kept by disciples and the later compilations found in religious scriptures, and on to the transmission and interpretation of ideas by thinkers across the ages, the ideas that truly change the world usually come from a group of people willing to understand, organize, spread, and practice them. For this reason, we have always welcomed all friends who share the CLEC vision to freely quote, compile, adapt, share, or spread the content of the channel. Because we believe that the greatest value of knowledge lies not in being possessed, but in being passed on. If one day the ideas from our channel can continue to be passed forward through your words, your talks, your teaching, or even your children, that will be CLEC’s most valuable achievement.

That this book could come into being owes a special debt to the efforts of Blaise. He excels at data analysis and the organizing of knowledge, and he has taken the vast body of content the CLEC channel has accumulated over the years, from investment philosophy, asset allocation, and risk management, to life values and the philosophy of happiness, and systematically organized and restructured it, so that knowledge once scattered across hundreds of videos, lectures, and articles can now be presented to readers in a more complete and more readable form. I believe this is currently the most complete book expounding the CLEC investment philosophy.

Yet if you think this book is merely a book about investing, then you may have misunderstood its true core. Because what we pursue our whole lives has never been wealth, but happiness. Wealth is only a tool, not the goal. Many people believe they will be happy once they achieve financial freedom, but the truth is that before achieving financial freedom, a person needs a philosophy of happiness by which to settle body and soul; and once truly financially free, one needs yet another philosophy of happiness by which to settle body and soul. The former teaches you how to walk toward freedom; the latter teaches you how to live once you are free.

Following the investment approach we have long promoted, becoming wealthy is in fact a very simple matter. As we often say: “Wealth is a birthright.” As long as you are willing to understand the operating laws of capitalism, willing to hold excellent assets, and willing to give time the room to let compounding work, most people can gradually walk toward wealth. What is truly difficult has never been how to earn more money, but who exactly you want to become once you have more and more wealth.

For this reason, I often encourage everyone: always look at the present from the vantage point of the future. If the future you already possesses tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even more wealth, then what should today’s you most be doing? Are you fulfilling the life’s work you genuinely want to complete? Are you accompanying the people who truly matter? Are you doing the things that, even at the final moment of life, you would feel no regret over? We have seen far too many people who successfully accumulated enormous assets, yet in the end were left with even more regrets; and we have seen many people whose wealth was not staggering, yet who lived lives that others envy. So living in the present, cherishing the present, and being happy in the present is far more important than the accumulated numbers themselves.

The contents of this book are quite complete. In the future I also hope to further divide the important content within it into different themes, forming a more in-depth series of works. For example, “The Billion-Dollar Investment Lecture” would be well suited as an introductory text for the general investor; while for friends who enjoy data verification and in-depth research, there is also room in the future for more specialized, advanced theoretical books exploring asset allocation, leveraged funds, and risk control; and going a step further, investors in this era of globalization also need more complete cross-border investment knowledge, including the tax laws of various countries, cross-border tax planning, securities-backed loans, and retirement withdrawal systems.

Yet if I could recommend only one part of this book for you to read, I would suggest you study closely the chapters in the latter half that discuss life. Because what they discuss is no longer merely investing, but life itself. What they discuss is anxiety, freedom, work, human relationships, legacy, independent thinking, the separation of tasks, and the final destination of life. That is perhaps the true essence of this book, and it is also the foundation for living that the CLEC investing and personal-finance channel most wants to convey to everyone.

Investing can in fact be very simple. You do not necessarily need to use leveraged funds, nor do you necessarily need to learn about securities-backed loans. Everyone can build an asset allocation suited to themselves according to their own needs, age, risk tolerance, and life goals. As your seasoning in the market gradually grows, it is never too late to slowly come to understand the knowledge of leverage, pledging, and risk management. Once your financial intelligence gradually matures, you will naturally know which tools suit you and which do not, and you will be better able to avoid falling into the plight of bankruptcy for lack of understanding of risk.

Finally, I again thank Blaise for the long hours devoted to the work of organizing and compiling, and I also thank the Chengfeng Linghang website for its long-standing promotion of and support for the vision of the CLEC investing and personal-finance channel. This book is not an end point, but a beginning. I look forward to more people joining this journey of awakening in the future, to understand capitalism together, to make good use of capitalism, and ultimately to transcend capitalism.

May you not only become wealthy, but may you become a person who is free, happy, and full of love and wisdom.

James
CLEC investing and personal-finance channel