Recently, I’ve been thinking: many people say investing is only worth considering if you have a few million. But that idea is already outdated. Look at today’s prices—rent, food, and all kinds of expenses are going up, while bank interest rates are only 2.2%, which basically can’t beat inflation. For us small-time investors, saving up to 1 million might take years, but saving 100,000 is something you can achieve with some effort.

The key is: don’t underestimate this 100,000. It’s not just money—it’s a weapon against inflation. Investing doesn’t require a huge principal. Instead, it’s like running a business: you need planning, the right projects, and enough time. So today, I want to talk with everyone about what you can buy with 100,000 and how to make it truly work for you.

First, you need to get one thing clear: only invest with spare money. This money can’t be something you need for living essentials, because the prices of investment assets naturally go up and down. If you happen to need the money when prices fall, you’ll only be able to sell at a loss. That’s why keeping records is important—treat yourself like a company, understand your income and expenses, squeeze out a stable, free cash flow. That’s the foundation for investing with confidence.

After you have 100,000, ask yourself: what is my goal? Everyone’s answer is different. For office workers, regular periodic investing in financial products is the most suitable option, so you don’t have to watch price fluctuations all day. Retirees need stable cash flow to cover living expenses. For small-time investors, you can reverse-engineer your investment strategy based on your spending—if you need to pay your phone bill and utilities every month, then you can choose dividend funds or high-yield ETFs. Many funds’ distributions can reach 7–8% right now. If you invest 100,000, you could receive 7,000–8,000 per year in distributions—about 600–700 per month—which just happens to cover communication costs.

If your goal is to buy a phone or travel abroad, you may need 30,000–40,000 in capital—that means generating a 30–40% return from the initial 100,000. This isn’t something you can do with just “buy-and-hold dividend stocks.” You’ll need a more active strategy, such as swing trading. The advantage of a small amount of capital is flexibility: you can move like a nomad—invest wherever there’s an opportunity, and entering and exiting won’t shake the market.

These days, the barriers for trading platforms are very low. You can buy US stocks, indices, precious metals, or even cryptocurrencies without needing too much capital, and you can also use leverage to amplify returns. As long as you get the direction right and use your turnover rate to improve your return, you can accumulate principal quickly. At the same time, put your income from work into the mix as well. With compounding, your assets can grow like a snowball. Increasing turnover appropriately and using leverage appropriately are what allow wealth accumulation to outpace expectations.

When it comes to specific investment methods, I think you should choose based on your situation. Small-time investors with stable jobs may have time but slow principal growth—so dividend funds or high-yield ETFs are usually the best fit. They trade time for “space.” These investments seek stability; and when the underlying assets can generate steady cash flow, you’ll feel a strong sense of achievement. Over the long term, the distributions can even exceed your salary.

If you’re in a high-income group—doctors or engineers, for example—people whose main jobs are busy and who don’t have time to monitor the market constantly, you can consider ETFs that track broad market indices. For example, Taiwan’s 0050 tracks Taiwan’s 50 largest companies. In the United States, SPY tracks the 500 largest companies. The benefit of index investing is that it automatically helps “weed out the weak and keep the strong.” Looking at it long-term, the returns are usually quite attractive. The S&P 500 has achieved an average annual return of as high as 8–10% over the past 100 years. Compared with a 5% US dollar fixed deposit, if you invest 10 years, 100 would yield 10 per year; after 10 years, you could get back 236. If it’s 5% per year, after 10 years you’d have only 155. The difference is astonishing.

Of course, the stock market involves risk. The stock market has fallen during events such as the 2000 internet bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and global inflation in 2022—so the stock market has dropped in each of these cases. Although after falling, markets rebounded and even reached new highs, if you need to use money in the middle of the downturn, you can only cut losses. This kind of long-term investing is better suited to people who have higher income and strong risk tolerance.

If you have plenty of time—like students or people in sales—you can try to capture trends and volatility and use turnover to build wealth. For instance, as the US rate-hike cycle is about to peak, it will inevitably turn toward rate cuts, and possibly even QE. With more US dollar supply, after the final rate hike, shorting the US dollar could have a very high probability of success. A falling US dollar would also stimulate cryptocurrencies, so going long on cryptocurrencies during that period is also a good idea. Also, the stock market has “hot themes” every so often. Stocks related to those themes have room to rise—AI theme stocks are the best example.

When it comes to specific targets, I will categorize future assets into four roles. Defensive assets, like gold, don’t pay dividends themselves, but they can hedge against inflation and currency depreciation. When the economy is unstable, their safe-haven characteristics are especially obvious. Large gold price increases mainly happened in 2019-2020 and 2023-2025, corresponding to uncertainties such as the COVID-19 pandemic, rate cuts, and events like the US war in Ukraine and Russia’s war—i.e., the Russia-Ukraine war.

Transformational assets, like Bitcoin, are no longer just pure speculative tools. It is now included in ETFs, sovereign funds, and corporate balance sheets. Its role is shifting toward being a digital reserve asset. Over the past 10 years, Bitcoin’s price has risen dramatically. Even though it has pulled back somewhat today, the long-term logic still remains.

Growth assets refer to companies that, over the next few years, have the potential to continue growing revenue and profits at a high speed. For example, NVIDIA is a leader in AI computing. GPUs and data center platforms are core infrastructure for large AI models. It has strong integration capabilities across both software and hardware, allowing it to maintain technical advantages and margins. TSMC is a leader in semiconductor foundry manufacturing and provides the foundational support for AI, the metaverse, and automation industry chains. It has technological leadership and works closely with major AI firms. NextEra Energy is one of the largest green power and power grid integration companies in the US. It has natural advantages in scale and regulation. In the coming decade, AI-driven electricity demand is expected to surge, and the investment logic for power and grid infrastructure is more robust than just pure solar or wind power.

Cornerstone assets’ job is to make sure you’re not left behind by the world. 0056 is Taiwan’s most well-known high-dividend ETF. Over the past 10 years, it has distributed a total of 60%, and its stock price has risen 40%. At this pace, if you invest 100,000 over 10 years, the principal could increase by about 40,000. With an average annual distribution of 6,000, if you save 100,000 every year, then after 13 years your annual distribution could reach 100,000. After 25 years, your annual distribution would be over 220,000—by then, retirement life would be very comfortable.

SPY mainly tracks the 500 strongest companies in the US. Over the past 10 years, its stock price rose from 201 to 434, for a return of 116%. Its average annual dividend is about 1.1%, while principal growth is about 8%. Although the dividend is relatively low, its ability to grow capital gains is unbeatable. As long as you believe the US economy won’t collapse, this is the most solid tool for long-term wealth appreciation.

In the end, many investing methods don’t require huge amounts. You can participate regularly with just a few thousand. As long as you have good investment thinking, these are all valuable targets. What you need is enough patience to wait for compounding, or enough time to research entry and exit timing. With all three in place, becoming a small millionaire or small millionaire (small business owner) is just around the corner.