In the past few days, I’ve seen two messages all over my feed. One is about a man who runs a chain restaurant and lost $45 million. The other is about the boxer Zou Cong, who went from a net worth of several hundred million to debt—everyone is discussing and analyzing the reasons.

But in the end, no matter how much people analyze, it can’t beat the simplest truth: when wealth reaches a certain level, for 99% of people, all the things they do afterwards can only end up back at the same point—namely, guarding wealth, not proving yourself again by trying to get even more wealth.

When God gives you a huge pile of wealth, for more than 90% of people, he’ll end up “fiddling” less and less. Only a tiny number will stand out—where the wealth keeps rolling in their hands and gets bigger and bigger.

These are the results I’ve seen after more than 20 years in Shenzhen’s business scene, from countless cases. I’ve started businesses in several industries. Basically, whenever wealthy people around me rise, they also fall, like so many fish in an open river. The ones who can keep wealth and retire, it’s like getting into 985—among hundreds of people, only a few.

Starting a business is easy; maintaining it is hard. Starting a business is more about luck and insight—can a pig fly when the sealing comes?

But maintaining a business requires wisdom, resolve, restraint, and risk control—blocking temptation. These are exactly the things that test people the most.

When you start a business from nothing, everything has to be built by yourself. When you hold assets while maintaining the business, all kinds of people and all kinds of projects come knocking—there are traps everywhere. At this point, you’ll become greedy and want to make money faster, more, and with less effort.

Starting a business relies on momentum. If you keep pushing upward, it stimulates your dopamine release. But maintaining a business relies on suppressing desire. For most people, once they’ve made money, their desire and mindset will inflate. It’s like a eunuch who has gotten hold of a beautiful woman—he’ll have thoughts. So saying “suppress desire” and “have the discipline to stay steady” is very difficult.

The times are always changing. Just because you made money before doesn’t mean your old experience can open up new markets. Back then, successful methods would become outdated within three or five years. But the ones who keep it hidden until victory won’t think the water has stopped flowing; constantly paddling in the old direction to ask for a boat is useless. Once your era is over, even if you’re capable before, you can’t conquer both old and new markets. People who are used to success don’t have that awareness.

Seeing these two people’s experiences, I want to tell everyone: when you’ve earned the amount of wealth you want, you truly only do one thing—protect and守住财富, because protecting wealth is more challenging to human nature than creating wealth, with greater difficulty—most people won’t realize it. Many people think that when they were starting a business, even if it was thousands of difficulties, they could endure them. But now that things are going smoothly, life is so comfortable, and you have such a large capital base—shouldn’t it be even easier to just take it and go?

The moment I got home today, I put the framed calligraphy “守成保业” at the entrance where you come in, and when we sat down for dinner, I told my family: Do you know that “holding the results and protecting the family business” will be a lifelong lesson for me going forward? This lesson is difficult. You must supervise me and make sure my thoughts never slide down the slope.

Maintaining a business requires more than starting one. Making money depends on opportunity; keeping wealth depends on wisdom. Every person who has money—once they have money—must grow wisdom.