How to double a principal of 100,000 in a short time? The three secrets to rapid wealth growth for small investors

In the Era of Inflation, Is Your Money Truly Losing Value?

Have you noticed that prices have been rising especially fast over the past year? Eggs have doubled from 5 to 10, coffee from 30 to 40, and rental costs are climbing year after year. Mortgage interest rates have soared from 1.31% during the pandemic to 2.2% now. For a ten-million mortgage, just the difference in interest rates amounts to about ###90,000 more per year.

This is not an illusion but a real decline in purchasing power. In this era, not investing means passively losing money. But investing isn’t as complicated as it seems; the core is three things: correct mindset, suitable targets, ample time.

How to Start with 100,000? First, Understand Your Cash Flow

Many people don’t know what to do after saving their first 100,000. Actually, the first step isn’t to invest immediately but to manage your finances like running a business.

Accounting is definitely not a trivial matter. Through bookkeeping, you can see clearly how much your fixed monthly expenses are, which money is “dead money” (spent every month), and which is “active money” that can be invested. For example, your monthly phone bill of 500, electricity bill of 1000—these are dead money; but if you only travel abroad once a year and spend 50,000, this amount can be accumulated through investments.

Only by understanding this can you find suitable investment options. Different expenses require different investment approaches.

Choose Investment Methods Based on Your Life Stage

Working Professionals: Use Dividend-Producing Assets to Give Yourself a Raise

If you work a 9-to-5 job, the best approach is to choose stable dividend-paying assets. For example, Taiwan’s high-dividend ETF 0056, which has paid out 60% in dividends over the past 10 years and has a 40% increase in stock price, effectively doubling your assets.

Following this logic, if you invest 100,000 annually and persist for 13 years, you can receive 100,000 in dividends every year; after 25 years, dividends could exceed 220,000. It’s like building an extra pension fund for yourself. The key is, this method doesn’t require watching the market or analyzing charts, causing no interference with your main job.

High-Income Earners: Use Index ETFs to Harness Compound Dividends

If you are a doctor, engineer, or other high-income professional, the best choice is to track major market ETFs, such as the US SPY (which tracks the S&P 500). Over the past 10 years, SPY has increased by 116%, with an average compound annual return of about 8%.

The beauty of this index is that it automatically “winnows out the weak and keeps the strong.” When a company declines, it is replaced by a stronger one. The S&P 500’s average return over the past 100 years has been 8~10%. To put it in numbers: investing 100,000 with a 5% annual dividend yields 5,000 per year; after 10 years, it becomes 1.55 million. But if you choose to grow at 10% annually through compounding, after 10 years, it will reach 2.36 million—a difference of a full principal.

Risk Warning: The stock market is volatile. The dot-com bubble in 2000, the 2008 financial crisis, the pandemic in 2020, and inflation in 2022 all caused major declines. But history shows each time it rebounded. So this method is only suitable for those with stable income and strong risk resistance.

Those with Plenty of Time: Use Short-term Themes to Make Quick Money

Students, salespeople, and others with relatively free time can consider more aggressive strategies. This isn’t investing but speculation—tracking hot topics and market sentiment swings.

For example, if the government announces open travel, tourism stocks will be hyped; if AI technology makes a breakthrough, tech stocks will surge. By getting ahead of news and information, you can follow the big funds’ moves. But the premise is to spend time monitoring the market and researching trends—not a passive “buy and hold” approach.

How to Choose 5 Specific Targets?

Gold: The Best Hedge Against Inflation

Gold pays no dividends; its returns come solely from price differences. Over the past 10 years, gold has increased by 53%, averaging 4.4% annually. Major gold price surges tend to occur during unstable economic periods—such as mid-2019 to mid-2020 (pandemic outbreak), and 2023 to 2024 (geopolitical tensions).

Gold’s true value lies in fighting inflation. When other assets fluctuate, gold can always protect your purchasing power.

Bitcoin: A Highly Volatile Speculative Asset

Bitcoin also pays no dividends, but its price swings are much more dramatic than gold. Over the past 10 years, Bitcoin has risen 170 times, but such gains cannot be infinitely repeated—don’t expect another 170-fold increase in the future.

Bitcoin’s ups and downs depend on market sentiment and policy changes. Recent positives include halving events, spot ETF launches, and geopolitical events. Currently, Bitcoin is priced at $92.54K, offering short-term trading opportunities. But long-term, it’s advisable to buy at lows and reduce holdings at highs, avoiding overexposure.

Taiwan High-Yield ETF (0056): Stable Dividend Machine

0056 is Taiwan’s most well-known high-dividend ETF, with a 60% dividend payout and 40% stock price increase over 10 years. Its yield has remained stable around 4% for years, so the next 10 years should yield similar returns.

Investing 100,000 over 10 years, with 40,000 principal added, and an average annual dividend of 6,000, sounds modest. But if you keep adding 100,000 each year, after 13 years, dividends alone can generate 100,000 annually; after 25 years, annual dividends could exceed 220,000. It’s like establishing a steady cash flow for yourself.

US ETF (SPY): The Ultimate Weapon for Compound Growth

SPY tracks the top 500 US companies, with a dividend yield of only 1.6% (1.1% after tax), mainly benefiting from asset appreciation. Over the past 10 years, its price rose from 201 to 434, a 116% increase.

Investing 100,000 yields 1,100 annually; after 10 years, the asset becomes 216,000. The dividends seem small, but if you hold for 30 years, this 100,000 can grow to 1 million. Over 30 years, cumulative investments reach 3 million, and the final assets can reach 12.23 million.

This is the power of compound interest—almost no risk along the way, provided you have stable income to keep reinvesting. As Warren Buffett said, as long as the US dollar remains the global settlement currency, the US will not go bankrupt, and assets will steadily grow.

Berkshire Hathaway Stock: The Holy Grail for Compound Investors

Berkshire Hathaway, led by the stock wizard Warren Buffett, has a highly replicable profit logic: accumulating cash through insurance companies and then engaging in low-interest arbitrage.

For example, if the company is optimistic about a market, it issues low-interest bonds at 0.5% locally and uses the proceeds to buy local stocks or bonds. As long as dividend yields exceed 0.5%, it can profit steadily. This logic won’t change with Buffett’s passing; as long as the management strategy remains, compound growth will continue.

The Key Secrets to Rapid Wealth Accumulation

The essence of investing is the triad of “mindset, targets, and time.” There’s no single best investment method—only the one that suits you best.

Advice for Young People:

• If you have ample time and good income, prioritize long-term compound tools like SPY or Berkshire Hathaway
• If your income is unstable, choose stable dividend assets like 0056 to build cash flow
• If you want to quickly accumulate principal, consider deploying Bitcoin or gold at lows and reducing at highs

The key is choosing the right method for yourself and sticking with it. Because time is the best multiplier of investment returns. As long as your mindset is correct, targets are suitable, and time is sufficient, becoming a small millionaire is not a dream but an inevitable result.