# A High-Value Investment Guidebook
> Get the most long-term real return, lower volatility, tax and fee savings, and avoidance of total loss — at the cost of the least fees, taxes, time, effort, and permanent loss of principal.
[中文](../README.md) · **English** · [Русский](README.ru.md) · [Español](README.es.md) · [Português](README.pt.md) · [Deutsch](README.de.md) · [Tiếng Việt](README.vi.md)
An **evidence-based investment handbook** — 24 chapters, 302 entries. Every recommendation spells out:
- **What it costs you** (fees / taxes / time / effort / permanent loss of principal)
- **What you get back** (long-term real annualized return / lower volatility / tax & fee savings / avoidance of total loss)
- **How strong the evidence is** [A authoritative statistics · top-tier journals · official documents | B individual studies · institutional reports | C reasonable inference · regulations]
- **Original sources**: only academic journal papers and official documents are cited — never self-media or marketing accounts
  
---
| | |
|---|---|
| **English edition (full translation)** | [Search page](en/index.html) · [Offline single-file HTML](en/offline.html) · [EPUB](../HowToInvestBetter-en.epub) · [PDF](../HowToInvestBetter-en.pdf) · [Print PDF 6×9 (for KDP paperback)](../HowToInvestBetter-en-print.pdf) · [eBook cover](../cover-book-en.png) · [Paperback wrap](../cover-paperback-en.pdf) |
| **Chinese edition** | Distributed as a separate volume: [PDF](../HowToInvestBetter.pdf) · [EPUB](../HowToInvestBetter.epub) · [Offline HTML](../index.html) |
| **Browse** | [English search page](en/index.html) · [Contents](#contents) · [Evidence grading](#evidence) |
| **Long read** | [Full-book introduction](../GUIDE.md) (why this book was written / the Three-Zeros principle / the evidence system / chapter map) |
| **Source content** | The Markdown files under [`en/book/`](../en/book/), readable online directly and also the data source for the English search page |
| **Other languages** | [English](README.en.md) · [Русский](README.ru.md) · [Español](README.es.md) · [Português](README.pt.md) · [Deutsch](README.de.md) · [Tiếng Việt](README.vi.md) |
| **Publishing (Amazon KDP)** | English Edition field sheet [`KDP-英文版填报表.md`](../KDP-英文版填报表.md) (copy-paste title / subtitle / description / keywords / categories / pricing + upload assets) · step-by-step upload guide [`KDP-上传操作指南.md`](../KDP-上传操作指南.md) · strategy & competitor analysis [`AMAZON-上架方案.md`](../AMAZON-上架方案.md) |
---
## Questions This Book Answers
| Question | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Why do most people underperform the market over the long run? What are retail investors' real returns? | [Chapter 1. Don't Lose Outside Your Circle of Competence](en/book/01-Dont-Lose-Outside-Your-Circle.md) |
| How much of my returns do brokerage fees, management fees, and taxes eat away in total? | [Chapter 2. Don't Get Eaten by Fees and Taxes](en/book/02-Fees-and-Taxes.md) |
| How do I cure chasing rallies, panic-selling, and bailing out at the first sign of profit? | [Chapter 3. Don't Get Sabotaged by Yourself (Behavioral Biases)](en/book/03-Behavioral-Biases.md) |
| Is there a worry-free yet effective approach that doesn't require watching the market or picking stocks? | [Chapter 4. Don't Waste Time and Energy (The Effortless Path)](en/book/04-Passive-and-Hands-Off.md) |
| Stocks, bonds, gold, REITs… how much does each earn long-term, and how volatile are they? | [Chapter 5. Asset Class Cheat Sheet](en/book/05-Asset-Quick-Reference.md) |
| How do I instantly spot "can't-lose" products promising 8% or 10% returns? | [Chapter 6. Don't Step on Scams and Red Lines](en/book/06-Scams-and-Red-Lines.md) |
| With little money and little time, which few things should I do first for the biggest payoff? | [Chapter 7. Genuinely Worthwhile Moves (The High-Value Checklist)](en/book/07-Cost-Effective-Moves.md) |
| Which accounts save on taxes? How are capital gains and dividends actually taxed? | [Chapter 8. Tax-Advantaged Accounts](en/book/08-Tax-Advantaged-Accounts.md) |
| How should allocation differ at 20, 30, 40, and 50? | [Chapter 9. Life-Stage Allocation](en/book/09-Life-Stages.md) |
| What are the things I should simply never do? | [Chapter 10. The Don't-Do List](en/book/10-The-Dont-Do-List.md) |
| What are the pitfalls and hard rules around A-share IPO subscriptions, price limits, delistings, and margin trading? | [Chapter 11. China A-Share Practical Playbook](en/book/11-A-Share-Practical-Playbook.md) |
| How do you actually compute compounding, fee erosion, and real annualized returns? | [Chapter 12. The Cold Calculator](en/book/12-The-Cold-Calculator.md) |
| How much should I save for retirement? Is the personal pension account worth opening? | [Chapter 13. Retirement Planning](en/book/13-Retirement.md) |
| How do I buy insurance without getting ripped off? Which products are traps dressed up as wealth management? | [Chapter 14. Insurance Allocation](en/book/14-Insurance.md) |
| Should I pay off my mortgage early? Does buying a home even count as an investment? | [Chapter 15. Property and Debt](en/book/15-Housing-and-Debt.md) |
| Can I trust finance influencers, "insider tips," and stock-picking groups? | [Chapter 16. Spotting Misinformation](en/book/16-Spotting-Misinformation.md) |
| How do interest rates, inflation, and exchange rates affect my money? | [Chapter 17. Macroeconomics and Cycles](en/book/17-Macro-Cycles.md) |
| Which is my real "principal" — my job income or my investment returns? | [Chapter 18. Human Capital: Your Biggest Asset and Source of Principal](en/book/18-Human-Capital.md) |
| What if I can't save? Does bookkeeping actually help? | [Chapter 19. Spending and Budgeting](en/book/19-Spending-and-Budgeting.md) |
| What do I do when a crash, job loss, or black swan suddenly hits? | [Chapter 20. Extreme Scenarios and Black Swans](en/book/20-Extreme-Scenarios.md) |
| With thousands of funds, how do I pick out the few worth owning? | [Chapter 21. How to Actually Pick Funds](en/book/21-Fund-Selection-in-Practice.md) |
| Why can bond funds lose money too? Are money-market funds actually principal-protected? | [Chapter 22. Fixed-Income Details](en/book/22-Fixed-Income-Details.md) |
| Should I allocate overseas? How do I use QDII and the Hong Kong Stock Connect? | [Chapter 23. Global and ETF Allocation](en/book/23-Global-and-ETF-Allocation.md) |
| Why should ordinary people avoid options, leveraged ETFs, and snowball notes? | [Chapter 24. Derivatives and Leverage Risk](en/book/24-Derivatives-and-Leverage-Risks.md) |
## How to Read This
- **You don't have to do it all**: This is a cost-ranked menu of options, not a to-do list. Take one or two items and it counts; leave the rest and come back when you need them.
- **The Three-Zeros principle (the highest-value hard standard)**: An action counts as "Three Zeros" if **cost = none, time = none, willpower = none** — all three costs are zero. Exactly 16 entries meet this strictly (e.g., "don't touch illiquid alternative assets you don't understand," "reinvest dividends," "keep emergency cash in a money-market fund," "sweep up idle cash with reverse repos," "open a personal pension account for the tax break," "use the 4% rule to estimate your retirement gap"), so do them first without overthinking. Many more actions fall in the high-value tier of "two zeros and one very low cost" — on the search page you can filter by "cost / time / willpower" set to "none" to dig them out.
- **Want to filter by criteria**: Open the [English search page](en/index.html) (or the fully offline [en/offline.html](en/offline.html)), filter by keyword, chapter, or evidence level, and also by the three dimensions of "does it cost money / how much time / does it take willpower," which can be stacked together. The page content is drawn directly from the `en/book/` source files, so it updates the moment the content changes.
- **Entries cross-reference each other** ("see entry 17 in Chapter 8," etc.): On the search page, a reference shows as a dashed line; click it to reveal the referenced entry's title and plain-language summary right there.
- **Want to read in order**: Within each chapter, entries are ranked from highest to lowest value, so just start with the first few.
- **Want to read offline or share it**: Open the [offline single-file HTML](en/offline.html); the whole book — including search and filtering — lives in that one file. Double-click to open; no server or internet needed.
- **Want to read on a Kindle or other e-reader**: Open the [EPUB ebook](../HowToInvestBetter-en.epub); it opens in Apple Books, WeChat Reading, calibre, or Kindle.
- **Want a print / paperback feel**: Open the [PDF](../HowToInvestBetter-en.pdf), or use the [6×9 print PDF](../HowToInvestBetter-en-print.pdf) for KDP paperback submission.
- **Don't be put off by chapter titles starting with "Don't"**: The title names what that chapter helps you avoid; the actual actions to take are in the entry titles (which start with a verb).
- **Can't read the numbers?**: Every entry has a "plain-language" line that rewrites the research jargon of the "return" column into everyday language — that one line is enough to make your decision.
- **Honest labeling**: Where a conclusion has limits or a contrary view, we mark it `[Contested]`; every entry states its evidence level (A / B / C).
## Table of Contents
The English main text is split by chapter into multiple files under `en/book/`; click a chapter name to enter.
- [Chapter 1. Don't Lose Outside Your Circle of Competence](en/book/01-Dont-Lose-Outside-Your-Circle.md)
- [Chapter 2. Don't Get Eaten by Fees and Taxes](en/book/02-Fees-and-Taxes.md)
- [Chapter 3. Don't Get Sabotaged by Yourself (Behavioral Biases)](en/book/03-Behavioral-Biases.md)
- [Chapter 4. Don't Waste Time and Energy (The Effortless Path)](en/book/04-Passive-and-Hands-Off.md)
- [Chapter 5. Asset Class Cheat Sheet](en/book/05-Asset-Quick-Reference.md)
- [Chapter 6. Don't Step on Scams and Red Lines](en/book/06-Scams-and-Red-Lines.md)
- [Chapter 7. Genuinely Worthwhile Moves (The High-Value Checklist)](en/book/07-Cost-Effective-Moves.md)
- [Chapter 8. Tax-Advantaged Accounts](en/book/08-Tax-Advantaged-Accounts.md)
- [Chapter 9. Life-Stage Allocation](en/book/09-Life-Stages.md)
- [Chapter 10. The Don't-Do List](en/book/10-The-Dont-Do-List.md)
- [Chapter 11. China A-Share Practical Playbook](en/book/11-A-Share-Practical-Playbook.md)
- [Chapter 12. The Cold Calculator](en/book/12-The-Cold-Calculator.md)
- [Chapter 13. Retirement Planning](en/book/13-Retirement.md)
- [Chapter 14. Insurance Allocation](en/book/14-Insurance.md)
- [Chapter 15. Property and Debt](en/book/15-Housing-and-Debt.md)
- [Chapter 16. Spotting Misinformation](en/book/16-Spotting-Misinformation.md)
- [Chapter 17. Macroeconomics and Cycles](en/book/17-Macro-Cycles.md)
- [Chapter 18. Human Capital: Your Biggest Asset and Source of Principal](en/book/18-Human-Capital.md)
- [Chapter 19. Spending and Budgeting](en/book/19-Spending-and-Budgeting.md)
- [Chapter 20. Extreme Scenarios and Black Swans](en/book/20-Extreme-Scenarios.md)
- [Chapter 21. How to Actually Pick Funds](en/book/21-Fund-Selection-in-Practice.md)
- [Chapter 22. Fixed-Income Details](en/book/22-Fixed-Income-Details.md)
- [Chapter 23. Global and ETF Allocation](en/book/23-Global-and-ETF-Allocation.md)
- [Chapter 24. Derivatives and Leverage Risk](en/book/24-Derivatives-and-Leverage-Risks.md)
## Build Your Own Copy
Most people don't need to deploy anything: just open [en/index.html](en/index.html) (search page) or [en/offline.html](en/offline.html) (fully offline single file) in a browser.
To regenerate the search page from the `en/book/` source files, run:
```
python3 tools/build_en.py # regenerates en/data.js + en/offline.html, runs field/lint checks
```
The English search page is purely static; `en/book/` and `en/data.js` are its data — no backend, no database, no dependencies to install.
**Regenerate the English data** (after editing `en/book/`):
```
python3 tools/build_en.py # regenerates en/data.js + en/offline.html, runs field/lint checks
```
**Generate the English EPUB ebook**:
```
python3 tools/build_en_epub.py # -> HowToInvestBetter-en.epub (standard library only)
```
**Generate the English PDF ebook** (for print / paperback):
```
pip install reportlab
python3 tools/build_en_pdf.py # -> HowToInvestBetter-en.pdf (A4)
python3 tools/build_en_pdf.py --print # -> HowToInvestBetter-en-print.pdf (6x9, KDP paperback)
```
**Generate the English KDP covers** (eBook cover, paperback full wrap, social card):
```
pip install pillow
python3 tools/gen_cover_en.py # -> cover-book-en.png, cover-paperback-en.pdf/.png, en-cover.png
```
The paperback spine is computed from the interior page count, so re-run `gen_cover_en.py` whenever the page count changes. The Chinese edition has its own `tools/build.py`, `tools/build_epub.py`, `tools/build_pdf.py`, `tools/gen_cover.py`, `tools/gen_cover_paperback.py`.
## How Evidence Is Graded
- [A] Authoritative long-term statistics (S&P SPIVA, exchange yearbooks), randomized/longitudinal studies in top journals, official regulatory documents.
- [B] Individual high-quality studies, backtest reports from authoritative institutions (Vanguard / Dalbar / Ibbotson), classic papers.
- [C] Reasonable inference / broad consensus — logically sound but not force-fit to a precise citation.
Current distribution: 136 entries at Level A, 106 at Level B, 60 at Level C.
> **Verification status**: In this version every figure has been checked against official documents or authoritative research; the text contains no unverified `[To verify]` entries. Where a conclusion has limits or a contrary view, it is still marked `[Contested]`.
## Copyright
Copyright © 2026 leo. All rights reserved.
This guide is an independently written, evidence-based methodology handbook and is not investment advice from any institution or individual; all citations follow each organization's latest official releases.
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*Disclaimer: This guide is a methodology handbook, not investment advice, and does not constitute a recommendation of any financial product or strategy. Markets carry risk; decisions require independent judgment and consultation with a licensed professional. All citations follow each organization's latest official releases.*