Here’s a painful question—if you had 1 million in 2015 and put it into different baskets, how much would you have left now?

Let’s look at the legendary performers first:
Nvidia skyrocketed, now worth 220 million on paper. Bitcoin also exploded, landing you 230 million—these two are definitely decade-long wealth machines. Tesla isn’t quite as wild, but 24 million is enough to make you smile in your sleep. Apple steadily delivered 11 million, Moutai held strong for the liquor believers at 9 million, and the Nasdaq’s 5 million proves the US stock market’s long bull run is no joke.

Now for what regular people can accept:
Gold preserved value at 3.5 million, beating inflation. Real estate in first-tier cities doubled to 2 million. Government bonds and bank deposits are stuck at 1.3 million—losing to both housing prices and inflation. The CSI 300 is down to just 1.2 million, properties in lower-tier cities stayed flat, and steel stocks did even worse, struggling between 800,000 and 1 million.

The most tragic? Friends who went all-in on P2P a decade ago can’t even recover their principal—completely wiped out.

This is the compounding game of time and choices. Picking the right track can truly change your destiny.