I flipped through my investment records from ten years ago and suddenly realized a harsh truth—if I had thrown 1 million into different baskets back then, looking at them now, it’s really a case of some laughing and some crying.

The two most impressive? Nvidia shot straight up to 220 million, and Bitcoin wasn’t far behind, sitting at 230 million. Thinking about those friends who used to advise me “don’t touch those monster stocks or coins,” they’re probably kicking themselves now. Tesla is a bit more low-key, but 24 million is still enough to make you wake up smiling from a dream. Among tech stocks, Apple is the steady performer, and a report card of 11 million is nothing to be ashamed of.

Looking at traditional assets, Kweichow Moutai held at 9 million, which at least gives A-shares some dignity. The Nasdaq Index grew to 5 million—this shows the gap in the markets: the US stock market is over four times the CSI 300, which only climbed to 1.2 million.

The most painful part comes next: gold, at 3.5 million, easily outperformed first-tier city real estate at 2 million. Those who leveraged up to buy houses back then, looking back now, would have been better off hoarding gold bars. As for real estate in third- and fourth-tier cities? Basically treading water—1 million is just pocket change.

And the worst? Those who put their money in the bank or bought government bonds—after ten years, they’re only at 1.3 million, not even beating inflation. Steel stocks are even more ridiculous, hovering between 800,000 and 1 million, basically a waste of time.

After crunching these numbers, the conclusion is pretty clear: gold is indeed stronger than real estate, government bonds are the same as deposits (just keeping pace), and the Nasdaq crushes A-shares. As for Bitcoin and Nvidia? That’s a whole different dimension of the game; those who could play are already financially free, and those who couldn’t are still hesitating about whether to get on board.