The Quick Way to Make Money in the Era of Inflation: A Complete Guide from Work to Investment

In an era of excessive money supply and rising prices, how to effectively accumulate wealth has become a serious consideration for everyone. Making quick money is no longer just a desire; it’s a necessary strategy to combat asset depreciation. But to truly grow wealth, the key isn’t blindly chasing speed, but understanding the logic and risks involved.

Preconditions for Making Quick Money: Your Capital Size Determines Your Strategy

To talk about making quick money, first recognize a reality: the same method can have vastly different results depending on your starting point.

For those with limited capital, increasing income is relatively easier. Suppose you only have 100,000 yuan; through side jobs or leveraged investments, doubling your assets to 200,000 isn’t particularly difficult. Because the base is small, even losses aren’t fatal, and you can gain experience through continuous attempts. Risk and opportunity go hand in hand, but overall, your capacity to bear risk is relatively strong.

However, for those already holding substantial assets, the situation is the opposite. Additional income from a part-time job is negligible relative to total wealth. To achieve rapid growth, high-risk investments are necessary. If a decision goes wrong, losses could wipe out a lifetime’s savings. That’s why some wealthy individuals are more cautious than ordinary people—they can’t afford big losses.

Simply put, the difficulty of making quick money depends entirely on your starting point. Less capital can actually be an advantage because of greater growth potential and lower failure costs.

Increasing Income and Cutting Expenses: The Twin Engines of Rapid Wealth Accumulation

To quickly build wealth, the most direct approach is to do two things simultaneously: increase income (source expansion) and control expenses (cost reduction).

Cutting costs is fundamental, starting with bookkeeping. Many people’s problem isn’t earning less, but spending wildly. By keeping detailed records for a few months, you’ll notice many unnecessary expenses. Carefully trimming these can immediately increase the funds available for investment.

Increasing income is the key, and it can be approached in two ways:

First route: Boost income through employment

Choosing the right industry and profession is crucial. In Taiwan, for example, with the same working hours and education, electrical engineering salaries are noticeably higher than business, which are higher than liberal arts. This reflects industry profit margins—more profitable companies pay higher wages.

But choosing the right industry alone isn’t enough. Fixed company salary increases are usually only 3–5% annually, far below inflation. The real way to rapidly increase salary is by changing jobs, which can often yield 10–20% raises each time. Therefore, maintaining good relationships with headhunters and regularly reassessing your market value is recommended.

Additionally, leveraging free time for side gigs can quickly boost income. Those without specialized skills can do delivery or labor jobs; professionals can take on freelance projects via Upwork, Fiverr, Pro360, etc. Others showcase talents through live streaming, YouTube channels, or columns to generate extra income. If you have unique resources or knowledge about certain products, purchasing for resale or opening online stores are also fast ways to accumulate initial capital.

Second route: Amplify returns through investment

Financial instruments like stocks, forex, cryptocurrencies, futures, and commodities offer various return opportunities. Many of these tools have built-in leverage, allowing you to control larger positions with less capital. With thorough analysis and strategic planning, it’s possible to accumulate significant wealth in a relatively short time.

The ideal approach is to pursue both simultaneously—work provides stable cash flow and a foundation of capital, while investments accelerate the growth of that capital. One offers steady income, the other potential high multiples. Combining both greatly speeds up asset growth compared to relying on just one.

Synergy of Work and Investment: Practical Examples

Many successful cases prove this strategy’s feasibility.

Take Terry, a well-known content creator and engineer in North America. His path to wealth exemplifies the dual-engine model. He maintains a stable high-paying engineering job, while leveraging his expertise for multiple investments. He runs a YouTube channel sharing tech and finance knowledge, takes freelance projects on platforms like Upwork, and even rents out his vehicle via car-sharing platforms. Each channel seems independent but all leverage his core skills to generate income.

Another impressive case is someone who built wealth purely through trading. During stock and crypto volatility, many “teenage stock gods” emerged. For example, a Taiwanese university economics student, Ah Han, said he grew his initial 150,000 yuan to over ten million in two years.

His systematic approach:

• First, he used demo trading to verify his strategies, a process taking 1–2 months or more.

• Next, he started with warrants, which are relatively controlled risk tools that can quickly grow capital. When his capital reached about 500,000 yuan, he switched to day trading to increase turnover and profits.

• Finally, once his assets hit 2–3 million, he moved to swing trading, which requires larger capital to generate substantial absolute gains.

This method isn’t limited to stocks; it applies to forex, crypto, and commodities. The key is to verify each step with simulation before risking real money.

Avoiding Risks: Hidden Costs of Making Quick Money

The most common mistake in trying to make quick money is over-leveraging.

Leverage seems perfect: if you have 100,000 yuan but borrow to buy 1 million yuan worth of assets, a 1% increase yields a 10,000 yuan profit (10% return on your capital). But a 1% decline results in a 10,000 yuan loss. Leverage amplifies both gains and losses. When losses reach a certain point, platforms often force liquidation, potentially wiping out your entire capital.

Day trading may seem to increase profits through higher turnover, but many traders are actually trading with borrowed funds, which is essentially leverage. Wrong judgments can lead to rapid, devastating losses.

Starting a live stream or online store may seem low-risk, but rushing for quick results can lead to spending on ads or inventory before having a competitive product, effectively creating hidden leverage—betting time and luck with money. When strategies fail, invested funds can be lost entirely.

The real risk of quick money often comes from using leverage to compensate for deficiencies—be it trading experience, market judgment, or product appeal. Using money to fill these gaps usually results in losing money.

From Simulation to Real Trading: The Progression Path

If you decide to pursue financial investments for quick wealth, follow a clear progression:

Step 1: Learning and simulation. Before real trading, use demo accounts extensively. Don’t just buy and sell; systematically test your strategies, record decision logic and results, and identify the boundaries of your approach.

Step 2: Small-scale trial. After verification, start real trading with small amounts. Avoid investing large sums at once; increase gradually while monitoring differences between simulated and real performance.

Step 3: Strict adherence to strategy. This is the hardest part. When real money is involved, human weaknesses tend to cause deviations—fear leads to premature stop-loss, greed to over-leverage. Only by strictly following your plan and regularly reviewing and adjusting can you avoid turning into a gambler.

Choosing suitable tools is also important. For example, CFD platforms offer leverage with built-in stop-loss features. Some platforms provide demo funds equivalent to $50,000, allowing you to experience real trading without risking actual capital. Negative balance protection ensures losses are limited, which is especially valuable for small investors using leverage.

The Complete Logic of Making Quick Money

In summary, the universal logic for quick wealth is:

Choose the right direction (high-paying industries, understanding market trends) → Build a foundation (work + bookkeeping to accumulate initial capital) → Advance both ways (stable income + investment to accelerate growth) → Continuously optimize (job hopping for higher wages, refining trading strategies) → Manage risks (use tools appropriately, avoid over-leverage)

Each step is essential. Some try to skip learning and simulation and jump straight into large investments, often resulting in rapid losses rather than gains. Others focus only on investing and neglect stable income, risking market reversals. Only by fully understanding your strengths, allocating resources wisely, and strictly controlling risks can quick wealth accumulation avoid becoming quick wealth loss.

Regardless of the path chosen, the core is to leverage your expertise and strengths rather than blindly follow trends. Those who succeed in making quick money are often not the smartest, but the most disciplined, patient, and diligent in their homework.