How can ordinary people establish their own investment systems?

In this era of information overload and increasingly volatile markets, if you still hope to invest by "listening to news" and "following the trend," it will not only be difficult to make money but also make it easier for you to become a target for others to exploit.
An ordinary person who wants to survive in the capital market and earn stable compound interest actually has no shortcuts. The truly long-term effective method is to establish a personal investment system, not a few lucky operations of getting the direction right, but a sustainable capability framework.
The construction of this system is not complicated, and it ultimately boils down to three steps:
Expand asset awareness → Find your matching position → Deeply research what you have invested in.
Step 1: Open the boundaries of asset awareness
When many people talk about investing, they think of nothing more than buying a house, trading stocks, or saving in bank wealth management. But have you ever considered that this is just a small part of the entire asset world?
The real investment market is far richer than you might imagine. In addition to the most common assets like real estate and stocks, you can also choose from:
Interest rate assets: government bonds, urban investment bonds, money market funds.
Equity assets: stocks, REITs, primary market funds.
Commodity assets: gold, crude oil, bulk commodities.
Cryptographic assets: BTC, ETH, stablecoins, on-chain staking certificates, etc.
Derivatives market: options, futures, structured products, etc.
Behind every asset, what is actually mapped is a systematic variable: economic cycles, interest rate environment, inflation expectations, credit conditions... The broader your understanding of assets, the more three-dimensional your perspective on the market becomes.
Therefore, the first step in establishing an investment system is not to immediately buy something, but to broaden your perspective and try to complete this "asset map" as much as possible.
Reading, looking at reports, chatting with experienced people, and even trying small practices on your own are all good ways to quickly improve asset awareness. Don't rush to get into the game; first clarify "what can be bought," and you'll be ahead of most people by a large margin.
Step 2: Choose the assets that truly suit you.
After knowing what options are available in the market, the next step is not to "choose the most profitable one", but to "choose the one that suits you best."
Many people tend to overlook this aspect, resulting in buying high-risk assets while being unable to bear the volatility; or holding low-yield assets while complaining about the returns being too low. The assets that are suitable for you depend not only on the current macro environment but also on who you are.
Are you a recent college graduate or a middle-aged person with family responsibilities? Is your income stable? Do you have any debts? How much loss can you tolerate? Do you have any major expenses in the next three years?
For example, more than a decade ago, real estate was suitable for most ordinary people; during the pandemic years, bonds had a high cost-performance ratio; now, in the high interest rate phase, short-term U.S. Treasury bonds or money market funds can also be a way to "win by lying down." But this is not to let you copy the answers; rather, it is to learn to think: where are you, at what stage, and what variables are you facing?
Your cash flow, risk tolerance, and pace of life determine how you should allocate your assets. Only by making the right choice in this step can you avoid losing sleep over market fluctuations.
Step 3: Research thoroughly what you want to invest in.
If the first two steps can help you avoid losses, then the third step is the key to truly widening the gap in profits.
Many people buy stocks or cryptocurrencies, only staying at the level of "this is a hot industry" and "many people recommend it." But those who can really earn excess returns do far more than this.
They will ask:
Who is the true leader in this industry? Who is the pseudo-leader riding the wave? Can the company's business model work? Is there positive cash flow?
Is the technological content really challenging, or is it just storytelling? Is the current valuation reasonable, or has it overdrawn the expectations for the next 10 years?
In other words, you should research your investment targets like you would when buying a house.
It's not about saying "houses in Shenzhen are good," but rather asking: which district, what price range, is it in a school district or a business district, are there any major plans, and what is the supply and demand structure like?
Applying this research habit to any industry, whether it is renewable energy, AI, medicine, consumer goods, or Web3, you will find that the information you see is completely different from that of the average person.
This step marks the beginning of your true establishment of a "long-term cognitive advantage". It is also the key leap from "not losing" to "earning steadily".
Investing is not about winning with foresight, especially not through short-term "flashes of inspiration."
What really creates a gap between people is whether they have their own system:
Do you have a set of methods to transform the complexity of the world into a language that you can understand and operate?
Have you taken the time to understand the underlying logic of different assets? Can you clearly assess what position you are actually in? Have you really put effort into researching what you have invested in?
These three steps don't seem difficult, but there are very few people who can truly master them.
You may not be able to predict the future, but as long as you have a repeatable and evolvable system, that is your fundamental ability to withstand risks and seize opportunities.
When you establish this system, you are no longer a follower of the market, but begin to become an independent and structured actor.