Friday at 4 AM, US markets closed, so I casually checked my main account.

Year-to-date: -19%, while the Nasdaq was up +8%. 😅

Staring at the charts every day and working hard for over half a year, I successfully underperformed the broader market by 27 percentage points.

Ironically: those "Buddhist-style accounts" that barely watch the market and only do IPO subscriptions and conservative option selling, actually secured steady positive returns.

Hustling leads to losses, lying flat leads to profits. This market is just that humorous.

So I asked myself a question: Why are stock traders never satisfied with a 10% annual return?

Buffett's long-term annualized return is only around 20%, yet every retail investor thinks they can make 50%, or even double their money.

Even if someone actually could—why would it be you?

I couldn't come up with a rebuttal, but I realized one thing: I need to be more "Buddhist" (chill).

A 10% annual return, compounded over ten years, equals 2.6 times. It's not sexy, but it doesn't rely on luck or miracles.

Lower expectations, control costs, treat investing as cash flow management, and get rich slowly.

This isn't shameful.

$Invesco QQQ Trust(QQQ.US) $SPDR S&P 500(SPY.US) $NASDAQ Composite Index(.IXIC.US)