(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-26 13:41

China has entered into an era of personal prosperity, which indicates that its market economy has matured, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. The following is an excerpt:

China's A-share market has been in a bull run for more than a year, generating an unprecedented "wealth effect" that has unleashed a torrent of investment and financial management services.

It is worth noting that this interest in investment and wealth management has gripped a large portion of the general public. That the wave came at all indicates that our society has entered into a time when entrepreneurship has created a need for financial management services.

China experienced a so-called "stock fad" in the 1990s. But at that time, the channel of investment was rather narrow and irregular, and few people participated. The stock fad was more or less a marginal phenomenon, far from mainstream lifestyles. Entrepreneurship was more important.

However, although many people still dream of starting their own companies, they now face higher barriers than ever before. What is more, the early life of any company tends to be fraught with uncertainty, so not everyone is able to pursue his or her dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

By contrast, there are fewer risks involved in relying on financial management services to generate income. Such services allow people to preserve and even increase their earnings.

Once people come to understand the world of investment and financial management, these services tend to become an indispensable part of their lives. Word-of-mouth communication, posts on online forums and advice from bloggers have spurred more people to join this trend.

Hence the rise of the financial management-centered economy, a system whose chief characteristic is that people directly invest less of their money, choosing instead to channel it into the capital market through financial management services. This tallies with the general public's desire to manage their resources without having to change their careers to start up a business.