I wouldn't be too worried about losing money to upgrade.
If you buy a quality, in demand bike, used, at a good price, you should be able to sell with minimal loss after a year or so.
If, on the other hand, something bad happens, like major damage, then a throw-a-way ($1,000) bike isn't a bad loss.
Selling the Lifan, as others who have bought simillar brands of "starter" dirt bikes have found, may (will) be harder to do.
The biggest problem with the Chinese bikes are cheap steel, low quality welds, and Triumph quality shocks.
