A man before leaving for work, left a letter on the dining table for his wife. Chores around the house kept the woman fr om seeing the letter until about 12 noon. When she finally chanced on the letter she was so excited to see that her husband had taken time to write her a letter. She kissed the paper when she saw “my beautiful wife” at the top, hugged it when she saw “I love you with all my heart” at the bottom, and sniffed it when she realized it smelled of her husband’s perfume.
Out of excitement, and without even bothering to read the content of the letter, she made up her mind to cook him his favorite meal for dinner that night. She quickly rushed to the kitchen and got to work. After cooking and setting the table, she went to the wash room and took a shower, put on her most attractive night gown and dressed the bed.
Many years ago, my mother worked hard to put a roof over our heads. As a widow, she struggled to build a house, where we grew up. It was a fully-paid-for house, and at the time, it was valuable. I am forever grateful for this.
Today, we have moved my mother from that house, and have had to build her a modern house at a whole different location, with modern amenities. She prefers the new house to that old one she built herself—and that old house even if sold, wouldn’t fetch enough money to do anything meaningful.
The above is being repeated by our generation. We are investing heavily and sweating to build houses or businesses which wouldn’t stand against the future. While it’s true that houses or lands appreciate, it’s false to think all do, equally or at the same speed.
What really appreciates is the strategic location of the land and how well the building on it is built. Therefore, while it may seem prudent in the short term to just buy a piece of land anywhere, and erect any brick and mortar on it, you wouldn’t be leaving any asset to your future self or offspring—as this sort of investment wouldn’t stand against the future.
