First may be hardest but aim at more than one

I bought my second property when I was 29 years old. It was three years after my first apartment which was just RM123k. I took nearly two months to decide because I was scared I would go bankrupt! When my parents learnt of my intention, this was their first question. “Is there any problem with your current home?” Their understanding of a property is that of a home sweet home. Simple right. You save, you buy, you stay and if can, let your children stay in future. True? Can still be be true. However, when we look at bigger cities which are still expanding or our flourishing career which may meant us working in different places, it may no longer be true. We may not be staying in the same house forever. Thus, the question is, ‘Is one property enough today?’ According to a HSBC survey, it has found out that many employees in Malaysia see a second property as a very important investment to ensure they retire better.
I think their survey is true for only the minority of all home owners. The reason I say so is because majority of everyone does not yet own their first property. Thus, the survey would not cover them, yet. Yet, this survey shows something else too. Those who has bought their first property would most likely go for the second and these are the people who would retire much more comfortably later on compared to those without or even those with just one property. Seriously, the first property is always the hardest. no difference from when we first started our career, everything seemed so tough. After we have been in the same role for some time, things got easier.  Yes, we can also dream a little bigger. One property bought at just RM500,000 today and rising to only RM1,000,000 25 years later. Okay, it is also true that by then RM1,000,000 may be smaller in value than today but I still think it’s far better than someone without a RM1,000,000 extra property to their name. Agree?
Yes, some would now ask how sure am I about a RM500,000 property becoming a RM1,000,000 property in the future? Truth is, I have no idea. Do you? Some would even argue that if they save RM500,000 in FD today, it should easily become RM1,000,000 in future. Hey, this is also true! The only issue, do we already have RM500,000 today? If someone has already accumulated RM500,000 today and does not simply spend but simply invest in the usual unit trusts or even some blue chip counters, I think it should also easily hit RM1,000,000 in 25 years. However, for those who have started property investments, it’s also true that one property is not enough. One may be for own stay but another one can be for investment too.  My personal conclusion for myself, one property is certainly not enough today and for future. Happy investing.
updated on 10 Jan 2017
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