A car or a landed property, which will you buy ?

A lady just left our Abuja office now and something that came up in our discussion resulted in my blog today. She is planning to buy one of our plots in Prime Estate “Abuja”, upon computing the total price she said that that amount can buy a very nice car. Exactly her words and I could not keep quiet on hearing that. I responded by asking what becomes of the car in 5years and she followed with an even more appalling remark; “5 years will take care of itself”. What!

Although she eventually left with good reason why she will buy and promised to start making her payment after the weekend. Now, that’s it, she was saying she would rather take the instalment option than the outright payment route even if she has all the money. While I agree that if your housing need is not that pressing or you have other more pressing needs to meet with your available cash flow, there’s no problem with going the instalment route, my issues are:

1)The mindset that puts a depreciating asset (a car) with an investment or appreciating asset (real estate) on the same pedestal, or worse off attempt to say the depreciating asset is more valuable than the appreciating asset all things being equal.

2) Secondly, the thinking that the future will take care of itself. It is usually the sayings of planning or thought lazy minds. I agree over-planning and being too careful is not good either, but life is generally about moderation and not avoidance.

An unplanned and unprepared future is guaranteed to be bleak. And a depreciating asset can never equate the worth of an appreciating asset all things being equal.

The guide I will suggest is that whenever a decision is to be made as to whether to get a depreciating or appreciating asset, answer the question based on purpose. What purposes will getting either of them serve? Where the depreciating asset will just serve ephemeral (short-lived) end like a newer version of an item you already have that is not malfunctioning, go for the appreciating asset instead.

Guess what? There will always be a newer model, that’s the way the companies who make them sell and make profit. If you live your life that way, you will pay dearly for it. Things can’t make you, you should make things. So, buy car or land?

VS

Got get that appreciating asset!

To your success!!