Frankly, are we aiming to own only one property? (TODAY?)

How many of us here believe we just need to own one property on the day we retire? There’s nothing wrong with this thought! 🙂  The reason is because there would always be many who may not own a property or thinks owning a property is far more expensive than renting forever. Let’s be objective, even in advanced nations and advanced property markets, not everyone owns a property. So, here in not-so-advanced Malaysia which some say about to go bankrupt, should we even think of owning more than one property? Well, if we truly believe the country is going bankrupt, then better not buy lah. Keep the money in the bank. Anyway, for those who think otherwise, perhaps that first one can be an affordable one from either the state, federal or even the secondary market? Since the secondary market is often overlooked? 
Let me share a potentially common story yeah. The life from Single (easy life) – Couple (Future planning)  – Kids (Responsibility) – Retire (ENJOY).  We could have been single and needs just a room. Well, renting one is fine! When we get married, usually the in-laws would tell us to at least get a small unit somewhere. This is positive pressure actually! So, we started with a small unit, perhaps an apartment. Then comes the good news, we are going to have our very first baby!
Okay, perhaps that unit is still okay but what if both the husband and wife could afford a bigger and better unit? It’s upgrade time. Then, one day the husband came across one integrated development which happens to also be a Transit Oriented Development and the MRT station actually stops right in front of his office! The wife saw the project and loved it. So, they bought it. Oh yeah, what happened to the earlier properties? Well, it could have been rented out since there are so many people looking to rent… right?  Fast-forward to the future.
The couple has retired, their kids are already working. They do not actually need such a huge home anymore. Perhaps they want to move into some developments for retirees instead. Perhaps even staying with their kids? Yes, all the homes they have owned earlier could even be sold and the money channeled into their retirement funds. By the way, Malaysians are expected to live to a median age of around 75 currently. If we retired at 55, that’s an additional 20 more years to go. The question is, do we want to also spend some of those retirement funds at that time for travelling the world or do we aspire to start our day at the coffee shop nearby and then watch TV at home until lunch time, take a nap after lunch, then go out for a short-walk in the nearby garden, followed by dinner and then watch tv. Sleep and repeat?
Haha. Frankly, even if we have just 3 properties and all three are just RM400,000 each (very conservative at that time), that’s still RM1,200,000 by the time we retire. Assuming we sell it off and do not need to provide much for our kids, we have a monthly ‘income’ of RM4,000 just from the fixed deposit based on 4 percent. Alternatively, selling just one would give us RM400,000 to spend. It’s already the time to enjoy. We have worked so hard for so long, why still want to worry about the 20 sen increase in the cup of coffee at the time? By the way, we deserve to treat ourselves better yeah.
Yes, it’s definitely possible to just work, save, work, save and invest in somewhere else but if we work, buy, work, buy then we should have rich parents yeah. Sometimes, when we think back, many Malaysians really do have richer parents today. Weekly allowances are much easier to obtain and somehow, the parents do not even know what the money was spent on! For those who are reading this until this point, I think the answer is clear. Let’s not aim to own just one property until the day we retire. Reminder, property is not the only investment we can make yeah. Cheers.
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written on 18 April 2018
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