Shelved

After agonising for almost a month now about making the leap into investment property, the intellectual honeymoon has worn off.

In this period I've created no less then three documents detailing various portfolio strategies for exploiting the market, met with two agents regarding their properties and emailed many more. I've spent a conservative 60-80 hours researching housing availability, future growth trends, market conditions and more in order to find and capitalise upon that elusive catch.

But the conclusion has not been so sweet. After such exhaustive input in a short period of time, I have been left with the bittersweet conclusion that, despite market conditions, now is not the most prudent time to invest in property. Indeed, the next 9 months may prove a different story, but... well, I'll let the future worry about itself. And while I am definitely a bit sulky at having to shelve my latest adventure, I recognise that this is just another lesson in the very big playground of life - learning to demonstrate restraint even in the midst of a very rational eagerness.

Instead, I've decided to place my hot money into a more time-tested adventure - shares. Using a compound growth calculator, I estimate that making 30 trades at 10% profit after administration costs will leave me with a fund in excess of $50,000. But while the arithmetic is simple, the reality is always a bit harder.

Making a positive trade is not so difficult - most of the shares in my current portfolio fluctuate over a margin of 15% or more every week or three. Its buying in to a share at the wrong time that will cause the most grief. You see, time is the limiting (hidden factor in this equation - I'm aiming to have achieved this goal in a 30-week period. One successful trade per week. Hmmm.

What about the trades that don't go so well? The ones that make negative profit? The trades that fall stagnant because the prices fail to trend the way I want them to and with the speed they have historically shown? What baout when the greed factor sets in and I hold onto a share for longer than I should? All of these are insults to the goal that I have set myself, Yet, despite the risks, I find myself gravitating towards the challenge of disciplinde share trading like a bee towards flowers. Discipline - that's the key.

I've had to question where God is in all of this? Am I doing it for self gain? Is my life all about me me and more me? What do I hope to achieve by accumulating so much wealth? And at such a young age?

God IS central to all that I do. He granted me this life that it may reflect His character, and I believe that my God, in His embodiment of perfection, IS excellence. So, I do what I do because I can.

Secondly, I trust that money in my hands will be better spent than money in other people's hands. I"m not interested in million-dollar yatchs or having a personal collection of very exclusive airplanes. I don't splurge on exotic food caught from halfway around the globe, buy the latest technology just to feel hip and good, or embark of regular expeditions of therapeutic shopping. No, I'll leave that for the rest of the world to do. So what do I want to do?

I want to set up an orphanage in one of the South-East Asian Nations and link it with a local church so that people from first-world countries can experience a bit of third-world suffering. I want to build a university in Philippines that will be at the forefront of an education revolutaion in that nation. I want to create an institution where broken, marginalised and questioning people can come to have a very human need met: the need to feel loved. And thats just a selection from my dreams.

I have my 5-year plans, my 10-year plans. This goes for my personal growth, as well as for my professional careers. Of course, it can all change overnight, with just a simple thing like a heart attack or a stroke. God can take me and place me where He wills. But, right here and right now, I know what He has given me. I know what tools He has placed in my hands. And I am determined to use tham, that my life may leave a single, lasting legacy.

Most people invest in the business of life. I'd rather invest in the business of love.

teDDe