At 39 years of age I came into an unexpected inheritance. Not having experienced disposable income before I wanted to invest it wisely. I want to be able to enjoy this myself without jeopardising any inheritance that I could pass on to my own children. However, as soon as the news of my good fortune was out, advice came flooding in.
Put it in the bank, buy stocks and shares, set up a business as well as the sillier ones of putting it under the mattress! I took some time out to think about it and also to think about what i wanted to do with it.
I wanted an investment that I could see dividends from now rather than waiting for retirement. I decided, along with 50% of the UK's homeowners, to invest in property instead of pensions. Property investment seemed like a good idea but with the security of banks looking rather precarious, mortgage rates rising again and the property market being unstable, I was unsure where to turn. Some research was in order.
I considered overseas investment properties. Rental rates were good. I could rent out a beach front apartment in the Caribbean and treat myself to regular diving holidays with the added benefit of income from renting out for the rest of the year. Or a property near the Black Sea. A beautiful up and coming holiday destination but people are still nervous because of the regions history.
I could keep back some of my inheritance and invest in a condo hotel in the US. This involved buying a room or a suite within a hotel and paying the hotel management to rent it out for me when I wasn't using it.
If I wanted to stay nearer home I could buy land in the UK but with planning permission and councils being notoriously difficult was there the possiblity that I may just end up with a stretch of the next motorway running through my land, or worse still, losing it to compulsory purchase?
Not so keen on these last two ideas. I wanted to see, in bricks and mortar, what I was getting.
Being a rather distrusting person, I decided not to invest in an overseas property although I was reassured it was safe. Various locations in the UK come and go when it comes to investment trends. Except one. London - the financial capital of the world. It made sense.
City highfliers are in line for Christmas bonuses this year set to top 9 pounds billion. Thats a 15% increase on last year. Salaries of city workers are now, on average, 90,000 pounds with the rest of the country on 25,000. pounds Plenty of disposable income there!
Apparently, flats overlooking the Thames are now going for half a million and property values have risen at a rate of 20% this year in comparison with 8% for the rest of the country.
So, thats where I'm going for property investment. A nice little flat, overlooking the Thames, let to a City worker who's main home is in the country. That leaves me with a steady income for as long as I need it and either a home in an affluent area at the end of it or a property to sell to leave my children with a comfortable inheritance.
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