This can change dramatically with sufficient motivation on both sides, although you will not always be in control of the factors at play. Some people use both ‘property investment’ and ‘property development’ as a broad term that encompasses all types of using houses and flats to make money (rather than as a home). It’s fair to assume that human desires will remain infinite and we’ll continue to find better, more efficient ways of meeting them. Therefore, the values of the world’s companies will continue to go up over time. But as stated in Principle #5, you’re unlikely to have an edge in knowing which companies will perform relatively better and worse. We need to decide on the relative importance of each, then select assets that strike that balance. Principle #3: Your future earning power is your biggest asset

I loved some things I read, and really challenged other parts. But either way, I found that this engagement with the titles was stimulating a level of critical thinking which hadn't experienced since I began investing a decade ago. Across the 2010 decade, average house prices across the UK rose by 33%. London saw the highest growth, with a 66% increase in price being registered. The capacity to generate future income is the most valuable asset everyone starts life with. As your working life goes on, this future earning power decreases as it’s “used up”. To preserve or protect the money you’ve already got (including maintaining its spending power in the face of inflation) You need an emergency fund. If you’re saving for something like a house, you don’t want to have that exposed to the markets where anything could happen over a short period of time. So I’m not saying don’t save, but I’m just saying be aware that it might feel now like your savings are doing something for you, but because inflation is higher as well, it’s kind of not.That’s OK: you don’t have to beat the market. You can do perfectly well by just performing in line with the market. And that’s spectacularly easy to do: just own a bit of everything. I wish there were 9 or 11 instead: 10 sounds like a suspiciously round number, like something has been missed out or added in just for padding. But no – 10 it is.

However: You must know the purpose of any cash you’re holding, and not let it build up just because you’re too scared to invest it. And so my parents were always very sort of frugal and sort of sensible with money. And there were never any lectures about it. We just kind of absorbed it. And then from just having part-time jobs from the age of 15, I just naturally found myself saving. And obviously, as you know, saving isn’t the way to wealth. It’s great, it’s essential. But saving in its own, on its own needs to lead towards, lead towards investment. And then it’s when I discovered, I sort of like dabbled with Isas and things like that. But when I discovered property, I thought, oh, well, this is really fun. And that was like a gateway because property, I think people find it appealing because it’s really easy to understand — it’s simple, it’s tangible. And so that was kind of what got me into investing more broadly and the point at which it did become an obsession. And happily, it’s sort of my job as well.

About The Property Podcast

This is an audio transcript of the Money Clinic podcast episode: ‘Investment masterclass: ‘Money is basically a fiction’’ Alongside investing courses, financial advisers and your own investing experience, books will play a big part in helping you understand how the property market works. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect for a property developer is the promise that with just five properties, or fewer, an investor can deliver a life-changing income so they can give up their job to do what they choose to do. You will learn: You don't need even the slightest knowledge of economics to read this book - just a desire to understand why the world of money is working against you, and what to do about it. The Best Property Investment Book Challenge was originally a challenge I set myself to expose myself to new property investment thoughts and strategies.