BUILD A BUSINESS/ INVESTMENT BEFORE BUILDING A RESIDENTIAL HOME

BUILD A BUSINESS/ INVESTMENT BEFORE BUILDING A RESIDENTIAL HOME The economic models suggest doing business or investment and when stability is attained, you proceed to build a residential house. This assumes you have access to economic resources (money) and hence can only be accumulated through business. For starters, where did you get the money that we are debating about on whether to build or start a business? Say, you stole it, question is can you steal more? If yes, why are you worried? Go start building your home. If you earned it as salary, surely you will earn more, go start building that home. Let’s say it was a donation, a gift from a friend, then, no debate, your only choice is to try a business first. Your personal finances and development need a kin eye to identify your unique situation and personal financial goals. This is why: 1) For 17 years you have invested in education from Nursery to degree, now you have a good job. Don’t you think your fruits should start showing. We can say you were building yourself up as a business; you are the business, now you need your fallback position. There is nothing worse than begging food and rent at the same time. 2) Your books will not rot, if the job is lost, you can always get another one. Of course unless you die, in which case, it is better to leave your family in a stable residence. 3) The comfort of living in your own house and peace of mind is comparable to nothing else. That feeling goes beyond monetary comparisons. It might be the only thing keeping you sane in today’s harsh Uganda. 4) Lastly your house stores value for the money invested in it, you can always convert it back to cash when strong need arises. See you in the next session of starting with investment/ business first. KIRUNGI JOSHUA Development Economist