Gain an Early Mover Advantage in Investing
When it comes to investing, “start as early as you can”, says our investor, Nadim Kapadia. In fact, that is also something he believes that he should have done, looking back at his investment journey. Read on for more of his investment learnings.
Like many investors, Nadim Kapadia’s motivation for investing is to grow his savings and income over the long term. And “long term” is a keyword here because, to him, the best way to invest is to do so with discipline, over a long-term time horizon. In fact, he acknowledges that if he could rewind time, he would have started investing much earlier than he did.
"The amount of time your money stays invested is vital for successful investing."
“I wished that I had begun investing in my early 20s, straight after I graduated. It was only in my early 30s, while pursuing my MBA, that I began to learn about personal finance and started investing more actively,” says the London Business School graduate, who is now 35, and works as a digital transformation and sustainability manager at a global technology company in London.
He emphasises: “The amount of time your money stays invested is vital for successful investing.”
Nadim is a strong believer in diversification and tries to spread his investments so that they can withstand market fluctuations and mitigate exposure to any single investment. “That has helped to provide a buffer against market volatility and contributed to the resilience of my investments over time,” he asserts.
“Over time, I have invested in index funds, stocks, real estate, cryptocurrencies, promising start-ups, as well as private equity funds through platforms offered by fintech companies,” Nadim reveals.
A strong passion for real estate investing
When asked about his investment approach, Nadim opines that investing can be simple. “The key is to identify your objectives, risk appetite and set up a system that works for you,” he says.
To help himself invest in a disciplined way, Nadim had set up a system where a defined percentage of his monthly salary is automatically allocated to certain investment buckets.
He explains: “This removes the inertia to invest and ensures that you ‘pay yourself first’, before your everyday expenses hit you.“
Nadim is also involved in several real estate projects and initiatives and has a strong passion for proptech and real estate investing. He notes that real estate can offer not just capital appreciation, but rental income.
“In the United Kingdom, for example, where there is a dynamic real estate investment market, property prices generally double in value every 7 to 10 years. And that’s not counting the yield that you enjoy on a year-to-year basis,” he opines, adding that he would love to invest more in real estate projects and effectively diversify his capital across different real estate asset classes.
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Despite Nadim’s preference for real estate investments, he concedes that it is challenging to diversify in quality real estate due to the large capital outlay, deep local knowledge, and strong people networks required. Moreover, actively managing real estate can be very time-consuming and arduous.
“That is why I think that RealVantage is such an attractive investment platform. Through the platform, I am able to allocate small amounts of capital across different investment projects that span different geographies, asset types, and investment strategies. More importantly, I am able to do so passively, and that frees up valuable time,” he says, with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Through the platform, I am able to allocate small amounts of capital across different investment projects that span different geographies, asset types, and investment strategies."
He notes that the fractional ownership model is a game-changer for real estate investing and it allows retail investors like himself to gain access to real estate projects that would otherwise have been beyond reach. That, to him, is a major advantage.
“Take the Odeon Shaftesbury revitalisation investment opportunity as an example. This project is situated in Covent Garden, a prime location in central London. It would certainly be challenging to have a slice of this competitive real estate asset unless you are an institutional investor. However, RealVantage had provided an opportunity for investors to partner with leading developers, which made it possible for investors like myself to own a fractional stake in this trophy asset,” says Nadim.
His advice for budding investors
When it comes to investing, Nadim distills his learnings into four key takeaways:
“In investing, you win sometimes, you lose sometimes. But you also learn through the process and build experience over time. I have committed my fair share of mistakes and suffered losses too. But at the end of the day, this has helped me mature as an investor and better discern investment opportunities,” he notes placidly.
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Disclaimer: The information and/or documents contained in this article does not constitute financial advice and is meant for educational purposes. Please consult your financial advisor, accountant, and/or attorney before proceeding with any financial/real estate investments.