Not Always According to Plan

On my drive to work today, I heard a piece about a single father buying a condo for his 5 and 7 year-olds. (In fact they were part of the buying process.)

The idea behind the segment is that with the ever-rising costs of housing in the Lower Mainland (Vancouver area) and on the Island one solution (if you have the money) is to purchase a property now so that your children can afford to remain in the vicinity in 15 - 20 years. The condo will be rented out to help pay the mortgage, strata fees, taxes, etc. A noble thought.

The father was thinking ahead to ways of providing for his children. He said that he wanted his children to remain in the area and not even go away to university.

I was having a bit of difficulty with the concept of planning the children's life with these types of expectations.Earlier in my blogs, I mentioned that David Richo spoke in his book "The Five Things We Cannot Change..." about people needing to accept that things do not always go according to plan and things change.

Children need to have goals and aspirations of their own, not those of their parents.

This father has made an investment to assist his children in financial ways down the line. That is not a bad thing. What he needs to know is that the investment may not be realised in the way he envisioned. As much as he would like his children to be in close proximity to him, it may not be in his children's future.

As my children enter young adulthood, I realise that they are embarking down paths that may not find them close to home. That's okay. (I moved thousands of kilometres from my home some 20 years ago and I am sure my parents would have liked me to be closer.)