The six main elements of culture are beliefs, values, norms, language, roles and social collectives.
Whilst values are the things that people consider important, such as love, loyalty, hard work, compassion, knowledge and humanitarianism.
Beliefs create a bond among people from the same culture.
But how do culture and traditions effect our decision making processes ?
Decision-making models
The Universal Model assumes there is only a minor difference in how individuals from different cultures make their decisions.
The Dispositional Model acknowledges there are many cross-cultural differences in decision-making and support the cause of cross-cultural research.
As an example of a specific culture I would briefly like to look at the chinese community in Australia.
To give but one example of the large numbers of chinese in Australia Cantonese-the dialect spoken by Hong Kong Chinese and those from the Guandong Province in China-was the third most commonly spoken community language in Australia, while Mandarin, the official Chinese language, was the twelfth most commonly spoken.
Financial security and prosperity are highly valued as a measure of the family’s success.
Outstanding achievements are highly valued because they often will bring wealth and acclaim, as well as ‘face’ to a family unit.
Accruing human capital in the form of qualifications and skills is also highly regarded because these lead to a improved prospects for monetary gains.
The Chinese are eager to seek education and training, especially in areas associated with financially rewarding prospects such as business and the professions.
A very popular Chinese saying promises that ‘gold is to be found in books’.
The Chinese are pragmatic and cautious, believing in investing in property and being careful about their savings.
Family prosperity means that there will be enough wealth to tide members over any unforeseen circumstances, increasing the family’s chances of survival in difficult times.
Common beliefs create a bond among people from the same culture. But how does culture and tradition affect us when it comes to making big decisions like investing in property?
In Australia, some of our biggest ethnic populations and overseas investors have very distinct behaviours that drive their buying property.
The Indian economy is booming right now and, like their Chinese counterparts, they recognise that Australia is an attractive country for property investment.
Culturally, Indians already living in Australia share a lot of values with the Chinese community when it comes to lifestyle, education and access to facilities.
Australian educational qualifications are highly sought after and Indian families are keen to relocate to main cities with easy access to educational institutions.
Like the Chinese, property investing decisions can sometimes be governed by Vastu Shastra, the ‘science of architecture’, based on ancient Hindu texts. For some property investors, Vastu Shastra, which can govern the building and decorating of the home, is integral to their future luck and financial success.
From the authors own personal experiences with his families beliefs in investment, my father was concerned with owning his own home.
It was never regarded as important to try and diversify into buying other properties for long term wealth creation.
The idea was never mentioned in any conversations I was privy to.
My fathers generation came through the second world war and were glad to be alive.
The idea that you could own your own home through a war veteran loan scheme was more than enough for that generation of men and women who survived the horrors of the war.
And the majority were more than happy never looking beyond that concept.
They had no need too.
Many savvy property investors use diversification as a strategy to grow their portfolio.
The strategy basically involves investing in properties that differ in location and price.
This is ultimately minimising risk whilst maximising growth possibilities.
A diverse portfolio will help balance external factors – both positive and negative – that the market may endure over a long period of time. By having assets spread across a number of different investment types, your overall financial position will be less volatile.
We can diversify property portfolio`s by not repeatedly investing in the one area.
We realise that it is easy for an investor to favour an area that has proven to be successful for them in the past by providing strong capital gains or high rental yields.
The problem is, investing in the same location several times over makes you more vulnerable to fluctuations in populations and employment etc.
Or an investor could favour purchasing properties at different price points, providing more flexibility should a property need to be sold.
Instead of purchasing a property with your entire budget, we often advise clients to split this over two assets where possible.
Ample property Solutions can assist you with investing for your future, in property, the right way.
Contact us today ! HERE