'If investing was logical, very few of us would buy a home': Edelweiss Mutual Funds' Radhika Gupta 

Edelweiss Mutual Funds CEO Radhika Gupta opened up about why home-buying should not be treated as investment.

Radhika Gupta recently pointed out how buying a house is more of an emotional expense than an investment. The Edelweiss MF CEO said that most logical investors wouldn't buy homes if it didn't come with its emotional value.

"If investing was logical, very few of us would buy a home because the rental yield math never justifies it! But it isn’t … and many of us, including professional asset managers like me, buy homes," she wrote on X. "Emotional value is hard to argue with and finally you can’t live in an NAV (net asset value) and do up a folio to your liking."

Radhika Gupta added that the important thing, however, is to accept that primary homes have this component and not treat them as investments. "The same is true for many of us with jewellery. In some cases angel investing as well. Investments are those that you can treat with a truly unemotional lens," she said.

If investing was logical, very few of us would buy a home because the rental yield math never justifies it! But it isn’t … and many of us, including professional asset managers like me, buy homes. Emotional value is hard to argue with and finally you can’t live in an NAV and…

— Radhika Gupta (@iRadhikaGupta) March 29, 2024

Responding to her tweet, author and social media content creator Ankur Warikoo said, "Buying a house is the most important emotional decision one will take with their money. And one should absolutely take it. Just run the numbers once. Before you allow the emotions to come in, as they eventually will, give objectivity a chance to argue."

Another X user (@pilotinvestor7) commented, "Buying a home to live in makes sense more than anything. But buying an additional one for the purpose of investment isn’t a good idea, that’s when investing in equity should sound logical."

A third user Garima (@Cryptified_Soul) wrote, "I absolutely agree! Any emotional investment is to cater our primary need. The actual investment has to be logical and practical."