Dear Patrons,
Don’t build it to last, build it to adapt
Have you heard of The Choluteca Bridge? It’s a 484-meter-long bridge over the river Choluteca in Honduras, in Central America, A Region notorious for storms and hurricanes. . A Japanese firm was contracted and built a solid bridge in 1996 over river Choluteca which can withstand the extreme weather condition.
In Oct 1996, Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. There was 75 inches of rain in four days. There was devastation all around, river Choluteca flooded the entire region, 7000 people lost their lives. But the new Choluteca Bridge remained unaffected with a problem. Bridge was intact but the roads leading to it were both swept away. And that’s not all. Flooding forced the river Choluteca to change course. It created a new channel, and the river now flowed beside the bridge, not under it. While the bridge was strong enough to survive the hurricane, it became a bridge over nothing.
The Choluteca Bridge is a terrific metaphor which can happen to us as the world is changing in ways we may have never imagined. Adapt to change. We get focus on creating the best solution to a given problem while the problem itself might change. Think about that too. ‘Built to last’ might have been a popular mantra. But ‘Build to Adapt’ could be the way to go.
The same goes with Investments. Investors do long term investments proudly pronouncing it as wise decision. This will definitely last of long but will not be adaptive. Investors invest in Fixed Income instruments for long term which can fetch them 0.5% extra. However, problem is not solved with that extra return. Real challenge is to fight the inflation and earn over and above it.
Your investment is may be for long term but must be adaptive with changing scenario. Else, you could be left with a Choluteca bridge. A superb bridge. Over nothing. To nowhere.
Nishit Siddharth Shah