Kadoorie Hill, 1930's
Image: Kadoorie Estates Ltd.
The Kadoorie family came to Hong Kong from Baghdad in the 1880's. They were Jewish and came to work for another Iraqi Jewish family who got their before them.
In 1931 they acquired a hillside which was mostly empty; today, this property is worth billions of dollars. Was it foresight? Was it luck? Most likely, a little bit of both. But the story is definitely worthy of consideration.
Progress is, on some level, always some form of investment. Sometimes of money, of energy, of labor, time. And sometimes a big part of it is just a waiting game.
On 3 January 2011 you could have 10,000 BTC for 3,100 USD. That lots would be worth 70 million USD today. The Kadoories had to wait a lot longer. So we should be able to hold too on occasion.
Sources
How a Family Turned a Barren Hillside Into a $4.4 Billion Property Empire
Venus Feng and Frederik Balfour, Bloomberg, 27 August 2018
Kadoorie family
Forbes
Michael Kadoorie
Wikipedia