How to teach kids to invest in property. The mindset, habit and tip to turn houses, deposits and patience into a lesson that actually sticks
If you were to ask your mini millionaire what an investment looks like, chances are it might be hard for them to explain. Things like shares, funds and interest rates all live somewhere invisible.
But a house is different.
You can knock on its walls, sleep in its rooms and see the street it stands on.
That makes property the friendliest doorway into the whole idea of owning something that grows.
This week we look at how to turn a topic that sounds like adult boardroom talk into something a mini millionaire can picture, walk past and actually understand.
A house can grow in value while you sleep in it.
Property is a slow-moving investment.
You buy it, and then either choose to live in it yourself or rent it out to someone. Over the years its value tends to increase depending on the area it’s in. In fact, house prices in SA have been rising faster than inflation.
For a mini millionaire raised on instant everything (like when they press play on their favourite movie and it starts immediately, or getting food delivered at home within an hour), waiting for things is a rare lesson.
Teach a child to hold on, sit tight, and let time do the heavy lifting.
Takeaway: The asset you leave alone the longest often rewards you the most.
Every big buy starts with a small stash.
No one wakes up one morning and decides they’re going to buy a house.
It starts off with them pulling together a deposit, usually around 10% of the price of the house. So on a R2 000 000 home, for example, that’s R200 000 sitting ready before you even go and view the place.
And there’s the lesson. Big things get bought through small, steady savings aimed at a clear target. That’s putting a purpose to their Save Jar.
Help your mini millionaire pick their saving goal, name the amount, and add to it frequently, little by little. The same habit that fills up their Save Jar today is the same one that funds a deposit for their first home.
Takeaway: A deposit is just a long saving goal with a front door attached.
Read the neighbourhood like a price tag.
Take a walk around the neighbourhood with your mini millionaire to play a bit of a guessing game. Ask them which house is worth more, and why.
Point out the things that push up a home's value: a second storey, a big garden, a good school nearby, a quiet street, even beefed-up security or solar panels.
Then go home and look one up together on something like Property24 or FindHomes, where you can see what places in your own suburb actually sell for.
The abstract idea of property value becomes a game they can spot on their own road.
Takeaway: A mini millionaire who can spot why one house costs more is already reading the market.
Big goals can sometimes feel super far away, even for us adults. So imagine what it must feel like for your mini millionaire.
But the good news is that even big goals can feel real when one can see them. This week’s free resource, My Vision Board, gives them nine squares to dream in.
Everything from the pets and family they picture to the work they want to do one day. This week, they can zoom in on the House square. Let them draw or paste their dream home they imagine owning one day, then stick up their vision board where they will see it daily.
And boom, suddenly that far-off deposit has a face, and every rand saved nudges them towards something they’ve already ‘seen’.
