Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa August/September 2019 | Page 33

S ince her passing, it has been a time of mourning and in- tense reflection and I would like to share some of those thoughts with you as we celebrate Women’s Month and women in property throughout August. My mom was born in Milan, Italy on the eve of the end of World War 2 from a very poor family and was the youngest of three children. At the age of 13 she had to stop going to school and get a job (at least they had jobs available at the time for 13 FOUR SHOCKING FACTS 1 2 3 4 Women will be formally employed for only 15.9 years, while men will be employed for 20.9 years. (Source: Helen Suzman Foundation) Woman earn 27% less than their male counterparts. (Source: 2017 Ipsos Report) Four out of ten marriages do not last a decade (Source: StatsSA) Female unemployment rate stands at 29.5%, compared to 25.3% for men (Source: StatsSA) The harsh reality is that the traditional ‘go to work, live below your means and put you money in safe investments’ does not work; at best, such an approach to financial independence might get you to retire ‘half-broke’. Often the ‘risk-averse’ nature of many women when it comes to personal finance lures them into a false sense of confidence that they can save their way to financial peace of mind. The key is for women to become investors, to learn how to make money work for them and to tap into the incredible power of property. Property investment is a proven method to help build wealth and achieve financial peace of mind. A recent report by research group, Lightstone indicates that almost 72 000 single women purchased residential property in South Africa in 2018. This makes single women the largest single group of property buyers in South Africa, surpassing married couples or single men. My mission as the Founder of ThePropertyCoach is to help people invest in property with the proper education and tools. If one makes a mistake with property it can be a costly one. Talking to the women attending our educational events, I have learnt that aspiring and emerging women in property have a range of strengths: Women have an instinctive understanding that investing in property will help them to achieve financial peace of mind. Women are engaging in the stokvels they belong to in order to make those stokvels more focused on investing, rather than a savings vehicle. Women are hungry for educational guidance and support to enable their property vision They want to partner with other like-minded women in their property journey Women understand that property is not a ‘get rich quick scheme’ and are prepared to play the long game year olds and it was not yet considered child labour). As with many families at the time, my grandparents had only enough money to pay for the education of the only boy in the family and not the two girls. This decision was taken despite the fact that my mom’s older brother was not interested in going to school and that my mom was an excellent student. The rest is history. My mother lived a fulfilling and happy life but on many occasions she shared with me how she regretted not having had the chance to get the decent education, she had felt she deserved and the opportunities that would come with it. I am sure that her story resonates with many women in South Africa and beyond. Surely things have changed a lot since World War 2 but at the same time, there are still massive challenges for women in South Africa and the world. Some of these challenges include achieving the financial independence and peace of mind we all have a right to, irrespective of gender. This month as I celebrate Women and honour the legacy of my late Mamma, we are making two full bursaries available to Women of South Africa to join our Property Mastermind Programme. Each bursary is valued at R 24,000 each; women of all races born between 1994 and 2000, in possession of a Matric certificate and earning less than R 120,000 per annum are eligible for the bursary. "If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude" – Maya Angelou. CONTACT [email protected] CARLO MARIANI, Entrepreneur, Property Investor, Founder of ThePropertyCoach . With 16 years of experience in local and international property investment track record along with 21 years of business experience, Mariani is an expert in the sector. SA Real Estate Investor Magazine AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 31