‘Married To Real Estate’ Stars Share How To Inspire Kids To Build Wealth
As seen on HGTV’s Married to Real Estate, hosts Mike Jackson and Egypt Sherrod pose in the new … [+]
2021, Discovery, Inc. All rights reserved
Egypt Sherrod, the real estate agent on HGTV’s “Property Virgins” and “Flipping Virgins,” has teamed up with her husband and home builder Mike Jackson in a brand new series, “Married to Real Estate,” which will air on HGTV Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
On the show, Sherrod and Jackson use their combined expertise to make smart purchases, renovate homes and take their clients to the dream neighborhood they never thought they could afford.
While Sherrod and Jackson work to make their clients’ dreams come true, they’re also busy managing their family of six (three kids plus and a recently added puppy). Inspired by their own childhood, experience and success, Sherrod and Jackson believe in teaching their children the importance of building wealth and being financially literate.
Coming from a hard working mother who struggled raising two girls after a divorce, Sherrod respected how hard her mother worked to get out of that hole and rise to become a top advertising executive. Her mother’s dream for her children was never to face such a situation, so she worked tirelessly to show them that they could be more. “All parents want the next generation to do better. My dream for my children is that they will far exceed us.” For her, part of that goal involved raising financially literate and confident children.
They started by teaching their now 10-year-old daughter the piggy bank. “The goal was that when Kendall turned 12, we would break open those piggy banks and use them to save and invest,” Jackson said.
However, they soon found that their daughter might be ready sooner than expected. As Sherrod puts it, “At 10, Kendall is now taller than I was at 5ft 7 and has a 16-year-old mindset about responsibility and financial concepts.” After overhearing her parents discuss business on the phone, Kendall began to ask questions about real estate and investments. When Sherrod and Jackson explained these concepts to her, she was genuinely interested and quickly understood. Sherrod believes, “When you see a spark in your child, you must honor it,” so they decided to give her weekly lessons and quiz her on topics, just like they do their school subjects. “School gives them the basics to survive, but if you want them to thrive and grow and reach their full potential, you definitely need to create a curriculum at home,” says Sherrod.
Inspired by Kendall’s interest and passion, they decided to take the next step a year ago and bought an investment property for Kendall. While she’s been criticized by her friends and family for giving too much and not just letting her be kids, Sherrod explains the key is that they didn’t just give her that. “She was involved in every step of the process, from obtaining the mortgage to choosing the property and design.” As she is a minor, they placed it in a trust and dedicated the property to her. She now owns a 5 bedroom Florida villa that fetches between $300 and $400 a night on a low monthly spend.
While she can’t spend the money now, the possibilities are endless as she gets older and gains access to the money she’s making from her property. She could pay for her own college or even buy her next investment property.
The real estate team believes teaching your kids about finance and investing is about getting your kids involved and making it part of the conversation. Jackson began explaining complicated investment topics to Kendall by making them easy for her to understand. “I asked her this morning, ‘What if you could own YouTube?’ She said she never could, so I explained that you could, through investing. Her eyes lit up and I knew I had her.”
“We fear things we don’t understand,” says Sherrod. “When you learn early on that you want your money to work for you and that money is actually a tool, and you learn how to invest and what to invest in, then it doesn’t feel awkward and instead you’re like, ‘Hey, me have been doing this since I was a kid. What’s next?'”