A successful investor reveals his best advice for his kids

Instead, he always makes it a point to remind them of important life lessons: Have good work ethic and invest in yourself.

“I’ve got a 20-year-old son and a daughter who’s 17. And, no, I haven’t [coached them around]. The best advice you can give someone is a good work ethic. Give it 80 per cent of what you got. If you need to give it 100 per cent sometimes, do that,” he shared with Smart Property Investment.

He makes it a point to reiterate the importance of education, which is the one investment that will always produce yield.

Troy said: “I think the investment in yourself is the best thing you can do. You don’t want to wake up one day and be 40 and have missed the opportunity to have actually had a chance to invest in yourself. You need to have some other string to your bow. If you’re someone who is a really rigid and a disciplined person and understands the market — whether the stock market or the property market — well, you back yourself in that, and that’s investing [in] yourself. But, always have a plan B.”

The successful investor, mortgage broker and doting father sticks to fundamental life lessons when talking to his children because he believes that they could learn better if they take on the journey of education independently.

After all, nobody is expected to know everything at 20 or 17 [years old].

According to Troy, he tells his kids: “Start early, learn the value of a dollar. You’ve got to learn it yourself.”

“I think that’s probably the best step you can give them. Then they realise what it takes, and they will obviously pass that legacy on to their kids at one stage. But, no, I don’t belt away. You don’t want to be a 20-year-old who’s sitting on the train reading a thin review and wondering how you’re going to make your next million when you’ve got 25 bucks in a Westpac saver account. It just doesn’t work,” Troy added.

Tune in to Troy Phillips and Tony Caine’s episode in The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about wealth distribution and other keys to investment success.