• My mom put money into an investment property, and later gave me the original money and the profit.
• At 23, I used it as a deposit for a home. I loved getting a head start in the real estate market.
• I want my kids to get the same financial head start I did.

I bought my first property in 2009, when I was 23. It was a cute two-bedroom townhouse in a complex on the Gold Coast, in Australia, where I'm originally from.

My circumstances were a bit unusual. As a little girl, I'd almost died after being prescribed a medication that caused me to have a seizure and stop breathing. My mom took legal action and won $20,000 in damages, which she put toward buying an investment property (co-owned by my parents and myself).

When I turned 23, she paid me the original $20,000 plus the profit, which worked out to $40,000 in total. I was able to use it as the deposit for a home. I was the first of my friends to enter the real estate market, and it felt incredible to get a foot up on the property ladder so young.

I had to save to cover the costs, but I still traveled

At the time, I was working full-time as a newspaper journalist, but it wasn't paid very well. I think the most important lesson I learned from buying a property at an early age was how to save and budget, even on a meager income.

I knew that I had to cover the mortgage, water, council rates, electricity, and insurance on the property, so I made sure I set enough money aside each week to do all of those things before I splurged on nice-to-haves. When my friends were buying designer dresses or flashy cars, I told myself that I was working toward building something more important for my future.

Having said that, I still did what I wanted to do, for the most part. When I was 25, I rented out the property and took off overseas for three years. I spent part of that time living in Canada and London, and traveled around North and South America, then Europe and Africa.

Again, my friends were gobsmacked that I could afford to live and travel abroad and still own a property back home in Australia, but I'd learned good savings habits. I worked three hospitality jobs at times in order to reach my earning goals, avoided eating out, and shopped secondhand for clothes. While living in Canada, my partner (who eventually became my husband) and I moved in together, and that helped cut costs.

I'll admit that it wasn't all smooth sailing — there were definitely stressful moments. Once, when I was just about to leave my base in Canada and embark on a three-month trip around South America, my real estate agent emailed to say my tenant had trashed the property.

He had burned cigarette holes in the furniture and caused damage to the walls. I was so stressed about finding new tenants, but the tenant's deposit paid for a lot of the damage, and I had a savings buffer that covered the mortgage repayments while the property was unoccupied. It all worked out in the end.

My partner and I found a fixer-upper for our family, and I sold my first house

When my partner and I eventually returned to Australia, got married, and had our son, we wanted to buy a family home. In 2017, we found a great fixer-upper with a lot of potential in an up-and-coming part of Melbourne called Seaford. The property was about a mile and a half from the beach and close to parks and amenities. It was perfect.

I ended up selling my Gold Coast townhouse, which had appreciated in value by that point, and put the money toward the deposit for our family home. Having that head-start in the property market proved to be an invaluable stepping stone for us, and I am so grateful to my parents, particularly my Mom, for making it happen.

I want my kids to have the same opportunities I did

Now that I have three kids, I'm trying to ensure they have the best chance possible of getting started in real estate from a young age. I recently read a report looking at the disparity of property investment between men and women in Australia, and it made me even more resolute to give my daughters (and, of course, our son) the same head-start that I had.

Two years ago, my kids inherited some money from a close family friend. The money is in a high-interest savings account, and my husband and I contribute to it monthly via direct debit.

I'm also speaking to a financial planner about the best way to invest my kids' inheritance on their behalf and I've explained these options to my older children. My 9-year-old son wants to build a share portfolio, while the 6-year-old thinks her nest egg could finance an impressive Barbie collection. She still doesn't quite understand the concept of saving or wealth-building, but we'll get there.