Real estate lessons from the Lion King can last a lifetime
Twenty-five years after first appearing on cinema screens, The Lion King is back. Its potential lessons for property owners and investors also span a generation.
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Real estate can feel like a jungle out there for owners, investors, buyers and borrowers.
So what better place to get some fresh financial inspiration than Disney’s freshly-rebooted hit movie, the Lion King.
This digital animation masterpiece is about overcoming challenges, confronting your fears and believing in yourself — all traits that are valuable for anybody who takes the real estate journey.
The Lion King also taught me some lessons in patience, as I sat in the cinema directly in front of a young woman who loudly sang every song (badly) as it played on the big screen.
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Patience is vital with property. Your asset may spend many years going nowhere, or even going backwards, but over the long term real estate has always risen.
Here are five other valuable property lessons from The Lion King.
1. “Hakuna Matata.”
It means “no worries” and it’s an important attitude for real estate owners to have.
If property prices fall, interest rates rise or tenants cause trouble, put it into perspective by asking yourself if it will really matter five or 10 years from now. The answer will probably be “no worries”.
2. “Being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.”
Spoken by Mufasa with the booming voice of Darth Vader, these words illustrate that it’s not always wise to take huge risks.
Buying real estate requires a leap of faith but if it’s going to threaten your financial future, it’s not worth it. Take a deep breath, save some more money, and rethink your strategy to lower the chance of trouble.
3. “Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you.”
Great investors have great self-belief. They have a clear strategy and they stick to it.
There are naysayers everywhere and anyone who puts too much value on the words of a negative Nancy will fail to build wealth through real estate.
As the above Mufasa quote shows, your future success and wealth will speak for itself.
4. “The past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.”
This gem comes from Rafiki the baboon, who’s just as wise at King Mufasa.
Mistakes deliver much more memorable lessons than successes, and real estate owners can make plenty — paying too much on a mortgage, spending too much on a property, fixing an interest rate just before variable rates fall or missing out on thousands of dollars of tax deductions.
Listen to the baboon. Learn from the past.
5. “The only thing we know is things don’t always go the way we plan.”
Simba the lion was on the money. Look at home loan interest rates: we were told for years that they would soon be going up, yet in the past two months we’ve had two rate cuts.
While welcomed by people with mortgages, it’s hurting first home savers.
Planning is important, but try to ask yourself what Plan B, C and D will be when the unexpected happens.
Originally published as Real estate lessons from the Lion King can last a lifetime
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