The father of Australia’s youngest property investor, eight-year-old Ruby McLellan, has hit back at critics who tore into his daughter, saying many are envious and lack her capacity to make the required sacrifices.
Online backlash flooded Instagram and X after Daily Mail Australia told the story of how Ruby and her two siblings bought a $671,000 home in Clyde, Victoria, instead of spending pocket money on sweets and toys. Using $6,000 of their pocket money, Ruby, 14-year-old Angus and 13-year-old Lucy put a payment down on the four-bedroom house on Melbourne’s southeast fringe two years ago.
Already the home has increased in value to an estimated $960,000 as the price of real estate skyrockets nationwide. Seems like a canny investment, but online critics castigated Ruby’s parents as shameful and exploitative and others speculated it was all a tax dodge, possibly illegal – and in any case, bad parenting. Ruby’s dad Cam McLellan, who is head of the OpenCorp property group, shrugged off the criticism and told Daily Mail Australia his children would not be reading the personal attacks.
‘It’s easy for someone who doesn’t have property or hasn’t made sacrifices, to be angry about it and easy to target a young kid who has a leg-up,’ Mr McLellan said. He said those attacking the precocious property purchasers would be better off devoting their energies to finding extra work, slice their discretionary spending and saving money for their own first home.
‘Young adults’ lifestyles are very flamboyant these days. I worked three jobs, I didn’t go out, I sold my car,’ Mr McLellan said. ‘Eating in cafes and shopping has drained people’s money. Even owning a car, they like to change it every five years. I had the same car for ten years.
‘You don’t want to aggressively rub that in to the young generation but they need to sacrifice and delay gratification. ‘There’s no easy silver bullet but while my kids will get enough to get started, they are not silver spoons. They have a leg up, but so can anyone in Australia.’