'It has many risks. It needs skill, timing and acumen to succeed in it'

Have you noticed that property is absent from the current debate about where pension fund managers should put your money to save you from poverty? They are being slammed for putting too much into equities and not enough into cash or bonds, so losing their clients' vital pension security.

But not a word about property, while around the world their clients are piling into mainly residential buy-to-let property with money they have taken out of equities, bonds and cash.

The poor performance of stock exchanges and fund managers is only one reason for this. People no longer trust their advisers, their employers or their pensions to provide for their future. So the most important reason for turning to property is to become the masters of their own destiny.

Residential property is a natural investment for the ordinary person because the cost of entry is low. You can get a 100% bond if you want it, so the average R400 000 SA house could be yours for the legal, mortgage and transfer costs of about R25 000. If you decide to rent out the property, you can hire managing agents to sign up a tenant, collect the R4 000/month rent for you and pay the costs. You could net around R40 000 a year before interest payments and you can expect your investment to grow in value by another R40 000 in the first year - a total return of 20%.

There are also listed property funds. But most people prefer bricks and mortar. You can see that your money is in something hard and real.

You can make it even more personal by redecorating it between tenants. You can become really attached to it.

And as the value grows, you can use the resulting difference between the property value and your home-loan - your equity - to increase your loan and use it as a deposit on a second property and a third, fourth, fifth and so on through the years.

There was a postman in Durban who bought a home in the 1950s. When he was promoted, he rented out his first little house instead of selling it and bought a better home to live in.

When he retired in the 1970s he had three houses. With the cash portion of his pension he bought another three.

By 1984 he had 32 houses. In the late 1990s he decided he was getting too old to manage his properties. He sold them - all 164 - and put the money in the bank. It's the kind of story that can inspire thousands of people to cash in their pensions tomorrow and call in the estate agent - as people have done around the world.

But there is one certainty if they do: in a few years' time many will have lost the money that they poured into the wrong properties in the wrong places at the wrong time. In important ways, property is just another asset class. It has its cycles and its many risks. It needs skill, timing and acumen to really succeed in it. It will punish you with certainty if you rush into it simply because it is the latest fashion, or take the get-rich-quick advice.

Property certainly has the steady income, the constant growth in value, the wealth- creating qualities you need to secure your future. But take your time, seek out people who can really teach you, and develop the necessary skills.