Financial tips from Cassper Nyovest

What sounds better … being rich or being wealthy and do you know the difference?

According to Cora Fernandez, chief executive at Sanlam Investment, institutional business, “Wealth is about accomplishing the financial and personal goals you set for yourself – it’s about having a fulfilled life. Being rich on the other hand is only based on how much money you have.”

Cassper Nyovest, is South Africa’s biggest rapper and through all his business decisions he has one goal in mind – to build a legacy directly linked to building wealth. He looks up to entrepreneurs and understands that his current career has an expiration date and to leave a legacy, he needs to make wise financial decisions now.

In July, he worked with Sanlam to start a new dialogue about savings, #ConspicuousSaving, and to do this he shared some of his saving secrets on social media. The country’s enthusiastic reaction surprised him and made him want to share more.

Nyovest shares five #ConspicuousSaving lessons he learned:

• I understand the power of social media (it’s what helped me #FillUpTheDome) so I understand its influence on society. However, don’t ever try to live up to the pressure of your social feeds. I think people should live within their means and go at their own pace.
• I was saving before this collaboration and I will continue to save. Use your money wisely (saving is always a good idea). We do a lot to impress others but you should never spend your money faster than you can earn it.
• When I posted about me shopping at Mr Price, I was shocked that my fans were surprised and they thought I couldn’t or shouldn’t shop there. I never thought of myself as above it and my fan’s reaction made me think about how they perceive me and what I do. It made me think about how what I do affects others’ decisions to try to keep up. We should all think about what message our posts are sending.
• Saving brings you wealth that gives you financial freedom.
• Work hard.

“From the #ConspicuousSaving campaign, I learnt that you can never know enough when it comes to using money. I have realised there is a lot more to learn. You can always get wiser about your spending,” Nyovest said.

Saving is hard and it goes against the psychological messages of extreme consumption we are exposed to every day, said Fernandez but emphasised that saving is a must. “We need to have dinner table conversations about how to reward ourselves. Saving is the ultimate reward as it results in the financial freedom that we all long for.

“So let’s start rewarding ourselves and set ourselves on the path to live our best lives possible.”