Financial lessons with Nicolette Mashile

Nicolette Mashile always knew that she wanted to be an educator of some sort. However, it wasn’t until she found herself standing in front of a classroom full of school kids that she realised teaching was not the profession for her.

Eight years later, Mashile has finally discovered the shape of her teaching – imparting financial knowledge upon the masses as the Financial Fitness Bunny.

We find Mashile surrounded by her adoring supporters in her Financial Fitness Bunny Gym on a Saturday afternoon. She has just spent the morning signing copies of her first book,What’s Your Move? A Collection of Ordinary Financial Lessons, for all those who have bought it and now swear by its lessons.

“Even now, it’s always very difficult to grasp the fact that there are people that I can actually assist with what I do. I’ve always known I’m a teacher and I got that from my parents. Both my parents were teachers at some point in their lives and I taught in 2012 but I didn’t like it…”

She felt as though she couldn’t see the impact of the knowledge she was imparting on the children she was teaching at the time.

After her book signing, she sat down for a chat with her supporters, some of whom are long-time friends and family members.

Perhaps it is because of her time as a host of SABC 1’s Daily Thetha or maybe she has just always been a gifted orator, but she has the room eating out of the palm of her hand. Regaling them with tales of her financial missteps and all the lessons she learned the hard way to get to the point in her life she now finds herself in.

“But, I talk a lot and generally I like sharing information so there’s nothing that I don’t share and I share quite a lot. Sometimes, I still get a little shell shocked when people are like ‘oh my God, you changed my life’.”

In an interview with The Citizen, Mashile recommended that people start her book by reading chapter one and also read it to understand that they do have the power needed to take control over their finances, no matter what financial situation they find themselves in.

Chapter 2, 7 and 14 are among the chapters she recommends for anyone who is looking to get things under control after the possible damage done by the Coronavirus pandemic and the consequences of the lockdown.

“There is some stuff in personal finance that is very easy for us not to think about. Having an emergency fund is really easy. A lot of people think ‘ag, nothing will really happen to me’ but what happens when it does? Will you have the right financial response to be able to carry yourself through?”

“When you look at research, almost 90% of people who end up debt entrapped, it’s because they didn’t have a financial reserve when an emergency happened,” adds Mashile.

Moving forward, one of her main motivations is to change the elitist face of finance and financial wellness.

“The reason why I say I wear a doek inside a range rover is to make sure that we start demystifying this idea that rich people look a certain way, that rich people have got to be a certain way… We will all drive Range Rovers! Even with me, it took planning for me to be able to get it.”

“The problem is that we have made wealth elitist in South Africa, globally in fact. We’ve made wealth very elitist and it is about time that we start breaking down and democratising personal finance and wealth. We can all start working on our wealth management now.”

Unlike her time as a teacher, where Mashile says she could not feel the impact of her work, she gets direct feedback from her readers and followers on a regular basis.

“I still feel like we’re not doing enough in South Africa. I don’t think we’ve done enough at all. I don’t think we’ve done any service to our people, especially black people.”

She is now looking to have her work translated into different South African languages.

“I don’t want people to buy the book because they are supporting Nicolette, I want them to buy the book because they feel as though there is something in there for them.”

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