Nicolette Mashile advocates for financial education for all.
The Bryanston resident shares valuable information about financial literacy in her debut book What’s Your Move? with the help of her personal experiences.
The idea for the book came after the television host and social entrepreneur accumulated a social media following of more than 500 000 people just by sharing her personal financial experiences. The book combines her art for storytelling and research, delivering a publication about financial literacy which is easy to understand and put into practice.
“Through my own costly mistakes, I realised that there are so many things that we engage in on a daily basis that require financial decisions and we don’t realise the impact that these decisions actually have in our lives,” she said. The topics covered by the author range from how her upbringing shaped her perception of money from childhood, to a property mistake that saw her forfeit R250 000. The book also features definitions, explanations and tools, which are presented in her quirky and relatable voice, that readers can use.
Mashile continues to emphasise throughout the book that, much like on her Facebook page and Financial Bunny YouTube channel, no one is really born to be bad at money. It is something that we need to have an interest in, take the time to learn and put into practice ourselves.
“Just as you learnt to drive a car and how to speak, you can learn about money.”Financial education is on the rise and many financial institutions and insurance providers are getting on board. Mashile added that the sector had realised that it was more effective to use the voices of those who were not necessarily in the financial sector. “When you have a group of people who for years have had a very negative relationship with the financial sector, it is impossible for the same people from the financial sector to then come and say that you must budget.”
With the help of encouragement and an outline of the rules of the game, Mashile hopes that people will be able to make better decisions when it comes to their money. “There is no big secret ? as South Africans we have this hero need that somebody must always step in and save us but in reality, you are your own hero when it comes to your money.”
What’s Your Move? is available in leading bookstores nationwide and on www.whatsyourmove.co.za
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https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/279693/eight-year-old-superhero-wants-to-build-a-south-africa-of-readers-and-writers/
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/277776/moments-in-life/
