Nicolette Mashile has added to her repertoire as a TV host on SABC1’s Daily Thetha talk show, as well as being a successful investor and public speaker with the release of What’s Your Move? Picture: Supplied
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uBabes wemali, more commonly known as Nicolette Mashile, invited #Trending to the launch of her latest book What’s Your Move? at her financial gym at Milpark’s Media Mill.
The intimate affair was of course as suave as you might expect, with friends and the media pulling up at the light champagne launch in drop-top German automobiles.
Everyone in attendance had been instructed to dress with urban chic in mind. It has been a good while for many of us when it comes to getting dressed up and people made the most of it.
The lively Mashile has an infectious energy that filled the small office space. An excerpt from her book was read and she also took the time to impart some knowledge and a few hard truths about personal finance.
Get into this big bad university – that’s what it was for me – and you realise you know so little
Nicolette Mashile
She candidly took everyone down memory lane to her student days at Rhodes University where she partied her way to an academic exclusion and how she used this as a catalyst to right the ship.
She also touched on a few errors she made in love, entrusting a large sum of money to someone it eventually didn’t work out with.
“I moved from being a top student in high school and everybody talks about you and everyone is excited because you’re going to do amazing things. Get into this big bad university – that’s what it was for me – and you realise you know so little.”
During an economics lecture, the lecturer wrote out something and mentioned to the room that everyone would have learnt this in high school. Mashile hadn’t, and realised things were getting thick, quick.
That moment was perhaps a blessing in disguise as she has now built a career as a popular financial adviser who shoots from the hip, but has an understanding kindness about her.
There is nothing more embarrassing than a working individual who does not have savings. What are you doing? How do you predict the future; how sure are you that you will still have a job in the future?
Nicolette Mashile
Five tips off the hip
1. Check your ego, ignore the hype
“Egos are generally built by a lack of knowing who you are. If your ego is built around material things, it simply means you need those things to be able to hold you up, so there is a lack of identity, especially among young black people.”
If your ego is hinged on a luxury car, you can buy one. It took Mashile five years to do so even though she could’ve done it sooner.
She said, “I sat with myself and asked myself who am I buying this for? What are you trying to prove and to who?”
2. The worst kept secret of saving is?
Pay yourself first and automate. “Because we have access to everything to do with our money, it becomes a hinderance for us to be able to put money away. When you automate, you have to know who you are. If you are a happy chappy and spend then you need to put in measures to protect yourself from yourself.”
Automate your saving so there is none of the pain in moving this money.
3. If you’re working, you should be saving
“There is nothing more embarrassing than a working individual who does not have savings. What are you doing? How do you predict the future; how sure are you that you will still have a job in the future?”
4. Where your money goes is where you are investing
“Are you investing in takeaways, Superbalist, Takealot; those packages are coming in, hey. You’re buying data but do you have shares in Vodacom? That is ultimately the biggest thing, it is easy to buy shares.”
She advised people to check out low-cost investment platform Easy Equities, which has streamlined the process of acquisitions, making it a lot less imposing to engage with.
5. Self work is ugly work, so is personal finance
“There is no big secret, let me assure you. People who have money don’t have some secret; they just know the rules of money. Most of us are making decisions on a daily basis with our money and we don’t even know the rules. You go in there [the bank], we sign ama personal loans, car loans, home loans, but how many of us actually sat down to negotiate our interest rates?”
Mashile is under the impression that a lot of us don’t know the role of banks and their duty to service the economy.
* Mashile’s What’s Your Move is available at all good book stores at a recommended selling price of R280 or at whatsyourmove.co.za
The biggest takeaway must be Mashile’s emphasis on knowing who you are and how you are likely to handle your money.
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