Stories
From the 14th of May 2025 to the 17th, I conducted training in various Hollywood bets sites in Limpompo (Loius Trichardt, Malamulele, Thohoyando and Giyani). At first what seemed to be a daunting task, because of cultural and language differences, ended up being a worthwhile experience. We covered savings and investments (MM2) in the trainings, which was frightening because it requires the use of big words like "compound interest", "Macro and Micro Economy", "inflation" etc. And explaining these words to an audience that did not speak isiXhosa or Zulu seemed like a mammoth task. Contrary to belief, the training went exceptionally well! At one of the training sessions I was approached by a young gentleman of no more than 23 years of age, he was interested in discussing investments at length. He was interested in ways to make his money work for him so that he may be self sustainable one day and not rely on employment.
Had 3 ENRICHED MONEY fo sho's training with 2 community groups and 1 workplace, commenced with managing money by identifying financial goals for each individual as they shared their goals and dream and on that note they have learned that it does not require more money or richness to have financial goals and being able to save for them. What is important is to draw your budget and from income to expenses what is left is for one to save for a goal therefore that will direct you to know how much you saving and for how long categorising short, medium and long term goal so we all concluded it's all about discipline, realistic and consistent. We then proceeded to managing risks where by each group had 3 cards of different insurances and they role played the sales people selling insurance to others, furthermore discussed WILLS, accidents and claims. In addition we demonstrated buying in cash and in credit, shared the reasons why people buy on credit and how credit build credit record then some shared their situations and asked for ways to overcome risky situations. Lastly the financing funerals we discussed ways to prepare for such event, they listed policies, undertakers and community policies and we filled in the funeral forms acting as if we planning for one, then each shares their estimated costs and mostly said in disbelief that "funerals indeed are expensive" meaning they need to be prepared for financially. The session was productive and participants were willing to change their habits and practise financial control and discipline.
On the 07th of May 2025, I conducted training in Klawer in the Western Cape. We held multiple sessions at the venue, Money Module 2 (Savings and Investments) and Money Module 7 (Ageing Grace) modules were done. The participants were particularly interested in the savings and investment modules, expressing a lot of shock when we covered the Retail Savings Bonds portion of the Training. One participant, an elderly lady said she was interested in teaching her grandchildren about the savings options.
I did my Coronation sessions in KwaXimba,Number 9 area, at the sports centre,we had a Rocky start because the weather was very bad,it was raining heavily and the sports centre is next to the river, which most participants had to cross to get to the training.So we started later in the week,and the Trainees showed up in their numbers, proving a hunger for the information that we had brought for them.what stood out for me,was that most of them were young and fresh out of high school,looking for every opportunity to make their lives better.On the day that we did the Scams and fraud module,my learners shared different scam stories that they have seen or heard of and we shared information on how to recognize a scam,that afternoon when we left the session one of my learners was scammed and her cellphone was stolen. She said she met this guy walking on the road,carrying a backpack and wearing work clothes,He stopped her and asked her to please go and give his father his wallet because he is now late for work and he left with his father's wallet.He pointed at a house,claiming that's where he lives and that's where his father is waiting for the wallet.The guy then called his father and put him on loud speaker so that my learner can also prove that he is not lying,sure enough the father picks up and confirms he is waiting for the wallet.my learner then took the wallet and started walking towards the house,midway to the house,she puts her hands in her pockets to reach out for her phone,and the phone was gone.when she goes back to where she was with the guy,He was gone,she asked the people around if they saw the guy,they said he was picked up by a white polo vivo. Sad story indeed,but it was a confirmation of our session we had the day before,when she got to class, she was like "haybo Miss,yesterday we had a lesson on scams and I was scammed,these things are true "
I had sessions on budgeting Basics Webinar, here is some feedback from the participants
I had sessions on Money Fo Sho with Cosmo City Community. They where very excited when they heard about the opportunity they where offered, they participated so well and shared some real stories on some of the topics. with the feedback i received the course will really help them manage their money better and deal with their debts.
Avocado Vision in partnership with Coronation I successfully upskilled 192 participants for financial life skills training program working with local stakeholders. The word budget it's familiar to many but their understand it's not accurate, Ayanda in explaining budget " budget it's when you put money aside to meet the target you Stated for a specific expenses". Some Who attended the session get to understand that budget " It's the plan of the money earned including your expenses and savings", it was a active youth showing enthusiasm towards the program. Some attended modules like: Money safety- Saving and investing, Scams and fraud, Thinking about retirement, my money and the text man and money and believe most of the information was new to many participants. Money and believe turned to debate because of different views in individuals and I concluded by saying " I know we have different believe based on Cultural believe and religious but it is very important to us Money wisely start with you needs, savings then wants. Don't be influenced by your cultural beliefs or religious to spend everything you work hard for and remain with nothing at hand"
0n 16 April 2025 i conducted a session on Money Fo Sho with the CWP in Eldorado park. It was great to see the young and old joined together and thirsty to learn more about managing their finance. most participants after the session commented on how grateful they are to have learned the importance of budgeting and writing their goals down and celebrate every mile stone as they achieve them.The older generation commented on how they wished they had learnt more about keeping the credit report good by not over buying stuff they dont neeed.they cannot wait for more training to come back in Eldos
Had the opportunity to train community in Clarens on the 10th of April and the modules covered were buying big ticket items and money and beliefs, as we shared understanding on bigger items they classified cars and houses therefore trying to figure out their preferences we have noted down that most of our youth would buy cars for social standing and fitting in without taking into consideration factors like 1. the affordability of instalments 2. maintenance 3. Fuel cost and lastly the availability of their parts therefore we began breaking down the process of qualifying for a car in fact as determining one to be approved then compared with the breakdown of the budget to determine if one can really afford and the outcome was qualifying does not mean affordability. We then discussed the aspects to note down when you have decided to purchase a car basically explained the option of taking car finance or taking a loan to buy the car cash from dealership if only you are not buying the car cash from your own savings or pocket. same applies to buying a house you either take a personal loan or a home loan which is a bond then the relationship between the two is paying their car or a house with fixed or variable installment, residual psyment inclusive of its advantages and disadvantages explained we then did the calculations of purchasing a house on a 250 000 cost price house on a personal loan on 20% interest rate for five years and the breakdown of a 250,000 range house on home loan on 8% interest rate for 20 years and our findings were one has high monthly installment with lower total amount while the other has lower monthly installment with high total amount and lastly how one can decide to pay the same amount of personal to homeloan and the outcome was period of payment is even shorter. In addition the money and beliefs session was more of a conversation were participants shared their practises and the rituals they know of concerning the money. Lastly it is safe to say the individual said at the end of the session they rather prefer buying big ticket items for mobility and employment, career aspirations as well as considering the economic factors.
On 11 April 2025 I conducted a Money FO Sho session, the participants were actually a support group of gender based violence created recently in the community, the ladies agreed that some of the topics handled were part and parcel contributors to situations they encountered in their relationships, especially when it came to the needs and wants and the lengths they have to go to ensure that those are met, they were immensely inspired to know that they can restructure their finances by themselves without relying on compromising measures.
