About Me
Miles Davis used to say, “The music always sounds better when you know who is playing it.”
As a jazz lover myself, I have found this to be true. When my love affair with financial and business literature began, I once again found that I liked to look into the authors whose content I imbibed.
Here’s a little about me…
Nyiko Mongwe – My Story
How It All Began
My name is: Nyiko Mongwe.
Having been trained academically and vocationally as a Mechanical Engineer, I quickly learned that: In general, engineers don’t make as much money as our teachers in school would have us believe and that knowing how to use money has a far greater impact on one’s ultimate financial success than simply making a lot of money.
This realization was the catalyst for my longtime love affair with financial literacy education, a journey that continues to this day. Much to the dismay of my parents I quit my high paying engineering job and became a Financial Advisor, probably one of the best decisions I have made in my life. Since in practice, I have been privileged to learn the intimate aspects of the financial portfolios of myriad individuals and families. The longer I did it, the more certain patterns began to emerge and the more convinced I became that I had to share more about personal finance principles with as many people as I could. I learned that it was not enough to simply buy financial products from the big insurance and investment corporations and hope to attain financial freedom at an age when one can still enjoy being financially free.
The name of my blog so vividly encapsulates what I am trying to get across to my readers. While the ability to master one’s self and cultivating a culture of saving is hugely important, most of us would have to concur that frugality and thrift never created wealth for anybody. While I am aware that many “super savers” have used this approach to achieve retirement at a relatively young age, I would argue that this is accomplished through cultivating a relationship with money that, for me at least, is quite reminiscent of fear. Moreover, this group continues to exercise radical frugality even after this retirement. Achieving financial freedom solely through using less money is almost like overcoming your fear of snakes by becoming a master at avoiding contact with snakes.
My favorite author strengthened in me a mindset where, instead of saying, “I can’t afford it”, a defeated state of mind that does not stimulate a call to action, to learn to rather ask, “How can I afford it?”
Deploying your finances as opposed to employing them communicates to me not just a keen understanding of how your money can work for you but the sheer infinitude of the possibilities your money can achieve on your behalf when bolstered by your sound financial acumen. Don’t get me wrong, saving is a colossal part of my advice and strategy, but saving is only the beginning.
I want to teach you some of the things I have learned. I share on this platform mistakes I have made, lessons I have learned from other peoples’ mistakes and most importantly, how choosing a conventional path can only get you conventional results.
Blog Overview
Our Favorite Topics
Blogging Tips
How I started my blog and what I am learning about how to make money blogging. My mistakes, my victories and what I did not anticipate.
Budgeting
Money not used has no use. I am all about spending money, but spending money wisely so that it makes more money. Budgeting is pivotal to having money to deploy in the first place.
Business Advice
I have consulted with countless business owners and observed common mistakes which keep their businesses small and stagnant. I share what I have observed in this category.
Career Advice
If financial freedom is a goal you want to attain quicker than what is conventional then some career choices are better than others. I explain my reasoning over various posts as well as an e-book I will be publishing.
Credit Advice
I speak a lot about using credit to build wealth. Credit, used correctly, allows you to build wealth at a far quicker rate than saving ever could. I have learned a lot about credit through my own mistakes during my transition.
Entrepreneurship
The path to financial freedom may look different for each of us. For many, this may include a period of working for ourselves. For financial freedom, there are ways to do this that are more efficient than others.
Estate Planning
Getting ahead with your finances has far less to do with what you do than how you do it. Being a financial advisor has taught me the importance of structure. I love to share what I have learned.
Financial Freedom
Financial Freedom is a state that very few manage to truly attain. This term is used far too often to describe early retirement than true freedom. I debunk myths and share how best it can be achieved.
Insurance
Investing
Herein lies the magic of wealth creation. The greatest myth is that the stock market is the only place that ordinary people can invest. I share a couple of my favorite investment vehicles in this category.
Paying Off Debt
I am a proponent of using credit to create wealth. Credit can and must be used as leverage. Using credit for debt will slow you down and deter your efforts to attain financial freedom.
Personal-Development
Financial literacy is useless if you do not know how to manage yourself. A big
Making Money Online
The internet has given rise to an infinitude of possibilities for innovation and has rendered almost obsolete the concept of distance. This also means there are far
Property Investment
Probably my favorite topic yet. Property investment is far easier to participate in than most think. It is, however, a science that far too many people don't invest their time in learning.
Retirement Planning
This may sound obvious, but far too many people cannot afford to retire at their retirement age, or do but go on to outlive their savings. I have several lessons to share on this topic.
Saving Money
This topic is similar to budgeting, where you plan your expenditure, only we go a step further by eliminating some expenditure altogether. I have learned that
Travel
My fiancée and I both enjoy traveling. Although we don't have much to share as yet, this blog is meant to be a journal of our travels and our wish list. We will also share everything we learn here.
Wills & Trusts
Wills and trust form a great part of succession planning and estate planning. It is very important that both of these are done in a proper way so as to avoid legal battles and potential loss of wealth.
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