Let’s talk finance! – Meet the prodigious 22 year-old financial expert kaë

Here at Worth Of Mouth, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview a young, very talented, financial expert – Kaë.

Interviewed by the amazing @esther__taiwo, Kaë speaks on her success in her industry, mentioning her thoughts on the importance of financial literacy and the spark that has made the younger generations interested in financial awareness.

Throughout the article, we see ways that we can benefit from changes in the industry as well as debunking common myths. Kaë also adds ways that you could begin managing finances.

1. Where did it all start from – tell us about your journey so far and how you were able to get to where you are now?

“I was doing financial literacy videos in 2018 on YouTube, but kind of stopped for a while as I felt I wasn’t getting as much engagement as I wanted from it. However, I knew I still had a passion for topics within finance and wanting to educate people on it.

“A recent statistic came out last year that showed an overwhelming percentage of millennials don’t save or have no savings. So, a lot of people who knew I did financial literacy videos back then reached out to me and asked for some tips on how they could start saving and manage their finances. During that particular period was when help-to-buy and ISA’s were a current trending topic.

Although I didn’t know much about it initially, I started doing my own research on it and found a way to structure this information in a much simpler format that’ll be easy for people to understand and follow through. I then decided to put up the information on twitter as a thread, but with the intention of screenshotting the thread and then post it on my Instagram story.

After a few hours I came back to my phone during my break and just saw thousands of people had retweeted the thread and it ended up blowing up more than I would’ve expected. And I just went from there.”

2. Why do you think nowadays more people have been taking up a greater interest in financial literacy?Especially when not many millennials, or even Gen-Z , were previously interested or had extensive knowledge within this area?

“Nowadays everyone wants to be successful, everyone wants to have their own house and have their own family and be affluent, but no one knows the exact steps to get there.

So now when people begin to realise, for example, that they need to have a good credit score or have a certain level of income to get something like a mortgage and that there are certain processes you have to go through, it can all become very complicated.

Hence, the increase in people trying to find a way to access the necessary information in a format that they could understand and apply later on.”

3. Why did you feel it’s important to educate others on financial literacy – How did you pick up such a keen interest in this particular area?

I have been able to build my knowledge within financial literacy over the past few years; it’s also something I’ve studied, done various research around the topic and growing up my Dad had taught me quite a lot on it as well.

I thought, “well if a lot of my friends don’t know much about financial literacy”, there was huge chance that a lot of young people don’t know either so why now just find a way to help people even if it’s just one person that I’ve been able to educate better – then I know I’ve done my job.”

4. Are there any methods/tips you’ll recommend for those who want to remain disciplined within managing their finances much better?

“There are various options you can look into, find one that is suitable for you –  for example, you could download a savings app such as Emma, create a spreadsheet on your laptop or even use pen and paper to draft up a plan.

Write down how much money you’re getting, whether it’s student finance or from work. Figure out your outgoings and then figure out how much you would want to spend in a particular week or month. This will give you a more structured format – helping you identify how much you could save in a particular period and ensuring you meet your savings target.”

5. Why can an individual’s credit score have an impact on their financial future such as when it comes to getting a mortgage or even taking out a loan?

“Credit score is a score that the bank gives, to show how much of a reliable borrower you are. It’s essential that you’re able to build your credit score from now as this will come in extremely useful when it comes to situations where you might need to open up a bank account or get a phone contract.

However, if your credit score does not meet the required standards of the company, you’ll be declined. If this is not acted upon it could create a huge detriment in the future when it comes to making much serious financial decisions.

Not being able to get a mortgage because you have a low credit score, and now you’ve found yourself needing to work extra hard in a short space of time in order to build your credit score when you could’ve started much earlier.

6. There is an increase in ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes being provided by various services one of which is klanar. These schemes are commonly known to making big purchases more manageable. Would you therefore advise others to start utilising them more and to also help in managing their finance?

I wouldn’t recommend them, only because I’ve tried klanar myself to see how it works and if they are a better alternative solution for others. But now pay later schemes have been around for quite a while and have only been gaining recent popularity. Even though Klanar throw themselves to be for young people, what I found with these companies is that their goal isn’t really to help you pay back the money on time. Essentially their goal is to hope that you miss your payments so that they can get interest from you. Hence why I encourage those who still struggle to manage their finances to not go into these schemes as this will only put them into more debts as often times, they’ll find themselves missing payments. The best and safest option is to buy the product out right.

7. How can we identify the best options to go for when investing?

“If you’re new to the world of investing start off with stocks, it’s much easier to assess stocks and have a better understanding of them; you’re able analyse and identify suitable companies you might want to invest in.

However when it comes to non-financial assets – such as investing in property, investing in these areas are particularly dependent on the market.

For example, if I was to invest into a property now and its doing really well and then an something like Brexit happens – this will have a huge impact on the property market. So, investing in these areas might be a bit more riskier especially if you’re not in tuned with market trends or still not knowledgeable in them.”

8. With any investment, your capital would always be at risk; how can we ensure we’re making the right decisions – minimising any possible risks?

“There’s always going to be a risk regardless of what investment option you decide to go into. To minimise these risks, I would advise only going into the things you know and understand well enough.

For example, if you don’t want to take any major risks and lose too much money – invest in companies that you know are doing very well such as apple or Microsoft.

I won’t really tell a person to invest in a company just because it’s cheap, so ensure you’re actually doing your research into these companies – find out how long they’ve been operating, how well they’ve been doing before you start putting your money in. Always do your research before you put down any money; if you’re not ready to lose that money, don’t invest it!”

9. Get rich quick schemes investment plans have grown increasingly popular especially amongst young people; a popular one being forex trading?

“I don’t endorse it for young it people. There are adults out there who still don’t know enough about it or how these things really work.

Even though it may seem like a good rich quick scheme in which a lot of people make it seem like it is, I wouldn’t recommend it. Focus on your savings and beginners investing, don’t worry about any of that right now.”

10. It is estimated that 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and 90% do by the following generation. What do you believe are the fundamental principles required to ensure we’re able to build a level of wealth that’ll last for generations to come? 

“Although this is a very broad question, I would say the first thing to do is to build the wealth whether that’s in property, physical assets etc. The main reason why majority of these wealth is lost through these generations is the level of inadequate education about managing wealth.

For example, if we take a look at affluent white families, they begin to educate their children from an earlier age and introduce them to the family business. So, these children know from young that they’ll inherit a certain portion of the wealth aswell which means they’re taught how to nurture and grow it later on.

However, sometimes when it comes to a lot of young black people it could be a case where they’ve already got the assets but often lack the knowledge needed on knowing how to sustain that level of wealth to enable them to pass it on to continue and maintain the cycle of generational wealth within their families.

Lack of financial education is a major factor stopping many from being able to build generational wealth that can be passed on to their future generations.”

11. What can we teach and install in future generations to ensure wealth is being preserved and managed accordingly?

“First and foremost is teaching the importance of wealth. The first generation to build the wealth didn’t get it easy or get it for free, so understanding the drive behind that and the importance of nurturing or further building that wealth.

Let’s say if I inherited a house, maybe my grandad passed away and gave me two houses; how can I then make that 4 houses. Also, teaching my kids the importance of the wealth that I have –  so that they can also keep it going and build an empire for thousands of generations to come.”

12. What about those who feel they might be at a disadvantage in being able to build generational wealth especially if they haven’t come from a particularly wealthy or privileged background?

“I never came from a privileged background and neither did my Dad. A lot of people usually use that as an excuse to not wanting to get out of their situation and go after what they want.

My Dad is one of 8 and wasn’t from a wealthy family but he was able to make a life for himself and has instilled that mindset he’s into myself and my brother. He tells us about the investments he’s made and what we would inherit once he eventually passes away and most importantly, he teaches us the processes and steps we’d also need to take in order to keep building and growing whatever we inherit.

You don’t need to be an entrepreneur to build wealth, there’s nothing wrong with working a 9-5 with a stable income as long as you’re investing into the right things and spend your money wisely you can build wealth that lasts long.”

13. Any tips for getting into good financial habits in 2020?

1 . First would be to always save regardless of what your income is; everyone can save even if it’s just a little bit at a time.

2. Always keep an eye on your credit score and are aware of any activities that could take place for example the banks can add stuff on there, and you’ll have no idea.

3. Be very active when it comes to budgeting and not just spending your money on unnecessary purchases. Cause several years down the line you’ll look back at the purchases you’ve made and realise how much you could’ve saved if you were more strategic with your spending habits. Which could’ve been put towards things that were more vital.

14. Time to step up!

I’d like to thank Kaë for this amazing interview, having shown us a professional perspective into the way we see the financial world. I hope you guys learnt something from this article and maybe start practising some good financial habits this year.

Kaë also has a very unique and informative podcast named ‘Pennies To Pounds‘ where she also gives financial advice – if this article interested you in any way, check this podcast out too.

Esther Taiwo
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