Ramona Menezes

19 year old Ramona, a student at a leading British University was very intrigued when she first heard about the KFI Financial Empowerment program. While she wasn’t reckless with her spending she loved to shop online and that sometimes got out of hand. She described herself as an impulsive shopper who spent quickly and regretted later.

Her parents had never really spoken about money much, though both being accountants, they were careful with their money. But somehow the nitty gritty of money was never talked about much.

Ramona was keenly aware that even though she was studying Finance and Accounting at University, personal finance wasn’t part of the curriculum, so she was very intrigued at the chance to attend the KFI program.

“The program completely transformed the way I think about money, and my behavior around money. I honestly never expected it to be so invaluable but it was. And it was timely too because I was just about to move into the college dormitory and it would be the first time living away from home so all the lessons we learned about budgeting really helped with all the adulting I suddenly had to do. I had never budgeted before. While I might have tracked my expenses earlier, now I understood why I was spending and did so more thoughtfully, with specific outcomes in mind.” says Ramona.

“I had never even looked at my bank statements before whereas now I go through them every month to check for fraudulent purchases and possible fees and charges I’m not aware off. I notice some really careless money behavior among students and
I’m so glad I now know better. The work we were tasked with during the program brought home a couple of truths very forcefully and those lessons stuck. Especially the conversations we were guided to have with our parents, I felt that really brought us closer and broke down barriers around topics we never discussed before.” she continues.

She also feels that the class discussions around debt gave her a deep understanding of the topic and empowered her to make some smart decisions, like to start investing early which she knows is key to her financial empowerment.

Ramona plans on completing her ACCA certification once she graduates.

SMARTER RICHER BRAVER – just like we promised.