Kefilwe describes herself as a go-getter, someone who loves to explore new things just to see how they turn out. It’s an approach that has served her well in her career as a business intelligence analyst, where she works closely with the payments and delivery teams. 

It’s also the mindset that led her to investing.

How Kefilwe started investing

She remembers the moment she decided to start: when she got her second job. Her salary had increased, and for the first time, she found herself with more money than she needed for day-to-day expenses. “I couldn’t figure out what to do with it, but I also didn’t want to end up spending everything and being left with nothing,” she says.

That’s when she stumbled upon a YouTube video about Franc.

“I decided, okay, let me just explore this and see how it goes,” she says. At the time, she wasn’t actively researching investment platforms. Instead, she had been watching finance-related videos in her spare time, learning bit by bit about money management.

“For me, videos are simpler,” she explains. “An article, you have to read this long thing, but a video can sum it up. And I can watch while I’m eating or doing something else.”

The creators she followed were all women – Nicolette Mashile, Nokuhle Khumalo, and others. But their impact was clear. “It was actually women, and that made it more interesting,” she says. “Because if another woman can do it, I can also do it.”

Learning to be consistent

Kefilwe’s biggest lesson in investing came after she had already started. In the beginning, she put in a lump sum – R1,000 – and left it alone for six months. “Then I saw, okay, it’s doing something,” she says. “But looking back, I wish I had taken it seriously from the beginning. I should have been putting money in monthly, from the start.”

Now, she invests with a plan. She splits her money into different goals: one for emergencies, one for a future home deposit, and one for personal finances – bigger purchases she might want to make down the line.

To stay disciplined, she sets up a debit order so that money is automatically invested each month. “That makes it easier,” she says.

Making investment decisions

Although she doesn’t follow a strict investment strategy, she’s developed her own approach. On the Franc app, she allocates her investments between the Allan Gray Money Market Fund, the Satrix 40 ETF, and the Sygnia Itrix S&P 500 ETF.

She also has a tax-free savings account and a notice deposit. “The tax-free part is what caught my attention,” she says. “I liked the idea that the money wouldn’t get taxed.”

Every three months, she checks how her investments are performing. “If it’s been dropping for a while, I start predicting – okay, maybe in the next few months it’ll go up, or maybe I should adjust.” It’s not an exact science, she admits, but it’s a process that works for her. “I try to split my money across different funds – diversifying – so I can see where the growth is.”

The highs and lows of investing

For Kefilwe, the most exciting part of investing is watching her money grow. The most frustrating? When it doesn’t. “If I’m not doing well, that’s frustrating,” she says simply.

It’s why she believes in having separate savings and investment accounts. “You need to have a goal,” she says. “It makes decisions easier.”

If there’s one message she’d want other women to hear, it’s that investing isn’t out of reach. “If another woman can do it, I can also do it.” And so can you.