Big Number Natter: Mrudula, a financial coach
Mrudula is the founder of Million Goals financial coaching and recognises the importance of numeracy for financial understanding and wellbeing.
In this Number Natter, she told us about her experiences of helping people build confidence with numbers, and the positive impact it has on lives.
Numbers are a part of daily life. We need not all be mathematicians, but it’s very important for all of us to have the basic skills to feel comfortable and confident to go ahead with our daily lives.
I’ve heard people say: “I feel very anxious about money” or “I feel terrified when I think of money.” It’s about dealing with these emotions and learning basic skills to understand money and basic ways to manage it, so it doesn’t impact our wellbeing. I think it’s very important to start building on that very early on.
With money management, one part is learning the skill and the second part is actually putting that into practice. That is something that you have to do on a daily basis, reflecting and seeing what worked and what did not work – it’s a lifelong practice.
It feels very satisfying to know that I can create a positive impact on someone’s life. Million Goals is all about empowering individuals to feel more confident with numbers.
What resonated with me about National Numeracy was the goal of wanting to educate people about numbers and remove any fear around them. I thought: “I want to be a part of this.”
The myth buster activities from the Numeracy Champion training I did have been very useful, I’ve been using them in my group workshops and one on one sessions.
They show how you can break the ice and try and change the perspective about numbers and money because that can be a very difficult topic to start talking about.
I also recommend National Numeracy resources to others, including the National Numeracy Challenge.
Financial literacy is not as complicated as it sounds and you can learn that skill at any age. It doesn’t matter what stage you are at in your career either, it’s just another skill you’re adding to make your life better.
