Letitia Watson loves writing on financial news, and has a passion for personal finance. Her motto in life is that the only way through a problem is straight through. 

‘What do you want to become?’, our teacher asked. I was seven years old and baffled. Why do I have to become something? Why can’t I just BE?

After some reasoning from the teachers’ side I decided being a journalist sounded good, probably not even knowing what it meant exactly.

When I was thrown into the deep waters of a daily newspaper straight out of university,* I found I loved writing financial news and had a passion for personal finance. Helping people to become more financially savvy is to empower them. Money matters should not be overwhelming. We all need some basic, understandable advice – especially when it comes to life-changing events.

I try to write in a way that makes financial issues as digestible as possible. My motto? The only way through a problem is straight through. I also try to teach this to my kids, but being small they still tend to blame the dogs…

Most of my time is spent with my family (this includes the aforementioned dogs). I am also an obsessive compulsive reader, which means there is always a book within reach. And I love to quote Groucho Marx, who said: Outside of a dog, books are a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it is too dark to read.

(*That was after a B.A. (Hons) and a post graduate diploma in marketing management. Since then I completed various certificates and programmes and have experience in external and internal communication for one of the biggest financial services providers in the country; and in writing financial articles and columns for leading newspapers and magazines.)