The Hennaouis Talk Finances as a Young Family with a Newborn

On this episode of #MySarwaStory, we sit down with The Hennaoui Family (Ali and Walaa), a couple best known for their viral social media content.

Ali and Walaa describe themselves as “an unconventional couple,” compared to the Arab community they grew up in, as Walaa is the one who manages their finances. Though, they strategise on how to spend their money together. That being said, having a child (the cutest baby boy ever!) has made them more aware of how they spend their money as well as how to plan for their future finances as a family.

“Straight away we knew my money is his money and his money is my money. It comes naturally,” said both Walaa and Ali assertively.

The couple’s influencer stardom began as a fun hobby to combat what other people experienced as boredom during quarantine, on the onset of Covid-19 back in 2020. But, they never expected their social following to grow as large as it did, let alone monetise their content. This is not their only source of income as a family, though — Ali works at none other than Sarwa, and Walaa is a dentist by trade.

Ali believes that his drive to start “saving” for the future was inspired by his wife. He also believes that investing is not just about figuring out how much to invest, or what assets to invest in, but also how long to invest for (i.e. the factor of time).

As for the approach they take as a couple to build their wealth — first off, Ali builds on his financial literacy by watching YouTube videos around investing topics. Then, he puts together an investment plan and discusses this with Walla. If she is able to grasp the fundamentals of the investment asset class and get on board with the plan, then they go for it. But, if not, then they don’t — let’s just say that NFTs are off the table for now!

All-in-all, it could be said that Ali and Walaa are each other’s source of knowledge and inspiration for making good financial decisions, and all these decisions, including what to provide to their child, are a team effort. Go team!

Plug in your headphones and watch the full interview on our YouTube page, or if you’re on-the-go you can listen to it on your favorite podcast streaming platform (such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Anghami).