WHAT EXACTLY IS INVESTING?
Knowing what investment means and having heard the buzz around investing and how much one can make by investing, a question that lingers in the mind is this:
“is investing really worth all the buzz and hype it’s getting”?
The answer to that question is simply; Yes! because investment is basically a tool for building wealth, your wealth.
There is a downside however, investing can be worth it only if you really understand the fundamentals behind investing. We all at one point or the other have read a ton of things on the news about how people have been making money via investments, some of us are glued to Forbes and we sometimes doubt if that news about making big out of small is real, we often wonder how these people make it big by investing asking ourselves questions about what the fundamental need of investment is.
The answer to the fundamental need for investment is that Investment is personal and should be tailored just like every other thing about us, tailored to our needs, our goals, our income and our responsibilities. It should not be done under pressure or with group thinking. It requires a personal understanding of your style and tailored decisions.
The word; “wealth” might seem too vague as we are in a dispensation where 30 billion in the account seem to be easy to get or the times where we hear billions of dollars every day in the news. Truth be told, being wealthy is not a state but a journey.
It is a journey built with
- Discipline,
- Diligence and
- Patience.
All these 3 features are what defines Investment because investment is a long term journey, not a get rich quick scheme. It requires a lot of predictions, timing and deep expertise if at all wealth is to be built.
THINK ABOUT THAT TIME YOU TRIED TO INVEST IN SOMETHING
LET’S TALK ABOUT VEHICLES AND INSTRUMENTS FOR INVESTING
There are several vehicles that allow building wealth. These vehicles are called Investment portfolios. We have all heard about several of these vehicles, some have tried some and they have burnt their cash and are very scared of trying another.
We sometimes give excuses of how low our current income is, how long we still have to live before we grow old, how hard the economy is or most times we are faced with situations that make us choose between “chopping life now” or putting aside the little pennies we earn
Many traditional means are not even saving us from these options, it is either we get charged or we get services that discourage us to save and or invest.
A number of us will agree that we are in the race to build wealth but we are making most of the decisions on building wealth without getting tailored advice, enough nudge or suasion to make us realize these goals or sometimes understanding the tenets of managing finances. These bases of worries are the main foundations that Fundall was built on — to ease financial planning, savings, investment and wealth-building for everyone at zero cost and in a secured way I am going to address the role of Fundall much later.
HOW DO YOU START
Starting is the biggest challenge of all, you are faced with uncertainties, fear and anxiety about an ailing, about this switch in lifestyle however, you need not be, investing can be handled by simply following the steps below
#1. Set goals
Wealth building, saving and investing might seem hard when you don’t tie them to any important goal.
Consider these quotes:
Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life - Les Brown
What keeps me going is goals — Muhammad Ali
Setting goals simply means dividing life goals into stages and making them actionable, the best way will be to divide them according to life cycle phases.
Identify the stages in your life you’ll be passing through and set goals for each one of them.
The first stage of our lives is the stage where we learn, we need to plan for goals such as Postgraduate studies, Masters, MBA, professional qualifications, skill acquisition and other forms of personal development that can increase our chances of earning a higher income.
The actions are to put actionable and measurable goals in the details
Imagine this scenario
“I want to study at Harvard for MBA by 2020, it will cost about 2 million naira”
How much should I start saving now so that the dream can before easily achievable by that time?
That’s a goal and a good way to make that a reality. “Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines.” — Brian Tracy.
You have a dream, breaking them down into simpler units helps you focus on a little at a time. Forbes published a publication by Lewis Howes in 2012 in which the whole paper was centred on thinking smaller, doing the little things because they will eventually give you the momentum needed and the base needed to achieve the “big goals”.
With Fundall, the best part is that if you start planning towards these stages earlier, you will end up not spending as much as you have planned because of the interest that would have accrued on your savings. Also, because you were able to tie your savings to a goal that you’re emotionally connected to, it will be very hard for you to break it.
That stage is not only limited to people in school, it is a stage where you set goals for capacity building
The second stage is the stage of Active Work Life
This is the most important stage in our lives and we must make the right decisions
At this stage, you need to set clear cut goals around yourself, your family, finances and consolidate on your goals from your learning stage
Planning for retirement should be the number one priority, plan for your kids’ education (up to tertiary) even if they are still little.
For example, it will cost 8,137,089 naira to attend Covenant University (for the entire 4 years) by 2030.
That’s a lot of money but guess what you can pay half the cost by 2030 by saving just ₦439,103 annually, or ₦36,591.916667 monthly or ₦8,444.2884615 weekly or ₦1,203.0219178 daily starting today image below.
Can you see the reason why planning ahead, setting goals and saving towards them creates great values? You can do this for all of your other goals; the future house you want to buy, your dream vacation or even trip, your future family expenses, raising capital for a business or even buying gadgets and other things
The best way to spend less is to save more in an interest yielding account, that way you can achieve big things with small cash (your money will basically work for you).
#2. Stick to your goals
The other part is sticking to the goals, you can set up Fundall savings to that effect and with ease, you will start saving the small naira(s) now that will end up becoming millions.
The Essence of Time
I will start with this story
There are two friends, Obasan and Nasabo, they are just like everyone like us trying to build wealth so here’s their story
Meet Obasan
Obasan starts saving for retirement at age 20 and puts in 50,000 Naira per year at a 10 per cent annual interest rate into his Fundall Long Term Saving Plan. At age 40 (21 years down the line),
Obasan’s investment balance is N3,520,000, broken down into:
- Savings/Investment: N1,050,000
- Returns: N2,470,000
Meet Nasabo
At 20, Nasobo feels he has a lot of time ahead of him. He decided to delay the start of his long term saving until his 25th birthday. Being Obasan’s friend, he decides to also match his annual savings of N50,000.
At age 40 (16 years down the line), Nasabo’s investment balance is N1,980,000 broken down into:
Savings/Investment: N800,000
Returns: N1,180,000
Can you see the difference? TIME
All Obasan did is to save just N250k more than Nasabo and ends up having N1.2Million more in return. This is the classic power of compound interest over a period of time. So the best time to start is NOW!
As said earlier, it is not a race, it is a journey, a marathon and it’s a marathon that requires patience, diligence and goal setting
#3. Get great investments — PAY ATTENTION
You might want to ask what investing really is
After you have set those goals and you have created ways to achieve them, save them (preferably in an automated savings account that gives you good interest), the next task is to get great investments that are tailored specifically to fit YOU!
This concept is basically Understanding Your Risk Profile and Investment Goals. This means if you must invest at all whether as an Entrepreneur or Investor, please create an Investment Goal.
1. Ask yourself these questions:
Why are you investing?
Do you just need more money, increase in income or you want to build a long term value?
Will you still continue investing even if the investment isn’t yielding what you want?
How often do you need money, is your current source of income secured?
Do you have any saved amount of money as emergency funds in case of unprepared emergencies?
When do you want to withdraw/liquidate your investment (even as an entrepreneur or business owner)?
Do have to want higher returns? (higher returns are usually associated with higher risks)
2. The next thing is to understand your RISK TOLERANCE LEVEL
What I mean by Risk Tolerance is expressed in the following questions-
What is your ability to take risk or willingness to take the risk?
Are you more conscious of your returns or risks involved while investing?
Do you want safer investments even if it means lower returns?
You also have to consider your future income whenever you’re investing. Investing in this sentence also refers to savings in a high interest yielding account
If you can answer all the questions above, you will clearly understand your risk profile and will be more guided on the kind of investment you will jump at.
Before I proceed, do we all have an understanding of our Risk Profiles now?
Below are different risk profiles so you can get a bit of understanding concerning that too
Moving on, let’s understand some of those jargons up there. Hence, we will be choosing what kind of investment you want to do.
Do you have a drive for entrepreneurship, do you have the guts to invest in the stock market, can you only invest in debt backed portfolios or alternative investments?
Basically, there are two different real “Investments”; EQUITY AND DEBT (these are the most common form of investments in the world of wealth building)
Equity is basically investing in the capital of a business by owning part of the business. These include setting up a business of your own, investing in shares of a company, private equity, Venture Capital Investments etc. You will earn returns usually dividends on your equity and these are usually paid at the last line outflow of firms.
Debt is basically lending a business/government/individual etc. money to fund their expenses. Governments do borrow money from people. These can be in bonds issued out by the government or some other money market instruments. These are the safest kind of investment but they yield lower returns.
\\You can also invest in commodities; Gold, Crude etc, Currencies (FOREX etc), Indices (S&P 500, NYSE, NSE30 etc), Derivatives (Future, Options etc), Hedge Funds, Rates, etc. There are Alternative Investments such as Private Equities, Real Estate Investment Funds, REIT, ETFs investing in industry instead of individual companies etc.
All of these investments have their own risk and are somehow very complicated; even enough to be studied individually in schools.
These investments usually require BIG MONEY to buy in because of regulations and the BIG BOYS that play in the zone.
The question now is this, how can the middle class and budding investors like most of us tap into these investments
The solution is simply the fact that there is an urgent need to reduce recklessness and also democratize investment in order to spread access to the wealth journey. Hence, another reason FinTechs like Fundall were founded
These saved funds are then invested into risk-free instruments to yield the interest we offer.
Invested (or locked up) funds ensure disciplined savings needed to help your goals materialize. They are invested towards the specified date for withdrawals (this is for those who want interests) and so withdrawals are done as soon as the plan matures/unlocks on the date chosen. That way attaining your goals is made easier.
If you’re wondering what plan will help you better achieve your financial objectives, we have different saving and investment options you can choose from.
