When people ask you what you do, what do you tell them?

I’m a digital education architect and I curate remarkable learning experiences. I’m also currently doing my masters in Digital Teaching and Learning. 

What does financial wealth mean to you?

It means to have enough that is sufficient to do whatever I want to do, It is not necessarily about having billions or millions of naira, but it is about seeing myself doing several things without worrying about how to pay for them. 

How did you start investing?

Few days after my induction as an occupational therapist, a doctor friend spoke to me about investing. The conversation was about my plans for the income I’d be earning from my internship.

I have always loved to save money, so my instinct was to reply with “I will save it”. He suggested I instead seek investment options. 

I also read books such as “Richest Man in Babylon” and “Smart Money Woman” and I got clarity on what to do. I took an investment course that explained stocks and money markets to me. With the knowledge gained, I started by investing in the money market with one of the banks, then I put some money in Agric too. 

What was the first thing you invested your money in?

It was mutual funds, Stanbic mutual funds. That was the first thing because it was the safest. I think it is always best to play it safe while you are figuring out your risk appetite. 

How do you approach investment today?

I am still a bit of a medium to a high-risk investor, but I lean more to medium than high. I do not dabble in things I do not understand. If I do not understand it, I do not invest in it. for example, I have known about Crypto since 2018, but I have not jumped into it because I feel like I don’t know enough, even though I am now curious and open to exploring it.

Also, I do not enjoy checking my investment daily, so any investment that is going to require me to check daily, I do not invest in it.

And when I say high risk, I mean I have no issue with putting my money into stocks, even though stocks can be crazy.

What tools do you use to invest today?

Risevest and Bamboo are the only two I use right now.  I am looking for other options in other currencies.

What investing hill are you willing to die on?

If it looks like a scam, smell or sounds like a scam, It is a scam. 

Since you started investing, what has been your wildest gain?

Nokia stock was one of the first stock I bought early last year. I just bought it because it was cheap at the time and it is Nokia. I am a bit sentimental about Nokia,  When I bought the stock, I would just check once in a while, then I checked the stock some weeks ago during the surge in Gamestop stocks, and there was a 92% increase in the stocks. 

That reminds me, I also think fondly about when I put money in RiseVest and left it for over a year and when I came back to it, I was impressed.

So, has there been any loss?

Of course, there are days when everywhere is red, but I mean, I do not see it as a loss because I am not withdrawing it at that period

So, there has never been a time that by the time of maturity, you have made a loss on your investment?

On an investment, no. 

… 

Wait! Sometime in late 2016 or early 2017, I put money in a forex “investment” run by one BTD company in Ife, even though at the time I didn’t think of what I was doing as investing.

I made some returns that I rolled over, even got my family members on board and then, they started having issues with payments and that was the end of all our monies.

We also visited the office and thought I had done my due diligence, but alas, hahaha. I realise I didn’t even know what their business model was. Anyway, I’m grateful it was a lesson I learned before I started earning more money.

What is the hardest decision you have had to make?

I am already a low spender and I cannot say depriving myself of certain things because if I were not investing, I still would not be spending my money, I would be saving.

Before you started investing, is there anything you wish you had known earlier?

I guess I would have loved to have started investments in dollar-denominated currencies at the start, I removed my money from naira instruments immediately I noticed that my returns were reducing.

They were just sliding a fraction above the inflation rate and I said, “if I leave my investment like this, I am going to lose”. If I had known from the start, I would have bypassed naira investments. I still have a soft spot for Agric companies, but I would have passed on the whole mutual funds and gone straight to the dollar investment without hesitation

What does a dream investment look like to you?

I think a dream investment to me is doing 50% in stocks, like good stocks probably run by funds or something and real estate. Yes, it will be a mixture of real estate and stock, with a very small fraction of euro bond. Then I think at some point I would like to invest in art. Those seem like a good way to invest, buy them and hope that they appreciate them in a few years. 

How does your dream investment compare with your reality today?

I think it looks similar to it,  but I do not have enough money yet.  I am currently building my way there though. 

How do you feel about your investment position generally? Do you feel good? Do you feel proud? Knowing that you started in 2018

I think I am happy that I started then because I made a career shift which also affected my income, but I was happy that I already knew about investment. So even when my income was drastically reduced, I still found my way around making it work and still being able to put something aside.

I am open to learning more that is why I like the culture around Rise and investment education. I mean Rise even goes beyond investment education as they keep us updated on everything. Yes, I am happy with where I am, but I know that there is still so much more I can learn, so much more that I can know.

What will you tell a beginner about investment?

First, read investment books, I recommend The Richest Man in Babylon, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  I know some people give Rich Dad, Poor Dad a lot of flak but there is wisdom worth picking from the book. So always read. 

Secondly, do not invest in anything you do not understand, and I say this because sometimes I tell people about RiseVest and I say if you don’t understand please get me to explain it to you before you invest. You must understand and get a hang of it before you start investing. So, do not invest in it if you do not understand it. 

Thirdly, don’t forget: if it smells like a scam, looks like a scam, feels like a scam, do not invest in it because it is a scam.

One last thing is to invest in places where you can always easily communicate with the team members. I withdrew from an investment; because it took them so long to respond to emails that I sent to them and it was not comfortable for me.