When people ask you, what do you do? What do you tell them?
I work as a secretary.
What does financial wealth mean to you?
It means being able to do the things I want to do without racking my head, without thinking about it.
When did you start investing?
I actually started with Risevest. During my undergraduate days, I knew about investment, but I didn’t know how to begin. I studied finance in school, and we spoke about finance a lot but we did not know any platform apart from the traditional banking systems.
After graduation, someone tweeted about Risevest on Twitter, and I was curious, so I started digging in. In an attempt to find out about the platform I saw the Risevest Telegram community and I joined. It was on the telegram community that I learned about people’s experiences and contributions. This was what made me invest with Risevest early last year.
Speaking of the Telegram group, tell me more about your experience.
It is superb, if not for the telegram group, most of the things I know now, I don’t think I would have known them. They interact so much and people drop advice to each other on what they are doing in the finance world. For example, I got to know about the emergency fund from the telegram group. I must say Mr Jesse contributed a lot to me. I followed him on all social media and I was excited to know he joined Rise, the stuff he was dishing out then was impressive.
Wow, that’s nice to hear-So what’s your experience with Risevest so far?
Risevest has been awesome, I have told everybody that wants to know more about finance, what Risevest does. I think everyone should use Risevest, because if not for anything, for the edge it provides. I call it my edge against Naira devaluation.
I mean, if I am not getting any gain at all, the dollar aspect is okay by me.
How do you approach investment today?
I am an average risk investor and I don’t want to expose myself too much to risk and at the same time, I don’t want to underexpose myself. I am in-between and what comes to mind here is real estate. Most of my funds are in real estate and that is okay by me. I don’t know if that is going to change in the future but for now, I am a medium risk investor and I am comfortable with that.
What is the investing hill you are willing to die on?
First of all, I want to know if it exists. Before I started investing with Rise, I did my research about it. I visited the website and chatted with the online bot and got the information that I needed. You know this is Nigeria, I had to do my due diligence.
What has been your wildest gain?
It is from investing in Rise stock plan. Interesting enough, my stock plan completed a year two weeks ago. I made 21% Interest on my initial investment. That is the highest return on investment I have ever had.
How did you feel when you liquidated your investment?
Yeah, it felt great making 21% Return on my investment in dollars is amazing, of my investment
Have you made any losses?
Yes, I have, while I was looking for investment opportunities, I followed a fintech account on Instagram. But I didn’t know that it was not the main Instagram page of the fintech firm. They chatted me up and directed me to do a transfer to an account. After sending, they were requesting more money, that was when I knew it was a scam. Thank God it was a small amount.
What do you wish you had known before making your first investment?
I wish I knew about Risevest earlier, Risevest exposed me to most of the things I know now.
What does a dream investment look like to you?
For me, I like Rise so much, I am hoping that Rise will still be in existence for the next 10 to 20 years. You guys are doing such a wonderful job.
Yes, we don’t plan on packing up.
I am hoping so too, you know the Nigerian factor, it can be crazy. So, I hope your business doesn’t get frustrated to the point of you guys leaving.
We are going to be here.
Hopefully, that will be so nice because people have a lot of things they want to do using Rise. Most of us have not settled down yet and we want to start saving for the future.
You know we have a goal-based plan that we recently introduced?
Yes, I saw that. I have been looking into it, but for now, let me stick with what I have been doing and gradually I will transition.
Great! Now that we are on to what you have been doing, how, how do you feel about your investment position today?
I feel good, before I knew about investing on Rise, I basically just saved money. I am good at saving and I can save a lot, but banks were taking advantage and paying very little interest. But as long as I was saving, I was comfortable. Until I came across Rise and I was like ‘wow! banks have been taking real advantage of us’. So, I feel happy because I don’t even leave funds in Naira anymore except when I want to use it.
What can you advise a beginner about investing?
For beginners, the first thing that comes to mind is “how are you beating the Naira devaluation?” Because at the time I started, the exchange rate was ₦460 naira and it stands at ₦520 today. I had people that started before me at the exchange rate of ₦360 to the dollar. I was feeling so bad that I did not know early enough but look at it now, one year later and I am glad I made the decision. So, start early, the earlier, the better.
How likely are you going to recommend Risevest to new users?
I am going to give it a 5 stars rating. It is very good and I haven’t really had any issue with the platform. And the best part is whenever there is something I don’t understand, I go to the telegram group and chat with Dotche, who puts me through on what to do. Awa too, the customer service guy, he is very helpful. In short, the entire Risevest team are all doing a very great job.
Thank you for the vote of confidence, it has been nice speaking with you.