Now now, please note that I’m not an investment banker or advisor, but luckily I have a friend who happens to be one. So in my quest to increase my investments and not get burnt from dabbling in high risk investments with unnecessary losses (cries in NFT), I got the tea on the best low & medium-risk investments to consider.
Before we delve into all the amazing opportunities, I need to answer this question for you. Why should you invest?
Because Oprah Winfrey says so.
Now if you’re anything like me, you would be a big believer in the quote that says “Follow who know road” Oprah Winfrey became the first black female billionaire in her lifetime and amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune simply by investing in people and ideas that she thought could yield results and make impact. Need I say more? If you want to make that millionaire (billionaire) bag a reality, investment is one of the surest ways to go.
Inflation (laughs in 1500 Garri parfait)
See, the primary benefit of investing during inflation is to preserve your money. If you decide you’d rather just save all those millions or thousands of Naira. You’re doing a big disservice to your money. Because inflation is like a thief in the night that’s going to rob you without remorse. I’m saying this because what 500,000 NGN could buy in 2019 would be almost double the price now.
So rather than store up money that remains the same and most likely declines in the value of the things it can afford, invest that money in low/medium risk ventures and get extra income on the side. Free money o. Essentially, let your money work for you.
Some popular low & medium-risk investments are:
Mutual funds
This is the OG of investments, especially in the Nigerian space. At some point in your adult life you must have heard someone talk about Mutual funds, In simple terms, mutual funds is like a big basket filled with lots of different investments, like stocks and bonds. When people invest in a mutual fund, they each own a small piece of that basket. When the investment firm you invested in decides which investments to buy and sell from that basket. When they make money, you get a percentage of their earnings. The interest ranges from 3% to as high as 13%.
One of the main advantages of Mutual Funds is they give small investors access to professionally managed, diversified portfolios of equities, bonds and other securities.
Nairametrics offered information on the best-performing mutual funds in Nigeria for January 2022. They include: Stanbic IBTC ETF, VETBANK ETF, and Afrinvest equity fund.
Real Estate Investment
This is one of the oldest forms of investing. Depending on the economic growth in the area you purchased your property or land, you stand to make almost double your invested sum. The good thing is you don’t have to buy outrightly, most real estate agencies offer instalmental payments to own land or buildings. Another investment opportunity to explore in this space is leasing. You can lease an apartment for a period of 10-15 years or more and rent it out, thus making back your money within the period the apartment/house belongs to you. The path to being defrauded is very high in this particular investment, so do well to do a ton of research on credible agencies to buy from.
Investment platforms
A number of Nigerian startups have seen the potential in investment and offer a variety of tech supported investment opportunities for every day Nigerians. Financial technology like Cowrywise, Vale, Trove, Bamboo and others are some of the popular options available. These investment platforms pool different types of investments, ranging from Agriculture investments to bonds and so much more. They even allow you invest in dollar investment opportunities.
Do well to do adequate research before putting your money into any type of investment. And one big lesson I learned is to invest money you don’t mind losing! Be it low, medium or high-risk investment opportunities.
