As I sat in my hotel room hammering away in my notebook, my eyes went straight to my beautiful wife and daughter sleeping cozily, tucked in a thick blanket without a care in the world. The first thought that came to my mind was; “the life of a man is not that easy; responsibility upon responsibility”, then my mind immediately raced to the conversation I had on phone with a friend the previous day before travelling. My friend made a statement that really got my attention; “This 2008, I am not going to involve myself in a “get rich quick” scheme but I would focus only on shares (referring to investing in the Nigerian Stock Exchange). This kind of thinking re-enforces and fuels my confirmation that Nigerian Youths really need help in Financial Education if the next generation is going to experience a New Nigeria. There is an urgent need for reframing the minds of Nigerian Youths or they can never catch up with the global trend hence be lost in this “survival” mode of being. Nigerian Youths majorly think of how their families are going to survive hence fails to attempt anything that blow them up financially to aid their society.
This is about the fifth time Zenith Bank is coming to the public to raise funds in 4 years; the only reason they can attempt to do this is because of the successes they encountered in their previous attempt. This clearly shows the gullibility of the public and the inability to see beyond themselves. Could it be there is so much darkness in Financial Education that people are unwilling to grope to find the switch that lightens the room? The other day it was Transcorp coming out with a highly indebted telecommunication company, a rebranded hotel and a non-existence oil company; it was able to raise money from the public despite the fact that some people claim they bought their stock at One naira per unit and was selling it to the public at Seven naira fifty kobo per unit. My friend made me realize that it was all a psychological misappropriation when he said; “I feel safe when I invest my money in shares”.
I believe the statement my friend uttered above said it all; “I feel safe when I place my money in a physically attractive platform where I have no control and does not bear the required fruits”. In Mark 11, it was recorded that Jesus went to a fig tree filled with leaves looking for fruits; though it was out of season to produce fruits, he cursed the tree. Jesus was not interested in how green the leaves were, He was interested in the fruits to satisfy his desire. If the tree did not have any leave and was bearing fruits, Jesus would have blessed the tree. It is not how physically attractive the investment vehicle appears, it is the fruit it produces.
Last year, I placed huge amount of money in First Bank shares around May/June and up till now; certificates have not been sent. Even if it comes out in March (I am supposing), it would take about 3 months to convert to CSCS (its First Bank, you know). This simply means it has taken a year to tie such amount of money down without getting anything for it. When I discussed this scenario with my friend, he said something that made me realize that my confirmations were true about financial literacy; he said; “Shares is for long term gain, I would start getting the bonuses and dividend in 2 years time”. There is a huge hole in the statement he made which he failed to realize. I really did not need to procure the public offer to benefit from bonuses he was referring to; all I needed to do was fix my money at 12% compounding in the bank for that 2 years and wait for 2 months before the AGM; rumors would start flying from different broker firm on the rewards First Bank is about to give its share holders then I would mop up the shares to get the rewards and gladly wait till the price rises again. This is considering there are no fuel crises or any crises that can cause inflation between the two years.
Now talking about inflation, I remember buying Zenith Bank’s IPO for about Ten Naira per unit of share; this is the amount it took me to take bus from West Minister to Wharf. Now, the price is about Forty naira per share price; I realize it takes me the same amount from West Minister to Wharf. Nothing has really changed for the past 4 years and someone is saying investing in shares is long term investment (lol). I am not debunking investing in stocks; I am debunking the mentality associated with Nigerian Youths investing in stocks. When my friend mentioned get rich quick scheme as being invalid based on his experience with them; I told him there is nothing like get rich quick scheme. All the schemes that promises high returns requires high level of skill and personality to reap and sustain its rewards. Nobody can just get rich by just sitting down and expecting money to fall on its lap. Let’s examine those that we presume could have done this;
1. Lottery Winners: Almost all lottery winners lose their money the first year they make it. Since we do not have substantial evidence of lottery winners in Nigeria, I would use a story I read on MSN: Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey Lottery twice to the tune of 5.4 million dollars (702 million naira). Today, the money is all gone and Adams lives in a trailer (a movable container). This is what she has to say; “I won the American dream but I lost it because everybody wanted my money, everybody had their hand out. I never learnt one single word in English Language: “No”. If this story did not get you thinking, this is another story: William Post won 16.2 million dollars (2.106 billion naira) in Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988 but now lives on his Social Security (collects money from government to survive). Post said; “I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare”. This is how he lost it: a former girlfriend sued him for some share of his money, his brother hired a hit man to kill him, his siblings pressured him to car and restaurant business that eventually ruined him to the tune of 1 million dollar in debt. Now he lives on 450 dollars a month (58, 500 naira) and food stamp. It can happen anywhere in the world when there is no financial intelligence. Apart from this, most lottery winners must have lost money plenty times before they finally make it.
2. Billionaire Heirs/Heiresses: Almost all billionaires train their wards in the art of making money. The ones that don’t always ruin their parents business but there are few examples because for the parents to sustain wealth, he/she has enough wisdom to note that the wealth would fly to the winds if the children are not educated properly.
3.Oil Company Workers: This is a Nigerian Myth: most Nigerians believe if you land a plush job, your life would change forever or your life would never remain the same. I have so many friends in the Oil company and their major discuss is how to make money apart from their jobs. The money they get immediately goes into luxury and in order to fuel this luxury, they have to continue making more money. Another perspective to this; anybody (apart from Niger Delta Indigenes) that acquires a job in the oil company where they receive fat check, is a very hard worker; he/she definitely has increased his/her cerebral capacity to work in such an environment but this does not guarantee financial independence.
4.MLM Champions: I have been fortunate to sit in a round table with some of the MLM leaders who have made so much from this platform of investment and I can tell you empirically that these sets of people are passionate and very ambitious sets of people. They are not reactive but proactive in solving issues. These sets of guys are not lucky as most people project; they know what to do at the right time – this is all you need to succeed.
The above examples of few myths surrounding those that get rich very quick; nobody can sustain wealth without financial literacy; nobody can achieve wealth by mere sitting at home or just hoping and wishing. There is really nothing like get rich quick schemes because every platform of making money involves some certain kind of work whether obviously spelt out or not. Most of the scheme we term “get rich quick” involves some certain kind of skill that most people are not ready to indulge in. Sales, marketing, confidence, analysis, etc are some of the skills that are required. While property development and sales may be a “get rich quick” scheme for some people, shares is a “get rich quick” scheme for others; the preferable investment vehicle is in the eye of the beholder. Every investment involves a certain type of involvement to become a champion.
A guy once told me of his penchant for small business and how many guys (especially graduates) despise such ways of investing. He said when his friends where investing in Nospetco and getting 40K per month, he wanted to reach the goal in his small businesses so he sought and sought for a system he would create that would give him the same return or more so he would not feel left out; he found out that Keke Maruwa (motor scooter) was the ideal business where he gets a return of 45K per month from the capital of 350K without his personal involvement. He said he has like 4 Keke maruwas’ now where he gets 180K per month and he is happier than his friends who have their monies tied in Nospetco without returns for the past 7 months. To this guy, small business is his “get rich quick” scheme and he pursues it with all his might despite the fact that he works in a plush company.
The example above is simply a way of telling people that every investment has its key and to get the key to your ideal investment, you need to gain knowledge and wisdom in that particular investment and then this particular investment would become your “get rich quick” scheme. For every investment that you have knowledge and wisdom in, you would definitely have control in. For every control you gain, you gain freedom. With Freedom to express yourself favorably in the investment vehicle, you would know the leverages involved and you would start living a life of leverage investment!
Finally, Louis Pasteur said that it is the prepared minds that get favors; it is only those that have the light turned on in the dark room that can see the key to open any investment. Get acquainted with the investment vehicle of your choice; read books in your investment genre, make your mistakes early and become champions at your game. Please, stop complaining and making excuses because this hinders your growth and fruitfulness. Excuses are the tools of the incompetent; those who use it are not wise. If you are incompetent, you are in the dark room without light. One of the books of the Bible called Exodus recorded God’s decision not to take his own people to the promise land directly to prevent feebleness of the mind and perpetual fear of the enemy, God took them to a longer room to get them prepared for the promise land; a land filled with milk and honey. You cannot get rich quick if you are not prepared.
