T
fiscal fitness
he world employs currency to build dreams and give wings to their ideas. Our early years are times when our dreams move with the wind and find their place at the feet of the Supreme, waiting for instructions.
Wealth creating channels: • Private Equity: Investment in unquoted companies. There are good private companies we can invest in by buying shares though they are not quoted i.e. MTN, Celtel
• Capital Market Investment: These are quoted shares traded on the floor of the stock exchange. Bank shares fall under this category though not exclusively i.e. First Bank PLC, Sterling Bank PLC, etc. • Mutual Funds: These are Funds pooled together from various sources for investment purposes, usually managed by an investment company. Examples of Investment companies are IBTC Equity Fund and ARM Discovery Fund. The return is very high, if left for a number of years. • Fixed Income Instruments: I. Bonds They are debt instrument issued by companies to raise capital payable over a period of five years. The return on investment is high. II. Fixed Deposit These are interest earning term deposits. It could be 30, 60 or 90 days and you can roll over as your deposits fall due. • Real Estate: Purchase of property. The real estate market though capital intensive, has a very high return on investment. I believe all God’s children need to put on their thinking caps so that the wisdom which is accrued to us over the years will birth in the evening of our lives a nest egg filled with gold, to cushion our lives when our bones become brittle.
There is a need, after having worked for a lifetime, to have something to show for it at retirement. It will be a shame if we fail to map out an economic master plan to navigate the evening tide.
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“Never start your day without an agenda or a plan If not, your day simply becomes just an another day“
Picture: gem woman library
The oomph and grit required to succeed is predominant in our consciousness. As we glide along the Milky Way, we draw pictures on our reality; which sometimes suffer the misfortune of being wiped off by the cares of life. The years of our life fly away at the speed of light and when we finally catch up with them, we discover that the sun has set and the night is nigh. We need to start planning now so as not to get swept into obscurity, by the sands of time. This is the time to build a portfolio of diverse wealth creating instruments. We may sail on a course we did not chart, to a destination we did not create. But the Creator has an economic plan which enables His children to excel. We need wealth creating abilities in our golden years that will cushion our twilight, not an extravagant lifestyle, which may end up pauperising us. There is a need, after having worked for a lifetime, to have something to show for it at retirement. It will be a shame if we fail to map out an economic master plan to navigate the evening tide. The Scriptures emphasis on the daily expiration of God’s children from a disease called ignorance… We need to build wealth through creation and create through education, and educate through information…
• gemwoman | July/August 2007
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