Where to invest your money in Nigeria today

Article Summary

Amid Nigeria’s high inflation rate which rose to 22.22% in April 2023, Nairametrics presents some investments you may consider.
The investment options to consider in this article fall into Short term, Mid-term and Long-term categories.
Ensuring good diversification of your portfolio is necessary to ensure risks are managed properly.

Have you been in a situation whereby you have saved a decent amount of money and you want to make some good investment decisions?

You don’t want to keep the money idle in the bank because it gives you no value in return. At the same time, you don’t want to tie the money down and when emergencies come up you can’t liquidate your funds easily.

While at this, you are wary of inflation eating up the value of your money.

A few weeks ago, Nairametrics reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 22.22% for April 2023, which is the highest rate in 17 years.

Inflation and its impact on investments can be a cause for concern, especially for individuals looking to make sound financial decisions in Nigeria.

However, despite the challenges posed by high inflation rates, there are still viable investment options that can help preserve and grow your wealth.

In this article, we will explore strategic asset classes in Nigeria today that you can consider investing in, taking into account the prevailing high inflationary environment.

These asset classes are a mix of short-term, mid-term and long-term investment options you can explore to help you plan your finances properly.

High-Interest Savings Account (HISA):

This form of investment is very important, as it serves as a reserve for liquidity purposes.

What it means is that you want to have a certain form of investment that can be easily liquidated to cash (especially in case of emergencies).

You don’t want to keep your money in the bank where it is idle, and also you don’t want to tie down your money in an asset that’s not easy to liquidate. This option also helps you to diversify your portfolio perfectly.

To use a high-interest savings account, you can make use of fintech savings apps such as Piggyvest, and Cowrywise.

Alternatively, you can use a fintech app that allows you to save in USD, with this you have a better edge amid the Forex challenge.

HISA falls under the short-term investment option.

Investing in stocks allows you to buy shares of companies that are publicly listed on the stock market.

There are attractive shares available on the Nigerian Stock Exchange that you can buy.

Some examples of companies you can invest in are MTN, Nestle, and Dangote Cement, amongst others.

Also, you can consider investing in foreign stocks too like Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and many others.

But I must say, before you proceed to buy shares of any company, you must ensure you carry out due diligence to enable you to research profitable companies to buy their shares.

This form of investment is good because it allows you to get dividend payments when these companies declare dividends to their shareholders.

To get started with buying shares, you can make use of investment apps like Meristem, Chaka, and Trove.

For foreign stocks, you can make use of Bamboo, Chaka, and Trove to invest.

Stocks fall under the mid-long-term investment option.

“Land always appreciates”. This is something realtors do talk about regularly. And they aren’t lying.

Real Estate is a very profitable and solid form of investment you can delve into. Because as long as humans exist, there would always be a need for land banking.

Real Estate has various niches and dimensions. You can invest in residential or commercial real estate.

But I must be honest with you, unlike HISA and Stocks, Real Estate is really capital intensive.

To get a really good offer, you may need to do with millions of naira to invest.

But then, even with less than a million naira, you can still make good investments in Real Estate.

How to go about it is by leveraging your network to help you make good investments in Real Estate.

Leveraging “crowdfunding” is an ideal way to invest in Real Estate if you don’t have millions of naira available with you.

For example, getting 10 of your very good friends (or people you trust) to pull 100k each would give you N1 million.

With N1 million, you now have better leverage to invest in Real Estate.

You can buy a plot of land or half plot (depending on the location)

Once that investment yields great returns over the years, you would be smiling to the bank.

For example, if the N1m land is now worth N5m after some years, your initial 100k investment is now worth 500k.

“Crowd funding” with friends can be tricky, so ensure you have proper documentation so you don’t have “money dramas” later on.

Real Estate falls under the long-term investment option.

Now, this is one option not many people look at when they want to invest their money, but I can tell you that it’s a great option to have in your asset portfolio.

Investing in your business is profitable if you know what you’re doing.

One of the benefits of investing in your business is that it gives you the option of good and steady cash flow.

Having an investment that yields consistent cash flow is a great asset to have. This is because (depending on the business) it can begin to yield returns almost immediately after you begin and it also has huge growth potential.

With as low as 100k, you can start a decent business that has great growth potential.

Therefore Personal Business falls under all forms of investment (short, mid and long-term).