MAKING SOUND INVESTMENT DECISIONS (1)

We all work hard to make a living. Some of us leave our homes quite early to get back by11am. We hustle every day just to beat the rat race then we throw everything away by  making silly investment decisions.

Investing our hard-earned funds should not be a subject that should be taken lightly. It should be one of our topmost priorities.

There are individuals who made some silly investment decisions and never recovered from it.  Some lost all their savings while others lost their lives because of the shock that came from losing their investments.

When making investment decisions there are some factors that are taken into consideration.

Set your investment goal.: We all need to have a goal when it comes to investing. Examples of such goals include saving to buy a house, saving for retirement, saving for your children’s school fees. Your goal(s) should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound. An example of a smart goal is Saving to buy a house; S: Saving to buy a house. M: You can measure your savings to see if you have gotten to half of the funds that you need to buy the house. Achievable:  

Your goal should be achievable especially when you discipline yourself. It should be realistic : Setting an unrealistic goal is just time wasting. An example is you earning ₦100,000 a month and you are saving to live in Banana Island. Time Bound: There should be a time frame that will guide you.

• Due Diligence: Before investing proper due diligence must be conducted. You need to know the people behind the business/investment. Who is on the board ? management? How to they make their money or profit? where is their office located? You need do ask all these questions to avoid falling into the hands of scammers. Who are their regulators? Just in case there is an issue with the firm, you can report them to their regulators.

• Stay Informed: We all need to stay informed. We should all try to read the dailies, read market reports, and listen to the news. We all need to stay abreast of what is happening in the economy. This will guide and enable you to make sound investment decisions.

Staying informed would help you avoid some pitfalls. It would give you an idea or understanding of the sectors to ignore and the sectors to key into for profit maximisation.  We should all know that ignorance is not bliss, it is expensive. Staying informed is one of the key factors to making sound investment decisions.

• Long term view: We should learn to have a long-term view when it comes to investing. Most Nigerians want to making money now!! They are looking for quick wins. Warren Buffet made his billions by taking a long-term perspective. We should imbibe that mind set.

Investing in some markets would require that you have a long-term perspective because of the swings in the market. 

Having a long-term view of investment  will help you avoid the mistakes of making losses.  You need to know that you have  not lost money until you sell your assets.