Unlocking the Wealth Of Nations

Join me, Wale Miciah and other proffesionals in Ilorin on 21st of April 2012.

Investment Club: Vehicle for Wealth Creation

Investment Club: Vehicle for Wealth Creation

We all aspire to be rich and retire comfortably someday. What are you doing about this?
In addition to having personal savings and investment or registering with an Asset manager or Pension Funds Administrator, I will suggest that you form an investment club with likeminded people. The beauty of an investment club is that it helps you to be disciplined enough to save and invest consistently.

An investment club is a group of people( 5 or more) who pool resources together on a regular basis ; preferably monthly to save and invest. It is similar to a Cooperative society but here you save to invest for the long term i.e. 10 years and above. The club may allow members contribute an equal amount of money monthly (e.g. N5,000) or different amount in multiples of the minimum monthly contribution permissible for ease of valuation.

Experience shows that if 20 people begin an investment club, by 2 years later only 50% or 10 of them will be left. So you may need to get on board more people than you need to make room for dropouts. However, you must be very careful and selective in your choice of members to ensure only people of like mind are invited. You must also ensure you have some members with useful skills and or experience. E.g If possible, it is advisable to have a lawyer as a member to provide legal advice and guidance. It is also advisable to have someone with accounting or book keeping skills to ensure all the financial records of the club are properly kept.


I advise that for the first year the club should just focus on savings, registration, exploring different business ideas/proposals and working out the blueprint.

An investment club should have executives i.e. chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, fin sec, investment director etc. members of the executive must meet at least once in a month hence the need to have sacrificial and passionate people on board. To help members remit payment faithfully, it is advisable post dated cheques are collected on an annual basis. This enforces discipline and reduces the chance of default in contribution.

The investment club should have an investment plan and stick to it.


An example of an Investment Plan

Total Contribution = 100%
Capital Market (Preferably via a well managed mutual fund ) =20%
Money Market (Savings for opportunities) =20%
Investment in real business (Education; Agriculture; Commerce etc) = 50%
Soft loans to members = 10%


The club should have a bye law or constitution guiding members conduct, signing up of new members, exit procedure e.t.c. Members must be fully involved and engaged. Beyond prompt contribution of money, members must be willing to contribute their ideas and time to the club for her to be able to realize its objective. Knowledge sharing is critical. Fines might be introduced to compel members to attend meetings.

An investment club could serve as a safety net for members in times of dire emergencies, a loss of job etc. it also provides a platform for horning entrepreneurial skills. It is good to allow members who bring up ideas to champion its implementation. Members who offer to manage a business idea should be given an incentive E.g 10% of the profit to serve as a compensation for productivity and motivation for success.


Business set up by an investment club has a high rate of survival. It is not easy for a group to give up. The club also serves as a board of director for businesses set up which encourages good governance; accountability and best practices. This is something that most SMES lack and is partly responsible for their high rate of failure. Two good heads are always better than one.


Oluyemi Adeosun is an executive member in 2 investment clubs. He has 6 years cumulative experience in Investment Club Management. He is an Investment Club Consultant.
08025320606 http://www.yemiadeosun.blogspot.com/ oluyemiadeosun@gmail.com

BEGGARLY ATTITUDE

I was sitted in a bus one day and some guys were having an interesting conversation beside me. The were talking about a certain rich individual in their neigbourhood who they alleged was "very stingy". How can you know if someone is stingy except you go cap in hand to beg or extort money from someone. Can an individual be prudent and not termed stingy by others?

I challeged my fellow passengers on why they were castigating the rich man. I asked them if they were aware of the mans responsibilities and commitments. They all responded they were not aware. The fact is that if you think someone else is stingy...i guess you are the one with a problem. Begging is a choice. Irrespective of my position i do not beg for any thing. Have you not noticed that beggars always return to the same spot daily seeking for handout.

I am yet to meet someone who became financially liberated by begging. You need to move out of poverty mentality into abundance. Have you ever seen a grown up goat depending on another goat for sustenance? I remember when i was a casual labourer i ensured i lived within my means. I never enganged in the habit of asking my ogas(senior colleagues) for handout.

That you are a security personel or cleaner does not make you a beggar. Hold you head up. Do not bury your self esteem or pride. Go for solution not handout. When i meet a very successful individual I seek from them information, wisdom and knowledge. My focus is what they know and not what they have. Remember the beggars hand is always below. For a change this season do not ask your Oga for a gift. Buy something for him instead.

Do you need money? Then look for a problem you can slove. Ask your neigbour if you can wash his car for him or wash his clothes for a token. Thats a better way to get money and have your needs meet. When someone buys a new car. Dont ask him to buy drinks for you to celebrate it. Rather go ahead buy drinks and celebrate with the person. Work on your personal development and elevate your staus. Earn the money you get. Their is dignity in labour.

Seven Differences between Wealth and Riches

Wealth and riches are not the same. Now let’s consider the differences.

• Riches are a function of the amount of money you make; wealth is of that which you retain. Riches are what pass through your hands; wealth is what stays in your life. For example, earning a million naira per month makes you rich but not necessarily wealthy. Mike Tyson is said to have made over four hundred million dollars in his boxing career but is now bankrupt, owing over twenty million dollars. He is a classic example of someone who was rich but not wealthy. Spending money shouldn’t be your focus. It should be making and retaining it.
• You can become rich overnight but not wealthy overnight. Winning the lottery or star prize in a reality TV show may make you an instant millionaire but not a wealthy person. It takes years to build wealth because wealth is a function of your financial intelligence as expressed in the kinds of decision you make over time. Check out the guy who wins an instant million today in two years time. That’s when you will know if he his wealthy or not. To build wealth you have to be more long term oriented in your thinking and actions.
• A rich man depends on his talents to make money. A wealthy man recruits the talents the talent of others to build wealth. How many people have you engaged to help you make money? If your answer is none then it will be difficult for you to build wealth.
• A rich man has to keep working to make money; a wealthy man keeps making money even if he stops working. Take a landlord as an example collecting rent as long as people keep using his facility. But even the man earning a million per month will lose his job if he fails to show up for work! That is why it is difficult to become wealthy if you are not making money passively.
• Rich people usually depend on a single source of income, especially salary. Wealthy people usually have multiple streams of income. How many streams of income do you have? If it is only salary I think you need to sit up!
• Riches can be lost overnight but it is difficult to lose wealth overnight because wealthy people keep their wealth in more than one reservoir and it is difficult for a single turn of events to affect all the reservoirs at the same time. It is unlikely that the stock market, real estate and the businesses will all crash at the same time.
• If a wealthy man loses the business, investment or property he almost always bounces back. All he does his to repeat the process of building those assets all over again. He may even build an entirely different business. But if a rich man loses his high paying job he most likely remains permanently broke unless he finds another high paying job. This is the reason many salary earners go broke if they lose their jobs. They don’t know how to build an asset.

A rich man is not so different from a poor man! You have to migrate from poor to rich to wealthy.

Multiple source of income

1 Engage in farming- people must eat

2 Start trading shares

3 Engage in real estate- people must live in houses

4 Start a transport services- people must move

5 Provide power supply. Kerosene, diesel, petrol. People use it daily

6 Open a canteen- people must eat

7 Open a dry cleaning service

8 Start an extra mural lesson. If you are a teacher organize private lessons.

9 Make you’re your hobby commercial. What you are doing for free, some people are making money by doing it.

The man who has done his best has done everything. The man who has done less than his best has done nothing.