Freedom is a core desire of every human being.



It is an important state of existence to each of us because it basically means being able to pursue happiness in life without any restrictions.



In today’s world, financial freedom means being in control of our finances to the extent that we have control of our life choices.



Financial freedom really means reaching a level where we do not have to work for money because we have successfully invested money over time that now works for us.



What that looks like in real life is us spending our time and energy doing things that we really love to (travelling, pursuing that passion project, spending more time with loved ones and working) because we want to and not because we have to.



The point of financial freedom is being able to make our own life choices and this is a stage everyone can reach with precise financial planning.



In this edition of the Investment Club Meeting, we will be speaking with The Seven Dollar Millionaire about practical money habits we need to develop to reach our financial freedom state.



The Seven Dollar Millionaire is the author of the book “Happy Ever After Financial Freedom Isn’t a Fairytale”.  He has worked in finance for more than 20 years, selling billion-dollar deals and managing the assets of some of the world’s smartest investors.



Please join us as we learn and spur each other as a community to move a step closer to our financial freedom, register <a href="https://bit.ly/AugustICMeeting">here </a>and invite someone as well.



For July’s edition, we spoke with Modupe “Moe” Odele about boosting our income through digital products ICYMI watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pYE9UVSZE)">here</a>



You also want to join the Rise Investment Club on Telegram where we learn and grow financially as a community <a href="https://t.me/joinchat/vyQEtBisaz8xODcx">here</a>

Investment Club Series – August Edition: Simple Habits That Will Lead You to Financial Freedom (With The Seven Dollar Millionaire

Hello Risers, 



One of your portfolio holdings is a company called Bill.com, which is a cloud-based provider of Billings, accounts payable and automated invoicing services to small and growing businesses. Our thesis on this investment is that cloud solutions for small businesses are a growing market and that more and more businesses will choose to save time and simplify their processes by using Bill.com. 



Well, their most recent results are in and our thesis is validated. In their latest earnings report, the company reported a 52% jump in revenue, and a 70% increase in transaction and subscription fees, which has spurred investment sentiment around their stock. The company&#8217;s stock has since then soared more than 30% bringing our total gain on the investment position to above 80%. We believe there is still room to go as the company is still growing its subscriber base and will almost certainly post higher revenues in the near future. 



However, we remain watchful considering that Bill.com&#8217;s cost of revenue increased alongside their revenue growth, which is an area of some concern. As the company executes, we will be looking out for improved margins and lower user acquisition costs to demonstrate some competitive advantage. In the meantime, however, your investment is being proven out and we expect to see continued growth in this stock over the short to medium terms 



Thank you for investing with <a href="https://rise.capital/">Rise</a> and continue to rest knowing that your investments are being managed at the highest level of expertise. 



Love and returns 



The Rise Team

Bill.com Delivers Positive Results

<h2>Warning: Spoiler alert!</h2>



If you haven’t seen it, I’m sure you’d have seen all the memes on the internet about it. A Korean Drama called Squid Game is taking the world by storm and we are here to provide some financial insights that we learned from it.&nbsp;



<h2>What’s the show about?</h2>



Squid Game is a Netflix show that tells the story of Seong Gi-Hun, a father that owes loan sharks and banks a lot of money and finds himself in a dangerous game where participants &#8211; people like him on the verge of financial ruin &#8211; are forced to play children’s games with grave consequences. 



<h2>Diversify! Diversify!! Diversify!!!</h2>



When we asked <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/risevest-user-story-precious">Precious</a> what her investing philosophy is, she replied with “Diversify. Diversify. Diversify. Diversifying your investment protects you to a large extent from losing on all sides. When one is underperforming, another may outperform it” Cho Sang-woo invested in stocks and futures and this went bad for him. 



He could have recouped the losses if he had mixed asset classes. So, whenever you are investing, don’t settle with only one investment asset. The best part about using Rise is that we have more than one investment product; we have fixed income, real estate and stocks. The idea is to give you enough product to build an all-weather portfolio. 



<h2>Avoid Gambling&nbsp;</h2>



A gambler is simply someone that makes their living out of false hope. Gi-hun’s life tells the story of gambling addiction and how it affects all aspects of his life, and we could see from the show that gambling is not the answer to a better life.



The money Gi-Hun took from his mother could have been used to treat his daughter to a nice meal on her birthday, or he could have paid for a toy for his daughter with the 10,000 won, instead, he decided to gamble it away with the claw machine. While gambling may be a way to win quick cash, it is never guaranteed.&nbsp;



<h2>Get That Insurance</h2>



None of us can tell what lies around the corner; there are unforeseen circumstances such as losing your car to a road accident, serious health issues or even the death of a loved one that can leave you and your family facing tremendous emotional and financial distress. With insurance in place, you or your family’s financial stress will be reduced, and you can focus on recovering and rebuilding your lives.



In episode two of the show, Seong Gi- Hun urged his mother to get her diabetic foot treated, only to be reminded by her that he had stopped paying for the health insurance years ago.&nbsp; This reminds us that we should not wait before things get desperate before we invest in insurance.&nbsp;



<h2>Remember, if it sounds too good to be true&#8230;</h2>



The best example of this advice is our sweet Ali, a desperate man who has been taken advantage of many times and is betrayed by Sang-woo. It is even more interesting knowing that in Sang-woo, Ali sees a tribe and a brother he can rely on and this costs him his life.&nbsp;



There are a lot of people out there that are out to take advantage of you, and they do this by selling you deals and offers that sound too good to be true. You know those text messages or emails that ask you to send your name and contact details to win large sums of money?&nbsp;



Do your due diligence, do research and understand what the deal is, ask questions and don’t be too trusting. Always remember “them they pay” is not due diligence.&nbsp;



When MoneyRise asked <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/invest-in-what-you-understand-my-name-is-jennifer-and-this-is-how-my-moneyrise">Jennife</a>r, a victim of a ‘too good to be true’ scam about her investing philosophy, she replied with, “if it sounds and feels like a scam, it is definitely a scam”



<h2>Secure your ATM cards&nbsp;</h2>



ATM cards provide us with seamless means to carry out transactions, yet, it comes with few challenges especially when it falls into the wrong hands. In episode one of the show, we watched Gi-hun steal his ailing mother’s card.&nbsp;



If there is anything we can learn from that scene, it is to jealously guard your cards and keep them in a safe environment. If Seong-Gi-Hun can steal from his own moths- imagine what happens to people that don&#8217;t know you. And improve your passwords and avoid generic passwords like birthdays or first names.



Last but not least, if a stranger asks you to play a game while you’re minding your business in a danfo, please I&#8217;m begging you- say No.

Five Lessons we learned from Squid game

Have you lost all your accumulated wealth before or almost lost all your accumulated wealth? Do you know what that can feel like? I know and it is in no way pleasant. It&#8217;s also not a position anyone prays to find themselves. Yet, often, some people find themselves there. But it isn&#8217;t the end of life and it requires some level of courage and self-belief to pick oneself up again.&nbsp;



<h2>What can make one lose all?</h2>



Charlie Munger is famously known for saying &#8220;all I want to know is where I would die and I wouldn&#8217;t go there.&#8221; Maybe the man knows it indeed. He&#8217;s 97 years old now and still well. The quote is relevant here because knowing something that can make you lose all your wealth is a step closer to not losing it all. So here are a few:



<ol><li>Unproven investment scheme &#8211; if you put your money in an unproven and uncertified investment scheme, you’re likely to&nbsp; lose it all. We know many people have experienced this in the past via pyramid schemes or just bad investment decisions.</li><li>Emergency health issues -&#8220;we are all one medical emergency away from poverty&#8221; is a common saying among Nigeria Twitter users. This is so true. Medical emergencies have shown to be one thing that is quick to <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0232882">take wealth away</a> if not properly planned for. Maybe you even have first-hand experience.</li><li>Trusting the wrong person with your money is another very common cause. Remember the days of someone running away with people&#8217;s contributions or the days of giving your money to someone to invest it for you? Yes, those times left a lot of people in financial ruin or at least cost them financially.&nbsp;</li><li>Being generous to a fault. Wealth is accumulated on frugality and can only be preserved on the same principle. If you give out too much in the name of being generous without making as much back, soon you will lose it all and have to start all over.</li></ol>



This list could go and it includes excessive debt, lack of good money management skills, getting scammed, etc. But the important point to note is that it is possible to lose everything and when that happens you need to start from scratch again.



<h2>How to pick yourself up again</h2>



The first cause of action to engage in if you find yourself in this situation is to access where you missed it. The reason for losing it all can come from two different angles. One, losing all based on ignorance and two, losing all while fully aware or knowledgeable. The latter might surprise you but it is possible. And a quick example of that is losing it all due to medical emergencies that you couldn&#8217;t have prepared for (like surgery not covered by insurance).&nbsp;



Losing it all because of ignorance



If this was your case, meaning you lost all your accumulated wealth due to making an uninformed decision(s), then the first thing you want to prioritize is financial education. Financial education in all it forms as you deem it necessary. And if you need to speak with some professionals, please reach out to them. Because if you don&#8217;t fix this, even if you accumulate wealth again, soon enough, you&#8217;d lose it all again.



As you embark on a journey to getting more education, I want you to know that you are not the first person to have had to start all over again and you won&#8217;t be last. For the sake of an easy example, I&#8217;ll use Charlie Munger as an example. <a href="https://keshbagri.medium.com/the-amazing-life-story-of-charlie-munger-before-berkshire-hathaway-2505d885544b">He lost all his wealth at a point to divorce and medical emergencies and is now worth more than $2 billion</a>. You don&#8217;t even need to make the billions to be fine. With just some hundreds thousand dollars, you will be whole again. So have some self-belief and start all over.



Lost it all with much awareness&nbsp;



This is a scenario where you lose your accumulated wealth to something like a medical emergency or to a promising business venture that you bet on. In both scenarios, the assumption is that you couldn&#8217;t have prevented the loss with all your knowledge.&nbsp;



So what can you do? Like the other scenario, this also has to start with a genuine belief that you could pick yourself up again and make the wealth all over. Naval is famous for saying &#8220;wealth is a skill and if he was stripped of all his wealth and he had to start all over again, he&#8217;d make wealth again.&#8221; You also need to believe that.&nbsp;



Once you believe that, the next task is to understand that the world doesn&#8217;t care about your background as much as it cares about the value you can create. And as long as you can create value, the world is ready to pay you over and over again. So the value you create for the world is left for you to figure out. Figure it out, create it and you would have set yourself up for another opportunity to accumulate wealth.



<h2>But how can you prevent losing it all in the first place?</h2>



<ol><li>Always buy insurance for things that you could buy it for. This includes health insurance, fire insurance, car insurance, life insurance and so on. Buy insurance!!!</li><li>Don&#8217;t put all your eggs in one basket. Don&#8217;t invest all your money in just one stock or one fund. It&#8217;s the reason why the Rise Stock Index has on average 35 stocks in it per time. It&#8217;s also why we have 3 buckets of investment: real estate, fixed income and stock. Diversification is important to preserve wealth.</li><li>Don&#8217;t trust your money with someone who has not proven themselves to deserve such trust. This includes someone whom you can&#8217;t certify how they manage their money or who have mismanaged theirs or others money in the past.</li><li>Save your money with a reputable platform. Not one that would run away with your money.</li><li>Don&#8217;t gamble.</li><li>Don&#8217;t be overly generous. Do all things in moderation.</li></ol>



Many pitfalls can bring one into financial ruin. And there are different ways to prevent them. We&#8217;ve explored some major ones here. However, no matter how careful one may be, occasionally, life happens. And when life happens, I want to assure you that with enough self-belief and determination, you can pick yourself up again and put your finances in better shape.

How To Pick Yourself Up After Losing All Your Money

What do you do, when you live in a room apartment with your mother and siblings? You find an escape.&nbsp;



This story is about a Nigerian who moved from sharing a room in Lagos Island to owning property portfolios in the UK worth more than £2million.



<h2>What do you do?</h2>



I am a property investor and a property developer in the UK. I am what you will call a general property entrepreneur.&nbsp;



<h2>Great. What was growing up like for you?</h2>



I grew up in a loving household with a mother who did the best she could with the limited resources she had. Financially, it was hard as we lived on the lowest of income; My mum and siblings all lived in a room. But despite the limited resources, it was a loving household. I also do not regret it as I believe being born poor or growing up in such environments teaches you extraordinary lessons that a rich kid might not know.



<h2>At what point did you know your situation had to change? </h2>



Growing up on the street of Lagos and you could almost tell that Lagos is welcoming to people that are considered wealthy.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Like I also said earlier, poverty can be a major source of motivation (even though this area of thinking is rarely explored). I also attended Eko Akete Grammar School which was a government school that wasn’t well funded and next to my school was Kings&#8217; College where kids of slightly well to do parents go to. I knew from that point that&nbsp; I wanted to be on the other side.&nbsp;



<h2>So, what did you do to be on the other side? </h2>



I knew Nigeria as a country did not offer the political, economic, technological, environmental and legal context for an individual to prosper. Hence, I have the utmost respect for individuals who succeed without political or family influence in that context. I focused my effort on simply leaving Nigeria with the little money I had and from family support.



<h2>When did you leave? And tell me about your experience.</h2>



I left Nigeria just before turning 18. It was a peculiar experience as I had no direct family in the UK. Luckily for me, I found a stranger who was happy to let me stay with them for some time. I knew that with a little bit of hard work and constant improvement, I was going to excel in my new environment. I could feel it.&nbsp;



I went to college to study Mechanical Engineering. The plan was for me to work and pay school fees, but I was kicked off the course after the first year because I could not afford to pay the school fees. Funny thing is, some of my coursemates have gone on to secure high paying jobs in BP both in the UK and international companies as the course was focused on BP and their operation on upstream operations.



<h2>Mehn, that is something. What did you do after being kicked off the course?</h2>



I didn’t have many choices as I was in the UK on a student visa. And because of that, I had to join the British army, and that not only enabled me to stay in the UK, it also made me who I am today; it was the army that straightened me up and made me disciplined. I also learned the importance of commitments and motivation on the individual. Do you know why I love the army? It is a level playing field, and for the first time in my life, it was not about who you are or who your parents were, instead, it was about sheer determination and mentality. And that was it for me. From the army, I learned that with the right mindset, the son of a nobody can move mountains.&nbsp;



<h2>Omoh. What was your experience in the army? </h2>



It is still one of the hardest experiences I ever had as an individual. For someone who did not really have an authority figure in the house while growing up, I find the whole authority or someone shouting really hard at me surprising, and while it took 12 weeks to finish basic training. It took me nearly 16 weeks for a range of reasons such as talking back to the instructor and lack of preparation for the physical part.&nbsp;



Also, I joined a regiment I shouldn’t have joined, a regiment that recruits mainly from Yorkshire and other parts of the northern region in the UK. There were substantial racial issues and racist individuals during my time.&nbsp;



On the other hand, there were a lot of things I also enjoyed: I learned about comradeship, selfless commitment to your team, being loyal to your battle buddy and simply having a can-do mental attitude



<h2>So what did you do after you left the military?</h2>



I served nearly 5 years with a tour In Afghanistan. After this, I moved to London where I had a job as a furniture fitter. I nearly bought a flat. Looking back, I am glad that plan never worked because I would have been stuck in a job. I mean, paying for the flat meant I would have to pay for the mortgage on the flat.&nbsp;



One night, while I was clubbing, I met a girl who I became friends with and she tried everything to get me to go back to uni. But in my mind, I was struggling with how I could pass in University or cope with assignments and exams. Looking back now, I think sometimes, you can’t see the picture when you’re in the frame. My friend Mariam saw in me that I had what it took to do it and finish; she encouraged me and pushed me to sign on. Understand this, she was the one that filled my university form and student loan form for me. Going to university for my first degree was one of the best decisions I made.



<h2>After 5 years in the military, you went back to school? That must be something! </h2>



In university, I was able to build my network and meet a range of people. I went to a university popular with Nigerians, and I met a range of well to do Nigerians. What’s funny is I surprised myself academically because I was one of the best students in my year with regards to grades. I finished with a first-class.&nbsp;



The best part about going to school was the knowledge I gained from one of my accounting modules, which changed my life. Financial accounts made me understand how a business or self-employed individual could offset their lifestyle and a range of expenses against their income. This means a self-employed individual can remove the cost of their car, phone, or even some entertainment from their turnover before paying tax. These simple steps changed my life and how I see money and how I will continue to earn money, since then.



<h2>Did you say, first class? </h2>



Yeah, I finished with first-class.&nbsp;



<h2>So how did you get into property investment?</h2>



While I was in university, I started proofreading and editing the coursework of my fellow students. I also worked as security. The money I saved from that and my student loan went into buying my first property in the north of England. I used a strategy called BRR which means to buy, refurb and refinance. The money from refinancing then goes into a new project and by the time I was leaving university, I was already receiving enough passive income from these properties not to look for any job while my peers were job searching. Since then, my company has bought properties and the portfolio is spread across Hull and London.



<h2>BRR, what?</h2>



Now, BRR is a term that is widely used within property people in the UK, but when I started, there wasn’t such a term. A good analogy I use in explaining to people is: You buy an old iPhone 7 from your friend at a cheap price of £200, but because the phone is old, you take the phone to a&nbsp; repair shop and spend £70 on the case and every other thing that needs repair. Now, the phone is clean and is worth £320 but instead of selling the phone, you take it to a moneylender to lend you money based on the phone’s new worth. The lender agrees to lend you £270. This means you have all your money back to go start that process all over again. The thing with houses is while the house is with the lender, you are still making money off it in the form of rent and are paying down the lender’s debt.



<h2>My mind is blown. What was the first process like? </h2>



The first property I bought, I didn&#8217;t even see because I was in London and the property was in Hull City. Sometimes, you just have to get up and do it. I have many people who have more resources such as money and time than when I started, but they simply just talk about doing it. My first one then was £45,000 and I spent about £7000 on refurbishing the property. The bank valued the property at £70,000. I took out 52k which I then moved into another project. I have since done projects I bought and sold and properties I keep.



<h2>Wow! Can you give me a clue about what your portfolio looks like now?</h2>



I have properties in both my company name and the limited company now. And over the last couple of months, I have been focusing on selling single let houses in favour of blocks of flats. My portfolio total is now about £2,150,000 with a total of about 19 tenants.



<h2>You really joined the other side. </h2>



Ah ah, the main reason I also love property is for the lifestyle. I just don’t want to be busy as the focus is on enjoying more time with the family. That is why property development and investment are perfect as they can be relatively passive. If you’re doing a refurbishment, you might be busy for that period, but for the rest of the time, you simply sit back and watch the money roll in. Now and then, there are repair issues that my agent and handyman deal with. Going forward, I&#8217;d also like to focus more of my time on raising finance for bigger projects, where other people have the opportunity to invest with me and share part of the profit, leveraging my experience, credit line, network and established team.



<h2>Do you have any money regrets?</h2>



Yes, I fell for the same mistake many Africans living abroad make. This idea and notion that you have to build/invest in properties in your country of origin have resulted in many people living like paupers abroad while owning mansions in their home countries that don&#8217;t offer them any great returns or which they don’t really enjoy. I built my first house in Nigeria before investing in any property in the UK. It was one of my greatest financial mistakes. I spent nearly £90k on building the house in 2007 and it has been a major financial mistake with tenants who don’t pay rent. The rent payment culture in Africa is bad as there are no real consequences of not paying rent.



<h2>What advice can you give Nigerians moving to the UK that would like to join the property investment scene?</h2>



My advice is to ensure that their creditworthiness is never damaged or tarnished in any way. This is because, with good credit, you can be financially free as long as you learn how to leverage. For example, borrowing at 2-3% per annum and putting it into an investment that gives 15-20% per annum.



Views is a new segment on MoneyRise that offers a unique perspective on people, their lives and their culture with money. Catch us every Tuesday here on MoneyRise.

How Ola Went From Living In A One Room Apartment To Owning Property Portfolios Worth £2million

For this episode of #MoneyRise User Story, we spoke to Oladele, a photographer and visual storyteller who started his investment journey after realising he was blowing away his university stipends.



When people ask you, “what do you do?” What do you tell them?



I&#8217;m a photographer and a visual storyteller. I currently also work for Corporate Studios, as their resident photographer.



What does financial wealth mean to you?



I would say being financially independent, being able to organize yourself and your finances.&nbsp;



Tell me about how you started your investment journey.



I was in Unilag at that time, and then I realized that I was getting broke faster than necessary. I like to acknowledge my privilege, in the sense that my parents were giving me money at that time and I was working a side gig as a photographer as well. So there was a substantial amount of money coming in, but then, I was spending it frivolously. And I realised that before the month ended, I was already asking my friends for money or loans. That was the turning point for me. I had to tell myself that it couldn&#8217;t continue.



Omoh. So what did you do?



I was collecting 30K from my parents monthly, and this was way back in 2011. I also got between 15k-30k from my side gig; so I created a plan, where 15K+ was my survival funds and this was possible because I was staying with family on campus which eased the burden of spending so much on feeding. That was how my saving culture started.



How did you go about the savings?&nbsp;



It was in a piggy box known as KOLO



Hahaha. Kolo! When did you break it?



Sometimes, I would just take out of it to chop life. You know, go to a restaurant and enjoy myself.



I feel you. How did you move from the Kolo life to investing life?&nbsp;



I realised that it was easier for me to spend money in my bank accounts because I have access to the money. So, I decided to start saving with fintech apps even though I was sceptical at the beginning.&nbsp;



So how did you find out about Risevest?



It was around 2019, somebody spoke to me about Rise and I decided to do my own research. After that, I downloaded the app and I kept my money there for three months to see if anything will happen. In 2020, they started the affiliate programme, and that was really encouraging.&nbsp;



Right! So how is it going today?



I mean, I have over 50 referrals, and I have made over $700 just by being an affiliate.



50 referrals must be nice&#8230;



Yes, really nice. It&#8217;s been a journey that I thank God for. And I thank Rise for initiating this programme. I also like that there is trust and good communication and reliability and accountability. I mean, it&#8217;s been a very good journey.



What kind of investor would you call yourself?



A pretty aggressive investor because I recently started putting all my money into stock and real estate.&nbsp;



What is your investment philosophy?&nbsp;



Investment is a backup for my future. I believe I am saving for rainy days.&nbsp;



What is the most money you have made from investing?



Over a million naira.



How did you make that?



So at the time, I bought euros in 2016, and that was when our naira got devalued. So, when I changed the money back, about a million naira extra. And that&#8217;s why I find it difficult to dig into an investment opportunity in naira.



Have you made any losses?&nbsp;



Yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Thankfully, there&#8217;s someone in your investment group that I am grateful for. His name is Dotche and he gives advice to the community on what to do when stocks are down or up.&nbsp;



Hehe. Now that we are on the telegram group, tell me more about your experience.



That group has been very helpful, a turning point in my financial life. Not everybody can do what he does. And that is a very commendable effort because I don’t think I have the strength to do what he does. For example, they hold classes on Sundays where they analyse financial books; he also tries to respond to everyone that has a question and does it with love.&nbsp;



A lot of financial education is going on in that group, and it&#8217;s very good. You know what’s funny? I am not even that active in the group, but every time I read the conversation, there are always nuggets to pick. So it&#8217;s a very good initiative.&nbsp;



I will pass your information to Dotche on Monday



Good! Because I disturb him a lot, and it is really commendable, especially in Nigeria where people leave you hanging. Dotche does a really commendable job by listening and answering any questions we have.&nbsp;



Ehen. Love to hear it! How do you feel about your investment position today?



I think it could be better though, but currently, I am very proud of myself, especially when you think about where I am coming from. So yeah, I think so far, it&#8217;s good, but then, it can be better.



What words do you have for a beginner?



What I&#8217;m going to say to them is that it&#8217;s not easy. I don&#8217;t know what their current earnings are; however, my best advice would be that no matter how small, even if it&#8217;s 2000 Naira, keep it somewhere and just keep it. Also, they should cultivate the habit of saving that amount monthly.&nbsp;



Yeah. So how likely are you going to recommend Risevest to new users?



Huh, guy, are you joking? 10 out of 10, to be honest. I know people that think I work for Rise. That’s how much I believe in you guys.&nbsp;



Thank you very much.



Very welcome.



Yeah.

No Matter How Small, Even If It Is 2000 Naira, keep It Somewhere  My Name Is Oladele And This Is How I Make My MoneyRise.

We talk a lot about investing on this blog and that’s warranted. Investing is a culture we are promoting daily considering how it links to financial independence. And one way to do that is to ensure that our readers read enough about it until it becomes second nature. However, we know that happiness among other things is a deep desire for all humans. And while the idea of having more money may seem to bring that (because there is more to spend), lasting happiness can also come from spending less money. But how?



Can you remember the last time you were really happy? Why were you so happy? My most recent experience of being really happy came from two events. One, I gave my gateman some amount of money without him asking for it. You can see the glow on his face and how happy he was. And knowing that I made someone happy made me really happy as well.



The other event was when I called someone whom I don&#8217;t talk to very often. Calling her just to check up on her and ask about her well being gave her so much joy that I wished I made that call&nbsp; everyday. And yes, in that case as well, I was very happy.



In both instances above, I did not spend upto N1,000. However, I made both individuals so happy that I can even write about it. What if you did the same as well for random people. What if you design your life such that a week doesn&#8217;t go by without you making someone happy. How awesome would your life be?



Our default thinking may have been that we can’t have deep happiness until we make a certain amount of money. But should happiness be a long term goal or something that we feel everyday? This reminds me of the quote of by Nightbirde “you can&#8217;t wait until life isn&#8217;t hard anymore before you decide to be happy”. And you also do not have to spend a fortune before you feel happy and joyous. Just doing some random act of kindness to others like I did above can lighten your week.



So what are some random acts that you can add to your everyday life that will cost you less money and ensure you are happy at the same time?



<ul><li>Call someone random just to check up on them.</li><li>Offer help to someone who needs it.</li><li>Give someone a tip after rendering a service to you.</li><li>Let someone go in front of you in line.</li><li>Give a stranger a compliment.</li><li>Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant</li><li>Hold open the doors for people</li><li>Thank a teacher with a gift</li><li>Do a favor without asking for anything in return</li><li>Prepare a meal for your family</li></ul>



The list is endless and you just have to be aware and ready to do it. Knowing that it won&#8217;t cost you any money or only cost you a little, why not design your life around it and do it very often?



And in case you don&#8217;t know yet, you can also give someone a gift through Risevest. All you need to know is their email. And it doesn’t even matter if they have a Risevest account yet or not. Imagine being the reason someone got their financial life in shape. What greater act of kindness exists?

How To Spend Less And Be Happier

If you started investing around April 2020, you are likely to have a wrong idea of what investing is all about and what it takes to thrive while investing. After the March 2020 low (caused by fear of COVID-19), the S&amp;P 500 rose by more than 60% at year-end. Also, it is likely that any individual stock that you invest in then will return a covetable ROI. In essence, there was literally nothing to worry about in such a market and time. No doubt, 2021 would have exposed you to a different side of investing.



After Joe Biden won the American election and doubled down on the vaccination, investors started doing what is called a rotation. A situation where investors reduced their stakes in one sector and increased it in another sector. In this case, it was a move away from tech stocks to the utility and energy sectors. Then followed concerns over inflation, and then followed a series of regulations from China. At some point as well in the US, there were lots of vacancies and no one to fill them (labour shortage). Then the crypto market nosedived, and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US made statements suggesting more regulations. The list could go on because, in the world of investing, there is no end to events that cause worry. And oh, I have not mentioned the most recent <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-evergrande-contagion-51632139566">Evergrande issue</a> that has infused fear in the whole world of investing from bonds to stocks and from real estate to crypto.



Since there is no end to these series of events, it helps to know what is good to worry about and what one need not even give much thought to.



Before that though, the truth is that despite all the bad news, the stock market is up 16% YTD, was up 18% in 2020 and has averaged 10% in the last 30+ years. This sends us an important message that no matter how bad the news may get, the world is set up for more prosperity and the stock market is a reflection of that reality. And this is not just about the stock market alone. The Crypto market was nonexistent some 10 years ago but today it has a market capitalization hovering around 2 trillion dollars.



Looking at all these facts, it is fine to conclude that indeed not all news is worth panicking about. In fact, the best conclusion is that most are best ignored.



<h2>The only thing that matters</h2>



Your purpose of investing will inform what you need to worry about. For this article, I will assume you are investing for the long term since that is what we encourage at Rise. For those who are investing with a long term outlook, the only thing you need to worry about is the quality of the business you are investing in. You have no business keeping track of inflation, unemployment and the likes. Just the business alone. And if you are investing with Rise, we have even taken that worry off your hand with our array of investment opportunities as well (stock, real estate and fixed income).



It seems my conclusion is to tell you that you have nothing to worry about. Yes, that&#8217;s exactly it. Bad news will never stop coming. There will be a flood of them.



Here&#8217;s the thing though, while all the bad news is not worth worrying about, awareness of them and their implication can be a great calm. So let me also give you a general framework for accessing them.



<ul><li>All bad news will cause the market to panic and prices of assets drop. What you should concern yourself with here is to confirm to what extent this bad news affects your investment. </li><li>All good news is not weighed equally. As we noted in this article, sometimes, even <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/risevheres-why-you-need-to-ignore-the-noise-and-focus-on-your-long-term-investment">amidst a lot of good news, asset prices could still fall</a>. Yes, when the &#8220;good news&#8221; is not good enough, prices fall. </li></ul>



However, businesses are resilient, one bad news or even a series of bad news is often not enough to make them lose their entire appeal. Therefore, it is important to keep this principle in mind and know that the right question to ask is &#8220;how does this affect the company(ies) in my portfolio?&#8221;



Often, you will learn that it doesn&#8217;t affect it so much. And you can learn to ignore the noise and focus on what matters.



And for those who use Rise, you can rest better knowing that you have an investment team that does the worrying so you don&#8217;t have to. Just fund consistently and enjoy the journey.

Here’s The Only Thing You Should Worry About While Investing

Top Ten Startups In Nigeria

When you wake up and dress up to go out for the day&#8217;s toil, you often do so with the expectation that things will work out well for you and that you will return safely home. But what if the day doesn’t go as planned?



When you embark on a project with a clear plan on how to move from point A to point B and then point Z, you expect that at a point the project will be completed. And often they tend to be completed albeit with unforeseen challenges showing up at intervals.



Like it is with going out to go about your daily work, and with embarking on a project, so it is with investing.



When we invest, there&#8217;s only one expectation that one can have, a great return on investment (ROI). Why would you have a different expectation? Yes, great ROI is a worthy expectation since you are not in the business of charity. You are in the business of making your money work for you.



However, having the right expectation about the unknown future requires us to balance our optimism with a dose of reality. What does this mean?



One, day-to-day when you set out for work, you encounter different challenges often more than you anticipated. But you don&#8217;t get to end that day just because of one of two challenges. Never! Often, you push through the day despite the challenges, hoping you get it solved and then move on. It is similar to what’s obtainable in the world of investing. You might have expected a great ROI but the path to huge ROI won&#8217;t be smooth. It will be filled with ups and downs, negative returns, and positive returns. And that&#8217;s perfectly normal. It&#8217;s the natural order of things. Don&#8217;t then liquidate your investment because of one negative return day/week/month just as you wouldn&#8217;t end your day/week/month because of an unexpected challenge.



Also, similar to when you embark on a project, beyond the challenges that you might have anticipated, new ones will show up as well. Two things here:



<ul><li>One, you won’t because of such a challenge just call it quit on the project. No! Rather, you try to solve it. Similarly in investing, it might be that you have invested in what your risk appetite can&#8217;t handle. In which case, the reasonable thing to do is not to stop investing all together but to find other assets with a lower risk profile. Don&#8217;t ever deprive yourself of potential upside just because of a bad day or choice.</li><li>Two, at other times, you may end the project because you realize there&#8217;s no way this project succeeds under the prevailing circumstances. That&#8217;s also understandable and it often happens while investing as well. Especially when you have invested an amount of <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/risevest-you-should-never-invest-these-3-categories-of-money">money that you should never have invested</a>. When you do such, you have not done your fundamental assessment right and investment endeavors like that often fail.</li></ul>



You see, all investments are an optimistic bet about the future. A bet that the asset you invested in will keep doing better, a bet that the business will keep growing, and a bet that the economy will keep getting better. Hence, you will get a great ROI. If history has shown us anything, it is the fact that making such bets are worthy and often highly rewarding.



Yet, what we can also learn from history is that the path to this optimistic view of the future will never be straight. It will be laden with a lot of ups and downs, good weeks and bad days, right calls, and bad calls among others. However, what you are optimizing for is that overall you are more right than wrong. And it is futile to optimize for being right all the time.&nbsp;



So as you invest, take bets, and plan for the future, remember to always mix with your optimism a dose of reality. As it is obtainable in the world of our everyday life, so it is in the world of investing. It&#8217;s never a straight line up, it&#8217;s always a zigzag for every one of us in every endeavor. Embrace it in your investment journey as well.

What To Expect When You Are Investing For The Future

Historically, the stock market has been a wealth compounding asset for investors. Stock often outperforms other asset classes like bonds and real estate. However, the volatility in the stock market has always made it hard for retail (and even institutional) investors to navigate the choppy market profitably. Risevest makes a difference by helping the retail investor to build a portfolio of assets in the stock market optimized for growth and capital preservation.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/82HwtYr9B-ZbDaP2prOub3FmXQvQz_myhKgvGkCLoMJY3z4VPcSBS_p4dlIicxi_P9qHY_n4PVZZ_pZV4calrLMcrrIpwUnIQh9LYRIxu_vPhnSYt7ECLGuzxSQLjPAxuYecuta7" alt=""/></figure>



The Rise Stock Index comprises some of the finest companies in the world. We selected them carefully for a balance between growth and capital preservation. These are companies that are innovating and building new products &amp; services to make the world a better place.



Our investment thesis is simple; we don&#8217;t invest in fads or the next hot thing like <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/gamestop-or-long-game">GameStop</a>. Instead, we invest in companies that are leading the market, innovating at scale, and designing business models that allow them to capture maximum value from their innovation.&nbsp; Over the long term, these companies deliver excellent returns to our investors. Even though they may underperform in the short term.



We have written about a few of these companies in our portfolio; <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/shopify-110-revenue-growth-fuels-our-optimism">Shopify</a>, <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/welcoming-bumble-to-the-rise-portfolio">Bumble</a>, and <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/crowdstrike-delivered-a-phenomenal-q4-result">CrowdStike</a>. And you can read how we select those stocks from <a href="https://risevest.medium.com/how-we-select-stocks-for-our-equity-portfolio-146da9df9032">here</a>.



Some of these companies are reporting double digits revenue growth. And some others are expanding their market to capture new value. The stocks composition helps us to ensure healthy growth and minimal pullbacks when the market is experiencing dips.



This is the process we have followed since 2019 when we started and it has brought great returns to our investors. In 2019 and 2020, the stock index returned 27% and 41% respectively.



Clearly, there are bound to be temporary market drawdowns. However, our investment process over the long term will help our investors to navigate the market and make great returns.



Click <a href="https://rise.capital/">here </a>to start benefiting from a stress-free wealth management opportunity today.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://rise.capital/"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="512" src="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1024x512.png" alt="" class="wp-image-921" srcset="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1024x512.png 1024w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-300x150.png 300w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-768x384.png 768w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1536x768.png 1536w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-2048x1024.png 2048w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1568x784.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>

Why You Should Invest In The Risevest Stock Plan

You have started in the right direction since you are considering investing your money. And it makes a lot of sense that you do not think what you want to start with is small. So Congratulations!!!



Also, it is essential to emphasize that no amount is too small to start investing. No matter how small, you should see your days of little beginnings as a foundation for building a brighter future through investing.



Now let&#8217;s talk about that money you want to invest.&nbsp;



<h3>Invest in an emergency fund </h3>



An emergency fund is an amount of money that you set aside for the sake of unplanned expenses. I advise that you have up to 6 months of your monthly salary in this fund. Of course, you are free to determine what yours will be. But having it provides a necessary buffer in case of an emergency.



This is important because if you don&#8217;t invest in this, you may not be able to do other forms of investment successfully. The emergency fund usually sits in a savings account not invested at all. For a simple reason that you may need to use it unplanned. That’s one option. And it is assuming you don’t have an emergency fund yet. If you have that setup already, then we can move on to the next option.



<h3>Invest in fixed income plans</h3>



We all have different risk profiles. Some people can take on more risk than others. For those who can&#8217;t take on any risk at all, fixed-income investment offers them a safe path. The way fixed income works is that you know ahead of time when your investment will mature and how much you will get on maturity. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s called fixed income.



So if you invest your 10,000 Naira for 1 year and the rate of return is 10%, then at the end of a year, you will get a sum of 11,000 as a take home. Does that sound great? That you can know ahead of time what interest you will earn and when you will get your funds back? If it does, then why wait?



Click on Stress-free wealth management image below to start investing in a fixed-income fund today.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://rise.capital/"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="512" src="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1024x512.png" alt="investing, risevest, invest best" class="wp-image-922" srcset="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1024x512.png 1024w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-300x150.png 300w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-768x384.png 768w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1536x768.png 1536w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-2048x1024.png 2048w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1568x784.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>



<h3>Invest in real estate funds</h3>



You will wonder if it were possible for you to invest as little as 10,000 Naira in real estate. Yes, it&#8217;s possible and Risevest made it available for all. <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/how-real-estate-returns-work-on-rise">Your 10,000 Naira is joined with that of 100+ more people</a> and is used to buy rental properties.&nbsp;



Once you have subscribed to that, you start earning income as the property is earning rent or <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalgain.asp#:~:text=Capital%20gain%20refers%20to%20an,be%20claimed%20on%20income%20taxes.">capital gain</a> upon sales. Unlike fixed income though, the returns are not predetermined and it varies from month to month. Again, Risevest got you covered on this.



<h3>Invest in a Stock Index </h3>



Stock Indexes are a basket of stocks lumped into a basket for you to buy. Such that once you buy part of the basket, you would have bought all the 40 (more or less) stocks in the basket at the same time. And historically, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032415/which-investments-have-highest-historical-returns.asp">stocks have been the best-performing asset</a>. It has returned gains that surpasses both fixed income and real estate. However, it&#8217;s riskier to invest in stocks than real estate and fixed income.



So you have got to have an appetite for risk to invest your 10,000 Naira in this. And the best part is that Risevest has developed a means to make investing in a stock index with as little as 10,000 Naira available for everyone. If you invested in Risevest Stock Index last year, you would have made a whopping 40%. And If you have invested from the beginning of this year, you would also have made 12% year to date.



You can start by clicking the image below.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://rise.capital/"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="512" src="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-1024x512.png" alt="" class="wp-image-920" srcset="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-1024x512.png 1024w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-300x150.png 300w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-768x384.png 768w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-1536x768.png 1536w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-2048x1024.png 2048w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1-1568x784.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>



Investing starts with developing the &#8220;habit of investing&#8221;. Starting small with 10,000 Naira is a very good way to start building that habit. Once you have developed the habit, it will be easier to grow wealth from there. With as little as 10,000 Naira, you can start today, either to invest in an emergency fund, or fixed income, or real estate or stock index.&nbsp;

4 Ways to Invest 10,000 Naira

The rise of the gig economy has given birth to many people choosing a non-traditional career path. The freelancer can choose what to work on and when. They can also decide how to manage their money 100% after paying tax. It’s a new reality that we’ve not navigated before.



Here is the thing though, being outside of the traditional career path, they have also deprived themselves of being subjected to something like the Pension Act. For instance, the Pension Act of Nigeria requires that both the employer and the employee contribute a certain percentage to the employee&#8217;s pension account monthly. In other words, traditional employees are mandated to plan towards a time when they won’t be strong enough to work again.



Given a choice, the traditional employee <a href="https://medium.com/ten-timezones/present-self-vs-future-self-f598f5ab0e2a">will rarely make such a monthly contribution</a>. But because the law requires it, everyone in formal employment has a pension account funded monthly as a plan towards when they won’t be strong enough to work again.



Unfortunately, no law binds the gig worker to contribute to a pension scheme. Yet, just like the traditional career person, the freelancer will also get to an age where s/he is better off relaxing and going on holidays than working with the same energy that s/he worked when s/he was 20 something years old.



To this end, I have a proposition that’s too good to refuse.



<h2>Planning your &#8220;retirement&#8221; with Risevest</h2>



We have both agreed that you don&#8217;t want to work &#8220;forever&#8221; and even if you wish to, strength might fail you as you age. So how can you use Risevest to help you achieve your “retirement” goal?  



<ol><li>Risevest as you might know already is an asset management company committed to bringing you the best investment opportunities around the world. Our portfolio of investments is managed by seasoned experts. With the array of products that we have currently and the ones to come, there isn&#8217;t a better option to manage your “retirement” investment.</li></ol>



<ol start="2"><li>You have an advantage over the traditional career person because all your investments with Risevest will be denominated in dollars. Why should you want otherwise?</li><li>You are exposed to the best-performing assets in the world. Stock, Real Estate and Fixed Income.</li></ol>



All of these put together empowers you enough to make important financial decisions for your future.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://rise.capital/"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="512" src="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-1024x512.png" alt="Risevest invest" class="wp-image-929" srcset="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-1024x512.png 1024w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-300x150.png 300w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-768x384.png 768w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-1536x768.png 1536w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-2048x1024.png 2048w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog-banner-copy-5-210610-1568x784.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>



Using Risevest, you can set up a plan, name it Retirement, Future Enjoyment or whatever name you&#8217;d like. Have a specific plan about how you will fund it and the rule that will guide when you can withdraw it. Simply put, set up your personal &#8220;Pension Act&#8221; and abide by it. Sounds simple, but it may not be simple.



Here are 3 guidelines to help you along the way of implementation.



<ol><li>The first thing you will learn from the traditional career person is that they don&#8217;t feel the effect of the month-to-month pension deduction from their salary. This is an important point because while you plan for the future, you must exist today. So you can only invest an amount that won&#8217;t affect your survival today. Doing otherwise will put on you the pressure of liquidating your &#8220;retirement plan&#8221;. Don&#8217;t invest too much. For this, don&#8217;t ever go above 10% of what you earn.</li><li>10% of what you earn. Unlike the traditional career person, you don&#8217;t earn monthly, you earn per gig. So it is important to recognize that and ensure that whatever percentage you choose to contribute towards your pension comes from every gig that you complete.</li><li>Discipline yourself mentally to always calculate your income net of your retirement contribution. Let&#8217;s assume you have decided to keep 5% of everything that you earn towards retirement. If you earned $1,000 on a gig then you should see it as earning $950 never to be seen as $1,000 let alone should you plan your life on $1,000.</li></ol>



This is new territory for every one of us. The future of work is still the future. And while our gig workers are living in the future already, we also believe that as your trusted wealth advisor, we should provide you with a necessary guide on this.



The ideas shared above are what we are thinking about at the moment. And we trust that if you run by them, you will have your future guaranteed.



Surely this is not the end of this topic, it&#8217;s only the beginning. As you use Risevest’s platform for this purpose, you will have more questions we will be available to answer.&nbsp;



For now, go and set up your &#8220;Retirement&#8221; Plan on Risevest. In 30 years, you’ll be glad you did..

Freelancer, Here’s One Answer To The Biggest Question About Your Future

Every year, people travel from far and near to attend Berkshire Hathaway annual meetings. There they listen to the wisdom of Buffett and Munger. It’s always so profound how much both usually have to share every year. And the investing community never gets tired of them. For context, saying “people” means an average of 40,000 people from all around the world come to listen to Buffett and Munger talk for at least 4 hours. This year was not an exception.



Instead of listening to the 4 hours long conversation, we want to share six lessons of the most profound takeaways from the meeting. Here’s a sneak-peek into what that number of people usually gather around to listen to.



<h2>1. Don’t bet against America</h2>



Buffett started this year’s session by sharing two insightful statistics. He showed the data of the top 20 companies as of March 2021 and compared it with that of 30 years ago. In a profound turn of events, none of the companies that were on the list 30 years ago are still on the list today. Beyond that, 30 years ago, only 5 US companies were in the top 20. But today, there are 13 of them.



Buffett used the opportunity to emphasise America’s position as the world’s capital for wealth accumulation. Knowing that the US moved from 25% dominance of the top 20 to 65% under 30 years is instructive. As Buffett noted, the economic system in the US powers growth of this nature. It is almost by design that the US will prosper.



Now, this is not an article to glorify the US. What we aim to call your attention to is simple. As a Nigerian, the opportunity for you to have a share of the wealth created in the US in the last 30 years or even further was not available to you. But that opportunity is available to you at your fingertip with Risevest.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://rise.capital/"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="512" src="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1024x512.png" alt="risevest, investment buffett" class="wp-image-919" srcset="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1024x512.png 1024w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-300x150.png 300w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-768x384.png 768w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1536x768.png 1536w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-2048x1024.png 2048w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy_3-210610-1568x784.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>



<h2>2. Buffett and Munger are still living in the house they bought 62 years ago</h2>



This year’s Annual Meeting was held in a different location (Munger’s state). While commenting on that, Buffet mentioned how Munger has been living in the same house he bought 62 years ago. And of course, we know the same is true of Buffett who has been living in the same house for as long as well.



When a lot of people think about wealth, what comes to their mind is the number of things they want to spend on. But wealth is built out of what we don’t spend, not out of what we spend. Munger has more than enough to buy a new house. But the focus of wealth is not in the multitude of houses or material things that one possesses. Rather, it is in how much you didn’t spend but stash in an investment.



Another lesson from this has to do with not replacing items that are not due for replacement. For example, it’s okay to use the latest iPhone if you can afford it. But why make it a goal to always use the latest when you have to squeeze your pocket to do so? Understand what matters to you as you build wealth and focus on it.



Also read: <a href="https://rise.capital/blog/long-term-investing-is-hard-here-are-3-things-to-help-you-make-it-easier">Long-Term Investing is Hard</a>



<h2>3. Even Buffett Makes Investment Mistakes</h2>



Everyone investing – new or old – has likely made one mistake or the other on their journey. You might have invested money you shouldn’t invest. You might have invested in what you shouldn’t invest in or any other mistake. Well, we are here to tell you that even Buffett makes mistakes.



Some people questioned why Buffett sold part of his stake in Apple. The Oracle of Omaha admitted that was probably a mistake. &#8220;Charlie in his usual low-key way let me know it was a mistake,&#8221; he added.



You can take solace in the fact even someone of Buffett&#8217;s stature can make the same sort of mistakes that you make. And then move forward with your investing without relenting. Don&#8217;t let past mistakes stop you from investing now that you are better aware.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://rise.capital/"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="512" src="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1024x512.png" alt="risevest, investment buffett" class="wp-image-922" srcset="https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1024x512.png 1024w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-300x150.png 300w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-768x384.png 768w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1536x768.png 1536w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-2048x1024.png 2048w, https://money.rise.capital/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blog_banner_copy-210610-1-1568x784.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>



<h2>4. Munger on Bitcoin</h2>



Buffett decided to dodge the question on Bitcoin asked by an attendee. He wanted to “avoid making the hundreds of thousands of viewers who own the cryptocurrency unhappy.” Munger didn&#8217;t hold back though. &#8220;I hate the Bitcoin success,&#8221; Munger said. &#8220;The whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interest of civilization.&#8221;



We like to highlight two point from this:



<ul><li>Reminding everyone to be on the side of caution when investing in cryptocurrency.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Telling you that even if you disagree with Charlie Munger, you can still learn from him. That you disagree with someone on a point doesn’t mean you can’t agree with them on another point. And Munger is someone you can learn a tone from.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2>5. Buffett and Munger disagree on the S&amp;P 500 vs. Berkshire</h2>



Buffett has often advised investors to keep things simple and invest in an S&amp;P 500 index fund. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never recommended Berkshire to anybody,&#8221; Buffett said.



Munger has a different opinion. &#8220;I personally prefer holding Berkshire to holding the market,&#8221; he said, arguing that Berkshire&#8217;s set of businesses and investments are in his view &#8220;better than the average&#8221; across the stock market.



These two individuals hold two different views and they still respect each other.&nbsp; And have even conducted business together for this long.



You can have a different investment philosophy with someone, it doesn’t mean you conflict with that person. Just do what works for you.



<h2>6. On Robinhood and Stock Trading Apps</h2>



Buffett said of Robinhood, “the gambling impulse is very strong in people worldwide. And occasionally it gets an enormous shove and conditions lead to this place where more people are entering the casino than are leaving every day.&#8221; Buffett added, “and it creates its own reality for a while and nobody tells you when the clock’s going to strike 12 and it all turns to pumpkins and mice.&#8221;



More importantly, Buffett said that &#8220;there&#8217;s nothing illegal about it. There&#8217;s nothing immoral, but I don&#8217;t think you&#8217;d build a society around people doing it.&#8221;



What Buffett is saying here is that many more people have entered the stock market in the recent period. Albeit, with gambling mindset than an investing mindset. The caution here is to know what you are doing, if you gambling, know it as such and if you are investing recognize it for one. When you are making money, it is easy to think that’s how it always is, no that’s not. Markets don’t always go up and individual companies may even be more irrational in their behaviour. Be careful and be aware of what exactly you are doing.

Six Lessons We Learned From Buffett & Munger 2021 Annual Meeting

In investing, learning once is often not enough. The reason is not far-fetched; investing requires agreement between our intellect and our emotions. And while it is easier for our mind to grab all investing concepts at once, our feelings will always find it hard to fall in line. Hence, a constant need for reeducation.



That&#8217;s why we are taking a tour into the mind of some of the legendary investors in this article. We are picking from their mind some of the most important lessons they learned on their journey to share with you. Remember, there&#8217;s a likelihood that you&#8217;ve encountered some of these lessons before. However, there&#8217;s also a high likelihood that you may not have been able to abide by them. And you know what, you are not alone; it happens to the best of us. We panic, we let emotions get in the way, and sometimes, it costs us. But ultimately, we are on a journey to building wealth and ready to learn what is necessary to create wealth.



<h2>Have some stocks in your portfolio</h2>



“If you hope to have more money tomorrow than you have today, you&#8217;ve got to put a chunk of your assets into stocks. Sooner or later, a portfolio of stocks or stock mutual funds will turn out to be a lot more valuable than a portfolio of bonds or commercial deposits, or money-market funds.” &#8211; Peter Lynch



Peter Lynch took a look at historical data and realised that despite the seeming risk in the stock market, if you hope to have more money in the future than you have today, you need to invest some of your funds in stocks. That&#8217;s because historically, the stock market has outperformed every known asset class. He compared stocks to alternative assets like fixed income to reach that conclusion. And while fixed income is less risky, the kind of money that some desire can only be made from an investment in stocks.



A nearby example here would be Risevest&#8217;s performance in 2020. Investors in stock make 40.7% return on investment while fixed income investors make only 10%. Of course, it is not guaranteed that the 40% return will persist. However, over a long enough period, stocks tend to outperform the fixed income plan.



So what can you do? It&#8217;s simple, start building up your stock portfolio if you don&#8217;t have one already. And if you have already, make sure you are keeping a long-term view of it. In the short term, expect volatility. Over a long time, though, expect money-making returns.



<h2>With all that you know, have you started investing?</h2>



&#8220;In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all.&#8221; ~ Carl Icahn



Which of these two sins is currently committing? Are you acting without thought or you are not acting all despite all that you know?



Acting without thought, for instance, will mean investing these 3 kinds of money that we said should never be invested. And nothing acting at all will mean despite all that you care enough to spur you to action, you are still not acting at all.



Don&#8217;t commit any of these two sins. Join our community, where you can learn about all things money. Then download the Rise App to start acting today. The time to start is now.



<h2>The best investment returns come from doing nothing.</h2>



&#8220;The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.&#8221; ~ Charlie Munger



Charlie Munger is always revered for his witty wisdom. Alongside Warren Buffet, he has built a multi-billion dollar business by investing in the most promising companies. And when asked what the secret of successful investing is, he said, &#8220;you make the big money by doing nothing but waiting&#8221;.



You see, it&#8217;s easy to think we can make quick money by timing the market for an entry and exit point. However, the wisdom of Munger says big money is in the waiting, in doing nothing, and in patience.



<h2>We all make mistakes with our investments, but some people repeat the same mistake</h2>



&#8220;For every mistake that you learn from you will save thousands of similar mistakes in the future, so if you treat mistakes as learning opportunities that yield rapid improvements you should be excited by them. But if you treat them as bad things, you will make yourself and others miserable, and you won&#8217;t grow.&#8221; ~ Ray Dalio



I&#8217;ve seen many people afraid of making their first investment because they don&#8217;t want to make mistakes. They don&#8217;t want to do it wrong. They want to be right with every act. And because of that, they either delay starting their investing journey or have not even started at all.



One cannot optimize to avoid mistakes all of their lives. One cannot optimize to avoid failures all of their life. One cannot optimize to be right all of the time. Allow yourself some threshold of failure and you will see how quickly you will grow not just in investing but in all areas of life.



How can you apply this in investing? Take a small amount of your money and take the initial step of funding that plan you just created on Risevest. Fund it and watch what happens to it. Your fear will either disappear or be confirmed and you would&#8217;ve learned. An option that is better than waiting for the perfect information before you start. And this applies to any investment you may want to try out as well. That&#8217;s what legendary Ray Dalio wants to teach us.



<h2>You must find a way to make money while you sleep</h2>



&#8220;If you don&#8217;t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.&#8221; ~ Warren Buffett



Why do we invest? Investing is the art of making money while you sleep. With the help of compounding returns, when you invest, over a long enough period, the ROI on your investment will soon outpace the capital that you contributed. If you allow this circle to run for a long enough time, you can soon stop working and feed off your investment returns. Otherwise, you will have to work until you die.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://m2.rise.capital/mr"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/SNeEDcAiqtdcPu1WktiRIV_wZ7Xmr8qwQzyQU7YPUHakqg9VEr5zVH_K-y1V9p5TUUEXa_XMNu6UFxLnyKGiddJ41gZsIh0M4guaOP9xfnvoLORPwj6RjDgR64P8rl0yXtLB1OmQ" alt=""/></a></figure>



As depicted in the image above, saving approximately $450k at a 10% annual return can give you a net worth of $2.35m within 30 years. But your emphasis should not be on saving $450k or banging a net worth of $2m. Rather it should be saving an amount commensurate with your income and investing it consistently to generate compounding returns. That way, you won&#8217;t have to work till you die.



Make your money work for you while you sleep.



<h2>Don&#8217;t be emotional about investing</h2>



&#8220;I&#8217;m not emotional about investments. Investing is something where you have to be purely rational and not let emotion affect your decision making &#8211; just the facts.&#8221; ~ Bill Ackman



This one is difficult! Our default as humans is to be emotional about our investment. However, the less emotional we can be, the better our investing performance.



To cushion the effect of emotion is why it is important to set up a system for your investment. Things like automating your investment using direct debit, locking up some funds so that you can&#8217;t withdraw it, and having an emergency fund so you are not forced to liquidate your investment when an unexpected need comes.



Work towards being less emotional. The investing world is volatile, expect it and understand that it will always pass.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://m2.rise.capital/mr"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/MRRz6Dyq9D7IRhkD9h2SvEf607zhRRErWyIv1b6MgxR3D-MHOheNlvGS3dpYoiKpoYRue4q4ArehJOH40VLA0n_ytbk8olIk_nNqDwZsf8bEkSa-guXilXqoIuHs7mAe2fLdjYDv" alt="Long term investing always guarantee growth in the upward direction. Start your stress free wealth management journey with Rise."/></a><figcaption>Image credit: @VisualizeValue</figcaption></figure>



<h2>Buy low and sell high and you will make tons of money over the long run</h2>



&#8220;Many investors make the mistake of buying high and selling low while the exact opposite is the right strategy to outperform over the long term.&#8221; ~ John Paulson



In the earlier part of this year, the market was trading low and growth dragged a lot. Those are periods of buying low. Today the market is rebounding again with good gains. However, it is those who have invested in that period of lows that will make the most returns now. Because they bought when things were low.



It is usually difficult to buy when the market is red. However, if you can do it, then you will be part of those who make the most returns.

Five Lessons we learned from Squid game

How To Pick Yourself Up After Losing All Your Money

Investment Club Series – August Edition: Simple Habits That Will Lead You to Financial Freedom (With The Seven Dollar Millionaire

Five Lessons we learned from Squid game

Bill.com Delivers Positive Results

All News

How Ola Went From Living In A One Room Apartment To Owning Property Portfolios Worth £2million

No Matter How Small, Even If It Is 2000 Naira, keep It Somewhere My Name Is Oladele And This Is How I Make My MoneyRise.

How To Pick Yourself Up After Losing All Your Money

How To Spend Less And Be Happier

Most popular articles

How Ola Went From Living In A One Room Apartment To Owning Property Portfolios Worth £2million

No Matter How Small, Even If It Is 2000 Naira, keep It Somewhere My Name Is Oladele And This Is How I Make My MoneyRise.

How To Pick Yourself Up After Losing All Your Money

How To Spend Less And Be Happier

Learn more about investing

How To Spend Less And Be Happier

Here’s The Only Thing You Should Worry About While Investing

Top Ten Startups In Nigeria