Basic things to know before investing

Gen Z knows the world is moving fast and financial literacy is no longer optional. Here are eight money lessons to help you (and the younger ones around you) build habits that last a lifetime.

1. Save Smart, Not Just Hard: Consistency matters more than the amount. Even small savings add up. With BluNest’s Target Saving, you can set specific goals, whether it’s for sneakers, a trip, or long‑term investments, you can create a target goal and track progress effortlessly.

2. Stay Accountable: Forget the old “kolo” box. Transparency is key. BluNest lets you see your savings grow in real time, making accountability digital and fun.

3. Normalize Saying “Not Now”: It’s okay to admit you can’t afford something yet. Choosing homemade meals over constant takeout isn’t just cheaper, it’s healthier and builds discipline.

4. Opportunity Cost in Real Life: Every choice has a trade‑off. That new gadget might mean less money for experiences you value more. BluNest helps you visualize these trade‑offs by aligning spending with your savings goals.

5. Budget with Purpose: Budgets aren’t restrictions, they’re roadmaps. With BluNest, you can set goals and automate your contribution towards your goal with auo-invest and watch your spending align with them. 

6. Feel the Value of Money: Use your own savings to make purchases. Experiencing the reality of limited purchasing power builds appreciation and smarter decision‑making.

7. Go Digital, Stay Ahead: Gen Z already lives online. Why not make money management part of that? BluNest’s Auto‑Invest feature makes investing seamless. Your money grows while you focus on school, work, or side hustles.

8. Leverage Compound Interest Early: The earlier you start, the more powerful compound interest becomes. BluNest ensures your investments are consistent and automated, so you don’t miss out on growth.

Beyond learning how to count money, it’s about learning what counts. Gen Z has the tools to build wealth smarter and faster than ever before.

Sign up on BluNest today because financial freedom starts now.

We observed some similarities between the swindler phenomenon and investment schemes that turn out to be fraudulent.  We have highlighted five ways to avoid falling victim to them.

1.    Due diligence is EXTREMELY important: Don’t warm up too quickly to strangers without fact-checking from multiple independent sources. The same goes for investment opportunities.

2.    Appearances can be deceiving: Swindlers are usually well dressed, lavish and often generous to potential victims. This is basically laying the foundation for when they would eventually ask for money they wouldn’t pay back.  Don’t get overwhelmed by actions and promises that appear too good to be true.

3.    Maintain mystery around your finances: Victims are targeted because they appear comfortable. While it’s important to live your best life- don’t let perceptions gleaned from your online activity draw a fraudster’s attention to you.  

4.    Be wary of confidence tricksters: They usually confide in their victims to earn trust by sharing fictional stories about hardships.  Things always seem urgent when they require you to part with money, so you might not have time to think rationally about the decision.

5.    Recognise red flags early, ’shine you eye’: Swindlers repeatedly borrow money and continue to lavish it. They may likely suggest you engage in illegal activities for money and in some scenarios, resort to threatening the victims till they ‘’ghost’’ you and become unreachable. Predictably, they will also not satisfy their obligations when it falls due.

Like investment companies that court you to invest with promises of high returns within a short time, a money swindler can also be someone in your life who regularly “borrows” from you. Please stay on guard. Save diligently in your period of abundance, by keeping your excess cash in a Stanbic IBTC mutual fund for your emergency needs. Log in to your existing account to top up your investment or open one here with as little as ₦5,000

Till next time, 

Your Wealth Management Partner 
 

Before you make any investing decision, sit down and take an honest look at your entire financial situation -- especially if you’ve never made a financial plan before. 

The first step to successful investing is figuring out your goals and risk tolerance – either on your own or with the help of a financial professional like Stanbic IBTC Asset Managers. There is no guarantee that you’ll make enough money from your investments. But if you get the facts about saving and investing and follow through with an intelligent plan, you should be able to gain financial security over the years and enjoy the benefits of managing your money. 
Evaluate your risk appetite  

All investments involve some degree of risk. If you intend to purchase securities - such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds - it's important that you understand before you invest that you could lose some or all of your money and you can gain a lot of money.  

The reward for taking on risk is the potential for a greater investment return. If you have a financial goal with a long time horizon, you are likely to make more money by carefully investing in asset categories with greater risk, like equity mutual funds or bond funds, rather than restricting your investments in assets with less risk. On the other hand, investing solely in cash investments or money market funds may be appropriate for short-term financial goals or for investors with low risk appetite. 

Consider an appropriate mix of investments
By diversifying your portfolio or having an appropriate mix of asset categories, an investor can protect against significant losses.  Historically, the returns of the three major asset categories – equities, bonds, and money market have not moved up and down at the same time.  Market conditions that cause one asset category to do well often cause another asset category to have average or poor returns.  By investing in more than one asset category, you'll reduce the risk of losing money and your portfolio's overall investment returns could have a better performance.  If one asset category's return falls, you'll be in a position to offset your losses in that asset category with better investment returns in another asset category.

Create and maintain an emergency fund
Most smart investors put enough money in a savings product to cover an emergency, like sudden unemployment.  Some make sure they have up to six months of their income in savings so that they know it will absolutely be there for them when they need it. 

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. It generates returns for early investors by acquiring new investors and is similar to a pyramid scheme in that both are based on using new investors’ funds to pay the earlier backers. Ponzi schemes often promises very high outrageous returns, paying early investors this outrageous returns with the aim of luring and trapping other naïve investors.

Investors are always advised NEVER to put their monies in Ponzi schemes no matter the rate of returns being promised. Always remember that, the higher the return , the higher the risk. All Ponzi schemes mask the risk with promise of high return/reward.

Like mutual funds, ETFs offer investors a way to pool their money in a fund that makes investments in stocks, bonds, other assets or some combination of these investments and, in return, to receive an interest in that investment pool. Unlike mutual funds, however, ETFs do not sell individual shares directly to, or redeem their individual shares directly from, retail investors.  Instead, ETF shares are traded throughout the day on national stock exchanges and at market prices that may or may not be the same as the NAV of the shares.  The objective of an ETF is to replicate the performance of a particular index