Nigeria and why the rich keep getting richer - Tips to Make Money in Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday April 23, 2012 14:22:48:

In Nigeria, just like many other countries in the world where there is a growing capitalist economy, rich people tend to get richer and the poor get poorer, even in times of inflation or no fuel subsidy like ours. Why is that so?

One of the reasons why I think rich people get richer is because they don't hold much of their wealth as cash - They hold on to assets. On the other hand, poor people tend to get poorer(the ones who find it impossible to jump out of the rat race) because they hold much of their wealth as cash.

Assets pay better than cash
In Nigeria, if you hold on to cash more than other tangible assets, you are most likely gonna be on the losing end. Living in a country like ours where there is perpetual inflation since the 1960s, assets have always being appreciating while the naira has been depreciating. Imagine how rich you would have been if you at least converted your naira to dollars in the 1980s. N10,000 in the 1980 is now worth . Same thing applies if you had invested your money in the past into assets like Land, housing, stocks, a transportation business or even gold. Most of those things tend to appreciate.

Nowadays, owning a house in Lagos could cost you something like N15m upwards but 20 years ago, this was not the case as you could get the same one story building for about

In the 1980s, Nigeria's economy was booming and a lot of people had more disposable income. Some people took the money they had and invested in real estate, some invested in stocks, some invested in small businesses, some invested in education, some invested in agriculture, while some squandered their money partying, socializing and travelling the world. Most of those who invested their money wisely are among the rich people we have today and most of the poor people we have today most likely came from families where their parents didn't make a good investment in the past.

Rich vs Poor
Rich people in Nigeria tend to get richer first of all because they came from rich families and then again because they follow the same steps their parents took in investing in assets rather than holding on to cash. Other rich people came from poor families but were able to follow a different path which gave them success - They broke the poverty jink by investing in assets. When I say assets I mean long term assets like land, real estate, bonds, stocks and so on. It is very hard for a poor person to become rich but easier for a rich person to become richer. That doesn't mean that a poor person cannot be rich but he needs to work harder than the rich person since he would need more energy to break out of the rat race. Very few poor people are able to break out of their poverty because they did something extraordinary, something ordinary poor people don't normally do - Investing in long term assets.

Most poor people in Nigeria use most of their income to survive on things like food, shelter and clothing and it can be hard for them to start investing or hoping for a stable future. For a poor Nigerian to become rich, he needs to break out of that cycle of eating from hand to mouth, he needs to instill discipline and set aside part of his income and invest it. He needs to manage his disposable income wisely because everyone is capable of making a budget.

Get richer by taking opportunities
If you've got extra cash after taking care of your basic needs, what do you do with it? Well the best thing to do with it if you really want more income is to invest in it. Unless you just want to hold the money for speculative purposes, you may keep it in a bank but in reality, if you really want to make real money in Nigeria, don't waste your time saving your money in a bank, use it to invest in something and it will yield more for you. Rich people can use their extra income to invest in fixed assets, foreign currency, stocks and so on. A poor person cna grow his income by investing in small businesses that will generate more income. He may also invest in real estate like Land. Land is like an invaluable asset in Nigeria and if you have one, you will only grow richer and have peace of mind. However, don't buy land just for speculative reasons, if you are not going to work with it soon, only buy if you want to build a home there, start a business there or want to resell it soon. So if you have extra money and see an opportunity to invest in an asset, do it quickly because time is money.

Comments:

Re: Nigeria and why the rich keep getting richer Reply by Ajamu on Monday April 23, 2012 at 23:49:46:

I wish I had found this information sooner. But it's not too late τ̅☺ break out of the cat race. Thank you

Re: Nigeria and why the rich keep getting richer Reply by Nsikak on Thursday May 31, 2012 at 17:0:41:

Where then can the young once starts to invest their token for a reasonable yield and how can they become richer than their colliques??

Re: Nigeria and why the rich keep getting richer Reply by john on Monday July 23, 2012 at 23:46:40:

i love ur words cos i've head it from my mentor robert kiyosaki.rich will get richer while poor will get poorer.

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