Regardless of what stage of life you’re in, embracing the culture of investing can be a lifesaver for you in the most unexpected way.
We had a client back in the days of IPOs (short for Initial Public Offering, which means the first time a company is offering its shares to the public). He was a business tycoon, and bank managers often sought his counsel.
During the sale of Zenith and GTBank IPOs back in the years 2007 and 2008, we approached him to invest. It wasn’t easy to reach him. For one thing, he was a busy man. And when we finally had his audience, convincing him to invest in the shares was a herculean task.
After much back and forth, he eventually invested in Zenith and GTbank, 1 million units each at 7–8 naira respectively.
He later got his share certificates, laminated and dumped them somewhere in his office. All efforts to get him to dematerialize those certificates with me (that is, to lodge them in electronic format) were abortive.
Years later, disaster struck. It was sad.
His warehouse got burnt. All goods, documents, and cheque books, including the laminated share certificates, were destroyed. He lost everything.
In the wake of this, the banks came knocking. They had to recover their loan. What was left from the fire was sold off to settle the bank. And that was how a big man was reduced to nothing.
One day, one of our investment advisors, Paul, paid him a visit and that was when he narrated the sad ordeal. Paul asked him about those companies’ shares certificates he bought. He replied that they all got burnt. Then Paul told him we could do something about it.
We got all the necessary information to enable us to recover the shares for him and the team got down to work. After a month plus, all were dematerialized into his CSCS account statement with the following balances:
Zenith bank (1m units) > N31 million naira
Gtbank (1m units) > N33million naira
Total > N64m naira (excluding the bonuses!)
When we sent him the CSCS statement, he couldn’t believe his eyes. How does one move from having nothing to having over N60 million?
He was overwhelmed with it all. He was the one that even recounted the stress he put us through when we were trying to convince him to invest in the shares. He kept thanking me. He still refers to Paul as his “Messiah” to this day!
He vowed never to ignore equity trading or capital market investments again after that day. The investment that restored his lost glory. Since then, he has been a regular investor in the capital market. On average, he invests N2M weekly.
Stories like this give us hope. It may not always be all rosy with investments, especially with equities where prices can go up and down without notice, but it can really be a lifesaver.
With that investment you are making today, you are depriving yourself of immediate enjoyment. But we sow today to reap tomorrow. Keep up the good work. It could be our lifesaver tomorrow.
If you wish to kick start your investment journey with shares, or if you want us to review your portfolio and advise you, do not hesitate to send an email to brokerageteam@afrinvest.com.
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