WHERE IS MY INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS DIRECTED ?- Odunze Reginald C

While speaking to a group of customers in one state in Northern Nigeria around 2012 on interactive session with a high institution in that state, a customer ask one vital question that I will never forget. And it went thus, where is my investment directed? , continuing he opined that he do not want  his pension investments on brewery related products based on his religion conviction. For complete ten minutes, there was a complete quietness.

In my reaction, I decided to be political about it, as any how reaction may cause tension,  my final reaction was that the controlling body  will work out modalities for such  if such need becomes more important and is generally requested by majority of the customers, noting those that are in charge of the scheme are also part and parcel of us and may belong to various religious body. Adding that I will take his question to the higher authorities.

In a similar situation while attending a workshop in Lagos in 2015 for public sector, such question reechoed again , there was a tense atmosphere. Reacting the a Nation pension Commission representative, noted that the commission is working out modalities for such, noting that completed, it will ensure that customers who want such arrangement will  be considered, noting that they are working in also bring out investment age band which will ensure that those are young and have longer time to retire may have their fund investment in high yield instruments , noting that such instruments are highly volatile., middle age on semi volatile and those about to retire will have its fund invested in low yield instrument with non volatility , adding that the higher the risk, the high its return on investment (ROI) and the lower the risk the lower the returns.

Tom Macphail in 10 costly Pension Mistakes noted that “If you have a pension, have you ever reviewed it? Millions of people haven't. Moreover, recent research revealed more than two in five adults (41%) - 8 million people - cannot remember how their pensions are invested. Why is that alarming? Performance can vary quite dramatically across investments and even a seemingly small difference could have a significant impact on the size of your pot” Continuing he stated that these are just projections. Investments will not always go up in value, they also go down, so you could get back less than you invested; what is certain is that they won't perform as predicted. Also, these values are in today's terms, without considering inflation, which will reduce the spending power of your money over time “According to several researches, people invest for two basic reasons; they are follows, to make provision for old age and to be wealthy. Being wealthy is a function of the state of mind of the owner and the generosity of the individual.

So many people cling to their money as if their life depends on it. While some are willing to give almost half of their possessions but that is not our subject of discussion. Venita Van Caspel according to schuller noted  while studying investment “heard a very startling statistics of every people reaching age 65, only 2 percent were financially independent” continuing  Schuller op cited opined that Venita was raised in a Christian home without money, which she claims gave a health respect  for a dollar.

Therefore it all portends that even though we value money , some are interested in accumulation of fund , some are skeptical of where their investments are going, they are more interested in meriting heaven than in  the accumulation of fund.