Last week, Tuesday, August 26th 2025, our speakers had an insightful conversation about money and investment on our Twitter/X space. Too many times, women are found saving for a rainy day or hiding funds in their homes. We do this to avoid complications and obstacles that hinder financial freedom. But the world has advanced beyond that point, and women have become open and transparent about building wealth.
Our speakers, Oler Oladele, a CFA holder with over 16 years’ experience in the finance industry, and Oluchukwu Chiadika, founder of Your Personal Finance Girl, gave us a crash course on investments and investing in our last Twitter space.
To bring you up to speed, here are six things to know before starting your investment journey.
1. Get a Mindset Shift
Before starting your investment journey, you need to know why you’re doing it in the first place. Oler and Oluchukwu tell us that investments are all about planning for the future and looking ahead to the 20-30 years post-retirement. In this economic climate, every day is a rainy day. But it’s important not to break the bank in the name of trying to survive today. Life is real, and it doesn’t end today.
‘’It’s important to enjoy life, but it’s also important to set something aside for your future. Yes, we live in Nigeria, and there are always rainy days, but it’s important to have an extra income so that when the rainy days come, we do not break the Bank.’’
Oluchukwu Chiadika
2. Know The Difference Between Investing And Saving
One thing women know a lot about is saving for a rainy day. While this is encouraged and commendable, our speakers note the importance of going a step further with investing. Our speakers describe investments as sending your money to make more money for you. When we invest, we’re making more money and safeguarding ourselves against inflation. Our money is growing with the market, and we have a reliable and secure safety net to fall back on.
‘’Investment is sending your money to bring more money for you. And this is money that you did not work for. You can wake up in another year to growth that you did nothing for.’’
Oluchukwu Chiadika
Also Read: I Retired at 53 With Over ₦1 Billion in Assets — Here’s How I Did It
3. You Can Start With Any Amount
When people talk about investments, we probably think it’s some complicated activity rich people partake in. This also has us thinking we need lots of money to get involved. The reality is the complete opposite. According to our speakers, you can start investing with as little as ₦5,000 or even ₦1,000. Our speakers tell us that some platforms even have options that allow people to begin with as little as $10. It’s not about how much you have but more about how early you start.
‘’It’s more about not looking at your small money with disdain. People are waiting to have big money, and then the money comes, but you don’t even know how to invest the big money.’’
Oler Oladele
4. Understand Your Risk Appetite
Before understanding your risk appetite, it’s important to know what risk entails. Our speakers are transparent about the fact that investments are always risky, meaning your money can disappear. However, the type of investments we go for determines the likelihood of said disappearance. Sometimes, investments go bad, but that won’t always happen because they are fraudulent. The higher the investment risks, the higher the likelihood of your money disappearing.
‘’Let’s understand that investments are risky, meaning your money will disappear. If something is high risk, there is a high chance that your money will disappear. Sometimes investments go bad, but it does not necessarily mean that it is fraud.’’
Oler Oladele
5. Get To Know Your Options
Once we are familiar with our risk appetite, we must understand what options fit best. Our speakers advise that we go for low-risk investment options if we’re new to the game. Options under this include government bonds, mutual funds and money market funds. They advise dabbling in treasury bills and ETFs if you want to take a bit more risk. For them, paying attention to what we put our money in is important. It teaches us a thing or two about the value of money and how it grows.
‘’Before you start investing, it’s important to understand your goals. If you’re just starting, you need to start with things that are low risk. You also need to understand the reason why you’re doing it. You understand the process and how the value increases, but you’re not doing it with a lot of money.’’
Oluchukwu Chidiaka
6. Keep The Money Coming
For our investments to grow and for us to see results, we need to make investing a habit. This means not spending our returns and allowing them to compound. It also means upskilling to grow in our careers and, if necessary, getting side hustles to earn and invest more. Our speakers recognise the importance of professional and technical skills. But they also encourage us to build soft skills because sometimes those matter more. It’s also important to watch our spending so that we can build wealth to the extent that we can become financially independent.
‘’Financial independence is the freedom to do what you want to do. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to work or you’re going to stop doing what you need to do. It just means you have the option and opportunity to take a break. It is not being trapped or feeling stuck or in bondage.’’
Oler Oladele
Read Next: 10 Investment Options for Nigerians and How to Get Started in 2025
