Market Update: August 2020

Equity:

The Nigerian Equity market closed the month of August on a positive note. The ASI expanded by 2.51% on a month on month basis, whilst on a year -on-year basis, the losses eased to -5.6%.

On a sectorial basis, telecoms emerged as the best performing sector gaining +20.47% year-to-date, followed by the cement sector (+8.37% year-to-date). Other sectors closed on a negative note including Banking (-16.26%), Brewers (-39.25%), Oil and gas (-60.36%) and food (-16.34%).

Going forward, we anticipate improved local domestic participation in the equity market due to the lower yield environment in the fixed income market. However, we do not expect this to sustain a meaningful rally in the equity market. Against this backdrop, our outlook on equity is now neutral (previous: neutral to negative).

Ask Shade About Trusts: My Salary Has Been Slashed, How Can I Give my Child the Best Education?

Ask Shade About Trusts: My Salary Has Been Slashed, How Can I Give my Child the Best Education?

Dear Shade,

I am a single mother and for the past 6 years, I have been raising my child alone. I vowed to do whatever I can to give my child the best of education so that she can achieve her dream of becoming a pilot. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, we had a pay-cut at work where my salary was reduced by 30%, but I still want to fulfill my vow of giving my child the best education. Kindly advise me on what I can do. 

– Stella, Bonny Island

***

Dear Stella,

I appreciate you reaching out to me.

Firstly, I must commend your strength and determination to provide your daughter with the very best education.
The COVID-19 pandemic took everyone by surprise and I am sorry to hear that you were directly affected financially. I do hope things revert to normal as soon as possible.

In pursuit of achieving the high standard you have set and uninterrupted education for your daughter, you could consider establishing an education trust. An education trust is an arrangement that allows you to set aside funds for your daughter’s education and welfare by transferring funds to a corporate trustee to hold in trust for the benefit of your daughter. By setting up the education trust, you would be ensuring that your daughter’s education remains uninterrupted regardless of a change in your circumstances, i.e., death, job loss, or permanent disability. An education trust also ensures the protection of the trust fund from unwanted access or undue family interference and promotes tax savings.

Another feature of the education trust worth mentioning is the fact that the trust fund is never left idle. It would be invested to ensure the growth of the fund and liquidity pending when it is required for the purpose for which the education trust was set up for, such as making payments for school fees. In order to find out more about how this arrangement works, I would advise that you speak with a trust advisor.

I do hope that the information which I have provided is very helpful and I wish you the very best as you forge ahead in your endeavors.

Warm regards,

The post Ask Shade About Trusts: My Salary Has Been Slashed, How Can I Give my Child the Best Education? appeared first on Realising Ambitions.

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Top 5 Emotional Mistakes to Avoid When Trading Stocks

You know that voice in your head, that says “buy” when you see a stock you know? It is sometimes the voice of your emotions, and emotional buying is never the best strategy. Sometimes it is really hard to drop emotions when trading in stocks because as humans, emotion is an integral part of us. But every stocktrader must know how to pull off the garment of emotions when trading, else, one may make the following mistakes:

  1. Buying because it’s trendy

There are times when there is a sudden buzz around a particular stock, and everyone seems to be going for it. That is not a great time to go for it. Whenever you buy a stock that many  people are buying too, it will be expensive – in some cases even severely overpriced. That’s why you should leverage research from experts like ARM and even do your own research, to allow you anticipate the possible trendy stock that people will demand for, and you get to sell at a higher price.

  1. Selling when it looks bad

The best time to buy shares is when prices drop. It allows you get a piece of the company at a cheaper rate. A lot of investors who leverage emotions, start to panic and sell their stocks when there is a price drop, forgetting that there will be a price gain soon. Buy when is cheap or the market is bleeding and sell when the market is booming.

  1. Spending all your money

New investors often get excited about the stock market and invest all the money for their portfolio within the first few days. The results are careless purchases and a lack of liquidity if prices drop. You should put money into your trading account on a regular basis, but always leave some of it there – for the times, when stock prices drop to allow  you buy more stocks at a cheaper cost

  1. Selling all your stocks in a crash

The reality is the next stock market crash is coming. However, we’ve already survived quite a few crashes in recent time. That means: If the stock market crashes, stay cool. It will recover. What won’t recover are your savings if you sell all your shares at a time when everyone else is doing the same. It’s hard, but you should always follow the old rule: invest slowly, sell slowly.

  1. Putting all eggs in one basket

Anyone who discovers a promising industry is tempted to really go for it. Why buy one tech giant when you can buy three? The problem is, what do you do if the industry collapses? In that case the value of your portfolio can quickly evaporate. That’s why you need to diversify – to invest in many different areas at the same time. Even if one of them temporarily crashes, it won’t hurt you too much. And remember: If the value of a stock drops, it’s a good reason to buy more.

3 Smart Ways to Give Your Child/Ward The Best Education

Imagine the smile on the face of your child, looking directly at you, and wearing that beautiful school graduation gown- That look is priceless! One of the ultimate goals of most parents is to give their children/wards the best of education. The best education to an extent adds the icing on the cake to the parenting career.  Sadly factors such as rising school fees, inflation, and general economic situation of a country always pose as obstacles to this great plan that parents have for their children.

Despite these factors, it is still possible to give your children the best education if well planned. We have listed 3 smarts ways every parent can plan for their children’s education, to guarantee them seeing their children in the beautiful graduation gown.

  1. Start early

Planning for your child’s education is a long-term financial goal. The best time to start planning for your child’s future needs is when he or she is born. Assuming your child will go to the University at the age of 18, you will have nearly two decades to create the right-sized fund for your child’s need. The effect of compounded growth will allow you to achieve this goal with small, monthly contributions.

  1. Diligently choose the right school

Children will mostly likely spend more time in school than at home, parents should be diligent when choosing a school for their children/ward.

The type of school a child/ward goes will have a great impact in the life of the child/ward. Before you settle for a school, you should consider the vision, mission and culture of the school to see if it they align with what you want for your child. You also need to fact check from people associated with that school, such as parents who already have their children enrolled in that school to hear what they have to say about the school

  1. Set up an EduTrust

An edutrust is a legal agreement where money is put aside for the sole purpose of educating the children, irrespective of whatever, untold events the future holds.  It is aimed at assisting parents and guardians in securing uninterrupted education for their child(ren) or ward(s).

As a parent, this trust enables you to provide for the education of named beneficiaries. The standard, level of education is determined by you, subject to adequacy of funds in the Trust account. The Trust can comprise of a lifestyle component to provide for other needs of beneficiaries such as vacations, excursions, school trips etc.

We will love to celebrate you and your kids as they graduate from their dream schools. Get started on making that graduation smile a reality today by setting up  an education trust for your child here

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