#DearNSPFellow, 4 Ways To Invest And Make Your Allawa Work For You

After my recent article about why we should choose investment over savings, I was asked the most popular question by a colleague. In his reply to the article on our WhatsApp platform, he said a lot of them will like to invest but they don’t know how and where.

Like I said in my recent article, the term investment is not a big deal that requires big thinking and huge capital. It is as easy as planning your weekly budget. But when you look beyond your sphere when you hear about investment, you begin to think, “Well, I don’t have much or my allawa isn’t much”. Then after a year, your financial story remains the same.

Investing part of your allawa can be as simple as investing in four crates of eggs. With your colleagues as potential customers, how difficult can this be?

To help answer the question, I’ve put together five simple ways you can invest part of your allowance which is a better financial decision over choosing to save.

Let get down to it, shall we?
1. Real Estate
Housing is a basic need we all need to look at in our life journey. This makes this department very lucrative and very open. Almost anyone can enter the real estate market and make some extra cash. All you need to do is to know how to think like a businessman or an entrepreneur, even both.

But let not get ahead of ourselves. Starting in real estate does not mean you buy acres of land and start building apartments. You can build a single or a self-contained room which you can rent out. You can enquire from real estate companies and find out what plan you can subscribe to as service personnel and start paying, by the time you are done, you have your own house or room.

Especially to personnel who have the means to start investing in building their own houses. You can be smarter and build for rent instead of building for yourself to settle in. In this way, the building becomes an asset, pumping revenue into your pocket. Whether you decide to get the property for rent or for yourself, consider the developing areas, or even your village, they turn out with the best offers as compared to the cities.

2. Skill Development
By now you should know that your degree alone is not enough. Companies are now looking for specialists. This is why you can use this period and part of your money to polish your already existing skills or acquire one.

You don’t only need skills for ‘employment’. You can also acquire a skill that can help you create another source of income. After service, it is not certain that you would land a job, so your skill can go a long way to sustain you as you continue looking for one. And if it is a cooperate skill that you have mastered, you would likely become a hot cake for companies and be the preferred candidate over your mates.

This is a brilliant option than just focusing on your service alone, betting everything, hoping that they will maintain you when you kill yourself and give the time that you don’t need to give. It is also a better way to create income or wealth as compared to putting part of your money in a savings account.

3. Lean Startup Ideas
This goes to the entrepreneurs who have big ideas. You should know that every big idea starts from somewhere and if you have not started yet, this is the time to start. You have the time and some income. It is better to do what you can with what you have at every point in time as an entrepreneur. Especially when you don’t have the capital at a go.

So go out there and start something on your idea, no matter how little. And then use part of your allawa as capital. I’m a startup accelerator; we can connect and discuss what you can do with your idea at this stage.

4. Simple Trading
I mentioned earlier that you can invest in the buying and selling of crates of eggs. A simple idea of supplying cooking gas to households where you go for their cylinders and fill it for them at the gas station at a cool price. Find a way to start selling some indomie in the evening, and let me know so I can come and buy some. These simple ideas are all around you. Find a way to fit into the supply chain and see how best you can add value and get paid for it.

Bottom Line
There is a purpose for every moment in life, and when we waste it, it affects the quality of life we have tomorrow. This season is a once in a lifetime season for us and we need to make it count. Making it count does not only mean giving your best to the organization you were posted to. You have to think about tomorrow when you are done with your service.

The probability that you will be maintained after service is small as compared to building your own enabling environment. An environment that can provide the sustainability you can fall on when you are done serving your nation.