I have read the blog, seen pictures of the house. It is truly a very beautiful house and well apportioned. The pictures have done it great justice and it is truly a designers delight. Well use of space, good quality finishing and truly worth the over 800m pricing I have heard mentioned.
But as I read her inspiring story, I begin to ask myself from a wealth management point of view if this is such a wise decision from this very brilliant and inspiring lady. As a wealth manager, I am looking at other factors far from the giddy factors she has mentioned to justify this status bending move.
As a financial adviser, I would not advise a lady at her age and background operating in such a fleeting industry to tie down such huge capital on one structure. A structure that she would be living in which immediately turns into a liability especially with the cost of running it, which would involve staffing, maintenance, taxes and fees amongst others. This is one expenditure that will keep taking from her and putting her under pressure to maintain or even increase her earnings just to keep up with the exposure.
If she ploughed in full cash into this purchase, this then is a real bad decision. At times like this cash is king. She could have taken out a payment plan not necessarily mortgage but a payment plan that would have freed up the cash that she would have used for other revenue generating investments which she would have used to be servicing this purchase. If she put in a down payment of say 400m and spread the rest over a 10 year period and used the balance to invest in other real estate within the Lekki and Ikoyi area where rental income comes in hard currency, she would easily meet the payments while still owning other real estate holdings.
She is a blogger. It is the ongoing trend and like all trends may soon wear off. What now happens to the lifestyle if she does not diversify her earning capacity when this is all over? I give this trend another three years or five max and another new thing will come up and even if blogging still remains hot, what is the guarantee that her blog will still be hot at that age? She has to start preparing for those days by investing in revenue creating income generating activities.
By now she should be looking at shares and stocks in big firms like GTB and First Bank. Her dividends from these investments would keep her living like the Queen that she is. She should look at Treasury Bills, Bonds and also keep some funds in forex to hedge against the volatility of the Naira. Basically all I am saying is for her to start planning for the inevitable dry run when she would need liquidity and continous flow of revenues.
This is not to say that I am not considering the fact that she doesn’t have some sort of investments running, my take is that she has reached the income bracket where she would need to be working with professionals. Open what is called a ‘family office’ where the professionals would handle her investment decisions carefully planning her investments with the objective of ensuring further wealth creation and much more importantly sustainability.
Our society is littered with lots of people especially in entertainment and media who are today living in penury after living large. Too many to mention names. The case of King Sunny Ade comes to mind. He is court with his record label looking for royalties since the 60s and this fight could have been avoided with careful financial planning and investments. This is not to say that Sunny is broke or didn’t plan well, the lifestyle is however no longer as flambouyant.
For her teeming Libers, you do not have to wait until you start making Linda’s kind of money before you get professional advise. You can start by working with people who would put you in a monthly retail plan. This would enable you to start working with as little as N10,000 monthly to grew and build a sound financial future. You too can get to Linda level without her astounding run of luck by simply planning and investment, working with astute advisers.
My brotherly advise to Ms. Ikeji is to get professionals if she doesn’t have any just yet. Look for investments that would generate more income, diversify her portfolio, access more investment windows as the cash keep rolling in because like everything in life, it would not roll in forever.
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Joseph Edgar is an investment banker, he writes as a hobby and blogs at Josephedgarng.blogspot.com
