It is now official, we are in a recession. The statement issued yesterday by the finance minister comes as an official acceptance of this although it was long overdue. The economic growth has been negative for two consecutive quarters and there is a slowdown in economic activities in all quarters. But what exactly does a recession entail?

According to Jeff Madrick of the Huffington post, a recession is simply a general decline in the national income (GDP) which includes wages, salaries, profits, interest and rental income shrinks. It has been referred overall as a downward cycle.

Citing a simple example, what happens is that companies lay off people because people aren’t buying their products as much as they used to or using their services like before, the stocks of the companies goes down as their earnings are not as good as they were. And the people laid off buy fewer goods and other companies have poor earnings as well. Most people with jobs fear the uncertain and don’t spend their money in the stock market. But are there any positives or lessons or anything to know about being in a recession?
These questions are answered here, by stating what a recession means to everyone:

1. High Spate Of Unemployment
With a high spate of unemployment already, unemployment will be on a further rise. If you are unemployed it will be difficult to get a job and even those with jobs might be downsized in order for companies to still make profit.
Already, according to statistics by NBS the employment rate stood at 12.1% as off the first quarter of 2016, a jump by 518,000 in three months to over 1.45 million unemployed Nigerians.
This is one of the biggest factors to having a recession as companies add their employees into the labor pool diminishing their purchasing power under a tight economic situation.

2. Stagnant Wages
There might be little or no raise at the end of the year. Most firms cut down on allowances and previous largesse enjoyed in the past. They get stingy with raises or lower salaries of new hires with increase competition for such jobs. This is one of the reasons people tend to see a recession as a great time to start a business.
Even when there are raises, they are skimpy. But the parallel of your grocery bills, health bills, tuition and a host of other necessities increase in price. And so uncertainty is on the increase that if you don’t use your money wisely, you might be caught up in a situation where other people will not have enough to help you out. And this is one of the greatest times to get into sound habits and philosophies of personal finance teachings.

3. Low Return Of Investments
It will affect your investments. Financially savvy investors will diversify enough to weather out a recession. They might decide to wait it out or choose to buy stocks at affordable prices. Or they might move some money from stocks to bonds.
Recession means many more bankruptcies and reduced tax revenue for the government. If you have a business, you might need to worry about decline in profits. If you have stocks, the reasonable thing to do is to hold and keep them or at least don’t sell them at the worst possible time which is usually the start to the middle of the recession.
The stock markets and the real estate market decline before a recession although the stock market perks up during the middle of a recession as it anticipates future recovery.

4. Increase Cost Of Everyday Items
When an economy imports a lot of its items like we do that even the oil that is drilled here 70% of our use is imported refined, as a recession strikes the prices of groceries and other items soar. I mean think about how much of everything we import.
Your purchasing power reduces greatly as the naira is weakened. And you might need to cut down on the luxuries of life. If you were frugal, your worries would be the decrease in the return of your diversified investments, having done so well to live below your means and save to not just to invest your money but to see to it that your other life goals are met.
This is one of the best times to become frugal and get into the habit. During a recession, you count what is important and what is not, what can be done without and what should be removed. It is the idea that most companies use to downsize and retain a few very essential staffs. Do so and you could well use this recession to actualize a great habit into your life.

5. Incredible Bargains
One of the positive sides and only if you are financially secure is the prospects of incredible bargains. During a recession, incredible bargains abound. People are willing to sell their cars, homes, whatever they can find what selling in other to stay afloat, all at jaw dropping prices.
Even shopping for stocks in the stock markets is an incredible experience. There is a saying that ‘during the deepest times men blink’, and these words hold true. If you were buoyant enough prior to the recession, you can easily increase your income streams.

Don’t listen to the doom and gloom. This recession can be an opportunity to either begin the life of frugality, of understanding the importance of having multiple streams of income as well as an opportunity to get the best bargains possible.

for more personal finance articles you can kindly visit www.everydayfinance.com.ng

It is now official, we are in a recession. The statement issued yesterday by the finance minister comes as an official acceptance of this although it was long overdue. The economic growth has been negative for two consecutive quarters and there is a slowdown in economic activities in all quarters. But what exactly does a recession entail?

According to Jeff Madrick of the Huffington post, a recession is simply a general decline in the national income (GDP) which includes wages, salaries, profits, interest and rental income shrinks. It has been referred overall as a downward cycle.

Citing a simple example, what happens is that companies lay off people because people aren’t buying their products as much as they used to or using their services like before, the stocks of the companies goes down as their earnings are not as good as they were. And the people laid off buy fewer goods and other companies have poor earnings as well. Most people with jobs fear the uncertain and don’t spend their money in the stock market. But are there any positives or lessons or anything to know about being in a recession?
These questions are answered here, by stating what a recession means to everyone:

1. High Spate Of Unemployment
With a high spate of unemployment already, unemployment will be on a further rise. If you are unemployed it will be difficult to get a job and even those with jobs might be downsized in order for companies to still make profit.
Already, according to statistics by NBS the employment rate stood at 12.1% as off the first quarter of 2016, a jump by 518,000 in three months to over 1.45 million unemployed Nigerians.
This is one of the biggest factors to having a recession as companies add their employees into the labor pool diminishing their purchasing power under a tight economic situation.

2. Stagnant Wages
There might be little or no raise at the end of the year. Most firms cut down on allowances and previous largesse enjoyed in the past. They get stingy with raises or lower salaries of new hires with increase competition for such jobs. This is one of the reasons people tend to see a recession as a great time to start a business.
Even when there are raises, they are skimpy. But the parallel of your grocery bills, health bills, tuition and a host of other necessities increase in price. And so uncertainty is on the increase that if you don’t use your money wisely, you might be caught up in a situation where other people will not have enough to help you out. And this is one of the greatest times to get into sound habits and philosophies of personal finance teachings.

3. Low Return Of Investments
It will affect your investments. Financially savvy investors will diversify enough to weather out a recession. They might decide to wait it out or choose to buy stocks at affordable prices. Or they might move some money from stocks to bonds.
Recession means many more bankruptcies and reduced tax revenue for the government. If you have a business, you might need to worry about decline in profits. If you have stocks, the reasonable thing to do is to hold and keep them or at least don’t sell them at the worst possible time which is usually the start to the middle of the recession.
The stock markets and the real estate market decline before a recession although the stock market perks up during the middle of a recession as it anticipates future recovery.

4. Increase Cost Of Everyday Items
When an economy imports a lot of its items like we do that even the oil that is drilled here 70% of our use is imported refined, as a recession strikes the prices of groceries and other items soar. I mean think about how much of everything we import.
Your purchasing power reduces greatly as the naira is weakened. And you might need to cut down on the luxuries of life. If you were frugal, your worries would be the decrease in the return of your diversified investments, having done so well to live below your means and save to not just to invest your money but to see to it that your other life goals are met.
This is one of the best times to become frugal and get into the habit. During a recession, you count what is important and what is not, what can be done without and what should be removed. It is the idea that most companies use to downsize and retain a few very essential staffs. Do so and you could well use this recession to actualize a great habit into your life.

5. Incredible Bargains
One of the positive sides and only if you are financially secure is the prospects of incredible bargains. During a recession, incredible bargains abound. People are willing to sell their cars, homes, whatever they can find what selling in other to stay afloat, all at jaw dropping prices.
Even shopping for stocks in the stock markets is an incredible experience. There is a saying that ‘during the deepest times men blink’, and these words hold true. If you were buoyant enough prior to the recession, you can easily increase your income streams.

Don’t listen to the doom and gloom. This recession can be an opportunity to either begin the life of frugality, of understanding the importance of having multiple streams of income as well as an opportunity to get the best bargains possible.

for more personal finance articles you can kindly visit www.everydayfinance.com.ng

maleeks:
Nice article Op, saying "money is the root of evil" is a serious misconception, because to me "being dead broke is the root of all evil"

Igwekazi:
Thanks for a good article, but Foreign Exchange should be included on this list as well.

glad you found this helpful. i decided to do passive income ideas besides the internet, as the heading implied.

What I’m hoping to achieve by the end of this post is for us to have a rethink of some of the philosophies we have towards money. Growing up in our homes, there were lots of money myths that forged itself into a mindset that stops us even before we yearn to get wealthy.
I’m not a half glass full or half empty kind of guy, but I like to see myself as the one who pours the water…well, don’t judge me, I learnt that from Mark Cuban. Invariably, I like to see things for what they are and with a clear means of handling it.
So indulge me to spell out the 10 most held money myths from this part of the planet, that I had and I know most of you had as well:

1. To Have Money, You Must Have Belonged To A Fraternity
No matter how weird this concept is, you can bet that it is still held very highly by many. Rather than seeking to find what people do to gain wealth, this distorts a healthy thinking and paints money as bad. People do crazy things for money, but there is so much more that put in the necessary hard work, people who invent things, people who perform amazing sales, people who shine for whatever activity that they are passionate about that the other people that engage in weird circumstances for wealth become negligible.
Money follows a great idea and the necessary effort, so why not we associate our thinking with the right theory. Count most successful people and you can write a product to their name, so teach people to use their inner ability rather than put them down before they can stand up by throwing this myth at their faces.

2. Money Doesn’t Bring Happiness
What brings happiness? This is a question with a million answers. Most people who are prosperous today didn’t seek to be as wealthy as they are today, as people think. Reading through the autobiographies and biographies of the likes of Bill Gates to Larry Page, to a whole lot of others, you learn a vital lesson. They sort to provide the world with something unique; they sort to change the world as we know it by using their abilities. And doing that brought wealth.
We should guide people to shine and make impact in our society for where their passion lies. Feeding your passion brings joy and true happiness and when you stay idle, you end up complaining about lack of money to do the things you want.

3. Money Is The Root Of All Evil
Is this actually true? Is money truly the root of evil? But the Christian bible says that ‘the love of money, is the root of all evil’, and not money itself. My goal is for us to have a healthy understanding of money so we can escape a poor mindset that does us no good.
How to handle money is inarguably one of the key issues in life that people do not want to talk about.
Why so much negativity attached to this. I mean, it is an indispensable commodity in our world today and what we go to our daily work for, what we give as offerings in our many places of worship, what we use to achieve almost anything you can think of today.
My thought is this: why aren’t we talking about how to understand money, and how to use it in a great way, for ourselves as well as for others. We are raised with a poor notation about money, leaving us incapable to control our finances and invariably a life of misery as we struggle to get by.

4. Money Is For Only Those That Are Blessed
Can there be any better excuse for not working hard? Money is it truly for those that are blessed? You can see the laxity in this utterance and can well understand why people will complain about a whole lot of things when they can’t play their parts and build wealth for themselves.
Is building wealth as difficult as we think? The advent of personal finance teachings through books and other media is fast rising as a help to anyone who wishes to grow wealth by playing the role of taking responsibility over his finances no matter how much he earns. Yes! No matter how much you earn, you can apply finance principles and become financially free over the years. Live happy and make your kids better off. Flee from this excuse and begin to take control and you can well count yourself as blessed.

5. The More You Have, The More You Will Want
When the rich amass more wealth, people hardly associate it with the rich seeing more profitable business opportunities. Or pushing back the frontiers of their innovative competitiveness and broadening their reach, they ascribe it to greed most of the time. You could say I like to look at things a little differently.
But the truth is this, when you are rich from a profitable business, being man in creation it is a natural urge to improve, to expand, to grow. To change the world with ideas, and as we keep expanding, we take opportunities that lie waste.
It is better to have a true understanding and rather grow our ideas into successful businesses.

6. You Lose Your True Friends When You Get Rich
This is an interesting one! There is a saying that failure is an orphan, but success is a child of many families, family relations, friends, friends with cousins to nieces of the uncle that is related to the in-law of the sister of the brother of the successful person. Lol
Invariably everyone wants to associate with success and there is a myth that when you do become wealthy, you become too busy. You become encumbered by new friends, new people that you lose touch with the people that matter in your life.
What this myth does to you is that it taints being wealthy as a futile and lonely journey. The truth is that when you grow; you become surrounded with people of like minds, people of success, people you wish to get motivation from, to get favor from and many other reasons. And these people do the same to you.
We should instead have an approach to manage success, to inspire those around us to be the best they can. We can still relate to our past before all the wealth, and still be our jolly good self as we have always been.

7. You Have To Work Too Hard To Get Rich
Here is one touching on hard work. This myth dwells on a passive attitude and seeks to dampen any will to get financial success. The idea is that if it is too hard, that means it requires so much of you and so you could just stick with your present state.
Do you really need to work too hard work to get rich?
There is great advice that can lift you from your current financial state into financial freedom. Success stories lie everywhere of people who practice ‘pay yourself first’, people who budget and take responsibility for their finances. These groups of people invest their savings into passive income streams and make their money work for them.
Knowing that money is a willing worker is one of the greatest philosophical shifts that have revolutionized the modern financial generation. Practice evergreen financial tips and learn to learn and keep learning, and you could be on your way to success.
Wealth lies greatly on ideas and backed by attitude. But wealth being too hard, well that would have to be shooting yourself in the foot so it becomes a cumbersome task and invariably leading you to not take the necessary steps required!

8. The Richer You Are The Bigger Your Problems
Oh yes! The statement about the Rich having big problems from serious medical conditions, to financial upheavals to even family related issues.
But let me ask! Does that measure up as a reason to be mediocre with our abilities, with opportunities that stare us in the face each day?
The people you can classify as poor, don’t they have issues pertinent to their circumstances too.
Why not understand how to adapt to life circumstances as we grow through life. While there isn’t a manual for happiness, there are habits and principles that have been tried over the years. You don’t have to necessarily reinvent the wheel to live a happy and fulfilled life even when you are rich.

9. You Can’t Have Money And Be Spiritually Pure
To most religious leaders who try in all honesty to grow a spiritual society, they have ingrained a view that with money comes the craving for carnal things. Having or striving for things that bring money is more of pursuing worldly things.It brings the temptation of greed and pride which are sins.
Rather than teach what exactly money is and how it should be used, the myth connotes an evil towards it. But remember that the Holy bible preaches that God gives wealth and seeks to bestow on his people material blessings.

10. Money Brings Pride
Money and Hubris!
When people become successful, the world celebrates them and when they fail, well you know the story. People who are wealthy from excelling in one thing or the other have gained proficiency in key habits that we fail to master. We view them as demigods, mentors and worthy role models. We want to take pictures with them to show our friends of our accomplishment. Well to many, taking pictures with these ones is an accomplishment worthy to celebrate. But know that these men are just flesh and blood like we all are, but set apart by their character and ability.
Having money also means you can afford a whole lot, and with this there is a myth that pride arises. But in all certainty, if you should take an interstate journey by road for a worthy visit, we know that an accident can happen while driving. So should you attribute driving with accidents? Instead you take the necessary caution and also advice others to do the same.

Here is my take;
There is a saying that there is a sovereign wealth in the heavens and it is poured as ideas to those men who think, that they may provide for the wellbeing of humanity while being blessed upon the earth through prosperity.
Money is a means to an end and not the end itself. Money is an indispensable part of our world. From having for your survival and that of your family, to giving to others to even the offerings in our many places of worship all require money.
So rather than have a negative mindset towards it, we should strive more to teach about putting our abilities to work and using our proceeds to live well, help others and better humanity at large.

The idea is to get rid of any myth that you can question, and that hinders your mindset from any real progress in your finances.

Have the right mindset towards money to enable you live happy with peace of mind.

for more articles you can visit www.everydayfinance.com.ng

i find this www.everydayfinance.com.ng the best on personal finance. check it out if you can

Do you want to build your wealth overtime? Passive income is one of the ways to improving your finances. I have purposely left the online world out of this article, although it has a vast potential, I have chosen to explore the economic opportunities in the real world.
Passive income is the income that you earn which is not necessarily related to your daily involvement and activity for it; your money actually works for you with little or no effort besides your investment. The concept behind this is so that you can build your income streams to attain financial freedom.
These tips are sure fire ways to helping you generate a great income on the side:

1. THRIFT( CASH ADVANCE)BUSINESS
Have you ever heard of cooperatives?
This is another way of growing your savings as well as earning extra. This system carries a higher percentage of interest earnings. When people loan money to the cooperative, they use the money for lending and upon collection it bears an interest. It is the same as the banking process but offers a very easy system of collecting loans.
All you need to do is invest in an already established operating scheme after doing your required due diligence on the intended cooperative or you can as well collaborate with others to starting a new scheme.
In a society with a lot of low income earners and little or no knowledge on proper financial management techniques, there is always a need to borrow and a resultant market for lenders. This is an easy and quick business to setup with a huge market to service as lending can be to trusted friends, colleagues in the office as well as associates with a steady source of income.
On the risk side, it is advisable to not over expose a lot of investment due to return, for schemes with weak management and return policy.

2. RENTAL SERVICE BUSINESS
Have you heard of the concept Rental?
This is the same concept as thrift (a case where money is rented out and returned with interest). It can be referred to as semi passive as it requires a bit of monitoring.
You can rent out items that people need regularly like projectors and screens, catering utensils, chairs and canopies, cameras, earth moving equipment, books on personal development, event instruments (light and sounds), generators and event halls.
Their sustainability requires little investment for maintenance. You can set up a professional property manager who can cater for the management of the property for you and make your investment more passive although they usually charge about 10% of the monthly rent.
The best advice is to save to buy these items to rent out.

3. REFERRAL MARKETING
Why not take advantage of the contacts you have?
In referral marketing, you simply build on the skills, talents, experience and time of your associates. The rule of every small business is that it needs referral sources to gain sales. You can call them to see if they have a referral system or you negotiate one.
For example, if I am confronted with a job on programming, I can hold the client then call a contact that can deliver on programming and on referral ask for a percentage commission.
Also, if I can identify a problem with a firm understanding of the solution required, I can leverage on the skills of my contacts for a commission. The requirement for pay is based on the fact that you made the deal happen. This is easy money with really no work. You can make a list of your plumbers, electricians, accountants, engineers, landscapers you name it!
The popular saying goes ‘keep your friends close and your enemy’s closer’, well! On knowing this, ‘keep your friends close and your skilled friends closer’

4. NETWORK MARKETING BUSINESS
Have you heard of the brands: swiss gold or forever living products?
The concept of network marketing is for the selling of a company’s product directly via local consumer referrals. That is, there customers distribute their product.
This business has hand delivered to its fervent distributor’s cars and huge monthly income as some are solely dependent on it as a source of income.
The benefits of this business are that it can be done at flexible hours and it helps build relationships. Also, they engage their distributors with up to date education, training and personal development services to enable them make more sales.

5. SELL YOUR SKILL
What skill do you have that you can leverage on?
Upon developing your skills, you become an asset and thus self-employed. Skills range from design, leadership skills, catering skills, artistic talent such as singing and painting to teaching skill, you name it!
You can offer them as service on part time basis and get paid.

6. ANGEL INVESTOR
Have you heard of a silent partner?
There are a lot of startups today in need of capital for expansion. You can become a silent small time investor by not offering a loan per se, but rather taking an equity position in the business.
This way, you participate in the profit of the business while the owner handles the day to day running of the enterprise.
Well you can lend your wings to someone to fly and still profit?

7. ANNUITY
Do you know annuities existed as far back as ancient Rome?
This is simply giving your money to an insurance company and they pay you a particular amount every month till you die.
With a Deferred Annuity Plan (DAP) which is suited for self-employed persons or people who wish to augment their earnings from the company sponsored Retirement Savings Account (RSA), you will be purchasing life annuity starting after a deferred period that you have determined. Thus, you can save towards early retirement and ensure a regular source of income.

8. INVEST IN TREASURY BILLS AND BONDS
Have you heard of T-Bills and bonds?
Treasury bills are short term government debt security that has no interest but rather is issued at a discount on the redemption price. It is done to curb inflation and manage liquidity. There are 3 tenures available: 91 days, 182 days or 364 days.
In simple terms, for example if you buy a 182 day N 100,000 treasury bill at a discount rate of N 90, 000 the Federal government of Nigeria writes an IOU for N 100, 000 and agrees to pay back in 182 days. So you just made N10, 000 in profit at 10% interest rate. You make money when the bond is purchased back from you at full price and you don’t get monthly interest payments. You are simply lending to the government and it pays with interest.
Bonds and notes on the other hand are securities that have stated interest rates that are paid semiannually until maturity. There difference is that bonds are long term investments with terms of more than 10 years where as notes are issued in two-, three-, five- and ten-years terms.

9. INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS
By looking for not only the best performing funds but also funds that are consistent in their performer, mutual fund investors can reap their prospective gains.
A kind of investment in mutual funds is the Real Estate Investment Trust (REITS) which is a passive way in investing in real estate. It pays higher than bonds and is more liquid than owning a real estate as you can sell REIT anytime you like.
Also examining the FBN Fixed income fund is a medium volatility fund with low risk profile if you have a low risk appetite. You should examine how much each allocates its assets in the money market, fixed income instruments and in cash.

10. INVEST IN HIGH DIVIDEND STOCKS
I know you have heard this one very well. But I will use this in feeling up my white paper and still reiterate the obvious.
Purchase of high dividend stocks enables you to create a regular passive income at a higher annual rate as compared to what you get in bank investments. They have the potential for capital appreciation, so you can earn by dividends and capital gains. This allows you to receive money at regular intervals. Although the initial investments may be costly, the return of investment is largely significant with you doing virtually no work.
It is important to do your due diligence with the help of a financial consultant.
On a closing note, it is best to have the word FOCUS which can be tagged as Follow One Course Until Successful. Then you can branch out to another. Note, success here means until it attains your desired objective. This will enable you build your income in a strong and efficient way.
Share your thoughts and experiences and feel free to leave a comment.

visit www.everydayfinance.com.ng for more articles

Do you want to build your wealth overtime? Passive income is one of the ways to improving your finances. I have purposely left the online world out of this article, although it has a vast potential, I have chosen to explore the economic opportunities in the real world.
Passive income is the income that you earn which is not necessarily related to your daily involvement and activity for it; your money actually works for you with little or no effort besides your investment. The concept behind this is so that you can build your income streams to attain financial freedom.
These tips are sure fire ways to helping you generate a great income on the side:

1. THRIFT( CASH ADVANCE)BUSINESS
Have you ever heard of cooperatives?
This is another way of growing your savings as well as earning extra. This system carries a higher percentage of interest earnings. When people loan money to the cooperative, they use the money for lending and upon collection it bears an interest. It is the same as the banking process but offers a very easy system of collecting loans.
All you need to do is invest in an already established operating scheme after doing your required due diligence on the intended cooperative or you can as well collaborate with others to starting a new scheme.
In a society with a lot of low income earners and little or no knowledge on proper financial management techniques, there is always a need to borrow and a resultant market for lenders. This is an easy and quick business to setup with a huge market to service as lending can be to trusted friends, colleagues in the office as well as associates with a steady source of income.
On the risk side, it is advisable to not over expose a lot of investment due to return, for schemes with weak management and return policy.

2. RENTAL SERVICE BUSINESS
Have you heard of the concept Rental?
This is the same concept as thrift (a case where money is rented out and returned with interest). It can be referred to as semi passive as it requires a bit of monitoring.
You can rent out items that people need regularly like projectors and screens, catering utensils, chairs and canopies, cameras, earth moving equipment, books on personal development, event instruments (light and sounds), generators and event halls.
Their sustainability requires little investment for maintenance. You can set up a professional property manager who can cater for the management of the property for you and make your investment more passive although they usually charge about 10% of the monthly rent.
The best advice is to save to buy these items to rent out.

3. REFERRAL MARKETING
Why not take advantage of the contacts you have?
In referral marketing, you simply build on the skills, talents, experience and time of your associates. The rule of every small business is that it needs referral sources to gain sales. You can call them to see if they have a referral system or you negotiate one.
For example, if I am confronted with a job on programming, I can hold the client then call a contact that can deliver on programming and on referral ask for a percentage commission.
Also, if I can identify a problem with a firm understanding of the solution required, I can leverage on the skills of my contacts for a commission. The requirement for pay is based on the fact that you made the deal happen. This is easy money with really no work. You can make a list of your plumbers, electricians, accountants, engineers, landscapers you name it!
The popular saying goes ‘keep your friends close and your enemy’s closer’, well! On knowing this, ‘keep your friends close and your skilled friends closer’

4. NETWORK MARKETING BUSINESS
Have you heard of the brands: Trevor or forever living products?
The concept of network marketing is for the selling of a company’s product directly via local consumer referrals. That is, there customers distribute their product.
This business has hand delivered to its fervent distributor’s cars and huge monthly income as some are solely dependent on it as a source of income.
The benefits of this business are that it can be done at flexible hours and it helps build relationships. Also, they engage their distributors with up to date education, training and personal development services to enable them make more sales.

5. SELL YOUR SKILL
What skill do you have that you can leverage on?
Upon developing your skills, you become an asset and thus self-employed. Skills range from design, leadership skills, catering skills, artistic talent such as singing and painting to teaching skill, you name it!
You can offer them as service on part time basis and get paid.

6. ANGEL INVESTOR
Have you heard of a silent partner?
There are a lot of startups today in need of capital for expansion. You can become a silent small time investor by not offering a loan per se, but rather taking an equity position in the business.
This way, you participate in the profit of the business while the owner handles the day to day running of the enterprise.
Well you can lend your wings to someone to fly and still profit?

7. ANNUITY
Do you know annuities existed as far back as ancient Rome?
This is simply giving your money to an insurance company and they pay you a particular amount every month till you die.
With a Deferred Annuity Plan (DAP) which is suited for self-employed persons or people who wish to augment their earnings from the company sponsored Retirement Savings Account (RSA), you will be purchasing life annuity starting after a deferred period that you have determined. Thus, you can save towards early retirement and ensure a regular source of income.

8. INVEST IN TREASURY BILLS AND BONDS
Have you heard of T-Bills and bonds?
Treasury bills are short term government debt security that has no interest but rather is issued at a discount on the redemption price. It is done to curb inflation and manage liquidity. There are 3 tenures available: 91 days, 182 days or 364 days.
In simple terms, for example if you buy a 182 day N 100,000 treasury bill at a discount rate of N 90, 000 the Federal government of Nigeria writes an IOU for N 100, 000 and agrees to pay back in 182 days. So you just made N10, 000 in profit at 10% interest rate. You make money when the bond is purchased back from you at full price and you don’t get monthly interest payments. You are simply lending to the government and it pays with interest.
Bonds and notes on the other hand are securities that have stated interest rates that are paid semiannually until maturity. There difference is that bonds are long term investments with terms of more than 10 years where as notes are issued in two-, three-, five- and ten-years terms.

9. INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS
By looking for not only the best performing funds but also funds that are consistent in their performer, mutual fund investors can reap their prospective gains.
A kind of investment in mutual funds is the Real Estate Investment Trust (REITS) which is a passive way in investing in real estate. It pays higher than bonds and is more liquid than owning a real estate as you can sell REIT anytime you like.
Also examining the FBN Fixed income fund is a medium volatility fund with low risk profile if you have a low risk appetite. You should examine how much each allocates its assets in the money market, fixed income instruments and in cash.

10. INVEST IN HIGH DIVIDEND STOCKS
I know you have heard this one very well. But I will use this in feeling up my white paper and still reiterate the obvious.
Purchase of high dividend stocks enables you to create a regular passive income at a higher annual rate as compared to what you get in bank investments. They have the potential for capital appreciation, so you can earn by dividends and capital gains. This allows you to receive money at regular intervals. Although the initial investments may be costly, the return of investment is largely significant with you doing virtually no work.
It is important to do your due diligence with the help of a financial consultant.
On a closing note, it is best to have the word FOCUS which can be tagged as Follow One Course Until Successful. Then you can branch out to another. Note, success here means until it attains your desired objective. This will enable you build your income in a strong and efficient way.
Share your thoughts and experiences and feel free to leave a comment.

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Nigeria’s economic outlook seems bleak with the fortunes of the most populated black nation tipping to the wand of a dwindling global oil price. One only wonders how a nation that began a radical economic journey through agriculture didn’t add and expand to a world power, but chose to down tool to the potentials of an oil boom. Rallying back to the agricultural sector as a source of GDP, employment and foreign exchange earnings is likened to a prodigal journey home. A nation needs to build on its viable revenue and employment sources and segue into new industries of enormous opportunities.
One striking aspect of the economic viable and realistic agricultural produce is the coconut. With more than 86 countries worldwide producing this crop and a total of about 64.3 billion nuts per annum as of 2013, the demand is on the increase. Little is known about a wonder crop such as this that interest experts in the value chain of agricultural exploration for its use not only in a variety of industry, but also as every part of the coconut is virtually useful for economic value. This crop can be grown in sandy soils with immense cravings for sunlight, salinity, regular rainfall and high humidity, making the tropics and sub tropics a suitable abode for its cultivation.
When properly nurtured a palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year, using about 15 – 20 years to attain its peak production. It is pertinent to state the abundant ability of this crop:
The seed is processed to produce oil for frying, cooking and making margarine. The liquid is processed to a sport drink known as coconut water and can be fermented to coconut vinegar which is a supplement for growth in plant tissue culture/micro propagation.
The fleshy white part of the seed, known as the coconut meat can be used fresh or dried for a sumptuous meal of macaroons. It can also be desiccated to produce coconut milk which is added to curries and other dishes such as savory coconut rice.
Coconut milk can be placed to set, allowing coconut cream to rise to the top. Virgin coconut oil is produced from the milk by a chemical process of controlled heating and removal of oil faction. Interestingly, the leftover from the oil and milk production is used as livestock feed known as copra cake.
Adepts in the field of cosmetology often include coconut oils into soaps and cosmetic products such as hair oils, massage oils and moisturizers. Fermenting the flower cluster from the incised sap produces a type of palm wine known as coconut vodka which is further reduced to produce palm sugar or jaggery.
Palm cabbage, which is a rear delicacy of salad, is the edible bud of an adult coconut.
Coir, which is the fiber from the husk, is utilized in making ropes, rugs, mats, brushes, sacks, caulking for boats and stuffing for fiber mattresses. The fronds (leaves) are used for brooms, cooking skewers, woven into mats or burnt to ash to yield lime. Husk and shells are a source of charcoal and can be used for fuel. Shells are also used for buttons.
The trunks are used for furniture and also for construction due to its straightness, salt resistance and firmness. The roots are used as a dye.
Assessing the three largest producers of coconuts in the world, a lesson is learnt on its contribution to GDP and employment ratios to these countries:
Also in Indonesia with 18.3 million metric tonnes making it the largest producer in the world, the plantations for coconut is on 3.8 million hectares with 3.7 million hectares belonging to small farmers nationwide. The crop contributes to the nation’s 15% GDP of agriculture and food products which is the backbone of its economy. It is also a pillar in employment generation as it the country battles poverty alleviation.
In the Philippines, coconut farming occupies about 3.32 million hectares of land employing about 20 million people from direct or indirect labor (a figure which is about one third of the nation’s population). It also contributes to the nation a 1.5% of GNP and playing a major stake in the 12% GDP contribution by the agriculture sector from a total annual export of about 15.353 million metric tonnes. The continuous trend in the production of coconut speaks of the stability of the industry.
In India, annual export reached a figure of 11.9 million metric tonnes. The crop accounts for export earnings of $50 million with the processing and other related activities in crop cultivation creating employment for over 2 million people and creating a means of livelihood for about 10 million people. Little wonder why it has so huge an influence on the rural economy of many states that are growing coconut palms extensively.
Nigeria currently can only boast of 265,000 metric tonnes of coconut production in 18th position of the world coconut production country index, a country that is bestowed with arable rain forest zone fertile for a crop that is non-indigenous to it. Thus, the nation can compete favorably in an increasing market.
The federal government pursuing major cash crops for local and international markets can tap into the richness of such a viable industry. This crop allows any crop combination such as intercropping (annuals or seasonal crops such as pineapple, banana, groundnut and sweet potato) or mix cropping (perennial’s such as cocoa, pepper, cashew and fruit trees) to grow in the interspaces, a fact to the uniqueness of its ecofriendly characteristics and its ability to permit coexistence with multispecies plants.
Setting up stratagems to achieve a rich industry from the cultivation of this crop should be pursued by setting up developmental funds; such funds can be set up for easy access to soft loan facilities in helping a radical journey to cultivation and processing for high quality yield. Loan facilities can be under the Bank of agriculture (BOA) or relevant financial institutions in development such as the Bank of Industries (BOI), such credit facilities will ensure the meeting of local consumption and international export demand and will also allow a mechanized progressiveness in boosting the quality and ease in its processing.
An expedite setting up of a coconut development board under the ministry of agriculture which will see to the researching of new technologies for the development of new value products to yield results in the diversification of byproducts. The research programmes organized through existing research institutions of state, private or federal universities can fast track technological advancements and new uses in the post-harvest processing stage. A Coconut Research Centre can be setup by government or privately managed to ensure the safe guard of crops from pest and disease control to produce a variety of healthy and resilient crops for cultivation.
More importantly, there needs to be effective policies for product certification, quality control and tariff reduction for fertilizer distribution to ensure a farmer friendly sector.
Furthermore, business looms in the joint venture partnership for the planting, harvesting and processing of the crop. Thus, it can gulp millions of individuals in direct and indirect labour, from the lowest cadre of farmers and artisans to highly administrative.
The coconut is a special crop with its economic, nutrition, ornamental and medicinal importance. It offers an array of investment opportunities, income and employment generation for a country facing a dire need in the reduction of unemployment and a means for a shift in the overly dependency of its economy on oil. It goes further to provide raw materials for many industries making it an important asset to the national economic development. The establishment of coconut plantations is key to Nigeria desire to improving on its GDP and income of its citizens. Nigeria is faced with a call to action especially now that the Asian palms are rapidly aging, posing a crisis to production.

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