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Diasporan Investments  In Nigeria Losing Value As The Naira Continues To Nosedive · DidiLawren

• 0:09
  Hello, welcome back to another episode of Bachelor Orencia, how
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  are you all doing? Hope you're doing great.
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  Now, for today's episode, I want to talk about investment as it
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  first generation immigrants. You're investing in Nigeria or
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  you're investing in the abroad, whichever one you choose.
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  Now I was having a conversation with a couple of friends of
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  mine. One of them wanted to kind of
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  invest and they were thinking of, you know, which is better,
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  investing in Nigeria or investing in Diaspora.
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  And for me, I argue that, you know, I would prefer them to at
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  least that's their first investment.
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  They should invest where they are and then subsequently when
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  they get more money, they can invest in Nigeria.
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  The other person on the other hand said no, it is better to
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  invest in Africa or invest in Nigeria because your investment
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  is safer, it's safer in Nigeria. This person had over £15,000 to
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  invest and they were thinking of where that money is going to go.
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  Because one of the reasons was that they wanted to buy a house
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  in the UK. But the the problem was that the
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  interest rate is high, there's inflation, mortgages are high,
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  cost of living is high and so they they have that, you know,
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  deposit saved. But the problem was that they
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  were thinking, OK, if they buy a house right now, they don't know
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  how the market is going to be. They don't know if houses, the
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  house price is going to crash or even.
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  There's just a whole lot of negativity going on right now in
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  the UK based on house prices and the housing market because of
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  the cost of living, because of the high interest rate and a
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  whole lot of things going on. So they were trying to figure
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  out which routes to take either to send that money back home,
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  invest in something and then later save another money to
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  invest in a property. For me, I was like, listen,
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  you've saved this money. This is what you wanted to use
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  it for. Yes, the housing market is
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  unpredictable right now, but it's never going to, you're
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  never going to wake up one day and be like especially for
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  investment you, you never going to have that 100% assurance that
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  or you're putting your money into is going to like even OK,
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  you're going back to Nigeria to go and invest in Nigeria.
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  I give an example of this, this guy, he came online who shared
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  that in 2020 he bought a land of 5 million naira and in 2025
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  million was equivalent to 14,300, let's say approximately
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  $15,000. And then he bought this land.
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  Today the lamp has appreciated and it's about 50 million naira
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  now. But he was saying that during
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  that conversation. Now you know 2020 he bought,
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  he's actually sent 14,300 but today that money converting that
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  fifty, that same 50 million naira that he has appreciated 10
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  million it is 11,000 something dollars which means that he has
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  lost over $3000. Now is that an investment to
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  somebody in Nigeria? Yes because you know you you've
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  you've you have over 10 million naira on top of the five million
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  invested. But somebody in abroad you have
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  lost money. I also remember in 2020 I bought
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  a house. I started the process before the
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  pandemic, but during that pandemic I had to like halt
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  everything, especially during from March to, I think, June, I
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  had to stop everything until we could go out.
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  So I bought then. I've already made my deposit,
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  you know, for the plots that I wanted.
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  Now I went back after the pandemic.
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  Then things were nobody knew what was going on.
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  Every there was lockdown. There was when I was telling
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  some friends that I was going to buy a house.
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  People are looking at me like, you're crazy.
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  You know, you can wake up tomorrow and lose your job, and
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  then you put all your money in this house.
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  Let's say you lose your job right now.
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  If you cannot pay your mortgage, the the bank is going to collect
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  the house. And then you've lost everything.
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  Like, there were so many negativities, which is
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  understandable because there was, the whole world was on
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  lockdown, basically. But because I started the
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  process already before the pandemic, I just said, you know,
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  I have this deposit already. Like, what am I going to do with
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  you? Send it back to Nigeria?
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  No, it's better for me to just buy, you know, the house.
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  Whatever comes, whatever comes out of it, I will take it.
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  You would not believe how much that house has appreciated
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  because from 10 to 21 when, you know, after lockdown, people
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  were now working from homes, people that were in the cities
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  near where they could commute, you know, renting because they
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  could easily commute to work. And then right now 2021 people
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  were working from home. So most of those people are
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  buying houses, going to different places to buy house or
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  house. House prices went up like crazy.
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  Now I cannot even tell you how, how much equity I have on that
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  house today. I'm sitting down smiling about
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  it. But in 2020, it was a crazy
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  market because it was uncertain, nobody knew what was going on.
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  But I still went ahead to do that.
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  I was giving the example to this friend, you know, giving them
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  example of somebody who actually that same 2020 during that
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  panic, they took that money to Nigeria and they have instead of
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  appreciating, they have lost 3500, let's say.
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  If that person has gone ahead to invest in wherever they are like
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  a deposit only house or like whatever you you wanted to use
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  that money for. I don't know what they wanted to
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  use this for, but let's say that person went ahead and did that.
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  Today they would have been telling a different story
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  because even without money is in the bank and there are no
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  profits, it will still be 14,300 and not $11,000.
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  So that was my own argument. The other person talking about
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  investing in Nigeria, it was all about, you know, benefit.
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  Listen, benefit can be tangible and it can be intangible.
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  And their point is very valid because as a first generation
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  immigrant, they feel that you need to do something back home.
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  You need to kind of invest back home.
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  You need to show, you need to show people that you have
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  arrived. You know you need to, you know
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  how. How can they know when you don't
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  put up a structure in Nigeria? How would they know?
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  So it is when you do that that people will be like, OK, this
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  person, yes, you travelled abroad now because right now
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  people don't even listen to me. They feel like ohh you you
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  because you you've not done anything that I could see.
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  So regardless of your what they you know they look at you like
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  ohh if I had used that money to be the structure and then take a
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  Range Rover on the finance basis you you when you arrive people
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  would as in people who respect you the way you arrive and what
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  they could see. So I understand that aspect of
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  it and it is very valid. But my point is what I will tell
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  everybody is if you are in diaspora and you're investing,
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  you see investment. For me, I think investment is
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  something that you want to get a return from.
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  If I want to build house in the village for my parents just to
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  feel like, OK, yes, in our compound there is this edifice
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  or there's this mansion that is a different kind of benefit
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  because that is intangible. That is something that you want
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  people to see and appreciate your family or appreciate the
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  fact that yes you have made money that is a very good
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  benefit. But what happens most time is
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  that we, I came in, we all came into this country.
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  When we're in our, you know, L 20s today, we're in our parties
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  and we, I know, let me not say, I'll talk about, you know,
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  everybody because I will say for myself that I know how hard I
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  worked in my 20s. Like, there's no way I would do
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  that kind of job for any amount of money in my 30s.
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  Right now, in my 20s, we're walking through jobs we like.
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  You don't even sleep because you're walking, trying to make
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  money, trying to do this, trying to do that.
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  The first money you make trying to invest that money so that it
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  could increase for you. It could like today, right now
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  if I want to build, if I want to like have that maybe benefit of
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  saying that ohh, I have a structure in Nigeria.
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  I could easily take out equity from my house and do that and
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  still not that will not affect me in any way you understand.
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  But somebody that took that initial capital and invested in
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  Nigeria, I wouldn't say invested, just build something
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  in Nigeria or what a land and today that is even less than
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  what you sense. That would be very frustrating.
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  That is not an investment. That is something that you want
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  to show you want to, which is OK for me is OK.
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  What's happening in that spirit is that once people get that
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  emission, initial capital, let's say you've walked a lot, you've
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  earned that much money. If you don't invest it wisely,
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  it is very difficult for you because as time goes on your
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  ageing, there are certain things you did in your 20s that you
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  know you will not be able to do in your 30s.
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  And most of these people are in their 40s, in their 50s.
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  So there is a very slim chance that you could save that much
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  capital to reinvest wherever you are.
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  Is this man in Canada who said Revolution Plus property.
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  He said he bought lands about how many acres of land, and
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  according to them or according to the man, they are refusing to
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  give him the land. And according to Revolution Plus
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  he made some payments but he still have outstanding payments
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  that he couldn't make. Now the man shared the video
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  where he was homeless. You can imagine how cold Canada
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  is right now. And this man is on the streets.
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  He's sleeping on the streets. He's like just a mattress How
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  like I was just like wow wow. And this man sent According to
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  him he sent 40 million to purchase land.
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  This is Lando. This is not even house you know
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  this is a land that OK you can sell.
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  Let's say he sent 40 million to to to purchase that land.
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  Maybe at that point he sent over 80,000 Canadian dollars.
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  Today 40 million naira to 40 to Canadian dollars is less than
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  even that 40 million is probably 40 probably it's forty $40,000
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  you understand. So you have lost half because he
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  said he sent this thing in 2017 twenty $17.00 to naira was still
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  about 200 and something. So even if he's saying OK sell
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  that land give me back my money you're you're going to be
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  getting half of what you have invested how is that profitable?
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  And he's on the street he's sleeping on the streets.
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  Let's say in that 2017 he bought a house.
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  Even if he has lost his job he will still highest you know I
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  hear people say ohh what if I lose my job and then I can't pay
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  my mortgage. It's just a ridiculous argument
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  because let's say you lose your job and you can't pay your
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  mortgage. You can negotiate with the bank,
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  pay just interest, or even if you you can't even pay your
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  interest. You can get somebody rent out
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  the house then be homeless for that point.
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  Or if it's a two-bedroom, you can stay in one bedroom, rent
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  out one bedroom. There is no you can find a way
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  to get that money and pay whatever.
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  Most times when people, they take people houses, when you
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  hear somebody in diaspora or they took my house, they took my
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  house is because that person did not follow the rights, you know,
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  process. So today this man right now is
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  in Canada, he's homeless, sleeping outside.
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  This is somebody that sent over 80,000 Canadian dollars to
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  Nigeria in 2017 and right now that money is half of what he
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  sent in 20 in 2017. Is that an investment?
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  You know, people should really start looking into things.
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  I knew somebody who took a loan in the bank to send to Nigeria
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  about £5000 because According to him the dollar was going to come
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  back to 2:50 so he would have made another 5000 lbs on top of
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  the whole thing. He today pounds is over one one
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  1500 so he has lost 1000 lbs like you are like you know and
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  this person said, listen I can't say well because he's a very
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  good friend of mine so I'm not even going to go into details
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  with that one. The reality is, if you want to
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  depending on the kind of benefit you want to get, you should do
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  what you want to do. But if you're thinking about
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  investment, if you're thinking about getting a return on your
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  investment, I would suggest your first investment should be where
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  you are. Not even, you know, investment
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  property, residential property gets like, I know a friend who
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  had money and they wanted to get into residential, you know, gets
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  buy a house and then rent it out.
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  And they're living in rented apartments.
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  I was like, why would you want to do that?
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  Let's say you're living in a rented apartment and you don't
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  rent that one out. What is going to happen?
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  You're paying rent here and you're there.
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  Then you pay mortgage share. Why don't you sort out where
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  you're living first? Because as far as I'm concerned,
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  if you can save, you are walking, you're paying your
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  rent, you can save that amount of money.
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  There is nothing stopping you from when you're now paying your
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  mortgage to save the same amount of money.
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  There is nothing stopping you. You just need to.
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  Whatever you were doing then, you can still do the same thing,
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  just that your comfort level is now different and that you now
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  have an investment. You now have an appreciating
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  asset. You now have regardless of how
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  the market, how crazy the market is, is still better to have
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  something that at least increases in value and then you
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  can now do whatever you want to do based on OK, the benefits,
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  intangible benefits or not monetary benefits or benefit
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  that people will see and know that you are now do or you are.
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  You have now arrived anyway. I don't know what this friend is
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  going to do. We kind of bombarded him with
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  information. What I would say is anybody that
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  is trying to make an investment, especially first generation
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  immigrants in your 20s, in your 30s, I would say, listen, invest
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  where you are like your home where I didn't know that you're
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  still paying more, you're still paying rents.
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  Why not shift that to mortgage as most times you're even paying
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  lesser than what you would pay when you're renting.
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  Sort that one out and then wherever whatever extra you're
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  getting, you can now build whatever you want to build
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  where. But that's investment is there.
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  That is the cushion for you. People say, oh that is where I'm
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  going to retire or more. Let me tell you the truth is if
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  let's say you buy a house here and then you're retiring in the
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  next 20 years, the next 20 years you have, you have the equity,
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  you pay down your mortgage. You say that you've paid it off
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  or you at least you've paid most of it.
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  You can take that money and then go and invest, you know, and
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  then buy a retirement home wherever.
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  But if you say you're building a retirement home today and then
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  you're investing your you're retiring in the next 30-40
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  years, that house, Can you imagine a house in the next 40
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  which we know that Nigeria maintenance is an issue so that
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  households have fallen apart because you're not there, maybe
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  people you've rented it out who did not take care of it and then
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  you can't even stay there. In the next 30-40 years, you
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  will not be able to retire in that home.
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  But let's say you bought a house here.
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  Then when it's time for retirement, you sell that house,
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  use the money and then go and get a retirement home.
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  It is way better, way cheaper, way safer, and you get exactly
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  what you need at that point in your life.
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  Anyway, with these three points of mine, I hope I convinced that
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  my friend, and I hope I'm convincing you that first
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  investment should be your primary residence.
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  Sort that out with their mortgage with you regardless of
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  what, because I think the really you still paying rent.
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  You're still paying in rent. Thank you very much for watching
• 17:54
  today's episode. Please like, like, like and
• 17:55
  share. Thank you very much.
• 17:57
  Bye, bye.