Good day to you all.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine. He asked about where and how he could invest his money. The first thing I asked was what amount of money he wanted to invest. Then he said it is worth 200,000 naira ($280 ) at the current dollar rate of naira.

That's not bad at all. But where do you want to invest your money?

He told me he wanted an online platform where he can invest and earn. I told him to try investing his money in an offline business instead of trying to take the risk of investing online on some sort of platform or even people that are not ready to help him but to scam him.

I made it clear to him that I am not discouraging him not to invest online. Yeah, people are making it in that space, but the question here is, Do you have the knowledge on the projects to invest in? Have you studied the possible rate of returns from investing online? Are you taking online investments as a passive source of income or an active source of income?

This will make me discuss a little about investment, when, and where to invest. Types of investments, How to become a successful investor, and problems and challenges to be faced.

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What is an investment?

Investment could be said to be the process of acquiring an Asset or item with the mindset of acquiring profit or having those assets add value over time. Most times investment is not always about the present but it has a lot to do with the future. So if you are investing and probably hoping to get a rerun from it immediately then I can say you are just into mere speculations.

Being an investor, you will always have to be concerned with your time, efforts, and money. So when you are investing, you invest by taking a look at your timing, knowing when to sell and when not to sell. Selling at a time of maximal profit.

Types of investments

We have a lot of investments and there are a lot of opportunities to maximize our income and make them appreciate over time. Some of the means by which people invest are

Commodity

We can term commodities as a source of investment because they are inputs into society. It is one thing that boosts economic growth. So companies thereby produce more of these commodities for the society tending to meet the demand from the consumers. Investors get in when demand is higher and the supply is lower thereby giving an open ground to take profit and appreciate their assets over time.

Real estate

This type of investment is common and a lot of investors go into it so it's more promising. In this aspect, assets could be in the form of lands, buildings of offices, warehouses, and residential homes. Investors see a two-way benefit from this type of investment. One of which they get the reward from land appreciation over time and also they earn a return based on operating sites.

Stock

Stock investment is also common among investors. This is a type of investment whereby the investors own a part of a private or public company. Owning stock would give the investor access to dividends generated from the company’s net profit. The more the company grows successfully, the more investors keep owning shares and these shares could be exchanged for capital gain when they get appreciated

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a coin on the blockchain. It's a form of digital currency used for transactions. Investors get these tokens and hold them in their wallets and wait for them to appreciate. Nowadays cryptocurrencies are widely used as an investment opportunity. There are different networks in which you can invest your money and wait for a profitable return in the future.

In conclusion

When trying to invest your funds in any company or probably trying to get assets. As an investor, you have to be wary of some things not to lose it all and at the end of it get a loss as the return from investing.
Making personal research is one way to help an investor become more successful, investors also have to understand liquidity transactions and have a personal spending plan before investing.