Thanks
Then those are very tiny margins

Hi all,

Probably not as exciting as some of the respondents above but will gladly share my experience.

Personally, it started with an understanding of my core weakness and leveraging on my strengths as well as those of my wife. My acquisitions stem from 100% employment, where I have been for close to 10 years now. My first salary was 14K and I have been fortunate to exceed that over the years significantly through hard work and a string of promotions. I'm not one of those people who have "maintained the same lifestyle" and by consequence, I suppose I could have been much further if I did. However, I believe that everything happens for a reason and is part of God's plan for our lives. I've been fortunate in many ways and I only hope I can live up to God's expectation of me in helping others.

My core weakness has always been saving money; I have never been able to mend that hole. I live within my means, but that usually results in the money running out mid-month - a curse typically associated with the middle class. Having made this early diagnosis, I joined the company SACCO and had the cash deducted from source. This was good because it meant that I just needed to focus on managing my expenses to support an increase in my monthly contributions upwards (never downwards). I re-invested my annual dividends and delayed borrowing deliberately to allow for the money to accumulate. From there I began to take an interest in the NSE and real estate. I did (and still do) a lot of reading on both subjects as well as learnt how to acquire credible knowledge from others. On the NSE, I learnt not to trust people with investing my money; as a result I don't do mutual funds, unit trusts etc because (i) the companies make a lot more money than they will ever give you and (ii) the same information they use is freely available for all and it doesn't take a CFA to see a good investment. However, I still consulted widely and as a result have been investing consistently (monthly) in 3 counters with a long-term view (20-years). On real estate, I adopted the philosophy of acquiring the largest piece of property I could afford at the cheapest price. My logic has been that Kenya's boundaries are not growing, so land is finite and with each passing generation (read population growth), property is being subdivided. So why should I buy an 1/8th when I can buy 5 or 10 acres for the same price? The answer to that depends on your objectives because some people "flip" land to increase their net worth. I cannot fault them, because they inadvertently help my land value appreciate substantially.

I discovered that most Kenyans aren't willing to be patient, yet wealth is a factor of numbers and time. Sometimes you get lucky and it helps accelerate your goal, other times you gnash and you have to re-adjust QUICKLY so as not to lose opportunities that could pass you in your moment of despair.

With stocks, I got a break with the Kengen IPO - as did many other Kenyans. I bought 80K worth and sold off to net >200K. I then bought Stanbic Uganda shares at IPO for 2.80/= with the entire amount, which I hold to this day. I also bought Bralirwa at IPO for 19/=. The 3 counters I have been investing in every month with a 20-year horizon are NIC, Safaricom & more recently Kengen. On real estate, I borrowed against my SACCO savings to buy my first piece of land, which was 5-acres in Kiserian for a grand total of 1.2M about 5 years ago. With my wife, we have an apartment in Westlands that we acquired "off-plan" at 7M on mortgage and 12 acres in Konza. This is in addition to other investments puts our estimated current net worth at 65M.

I do not claim any exceptional knowledge and I'm certainly nowhere near my goal but I thank God for the wisdom in acquiring what I have, I thank God for my wife and what we share and pray for continued wisdom to make the right choices.

My last appeal to all is in helping others. It's inexplicable but the more generous you are, the more opportunity favours you. It was said in church once that you cannot out-give God and He always repays His dues. Of course the caveat here is that you do not give in the anticipation of a return; you give with your whole heart and God rewards your motive.

I hope this benefits someone. Thanks for reading.

thanks keanute.. I am following more or less, the same path

Very inspiring!

@Keanute. Very real and inspiring. Many of us can identify with this. Be blessed