Business
Personal Finance – ABC of Investing – FBNQuest Asset Management
Whether your dreams include buying a home, starting a business, or traveling the world, sound financial management is the key to turning these dreams into reality. Personal finance is the comprehensive practice of managing your money in a way that aligns with your financial aspirations and goals. This multifaceted discipline includes a variety of activities such as budgeting, saving, investing, and planning for retirement. Each of these components plays a crucial role in ensuring your financial stability and growth.
Budgeting in personal finance is the process of creating a plan to manage your income, expenses, and savings. It involves deciding in advance how you will allocate your money to cover various needs and goals. Here are some key points about budgeting, Income and Expenses, Spending Control, Savings. Creating a budget can give you more control over your finances and help you achieve both short-term and long-term financial stability. Do you have any specific goals or areas you’d like to focus on in your budget?
Savings refers to the portion of your income that you set aside and do not spend immediately. This money is typically reserved for future use, such as emergencies, large purchases, or long-term goals like buying a house or retirement. cash idling in a savings account becomes wasteful because it loses purchasing power to inflation over time. Instead, cash not tied up in an emergency should be placed in something that will help it maintain its value or grow, such as investments.
Investing is the act of allocating money into financial assets or ventures with the expectation of generating a profit or income over time. Investing can be a powerful tool for growing your wealth, but it’s important to understand the risks and do thorough research or consult with a financial advisor.
Planning for retirement in personal finance involves preparing financially for the period in your life when you will no longer be working full-time. The goal is to ensure you have enough money saved and invested to maintain your desired lifestyle after you stop working. It’s never too early to start planning and seeking advice from a financial advisor can be very helpful.
Keep in mind that managing personal finances is an ongoing journey, not a single destination. The financial landscape is always evolving, and it’s crucial to stay informed and adaptable. Continuously educating yourself about new financial strategies and adapting to changing circumstances will help you navigate this journey successfully. By doing so, you can ensure that your financial decisions are well-informed and aligned with your long-term goals.
Here are few steps to aid your journey into sound personal finance management.
- Access your Financial Health
Financial health refers to the overall condition of your financial situation, encompassing all actions that impact your monetary affairs. It’s important to recognize that everyone’s circumstances are unique, so it’s essential to tailor your assessment to your personal needs and goals. Financial health includes various aspects, such as:
- Cash Balance: A growing cash balance indicates positive financial health.
- Expenses and Debt: Monitor your expenses and debt, such as credit cards, mortgages, and loans. Aim for minimal fluctuations in expenses.
- Savings and Net Worth: Assess your net worth—whether it’s positive or negative. Consider your savings, investments, and assets available for current or future use.
- Investment Returns: Strong returns on investments contribute to financial health. Diversify your investments for stability.
To improve your financial health:
Assess your net worth Pay down your debts
Create a budget you can stick to Build an emergency fund
- Understanding Investment basics
An investment involves using capital in the present to increase an asset’s value over time. It’s the act of allocating resources (usually money) with the expectation of generating income, profit, or gains. When making an investment decision, an individual must consider some key factors; investment objective, risk and return, liquidity need and investment duration.
- Investment Objective
An investment objective is a set of financial goals that guide an investor’s decisions regarding their investment. The objective of the investment defines the goal of an investment. It could be Increasing the value of your investment over time (Growth), generating regular income from the investment (Income), Protecting the initial investment from loss or a combination of more than one. Understanding your investment objective helps in creating a tailored investment strategy that aligns with your personal finance goal.
- Risk and Returns
In personal finance, risk refers to the potential for losing some or all your investment. When considering risk, it’s important to understand both your willingness and ability to take risks. These two concepts help determine your overall risk tolerance.
Willingness to Take Risk
This is your personal comfort level with taking risks. It reflects your attitude and emotional response to potential losses and gains. Some people are naturally more risk-averse, preferring safer investments, while others are more risk-tolerant and comfortable with the possibility of higher losses for the chance of higher returns.
To be continued in Series 2
Business
Verve Expands Into UEMOA: Connecting Millions to Seamless Digital Payments Across West Africa
Verve, Africa’s largest domestic payments card and token brand, has taken a significant step towards expanding its Pan-African presence by officially launching card acceptance across countries in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) region, including Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, and Togo, among others. This marks a significant milestone in Verve’s journey to building a truly interconnected African payment network.
This expansion is powered by a strategic partnership with GIM-UEMOA, the regional payment switch facilitating interoperability and financial inclusion across the UEMOA region, connecting banks and financial institutions in Francophone Africa. GIM-UEMOA provides the ideal platform to scale Verve’s reach in the region, offering a seamless connection between financial institutions, businesses, and consumers. At its core, this partnership is about expanding access, unlocking opportunity, and driving shared progress.
Through this collaboration, Verve is enabling millions of new users and businesses to access seamless, secure, and inclusive payment experiences, while reinforcing its commitment to innovation that meets the continent’s evolving financial needs.For consumers, this means the ability to use Verve cards across borders, connect with a wider network of merchants and services, and participate more fully in Africa’s growing digital economy. For businesses and financial institutions, it opens the door to new growth opportunities by providing access to a broader, digitally enabled customer base.This isn’t Verve’s first bold step. Over the years, the brand has formed strong alliances with global platforms such as Google, AliExpress, Temu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Spotify, among others. These partnerships allow Verve cardholders to easily access digital content, lifestyle perks, and everyday functionality, positioning Verve as not just a payment card, but a trusted lifestyle companion.In keeping with its commitment to consumer engagement, Verve continues to celebrate and reward its users through initiatives like the Verve GoodLife Promo, a campaign that rewards cardholders with exciting perks for everyday transactions. With the expansion into UEMOA, users across these new markets, including tourists, visiting consumers and entrepreneurs, can now look forward to the same rewarding experience that Verve cardholders enjoy in other parts of Africa.As Verve’s presence grows across the continent, so does its promise to deliver more value, convenience, and memorable experiences to users in every market it enters. This expansion into the UEMOA region brings Verve closer to its vision of connecting Africa through secure and inclusive digital payment solutions. It’s not just about where Verve cards can go, it’s about what they can empower people to do.Whether you’re a bank looking to broaden your digital offerings, a business aiming to reach more customers, or a consumer ready to experience smarter payments, Verve is here to empower your next step. Join the revolution!
Business
Interswitch Group Bolsters Talent Ecosystem in Africa, Hosts Fourth Edition of Career Fair.
Interswitch Group, one of Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce companies, has reinforced its commitment to harnessing a robust talent pool by empowering the Nigerian workforce to pursue personal and professional success. The company affirmed this as it announced the Interswitch Career Fair 4.0 set to hold at the Landmark Event Centre, in Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday, May 10, 2025. The highly anticipated Career Fair event, tagged “The Talent Paradox: Enabling the Talent Ecosystem in Africa” aims to spotlight the various resources and insights available to skilled, career-driven individuals and young professionals to strategically align them for the workplace of today and the future. Going into the fourth edition, the event will host experts from Interswitch Group including Franklin Ali, Group Chief Human Resources Officer and Oremeyi Akah, Chief Customer Officer, alongside other industry experts including Lanre Basamta, Co-Founder, Optimus AI Labs; Isioma Utomi, CEO, Catalyst Experience Solutions; Adora Ikwuemesi, CEO, Kendor Consulting; Olushola Olaleye, Business Consultant and Gloria Babarinde who will draw from their prolific experiences and expertise to unravel the theme in a panel session. The event will also feature other engaging segments such as keynote and thought leadership sessions bordering trends and masterclasses on upskilling and thriving in the workplace amongst other pertinent discussions. Attendees can also look forward to the job fair where potential candidates can have face-to-face interactions with the expansive pool of hiring experts on ground. The Fair also presents an opportunity to network with like-minded individuals as well as a resourceful platform for the active exchange of knowledge and ideas. Mitchell Elegbe, Founder and Group Managing Director at Interswitch, underscored the essence of the Interswitch Career Fair 4.0 event, highlighting that the programme is a pathway to recognize and equip emerging talents and raise transformative leaders that consistently innovate to solve Nigeria’s biggest challenges and impact the African labour market overall. According to Elegbe, “The Interswitch Career Fair reflects our deep-rooted commitment to nurturing African talent. This platform was conceptualized to cast the spotlight on individuals ready to lead, manage effectively, and create meaningful impact wherever they go. It’s more than just an event—it’s a launchpad for career advancement, connecting high-potential professionals with the right opportunities.”Also commenting on the programme, Franklin Ali, Group Chief Human Resource Officer, Interswitch, said that “This Career Fair goes beyond simply matching people with jobs—it’s designed to equip ambitious talent with the tools and skills needed to excel in the ever-evolving world of work. As a company that values the power of collaboration, we’ve joined forces with respected partners like ALX, Philips Consulting, Udemy, GLSS and Pluralsight to enrich the experience and broaden what’s possible for every attendee.Interswitch Group, which recently bagged the 2024 ‘Happiest Workplaces around the Globe’ award, remains unwavering in its mission to Inspire Africa to greatness. Interested participants are encouraged to follow Interswitch’s social media handles for more information about the upcoming Career Fair.
n a bold move, President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese goods from 104% to 125%, while temporarily suspending tariffs on numerous other countries.
Trump revealed his decision on Wednesday, stating that the tariff freeze would apply to all nations previously affected by the duties.
The announcement follows his shock move earlier this month, when he introduced a 10% baseline tariff on all countries, with rates reaching as high as 50% for the “worst offenders.”
The tariff on Chinese imports, which started at 10% in March, has escalated progressively through 20%, 54%, 104%, and now to 125%—all in retaliation against China’s countermeasures.
In response, Beijing has implemented an 84% tariff on US goods, set to take effect on April 10.
Additionally, China has issued travel warnings for its citizens planning to visit the United States.
Trump criticized China’s actions as a “lack of respect” and emphasized that the US could no longer tolerate such behavior.
“At some point, hopefully soon, China will realize that the days of exploiting the U.S.A. and other countries are over,” he said in a statement.
The White House also mentioned that more than 75 countries have reached out to negotiate a resolution to the ongoing tariff dispute.
Trump confirmed that the suspension for these countries, as well as China’s new tariff hike, would go into effect immediately.
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