By Babajide Komolafe

You need to be in charge of your investments and avoid the mistake of the late George Foreman, former World HeavyWeight Boxing Champion.

So far, we have outlined some steps you need to take regularly to be in charge of your money at all times. The following additional steps are equally necessary and vital.

You should have direct contact or dealing with related organisations, parties, especially regulators. For example, if you invested money to buy shares of a company, you should have contact with the registrar of the company. The registrar keeps and maintains official records of shareholders of a company. You should also have direct contact with CSCS, which keeps record of ownership of all securities traded on the stock exchange. Thus, if you give money to a stockbroker to buy shares of company X, you will need to contact the registrar of company X and CSCS to confirm that you now own shares of company X.

If you limit your contact and information to what the stockbroker tells you, you will be vulnerable to fraud. This applies to other types of investment. That is why before you invest in anything, take time to find out organisations or government agencies that regulate that service or product and how you can contact or relate with them. Many have lost millions due to failure to do this.

Be regularly acquainted with new policies or changes in policy that can affect your investment. All investment activities are governed by one government policy or the other. There are direct policies, referred to as regulation, and general government policies that influence the economy. Generally, all policies, at one time or the other, and in one way or another, affect performance of economic activities and return on investment.

In order not to lose your money in any investment, you must know when there is a change in policy that may affect your investment negatively or positively and take necessary action.

An example is policy on money supply, also referred to as monetary policy, which is determined by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. This policy determines the level of interest rates in the country, which in turn determines cost of borrowing for businesses and individuals. The policy also determines returns on investment in money market mutual funds, treasury bills, commercial papers and performance of the stock market.

One of the factors behind the 61 per cent growth of the stock market as at May 25, 2026, is the change in policy announced by the Pension Commission of Nigeria, PenCom, which allows PFAs to invest more of the pension funds under their management in stocks.