Mutual funds explained in simple, everyday language for Nigerians.
After launching mutual funds, people kept asking how mutual funds work? If you’re still lost, it’s not as complex as you might have thought. Let’s get started with a simple illustration.
The pizza house (The stock market/money market)
You are at the pizza house, and you would really like to have some pizza but the attendant slams your dreams down as she says smugly, “The smallest box is NGN4,000. Cash or card?” You don’t have 4,000 to spend on pizza at the moment as your wallet won’t cooperate with your cravings.
Now what?
Seeing everyone else leave with their boxes of pizza makes you even more hungry. Without thinking too much of it, you send a message to your friends. “If you each send me NGN400, we can all have a slice of pizza.” Soon, you’re back at the counter waiting for your box of pizza.
Why is this beautiful?
With all your friends contributing, your craving and your wallet would finally get to cooperate and you and your friends can each have some pizza for the amount you have available. Although you don’t have the full amount needed to get a box, by pooling the amounts you and your friends have you still get a slice.
How does this tie back to mutual funds?
Mutual funds work just like pizza slices do. No jokes! Think of it as crowdfunding to get a box of pizza. That makes it possible for everyone to have a slice without paying the full amount.
Mutual funds pool together small amounts from multiple investors and then invest the piled up funds in professionally managed and high yielding assets.
And this is better because?
The funds provide you with diversification, enabling you to invest in different profitable companies like Nestle Nigeria and Dangote Cement. This reduces the risk of you losing out totally when markets start acting funny. Also, it helps to earn you high returns due to the diversified assets being invested in.
Finally, mutual funds also provide you with professional fund managers that monitor your funds and the assets you have invested in, taking away the stress of you keeping track of your funds.
What’s the topping on this pizza slice?
We have now made it possible for you to invest in mutual funds with as low as NGN100 — even lower than you could get a slice of pizza for. With our newly introduced retail mutual funds, the everyday Nigerian now has access to invest in mutual funds with as little as NGN100 from the comfort of their phones.
Are there any sides with this slice?
We’ve taken out the factors that used to be challenging and turned them to advantages for you. The everyday Nigerian now has access to mutual funds which was a challenge before as the popular minimum fee was placed between NGN5,000 to NGN10,000. Another advantage of investing in Nigerian mutual funds on Cowrywise is the transparency that comes with it as opposed to the limited transparency previously experienced.
We have also included a risk assessment to help you pick the best fit funds based on your investment profile. Call it the spice test, with spice representing “risk”. The test shows us how much of the spice you can handle.
Who’s getting a slice?
The pizza box is open and everyone’s invited to get a slice — or more. All you need to do is update or download the all-new Cowrywise app here to start investing.
How do I get the slice?
If you are a new user you’ll need to signup and verify your email. As an old user, all you need do is log into your updated app and do the following:
- On your dashboard, scroll down to “Invest In Mutual Funds”. You should tap that
- We’ll provide you with a short tutorial, then you can get started with a short test that will help us suggest best-fit funds for you.
- Based on your risk appetite, you’ll get a list of “Recommended Funds”. You can check out other funds if you wish but we advise that you go with funds recommended for your risk appetite (or hunger level, since we are speaking about pizzas)
Now that we are done with the basics, can we get on to some deeper questions you probably have on how mutual funds work? Keep tabs with us, we have some more explainers coming your way.
Simple and educative. Thank you Ope.
Thank you. I’d like for you to explain how the “sell unit” option on Cowrywise works
Hello Ega, when you invest in a mutual fund you buy slices of the fund (units). When you sell units, it means you are taking your money out of the fund.
It is the option you use to withdraw from a mutual fund.
Great innovation from Ope;Cowrywise,just pray it works out well.
Nice educative piece.
Hi, hum how long does it take to get my money back when I sell my units
Is this related to buying shares in firms while cowrywise is the stockbroker?
No please.
Thank you Ọpẹ. This is really simple and enlightening. The pizza analogy made me understand the intricacies of mutual funds.
A very good investment idea.
Like a previous question, how long does it take to get my money back after selling my unit?
Thanks Ope
Everyday I go to my dash board to see how my funds are growing. happy and greatfull to this platform and the decision I took. More investment!!!
Hi Adetoun and Racheal, it takes about one working day to get your funds back.
What a nice write up.
Please keep the flag flying.
You guy are doing a great job.
Thanks
If by chance ah can’t sell the unit expected yet ensure dat my deposit is automatically withdrawn every day what the risk involve there?
I am sold to this idea already. Well done.
Thank you
That’s very explain Tory and educating as well but being a newbie in investment market,
1. Is mutual fund as flexible as T-bill, if the rates on a particular investment increase in a country’s stock market will ROI on the investment mutually increase across board..
2. What’s the duration on mutual fund, it’s it annually or your company’s has a fixed duration before one’s unit can be recoverd, need more clarification on that .
Hello, when a share unit is sold, is the investor still available to receiving dividends?
That depends on the fund type.
Good write up. I know little more than the words. My questions are 1.what’s the tenure of the investment?
2. What’s the interest rate?
3. Can I terminate the investment anytime?
Hello ope, thank you for the explanation.
Does this mean that money can not be lost on mutual funds due to market change?
For money market mutual funds, yes.
Thank you Ope
Pls explain the ‘sell unit’ in Cowrywise and how it works. Thanks.
If you want to withdraw from your mutual fund, selling the units helps you do that.
Thanks ope
My question is what is duration time can I terminate my investment , what is the percent interest rate on investment and what is tenure of investment..
The duration is a personal choice you have to make. I play for the long term though.
Thanks Ope dear!
Good write up. My questions are: if I invest 100k, what’s my interest rate? Secondly, if there is an interest rate, how often does it flow into what I have invested? And lastly, how long is the tenure?
Hi there, this depends on the mutual fund you choose. Have you checked them out.
Thank you Ope for the briefing on Mutual funds.
You’re welcome
Thank you Ope, i’ve been to trying to understand this for a long while now i have it like a box of pizza
Sir,
If invest in money market fund,what will be my expected interest?
This is really interesting,I always had a thing for mutual funding but I couldn’t get any better explanation than this,I once had an account with cowrywise but I lost the phone and eventually forgot the password,guess i would have to create one for this
If cowrywise are inactive on NSE, will it affect my investment with them and why are some stockbrokers that were active now inactive?
Very good explanation. Have been saving with cowrywise for some time it has been going I think I will now switch to the investment colum. Thank guys
Many of the questions on my mind have been answered.
Thanks, Ope for the simple explanation.
I’m definitely going to start one today!