12/10/2023
Osita Chidoka
The Investor Mindset: My Personal Experience
Today, I want to speak about the investor mindset and the lessons I learned in the journey of financial freedom. Investing is not for the rich, nor Is it about the size of your income. It is a mindset to plant so that you can reap.
During my national youth service in Abuja, I lived with my Aunt and her husband in their 2 bedroom flat in Area 1. They were pleasant and accommodating. I slept in the sitting room while their wards slept in one of the two bedrooms. I was lucky because housing in Abuja was a big issue.
After service and winning the NYSC Award, I was automatically employed at the FCT. My family sent me some money to rent a one-bedroom boys' quarter as was the case in Abuja then. I remained in my Aunt's house. I used the money to open my first stockbroking account at CSL Securities in 1997. I was 26 years old then. Some of the receipts of my deposits are attached. I bought bank IPO shares and was big on GT Bank on the secondary market (big by my standard).
I stayed with my Aunt until I became Personal Assistant to Chief Okete, Minister of State, Ministry of Works and Housing. In 1998 I moved to the Ministry's guest house. During that period, we travelled a lot and I received regular per diem which I did not spend as we normally enjoyed free accommodation from host state governments. As I returned to Abuja from each trip, my first port of call was CSL to deposit whatever cash I had and buy more stocks. Albeit without much knowledge.
By 1999, the whole world was booming with the dot com narrative. People became millionaires overnight literally in months on top of wild valuations. I sold most of my Nigerian stocks and two of the shops I had in the Wuse market in my childish dream of becoming a dollar millionaire through dot com investing. There is no shortcut to success.
I opened a foreign stock broking account through CSL and started dreaming of the doubling of my money every month if not we
