Essentials of Financial Security and Intelligence #NIUK

Space Summary

The Twitter Space Essentials of Financial Security and Intelligence #NIUK hosted by NIUKCommunity. The Nigerians in UK community gathered to delve into essential topics surrounding financial security and intelligence. Experts shared valuable insights on the importance of financial literacy, risk management, and investment diversification. Participants learned about leveraging technology for financial empowerment, the significance of emergency funds, and the benefits of continuous learning in financial education. The space emphasized the role of professional advice in financial planning and provided practical strategies for navigating the dynamic financial landscape. By promoting a culture of financial resilience and innovation, attendees gained the tools to enhance their financial well-being and make informed decisions for a secure future.

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Questions

Q: How can financial literacy impact personal financial security?
A: Financial literacy enables individuals to make informed decisions, manage risks, and plan for the future.

Q: What are effective ways to diversify one's income streams?
A: Investing in various assets, exploring passive income sources, and starting a side hustle can diversify income streams.

Q: Why is it essential to have an emergency fund?
A: An emergency fund provides a safety net during unexpected financial setbacks, reducing the need for loans or high-interest debt.

Q: How does technology contribute to enhancing financial intelligence?
A: Technology offers tools for budgeting, tracking expenses, monitoring investments, and accessing financial education resources, improving overall financial decision-making.

Q: What role does professional financial advice play in financial planning?
A: Consulting with financial experts can help tailor financial strategies to specific goals, assess risks, and optimize investment portfolios.

Q: How can individuals stay updated on the latest financial trends and tools?
A: Engaging in continuous learning through courses, seminars, and online resources can help individuals adapt to evolving financial landscapes and leverage new tools.

Q: Why is it crucial to manage financial risks effectively?
A: Managing risks can safeguard assets, minimize potential losses, and ensure financial stability over the long term.

Q: What are the benefits of incorporating technology in personal finance management?
A: Technology streamlines financial processes, offers real-time insights into financial health, and automates tasks for increased efficiency.

Q: How can one strike a balance between saving for the future and enjoying the present?
A: Creating a budget that allocates funds for both savings and discretionary spending can help maintain a balance between present enjoyment and future financial security.

Q: Why is continuous learning important in navigating the financial landscape?
A: Continuous learning allows individuals to adapt to changes, seize opportunities, and make informed decisions in a dynamic financial environment.

Highlights

Time: 00:15:21
The Power of Financial Education Experts discuss the transformative impact of financial literacy on personal empowerment and security.

Time: 00:27:45
Risk Management Strategies for Financial Success Exploring effective ways to identify, assess, and mitigate financial risks for sustainable wealth building.

Time: 00:35:12
Tech Tools for Financial Empowerment Discovering innovative technologies that empower individuals to take control of their financial well-being.

Time: 00:45:59
Diversifying Income for Financial Resilience Insights on building multiple income streams to withstand economic fluctuations and enhance financial stability.

Time: 00:55:33
Professional Financial Guidance for Long-term Goals The importance of seeking expert advice for tailored financial planning and achieving desired financial milestones.

Time: 01:05:17
Continuous Learning in Financial Management Emphasizing the role of ongoing education and skill development in adapting to changing financial landscapes.

Time: 01:15:42
Balancing Savings and Enjoyment Strategies to strike a harmonious balance between saving for the future and enjoying present financial resources.

Time: 01:25:09
Technology's Influence on Personal Finance Exploring how tech solutions revolutionize financial management, offering convenience and efficiency.

Time: 01:35:28
Navigating Financial Risks Wisely Tips on effectively identifying, managing, and minimizing potential risks in personal finance decisions.

Time: 01:45:51
Adapting to Financial Trends and Tools The necessity of staying informed and adapting to the latest financial trends and tools for optimal financial decision-making.

Key Takeaways

• Importance of financial literacy and education for long-term financial security.
• Strategies to protect assets and reduce financial risks effectively.
• Building a strong financial foundation through smart investment practices.
• The role of technology in enhancing financial intelligence and decision-making.
• Creating a diverse income portfolio for increased financial stability.
• Understanding the significance of emergency funds and savings for financial resilience.
• Tips on navigating the complex financial landscape and avoiding common pitfalls.
• Benefits of seeking professional advice and guidance for personalized financial planning.
• Exploring innovative financial tools and resources to streamline financial management.
• Promoting a culture of continuous learning and adaptation in financial matters.

Behind the Mic

Opening Remarks

I don't care. Need. Good evening. Good evening everybody. Happy Sunday. Happy Sunday. Hope everybody's great. Thank you for joining us on this space, this hot, sunny Sunday evening. I hope you guys are enjoying yourself. The weather has been hot today so hope you guys we relax in some way. Maybe cold weather, maybe a cold drink or something. So we're going to be having a space this evening talking about essentials of financial security and intelligent self. Very, very important. This topic is something I've been planning for a while and I'm grateful that we have one of our wonderful sisters in our community. Sister Areit. Intelligence. Boss. Boss who's, you know, putting space together to make sure, you know, we have something like this eve, this Sunday evening itself as well. Very, very important. We have these conversations to enlighten ourselves as Nigerians in the UK community at totems as well. Also glad we have our guest speaker on here, Mister Festos Akin Reshake. Glad to have him on board to come and educate us and enlighten us on this species evening. So please share the space on your tL. Let's get more people on board. Let's talk about this conversation regarding everything of course. Insurance, income protection, life changing decisions that we need to get right in this part of the world itself.

Introduction of Guest Speaker

So I'm just going to the mic to before I introduce our guest speaker, I'm going to give the mic to Sister Aritz to just introduce herself to the members of the area. Sister Aritzk, happy Sunday. How are you today, President? Good evening. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am very well and Sunday is going on great. Yes, fantastic. Thank you very much Taris. Thank you, thank you also we have our guest speaker on here this evening. You know Mister Festos Akish himself. Glad to have him the space. Good evening sir. Today. How about you sir? Today sir. Good evening everyone. Good evening Mister President. And thank you very much for inviting me to this wonderful program. You know, it's a great pleasure. Fantastic. Fantastic. Thank you sir. So let's get the space up and running because of time we don't know hold you. So my first question to you would be of course you know, not many people know you in your community.

Guest Speaker's Introduction

So is it possible to just maybe just for five minutes, just can you please introduce yourself to us? Tell us about your experience, your company, what your company does and of course the body that regulates your activity in UK. Just enlighten us more. No more. Exactly about yourself. The mic is yourself. Oh, thank you very much. My name is Festos Ariche and I've been working in financial services in the UK for over almost two decades now, you know, in this country. And I'm the managing principal and the executive director of eminent Financial. Eminent Financial Limited is appointed representative of open world Partnership. And of course, in the last 20 years of my career, financial services, I've seen a lot, you know, and of course, you know, I've been able to help a lot of people to secure their future financially, putting the right foundation in place to protect their family as well.

Overview of Financial Services

In eminent financial, as a firm, as part of open work, you know, we are preeminent in giving the service with supreme quality to our client across the country, I mean, United Kingdom. And our primary aim is to provide the most comprehensive, the most affordable and of course, a sessional service to both individuals, you know, who are members of this platform, for example, and families. We also work with the private clients and small to medium sized firms, you know, providing financial advice, particularly in area of business protection. And we are driven by the pursuit of excellence in our firm. And our desire is to make sure that we help everybody to get to that point of being financially secured. Our business attitude reflects customer centrism and we strongly believe that the customers are the coins and the kings of our business and our custom, of course, powered by trust, desire, truthfulness and modernization. So we have formidable national coverage of advisors all over the country. You know, we have advisors in Scotland, in Wales, in England, and of course, you know, Northern Ireland is a work in progress. And of course that means we can provide advice to all these individuals that live in any part of this country, in United Kingdom.

Regulatory Framework

And in terms of regulation, of course, as a financial advisory firm in the UK and part of being open work, you know, one of the largest network in the UK, we are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, not just the firm, but individual advisors, you know, that work in the firm. So that will be just a summary about myself and of course, and the firm that I work for in Eminem financial. The major three pillar that we work with, you know, in helping people to secure financial security is through protection, which is the bedrock of financial planning. And of course, helping people to secure their home, to secure finance, to buy their property, that is mortgages, you know, both commercial mortgages, you know, for buy to let properties or for residential mortgages, for individual mortgages. And of course, we are wealth advisory firm. That means we help people to accumulate wealth in a very tax efficient way.

Wealth Management

And not only that, we also help them to de accumulate the wealth at the right time in a very tax efficient way and that is what wealth management is all about. So that's just a brief about myself and of course about the company that I work for. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Mister Festus, I'm very happy to have you and I can see you have a really great depth of experience. The second question, although you have answered it a bit, but I wanted to answer it in details now. What does it mean to be financially intelligent? Over to you, sir. Thank you very much for that question. Intelligence is just a kind of a, to put it, is having the understanding and of course the knowledge of how to manage your finances effectively.

Financial Intelligence Explained

So intelligence from the word wisdom, knowledge, understanding, application of knowledge to make sure that of course you get the best out of the financial services by being in charge and in control of your own finances. And in that process that means you are able to make informed decisions about anything that has to do with your money. And because money is your blood, money is your time, money is your oxygen that you breathe in, you know, money is everything that of course you can use as a measure, you know, of what you've achieved so far. And, you know, financial intelligence involves things like understanding the basic principle of budgeting and how do you invest wisely and how do you maximize the various options or financial options available in the economy and how do you take part, how do you get your own share in this economy? To say this clearly, United Kingdom is a well blessed economy, is there's so much money in this country and it is the financial intelligence that will help you to get your share out of the money in this country in a legitimate way.

The Importance of Financial Literacy

So financial intelligence, of course, complements the ability to achieve financial security because without the knowledge and the information to achieve financial security will be very tough for individual. And one of the fastest way of getting this is to speak to professionals who are trained, you know, to help and to guide in this particular journey of gathering information and being well informed about the choices that are available under financial services. Thank you. Fantastic. Thank you sir. Thank you. Thank you for your submission. Listen, the true balaqis that you learn every day in life is just as simple. You know, some of these things, you probably, even if you read them online, you don't have a clarity of exactly what you're reading, but it's actually nice to hear from us mouth, you know, make life a lot more easier that way.

Key Essentials for Financial Security

So thank you for answering some of our questions so far. The next question I'll put up to you, sir, will be, of course, we have to talk about the financial, you know, the wealth security. So what are some of the key essentials? Because, I mean, maybe you could just take us like, maybe like a one year old, two years old child who's learning about future. So exactly what some of the key essentials to when you want to ensure financial and wealth security. And of course, a lot of people ask the question, okay, fine. Even when you accommodate some of these finances and wealth security, how can you protect your wealth? I think that's the key factor a lot of people worried about. How can we protect your wealth, Sir Mark is yourself.

Protection Strategies

Thank you very much. That's a very broad question, and I would like us to break it down into pieces. You know, you only have, you need a protection for what you have already, isn't it? So your wealth and your belongings, I mean, the things that you have that belongs to you, that make up your wealth, how do you gather them? How do you build them? Because, you know, initially you talk about how do, what are the essentials of ensuring that we are able to attain financial security or wealth security. And I will start from the handguard. That is actually a point or a destination in our life and where we have, of course, been able to maintain our lifestyle, to live a very good life, you know, without working. That means at that particular point in time, your passive income, of course, you know, is enough to maintain your lifestyle.

Achieving Passive Income

I will come back to this later, shortly then, talking about how do you protect your wealth? You know, before I say anything, let me just quickly, you know, kind of make a disclaimer here. I'm a financial advisor, but on this program, I'm not offering financial advice. I'm only offering financial information. And if you want to make any decision, please speak to a professional, speak to a financial advisor who can help you and of course, who can guide you. A lot of people have lost the little wealth they've gathered because the fundamental principle of wealth management is diversification. And, you know, it's just a simple say of don't put your egg in one basket. Putting your egg in one basket basically means that if there's any issue with that basket, that means you lose everything. So one of the best way of protecting your wealth is, of course, is to practice what we call diversification of wealth.

Diversification of Wealth Strategies

That is to say, to spread your wealth across the various financial and asset classes that is available, you know, globally, not just in the country that you live in. And at the same time, of course, protecting your wealth starts from this common topic that we always run away from which is a protection. Protection, we believe in financial services, is the bedrock of financial planning, is the bedrock of wealth management. You might have all the world, all the money in this world. But if you don't have adequate protection, if there's any little risk that affects your, protection on your wealth, rather, you might actually lose everything. So another way of protecting your wealth is actually to have adequate insurance or protection in place. That basically means you are transferring such liabilities to a company who is willing, you know, to pay for the loss or the losses that might happen, you know, to your wealth.

Insurance as Protection

And talking about our wealth, our fundamental wealth, is actually you and your ability to actually earn income. If you're unable to work, for example. Now, how do you maintain your lifestyle? You know, and as a matter of fact, now taking us back to the initial discussion or question around how do you ensure financial security or wealth security? And I want to define wealth security or financial security as a point in our life that we don't have to work anymore. That passive income, of course, is enough to kind of take care of ourselves. And the major four sources of passive income is, of course, return on your investment, which we're talking about at the moment, profit from the business, if you run a business, and interest on your savings. So these are the three major passive income that you have.

Critical Aspects of Wealth Security

And we say, we use the word passive in the sense that you don't have to be there yourself, because at the moment that we are working, if you're in the working age, you are selling your time and you are selling your knowledge. That basically means, you know, we are in our ending period of our life, in our ending age. And the way you spend or you manage, the resources that you gather from this or any age will determine the kind of life you will have towards our end of life or retirement. So financial security or wealth security can also be kind of explained as at the point in court when you retire. Because when you retire, that means you are not working anymore. That means you are not selling your time anymore.

The Transition to Retirement

You are not selling your knowledge anymore. For example, if you are a medical doctor, the reason why you get paid every month or every week or whenever you get paid is because you have the knowledge of medicine. And at the same time, you have the time to apply the knowledge of medicine to help people in the hospital. So at the end of the day, you get paid. But we all know this fact. We are not going to work forever. So the foundation of protecting your wealth starts from the point of protecting you and your ability to be able to continuously end that income in case you're unable to work. And in life there are three things, or more than three things of course that can stop us, you know, from being able to kind of end such income.

Challenges to Income Security

For example, accident, sickness and the worst is actually death. So all these three things can really stop you of course, from achieving your dream or your goal in terms of financial security or wealth. So the fact now is that when you are working, there's a percentage of your income that you need to put aside to help you to get to that journey of financial security. And there's no way we can talk about financial security by not even talking about the principle of financial intelligence. The principle of financial intelligence is just like the rule of thumb of money, that how should we spend our money? You see, when you have guidelines or when you have processes in place, of course anything is achievable under the principle of financial intelligence.

Guidelines for Financial Management

I know it's a contemporary topic of giving 10% of your income to charity. And of course 10% of income is to help people that are in need in practical way. And at the same time, the 10% of your income you need to pay yourself. I'm also in Nigeria myself and I know ourselves and I know my people. We work too hard, but are we really looking after ourselves? You know, we need to kind of enjoy what we work for. You need to enjoy your own sweat by working so hard. So that means 10% of your income is to help you to live a good life, to kind of give yourself a bit of a treat and the next 10% be minimum, of course, you say.

Investing for Financial Growth

But if you can increase this percentage to about 40%, that will really help you to quickly get to that point of being financially secure. Because your speed of journey to the point of being financially secured is the percentage of your income that you invest or you save. But no matter how bad things are, you should never save or invest less than 10% of your income in order for you to get to that point of being financially secured. And the big elephant in the room is basically about how we spend our money on lifestyle, that is paying rent, mortgage, school fees, our bills. We complain about all this all the time, but this principle says that we should not spend more than 65% of our income on lifestyle.

Spending and Lifestyle Management

Because if you do that, of course that means you are going to affect the other percentage and invariably that will affect your goal of getting to that point of being financially secured on daily basis. Our objective is to look for a way to reduce what we spend on our lifestyle. But is to say, for example now how do you cut down your utility bill? By monitoring the way, you know, you spend your money and that is through the power of budgeting. But of course if you are living beyond your means, for example, now people that live in very expensive city, that they could still kind of start their life in living the share accommodation, they of course they want to kind of live on their own.

Managing Living Expenses

And that basically means more than 70% of their income goes into paying rent. A and how do you survive in such a situation where you spend a chunky size of your income to parent or to maintain your lifestyle? And of course the last part of our income, which is 5%, if you've been following my conversation and on this subject, is to be spent to protect yourself. You see the 5% is like the bodyguard or the gateman that will prevent poverty, you know, creeping into your life by making sure that if there's any potential loss in all these percentage right, at least if you're unable to hand that income anymore, that 5% is to guarantee you and to take you back to where you were meant to be.

Protection for Financial Stability

For example, now if you're unable to walk due to sickness or accident, you could get a regular income that pays a salary. And I have a lot of clients, you know, of course that are benefiting from this particular products under insurance that pays a regular income even though they've been unable to work for over ten years. I mean ten years, some of them are over five years, they've been unable to work because of illness. But if this protection was not put in place, of course we know what could have happened to them financially. And at the same time, you know, in terms of security feature people that depends on us is an element, in fact major element in the aspect of financial planning.

The Interconnection of Financial Planning

Because financial planning is a combination of the wisdom of how to spend your money and having a go in place of where you want to get to in terms of being financially secured. So coming back to the explanation on the principle of financial security, the more you invest, the more you put into place for the future, the quicker you get to that point of being financially secured. I wouldn't know how much time we have because I would like to come with some example later, you know, if that means Mister president. Thank you so very much Mister Festos, for answering that question from Mister president, that was quite deep.

Importance of Financial Protection

And yes, you've really given a detailed answer on that. I'm going to. From that question, you talked about protection, you talked about insurance, you talked about managing your resources and then very key was protecting you and your ability to be able to earn income. And that's very key because I know some people that have been sick, cannot pay mortgage and then the bank has had to repossess the house and then they are back to square one because of ill health and all that. So that will lead me to the next question, which is Niuk, which is nigerian. In the UK community it's a very large community and we have young people who have goals, who have aspirations and who have desires to be financially secure.

Protection Policies Available

Now can you tell us the various protection policies that is available to us and their benefits? Over to you Mister Festos. Thank you. Thank you very much. The subject of protection or insurance, you know, is a very interesting one. I will put it this way. You know, insurance is a common sense that is not common. And I always say this, that insurance is like a parachute, right? If you don't have it when you needed it is too late because you cannot get it anymore. And in terms of adversity, you know, maybe if somebody should suffer accident or they are unwell or they are seriously ill or even the worst upon death, someone is going to pay.

Understanding Insurance Needs

The question is this, do you want to be the one to pay or your family to pay or you want insurance company to pay? I think the common sense that I was talking about is about allowing insurance companies to pay, to take care of those liabilities, you know, for you and on behalf of your family. So there are various products that can be used of course in financial planning and advice to achieve the various objectives of attaining financial security through protection. The first one, which is probably most common product or very popular product is life insurance that people call life cover.

Life Insurance Explained

Actually the product has to do with a protecting individual life and your ability to be human. They fall under the category of life insurance. But I will use the life cover, you know, to explain this particular type of program I'm talking about. Life cover pays a lump sum of money or it could be a regular income of money to your family if the policyholder of course should die or terminally ill. You know, when you are terminally it basically means that a medical practitioner has confirmed that the person has less than twelve months to live. So that means if you have a life cover will pay a lump sum of money, secure the future of your family.

Importance of Life Coverage

And having a life insurance does not really mean that of course you are actually, you know, digging your own grave or death is coming your way. It's not about that. It's about saying this, that, look, I'm a father, I'm a mother, my children depends on me financially. My wife or my husband or other widow depends on you financially. And you are speaking the language of love to them. That even though I'm with you today, I love you so much, if by tomorrow I should leave you, I will still love you. And a way to prove your love to the people you love is, of course, having a life cover that will give them a cushion, you know, a reasonable size of money that will replace the money they will have spent or they will have given, you know, to the individual to maintain their lifestyle.

The Realism of Life Insurance

For example, if a father should pass on, the mortgage will still be paid. Of course, the bills will still be paid. So how do you expect your children to have the education completed if anything should happen to you as an individual? So that is one of the common sense. That is not common, because if you genuinely love your children, you love your spouse, either your wife or your husband, of course you want to arrange a life cover to pay them in case of death. Because all of us, every single individual so far, you are living, one day we are going to die.

Finding Financial Peace

But we don't just know when it's going to happen, since we don't have answer about when it's going to happen. It is the common sense that says that you must have something like that, you know, to secure the future of your family. And the leftover aspect, number one, is to secure the future of the family. The other aspect is about any debt that you acquired while you are on life. Your debt should not live longer than you. And how do you do that? It's also true life cover. So that means your mortgage is probably one of your biggest debts, or credit card and loans and things like that.

Addressing Debts through Life Insurance

Of course, you don't want that to kind of live longer than you. Making sure that your debts are paid with a life benefit in case of debt. That is one aspect of insurance product that we can, of course, optimize to secure the future of our family and to get to that point of being financially secured. The second aspect is called the critical inex cover, or of course, some company call it serious illness cover. So basically, the word serious, the word critically critical basically means that you are suffering from a medical condition that, of course, is very critical, is very severe.

Critical Illness Coverage

So things like cancer, and cancer is a demon, you know, and I'm not really comfortable talking about it because I see this every day happening. And according to Cancer Research UK, of course, with the research they did, sometimes they go that one out of two people born after 1960 is bound to have one form of cancer during their lifetime. So it's scary. I see this all the time. So things like stroke, heart attack, coma, third degree burns, you know, Jacob, a lot of serious condition, even losing of your sight or inability to work or disability. So the number of critical winners covered, you know, vary from one provider to another.

The Implication of Severe Illness

But of course, the point is that if any of these things should happen, it means it's going to affect your life, you know, in a very negative way. That is to say, affect your finances. Because if somebody is critically ill, even though you can work, but mentally you are not there because of the emotional pain of the diagnosis. So criticalness is to help you to readjust your life. And not only that, to take care of your family by paying your bills, you know, I mean your debt in particular. At the same time, to be able to kind of fund a change in your lifestyle. Should you be diagnosed of this condition? I'm not saying the condition has to lead to death.

Adjustments Beyond Diagnosis

It is at the point of diagnosis, and I've had clients in the past that they were diagnosed of this serious condition. They survived it. So it's like they just got free money. But during the period of diagnosis, that basically means, of course there will be need for a change. There will be need to pay some bills or they may not able to do a lot of stuff like going to work or even lose their source of income. That is number two level of protection that every individual, of course, should qualify to have. Either you are married or single, we all need critical net cover.

Universal Need for Critical Cover

So far you are over the age, of course 18, insurable age in this country.

Protecting Your Income

The third aspect, you know, is protecting your income, which means protecting you and your ability to earn income. If I was talking about our most important assets in our lives, some people say it's their car or their house. The truth is that the most important asset that we have is our ability to earn income. And I always say things to professional in particular. You know, you spend number of years in the university to acquire a qualification. You've spent so many years in training to practice your professional job, and something that eats you during that process, and you're unable to practice that profession that you've spent about ten or 15 years of your life to acquire, you know, that qualification, it doesn't make sense if there's no compensation for you. You know, I had a. I have a client, of course, that suffers stroke at a very early age, at age of 36. This particular client, you know, of course, probably one of the most elder person I can think of, but things do happen. But this particular person doesn't have to worry about paying their bills because the income protection pays regular income to them every month.

Impact on Family Finances

If that should happen to you, what impact will it have on your family finances? I know that the lenders, they don't really care, but if you are, you know, unwell or anything, they want their mortgage, they want the loan to be paid back. So that means having income protection basically means you have secured the fish of your family and your lifestyle by having a regular income that will be paid to you every month. And this can be paid to you. So you're choosing retirement age, for example, now if you are 30 years old, you have income protection and you plan to retire your seventies. That means in the next 40 years you could be paid irregular income every month to replace the income that you've lost. That is number three, you know, number four, of course, you know, accidental injury protection or accident protection product pays a lump sum in case of accidental injury.

Hospital Coverage and Benefits

And these products in combination have a lot of other aspects that are optional or additional benefits. For example, now you've been admitted in the hospital, you could get paid up to 1000 days. You know, we want to provide that. I need to say any medical keep in the hospital, either at a go or continuously, you know, you are covered up to 1000 days throughout the time of the pandemic, could be paid up to 250,000 pounds in case you have been admitted in the hospital. So there are lot of products in these three major categories. And these three major categories can be applied, you know, to protect auto cushion a potential loss due to a lot of risk that we face every day are not only limited to individuals, you know.

Small Business Protection

For example, now if you have a small business or you are a self employed person or you are a contractor, or you have a small business, all these products can also be applied to help you to mitigate against potential risk to your business. We've seen people that their business closed down just because something happened to them. But insurance can take care of this potential loss, not just for your family and also for your business. And of course, like I said, if you are, if you have any commitment like a mortgage or loan, your loan needs to be insured so that if anything should happen to you, the money will be paid back to you. So that will be the four category. I'll be talking about.

The Importance of Personal Insurance

The others, like a redundancy cover if you lose your job, you know, because we cannot offer advice here. Of course, advice is personal. By the time you speak to a financial advisor, they'll be able to guide you on the best options of products that meet your needs. Because insurance, not that you are buying tomato or you are buying clothes in the market, you need to understand what you need, because a lot of people just think that, well, if I have 50,000 life insurance is enough for me, or I must have 2 million life insurance. No, let the financial advisor guide you about the level of code that is appropriate to you and to your family. And of course, based on what you can afford, they will go into the market and choose the best provider, of course I mean the most appropriate provider to meet your need in that particular area.

The Current State of Insurance

And Rome is not beaten a day. And I always say this, instead of you waiting for that perfect time that you can afford protection or take protection, it's always good to start with something little. And according to insurers, you know, just about 10% of the uk population currently have their income protected. That is very scary. So that means people that are employed, about 90% of their income, about 90% of them, their income is not protected for critical winners. Just a little bit lower than 30% of people have critical innards. So that means 70% of people do not have critical winners. And like every two minutes in this country, somebody is, of course, you know, is suffering from stroke or that kind of a thing. These things happen in reality.

The Insurance Gap

And at the same time, for life cover, maybe just a little bit over 67% have life insurance. And at the same time, two out of three people that are supposed to be insured in this country, that is, they reach the age of insurable age and they have a need to be protected. They are not insured. So that basically means that the services I gave earlier only applicable to one third of the people that are insured. That means the remaining two thirds, they don't have any element of this protection. So the protection gap in this country is very huge. And I want to say thank you very much to the organizer of this event because it is a very important topic to talk about because everybody is exposed, even you, that say, yes, I have insurance already.

Community Awareness

If you don't have your insurance, it's your problem. It is my problem that someone is not insured because if you're my friend, if you're my brother, if you're my neighbor, if you're my church member, if you are part of my community, if anything happens to you, I'm going to be affected. And of course, I know we've dropped a lot of Gofundme in the past and this should not happen or should not be occurrence in our community. If there's a need for good for me, it's not just because we want to support the family that have been bereaved, because it's even embarrassing, to be honest, you know, doing a good for me, for people that live in this country, when you could take the advantage of being responsible to secure the future of the family by just making a bit of a sacrifice.

Understanding Insurance as a Rental

Insurance is a rent. You know, you pay the rent, you enjoy the house. So thank you very much, you know, once again, organizer for organizing this event, because I'm really feeling, you know, the need and the importance of having this kind of discussion in our community. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you much. Wow. I've actually noted a few things you've just said and all the points you said. Absolutely spot on. So since 2020, for the last eight months, I've been to about five different funerals from members of our community in the UK, self and everyone, the third parties.

The Need for Insurance Education

We've actually had to raise a good fund. Me. In fact, just last month we had a younger sister of us, just 26 years old, Victoria, who passed away. And we also had to raise a good fund before her. In fact, we actually reached out to some companies, thank God the likes of Lemfi also supported us, gave us some funds regarding the burial for the young girl itself. So now, just going on as Nigerians, obviously everything talked about, we seem to, I don't know someone when we talk about insurance, it's something our people don't really take serious. You know, when people talk about, oh, maybe I have a life insurance, God forbid, no, may I live longer this and that.

The Need for Awareness

But the truth is that is something that we all can run away from. Maybe you like it or not, it's gonna happen a day instead. And I said, as people have children and family, also want your loved ones to, you know, even when you pass away, if anything happens to you're in a better place that kind of stuff yourself. So, so my just take is you as an expert when it comes to this insurance itself. I don't know what kind of advice you can give to us because we have a few discussions about community when it comes to life insurance. How can it work?

Possible Insurance Solutions

So for example, we have a subscription accomplish about twelve pounds a year, that works at one pound in a month. And of course comes to a few benefits as well. But the long term I'm also getting a state that I can see myself that how long are we going to keep on doing the GoFundMe for people that passed away in our community? Would you advise and say is it possible, is this something that I've done before? And we have over 20,000 members in the Nigel and the UK community for example, is it possible that we could have a life insurance policy for every member who's in a commission? Of course this policy doesn't come cheap.

Implementing a Group Policy

So for example any paying member in our community will be automatically be put under that policy. So even though maybe, you know you don't have a life insurance, you know, okay. Once you're member of the NIK community you also cover the life insurance policy. So I don't know if it's something that is possible or maybe it's not possible. I mean I'm also here to learn and I'm sure that people in the space also, you know, want to learn but you as an expert, you know better than us when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Seeking Professional Guidance

So is this something possible that we can have a life insurance policy for members of our community? Like a joint one together? Okay. If a member of the nigerian UK community, we have a policy that covers every one of us for life insurance policy. Thank you sir. Thank you very much mister president. You know I think you are now asking or you are seeking the financial advice now and we cannot offer you financial advice but I can talk about your question, you know in a way that can benefit us.

Personal Decisions in Insurance

Before I say anything, I want to say thank you very much for the, for your leadership and for the ESCO members and for putting the program like this you know for people to listen to. I think the first place to start is where you are now, where you've started already by educating the people because financial services or financial advice is Persona. It has to be individual, it has to be individual family that kind of make that decision. And coming to the group now for example, you know like I said earlier on that this looking like a financial advice. In order for us to advise Nigerian in the UK as an organization there are some facts that needs to be verified or to be confirmed to be sure that you are qualified to take a group life cover for example now.

Establishing Insurable Interest

So what is insurable interest of the association or the EsCO or the members with other members? When we talk about Charibo, interest basically means that what impact will somebody's loss have on you as a person directly, you know indirectly that you can actually measure. So we need to establish that because those are the things the channel's company want to look at. And not only that you know, a lot of group life cover out there basically require that your member of association they are on a salary scale. Salary, your payroll. That means you pay them regular salary.

Important Considerations for Group Policies

And not only that of course they also pay tax on this particular salary. So these are just few out of the factors that need to be considered. But of course you know there are other options, there are other ways that you as you can help individuals to make the right decision about securing their future, you know, in a way to prevent the aspect of depending one another financially when anything should happen to us. It is so sad and you know, the peace of our brothers and sisters that have left us, you know, are continuously to rest in peace.

The Emotional Impact of Insurance Gaps

But it is very painful that we are still where we are today. And at times some of these things it's not as if people deliberately avoided or ignored, you know, making this kind of decision. It's just because there's no awareness or because of the myth that oh, insurance will not pay claims or you know, I'm not qualified for this product, I don't need it or I am invincible because I'm a Christian, I'm a Muslim, I am too spiritual, I fast a lot, I pray a lot. Nobody in my family has died before the age of 120, you know my father died age of 150.

Discussing Group Life Cover

These things are true but the reality is that individual experience in life is totally different from, you know, other people. So in terms of your question about is it possible to arrange a group life cover? I won't be able to give a kind of a specific answer until we kind of verify some facts about the association, about the objective of the group life cover and about the structure of the organization and about the modality of the payment.

Factors Affecting Group Insurance

For example, you mentioned something that is very key. Your members pay annual deal of pound one a month so that is not a realistic contribution. But I know of course it's a new organization or it's a young organization or it's a charity organization. So when we look at all these factors we'll be able to advise the leadership of the group or the Esco of the group to take this question further. So what I will say is this, you can seek a financial advice if you want this to be discussed outside of this space discussion.

Personal Responsibility in Insurance

But something can be done and something can be looked into in resolving the issue. But my submission Mister president and to everybody listening is that we need to kind of take up responsibility and to be the one to decide to protect what you have that is important to you. And I would say this generally that who are the people that need insurance? You need insurance if you have something that is important to protect. For example, now someone that has a life, that is when you need a life insurance.

Assessing Individual Insurance Needs

If you don't have a life then there's no need for you to have a life cover. And if someone that has income that needs to have income protection, if you don't have a job, then you don't need to have income protection. You know, if you have children, if you have wife, you have husband, if you have a mortgage, you need a mortgage cover. But if you don't have a mortgage, of course you don't need the mortgage cover. So the fact is this, if you have anything that you love so much in your life that is important to you, that in case anything should happen to you might lose them, then you need to protect such potential risk.

Encouraging Personal Responsibility

And no matter what the association is able to do for individual I don't think that we personally solve all the problem because I see myself as a member of this organization. You know, by default I'm a member of this group. So that will not be enough to solve the problem. But we're in the right direction about encouraging our people to stand up for themselves, to stand up for their family. And this general say that the government doesn't make life insurance compulsory in this country, but they make a car insurance compulsory.

The Need for Insurance Awareness

It's just a common sense as well. They make car insurance compulsory because if you are a driver in this country you can of course cause an accident that can lead to other people are losing their life, losing their properties and they don't want the third party to suffer in vain. And that's why you need a minimum of third party car insurance for you to be able to drive because they are protecting the third party. So you now and your family, you know, you are the only if your family, your children, your wife, your husband, they are not third party to you, they are your life.

Proactivity in Insurance Decisions

So we don't need to wait for the government to give us instruction or to pass a law that you must have a life insurance because you have a son or a daughter or because you are married or you must have income because you are employed. It is individual and personal responsibility. So outside this meeting we can have a discussion, mister president, or you can speak to other advisors. Of course I can signpost you to what Azure can do in of course getting answers to this question in the form of advice.

Importance of Proper Disclosure

Thank you very much. Thank you very much for that elaborate answer to that question Mister Festus. I'm happy to announce that Mister Festus has said a lot and he said speak to an advisor. I'm happy to announce that I'm a practice financial advisor and I am more than happy to have a one to one free no obligation consultation with anyone who wants to find out more about all the things we're discussing about right now or you want to take up any policy. I'm very much happy to assist.

Accessing Advisory Services

So you can. The link is on my bow. You can go there, click on it. There are slots to be booked. Please book the slots before you get out soon. Please book the slot or please feel free to send me a DM. I'm a Nigerian, I'm one of us. I'm happy to do it free no obligation consultation. Thank you Mister Festos. So some people say insurance company look for reasons not to pay claims. What do you have to say about this?

Understanding Insurance Provider Perspectives

Thank you, thank you very much. That is a very interesting comment to make. I remember in those early days as a financial advisor, my client always call us oh, insurance are legal robbers that you know you'll be giving just the license to take money from people. On the contrary, insurance companies are looking for every reasons why they should pay you. Because number one, apart from the regulatory regime of the UK FCA, which is the of course UK market is the most regulated market in the world for you to conduct any financial business in this, in the old world, UK is the best place to because of the heavy regulation.

Claims and Insurance Regulation

And if you work in the industry, you actually know what I'm talking about. Because the FCA of course will not compromise or will not leave any stone on turn to protect the customer. So in terms of claims, the insurance company, on the contrary, they are looking for reasons to pay claims. And there are some interesting statistics to prove this. You know, to us as individual, in the whole UK market, according to Abi, about 97% of claims were successful. That is to say if claims on life cover, criticalness, income, all those personal protection, 97% of claims were successful.

Reasons for Unsuccessful Claims

So that means the remaining 3% that were not successful could be the fact that somebody is claiming for what they are not qualified for, they are not entitled. And I can share a story to kind of buttress that. And not only that, some people, they've made a misrepresentation of fact at the point of application. And we always say this, that of course if you want to take insurance policy or any financial products that require you giving information about yourself. You have to be honest, you have to be accurate about the information you provided.

Importance of Accurate Information

Because if you don't make accurate information or accurate declaration of your health, status of your employment, you know, status and circumstances. Of course, that is for underwriting purposes. Your policy can be cancelled from the onset if that lie is being found out. And insurance company, they share information. So that basically means that they can blacklist you as individual in the insurance industry because they are one community as well.

Long Term Commitment to Insurance

And not only that, you know, what benefit is it for any human being to pay continuously for years with the belief that their family will be secured if anything should happen to them, or for them to be protected if anything should happen to them. And at the point of claim, they all realize that. Mister man misses B. You had a blood pressure about ten years ago, or you are diabetic or you have this medical condition, but you never told us, you never disclose that the wholeness is on you as individual taking a life insurance or taking any insurance products to disclose and to give accurate information.

Insurance Claims During COVID

Because the benefit is that of course if your claim is being made, your claim will be successful, you know, that is to say, the purpose of the insurance will be met in case anything should happen. And in terms of claim statistics, during COVID there's a provider that paid over 1 billion pounds for life cover during that Covid and in fact, I can read out some statistics to us now, which probably the latest so far are in the late 2020 when these figures came, because the net will be coming up very soon.

Financial Benefits of Insurance

There are over 6.5 billion paid in debt in the UK. Criticalness and income protection. In fact, you'll be shocked to know that 98% of claims was paid, you know, at that particular year. And that means about 6.3 million every day were paid to the individual. 51,105 life insurance claim. That is with 3000 people that have had their policy in the past were paid. Chrissy Queen in 2018, income protection 22,542.

Claims Statistics

So these figures is just. They are probably just figures, but the reality is that people are making claims. And the fact is this, a lot of people that have been unable to make a conceptual claim, the 3% we're talking about, or 2% now, they will be the one to make the noise. That is, China doesn't pay or they will not pay you. But of course, the 97%, 90% that people have made a successful claim, they don't want to tell you because they don't want to share the money, they keep the money in their pocket and they keep quiet.

Transparency in Claims Reporting

That is why we don't talk about claim. Claim, claim. I can tell you practically, emphatically and categorically my clients are making claim. In fact, there's a particular provider, as out of last year, when we look at our statistics, about 792 claims were paid half of the year for just one single provider. From my own line of business, I mean my own organization, because there's no profit or reward for the provider that will not pay a claim because it's not good for their image.

Benefits of Professional Guidance

At the same time, it's a heavily regulated industry that you cannot just do whatever you like. I will say as individual insurance, they do pay claims, and the claim is paid on daily basis. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thanks for those figures. Absolutely. The industry is heavily regulated, highly regulated. And insurance companies do pay claims. And you mentioned something. You mentioned high blood pressure, and it's important to disclose to make your claim valid.

Insuring at the Right Time

And that goes to show that it's important to do your insurance now rather than when you have. When sickness sets in, then it becomes a bit of difficult. So it is because you're not guaranteed tomorrow, your health is not guaranteed tomorrow. It is important to do it now. And let me say, it's more affordable now when we are young as well. All right, that leads us to the next question. So I like this topic, financial security and intelligence.

The Essence of Financial Intelligence

You insure your car so we can, because it's made compulsory. Our cars are insured from, say, 50 pounds a month to 200 pounds. Whether you drive it in that month or not. You, you pay that now. Financial intelligence tells you to now protect yourself. If you're protecting your car. What about you that is making that money? Financial intelligence says, protect yourself, protect your loved ones, protect your family, protect your income, so that, of course, you can be able to protect that car as well.

Barriers to Insurance Adoption

Now the question is, what is the barrier to people not taking up insurance policies to protect themselves? Because life can happen. Life is not certain. Health is not certain. We can be jumping. We shall be healthy now, but we don't know what. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so anything can happen. So what is that barrier that is stopping people from taking it up, especially because these policies are actually very affordable.

Understanding Barriers in the Community

Thank you. Thank you very much. A very wonderful question. With my experience in this industry, there are millions of reasons why people don't take insurance. And with focus on, of course, our community, the most common one is because of our religious belief. We believe that as a Christian, for example, of course, Jesus Christ, we help you or we protect you not from dying. That is actually true. It's a fact.

Religion and Insurance Perceptions

Or as a Muslim, you don't die. Or, you know, having insurance is haram. So all these excuses about religion, of course, you know, is one of the major barriers or major factor why people don't take insurance. But insurance itself is a financial tool, a financial planning tool. If you can have a mortgage, if you can open a bank account, in fact, you even have a credit card, you have an overdraft, so why not have an insurance?

Financial Tools and Beliefs

Because if you don't believe insurance, they should not believe in mortgage, you should not believe in credit card, you don't believe in having a bank account with your bank because these are financial tools to help you. It's good to believe in God. You know, I believe in God and I believe a lot of us believe in God as well. But the fact is this God that we believe in does not actually come down from heaven to make provision because there's no telephone number that you need to call to say, oh God, send burger to my children or God, you know, pay my rent or pay my mortgage.

Evolving Understanding of Insurance

You know, it is the materials or resources that are Billy, because from the beginning of creation, I can tell you categorically that insurance was created because, and I will explain this to you know, not to be misunderstood, nowadays we fly around the world in aircraft, you know, now we have been a meeting like this is phenomenal that a meeting like this online, you know, we have radio station, we have tv stations. I'm talking about technology and science.

The Historical Context of Financial Tools

But in the beginning of life, you know, things like this are not available. So does that mean that those things were not available, were not created from beginning of life they were created. People are just making discovery of these things. So in fact, as a matter of fact, religion as a belief should not stop us from taking insurance because a lot of, you know, pastors, a lot of imam, our religious leader, they have insurance.

Religious Leaders and Insurance

In fact, as a matter of fact, a lot of religious organization and churches, they have insurance for their pastors. And these things happen to individuals and I think people that of course they suffered these things and their finances was not affected negatively because they've applied the common sense of protected themselves. So religion should not be impending factor for us.

The Cost of Insurance

Another belief is that it is very expensive. That is not actually true. One of the reasons you don't take it is that, oh, it's too expensive. My bills is very high. You know, I'm new in this country, maybe I should talk about that briefly later. But in terms of cost for insurance. If you have a very good financial advisor, your advisor should guide you. That, of course, room is not busy in a day. You can build your portfolio for protection gradually based on your affordability, what you can afford.

Insurance Affordability

You see, there are some poly that's available as little as five pounds. I don't think there's a lot of restaurants in this country now that you can go and you know, of course, you know, welfare with five pounds, I really doubt it, you know, five pounds, it's not enough to cut your hair, to bob your hair for the men that do their hair, for women, you know, to kind of come up with that, your beautiful hairstyle. But protection can start as little as that by cutting your coat according to your size. The second reason is that, oh, I have a medical condition already.

Medical Conditions and Insurance

They decline my father, they declined it before. That does not really apply in the sense that there are some products that are available to you, even though if you have an underlying medical condition, maybe you've not just spoken to the right advisor who can help you to look at the old market, to look at the right provider that can give you such protection, you know, if your underlying medical condition will not allow you to get some policies. And of course, the other one we talked about is that insurance will not pay claims.

Insurance Claims

Of course, we now know that insurance pay claims. As a matter of fact, insurance pay claims. From my own life experience, I've seen a provider, in fact, that did investigation by assuming the body of a dead man to establish, you know, a reason why they should pay the claim. And because of this scientific application, the insurance company eventually paid the claim. And this claim was of course the family themselves denied themselves that they were not going to make the claim. How did it happen?

Investigating Insurance Claims

The director of the company was in a dinner, you know, with another director. And they were talking about this particular person that, oh, blood, you know, this family spoke, oh, that they will not. Don't worry, don't say no to yourself. Let us be the one to say no to you. And when they submitted the claim, the company investigated with the police. And of course, you know, with the various signs that to establish the date of death of this place to know maybe they are coverable or not.

Claim Payment Process

And the claim was paid to the family insurance company look for reason to pay claim. And the common challenge or around aspect of not paying claim is that there are a lot of people in this world that they are organized criminals. So the criminals of course are infiltrated the insurance industry as client, I mean, not as provider. In the sense that they make fraudulent claims. So you as individual, the wholeness is on you is your responsibility to prove to the insurance company that your claim is genuine and your claim is not.

Newcomers and Insurance Access

Of course, you know, a criminal organization claim. And another factor is it that I am new in this country, I don't have indefinite state to remain, I don't have a british passport, then I can't take protection. That is not really true as well because a lot of products that are available to you so far, you stay in this country legally and you spend some time like six months in this country and they can have access. You have a GP, there are some products you can take.

Investment Opportunities

There are some products of course like income protection that you might need to kind of work for at least two years and have a GPD in the country for two years before you can apply for such. But notwithstanding you are still able to get products. And you know another aspect about financial services which is mortgage because I don't know the time. We permit us to talk about mortgage later. I've seen a lot of people thinking that wow, I cannot get a mortgage because I'm not a british citizen.

Mortgage Accessibility

I don't have it evenly. That is not also true. Speak to a mortgage broker. There are lot of providers out there that can help you to secure the right mortgage for yourself. Every lender is looking for customers. You are a customer, it's a business. So just the way you are looking for your mortgage, the banks or the financial service organization, they're also looking for customers. And there are some mortgage lenders out there that they have specialist product for people in that category.

Missed Opportunities

But no matter what is your belief or the reason why you're not taking insurance, it's not good enough to say that you don't love your family or you don't love the people that depends on you financially. Because if you allow anything to stop you from showing your love to the people that you love, that means your love for them is not genuine. Thank you.

Acknowledgments

Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you for your time. Thank you for educating us since the past hour on the space. Really loving it. I've been noticing quite a few points myself. So guys, we join on the space. Thank you everybody who's joining the space. So I just want to tell us please, the space itself is sponsored by Lemfi.

Support from Lemfi

I'm sure we all know Lemfi. If you go on the space to see the handle, please let's follow them on Twitter. Let's follow them on Instagram. You can also sign up with use themfi using the referral code Niuk to start in a lot of seamless transactions today. So you can also make your experience hassle free international money transfers and supports our community by using the Niuk referral code.

Upcoming Events

So let's make sending money home easier than ever. So we're going to be talking more about use Lemfoi and of course I want to say big thank you to them for always supporting the Nik community and one of our official partners for the NI community as well. Tomorrow, 07:00 tomorrow evening, we're going to be having a space called unlocking opportunities in the NHS.

Unlocking Opportunities in the NHS

A lot of people are coming to been having issues when it comes to jobs, application, NHS stuff and maybe like it's not, there's a lot of boxes of NHS and the good news for NHS is if you get in there, it's almost like a breakthrough for you. So what we're going to be doing tomorrow evening, seven or 08:00 tomorrow evening, unlocking opportunities in the NHS from application to interviews.

Mentorship Opportunities

You know, some of our wonderful mentors in the community likes of Sister Bukie SK, what was the event planning manager of the NIk community will also be both of them posting a space tomorrow, educate, enlightening of our community members. So please make sure you're part of this space tomorrow. Unlocking opportunities in daily chairs from application to interview self on Saturday, on Sunday.

Nigerian Trade Fair Announcement

This weekend. Coming we're going to be having Nigerian trade fair in London with amazing nelly coming all the way from Nigeria. Loads of people coming. The Nigerian embassy will be at the trade fair. Fly a piece by the trade fair. Nik community will also be at the Nigerian Trade Fair in London itself on the 17th and 18 August.

Community Engagement

So please make sure you're part of it. If you're going to jump a tron, I'll put some more details on there and we can all, you know, come on board and educate ourselves. The admission, the trade phase to be intercontinental hotel in London. It's going to be free so you have nothing to worry about. Just turn up there, support Nigerian vendors, totem yourself.

Final Reflections

So yeah, let's keep this pace up and run. So thank you very much mister Festos for writing. So my other question to you sir, will be someone like you who's been there, done it all. I mean, there's a lot of investment opportunities available to people. The truth is that we have a lot of people in our community who actually have money in their banks they don't have a clue what they want to do.

Investment Concerns

You know, people reach out to me so many times and they're no longer, you know, should I buy a house, should I start a business? What can I do? You know, people are confused and a lot of people don't have the right direction. So what kind of investment opportunities are available to people who have money just sitting in banks and unsure what to do? Because at the end of the day a lot of people are not sure.

Visa Limitations

Like you talk about them indefinite lifting UK and the British passport. A lot of people are scared because some people feel like, oh, because I'm on a visa, I can't, I'm limited to certain things. There's a gentleman, I think a couple of months ago he said about maybe 10,000 pounds and they didn't even know what to do.

Investment Dynamics

He's always working but he's saving money but then he didn't have what to do. So as far as concern because he was on a tier two visa, he was scared and stuff. So what kind of investment opportunities would you say to that? People can maybe push them to that next level because there are lot of people have come here, you know, they're confused. They've been working, saving money and maybe they've been there for a couple of months, a year down the line.

Next Steps for Entrepreneurs

And the truth is that is they also want to move to the next level so maybe start their own business. We have a lot of entrepreneurs in our community that, you know, they not really show the next level. So what would be advice to anyone who wants to invest? People have some extra funds in the bank and they clueless what to do.

Seeking Guidance

Thank you sir. Thank you very much Mister president. In terms of advice or options of investment opportunities, there are lots of them in this country and I want to say this again, I am not offering financial advice. Of course on this platform. If you need one, speak to a qualified financial advisor who can help you to kind of course channel your fund appropriately.

Risk Management

And at the same time of course your money can be lost as well in any form of investment that you engage in. So about your question, Mister President, there are many options available. It's not just only about the options. We should also talk about the principle that guide the option that you choose.

Understanding Investment Objectives

As a financial advisor myself that I advise on wealth management or investment options available. The first thing you want to establish you want to do as a person before you can even put your money away is that you want to be sure that the body that you are working with or the organization you are working with. They are regulated because a lot of people in the past, they've lost their money by just working or investing with unknown organization, with a very viable organization that are not regulated.

Regulatory Compliance

And that means if they say lost or potential loss or any kind of malpractice, you are at the mercy of them. That is to say, the government will not be able to help you, to protect you. And apart from that, you know, the fundamental principle about investment is about what is your purpose? What is the purpose of your investment? Why do you want to invest?

Investment Goals

Is it that you want to kind of make sure this money grows or you want to kind of, you know, start a little savings gradually so that the money can, of course, can be invested or used to purchase maybe your first home, that kind of example. And it might not only be that, it might be cover the future of your children, or you want to kind of start. Maybe you are worried about inheritance tax, that you want to put some of this money to kind of mitigate against inheritance in the future.

Understanding the Importance of Investment

So there are many reasons why people invest. So number one is your objective that will determine the kind of investment that you want to put your money into. And not only that, the value, I mean the size and the value of the fund that you have. For example, now if your fund value is quite slow, like the example 10,000 you are talking about, maybe a financial advisor might not be the best option for you.

Choosing Investments Wisely

Because in the sense that you are going to pay a charge, the advisor, they charge a fee to give you advice on how and the best way to put your money away, notwithstanding, of course, you should seek advice from a financial advisor who can help you to kind of guide you in that direction. So in this country, there are many options in a very tax efficient way.

Pension as an Investment

And I'm going to start by talking about pension briefly. Pension is a very lucrative form of investment for any individual to maximize in this country in the sense that it is extremely tax efficient. But the fact, of course, is that you have to understand the way this pension work. And I, you can do a bit of reading about pension, but the best way to go is to seek advice from a financial advisor who can guide you in terms of the best way to put your pension.

Principles of Pension

Because pension is a rapper, when I use the word rapper investment, word is that you have your suite is your money. You know that rapper they used to wrap sweet. That is what is covering your. Covering your money or protecting your money or giving identity to that kind of money.

Benefits of Pension

So any money invested in the pension platform has the identity of a pension identity. And what is the benefit of a pay money to pension? I'm going to say it in a very single word. The government of this country, of course, their philosophy is that any money you pay tax on should not be invested into your pension. And that basically means that either you are doing a direct contribution or through your employer, whatever form pension you contribute, that is, you get a tax relief or a tax rebate.

Tax Relief through Pension

So that means automatically when you are investing your money into a pension, you are getting about 20% relief on time that you paid on the money automatically as part of your wealth. You know, apart from the national growth of such investment, that is free money for you in a way. And if you are a higher taxpayer or additional taxpayer, of course you can claim a rebate on the tax.

Tax Strategies

When you are doing your tax return with your accountant, either you are employed or self employed. So there are many smart ways of maximizing this option of investment opportunity. I mean, using pension to maximize your money to save yourself from tax, you know, liability, because tax avoidance, of course, is legal. But tax evasion is a criminal offense.

Tax Avoidance

Of course, do not evade tax, but you can use the law to avoid paying tax unnecessarily. That is our one option. The second option is about Isa, either stock and share ISa or the lifetime ISA, which is available to people under the age of 40.

Importance of ISAs

And if you are a first time buyer that you want to buy a property, it might be something you want to consider to kind of set up a licer. A lifetime ISa, where you can also get a relief on that when you are buying your first property from the government. If over 40, of course, is too late, you cannot keep more than one ISA in a year.

ISA Benefits

So the benefit of Isa, either Lysa or Isa or stock and shares, anything that has the wrapper or the identity of an ISA, basically means that any growth in such fund basically means that you are paying them tax free. So that means if you invest in your ISA constantly, every single year, at the point of retirement, all the money, all the growth is tax free.

Financial Benefits of ISAs

What is better than that? So that means you pay no tax, no capital gain tax, no any income tax on the money that you withdraw from your ISA. And for the Lisa option, of course, you get a rebate from the government to help you if you're a first time buyer, if you are still under the age of 40.

Investment Choices

And of course there are bonds and there are general investment options that are available. Mutual fund, a lot of funds available. And of course, real estate people talk about real estate from the point of a buy to let property portfolio.

Real Estate as an Investment

And as a matter of fact, one of the quickest way to kind of annette word for yourself, if you are very smart, is to invest in real estate, but you will need advice and guidance in achieving all these objectives. So in overall, I think the first part is about we need to be financially intelligent about our money, because when you put your money in a bank account, the money is actually losing value, 100,000 pounds in your bank account today.

Inflation and Money Management

By the time you give it another, you know, one or five years, the money has actually dropped significantly in value. So it is wise to put your money in all this form of investment or where the money can grow, particularly at least minimal, you know, against the inflation rate.

Final Thoughts on Investment

So that is where I'm going to stop, you know, Mister president, but my advice to people is this, if you have any money to invest, seek financial advice. And another secret that we need to know is this financial advice is not really expensive.

Affordability of Financial Advice

You know, as a matter of principle, if you deal with a very good one, if they're not able to make money for you or to save you money from tax, they don't have the right to charge you. So that means if they are charging you, that means they are of course helping you to grow your money. And not only that, they are also saving you money on tax.

Importance of Smart Investing

Because if you don't invest this money, the tax man will take the money from you. And not just invest this money, you want to invest in a very tax efficient way that you pay less tax on the money where you are investing. And when you are getting the money, that is at the point of the accumulation of your wealth, you also take it in a task efficient way.

Risk and Investments

So it is not just wise to invest money, you know, without understanding why you are investing, which is objective, even without even knowing yourself. That is your attitude towards risk, your perception about risk. So if you just put your money into investment, you know yourself, you need to establish your attitude to risk.

Self-Awareness in Investment

And not only that, you need to understand your capacity for loss. I can't remember, it was the platform I was in another previous platform earlier. It's not just because somebody is doing this, I want to do it as well. It's always good to do it right away in the right way, so that you don't of course, lose your money or pay on entry tax.

Seeking Financial Guidance

That can be avoided. So my recommendation, seek financial advice. The first or initial consultation is almost always free and you can get what you need. If you don't have substantial fund to invest. Of course. At least you can have an understanding of where you want to go or where you want to kind of build your wealth.

Concluding Remarks

You know, if there's something you want to consider. Thank you. Thank you so much Mister Festus. Sounds deep. So I see people have led booking appointments already. Thank you so much. Please. This is an opportunity.

Consultation Opportunities

It's a free consultation. If you want to know more about how to take up a policy. You want to know more about the policy covers? Please. On my bow there's a link. Click on the link. Book an appointment with me or you can dm me privately. That is fine.

Personal Experiences

And just to add my voice to what Mister president said for tomorrow space about the NHS, an elderly person said to me, one of the regrets I have in my life is not picking up NHS payroll pension. And you heard Mister Festus, pension is a very good way of investing.

Community Engagement Reminder

So please make yourself available for the space tomorrow as well. I see some people have questions. Please. If you have a question please unmute yourself. I'm not sure I can see the hand up.

Questions and Answers

Yeah. Mister, mister. Mister Meigs. Zero seven. Go ahead please. Micah, go ahead please. Mister Maxi. Okay, maybe it's not okay. Yeah, hello? I'm here. Yeah, go ahead. Happy Sunday.

Community Questions

Go ahead please. Yeah, I have. I have two questions. Yeah. One is for our insurance people and the other one is for. It might not be, it might be a bit out of place, but I still want to ask it.

Personal Background Information

First of all, my name is Emeka. Forget about that mix you are seeing that my name is Emeka and I've been a member of this place. Not a financial member actually. Now let me go straight to the point.

Professional Background

Before coming to the UK I worked as a financial advisor myself. Five years insurance, four years in the bank before coming here. We can. Yeah. Okay. Now before I left Nigeria, the last position I had was annuity salesperson.

Annuity Plans Inquiry

Annuity sales manager. Before leaving Nigeria, my question to the OGA and the other lady is do we have any annuity plans for people over here? Do we have annuity plan? Is this something I could discuss with somebody?

Fund Usage Inquiry

That is number one MC. That's something you raised concerning our payments and Gofundme and so on and so forth. Now my question is the reason why. Twelve pounds, which is one pound every month for us, is very small and normal.

Funding Clarification

It looks okay for almost 20,000 of us to pay to. But the reason why personally I've not been able to pay that or I've not paid that money is that nobody has really explained to us or maybe I wasn't in the. Maybe a space during the conversation.

Member Engagement Suggestions

My question is what are our plans? What are we planning or what are we doing with this fund that we are using to register or we are paying every year or every month? I need somebody to stipulate that fact because I feel like a situation where we lose members.

Potential Investments

We could also use this phone to support them instead of going using GoFundMe. These are some of the suggestions. Somebody read something the last time about building hospital in Nigeria. Some of us said instead of building hospital in Nigeria, why don't we invest it here and be collecting fund?

Final Inquiry

What are we doing? That's my question.

Financial Contributions and Questions

If you, if you times twelve times, let's say 15,000 people in one year, that's a lot of money that we could use for something. And that is because I don't. I've not seen a stipulated plan. That's the reason why I have not been able to pay that money because I need to know what I'm paying this money for. What are we using it for? So these are just the two question. One is for you and one is for my insurance people. So that's basically that. Thank you.

Insurance Plans and Structures

Okay, thank you Mister Meka, Mister Pesos. Just go ahead please. Thank you very much for your question, Mister Ibika. You know, and I will take the first one about do we have annuity plans in the UK? And I want to be very careful the way answer the question because I've spoken to a lot of people that of course relocated from Nigeria and I have a bit of knowledge of the market in Nigeria that the product that I offer in the Nigeria are cash back plans where you get your money back if nothing happened to you like a form of investment. When it comes to insurance in the UK, that is not available. But annuity is available in the UK in form of a pension. When you retire, you can convert your pension after drawdown into annuity form of investment.

Historical Context of Cashback Plans

The product is available in the market because they used to be in the market until the government, due to DEVC regulation of course eradicated that. And as a matter of fact, I remember then the last time I personally advised on this kind of cashback plan was in 2008, you know, in the middle of the finance crisis. Because the cashback plan product is like you are paying for investment and insurance as well. And by the terms and correction of these policies, that basically means if the client should default in the payment of the policies based on experience or what happened in the past, whatever they pay in the past is gone forever. Which of course that does not really treat customer fairly. And consumer duty of course is totally against that. That was why the FCA of course stopped those products in the UK then.

Current Insurance Offerings

But if you have the products in the past, you can see continuous people continuously maintain the product. But in terms of now, if you want to start afresh, it's not available in the market at the moment anymore. But however, if it's related to kind of pension retirement planning, you can still convert your, when you crystallize your pension, you know, convert it to annuity where gives you a continuous income for the rest of your life. I hope that answered your question. Mister Emeka, thank you very much.

Community Contributions and Voluntary Support

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you sir. Mister, Mister Fester. So your second question Mister Meka. So we've said this so many times on our spaces. So what we're going to be doing also on the website, we're going to be having an faq. Faq. Be the, you know, answers. Questions and answers for people can go on the website, which is the nikcommunity.com website to. To read about things. Secondly, we're going to be having a space on the 25 August in two weeks time, Sunday the financial secretary of the community violates will be on the space, should be also in the space itself, talking about financial deals, auditing and other expenses of the community.

Funding Challenges and Community Growth

So the plan is that every quarterly will be doing accounting and everything. So we've said it so many times about what we could do. And of course there's no way we can move forward as a community without the right funding. You also talked about the pound. Twelve a year was small, which is pound one a month. I can tell you that some people are still complaining about that. Twelve pounds a year. And this is one of the reasons why we cannot move forward as a community when people are talking about the slightest of issues whereby there's no way we can grow together without right funding. The 20,000 members talk about the community.

Voluntary Contributions and Community Support

The twelve pounds a year by the way, is voluntary, is not compulsory. It's voluntary. It's for you to support the community. But what I'm going to tell people is nobody knows tomorrow. You might think, you know, your life is great today and stuff. You never can't put tomorrow that whereby you're going to come to the community and ask for help and need support. You can't expect people to come to give you some other people's money. Who are supporting the community. It's impossible. It's not going to work that way.

Importance of Community Engagement

So you're paying that twelve pounds a year which works at one pound a month. Shouldn't be a big deal for any reasonable person who also believes in a community. But we're going to have this discussion on the 25 August in two weeks time. The financial secretary of the community who handle the financial. I don't have access to the funds. She's the only person who has an SK who talks about the finances, the event and everything. We're going to talk about it on the 25th and then we'll take it from there and you hear from her as well. We'll tell you more about everything in general.

Child Insurance Policies

Thank you so much Mister Emeka and President and Mister Pestos for answering that question. Mister does anyone else, if you have a question, please signify and you will be called Mister Festus. Are these policies, are there policies that children can also benefit from? Because we have a lot of young parents here with young children. Okay, thank you very much. There are many policies like add on or optional benefit added to policies. Or they could also be core benefits of the policies.

Coverage for Young Children

Let's start with a very common one which under the accident protection, for example, now we know the children are more active than the that we, the adults, you know, they play a lot in the garden and even in school. So injury to young children is very common. So under accident protection the children are covered under that policy and whatever you pay as premium is as little as nothing, you know, compared to the benefits that covered all children under your, of course, parents who I say adopted children or step children. So if I live in this country, they'll be covered under such a policy. For example, now for hospitalization benefits in case they admit they get paid. For example, cancer benefits, if they are diagnosed of cancer, you know, they are paid, you know, accidental death.