What's a Treasury Bill?
It's also known as T-Bills
When the government needs money on the short term (< 1 year)
The govt issues this note to the general public and you need a minimum of N50 million to buy directly from the government. (CBN)
That market is called primary market
There is another market called secondary market.
Institutions crowdfund investments from as little as N100,000(minimum) from different players to purchase from CBN (N50 Million limit)
This is where you and I and other people who do not have N50 million YET buy from.
The key feature of T-Bills is that you get the interest payment upfront
So for example if you buy N100,000 TBills for 365 days at 12%
You will get N12,000 upfront
You will then get the N100,000 - capital - at the end of the 365 days
Another key feature is the risk
The Treasury Bill is backed by the federal government. This means that it is one of the most secured assets and the risk of default is low
It's also known as a risk free asset
Meaning your investment is safe
Another intetesting thing to note is that.
The longer the duration of the treasury bill.
The better the rates
E.g
The rate on a 50 days TBills is 10.35%
Whereas, the rate on a 323 days T-Bills is 13.70%
As of 28th of Nov 2018
Lastly, if you purchase T-Bills for 50 days at a rate of 10.35%
You won't get the total 10.35% because, your duration is just 50 days.
You have to apportion it for the duration held
That is
50/365 * 10.35% = 1.42%
To learn about other assets to invest in
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A lady bought a house at Ikate, Lekki for N60 Million three (3) years ago. She sold it last month to relocate for N85 Million. The exchange rate 3 years ago was N360/$ and now at the black market where she exchanged at is ~N720/$.
If she had held the money in Dollars, she would have had $166,000. When she converted the proceeds of the sale to Dollar, it amounted to $118,055. The rental income of the property was N12 Million for the 3 years.
The Naira depreciation eroded the capital gain and the rental income she earned. She lost almost $50,000 from the financial decision she made.