What does that investing word actually mean?

A small, tradeable piece of ownership in a real company. You own a fraction of its profits and its future.

A pool of many people's money, run by a professional and spread across many shares or bonds, which softens the hit when one company has a bad week. It can still fall in value, and a narrow fund may hold only a few names, so the spread is only as wide as its mandate.

A portion of a company's profit paid directly to shareholders, usually once or twice a year.

A short-term loan to the government, usually for 91 to 364 days, in exchange for a fixed return.

A longer-term loan to a government or company that pays a fixed rate of interest until it matures.

Keeping most of your money in a broad, diversified fund, with a small optional slice in individual bets on top.

The Nigerian Exchange, where shares of Nigerian companies are bought and sold.

A fund that simply buys everything in a market index, like the NGX 30, instead of paying a manager to pick winners. Cheap, broad, and boring on purpose.

A fund that holds very short-term, low-risk instruments like treasury bills. Built to preserve money, not grow it. The parking spot, not the journey.

What one unit of a fund costs today. Your balance is simply your units multiplied by today's unit price, which is why it moves daily without anyone touching the account.

A Nigerian bank account that holds foreign currency, usually dollars, pounds or euros. Often shortened to dom account. It holds the currency; it does not invest it.

The street price of the dollar in naira, set by supply and demand outside the official window. Usually higher than the official rate, and the gap between the two is where a lot of quiet cost hides.

Growth earning its own growth. Small, steady returns stack on each other until, given enough years, the growth starts outearning your own deposits.

Spreading money across many companies or assets so one failure does far less damage than it would alone. It lowers risk; it does not remove it, and how much protection you actually get depends on how wide the spread really is.

Ownership. Equity in a company means shares; an equity fund is a basket of shares. When Nigerians say the stock market, they mean the equity market.

Bank Verification Number, the single identity number tied to your biometrics across every Nigerian bank account you own. Most investment platforms ask for it once at sign-up.