Young

It seems like you have done your due dilligence on the real estate,especially the Suncity in Ghana. By all means go for it if you have time and money. My only objections to real estate has been that it ties too much capital,is not liquid,transaction costs are too high,and it still does not appreciate fast enough relative to equities..

Dont forget that real estate prices do fall,just ask those who bought at the peak of the housing bubble in US,UK,Dubai etc. And when they burst,they can take years to recover,Japan real estate is still below its peak more than a decade later. So be very careful my brother. As for me,I will stick with equities since I am such a control freak with my investments.

On the oil discoveries in both countries,one thing you have to keep in mind is that at a given price,one can discover oil anywhere in the world. Be very wary of oil discoveries when a barrel of oil was going for $160. Methinks that the $160 per barrel justified these explorations and that they are not sustainable at $50 per barrel. So it may be some time before we see oil flowing from these new discoveries.Also analyse the quality of the oil,is it light sweet or some very poor quality that will cost so much to refine,I understand that the Ugandan discoveries may only be good enough for kerosene. Again,I may be wrong. Finally,dont forget the curse of oil. Just take a look at the conflicts in Sudan,Chad,etc.

I look at the situation strictly from a cost-benefit analysis,and to me,relative to equities,real estate does not even come close. The only real estate I am buying is a place for me to live,not as an investment,if it appreciates,then that's just fringe benefits.

@MainaT

Thanks for the advise. However,where do I invest the proceeds from the sales (EAPC,Bamburi,MSC,Kenre,NMG & BBK) which in total is Kshs 4.0m?. I take one is Athi River to replace EAPC and Bamburi. What of the others?

Evolve- I'd put it in AK and Equity. But this is just me. I'm an extreme risk taker once I believe in a particular share. You must do your research and concentrate your firepower/cash rather than disperse it.
Mozenrat-I usually avoid shares that don't really have much control over their environment. Kenol buys oil whose price fluctuates wildly,gets taxed at source or wherever KRA deems fit and will get held up by KPL whenever a crafty sod comes along and runs away with its money.



www.mjengakenya.blogspot.com

@Evolve

Lets assume I were you( my risk appetite is extremely high,and I eat,sleep,dream stocks),then I would select a couple of stocks(Athi River and KCB),go all in and focus on those stocks like a laser beam. I would become an authority on these stocks such that I would anticipate things even before they reach the CEO. Equally essential is to make sure that you mitigate potential losses by using stop loss.

@MoKenya

Actually,I just began investing at an early age.The two major recessions I'm talking about are the dotcom burst of 2000,which hammered me senseless,and the current recession,which I escaped. I started investing right before the dotcom crash. I went gaga on Nasdaq and lost over 80% of my portfolio,talk about being taken to the cleaners. But that did not deter me,I just took it as a very expensive lesson in investments 101.

Now regarding diversification,if your goal is to attain the historical annual returns of 10%,then its definitely for you. Focusing on a few stocks enables me to reap huge returns and get out when the stock peaks,then I wait for the next stock to ride to the top. These rides could last weeks or months. By focusing on just a few stocks,I'm able to know them just as good as the analysts who follow them,if not better. This enable me to know when to get off,whcih is much more difficult call than knowing when to get in.

I'm glad you brought up WFC vis a vis good vs value stocks debate. I love Wells Fargo as a bank,I bank with them,very good CEO,very good company. In March,I was ready to get back into the market and I figured out that financials had been oversold and were overdue for a bull run. I picked better valued BAC over WFC,and if you look at the charts since March,BAC went up 450% while WFC went up only 250%,I expect this trend to continue in the forseable future. And just to show you how dedicated I am at following BAC,today I listened to the entire 4 hrs AGM on webcast while simultaneously monitoring the stock on yahoo finance forum to get immediate reactions and analysis from fellow traders,investors,longs,shorts,bashers and pumpers. I love this game man!!

This is very difficult time for investors and everybody else,as the world economies contract,there is risk of losing one's investments as evidenced already. Nobody is spared by the this financial crunch,even world wealthiest guys like Warren Buffet have not been spared.
So,my advice is completely different from all. Buy gold and/or precious jewels. When the dollar soon loses value due to what Obama is doing with the economy(printing money) it will lead to inflation and woe unto those who hold their investments in dollars because they will be affected the most.
Buy buy buy gold.

Our tomorrow depends on life's present efforts {input}.