I've learned so much from people here on Wazua over the last +10 years, I wanted to share a true story with you guys that it may benefit you as it has me.

My neighbor in Nairobi baba Jimmy just passed away a few days ago at the age of 74. His family and ours had become pretty close over the last 44 years we'd been next door neighbors so he talked to me a lot - like a father to son.

Especially since he got sick in the last few years, every time i went home he took it upon himself to sit me down and share lots of advise on women, business and life in general.

So last December he told me this story how in 1977, he had done a deal and ended up making 24,000/- profit. He had the money in the bank.

Later, a certain broker told him of some land being sold. So they went to check it out. It was a 5-acre land, touching tarmac on the outskirts of Nairobi. The owner wanted 22K for the whole place.

The place looked as remote as you can imagine. Trees and grass as far as the eyes can see.
As they were walking around the land, a gazelle (Mama Jimmy swears it was a hyena ) leaped out from the brushes and ran across the shamba followed by its young kid.

Mama Jimmy had heard enough. She went back to the car, and waited for mzee. When he got back, she told him there's no way in hell that place will ever develop. He told me, she discouraged him all the way home and eventually he said to himself "well, maybe she's right" and gave up on the land.
They went on to buy some matatu and set up some pubs in Eastleigh which all proceeded to fail in a few years. In all honesty he died almost penniless, and unable to afford the medication and therapy he needed to treat the prostate cancer he's had for the last 4 years or so.

That outskirt area he'd declined to buy in '77 is today's bustling Kitengela town. That same 5-acre land is worth about 130 Million shillings today (an eighth goes for 3.5million).

It's a story he told with a lot of pain/regret in his eyes. It makes me think a great deal about the saving & investing choices we make when we are young and what they'll cost us in terms of future profits. His decision to not buy cost him 130 Million.
Rest in peace baba Jimmy tho' ...we'll forever miss you ✌.

@LA-254..So I suppose you will never listen to the spouse's advice..?
@MM,was that bad decision also influenced by mama watoto?

Wait 42 YEARS without the liquidity?

I don't refute that there are handsome returns....eh...lakini. Hii mali tutaiacha hapa dunia.

I'd choose stocks where you can make similar or higher returns...though they are more risky since you can make losses with poor picks. But very liquid and you can easily switch to more lucrative investments as they crop up.

Hii kungoja retirement kabla nitumie pesa apana.

22K in 1977 could have probably got you an acre of land in Nairobi.The same would be worth more than 130M today.

Of course everybody has this type of cheap talk stories to tell about their lives of missed opportunities. So what stopped him from making more deals like the one of 24k he made then. 24k in 1977 was loads of cash my frens .......