I was on leave for three weeks recently, and I realized just how fun it is to do nothing but sleep, watch TV, and get paid. I wondered if it was possible to do this all year round without marrying a rich old man. Today, I’ve discovered a way to do that, and all without leaving my seat!
It started when I was on Google Reader this morning. I bumped into this article explaining how I could start a mutual fund for as little as 1,000/=. I spent the next few hours browsing the Old Mutual site, and a while longer trying to figure out the system.
Here’s how it works. The minimum amount you can invest for a mutual fund is 50,000/=. But Old Mutual has introduced a new service called i-Invest, where you can open a mutual fund with 4,800/=. The best part is you can do it all right on your mobile phone! All you have to do is dial *480# and follow the instructions. The process takes all of two minutes to complete.
Given my issues with technology, signing up was not as simple as it should have been. I spent an hour trying to input my details, but I kept getting an error message. I tweeted Old Mutual for help, and they gave me a number to call. They also offered to call me back, which I thought was really nice of them.
After spending half an hour on the phone getting free financial advice from Isaac, I spent another hour trying to sign up. As it turns out, my mistake had nothing to do with technology. The reason I kept getting error messages is that according to the system, I was spelling my own name wrong. Apparently, it doesn’t recognize apostrophes.
Once I corrected the ‘typo’ it took me less than ten minutes to get everything done. I emailed a scanned copy of my ID to Old Mutual and am now the proud owner of my very own mutual fund, so yay! I’m sure that’s not financially accurate, but the point is I now have a portion of Old Mutual and an opportunity to sit back and let my money work for me.
The beauty of this account is I can do everything online, or rather, on my mobile phone. I can check my balance, withdraw, invest, and top-up my account whenever and wherever there’s battery power and Safaricom network.
Okay, here are the facts. For today only, you can open your account with 1,000/=. After that, you need a minimum of 4,800/= to get started. Once your account is open, you can top-up as little as 480/=. There are no requirements for monthly payments or anything like that, you just top up when you can. Dial *480# anytime to check your balance and monitor the progress of your account.
The day is almost over, so if you have a K lying around and have ever considered owning units in a mutual fund, all you have to do is dial *480#! For further details, call 0711010000 or check out the Old Mutual website.
Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.
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