I FOMOed and bought my first shares

A month ago I came across a newspaper publication that MTN Nigeria was set to sell their shares to the general public within a timeframe of two weeks. I was very much interested and made a mental note that I was going to buy some units.

There's a backstory as to why I was interested in buying shares. I always paid attention to my parents' conversations when I was little and I would often hear them talk about things like how so and so rich person hit the jackpot because they had bought an organization's shares sometime in the past.

They would say things like if they had been aware of how to go about it, they would have, and maybe they would have been rich too. That's how it got registered in my head that when I got older, I would buy shares that would make me rich in years to come.

I also saw a lot of daily TV shows about the stock market and it was always interesting to see how stocks turned red and green every day even if I was lost most of the time.

Fast forward to many years later, a few months ago to be precise, I told myself I was going to diversify my portfolio by buying foreign stocks. So I found out there were several apps available to use and I could begin trading with as little as 1000Naira ($1.72).

I won't lie, I was shocked I could start that small. I thought one needed to buy a lot of units if they wanted to trade in the stock market. It's the same way I thought only rich people were into crypto and you needed a reasonable sum to begin your crypto journey. Well, look who got into hive with $0.

Using a broker or investment platforms/apps, one can easily buy small fractions (shares) of whole stocks, so you really can begin with little money.

Why MTN shares?

I wanted to delve into the foreign stock market but when I saw that MTN ad, I didn't mind that it was a Nigerian stock. MTN Nigeria is the biggest telecommunication company in Nigeria and that was a good enough reason for me to buy their shares. I had/have zero knowledge of the stock market and didn't bother reading their IPO description.

I became scared of buying because the process on the app was stressful and I didn't fully understand what I was doing. Each unit was worth 169 Naira and you had to buy at least 20 units. I bought a measly 40 units to test the waters as I felt I could DCA my way around it over time but it turns out the sales really ended after the specified two weeks and I can't buy anymore.

Using the app made me want to give up and I didn't trust the process so I thought it was better to buy small units instead of not buying at all and missing out.

My husband laughed at me for buying only 40 units which are just about $11, I laughed at myself too. But at least in the future, I won't be like my parents that wished they had bought shares when they were younger.

I have a feeling that in the future I'd be one of those rich people that others would talk about and ponder on the source of their wealth, all thanks to the day I succumbed to the fear of missing out 😌 WAGMI!

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