The Agile Investor by Luke Mwiti Kinoti is a 130 paged book published by Riziki Foundation that starts with a foreword by Erastus Kiugu, founder and CEO of Eraki Consultants who believes “it is a must read for the youth who aspire to wealth”.
Summary
- The 13 chapters in the book include Investing in Real Estate, Protect your Wealth, Guide to Ethical and Impact Investment as well as Run Your Own Race and Leave a Legacy.
- The anecdotes, life advice littering the pages of The Agile Investor through his own experiences and those he managed, or learned from people like his father, are sound, and like standing on the shoulders of a giant as it were.
- This makes this text the real deal
In the introduction, Mr Kinoti starts the text with a story of a trip to the United States of America, where in a limousine ride, had “unhurried discussions with an easy-going gentleman” about how he had retired at 40. At the time, Mr Kinoti was 42 and this certainly got him thinking “When do we stop working for a living?”
The results of this thought and reflection one could say is the culmination of this book.
“An individual needs workable and practical strategies to guide them to save,” writes the Fusion Capital co-founder with over 30 years of experience in finance, investment and business management.
Mr Kinoti uses the benefit of hindsight to educate his readers on the importance of social capital that helps one build a wide knowledge base, harnessing available opportunities, importance of learning from failure, and taking investing as a culture and lifestyle.
The 13 chapters in the book include Investing in Real Estate, Protect your Wealth, Guide to Ethical and Impact Investment as well as Run Your Own Race and Leave a Legacy.
The anecdotes, life advice littering the pages of The Agile Investor through his own experiences and those he managed, or learned from people like his father, are sound, and like standing on the shoulders of a giant as it were. This makes this text the real deal. His philosophy, “Win or learn, never lose” underscores that many times before you succeed in your venture, you will have false starts, but you must find your niche, discover yourself as an investor and entrepreneur, have a long term game plan with the business plan being a road map and a mirror, while wealth being the final destination.
The sentences are short and concise, brief to the point, simple enough for his thoughts and ideas to be understood by all cadres of society. He hinges on his Christian background occasionally, for example quoting King Solomon’s words, “She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard” when talking about land banking and real estate.
“Begin at your own level of abilities and the opportunities available for you to grow. Do not equate yourself with someone else,” Mr Kinoti advices.
He owns his voice, and it translates in the copy, a wisdom that comes with age. He implores would-be investors to consider the impact of their investment on society, and have an overall objective of long term sustainability with three bottom-line strategies that include people, profit and the planet.
In the last chapter, Mr Kinoti quotes C.S Lewis: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
He gives the analogy of our marathoners, who always finish strongly even when tired, underlining their resilience.
“Keep learning new things. Don’t be unschooled,” Mr Kinoti says.
And in the second last sub topic he writes about “why you should make a will”, a hot potato topic for some of us Africans which he resolves by saying, “as you age you might wish to hand over control of your finances. It makes sense to have plans in case you become too ill to manage your money.” Sounds practical right? As he writes on another page, “the best security is trust.”
Coming from a seasoned investment banker, it’s refreshing to read his ending “This is the last investment and wealth. An honorable name.” I couldn’t agree more.
dngila@ke.nationmedia.com
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