The year 2020 can’t be forgotten so soon, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global financial markets at unprecedented levels.
Some investors gained, as they took the right bets and emerged with high returns; others were taken by the storm and recorded huge losses.
Incredible gains in U.S stocks like Tesla made its founder, Elon Musk, the only billionaire in modern history to gain over $111 billion within a year.
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He became the second-richest person in the world with a $139 billion fortune, leading many experts to believe the global investment climate has changed for good.
Cryptos were no left out of the train, as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple, pulled over 150% ROI in 2020, with no signs of slowing down.
Locally, Nigerian Investors moved towards the equity market in search of higher yields – the ASI increased by 30.15% since January 2020.
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Nairametrics interviewed 8 high-profile Financial Analysts to find out their best investments so far in an unpredictable year like 2020. Their responses were insightful, diverse, and ranged from leading stocks to digital assets.
What they are saying
James Blackwood, Regional Director, TigerWit Limited
“2020 is a year I will not forget in a hurry. The market presented me with many opportunities to recalibrate my long-term SIPP portfolio and take advantage of the big dips experienced in March due to coronavirus, government stimulus spending, and more recently Brexit and the US elections.
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“In no particular order, 2020 has been particularly good for stocks with exposure to gold, copper, oil, natural gas, as well as my exposure to a small group of cryptocurrencies.
“They have all served me well and with the right timing and in no particular order, I am now long Fresnillo, Glencore Xtrata, Gulf Keystone, Boohoo, Ethereum, and Nimiq.”
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Taiwo Yusuf, CFA, Meristem Wealth Management
“No doubt, my top investment choices for the year are equities and bonds (FGN Naira bond and Eurobond). Wide price volatility in both asset classes offered discerning investors opportunities to make substantial ROI in 2020.
“Within a period of about 8 months – between the advent of lockdown and present, the prices of bonds and equities moved from extremely low prices to high levels.
“This is a reflection of reactions to the economic uncertainties that heralded the Covid-19 health challenge and the increasing optimism of a gradual return to the normal world order.”
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Silas Ozoya, Founder/CEO, SUBA Capital
“About investments, 2020 has been a very interesting year for both alternative investment managers like us and for retail investors we deal with generally.
“For me, my favorite investments in 2020 would be agricultural commodities and medium-term fixed income assets like Eurobond. Thanks to technology, we were able to scale through marginally during the pandemic lockdown.”
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Omoniyi David-Mosaku, Business Development Manager of Ziing (powered by Investment One Financial Services Limited)
“For me, 2020 came with different opportunities in the Nigerian Capital and Money Market space as experts’ outlook for the year was positive, especially, for the Nigerian Stock Market.
“While expectations for interest rates were a bit pessimistic, I looked forward to diversifying my risk through available money market instruments. However, the pandemic gave a knee jerk reaction to the economy and my investment appetite changed with it.
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“Personally, I would say that my best investment decision for 2020 was investing in the Nigerian Stock Market and dollar-denominated investments. I enjoyed higher returns from the stock market and prevented capital loss (due to Foreign Exchange rate) on a dollar-denominated fund.”
Obiamaka Ibe, Senior Analyst, SEL Capital & Finance
“MTNN – The Money Market remains unattractive to investors, as yields on Treasury & OMO Bills are below 1%. Investors are moving towards the equity market in search of higher yields. The ASI has increased by 30.15% since the beginning of January 2020.
“With regard to the Equity market, MTNN is my favorite stock pick in 2020. There has been a 43% increase in share price since the beginning of the year and the stock achieved its 52-week high.
READ: How declining interest rates, others drive a shift in Nigeria’s investment sector
“It is expected that investors will continue to take advantage of the low-interest rates and huge market demand for relatively higher yields in the equity market. There has also been a growing interest in Alternative Investment classes.”
Darlington-Morsi Onyemaka, Co-founder, Quba Exchange
“The good, bad, and ugly events of 2020 brought lots of volatility to the market and lots of opportunities too, which I’m happy to have spotted early enough.
“These events have been the backbone of every investment decision I made during the year. Some of my best investments this year have been in my stocks and crypto portfolio. Even though the portfolio had sizeable losses, the gains from $LULU, $Zoom and Bitcoin multiplied its overall value by nearly 500%.
“Owing to the continued uncertainty and possible second outbreak of the pandemic, I’ll continue to hold and closely watch these assets in the meantime.”
READ: 3 wealthy crypto investors move over $400 million worth of Bitcoin
Thelma Ugonna Ohiri-Anyanwu, CFA, Banker at Nigeria’s top tier-1 bank
“2020 has been a very challenging year and a year that birthed a new way of life. However, it has been one of my best years in terms of investments, as I took deliberate decisions with regard to my finance.
“It is also a year I diversified my portfolio and made very good returns on it. It’s hard to decide on what my favorite investment for 2020 is. I will settle for my top two – investment in Ethereum and in some Value stocks on the NSE, which yielded annualized returns of 95% and 60% respectively.
“It has indeed been a great year of unlearning, re-learning, and re-strategizing. I look forward to 2021, and intend to fully diversify to the global market and also invest in commodity trading.”
Elelu-Bashir Mohammed, Nigeria Community Manager at Crypto.com
“2020 has been a roller-coaster year for stocks and cryptos. Right from the massive dip of the entire crypto and stock market in March due to an outbreak of coronavirus, to stocks and crypto soaring above their all-time high in late Q3 and Q4.
“During these periods of ups and downs, one of the major challenges people faced was a problem choice. Choice in terms of what they can invest in because virtually everything was in a good buying range.
“There are also thousands of cryptocurrencies and stocks available in the marketplace, which makes it even more difficult and overwhelming to carry out individual research on what to invest in.
“Here’s a list of my favorite investments for the year 2020 in no particular order – Bitcoin, Ethereum, crypto.com coin (CRO), Zoom, Netflix, Tesla, Moderna, and lastly Gold.”
Bottom line
The comments by the financial experts reveal significant diversity in their choice of best assets to invest in this year, with a significant number of them picking unconventional financial assets like cryptos.
Also, their choices reflected different appetite for risks, with some investing in riskier assets and others playing a safer investment game.
Summarily, 2020 is truly a year many local and international financial experts won’t forget in a hurry, with its attendant highs and lows. Surely, the lessons learnt will make investors smarter in future dealings.
