Dele sat in the sitting room where his father had taught him almost everything he knew about life. Only that this time, his father was not seated in his favourite chair opposite the TV, his pile of newspapers had gathered dust from lack of touch and his glasses case lay there dusty and unbothered.
His father was gone, three months now and he still couldn’t believe it. But the truth settled in as his eyes darted around the room.
He saw his sister – home for the burial, his mother-completely draped in black yet managing to look stunning. There were also uncles, three of them and the one aunt nobody really liked. Everyone sat there quietly, listening to ‘baba agba’- the family head.
Baba agba managed to avoid everyone’s gaze, intent on his task of dividing Chief Akinlabi’s property among the members of the family since the deceased had not left a Will. After about fifteen minutes of decrying the lack of cooperation demonstrated by Dele’s mother in providing documents to her late husband’s properties, he proceeded to reel out names and their bequest.
The concerned people struggled not to smile. You cannot display your happiness at getting a three-story building in Ketu when your younger brother just died.
Dele was beginning to imagine he had been forgotten when Baba Agba called his name, allocating the rundown plastic factory at Sagamu to him. No one could control the laughter that filled the room.
Dele’s sister could also not hide her anger at the shoddy distribution of assets. However, the look on their mother’s face seemed assured, she had a plan.
Two hours later, the meeting had dispersed leaving just Dele and his sister, patiently awaiting their mother. She soon emerged from the room holding a folder. Admonishing them to disregard the selfish actions of baba-agba and his people, she encouraged them to maximize the little they had gotten. Lastly, she informed them of their father’s Mutual funds investment which had run into about 20 million Naira.
Dele being the first child was given the task of accessing the funds on their behalf. The plan was that Dele would access the money and mother and children would divide it among themselves.
As Dele considered this latest development, he wondered what would have happened to him, his sister, and his mum had their dad not been an avid investor in mutual funds. An email notification jolts him back to reality. It was an email from his investment managers reminding him to keep growing his investment.
He would have ignored this email like he typically did, but recent events have revealed why he should revive his investment habit. Without thinking twice, Dele opens his Wealth Planner and automates his investment with the direct debit which would ensure that he never forgets to top up his investment ever gain.
Even in death, his dad had reiterated the need for everyone to have a financial cushion especially when one has a family or dreams to achieve. With a grateful sigh, Dele picked up the phone to call his dad’s fund managers regarding his 20 million naira investment.
