· Sheraton Lagos Hotel / Abuja Sheraton Hotel & Towers

· Towers Hotel

· Federal Palace Hotel

Ikeja Hotel was founded in 1972 as Properties Development Limited and changed its name to Ikeja Hotel Limited in 1980. Later, it changed its name to Ikeja Hotel Plc in 1991. The company is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

Stock Report

The stock as been active in teams of movement but they have not been traded ie buying and selling of stocks has been very low.

As at 1^st February, 2008 Ikeja hotels sold a Private Placement opportunity @ N6:62 in 29 days it increased to N7:00 and fell to N6:99 after a few days, exactly 2days later….quite discouraging, right?!….amazingly it increased again after 22 days to N8:24 and then to N10:60 on the 20^th March, 2008…as at 18^th April, 2008 it fell to N8:55…whoo!

The stock price as you can see has been on a down-ward trend and is still expected to go down further; it’s a stock to watch out for until it gets at its final low so as to invest at that point, which would be the best time to…

]]> http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/ikeja-hotel/feed/ 0 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/rat-race/ http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/rat-race/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:12:56 +0000 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/?p=33 ]]> When I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, I barely understood it, I got a few points here and there, however, I knew deep down inside me that I hadn’t gotten the real information I needed ‘cos a lot of people I had talked with that had introduced me to the book were excited and always talked about playing the board game….

I managed to play for a few times. And I had really learned a lot from just playing the game. Of course I did not have an immediate enlightenment on the concepts that the game was trying to teach! Neither do I claim that I have understood all the concepts. But before I go about describing what I have learned, it is important that you have a general idea of the game. This may help you to understand what I have learned so far from playing the game….

Cash flow 101 is a board game designed by Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
It aims to teach the players the concepts of investing and building passive income. To start the game, each player has a score sheet to track his passive income and expenses. It is similar to keeping track of financial statements in real life. There are 2 tracks in the game.

The first track is where everyone starts playing. It is known as the rat race track. In the rat race track, the player may be required to spend for vacation. He may also have another child that causes his expenditure to go up. He may lose his job thus no income for a few months. He will face financial worry or difficulties like in real life situations.

Also, the player will encounter opportunity to invest in shares, real estates, businesses and so on. Basically, the player will encounter very real life liked situations that required decisions on investments. He may also encounter a situation where he does not have the cash to invest in a golden opportunity.

In order to get out of the rat race to the second track that is known as the fast track, the player has to learn to invest until his passive income surpasses his expenses. Once he has attained that, he will try to buy his dream or accumulate an additional $50,000 or more monthly cash flow to win the game.

In summary, the game gives the players the chance to experience real life situations even before they have happened. It is like giving them a glimpse of the future of what may happen if they stay in the rat race.
It also provides the players a glimpse of an alternative bright future if they get out of the rat race. This is provided that they learned about cash flow, expenses, investment and building passive income.

That is just an introduction based on my personal experience of playing the game. I really loved playing the game. I hope that you can visual the board game now. Let me share with you what I had learned so far from playing the board game.

Firstly, if I were in the rat race track, I would be just waiting for paycheck after paycheck. My monthly salary would not increase much annually. And it would be like that for the rest of the years to come. In the board game, the rat race track is very short circular track. If each complete cycle were to represent a year, then time really flies fast on the board game. This gave me a glimpse of what my future would be liked in the next 10 years if I remained in the rat race track.

Secondly, if I did not invest in things that generate me passive income, I would take a very long time to clear my mortgage and debts by just saving.
‘Saving is very important!’
But saving alone will not get me out of the rat race….lol!!!… If I want to get out of rat race in real life, then I have to learn to invest and build passive income.

Thirdly, I realized that if I was too greedy in life and over invested beyond my financial means, I could easily go broke due to unexpected expenses or loss of job. Thus, it is important to manage my cash flow carefully in real life.

Lastly, I realized that it is important to save so that I could invest when a golden opportunity came knocking on my door. In the board game, I had a golden chance (Big Opportunity) to invest on something that really gave good returns. But I did not have enough saving, alas; I could understand clearly the difference between being rich and wanting to be rich.

To be rich you have to consistently balance your liabilities against your investments, I had no money to take a life changing opportunity simply because I was oblivious of how I could have before then allowed the little I had to begin to work as against the rainy day.

The cards are carefully before me now thanks to what I could easily describe as the most beautiful game in the world , I am fast on my way to leaving the rat race….

Our dreams have been eaten up by the passing of wasted years

We had hoped for something better from what we now see

But life presents us realities that make our hearts bleed

Our nation was one to reckon with…

As glory seemed the likely course of our destiny

Yet as the future gave in to passing time

Bright colors suddenly seemed dull

And our hopes come to a sudden halt

Governments have come and gone

With different shade on scene like the moon and the sun

Many times it was dark and a few times we saw a flicker of light

This is soon blown out to oblivion by the wind of sabotage and greed

And so our gates were flung open

Allowing the invasion of ferocious parasites

Glutton beast unleashed to feed on the fabric of our society

Until all we have are shabby memories of what we used to be

Weep! Weep!! Until your eyes can afford no more tears

Scream until your voice is only but silent noise

Or else you could join in on the quest to re-build our nation

Putting brick on brick until we construct a new future,

A new reality –exploring possibilities beyond limit

Until we cleanup the filth from our history

And build our own NEW NIGERIA

]]> http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/nu9ja/feed/ 0 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/guilty-hands/ http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/guilty-hands/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:00:26 +0000 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/?p=31 ]]> We have become slaves of the times

As our hearts yield to the present state of reality

So we will not take a stand as to what we want

But unwilling we accept what we are given

Harsh as the pouring heat in the desert

Like the unending streams of the water falls

Life is as the painful strokes that will not stop coming

Evident are stripes that line our backs like tribal marks

And our strained faces will accommodate no smiles

We have fought once before for the dreams we once conceived…

But our defeated hands will hold no more swords

So we will not allow our hearts dream again for the price maybe our blood

And the precious lives we have had to lose in the course of the war

Like slaves we have decided to yield to the commands of these times

Yet circumstances still do not decide on their own

They are like obedient children that will do as told

If this be true, who then is responsible for the pains we have had to bear

Is it the stern hold of some curses?

Or by natural selection, what we may call our losses?

They are our brothers; those who hold us in chains are relations

The winter winds of greed have frozen cold their hearts

And now they are like strangers from distant lands

These ones, once shared in our dreams

They once felt the pains that we still feel

But were quick to forget upon stumbling on stolen wealth

And now they have been carried away to serve time in less painful prisons

But their stolen wealth is their sweet poison

Although sluggish, one day regretfully it will take their lives.

Why point at me? I have committed no sin

I have only been sitting and watching things go wrong

I didn’t want to get involved for fear that I may get stained by the mud

The filth for which the active have become guilty

What is your righteousness you laggard?

You are even guiltier for your neutral approach

The same punishment pertains to you as to your supposed foes

So wake up and take a stand, that you may save your own soul

]]> http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/guilty-hands/feed/ 0 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/portfolio-management/ http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/portfolio-management/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:53:41 +0000 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/?p=30 ]]> “The richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else is trained to look for work. Yes, well, the richest people in the world build networks. That’s why they’re called ‘Television Networks’ or gasoline service station networks. The poor and middle class and educated work for networks, I’d rather own the network.”- Robert Kiyosaki

Definition of portfolio management

• The art and science of making decisions about investment mix and policy, matching investments to objectives, asset allocation for individuals and institutions, and balancing risk against Performance.

Portfolio management is all about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the choice of debt vs. equity, domestic vs. international, growth vs. safety, and many other tradeoffs encountered in the attempt to maximize return at a given appetite for risk….

Portfolio

• A grouping of financial assets such as stocks, bonds and cash equivalents, as well as their mutual, exchange-traded and closed-fund counterparts. Portfolios are held directly by investors and/or managed by financial professionals.

Portfolio Manager

• The person or persons responsible for investing a mutual, exchange-traded or closed-end fund’s assets, implementing its investment strategy and managing the day-to-day portfolio trading.

Portfolio Management Overview

• Risk Preference

• Portfolio Value

• Cash Status

• Cash Needs

]]> http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/portfolio-management/feed/ 0 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/true-leadership/ http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/true-leadership/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:56:43 +0000 joypheobe http://joypheobe.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/true-leadership/ ]]> In life everything that has ever been achieved were achieved through the active involvement of men and women who take up leadership positions. These set of people believed more in the possibility of what ever the people of their respective generations were aspiring to achieve and as such were front runners of whatever it is they wanted to see come to light….

There is simply nothing that is achieved in this world that was ever achieved without the guiding eye of leadership. All the progress that history records were accomplished through the compulsive drive of certain personalities that could be otherwise referred to as leaders.

These ones see a need and then commit them selves to ensuring that these needs are satisfied so as to better the lot of the human kind. I would like to liken these needs as journeys that characterize life. Needs or journeys in this case would represent potential accomplishments; which are destinations, upon whose completion would connote a relevant shift in the state of affairs. The completion of these journeys demands vision, foresight, and poise, and that’s where leadership comes to play.

Without leadership they can be no movement to ensure the completion of what we now call journeys. Leaders essentially detect an itch and then go ahead to scratch, not necessarily for their own comfort but for the benefit of others.

For instance, taking Nelson Mandela into account, a fore most nationalist, who fought vigorously against oppression and was therefore jailed 24 years all for the liberalization of South Africa and now is considered as one of the great most respected men that ever lived. Greatness is the crown of leadership, as greatness will only come to those who render themselves in service to God and humanity.

At this juncture, I would like to outline the exceptional qualities of a leader as modeled by the greatest of them all; Jesus Christ the savior of the world.

A leader is:

1.      compassionate

2.      always available for service

3.      passionate

4.      visionary

5.      principled

6.      brave and daring

7.      sacrificial

8.      careful and cautioned in his ways

9.      will always listen

10.  eager to produce other leaders

“You don”t owe me anything,” she replied “Mother has taught us never to accept payment for a kindness.” He said… “Then I thank you from my heart.”

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Years later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor”s gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room.
She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally, she looked, and something caught  her attention on the side as She read these words…..

“Paid in full with one glass of milk.” (Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: “Thank You, GOD, that Your love has spread abroad through human hearts and hands.”

“”Love is just a moment in time, and time is just a moment in eternity”". Its thats brief! The option is yours to love, and love wholeheartedly….

What is maturity? What does it entail? I have been searching for answers to satisfy such questions but as time passed and I grew older my curiosity grew even bigger. In the past I confused maturity for age, size or any form of physical development not until it dawned on me that maturity had little or nothing to do with physiological development….

When I was much younger than I am now, I had always wanted to be an adult, I wanted to live alone and basically do those things that adults do. But as I grew older, I discovered that being an adult is way more that just having fun. The truth of the matter is that not every adult has come to digest this truth, and that’s why adulthood does not connote maturity. Now what then is maturity?

Maturity is simply the tendency towards responsibility, knowing to be accountable and the capacity to handle adversity. I developed this definition from reading books on pchsycology, the bible, borrowing wisdom from experience and digging deep into my mind in meditation as I dealt with the information already available to me. Now from the definition above you would notice three key words; Responsibility, accountability and Capacity.

Let’s deal with the first word Responsibility.

What is Responsibility?

When I was much younger, I was a child; I thought and acted like one too. I wanted everything to be done for me. Basically I lived like a king, I would wake in the mourning and my breakfast was ready, I would be taken to the bath room to be bathed, even my mouth would be taken care of by my parents or guardian, and the money I had were given to me. I hated responsibility like a drunk would hate to be sober and I was not looking to ever come to that state where I would be required to take responsibility, but eventually I would. Responsibility is doing what is needed to be done. It involves identifying a problem and going ahead in lending a hand in solving such a problem. Responsibility is simply the core of maturity without which one could still be considered a child. The next key word in the definition is Accountability.

What is Accountability?

I have always wanted to be free…….go where I wanted with no questions asked or answers required. I just wanted to go where I wanted to go and return when I wanted to. Freedom was to me breaking free from the claws and hawk eye of parental monitoring. But as I grew older I began to understand the crucial importance of answering to other people especially those who occupy authority positions in my life. Giving account helps you to avoid making mistakes and even preserve your life. Most people even benefit from being accountable to people they admire or people who have more experience than they do. By entering an accountability relationship, you get to benefit and grow mentally; where it matters most when it comes to maturity. So go and belong to a group, go get a mentor, talk to an elderly person e.t.c.

Lets now consider the last word; Capacity.

What is Capacity?

Knowing what to do is not the most important in taking responsibility but knowing how to do what I needed to be done, now that’s the koko of the issue. Capacity is the ability to do what is needed to be done. Gaining or building capacity is basically exposing yourself to learning and the acquisition of skill. So go out gain or build that capacity.

Maturity is a stage of life we must all get to arrive at, because the truth of the matter is that we never get live to our full potential or we may fail to live our purpose if we don’t get to that point of maturity.

Thanks for giving your life for me and as well giving me a privilege to live , even when i didn’t deserve it, when it didn’t matter at all…when i didn’t appreciate your love, you went ahead to die for me, its a privilege to be called yours…thanks so much for that.

I kept tossing and turning on my bed; trying to forget about every thing that had happened…’Why can’t he just tell me something?’, ‘Something to hold on to’…anything at all; well not a lie though!!!…Guess you are pretty lost and you are probably wondering what exactly I am talking about, I will let you in on everything, so come along as we take a trip to my

I met a guy a few months ago; well he isn’t the ‘tall, dark, handsome guy’ thingy however He IS handsome, chocolate dark, not so tall, very presentable young guy, nice hair, good dress sense…bla bla bla…First he was very cool, quiet…didn’t talk much, very focused, few glances at me when ‘we’ get to see/ come by each other…nothing much!!!…just the normal ‘eye’ greetings, then it was ‘hello’ ‘hi’ thingy…it was kinda funny cos I was looking forward to day we were going to talk so I could yab the ‘hell’ outta him…lol!!!!…

Cant remember how exactly it all happened but somehow we got talking…i think it was in a meeting; well more of a mini party, a get-together or something…we unconsciously sat on the same table and realised when it was too late…(all the chairs had been taken)…We glanced at each other a couple of times before finally he asked for my name, well the conversation went something like this;

“Hello, my name is xxxxx (am sorry!!!…cant tell u that until am so sure of you…lol!!!)… been seeing you around and being trying to get your attention but couldn’t'…you seem like a snob, you know?” “Excuse me?”….i replied
“You don’t have to answer that; infact ignore that…..now tell me your beautiful name?”
“How dare you refer to me as a snob?….i yelled! You don’t have the right to do that…call me a snob?; how can you?”.…tried explaining
I aint even one (or am i one?….why are my even explaining?…don’t owe him any explanations !!!)

There was a sharp silence…he sipped from his drink; swearing under his breath, he looked up and faked a smile at me
‘Am sorry about that, really!!..but if it would please you, i would like to know your name so i could refer to you as such’
‘My name is Pheobe’….I responded
‘Hmmm….. lovely name, not common’…’ what does it mean?’
(‘Oh God i don’t even know what it means)’…‘Hmmm…What?…do u mind am trying to listen to the song’ (felt so bad didn’t mean to be rude…why didn’t i just say the truth?…’ i don’t know’….
‘Whoa!!!…you don’t have to be rude!!…was just trying to start a conversation’
(…oh God how can i do this?..didn’t mean to be rude…oh but i cant afford to say that i didn’t know the meaning of my name?…dats funny u know)
“Am sorry didn’t mean to be rude, am just not in a good mood right now”…i heard myself saying…
“You don’t have to be’…am actually sorry for everything…however if you give me a chance i could help you cool-off a bit”…
(…hmmm such a gentle man!!!… can he be this nice?..ohohohohhhhhhhh)
‘k then!…make me!’….i said, smiling….