Nairobi, May 13 -- The smartest investment move you can make has nothing to do with the highest returns, and everything to do with knowing where you stand.

At almost every Chama meeting in Kenya, the same scene plays out. Someone mentions an opportunity with unusually high returns.

Hands go up. Phones come out. Nobody wants to be left behind, and that fear of missing out is quietly becoming one of the costliest investment decisions Kenyans are making today.

The problem is not investing. The problem is starting with the wrong question. We ask "how much return?" when we should be asking "is this right for me?"

"A high yield on the wrong investment is not an opportunity. It is a trap dressed in attractive numbers."

High returns mean not...