Busy investing
I've been a busy investor this past week. My roth solo 401k is finally funded and invested. I had a bit of fun buying Birkshire Hathaway and General Electric. I could have bought in for a bit less than I did, but I'm still happy to be able to buy so low. I've not gone stock-crazy though. Most of it is in mutual funds (heavy on international and small cap).
I read a fair number of personal finance blogs. Most of them have mentioned Lending Club by now. I decided to take advantage of a $25 for signing up offer. I mean, why not? Sign-up turned out to take about 2 minutes. I was expecting it to ask a lot more questions. Guess you can skip all that if you're just going to be a lender.
I went through loans today, and decided to lend my $25 of free money to an optometrist in Kentucky. This seemed appropriate, as Billy's dad's an optometrist, and I was born in Kentucky. If I decide to put some more money into Lending Club - and I do think I will - I'll stick mostly to the less risky loans. This particular one was a level D and came with about 15% interest. For comparison, an A is about 9%. But a lot less risky. These attractive returns don't come with FDIC insurance. If we invest any 'real' money, I'll be more picky about income verification, credit scores, etc.
If all goes well, you're sure to be hearing more about Lending Club in the future.
So now I'd like to offer you $50 to sign up too. You're free to withdraw the cash as soon as you complete sign-up - or invest it like I did. It's free money, so what do you have to lose? In fact, I'm a bit bummed I only got a $25 bonus when I can offer you $50!
For the record that I will get paid a small bonus for the referral. And you'll be able to refer friends too after you sign up ;) May sound a little like a pyramid scheme, but I'm not one to turn down free cash. Still, I couldn't bring myself to spam my address book about it. And I discourage you from going that route either.
On a travel-related note - our stay has been extended until at least March 13th. The paperwork is all submitted. We hope it will be sorted out before his visitor pass is up for renewal again. We really don't want to go home yet! There's not a lot of jobs going on and Billy'll drive me nuts hanging around the house while I try to work!
[Update 7/1/09] Seems they've reduced my referral bonus to $25. Bummer. It's still free money though.
7 comments:
Thanks for the link...I probably would not have joined if it hadn't been for the bonus. And I'm excited that you get a referral bonus as well.
2 Questions: it says you have to make 70k a year to be a lender. I don't make 70k a year, does that mean I can't be a lender of even the free money they give me? And how do I get the bonus - do I have to pick borrower or lender first?
you can definitely take the money even if you don’t meet the lender qualifications. Those don’t apply to the resale notes section (anyone can buy there). Therefore, Lending Club won’t restrict you from taking the money (presumably in hopes you’ll use it buy resale notes).
You follow the link, register, and they immediately deposit the money in your lending club account. You can then go look for a loan to fund, or register your bank account to withdraw the money. You need to give at least $25 to each loan (for new ones anyway)- so with 50, you can pick two. I'm not sure how the pricing goes in the resale notes section.
cool. thanks for the link. I'm signing up now.
cool. thanks for the link.
I only got $25 credit. Any idea why?
Seems they've reduced it since I posted this back in February. :(
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