Prosper is a Peer to Peer lending website similar to Lending Club that connects individuals who want to lend money to others who are looking to borrow money. It is appealing to both borrowers and lenders because it offers great rates for borrowers and great returns for investors. As an investor, Prosper allows you to skip the bank and deal directly with borrowers putting more money in your pocket. And, as a borrower, you can typically save several percentage points on your loan than what you would have received otherwise from a traditional … [Read more...] about Review Of Peer-To-Peer Lending Site – Prosper
Archives for January 2012
Reader’s Question: Is A $1,000 Emergency Fund Enough To Start?
Here is the next installment in our the Reader’s Questions Series which highlight questions emailed to me by you, the readers of Money Q&A. Be sure to find out at the end of this article how you can receive a free copy of Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover if your money question is chosen to be featured on an upcoming week’s blog post. If you're not familiar with Dave Ramsey's book, you should run right out and get it. It is one of my top ten best personal finance books that everyone … [Read more...] about Reader’s Question: Is A $1,000 Emergency Fund Enough To Start?
Rigged Money by Lee Munson – Book Review
I was recently given the opportunity to review the book “Rigged Money: Beating Wall Street At Its Own Game” by Lee Munson. As you can probably tell by the title of the book, Lee Munson makes his case that the stock market is a rigged game that is set up for institutional investors and the fat cats on Wall Street. Lee Munson asserts that Wall Street is rigged to ensure that individual investors on Main Street are kept in the dark to continue to feed the system. Rigged Money includes a great combination of anecdotes and raw financial data to … [Read more...] about Rigged Money by Lee Munson – Book Review
Review Of TradeKing Discount Stock Brokerage
Are you looking for a discount brokerage to help you begin buying, selling, and trading individual stocks and options? TradeKing may be the website that you are looking for. They offer an easy to use website, excellent resources for education, and one of the lowest commissions on the internet for stock and options trades. TradeKing Has Very Low Commissions TradeKing is an online stock and options broker that is known for having very low commissions. It highlights fair and simple pricing: just $4.95 for stock trades, and $4.95 + 65 cents per … [Read more...] about Review Of TradeKing Discount Stock Brokerage
The Benefits Of Using A Mortgage Calculator
If you are considering getting a home loan, it is essential that you do your research and fully understand what you are getting in order to find the best mortgages and interest rate for you and your family. For many types of home loans, you can research great mortgages ahead of time by using a mortgage calculator to figure out your major costs and expenses. How to Use a Mortgage Calculator When you are using a mortgage calculator, you need a couple of basic pieces of information: the mortgage amount, the mortgage term (usually 15 or 30 years, … [Read more...] about The Benefits Of Using A Mortgage Calculator
Why A Big Tax Return May Not Be So Bad
I constantly fuss at my wife because she wants to have a fairly large ($3,000+) income tax return every year. Knowingly receiving a big tax refund each year is a big mistake that many workers make. I try to tell her that we are simply giving the federal government an interest free loan by doing that, but she simply doesn’t listen. It is always a constant struggle to get my wife involved in financial planning for our family. She simply isn’t interested in money and finances and leaves that portion of our lives squarely on my shoulders for the … [Read more...] about Why A Big Tax Return May Not Be So Bad
How I Recently Invested in a Rock Band with Kickstarter
I’m always on the lookout for great alternative investment ideas to beat the stock market with about 10% of my investment portfolio. That is one of the reasons that I invest in Lending Club, precious metals, and a few other alternative investments. It is a great way to spice up my investing, goose my rate of returns a little, and have a little fun too. Investing should be fun! That’s what keeps us engaged and motivates us to continue saving and investing for our other financial goals such as an early retirement, sending our children to … [Read more...] about How I Recently Invested in a Rock Band with Kickstarter
How To Raise The Next Millionaire Entrepreneur
The following is a part of Yakezie’s blog swap from Marissa. She writes about life after grad school, and personal finance over at Thirty Six Months. You can check out my post on her site. I was an inventive child. Inventive in a way to ask my parents for a bigger allowance if I did extra chores, asking my siblings for a part of their allowance as a fee for being younger than me etc. Some of those ideas worked and some of them got me grounded for bullying my little sisters. The point is that when your child has the entrepreneurial spirit in … [Read more...] about How To Raise The Next Millionaire Entrepreneur
The Beginner’s Guide – How to Find a Mutual Fund That’s Right for You
There are tens of thousands of mutual funds out there for investors to choose from. It is very intimidating for new beginner investors to learn how to find a mutual fund that is right for you and your financial goals. Where do you go to start looking for the right mutual funds to invest in? What are some of the characteristics that you should look for when determining how to find a mutual fund? Below are some of the things that you should consider when learning how to find a mutual fund that best fits your needs. Where To Start Finding … [Read more...] about The Beginner’s Guide – How to Find a Mutual Fund That’s Right for You
The Dangers Of The Death Of A Beneficiary
The beneficiaries you name in your will to receive your assets after your death or to care for your minor children are more than likely very close to you or even members of your own family. While the death of a beneficiary is a sad time in a family’s life, it is also a time that you have to take an introspective look at your own estate plan. That is the time that you need to update your will and any beneficiary documents. Most investment companies that manage your Roth IRAs, 401ks, and other investment accounts allow you to name a beneficiary … [Read more...] about The Dangers Of The Death Of A Beneficiary