Hi everyone! I want everyone to know that if you want to ask me a question about a financial issue you're having that's of personal in nature, then feel free to DM me. Being in collections, for example, would be a situation you don't want the world knowing about. I will not judge you, so don't hesitate or feel embarrassed to outreach me. Our discussion will be kept exceedingly private. If you want me to look at your credit report regarding anything about it - you can provide me a copy of it and we can go over it together. The same applies if you want me to look at say your wife's credit report, etc. I take handling of this private financial information very seriously. You can simply black out names, addresses, employer, social security numbers, or anything else you don't want me to see in order to feel comfortable in sharing - completely up to you. I will not retain the report after we finalize our discussion surrounding it.

Are safe deposit boxes worth it?

Gov can still confiscate deposit boxes.

Icelandic rune poem for Fehu:

Wealth is a source of discord amongst kin
and fire of the sea
and path of the serpent

@Tycho Brahe What do you think about boomers retiring and starting to spend their assets (stocks, bonds) and stopping their buying. Will this demographic bomb deflate the stock market? I have been reluctant to use the 401k options at work.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-31/boomers-are-turning-71-these-4-charts-paint-perfect-storm-it-will-set-investors

@Havamal Here's what I think you should do. You should take advantage of your employer's 401k plan *especially* if you can put your money in mutual funds or guaranteed bonds. The choice of the two depends on your personal level of risk taking. Having your money in a mutual fund, where your money is investing in a multitude of stocks generally within the same industry, will give you better diversity and a better safety net than having your money tied up in say one or two stocks. Although baby boomers are getting older and are needing to live off their investments now - GenX and Millennials are still spending like crazy especially Millennials which will keep profits soaring for companies. Mutual funds pertaining to say Amazon and other tech companies are doing very well especially because they keep on introducing new products and services that are taking off. Also, they have research and development on other services that have the propensity to change everything, therefore, a perfect candidate to invest in for the long term. But, if you're quite the risk taker - there's always international mutual funds that have higher rates of return but can be aggressive in the short term which is why you'd need to be committed for the long haul.

The other investment I mentioned were guaranteed bonds. Those speak for themselves - they're guaranteed. These are perfect if you're not wanting to take any risk. You have a guaranteed rate of return that's obviously much lower than a mutual fund but better than a certificate of deposit or regular savings account in most cases. All in all, this is a better way to stay ahead of inflation now for when you retire.

@Havamal Always max out pre tax 401k because 1) it is the best return you can possible get (you aren't paying tax on that money). If you marginal tax bracket is 25% it is automatically a 25% return on the money you contribute. 2) usually companies will have an employer match feature - this is essentially free money

I am very weary of stocks medium term, for the reasons I mentioned, however your points are logical, as well.

@Havamal Also, if you have a qualified high deductible health care plan, look into a HSA account. HSA are pre tax as well. A single person can contribute about 3.5k/yr(I believe). Some companies offer these plans to employees, some do not. These are essentially pre tax savings account you can put towards qualified medical expenses, perscriptions, etc.

Yeah, I have looked at those. Does Lasik count for HSAs?

Thanks for your advice @Zyzz @Tycho Brahe

@Havamal yes I believe so

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a scam is P2P lending as a lender?

dont do it.. i did it

heres why

P2P lending is greater as a BORROWER. you have a very competitive interest rate and it is unsecured debt which means if you have to default the lenders have no resource on your assets....

as a lender you have no recourse if the borrower defaults. you are also highly reliant on the underwriting risk metrics/model the company employs (i lent money through lending club)

to understand why lending club has incentive to fund as many loans as possible you first have to look at how they make their money... they do it primarily by originating loans and servicing loans. the bulk of their income is in the origination side.. servicing doesn't make them much money. they make money other ways but these are the primary ways

why is that bad?

because LC has incentive to originate as many loans as they can. they will manipulate their risk metrics to justify funding a loan at X% and Grade which implies a certain level of risk. the risk that comes along with these poorly underwritten loans do not justify the pay off

additionally, as a borrower you do not have a lot of information from the borrower so it can be tough to make an assessment yourself as to how risky the loan actually is. you are pretty much going off the grade of the loan and their historical credit information without really understanding what their current income/expense situation is like. additionally, borrowers may say they will use the money for X but they may actually use it towards Y

i also believe there is a lot of fraud going on.. ie: people taking out loans before they die or taking out loans without any intention of paying them back

i would have lost money but i employed a strategy where i would buy the original issue, mark up 2% on the secondary market and sell it off to people who live in states that didn't have access to the original issue.. that made up the bulk of my return. all the defaults i suffered would have made my return negative if i didnt trade notes

I agree entirely with what you're saying, these are all things that I've considered. I currently have 8% of my savings at lending club. I have a base of 25% of my investment in 3 year loans between A and C. The rest is used to buy loans that are less than 5 months to maturity and yield over 2% APY. Over the course of a year, my yield is at ~9%.

damn you did better than me

My primary concern is that this is a scheme, and that my money won't be there to withdraw when it's all over.

i went to far out on the risk spectrum.. B-C with some D+E

After I found out they had a trading platform, I was in the clear.

@John O - , i don't think that'll happen(i think they may be FDIC insured) but with that said if you feel uncomfortable i'd withdraw my money as i have been doing over the last ~2 years

How do you make withdrawals without incurring charges?

on lending club? did you invest IRA money?

there is a transfer tab on the homepage.. you can withdraw money for free

Not IRA, personal savings. I might sound like a lunatic, but I don't trust any retirement fund.

Err... Cash money, not personal savings.

i hear you.. you should be able to withdraw all of it for free

even if its IRA money you just have to transfer the money to another IRA account

Gotya. I wired it in and incurred a $25 fee.

odd i never had a fee in any transfer contribution or withdrawl

was the fee charged by lending club or your bank?