Steadfast Finances

 Business Trends         No comments

Are you looking to start your own business? While the initial stage may be exciting when starting out on a journey like this, it is often the most challenging period for a small business owner. Not only are you tasked with creating the system or systems in order to increase later efficiency, you are also forced to come up with the funds to run the business. Every business needs money – it’s just a matter of how you are going to acquire the money.

 Banking,Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending         182 comments

In a decision I consider nearly as bad as the “New Coke” experience, Lending Club has decided to limit the questions an investor can ask potential borrowers. The resulting policy only allows investors to ask a limited series of pre-approved questions. For me, this is unacceptable. The primary reason for the change in transparency was [...]

 Banking,Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending         20 comments

After posting my Lending Club investment strategy and returns for over a year now, I thought today was as good as any to post a quick summary and track my net annual return volatility. Summary Outperforming Lending Club’s benchmark index of 9.7% by ~4.5%. Loan payments generate ~$250/month of cash for reinvestment. Defaults: 2 loans [...]

 Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending,Small Business         17 comments

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. – Thomas Jefferson. Like all things in life, if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and do a little bit of work, the chances of something good happening are in your favor. It doesn’t happen [...]

 Banking,Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending         6 comments

They say you always remember your first more than the others… So yes, after 1 1/2 to 2 years as a Lending Club investor, I finally got hit with my first default where a small $24 loss took my pretty little 15.64% NAR out behind the woodshed to a tune of 0.86%. A 14.78% NAR [...]

 Economy,Infographics & Chartology,Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending         6 comments

One static component of my constantly evolving Lending Club investment strategy is identifying borrowers who have a fairly long history of employment. In other words, that means: the older the better (but not at or beyond retirement age). 10 years plus with a single employer. decades of experience often imply management material. As the above [...]

 Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending         No comments

Some time ago, I mentioned that P2P lending investors should no longer believe that a peer to peer lending loan to federal or state government employee is a “sure thing” or that government employees can never be laid off. Since then, lots of supporting evidence has manifested. Not only from state governments eying bankruptcy court [...]

 Banking,Business Trends,Entrepreneurship,Peer to Peer Lending         No comments

In an older post that made the rounds with the entrepreneurial and innovation crowd, I touched upon the idea that the Internet is making middlemen obsolete. This isn’t a novel concept, but if you’re in a business where you’re acting as an intermediary – a centralized position where you purposely keep your customers away from [...]

 Banking,Investing 101,Lessons Learned,Peer to Peer Lending         24 comments

~ ~ ~ April 2011 Update: Shutting Down My Lending Club Investments over Q&A Change ~ ~ ~   My Lending Club investment portfolio is continuing to look fairly impressive as we close the books on 2010. Summary Net Annual Return is up to 15.64% NAR. My highest observed NAR was 15.69%, but as of today, I’m [...]

 Peer to Peer Lending         No comments

Think debtor and consumer anger over extremely high credit card interest rates has abated? Think again… It must really suck to work for credit card companies like JP Morgan Chase, CitiBank, or Bank of America, when customers are leaving one of your cash cow businesses because management can no longer offer competitive interest rates. Or [...]

 Investing 101,Peer to Peer Lending         No comments

As a Lending Club investor for around 18 months now, I still find it surprising that a small percentage of loan applicants fail to give even the most basic of information in their loan description. To me, the P2P lending investor, it makes perfect sense to give as much information as possible (without compromising your [...]

 Business Trends,Peer to Peer Lending         2 comments

Could all it take for Peer-to-Peer Lending to go full tilt mainstream is a big mention on a major network TV program with a huge cult following? Could be! Last night’s episode of The Simpsons entitled “Loan-A-Lisa” explored the basic concepts of microfinance and how everyday investors, like you and I, can lend to entrepreneurs [...]