An Adendum

An Adendum was Originally Posted on October 16, 2013 by lavarock

Rather than try to pry open the previous blog entry I just posted to add something, I’ll just create a short entry.

The reason I went  to the Post Office today was multifold. I was picking up toilet parts I ordered through Amazon. They were cheaper than getting them local and I have two toilets to update.

I also  needed to send off a check to Fidelity. I am consolidating all my retirement funds into one big account and hope to finally mange them a bit easier than I did before. I figure I need to do that before I have nothing left to manage and better no than never.

I also recently added a bit more money into my Prosper account. Prosper is the system that allows me to make loans to people and to get my return and some interest. The account is easy to set up and so far, including  current loans, I have 21 loans, about half already paid back. By running rate of return is just a hair under 9%. That is a far cry from what banks are offering for interest in savings and then they add fees on top of that.

I have picked relatively low risk loans and that is why I am only making 9%. Not one late payment and nobody has defaulted. If someone had, my return would be a bit less, but since all of these people have been vetted by Prosper to some extent and their payment history is reported to the credit bureaus, people are happy to get a loan through Prosper when the bank won’t lend them money. They also seem to be taking loans at a lower rate to pay off high interest debt like credit cards.

I should mention that these are personal loans and there is no collateral involved. That makes it easier for them to qualify. In the case of credit card rate reduction it is very similar to them applying for a lower rate card and transferring their debt to it.

So I am happy with my pretty stable 9% investment for a small part of my retirement funds.