An IOU (I Owe yoU) is an acknowledgment of debt, normally specifying debtor, the amount owed, and sometimes the creditor.  A Promissory Note is a contract specifying unconditional terms on how to pay the debt, including interest (if any) and time of repayment.  The State of California is issuing IOUs to their vendors (essentially telling [...]

This is no laughing matter.  Blomberg reports that “One in 10 American homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments or were in foreclosure during the third quarter…” .  My prosper account is not doing great either.  
I have so far removed $3,000 from the original $20,000 investment, which makes current principal investment in Prosper $17,000.  (These come [...]

Wait for the 2nd Day?

February 29, 2008 | Comments Off

I am more of a value investor.  I look for companies who have good growth potential but for some reason have been neglected by the market.  I do this on a long term horizon as well as a medium term one.
When there is a bad day in the market, I tend to feel the urge [...]

Many companies have them, yet not every employee takes advantage of them. I wonder why?, and the only reasons I can come up is: lack of knowledge, laziness, or the fact that most people live paycheck-to-paycheck — All of them are conditions that can be fixed if we really want to.
I think Employee [...]

Ironically, Prosper.com is the only one of my portfolios showing all nice and green. Better than I expected, it shows all loans either current or paid (1 paid). So far, I have issued 31 small/shared loans, one of them has been paid off. The initial principal was $3,000 (small amount, but [...]

What Besides Banks?

September 14, 2007 | 1 Comment

You can poison yourself on too much of a good thing. Those who know me are aware I love to invest on banks: great dividends, good growth in an economy that depends on them, and a great business model that has proven itself over centuries. However, being invested on a single sector [...]

Life is not all about stocks. It is about loaning money as well, about helping other people achieve their dreams, grow the economy, and fill your pocket. For a long time I have toyed with the idea of starting either a bond portfolio, or a Prosper loan portfolio. For those not [...]

For a long while I had a rule: money that goes into investment account stays there. Dividends: reinvested, capital gains: reinvested, spare money in checking: invested. All of the money flowed into the Ameritrade stock brokerage account.
In my new stage in life I have to make changes on that rule. Now I am living out [...]

Since I am not working in a traditional 9 to 5 job anymore, decided that rather than eating up my interests and dividends, I would try to live out of very short term trading of good but volatile stocks – while I am in between contracts. I consider myself an above average long [...]

I am not talking about the show with the same name, but about the Jim Cramer’s Mad Money Book: Watch TV, Get Rich. It is his own book about the techniques used and how to understand that ubiquitous TV show that you must have seen while waiting at an airport for a flight, or [...]

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