Gubmints Personal Finance for Federal Employees, Veterans, and sometimes Everyone

New Military Retirement System is a Pyramid Scheme

My Lending Club investment returns have been taking a beating lately. Even with a spread of more than 1400 loans across multiple grades, I’m getting burned with -0.3% Annualized Return.

This account funded in the Spring of 2015, so the loans are in their at their 30 month point, a ‘danger zone’ when Lending Club reports most defaults take place.

This account has followed all of the recommended investing ‘rules’ on the Lending Club website – Buy more than 800 loans, spread out your credit risks, etc. After following the Lending Club guidance, all I can state is that the performance is rather unnerving, minus 0.3% Annualized Return: Continue reading →

Are you looking to Retire Early, but don’t want to pay a penalty to access the money you saved before you turn age 59.5?

Got a ton of retirement money stashed in the TSP, an IRA, former employer’s 401k, or other Qualified Retirement Plan?

Are you also looking to implement a withdrawal strategy that does not force you in to a 5-year waiting period like the ‘Roth Conversion Ladder’ does?

There’s a perfectly legal method to get to your Retirement Plan money at age 55 without paying a penalty, and it’s called the Solo 401k.

Continue reading →

You won’t see that headline splashed across Lending Club’s home page.

Unfortunately for Lending Club, like most people who file for income taxes, this is the time of year when I review my year-end bank and investment statements to see how things are going.

I guess Lending Club is counting on me (and the rest of its investors) not performing this annual review of investment summary statements.

Because if they were, there would be even more bad press for Lending Club. Continue reading →

I just got a Kindle Fire (5th Gen) for Christmas – So far I like it a lot. I wanted a cheap tablet to use as a web browser and book reader, with occasional email or video watching. After seeing how easy it is to crack the screen on my Wife’s iPad mimi (and how expensive the screen is to replace) I opted for the Kindle Fire 5.

I was perfectly ready to accept being bombarded with advertisements on the Fire 5, as Amazon has heavily subsidized the $100+ manufacturing cost of the $34 sales price on my Kindle Fire 5, knowing that I will be a captive, revenue-generating member of the Amazon and Amazon Prime ecosystem if I frequently use the Fire 5.

What I was NOT ready for was how painful it is to download free eBooks from Feedbooks.com or Gutenberg.org. There’s some nasty writeups on the Gutenberg webpage about the stinginess of the Amazon Fire- Gutenberg’s website all-out recommends you get a Nexus 7 Tablet as the alternative free e-book reader and stay away from the Kindle Fire 5.

Fortunately I figured out a free eBook download work-around that is not too annoying. Continue reading →

GubMints

Personal Finance for Federal Employees, Veterans, and Sometimes Everyone

Lending Club Provides Negative Returns

Retire Early using the Solo 401k Parachute

Join Lending Club Today and earn 3.38%

Download Free eBooks to the Amazon Fire 5