Lending Club

Well the October numbers are out - I've averaged about 12.45% for the month, that's an annualized rate. Not too shabby. So far, all notes that are in pay status are paying and I'm awaiting a few more notes to complete the funding activity.

What is this? It is P2P or Peer to Peer lending. Folks gather toghether at a site, pool their funds, and then lend their funds to folks that need loans. Why only let the credit card companies and banks and etc make all those exhorbitant rates. The site does the paper work, recieves a small percentage of the collections, and the lenders win, the site wins, and the folks that need loans win.

Lending Club is just one of those sites. In order to get a loan through them, you must have at a minimum a 600+ credit score and several other factors. LC has keep up their integrity and not let anyone come through the door. You, the borrower, are assigned an interest rate based on the amount (maximum is $25K) asked for and your credit history information. Then after you make your application, you wait up to a total of 13 days to find out of the Lenders will fund your loan. Some loans can fund in 48 hours, others go to the last minunte. If they do, then you'll have the money in a day or two. Of course, the lenders might not feel you are credit worthy and not fund your loan.

Just some currents statistics :
From May 2007 through today - LC funded 7,220 loans for a total of $65,389,575
LC denied 75,896 loans for a total of $711,131,686

There are lots more information - This is not an endorsement or a recommendation - see the small print. If you are interested, contact me here, and I'll send you a link that will get you a $25 bonus if you would like to sign up and take a look around. Or go to the site and in the referral code - put in - smartfinancing.

Interesting concept - Let's see how November turns out.

My next Speech is coming up

Back during the summer I recieve a email from Carl the President of Friends of Connecticut Libraries, FOCL with an inquiry if I would be their guest speaker for a seminar in November. I responded 'of course, anything for the Friends."

In less than two weeks, that date will arrive. The topic will be "What Your Treasurer Should Know". This one is to be from my professional side of my work. So back this past summer I began writting the outline, reading all sorts of books, and before long some six pages of single spaced outline came out. Geez - and I didn't do the exhibits or the content yet.

Carl was checking as I was looking over the outline one evening and exclaimed 'it's only a hour or so, not a three credit college class!".

As this time has drawn near, and in the last week or so, I've had to organize the information and pare it down to what could fit in a hour session, making sure that the attendees will be able to recieve some good content and go back to their Friends group inspired with new tools.

So far, the slides are almost complete, yes a MS Power Point presentation with all sorts of goodies installed! Now it is attempting to streamline the information.

tic toc, tic toc.... I'll keep you posted!

The Greatest Voice We Have

Did you? It still makes me wonder why there is the amount of apathy in the world. Ok - right here in my back yard. I work the polls each year to sign up members of my community for a library card. So over the years, I have seen the ebbs and flows of the number of citizens that come out to vote.

It is only a mayorial election, oh it is only a dog catcher election. I say and so what! For a well run community, whether it be your small town, neighborhood, condo association, non-profit group, the state or the nation, it is your duty and your right to get out and speak with the vote.

If you need some inspiration - here are some quotes that might move you to vote in the very next election you can .....

~ Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~ Andrew Lack

~ Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

~ The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. ~ John F. Kennedy

~ There can no longer be anyone too poor to vote. ~ Lyndon Baines Johnson

~ Vote early and vote often. ~ Alphonse

~ Voting is a civic sacrament. ~ Theodore Hesburgh

By the way - Christy and I worked the Ruth Chaffee elementary school and signed up 18 folks for library cards in our two hour time slot.

Day Light Savings Time

This is the world clock - at normal time - for my time zone. By the time you see this it will be way past the offical end of day light savings time for the year 2009.

So what is the story about changing the clocks. Do we save time, have more 'free' time, and does everybody do it? The easy answer NO, Maybe, NO.

Personally I don't mind it either way - though finding an extra hour today is a bonus to me. It's the change in the spring, generally at a crucial time in tax season, that takes me a day or so to get adjusted. Sitting outdoors for an evening summer concert is really nice - though I'd do it whether or not we changed the clocks - it's warm!

Changing the clocks was conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 though it didn't get attention until World War I in 1916 when Germany and Austria first put it into practice. This policy came about to save power (electric) consumption.

There hasn't been anything standard about going in and out of Daylight Savings Time or Summer Time as it is referred to in England. The railways in the England, the US and Canada were the ones responsible to set a Standard Time. They needed to set their schedules back in the late l800s. The US got on board March 19, 1918 when it first adopted standard time zones as suggested by the railroad. The law was repealed in 1919 and left setting time at a local government option. The law was back in and out many times until President Nixon and then President Johnson in 1966 finally found a method that could be used for DST and is what we practice today(almost). In fact the Department of Transportation is responsible for all "time" matters. Hmmm makes me wonder why they can't fix the roads in a timely manner? :)

Back to my questions:

Do we save time? No - it's the same twenty-four hours. It is how we view the clock. If you don't use the time, it's gone. You can not put that hour in a box to take out later.

Do we have more free time? The thought of enjoying an extra hour of sunlight in the evening was a good idea back in 1918 and it probably did save energy. Here I'm equating free with savings. Though today, this may very well be false. Many American's have the luxury of an automobile and whether or not it is sunny (except for some sports) can drive somewhere to enjoy the extra hour, therefore expending a different kinds of engery. And with the advent of additional home conveniences, such as the microwave, computers, electronic games, heck, it took until 1955 when 80% of American homes had electric refrigerators. Air conditioning - a convenience used during the DST time of the year wasn't available when certain surveys were done back in those days. Gee whiz, last I checked my A/C uses electric!

For those folks living closer to the North and South Poles and those affected by the amount of sunlight can have more health issues and may actually be helped with DST. It has been studied that there are more traffic fatalites after the end of DST as walkers and drivers have to adjust. There are inconclusive studies about the criminal element during non DST months.

Does everybody do it? Those that live on the equator, don't because it doesn't matter. Either way you cut it, they have 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. Japan, most of India, China and most of Saskatchewan don't do it. In the state of Indiana, well most of Indiana, didn't until 2005 yet they observe two different time zones! They found that DST actually cost them more and the cost was attributible to "social costs". Farmers dislike it as their day begins with the dawn and not because of a clock. Did you know that it takes chickens more than three weeks to adjust to the one hour change? Some countries have compromised mostly due to strattling the time zones, such as Kathmandu, Nepal is 5+3/4 hours ahead of GMT, and Calcutta, India is 5+1/2 hours of GMT.

So what to do? Get going with your life! I mentioned the other day - I look forward to the Winter Soltice - around December 21st as it is the turn and summer isn't too far away. Nice to be looking ahead of time.