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Posted
Jan 25 2008, 04:33 PM
by
Karen Datko
It was just a matter of time before some snarky blogger began commenting on the applications for loans at Prosper.com, the peer-to-peer lending site. If you apply for a loan at Prosper and your credit history isn't great, you might show up on Prosper lender Kyle M. Stephens' radar screen. You'd better have a thick skin or a generous sense of humor. This is particularly true if you have violated Kyle's first rule for Prosper applicants: Post a photo, and make sure you're dressed in business attire, unlike the woman who posed with large sunglasses and an outfit that exposed her navel and then some. Her photo is available at Kyle's site. "Oh, what the heck," Kyle relented, "wearing that may give her a better chance of getting the loan." He added, "If I have any readers, let's take a poll in the comment section. Sunglasses or no sunglasses? I vote she wears them." He also examined her financial information. "The other thing that really stands out for me is that her housing is only $675 a month, but she lives in San Francisco. Maybe she lives in a hostel," he wrote.
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Posted
Jan 09 2008, 06:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. ![clip_image002[6]](http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/images/smartspending/WindowsLiveWriter/ThinklikeMr.SpockbutactlikeCaptainKirk_104EF/clip_image002%5B6%5D_thumb.jpg)
Sound personal-finance and investing decisions flow from two things -- knowing the numbers and knowing ourselves. If we know the numbers but not ourselves, our decisions will look good on a spreadsheet, until our real-world decisions deviate from the plan. If we know ourselves but not the numbers, our decisions may feel right, but will lead us down the wrong path. What's the answer? We need to think like Mr. Spock, but act like Captain Kirk. Allow me to explain.
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Posted
Dec 27 2007, 12:47 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Dan at Money Myths congratulates Congress for sparing 21 million Americans from having to begin paying the dreaded alternative minimum tax -- or so-called "awfully mean tax" -- but asks: Why did this take so long? By waiting until six days before Christmas to act, Congress made life difficult for the IRS. If you've been used to filing your taxes in January and getting a refund, you may have to wait an extra month before the IRS can begin processing tax returns. And that, Dan calculates, can cause some pain.
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Posted
Dec 07 2007, 07:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
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Millionaire Mommy Next Door is the queen of the online calculators this week, presenting a substantial list to help you get a grip on your debt situation and your possible options. It includes several here at MSN Money, including the debt evaluation calculator and the Savvy Spending Quiz. Another interesting calculator can be found at another MMND post, and it's right up Mommy's alley. It indicates whether you'd be better off renting out your house or selling it if you had to move. (If you're a regular MMND reader, you know she's no fan of home ownership, is a millionaire and doesn't owe anyone a dime.)
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Posted
Nov 16 2007, 02:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
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LifeEdit.net provides some very sound advice to people in their 20s about managing money: Save for retirement, pay off student loans as soon as you can, budget and keep your credit score high. But there's more than one way to skin this cat. The Retirement Hobo is 24 years old, and he's already retired. He's aware that some readers might be incredulous . "At a first glance, you might think my blog about (extremely) early retirement is about a lazy guy trying to find a loophole in the system so he can keep on being lazy. I assure you, that is not the case," he writes in his first post, called, appropriately, " Newly retired ." Hobo paid off his student loans and saved $70,000 when he was working. His goal is to earn a 25% return on his investments and to spend about $17,000 a year. He intends to live happily in retirement. "If I'm going to retire miserably, I might as well keep working miserably and get money," he says. This should be an interesting ride.
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Posted
Oct 08 2007, 08:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
We've all heard about the millionaire next door . Rather-Be-Shopping begins a series of blogs about a school janitor who long ago discovered the power of saving and investing. He owns his house mortgage-free, has two cars, lives without debt, and is about to embark on a comfortable retirement. All this on $35,000 a year in California.
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Posted
Oct 04 2007, 10:20 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from partner blo g Blueprint for Financial Prosperity . The “ latte factor ” was a term coined by David Bach to represent the idea that the key to financial prosperity is to cut out the little things in life you're paying other people for, and spend that money on yourself and your future. Mathematically, it involves taking a $5 cup of coffee each day, or other discretionary spending you'd like to substitute in its place, and calculating how much that $5 would be worth in 40 years if you had invested it. It's not a particularly novel idea because everyone can appreciate that saving $5 each day and then compounding that at 11 percent each year for 40 years will result in a huge number. But its value is that it challenges you to examine the motivations behind your spending and how you could change those for the better. It all adds up When you make a large capital purchase, like a house, a car, or even a plasma television, you spend quite a bit of time researching in order to
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Posted
Sep 27 2007, 03:51 PM
by
Karen Datko
She owes $16,000 on her credit card and has $207,000 in student loan debt. This recent law school grad has not just one, but two plans to deal with it. Even though she's in a financial hole, she's wisely putting enough into her 401(k) to get a full employer match.
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Posted
Sep 26 2007, 01:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Which makes more financial sense: applying extra cash to low-interest debt (we're assuming you're not carrying a credit card balance) or investing it? Investing will likely get you a better return, but freedom from debt is a powerful draw. The bottom line is it's a very personal decision.
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