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Does Diversification Still Matter?

February 25, 2009 by Lazy Man 23 Comments

Taking a casual look at my investment performance over the last few months isn’t pretty. What’s that you say? Yours isn’t either? It seems like no one’s is. I was thinking about this the other day. Did I do everything right? I diversified. I have money in US stocks both big and small. I have money in foreign stocks. I have money in bonds (but only a little since I’m in my early 30s). I have money in REITs (again only a little). I even have a very small portion in peer-to-peer lending accounts like Lending Club. Looking back and everything only Lending Club made money. In fact it was the only thing that didn’t lose around 30%.

So if diversification didn’t help me, and I’m guessing it didn’t help you either, should we just conclude diversification is a myth? I’ve come close to believing this at times. Each time I do, I take a step back and look at things in historical context. In 2001 when tech stocks were crashing would diversification have helped? You betcha! The real estate market was booming. While other stocks weren’t performing greatly, you definitely didn’t want to be all tech stocks.

What about the Great Depression of the early 1930s? I’m not a historian of the time period and I’m not sure how much diversification there was then (how would an average person invest in all the companies in Europe back then?). Still it seems that like universally bad across the board. Perhaps the best move was just to put money in your mattress.

Here’s my conclusion: Diversification is like a seat belt. It’s going to help you in most accidents. However, if you are in a Smart car and get into an head on collision with a Badonkadonk at 120 miles per hour, that seat belt might not save you. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still have one on to protect you from the other more likely scenarios.

Filed Under: Carnival, Investing Tagged With: diversification, great depression, investment performance, peer-to-peer lending

Carnival of P2P Lending #9 – Cinco de Mayo Edition

August 1, 2011 by Lazy Man 6 Comments

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In a few hours from now I’ll be having tacos and maybe a cerveza. I draw the line at doing a hat dance. Grab yourself some nachos and chew on these articles about P2P lending…

Moolanomy spectulates why Lending Club has stopped taking new lenders. Interesting thought that “If they are successful, I believe they will emerge as the industry leader.” I think Prosper already has a head start on Lending Club, so I think they’ll just emerge as a stronger #2 than before.

Not to be outdone, Cash Money Life speculates on the future of Lending Club.

Prosper Lending Review tells you how you can buy your own P2P Lending company. I’m guessing that it’s not going to come cheap.  I wonder if my credit score is good enough to get a loan on Prosper to buy it – just kidding.
Wiseclerk covers the launch of Cashare in Switzerland. It’s similar to Prosper except that you have to submit paperwork for each loan.

The Prosper Blog notes the value in social capital in getting a loan funded. I’ve got more to say about this in the future – perhaps later this week.

RateLadder says that with the Fed dropping interest rates, buy a Zopa CD. It seems like you might even be able pay your loan back at negative percent if you can convince people to help you.

Filed Under: Carnival Tagged With: cerveza, cinco de mayo, credit score, getting a loan, happy cinco de mayo, hat dance, interest rates, lending club, nachos, P2P Lending, Prosper, tacos, Zopa

Carnival News

June 14, 2008 by Lazy Man 4 Comments

I’ve got a couple of pieces of carnival news that may be of interest to other personal finance bloggers. (Readers who are not bloggers, might wish to move on or read about my new techno-lust.)

The Carnival of P2P Lending is looking for bloggers to host upcoming carnivals. It’s usually a small carnival making it a very small commitment. The small size lends itself to a creative and entertaining carnival. Lastly, the Carnival of P2P Lending has a five day window from the last submission until it is due to run. This means you won’t be up until 3AM the night before getting the last minute links in like you might with some other carnivals.

If you are a blogger and would be interested, simply leave a comment here or contact me. I will give preference to those who haven’t hosted before – just to give everyone a chance.

In other carnival news, I’m hosting the 150th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance next week. I’d appreciate your very best articles from the last week (two weeks if it’s really good). Though the carnival is getting big to put into a theme, if you have an idea for it contact me. If I use it, I’ll give you credit in the opening paragraph.

Filed Under: Carnival Tagged With: Carnival, carnival news, carnival of p2p lending, personal finance

Reminder to Bloggers: Submit Articles to the Carnival of P2P Lending

April 14, 2008 by Lazy Man Leave a Comment

It’s time to submit any articles you have written about P2P Lending in April to the carnival of P2P lending. This edition’s host will be Rocket Finance. I bet a lot of bloggers out there wrote about some big news that came out from a particular P2P Lending company.

Filed Under: Carnival Tagged With: carnival of p2p lending

Festival of Frugality – #112

August 1, 2011 by Lazy Man 20 Comments

With over 80 submissions for this carnival, the competition was tough. If something didn’t scream, “This is a way to save money”, it didn’t make the cut. I didn’t want to single out any articles as being my favorites. I’ve found that the best frugal tips are the ones you can use. Instead, I tried to categorize the articles to assist you find a tip to help you.

Lists of Frugal Tips

  • The Simple Dollar gives 100 Great Tips for Saving Money. This article must have taken some time to write.
  • Being Frugal only manages 75 frugal hacks for your home. Lynnae, you know I’m only joking :-).
  • Early Retirement Extreme has a list of 25 money saving tips.
  • Not The Jet Set gives some general frugality tips that you can use everyday.

Romance

  • Rather-Be-Shopping has a list of 50 Valentine’s Ideas That Won’t Break The bank. I was a little disappointed that all of these tips were for what guys can do for the ladies.
  • Savvy Frugality plans for some frugal romance.

Food & Groceries

  • Thursday Bram gives some ways to be frugal with cooking tools.
  • Cheap Healthy Good gives some grocery shopping tips. I liked the humor about her keys.
  • I’ve Paid For This Twice Already writes about why shopping around the perimeter of a grocery store (typically raw ingredients) costs more than the aisles (typically prepared foods). I’m very much the same way.
  • Monroe on a Budget gives some of her coupon tips.
  • Diary of a New Old-Fashioned Gal made some artsy crackers on the cheap.
  • Lightening Online writes about reducing the grocery budget
  • Free From Broke asks buying in bulk can be wasteful. The answer is of course yes. The key is to getting non-perishables.
  • The Great Money Challenge gives details on what can be purchased with a $200 a month food budget. Like the author, I don’t think it’s a tall order.
  • The Sojourner brought in a ton of food for $22 from the community food bank.
  • Frugal Dad saves money with 20 tips for the grocery store.

Travel

  • Me, My Kid, and Life is traveling on a budget to Berlin.
  • The Art of Balanced Living gives 10 tips to Save Money on Gas. I was surprised it didn’t list gliding to the stop lights, which is something I tend to do. Often by the time I get there, the light has changed and I can move on without ever having stepped on the brake.
  • Mom Advice has opened her own bed-and-breakfast. As a bonus she’s made me homesick for Cape Cod.
  • Value For Your Life writes about Las Vegas on a budget.
  • Debt-free Revolution saves some money on vehicle maintenance.
  • Debt Prison gives some tips on how to buy a used car.

Money Management

  • Blueprint for Financial Prosperity lists some free tax preparation services. This might be helpful for some – my taxes are too complex and I wouldn’t qualify.
  • Not to be outdone, My Dollar Plan also has some free tax preparation services.
  • Funny about Money writes that you should Never pay bank or finance charges
  • The Personal Financier asks you to consider 4 things before taking a loan.
  • Finance Blog came up with some ways to save for a first mortgage deposit.

Health

  • The Happy Rock Gives some inexpensive workout ideas.
  • Be Thrifty Like Us says that you should understand your health benefits. I need to spend more time doing this myself.

Entertainment

  • One Million and Beyond saves money on entertainment.
  • Money Blue Book saves money at the library.

General Tips (Uncategorized)

  • The Digerati Life gives some tips on saving money on energy.
  • Fire Finance writes about the a dozen places to get a dozen roses. You can get a variety of flowers from the florists he mentions, I just wanted to stick with the dozen theme.
  • Free Money Finance gives some tips to save money on vet bills
  • Stephanie from Stop the Ride recycles scrap metal for extra cash.
  • Smalls Cents writes about the end of the used cloth diaper market. This is one market I was happier knowing didn’t exist.
  • Unclaimed money comes up with some ways to beat the winter doldrums. I like to de-clutter, but I’m not very good at it.
  • Bean Sprouts makes frugal patchwork.
  • My Two Dollars has stopped all catalogs from coming to his home. It stops him from spending money and saves the environment.
  • Money Under 30 gives a review of Shoeboxed.com.
  • Sound Money Matters gives three tips for saving money on college books.
  • Money and Values saves money getting third-party accessories for technology products.
  • Searching for Crabshells found one! Just kidding, she wrote an article about budgets.
  • Dollar Frugal writes about saving money on furniture.
  • Single Guy Money asks if you saved money this week?
  • No Credit Needed gives some says that you should try a budget. Sorry NCN, I’m still knocking budgets – they are too much work for no payoff for me.
  • Squawkfox writes about how to avoid student debt by saving money.
  • Debt Beater says that you should examine your credit card interest rates often. I suggest not getting credit card debt instead.
  • Keeping The Reins Tight compares Bank of America’s Keep the Change vs. Chase Cash Back.
  • Tight Fisted Miser has some underwear frugality. Yep, just when you thought you’ve read everything.
  • Mrs. Micah says that you can save money if you know yourself.
  • Two Pennies Earned writes about her 6 favorite pieces of free software.
  • Investing Lessons finds a way to find save money in various places
  • The Family CEO tells you to make four calls to save money.
  • Hustler Money Blog gives two tips that add up to neary 10% off of anything at Amazon.com.
  • A Penny Closer realizes that Goodwill doesn’t accept everything.
  • The Penny Saved has five secrets for mastering personal finance.
  • Millionaire Mommy Next Door doesn’t live the “goods” life.
  • Frugal Babe is remodeling her kitchen on the cheap.
  • KCLau says Don’t spend the money you don’t have, to buy the thing you don’t need, to please the people you don’t like!

Filed Under: Carnival

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