Stocks and Trading Thread - Channeling your inner Mono

[Admiral Yi]

Why the hell would you be investing in a Canadian penny stock?  The TSX venture exchange is not as properly regulated as it perhaps should be...

I wanted to show some faith in the high school buddy who was flogging it.

[crazy canuck]

My Canadian penny stock (made in Canada) got enough of a lift on news that they were close to developing some cow vaccine or other that I was able to unload 2/3 my shares at a tiny profit.  Unfortunately the loonie has taken a beating since I bought in so I'm still losing money on the deal.  Live and learn.

Why the hell would you be investing in a Canadian penny stock?  The TSX venture exchange is not as properly regulated as it perhaps should be...

I am not sure your comment is correct.  But in any event there are considerably better reasons why someone (and particularly an American someone with currency risk) might be a bit dubious about investing on the venture exchange over the last couple of years.

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/12/27/can-the-once-mighty-tsx-venture-exchange-be-saved/   

[Admiral Yi]

Anyone here have any experience with micro-lending?

[Monoriu]

Anyone here have any experience with micro-lending?

No, and I see zero reason why I want to experience it, on either side of the equation. 

[Admiral Yi]

I'm thinking about giving it a go.  Lowest rate is 6.86%, I've read default rates are 2%, and the site only takes a 1% fee.

[MadImmortalMan]

People who have tried it have told me they got default rates anywhere from zero to 30 percent. It seems like one of those things you have to pick your investments carefully.

[Monoriu]

I have no problem lending money to BP, Goldman Sachs, the People's Republic of China, General Electric, or a real estate developer on the mainland etc.  There is no way I'll lend money to some farmer in India. 

[Admiral Yi]

How about an office worker in the US?

One of the things I find attractive about this is that, according to the article I read, it is based on a market failure: banks don't charge different interest rates on credit card balances based on credit-worthiness.

[Monoriu]

How about an office worker in the US?

One of the things I find attractive about this is that, according to the article I read, it is based on a market failure: banks don't charge different interest rates on credit card balances based on credit-worthiness.

Still no.  I am not lending money to individuals, even if that is my brother-in-law. 

[DGuller]

How about an office worker in the US?

One of the things I find attractive about this is that, according to the article I read, it is based on a market failure: banks don't charge different interest rates on credit card balances based on credit-worthiness.

Are you talking about something like prosper.com?

[Admiral Yi]

I was looking at LendingClub.com.

[The Minsky Moment]

I don't know a ton about PTP lending but my understanding is that a lot of the originations are bought up in significant quantities by funds.  If that is true, then as an individual investor I would be wary of wading in because the inventory that would then be available is to certain extent what the smart money has taken a pass on.

Seems like it would be a lot of work to do it profitably given the risk.

[DGuller]

Is there a database of all past loans available?  It would be a fun predictive modeling project to try to cherrypick the among the equally-rated risks.

[DGuller]

I don't know a ton about PTP lending but my understanding is that a lot of the originations are bought up in significant quantities by funds.  If that is true, then as an individual investor I would be wary of wading in because the inventory that would then be available is to certain extent what the smart money has taken a pass on.

Seems like it would be a lot of work to do it profitably given the risk.

Good point.  If I had that idea, then other people with more money and resources probably had it much earlier.  Unless there isn't enough money involved to be worth the time of serious quants.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.lendingclub.com/browse/browse.action

They let you browse loans available for investment without signing up.  Not enough info to build actuarial tables off of.