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Featured Article Five Things I Don’t Like Paying ForThere are a few things in my life that I hate paying for. The top 5 items are as follows: |
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Your Employer May Profit from Your Death
Did you know your employer could take out a life insurance policy on you without you knowledge or consent? The practice is called “Dead Peasant Insurance” where secret life insurance policies are taken out for low-level employees with the benefits paid to the company upon the employee’s death, regardless if they still work for the company. The practice was highlighted in Michael Moore’s recent movie, “Capitalism, A Love Story”. The video below is a report from ABC News regarding this practice.
Video: ABC News on “Dead Peasant Insurance”
Marc Dreier’s $400 Million Ponzi Scheme
Below is a very interesting interview by 60 Minutes with Marc Dreier who ran a $400 million Ponzi scheme. Mr. Dreier was a respected, Yale and Harvard educated lawyer who ran a big Park Avenue law firm. He was initially arrested in Toronto for impersonating an officer in a pension fund to get a loan from a hedge fund when his scheme began to unravel.
Mr. Dreier is currently doing 20 years in prison. It’s amazing that he could get away with his scheme for so long and that people were willing to lend him hundreds of millions of dollars without ensuring he was legit and capable of paying the money back.
Video: Marc Dreier’s $400M Ponzi Scheme
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Monitor Who’s Talking About You with Google Alerts
Google has a neat service called Google Alerts which alerts you by e-mail when information is posted on the Internet with search terms you want to track, like your name. You can also monitor news stories, companies, competitors, celebrities, events, sport teams, etc.
To create a Google Alert you enter your search terms, the type of web sites you want to track (news, blog, web, comprehensive, and video, group), how often you want an alert e-mailed to you (as it happens, once per day, once per week) and your e-mail address to deliver the alert.
Below are screen shots of Google Alerts setup screen and a sample email.
Google Alerts Setup Screen Shot
Google Alerts Email Screen Shot
For more information and to setup Google Alerts visit google.com/alerts.
Microsoft’s Project Natal for the XBox 360 is Amazing
When I first saw the video below I was blown away. Technology is advancing so rapidly it’s absolutely amazing. The video below highlights Microsoft’s Project Natal, a revolutionary new way to play video games for the Xbox 360 with no controller.
Project Natal is the future of playing video games, which is similar to the existing Nintendo Wii but way more advanced and requires no controller. You will be able to play games where you can kick, hit, catch or trap things with voice recognition and even scan objects into the game. This may definitely be a Nintendo Wii killer app.
Before Natal is launched, Microsoft announced it would add ways for players to connect with Facebook, Twitter and other social networks via the Xbox this fall. Way to go Microsoft!
Video: Project Natal Xbox 360
Microsoft has not announced any release date or price, however, development kits have been sent to partnering studios. So it seems Project Natal is still a work in process. For more information about Project Natal visit xbox.com/projectnatal.
The Many Features of Google Search
Most people don’t realize the power behind Google Search. You can search for weather, stock quotes, sports scores, unit conversion, shipping tracking numbers, movie times, patents and much more. Below are various search features for you to check out. You can click on the search button to see the examples in action.
Weather
Stock Quotes
Local Search
Fill in the Blank
Strategy for Getting Rid of Boredom While Exercising
Like many people, at times I find exercising boring. Over the years there were times I’ll exercise frequently, allowing me to get in shape only to then fall off because of the monotony and boredom. In doing cardio, I often try to read a magazine and listen to music while on the treadmill, stationary bicycle or elliptical.
My wife over a year ago purchased an elliptical trainer and recently I started using it to get back in shape. However, the first few times I used it, after a few minutes I was bored. I tried listening to music and reading magazines to no avail. I hate watching the clock while I exercise because a half hour will seem like an hour.
Fuel Fitness FE44 18-Inch Elliptical Trainer
I then read an article about an Internet Marketer who attached her laptop to her treadmill and worked / surfaced the Web while exercising. I thought that was a great idea. She claimed she lost considerable weight doing this. She slowly walks while working and the weight slowly dropped off over several months.
I attached my laptop to the elliptical with a belt and decided to give it a try. Now a half hour seems like 10 minutes when I’m on the elliptical while using my laptop and the Internet. Sometimes I watch videos/movies, listen to music, check e-mail, send e-mails and work on projects. Doing this totally distracts me from the time on the elliptical and the time really flies by. I try to do at least 30 minutes, but I usually do 45 minutes to 1 hour because the time goes by so quickly.
Ingenious Attachment Of Laptop To Elliptical
Me On the Elliptical While Working/Surfacing the Web
My Setup
The elliptical I use is the “Fuel Fitness FE44 18-Inch Elliptical Trainer”. You can see a review of it here written by my wife.
My Lending Club Account Performance, So Far, So Good
Back in July I opened an account with Lending Club to make some money. The banks aren’t paying squat with interest and even CDs aren’t paying that much. Right now I’m staying away from the stock market after losing money over the last several years.
After doing some research I found Lending Club compelling and decided to initially open an account with $5,000. However, I added another $5,000 when Lending Club offered a $200 bonus for new accounts with at least $10,000 (after watching their webinar – presentation via the Web). Lending Club also offered to help me with lending the loans. I just had to tell them what risk level I was comfortable with. I also found this compelling because I didn’t have to worry about whom to choose to lend to.
For those not familiar with Lending Club, it is a social lending network that brings together investors and creditworthy borrowers to lend money that cuts out the middle man; traditional banks. The process is sometimes referred to Peer-to-Peer lending (P2P). Lending Club takes a small 1% commission from lenders to conduct business. Borrowers pay a processing fee depending on their creditworthiness which range from 0.75% to 3.5% of the loan value. (Read more here about how Lending Club works).
In August/September most of the $10,200 was loaned to 85 individuals. So the average loan is about $120. To date my account total is $10,521.53 with payments to date of $373.87 ($290.50 principal, $84.37 interest, $0 late fees). To date that’s a 5.2% return (includes the $200 bonus). Without the bonus the return is 3.2%. Not bad at all! Lending Club has calculated that my net annualized return should be 11.05%. Where can you get that type of return today? This assumes of course that the loans are all repaid. (See screen shots below)
Lending Club Account Summary
Lending Club ranks borrowers from A to E. A being the lowest credit risk, however, with the lowest interest rate. E is the highest risk, however, with the highest interest rate. Starting out I was conservative and only loaned to A and B borrowers. According to Lending Club no A borrower has ever defaulted on a loan. Over the next several months I’ll post updates of my Lending Club account performance.
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For more information visit LendingClub.com.
