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I've been investing a little money at Lending Club for about 6 months. Although average returns at Lending Club have been lower than Prosper, risk seems to be lower as well. My return so far is an annualized 15.55%. No defaults yet in my 48 loans. Read more here about how to get a higher return than the average.
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Author Archives: White Coat Investor
SurveySavvy Sucks – Making Money Online Series
This is the first in a series about making money online as a doctor. I’ve always been interested in relatively passive income, and after reading about taking simple surveys online for cash, I thought I’d look into it a bit. There are tons of different survey companies out there, some of which are better than others. One which I’m pretty sure ISN’T better than any others is called SurveySavvy. Why do they suck? I’ll show … Continue reading
When Is a Warranty a Good Deal?
My general advice is to not buy “consumer insurance” like warranties on appliances. The mantra is that you should insure against financial catastrophe, and self-insure against the rest. I spend lots of money on good disability, life, property, and liability insurance. Then I have an emergency fund that takes care of the rest. But every now and then, I am offered a deal that seems too good to be true. Here are some recent examples. … Continue reading
What do physicians make on an hourly basis?
This post falls into the category of “that’s interesting.” For all but the medical students reading, there isn’t a lot of actionable information here. But it is difficult to find this information out there. Physician income information is relatively easy to find, but work hours information is notoriously difficulty to find. The only information that combined physician work hours with their income is from a survey in JAMA published in 2003, and obviously using even … Continue reading
Tax-O-Phobia – A Common Infirmity Among Doctors
I’ve noticed that many doctors suffer from a common malady I call Tax-O-Phobia. When combined with a closely-related, but also common illness, Liability-Phobia, it makes doctors make poor financial decisions. Tax-O-Phobia comes from three things: sticker shock, a misunderstanding of the value of various tax breaks, and a confusion between marginal tax rates and effective tax rates. Sticker Shock There’s nothing quite like that first 5-figure paycheck when you get out of residency. Of course, … Continue reading
Drive A Beater….Get Rich
I wrote much of this rant many months ago, but it never seemed quite right, so I stored it away and never published it. I had an email the other day that convinced me to dust the cobwebs off it and publish it. It was from a doc several years out of residency whose medical school was paid for by the military looking for general financial advice. I was surprised to see that he still … Continue reading
8 Reasons Why You Should Invest With Mutual Funds Instead Of A Variable Annuity
Variable annuities (VA) are an insurance product that is best described as a mutual fund wrapped in an insurance wrapper and covered with fees. They have several advantages over mutual funds (in a fully taxable brokerage account), including tax-deferred earnings, some protection against creditors, and tax-free buying and selling within the account. But no reasonable person would argue that investing in a VA is a smarter move than investing in an IRA, Roth IRA, or … Continue reading
Peer To Peer Lending IRA Fees
Peer to peer (P2P) lending through organizations such as Prosper.com and LendingClub.com is in general a high-risk, high-return, highly-tax-inefficient investment. Since the entire return is fully taxable at your marginal tax rate, it makes sense to have any significant investment in P2P Lending inside of a tax-protected account, such as a traditional or Roth IRA. Regular readers know I’ve been tinkering with investments through both of these organizations, but only in small amounts in a … Continue reading
Doctors in the 1%, and Society’s Reaction To It
I’d like to highlight a couple of things going around the internet today. The first is one of my favorite new blogs. It is written by the financially successful spouse of an emergency physician. The blog takes the somewhat controversial tone that “I’m in the 1% and you can be too and there’s nothing wrong with that.” It’s called I Am One Percent with the subtitle Personal Finance Tips to Be A 1 Percenter From … Continue reading
7 Financial Benefits of Going To War — Military Physician Series
There are lots of financial benefits of being in the military. Very few of them are easy to understand, however. Unlike in the Vietnam era, our citizens and politicians are currently very keen on “supporting the troops.” This is manifested in a lot of little ways that can add up to serious money, especially when you deploy to a combat zone. Here is a list of just a few of them, a financial how-to guide … Continue reading
Don’t Be A Tax Idiot
Be forewarned. This entire post is just a rant. It even delves into politics a bit. You probably won’t learn anything that helps your personal finances or investments here. I’m getting sick of hearing stupid comments from people who have no idea how the tax code works. Now I’m no CPA, but I have a reasonable understanding of our system, so hear me out. Exhibit A: People complaining Mitt Romney doesn’t pay enough taxes. The … Continue reading