Loans of up to $35,000 are now available through Lending Club—previously, only loans up to $25,000 were allowed. The higher loan max makes it easier for borrowers funding large projects, like home improvements, via low-interest, fixed rate loans through Lending Club. According to LC CEO Renaud Laplanche, “The increase in maximum loan size was prompted [...]
These innovative, do-good and just plain cool online companies led the way in 2010 — and will keep moving forward into 2011 and beyond. Some are new and others are “seasoned” players, but all made news in 2010. 1 – Groupon Turning down a 6 bil buyout takes guts, and clearly Groupon has that, and [...]
Imagine free-flowing drinks and suits-to-jeans types, all talking money and tech, with dark walls hung with contemporary art, complete with a bouncer. An after-work bar? Sort of. Actually, it was SF Beta Financial Innovation, at 111 Minna, a gallery on a sidestreet off 2nd St in upper SOMA, offering glimpses into some new, not-yet-seen and [...]
Under the new tax law taking effect January 1, financial institutions must report to the Internal Revenue Service not only gross proceeds, but also the adjusted cost basis for covered securities sold and whether the related gain or loss is long-term or short-term on your Form 1099-B. The new law could impact your taxes, so [...]
A stock trading strategy is only as good as the napkin it’s scribbled on. So last year around May, I decided to get serious. I set a goal to increase my options trading and bring things up a notch. My goal was to trade once every option period in each account if conditions were right. [...]
January Effect It’s almost here. No, not New Year’s Eve, or even lavish parties with streams of confetti. It’s almost Dec. 31, the last trading day of 2010, but since trades executed on 12/31 generally settle in January (due to the Jan. 1 holiday), traders are already thinking January. With all the optimism in the [...]
According to the 2007 US Census Bureau, about 20% of us made over $100K. In most urban areas, and two-income families, it’s about double that number. But for 2010 and beyond, at least in terms of converting to the Roth IRA, these numbers don’t matter anymore. The Way It Was For the old Roth IRA [...]
Day Trading Fever of the 90s – Did It Ever Leave? In the 90s, all you had to do was swing a dead… stock certificate and pretty much hit a day trader. Well, if you thought that day trading was dead, think again. The old techniques may have changed – like signals showing quick arbitrage [...]
If you trade options in your sleep — or can’t sleep — and a whole month (or even a few weeks) can seem like an eternity for your contracts to expire, you will be pleased to know that the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) has made it so that you can now trade a handful [...]
