Offbeat Investment Idea Sourcing

[LC]

I thought I would start a  small discussion on unique/eccentric places to source investment ideas and discover interesting companies.

 

I'll start by contributing this sub-reddit on reddit.com:

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/

 

This "BIFL" community posts products and brands which have stood the test of time...essentially companies which have built up a strong level of brand value and customer goodwill over decades. Then the community votes and comments on these products...essentially doing much of the "filtering" for free. I would love to own some of the companies posted there!

 

What other obscure sources for ideas are there?

[no_free_lunch]

There is some value to using meta-critic to evaluate games (and possibly movies).  It is going to be rare that you find a disconnect between a metacritic score and a publisher's stock but I have had it happen.

 

http://www.metacritic.com/

[watsa_is_a_randian_hero]

P2P Lending.

 

I opened a Lending Club account this year because of the lack of opportunity in stocks.

 

Watch the video here and look into their stats.  Its compelling reward vs risk.

 

https://www.lendingclub.com/public/steady-returns.action

[infinitee00]

P2P Lending.

 

I opened a Lending Club account this year because of the lack of opportunity in stocks.

 

Watch the video here and look into their stats.  Its compelling reward vs risk.

 

https://www.lendingclub.com/public/steady-returns.action

 

Same here. Have been spending quite some time learning the business and notes to invest. This is just a diversification strategy for me and I don't see myself ever investing more than 10% of my net worth there ( it's much less now).

 

I don't have high returns expectations from this though and would be happy if it is anywhere between 8-10% CAGR. That would help me be more conservative and more selective about the notes I invest in, contrary to some bloggers who are shooting for high returns by taking on huge risk and only buying junk notes (D,E,F,G grades in LC). As they say - If you are more concerned about return OF capital, then you should be less concerned about return ON capital.

[Cunninghamew]

How long has lending club been around? And do they publish statistics? Like default rate by loan grade etc

[jmoy911]

If you don't mind, what is your strategy/criteria in investing in LC notes?

 

P2P Lending.

 

I opened a Lending Club account this year because of the lack of opportunity in stocks.

 

Watch the video here and look into their stats.  Its compelling reward vs risk.

 

https://www.lendingclub.com/public/steady-returns.action

 

Same here. Have been spending quite some time learning the business and notes to invest. This is just a diversification strategy for me and I don't see myself ever investing more than 10% of my net worth there ( it's much less now).

 

I don't have high returns expectations from this though and would be happy if it is anywhere between 8-10% CAGR. That would help me be more conservative and more selective about the notes I invest in, contrary to some bloggers who are shooting for high returns by taking on huge risk and only buying junk notes (D,E,F,G grades in LC). As they say - If you are more concerned about return OF capital, then you should be less concerned about return ON capital.

[infinitee00]

How long has lending club been around? And do they publish statistics? Like default rate by loan grade etc

 

They have been around since 2006..and I think Prosper has been around longer.

 

Yes they do publish statistics. However I have never obtained the raw data but read analysis from blogs like lendacademy, lendingmemo and peercube etc...as well as used http://www.nickelsteamroller.com/

 

Here is one such analysis

 

http://www.lendingmemo.com/lending-club-prosper-default-rates/

[infinitee00]

If you don't mind, what is your strategy/criteria in investing in LC notes?

 

 

 

I have several but I mostly concentrate on credit history including past delinquency, # of public records, no of queries in last 6 mnths etc ..also look at salary, employment tenure and credit score.

 

I would say that I am much more conservative than most bloggers out there and have less than 20% invested in the E,F,G grade loans and majority of my notes are in B,C,D loans. I also sell bad notes on the trading platform. I actually worry about a scenario like greece or spain where mass unemployment might cause significant deviation from historical default rates so I try to balance between higher grade notes and junk grade notes ( although I am not sure if I have the right balance).

 

 

[bookie71]

In many places you can buy "discounted deeds of trust" and use your own local knowledge of real estate values. This is an alternative.

[locatevalue]

I slowly started moving some funds from stock market to RealEstate, Being in the realestate business i always saw these opportunities but stock market was good or seems more profitable past 4 years but now i see similar returns on both and i prefer realestate deals then stock market at these rate of returns. So recently bought a house in auction. Stockmarket made me very lazy now i have to getup and work with renters but will try to put it in cruise as much as possible as i prefer to be lazy!