Forget watching share prices and buying single stocks. It’s time consuming, risky and there’s a better way. Do you check share prices daily looking for the next hot stock? You’re not alone. If you were to ask retirees what their life investment game-plan looked like throughout, most replies would be: Step 1: Find a financial advisor recommended by a friend or family member Step 2: Give money to the financial advisor to build nice stock portfolio Step 3: Happily pay advisor, platform and trading fees Step 4: Check share prices daily, worry when they are down Step 4: Accept 5-6% return because i ..read more

Currently I’m on the train from Karkow to Warsaw, Poland watching the countryside flash by my window. Sitting always gives me time to reflect and today I was reflecting on some of my good and bad financial decisions. I have made a several challenged financial decisions in my life. Financial missteps somehow feel more painful than other life mistakes, especially when your financial cushion is thinner. But mistakes are how we learn and we cannot learn without failure. Buying lots of real estate using 50% leverage up until the 2009 financial meltdown might have been my finest mistake but there ha ..read more

Kuflink Question and Answer Session With Chief Risk Office Hiran Patel Subscribe to my YouTube channel and press the bell to be notified when new videos are available Prior to a loan being accepted and issued through Kuflink, many aspects of the loan and its applicant are screened thoroughly by Kuflink’s Risk team, headed by Hiran Patel. In this YouTube live show, I chat with Hiran about all the risk aspects involved in loan approval. Timestamps: 0:00 – Introduction 8:40 – Hiran Patel introduction 11:00 – Role at Kuflink 12:30 – Life before Kuflink 13:40 – P2p lending knowledge prior to Kuflin ..read more

Unbolted Review ** Unbolted review updated January 20th, 2023 ** I began investing through Unbolted in February 2016. Unbolted, launched in 2015, is a peer to peer lending company that facilitates pawn shop style loans to borrowers. Loans are secured by items such as gold, diamonds, watches, and other items. Lenders’ are offered two loan products with different risks and returns. Unbolted’s loan flow has been constant but the amounts of the loans are smaller, so if you have a large amount you want to invest, you may have idle funds sitting waiting to be matched. I’ve had good results with Unbo ..read more

Ablrate Review – Peer To Peer Lending ** Ablrate review updated August 11th 2022 ** On June 2015, I made my first Ablrate deposit. The platform was of interest because of the secured aircraft loans. Honestly, what person doesn’t dream of investing in planes? Albrate was one of the few survivors in the high-risk high reward peer to peer lending sector but alas in July 2022, CEO David Bradley Ward announced he would be voluntarily winding down Ablrate’s loan book. What does this wind down mean to you as investor? Read on to find out. Click here to listen / watch my podcast with David Bradle ..read more

Lendwise approached Financial Thing in an effort to provide information about its peer to peer lending business. London based Lendwise offers peer to peer lenders investment opportunities in UK graduate student loans. Here is a Q&A session that I conducted with Lendwise in March 2022. Please note I do not currently invest money through Lendwise. Click here to sign up for a Lendwise account When did Lendwise launch and offer its first loan? Lendwise launched in the last quarter of 2018 and the first loan agreement was signed on 12/09/18. It was for £2,720 to a student who studied for their ..read more

** Updated January 17th 2022 ** (This article is for information purposes only, I have no idea what will happen to the  cryptocurrency prices in the future, I can only give my best opinion of what I believe will happen based upon my research and convictions. Do your own research, be informed, and make the best decision possible). Cryptocurrency is a hot investment topic so I’m here to demystify this exciting opportunity and address all the common questions and concerns. Article Summary What is Bitcoin, the oldest cryptocurrency, and why does it do What is blockchain and why I believe it ..read more

The Best Tracker Funds ** Updated July 15th, 2021** Subscribe to my YouTube channel and press the bell to be notified when new videos are available Join the Financial Thing VIP Investment Group and chat with myself and other like-minded investors __ Let’s get right to the point. John Bogle’s book “The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns” was the most impactful investing book I’ve ever read. The book basically spells out why buying index tracker funds over the long term is far better than stock picking or investing in managed ..read more

Recently I had an interesting email from a Financial Thing reader. The email read as follows.: “Hey Laurence.. I recently pocketed a windfall from a lucky lottery win. I’m only 28 and have very little investing experience. I wondered if you could give me some pointers as to how to invest this money to secure my future”. – Jack V, Scotland I have to start by saying this isn’t financial advice and you should consult a tax professional. Most lottery winners end up squandering away their lucky fortunes because they don’t have a financial plan in place. Winning the lottery is a very unique situat ..read more

My Trading 212 £5,500 Portfolio Experiment – June 21st, 2021 update. LPI is the star of the show! Subscribe to my YouTube channel and press the bell to be notified when new videos are available Join the Financial Thing VIP Investment Group and chat with myself and other like-minded investors  In this latest update of my £5,500 Trading 212 stock portfolio, LPI has made gains of 121% pushing the portfolio to almost tripling. I’m a huge fan of index trackers but I wanted to test out a single stock portfolio and see how it performs against my trusted Vanguard US Equity Index Tracker. I’ll be chan ..read more