When This Market Technician Talks, I Always Listen

Louise Yamada... I could be thumbing through a magazine or setting my fantasy baseball roster, when Louise Yamada comes on TV, I stop what I'm doing and listen. She's a wealth of knowledge.

I like this particular video of hers.

The bottom line is that the breakdown in the relationship between the dollar, oil and gold is disconcerting for investors because it demonstrates market confusion.

Notice how the recent equities correction didn't affect gold prices like it usually would?

I haven't bought gold, but i'm considering buying the Power Shares DB precious metals ETF (DBP) if it has some consolidation in the near term.

Thumbs Down Rating on Lending Club's Move to Ban Unique Lender Questions

Until recently, I have grown to be a fan of Lending Club... So much so that I was also contemplating setting up a self directed IRA with the company. However, Lending Club's recent move to ban unique borrower questions has me a little uneasy parting with my money.

Take for instance people that ask for a loan to move but make no comments about their job prospect in their new location. You would think it would be pertinent to ask about their employment. Instead, Lending Club does not currently allow the lender to ask a question on this point. Instead, you have to rely on the credit history based on "past" employment.

I seriously wonder if other lenders have grown reluctant like me to lend money to borrowers on the site unless the borrower clearly communicates their situation.

US Inflation Rate 9.6% Using Alternate Calculation Method

Thought this would be interesting to you. Using methods employed when Fed Chairman Paul Volker was appointed in 1979, US's annual inflation rate would be 9.6% for this past February. Article.

Valentine's Day Ideas From "The Digerati Life" and "My Good Cents."

Here are a couple of recommended Valentine's Day related articles from those in my blogroll.

The Digerati Life. "Best Cheap Dates Ideas for Valentine's Day Romantics."

My Good Cents. "Valentines Day: Free Redbox Rental."

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Up 65% in Last 10 Months in my Soft Commodities Investment. Will Likely Rotate into McDonalds as Grain Prices Peak.

I bought into the iPath Grains (JJG) ETF on April 5th of last year at $34.18 / share. On Friday, shares traded at $56.20. This is a gain of 64.4% over the 10 months. Of course these gains are only on paper.

I spent part of the afternoon contemplating what I would do with my money as I scaled out of this ETF. I spent some time comparing charts of JJG against a few stocks and happened upon an interesting comparison against McDonalds (MCD). See chart JJG vs. MCD. Looking from 12/8/10 til present and you'll see that the two stocks are moving inversely to each other.

So, unless we have a good stock market correction, my current plan is to ride out JJG for a few more bucks and to start scaling out of JJG between $61 and $71.

I suspect JJG should hit this gate of $61 - $71 within the next couple of months prior to crops being planted. As I scale out, I am planning on moving my funds into McDonalds. I don't think that McDonalds is going to run up like a rocket ship; however, I feel that McDonalds should trounce the S&P 500 after grains and other commodities (e.g. COW) peak and start trending lower. Plus, McDonalds 3.3% yield should provide a level of safety in our current lofty market levels.

My Net Annual Return on Lending Club Account Up from 7.7% in 2009 to 9.5% in 2010

I have been originating (peer-2-peer) loans at Lending Club since Dec 2008. Since starting, I have issued 153 loans, of which:

15 loans fully paid off
0 loans late, default or charged off

In 2009, I made a net 7.7% return on my investment (after fees and note sales). During 2009, I only had one losing month where I had a monthly annualized return of -5.24%.

In 2010, I made a net 9.5%. My worst month had a monthly annualized return of 0.89%.

Lending Club says my account has a net annualized return of 12.72% and total interest earned of $325.54. Each of these are way off my actual return. My net earnings are actually some $80.25 less than what Lending Club advertises. The problem with Lending Club is that it doesn't fully factor in all fees and losses incurred in the sale of notes.

Overall, with exception to Lending Club not having "net earnings" and "net annual yield" displayed on it's account dashboard, I am very satisfied with Lending Club.

I attribute my greater success in 2010 to increasing my risk tolerance in notes that i'm willing to fund. In 2009, I was already selling almost all notes before they hit 16 days late. So, I was willing to do a few more note sales in order to balance out any extra incurred risk.

My note filter is:

Funding progress: 10% or more
Max loan amount: $25k
Interest rate: Excludes A and B rated notes
Months since last delinquency: 24 months or more
Max debt-to-income: 20%
Min length of employment: 2
Inquiries in the last 6 months: 3 max

In addition to this, I am reluctant to fund notes where the monthly income is less than 1/3 of total revolving credit balance. I exceed this sometimes when I believe that the individual is truly going to use the money for debt consolidation.

Frustrated With Cable TV Customer Service: How I Turned Their Refusal to Credit my Account Into a Yes

Ok, i'm a busy man. So, when I experienced a 30% loss of cable TV channels it would go to reason that I wouldn't call the cable company immediately. Three days later I spent nearly 1/2 hour on the phone resolving my account issues.

I reset my cable box and regained the lost channels while I continued to wait to speak to a customer service representative. I explained to the rep that I had an interruption in service for three days and that I just fixed the problem. However, I still requested at least a one day credit to my account. The call center rep stated that he could not credit my account since I waited so long to report the problem.

I then stated how I had been busy and that I was asking for at least a one day credit not three days. I told him how long I waited before I got to speak to a person and cited the wait as the reason I didn't jump at the opportunity to call in when I had better things to do. The rep stuck to his guns. Meanwhile, I stated that I was interested in writing a letter to the company CEO and asked whether a case # was assigned. If not, I asked how I could reference my phone call. He said there was no case #. I then asked for his ID#.

I was very frustrated when I got off the phone. In my line of work, I have ghost written correspondence for very senior people. I was about to start writing a letter that probably would have taken me 30 minutes or more to perfect.

I then took another path and spent 15 more minutes with the same company's customer service to get a second opinion.

When I got a new rep on the phone, I asked the customer service rep to read the notes attached to my account. I then explained what my issue was and that I would like a credit for at least one day. If that couldn't be done, I asked for the rep to provide me the appropriate information for submitting a complaint.

The representative then gave me a three day credit. Honestly, I think the rep would have given me a three day credit before I ever asked for her assistance in submitting a complaint.

The company I speak of above is Cox Communications.... So, when you're at your wits end with a customer service rep and things aren't going your way:

1.) Ask for a case # or customer service rep ID #
2.) Wrap up your conversation in a manner where you're reasonably confident the rep will write notes on the account... Don't hang up mid call.
3.) Call back and get a 2nd opinion with another representative.
4.) If that doesn't work, then ask the representative on how to submit a complaint.
5.) If that rep is ignorant and can't provide verifiable information, do the research and write a letter to the CEO of the company. Keep the letter to one page and stick to the facts... I suspect you will more often than not get a positive outcome. You see, the CEO's front office knows that if you take the time to write a well thought out letter, there's a reasonable chance that you have a legitimate complaint and you may end up as a lost customer if not handled properly.

Recommended Personal Finance Articles From: TheDigeratiLife, FreeMoneyFinance, DarwinsFinance, MoneySmartLife, FinancialArmageddon and DinksFinance

Here's several recommended articles from those sites that share links with Plugged in Finance. I hope they are of use to you.

The Digerati Life. "The European Sovereign Debt Crisis and Your Investments."

Free Money Finance. "Making Money Taking Surveys: Worth It or

Not?"

Free Money Finance. "How Being Late on Mortgage Payment and Foreclosure Impact Your Credit Score."

Darwin's Finance. "Is Putting in a Swimming Pool Worth It?" Writer finds a nominal cost of $67/swim for his family.

Money Smart Life. "Sell Your House Faster By Fixing These Problems."

Financial Armageddon. "The Pessimism of the Unemployed."

Dinks Finance. "Socioeconomic Standing, Age & Where We Live."

Bought New Lexus at $527 Below Invoice

Yipee! We got a 2010 Lexus ES350. It's a replacement for my 1998 Acura.

I've been driving my Acura 2.3CL for 144k miles now. The Acura only broke down once at about the 110k mile mark (overheated due to bad thermostat). Our other car was bought in 2007 used and now has 90k miles on it. We're almost to the point where its impractical to take our high mileage cars on cross country road trips. We have been waiting since 2008 to buy and decided to buy now and take advantage of my ability to buy in Washington State tax free. Basically, military personnel residing in Washington State can buy a car tax free if they are within 3 months of transfer out of state and are not a Washington resident. Well, it certainly is nice to avoid paying their 9.6% sales tax.

So, how did I get this deal? Well, first off, I didn't bring my spouse (smart & dumb move). Before dropping her off at the airport, I asked her what she would like. She knows that I was primarily looking at cars at the $25k price point as a replacement for my car (Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Ford). However, she said "I would like a BMW, Mercedes or Lexus." I said, how about Infiniti or Acura. She said no. She said she wanted a sedan, but would also be willing to take a Lexus RX SUV. I asked her what color. She said Silver, any color interior. As an alternate she would take a white car with tan interior. In prior conversations we also agreed on paying up to $35k for a new car.

I promptly went to my favorite dealer (Acura). Test drove a used 2006 Acura RL. It had 59k miles and wasn't certified pre-owned (CPO). Nice car for about $24k, but I would want CPO. I told the dealer that i'm all over the map on what I wanted and that I needed my wife with me before making the purchase.

I then test drove the Mercedes C300 Sport 4Matic. The Mercedes was nice and sporty. Much better than the one I test drove around 2002. The 2010 Mercedes C-Class is also an IIHS top safety pick. I told the sales rep that I needed my wife with me before making the final decision and left.

I then went to BMW. Their cars were all a bit more expensive and not as safe as Acura, Lexus or Mercedes (crash test wise). Heck, half of the BMWs I looked at didn't even report their crash test ratings on their window stickers like others. I left and went to Lexus.

Upon arrival, I spoke with the dealer about the Lexus RX and RX hybrid. They didn't have any entry level RX or RX hybrids. Then we discussed the ES series. They had some nearly entry level models. I asked for one in Silver and they had me test drive one with an MSRP of $38,220. I liked the test drive but said I wanted to wait until my wife returned from travel and had the option of being involved. However, I did double speak and say that I would be willing to talk numbers.

I sat down with the sales rep and he asked for some credit information. I said that I didn't want to do a credit pull and that if that was necessary I would wait until my wife was back in town.

The sales manager walked over and made conversation. He offered me the car at one price. I was silent for about 10 seconds (thinking). Before speaking, he shaved off $500. I was momentarily quiet and insisted that I wanted my wife present. At the very end he asked at what price he could get a sale. I asked to use the Internet and pulled up Truecar.com. I forgot to plug in the dealer installed LoJack, but plugged in all other options. Truecar then provided the dealer "true cost," invoice and what would be a "great price" based on historical sales (without LoJack). I said if you can met this Truecar "best price" i'll buy. He came back and offered me my price plus $100. He then stated off the cuff how much I would expect to spend in fees. He advertised $140 in additional dealer fees (he was off by $48). When added altogether, the price was at about $35,300. I stated that at the start of the day I was really only in the mindset of spending up to $30k (Acuras on my mind). He gave me a moment and I walked out to the car. I thought, if I could get the car for $34k then it would be worth buying now. I walked back in and said I would be willing to buy for $34k.

The sales manager offered with another Lexus that was identical but without LoJack. This car's MSRP was $37,435. He offered it to me for $33,885 plus what ended up as $188 in sales fees. I asked to test drive the different car. The counter offered car actually had cleaner paint and fewer miles (5 total miles). I test drove and then went to the back room with the Ninja Super Sales Lady. She tried to sell me everything under the sun in dealer mark up items (warranty, paint protective film, leather treatment, light treatments, glass treatments, LoJack, etc.). I didn't buy any. In the end I paid:

$33,885 (agreed price)

+ $29 title, license fees.

+ $9 lien fee

+ $150 document prep fee

Total: $34,073 financed at 1.9% for 60 months... Before leaving I also got a full tank (~$36 value).

Factoring free gas, my adjusted price was $34,037.

Truecar.com reports this car at a Truecost of $33,897 and a dealer invoice of $34,600.

My final adjusted price was $140 over "truecost" and $563 below invoice.

Can you get the same price? I hope so, but you should understand that I also had a slight advantage.

(1.) The dealer threw in an unadvertised $1000 in Toyota Loyalty credit.

(2.) The dealer threw in an unadvertised $750 military appreciation credit.

(3.) The dealer reduced his price several times due to my excuse of needing the wife there.

So, what did the wife think? Well, she wasn't completely satisfied. She is a bit concerned about now having two Silver Lexus ES cars (2010 and 2004 ES). Ha, Ha, Ha.

In the end, we got what I thought was a good price. Even though I got my wife what she asked for, she still has a little leverage on me whenever we decide to replace our 2004 Lexus 50-60k miles from now. She states "If I was there, we would have never got a Silver Lexus... We now have two Silver Lexus ES cars!!!" Even though she asked for a Silver BMW, Lexus or Mercedes this morning, i'm going to keep my mouth shut and simply say yes dear and no dear. Also the house will be nearly spotless when she returns from travel.

While the dealer made $140 over "truecost," he/she is still getting paid the factory military and loyalty concessions. That said, the only car that I'm seeing now going below "truecost" are left over 2010 Hyundai Sonatas.

Anybody else had luck getting a car under "truecost?"

Net worth down $14.8k on investment property accounting adjustment

I adjusted our household net worth down $14.8k this month.  The decision to do so was based on the realization that it is impractical to carry my investment properties without a built in adjustment for the capital gains tax we'll have to pay on each of them whenever we sell them.  Yes, we could do a 1031 exchange and forgo the taxes; however, that assumes that at the time of sale real estate is the best investment decision and a great buy is sitting there ready for purchase.

Recommended Personal Finance Articles From: MoneyNing, FreeMoneyFinance, No-SpendZone, FundMyMutualFund, FinancialArmageddon, MyGoodCents, Etc.

Here's several recommended articles from those sites that share links with Plugged in Finance. I hope they are of use to you.

MoneyNing. "Focus on Something New to Stop Spending Money."

Free Money Finance. "Where You Should Hide Money and Valuables at Home."

Free Money Finance. "$1 Million Not Enough for Retirement."

The No-Spend Zone. "Can the Magic Jack really make your phone bill disappear?"

Fund My Mutual Fund. "1.2 Million American Households Lost in Great Recession - Through 2008."

Financial Armageddon. "Not Your Father's America."

My Good Cents. "Free Chick-Fil-A Food All Week!"

Dividends 4 Life. "Dividend Stocks' Tax Rate Could Increase to 39.6%."

Now Cash Only - Closed Three Credit Cards in Last 50 Days Due to Fraudulent Activity (Two Citibank Cards and One Discover Card)

Regrettably, I have become a PRO at handling fraudulent activity on my Citibank and Discover cards.  I have two rebate cards between these companies giving 2% and 5% cash back, respectively.  Nowadays, our household has transitioned to cash only at three stores.

Starting in February, I had to close and reissue a credit card due to fraudulent activity for the first time in my life.  It was my Citibank card which had some unusual activity out of Paris, France.  I was out about $400.  I called Citibank and learned that I had to fill out an affidavit confirming that the cards were in my possession and that the activity was not mine.  I also included a transaction history printout with all fraudulent activity clearly marked.  The fraudulent activity was credited back to my account four days later.

I learned that the affidavit form is mailed to you in a non-descript envelope.  Make sure you sift through all of your junk mail during a fraudulent claim period so that you don't experience any unnecessary delays.  Also, you can get the affidavit form even faster if you contact Citibank's Security department directly.  The Citibank Security department can email you the affidavit form.  Once complete, the affidavit form can be either faxed or mailed back.  I faxed my affidavit back and enjoyed a quicker processing time.

If you move around as much as me, you may not give serious consideration to keeping your contact information current on all your accounts.  I could have caught the fraudulent activity about 24-48 hrs sooner had the Credit Card company been able to contact me directly with their concerns.

I started using my Discover Card while waiting for a new Citibank Card to be issued.  I didn't change of my credit card usage.  Then, my Discover Card was hit with fraudulent activity about 35 days later.  This fraudulent activity was in the amount of $180 at a Wal-Mart in Nashville, TN.  This time, I caught the fraudulent activity within the first 24 hrs.  Discover Card didn't require an affidavit and credited the fraudulent charge with just a phone call.

While it was disconcerting, I wasn't about to go to cash only just yet... Unfortunately, 15 days later I was hit for about $160 in fraudulent activity out of Spain on my new Citibank Card.  With all of this fraudulent activity, I was able to discern a common thread across all three accounts.  Each account had been used at facilities co-located withing a shopping center.  I initially thought that one location was skimming and cloning my credit card information.  It turns out that it wasn't a single store.  It was in fact the credit card clearing house.  So, next time you get hit for fraudulent activity on a credit card, understand that the problem can be bigger than credit card skimming at just one store.

A Recommended Strategy to Those Who Are New to Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs)

I entered 2010 with 21 DRIPs. I bought many of my DRIPs in late 2007 and early 2008 because I was getting a discount on the broker fees due to a one time annual subscription to Direct Investing's "Money Paper." I originally felt that it was smart to get a large number of DRIPs because it would give me something to do (following the many stocks) and establishing more DRIPs would allow me to max out the broker fee discount I was getting.

I ended up buying stocks that included Manitowoc and Alcoa. Since buying these stocks, I have had little interest in carrying some of them and have recently sold Manitowoc (article that convinced me to sell) and downsized to 20 DRIPs.

Nowadays, I believe that DRIP portfolios are best suited to a small number of holdings that can be easily followed and are somewhat predictable. So, what is predictable? Very little. But, one may consider stocks with long standing track records as somewhat predictable. A good group of stocks matching this are the "Dividend Aristocrats." Dividend Aristocrats are those stocks that have established track records of increasing dividends every year for at least 25 years.

My current mood on DRIPs is to restrict any subsequent purchases to those companies that meet the following starting criteria.

* One of Fortune's Most Admired Companies,

* A Dividend Aristocrat,

* No or low fee for dividend reinvestment / ongoing monthly purchases.

Then, and only then will I start my subsequent analysis. You might say, this is pretty arbitrary. You leave out a lot of great possible investments. My answer is why buy and hold a stock for 10+ years unless it is well admired? Why buy a DRIP if it's not cheap for ongoing periodic investments? Why hold something indefinitely for the sake of future dividend income if the company doesn't hold long-term dividend growth as a principle goal?

Companies that meet these criteria:

3M Co (MMM)

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Lowe's (LOW)

PepsiCo (PEP)

Wal-Mart (WMT)

* The six stock hyperlinks above send you to the "Transfer Agent" that manages each company's DRIP. Common transfer agents are Computershare, BNYMellon, Wells Fargo.

I own DRIPs in MMM, XOM, JNJ, LOW and WMT plus too many others that I wasted my time buying. I'd be happier had I restricted my DRIP portfolio to something smaller and more closely resembling this list of six.

Prior Plugged in Finance articles on DRIPs.

For Those That Are Interested in Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs).

I have been investing via Dividend Reinvestment Plans since 1999 when I started with Exxon. I have grown to favor DRIPs over most other investments. I like DRIPs because after paying an initial fee, you can make reoccurring investments for free or at much lower costs than most discount brokers. Minimum reoccurring investments typically range between $25 and $100 per month. Additionally, you frequently have the option of having dividends reinvested for free. Some companies charge a fee for dividend reinvestment; however, you can just as easily avoid the fee by having these dividends direct deposited to your bank account.

The first thing to understand about DRIPs is that your shares will be held by a "transfer agent." My two favorite transfer agents are Computershare and BNYMellon. If you're interested in starting a DRIP, I recommend you go directly to their sites and see if any of the stocks on your watch list can be purchased directly through them for initial setup.

A few examples of stocks that can be purchased directly through these transfer agents are:

Purchased directly through Computershare:

* Exxon Mobil (XOM)

* Lowe's Company (LOW)

* Pfizer (PFE)

* Wal-Mart (WMT)

Purchased directly through BNY Mellon:

* Conoco Phillips (COP)

* Health Care REIT (HCN)

* Limited Brands (LTD)

* Pepsico (PEP)

* The Bank of New York Mellon (BK)

* The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP)

Another popular transfer agent is Wells Fargo.

Many transfer agents require you to have an initial share before enrolling. When this is the case, I prefer to use Directinvesting's site to establish my first share. Direct Investing will coordinate the initial stock purchase and administrative setup with the stock's transfer agent.

Starting DRIPs can be a little time consuming because it will take you some time to find those DRIPs that are low fee or no fee. Additionally, it will take you some time to find the cheapest means of starting a DRIP. Basically, expect to spend $10-$30 to start a DRIP.

My favorite DRIPs that I hold are (Stock - Transfer Agent):

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Computershare

Wal-Mart (WMT) - Computershare

Exxon Mobil (XOM) - Computershare

Lowes (LOW) - Computershare

3M (MMM) - Wells Fargo

RPM (RPM) - Wells Fargo

Aflac (AFL) - Aflac

Southern Company (SO) - Southern Company

Dow Chemical (Dow) - BNY Mellon

McGraw Hill (MHP) - BNY Mellon

Each of the above DRIPs have no or low cost methods of reoccurring investment.

I went a little overboard and bought a lot of DRIPs. The following are DRIPs that also offer no or low cost reoccurring investment. I continue to hold these and will only buy more if their earnings improve (Stock - Transfer Agent).

Alcoa (AA) - Computershare

Illinois Tool Works (ITW) - Computershare

Manitowoc (MTW) - Computershare

Baker Hughes (BHI) - BNY Mellon

Harris Corp (HRS) - BNY Mellon

Limited (LTD) - BNY Mellon

Manpower (MAN) - BNY Mellon

Sherwin Williams (SHW) - BNY Mellon

Cummins (CMI) - Wells Fargo

Pentair (PNR) - Wells Fargo

Graco (GGG) - Wells Fargo

Overall, I hold about $15,962 in DRIPs that have a net dividend yield of 2.7%. This gives me a current annual dividend of $431.56. I intend to continue to grow this portfolio until it reaches a level that will offer significant dividend income in retirement (at least $4000/yr). Right now, I'm investing about $300 per month and will ratchet this reoccurring investment up periodically as our household income increases and as we pay off our investment properties.

Get a Free Pastry at Starbucks

Read this for Coupon.

Buy a Starbucks drink this Tuesday, March 23rd before 1030 AM and get a free pastry.

Starbucks Promo Coupon. Look at bottom left of page for coupon.

Debt From These Companies Recently Traded at Lower Yields Than Comparable US Treasuries... Ominous Sign for US Debt Rating

Came across a Bloomberg article today that reports that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Proctor & Gamble (PG), Abbott Labs (ABT), Royal Bank of Canada (RY) and Lowe's (LOW) all had their debt recently trading at lower yields than comparable US Treasuries.

Moody's predicts that the U.S. will spend more money this year as a percentage of revenues to service its AAA rated debt... More so than all other top rated countries except for the UK.

Related article.

Additionally, John Lipsky of the International Monetary Fund notes that by 2014 all G7 countries except for Canada and Germany will have debt-to-GDP ratios close to or exceeding 100 percent.

Related article.

Recommended Personal Finance Articles From: The Digerati Life, Free Money Finance, Money Smart Life, Darwin's Finance, Financial Armageddon, etc.

Here's several recommended articles from those sites that share links with Plugged in Finance. I hope they are of use to you.

The Digerati Life. "Foreclosure Rates, Job Statistics & Unemployment Numbers (Interactive Maps)."

Free Money Finance. "Investment Costs Everywhere - Another Point for Index Funds."

Money Smart Life. "How to Make Extra Money With Your Brain."

Darwin's Finance. "101 Ways to Cut Expenses - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly."

Financial Armageddon. "No Surprise Here."

Military Finance Network. "A Military Retirement is Worth Millions of Dollars."

Military Money Might. "Lowe's and Home Depot Extend 10% Veteran's Discount to Every Day."

Paper Economy - A US Real Estate Bubble Blog. "Buyer Traffic Forecasting Decline."

What's Your Number? Mine is Apparently $2.3 Million. Determine Your Number in Two Minutes.

I saw an interesting commercial by ING tonight while watching a program on Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.

The ING commercial has a guy carrying his number (amount he needs for retirement) while talking to a neighborhood guy whose number was a GAZILLION. The point was that not everybody knows what they are going to need in retirement to meet their life style expectations. The commercial goes on to announce a simple ING website that you can use to determine your number.

The site is INGYOURNUMBER. I went to the site and in less than two minutes it gave my "number" as $2,311,839. This number was based on my desire to have $58,000 a year in household income that will last from the age of 51 until 90. This $58k was in addition to the pension I expect to receive from the Navy, assuming I only get only one more promotion.

Previously, I had the expectation for my number to be somewhere between $1.7 and $2 million. So, $2.3 million is not much of a surprise. My number will drop to something closer to $1.7 million if I get two more promotions and retire as an O-6 (Navy Captain = Colonel other services).

Link to INGYOURNUMBER.

Best Article I Have Found on Unintended Acceleration

Came across a great Bloomberg article on unintended acceleration.

Bottom line:

(1.) Fifty-nine of 110 fatalities attributed to sudden acceleration in NHTSA records occurred in vehicles sold my manufacturers other than Toyota.

(2.) Toyota (51) followed by Ford (20) and Chrysler (12) have the most fatalities attributed to unintended acceleration.

(3.) All Toyota models worldwide will be equipped with advanced brake-override systems starting in 2011.

(4.) NHTSA records show 17 Camry, 7 Avalon, 5 Lexus ES330, 5 Highlander and 3 Sienna fatalities blamed on unintended acceleration.

Bloomberg article.

A separate NHTSA article states the following steps should be taken if you encounter unintended acceleration (be careful with the option discussing turning the engine off... This can result in a loss of power steering. I would be concerned about having steering wheel lock up during a drastic turn):

* Brake firmly and steadily - do not pump the brake pedal

* Shift the transmission into Neutral (for vehicles with automatic transmissions and the sport option, familiarize yourself with where neutral is - the diagram may be misleading)

* Steer to a safe location

* Shut the engine off (for vehicles with keyless ignition, familarize yourself with how to turn the vehicle off when it is moving - this may be a different action than turning the vehicle off when it is stationary).

* Call your dealer or repair shop to pick up the vehicle. Do not drive it.

One Year In Review With Lending Club (Peer-to-Peer Lending)

I started using Lending Club in November 2008 and collected my first interest payments the following month.

So far, I have invested $1617.67 into Lending Club and have another $675 ready for deposit whenever I find loans I like.

Lending Club has consistently stated that my "Net Annualized Return" has been in the 10 to 12 percent range with my current "Net Annualized Return" listed at 12.15%.

These numbers have been overly optimistic since Lending Club's formula fails to include transaction fees and losses in traded loans.

Accounting for these factors my monthly annualized returns have been:

Dec 2008: 8.99%

Jan 2009: 9.35%

Feb 2009: 8.76%

Mar 2009: 8.39%

Apr 2009: 8.33%

May 2009: 7.78%

Jun 2009: -5.24%

Jul 2009: 11.26%

Aug 2009: 9.66%

Sep 2009: 10.04%

Oct 2009: 9.81%

Nov 2009: 9.36%

Dec 2009: 5.89%

Jan 2010: 11.88%

Feb 2010: 9.90%

My compounded monthly returns netted me 7.7% in 2009.

My 2009 returns were most affected by my first delinquent loan. I held onto this loan and sold it when it was between 2 and 4 weeks late. I eventually unloaded it but at a 32% discount to face value.

My monthly "annualized returns" are a bit lumpy due to fluctuations in my loan portfolio and the periodic loan trades I make. I don't like carrying any delinquent loans on my books and have only kept performing loans.

My principal lending criteria is not to loan to anybody with a total debt greater than 3x their monthly income. I make $25 loans. This small lending amount takes more time but it ensures more people can qualify to purchase the loan if I ever have to sell it in a hurry.

Additionally, I look at loans for the quality of an applicant's occupation vs. my own opinion on the corresponding industry. I am positive on the outlook for Federal civil service and healthcare jobs and have focused a significant amount of my loans on applicants in these two areas.

I'm seriously considering establishing a self directed ROTH with Lending Club, but I am waiting until I grow my non-IRA account to the no fee minimum (currently $10k).