$10,000 dollars or Bust

ejury

2007-07-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Money so far: $100

Money left: $9900

So things have been a little so recently...

I really haven't found too much good stuff to post on here. But hopefully things will soon get better. Starting with this gem.

I've found another site that is kind of interesting. It lets you virtually sit on a jury so that you can consult with lawyers. It gives them a better idea in general about how they will select jury members for cases. It's a pretty good idea.

Plus, it pays 10 dollars a pop. Not bad for so little work.

Citibank offer.

2007-06-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

Running total: 70.00

Left to go: 9930.00

A somewhat interesting offer from Citibank.

I happen to have a Citibank credit, and as I was logging on to the main menu screen, I saw that Citibank is offering 50 dollars to whoever opens a checking and money market account with them for the next month or so.

This seemed like a good offer, so I went ahead and did it. The money market account was yielding 5%. Good enough, I thought, to stick 25 dollars in every month or so.

And I still think it is a good deal, even after opening the account, but I must warn you, there are certain restrictions--I suppose as with anything. You don't technically get the money for 3 months. During those three months, your account has to be in good standing.

So what does it mean to have an account in good standing? Good question. Either you have to have direct deposit to your checking account, you have to have a combined balance of 1,500 dollars in both accounts, or you have to--and to me this is the best deal--pay two bills electronically using your checking account.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the last option. It seems pretty simple enough. Transfer 50 bucks in--50 bucks that otherwise would have gone to pay bills--and pay bills. After 3 months, once I get the money in hand, I plan to close the account so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Prosper, part 1

2007-06-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Running total: 18.00

Left to go: 9982.00

Here is Part 1 of a piece about my next attempt to make money. This is only part one (in fact of how many parts, I don't know) because I have yet to make a dime from my idea. But I think it has the potential to make a decent little bit of money.

So here's the scoop: A while ago, I was reading yahoo finance... google finance... maybe even the New York Times, and I came accross an article about a company--an online company to be more specific--that allowed subscribers to a website to make loans to each other at varying interest rates. The name of the site is www.Prosper.com.

I suppose this is the point where I have to admit something to you. I'm not entirely broke. I have a little money socked away in one of those high yield internet savings accounts. In fact, I plan to talk about that in a later post. But anyway, here I am with a couple of g's socked away for no particular purpose (I don't have any desire whatsoever to spend the money given that it took me so long to amass), and so recently I thought to myself: "Why don't I test this prosper site out?"

So now I have. I had to set up an account (it wasn't particularly difficult. I had to verify a bank account, give my social security number, and transfer some money in). Then I made a few test loans. Let me tell you what, to this point, I have discovered.

First things first. The groundrules and what I believe is the theory behind making money on an online lending site like www.Prosper.com. Because I don't think it's entirely self-apparent. If you are a lender, Prosper provides you a rather substantial list of users with different credit scores who are requesting loans. They are rated AA-High Risk. Supposedly default rates for the AA and A lenders is below 1%. You are also provided with information about deliquent accounts, credit inquiries, revolving credit line, and credit line usage. After you look at all this information, you are allowed to bid a minimum of 50 dollars on each loan. The idea is that lots of people bid little amounts of money per loan and so the risk is spread around. More on that later. The loans are for a term of 3 years.

So how can we make this work in our advantage? Here's the theory. Let's start with a test case of lending 1500 dollars for 3 years at an interest rate of 13% on Prosper. I choose this sum because it is the lowest realistic dollar amount that produces a self-sustaining investment. Every month, you will receive about 50 dollars, thus the minimum amount required to invest in a loan. This is very important. In order to really make money, a reinvestment of the 50 dollars each month is precisely necessary.

Let's say we don't reinvest. What happens then? Well. Each month we get 50 dollars. Let's say we spend it... or put it in our checking account. At the end of the 3 year period, we will have earned 319 dollars in interest. Not bad... That comes out to be about 21% of the principal. But. And here's the kicker, if we were to put the same 1500 dollars in a simple savings account earning 5 percent interest, we would end up with nearly 250 dollars in interest over the same period of time. And with a savings account we can take the money out at any point. In my mind at least, those extra 70 dollars aren't particularly worth the cost of not being able to touch the money in total for 3 years.

The situation changes a lot if instead of keeping that 50 dollars, it is reinvested. I recommend back into Prosper. But conceivably, the idea also works if you put it into one of the 5% high yield savings accounts as well--you just end up earning less money. Of course, by the way, you must realize that when we do what I am suggesting suddenly we are talking about making a longer term investment. Four or five years at least.

So what happens if the money is reinvested at 13% back into prosper? I have done the calculations. I won't bore you with all the numbers. But basically, the first year, you stand to make about 10% on your investment. And each subsequent year an increase of a couple of percentage points. In total after 3 years, you end up with about twice the amount of interest you otherwise would have if you had just taken the money out. About 630 dollars, if my calculations are correct. And at that point, you stand to make a little bit more given that you will have almost three years of loans that you have made that have yet to reach maturity. In total, you make 2 times as much as taking the money out of prosper and 3 times as much as you could make by just leaving the money in a savings account to compound.

That's the idea behind making money at a place like Prosper. I'm not quite sure if it works yet. As I said before, I have made some initial loans of 50 dollars to figure out exactly how it works and how reliable it is before I invest anything more. But so far, I am pretty impressed. I bid on two loans (100 dollars), one at 13 percent, the other at 14.5 percent. Each of the lenders was advertised as having an A or AA credit history. It also seems that Prosper takes every precaution to avoid fraudulent loans. After enough people have bid 50 or however many dollars to meet the loan, Prosper reviews the loan and performs a kind of background check on the borrower. This process can take up to a week. In case people do default, Prosper uses real collection agencies in case people default.

Once I have more information, I will pass it on to you.

The survey says...

2007-06-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

Running total: $10.00

Left to go: $9990.00

So I have now officially started my quest. I have started my journey, and I am ten dollars closer to my goal of 10,000 dollars. Not a lot of money. But everybody's gotta start somewhere, right?

So how did I make my 10 dollars, you ask.

Surveys.

After sleuthing around on the internet for a few hours, I discovered that there are various sites that allow you to take surveys online and that pay you money for each survey completed. I suppose everybody is probably familiar with the concept. It is not revolutionary, nor does it pay particularly well. But whatever? Why not get some money for all the time I otherwise spend wasting on the internet.

I started by signing up on three websites that came recommended to me, and that I knew weren't going to be spam or spyware: globaltestmarket.com, clearvoicesurveys, and NPDOR. All three sites advertised payouts between 2 and 25 dollars per survey completed. After I set up an account, I was expecting to be able to start doing surveys right away. But that's not how it works. I had to wait three or four days before my first survey came. And consequently, I have been receiving about 1 survey per day, sometimes two.

So far, I am pretty happy with the sites. The survey's are pretty easy to fill out. They all take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete, and for the work put in, the payout isn't terrible, even though it is nowhere near 25 dollars, and much closer to the 2 dollar range. For each of the sites, money is collected in an account on the sites, and then when it reaches a certain amount it is paid, usually with paypal or something like that.

Right now, I am looking for more sites to use to do surveys. I know there exist out there pay services that let you access a database of survey sites. But given that the payout for each survey is so low, I don't really think it's worth paying money for access.

More to come later...

In the beginning...

2007-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal... I'm a student and a world traveler. I go around to different places in different countries to look through archives--collections of old, old, mostly boring documents--in order to find interesting tidbits of information that I can transmit to my particular research institution back in the United States. The idea is that one day I will be able to finish my degree, get an academic position, earn some money, and then start a life like normal people do. You know... with a house, a dog, and kids... that kind of stuff.

Alas. I am rather far away from that day. For the last few years, I have been struggling and relatively poor. Which was fine. My school provided me with some cash to get by.

That is, except for the summers. In the summers, I am forced to fend for myself. It is quite an unfortunate affair considering that I have no real marketable skills, unless there is a market for a full time reality television watcher.

The last few summers, I've done this that and the other. I've scraped enough money together to live. Not much else. This summer, I've decided that I will try something slightly different.

My goal is to have earned (and probably spent) 10,000 dollars by the end of the summer. I'm not quite sure if it is realistic. I really have never worked an honest day in my life. But we'll see. And that is why I have started this blog. To document my progress for the world to see.

10,000 dollars or bust, I say!

Let me mission begin...