Posts belonging to Category Peer to Peer Loans



Today’s ‘Alternative Investments’ Resemble ‘Limited Partnerships’ of the Past

 

Wall Street’s recent promotion of alternative investments should warrant serious concern among investors. It serves as an unpleasant example of history repeating itself. In the mid-1980s, Wall Street firms became enamored with limited partnerships (a form of alternative investment) that invested in so-called hard assets, paid the firms high commissions and fees, were illiquid and […]

Beware Social Media Scams

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an Illinois-based advisor with selling fictitious securities via social media. Anthony Fields, CPA, doing business as Anthony Fields & Associations and Platinum Securities Brokers offered over $500 billion of phony securities through a variety of social media sites, including using LinkedIn discussions to promote nonexistent “bank guarantees” and […]

Alternative Investments – High Risk ‘Pigs in a Poke’

 

Many investors in alternative investments are in for unpleasant surprises. Alternative investments are very popular these days, as traditional stock and bond investments are not doing well. Alternative Investments include a wide variety of investments that fall outside the traditional stock and bond categories. Examples include structured products (such as principal protected notes and reverse […]

Most Alternative Investments Carry Huge Risks

 

Investors should use extreme caution before investing in alternative investments. Alternative investments have become the popular “investment du jour” but these investments are fraught with risks. Simply stated, alternative investments are not the panacea that so-called experts represent them to be. For the reasons discussed below, investors need to be very skeptical of any recommendation […]

‘Selling Away’ Abuses Are Costing Investors Millions

 

Brokers often pitch alternative investments when the stock market is declining and returns on traditionally safe investments are too low. A few alternative investments may have some merit. Many more are flawed, bad and ugly in that they provide investors little more than uncompensated high risk. Then there are those that cross the line into […]

Securities Cops Issue Warnings about Current Investment Scams

 

The association of state securities regulators known as NASAA has released its top 10 investment traps. NASAA finds that scam artists are peddling various get-rich-quick schemes to take advantage of the economic uncertainty. According to NASAA, investments that investors should be particularly wary of include distressed real estate schemes, energy investments, gold and precious metal […]

Proceed with Caution if You are Considering Peer-to-Peer Lending

 

So-called peer-to-peer online lending first became possible in the United States five years ago, but if you are considering investing money as a lender, it would be wise to wait a couple of years to see how existing lenders fared, according to Ron Lieber’s New York Times article, “The Gamble of Lending Peer to Peer.”

Securities Regulators Voice Concerns About Peer-to-Peer Loans

 

The Securities Exchange Commission in cooperation with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) have issued warnings to investors about the risks of peer-to-peer lending via the Web. In the current economic environment where it is often difficult to obtain a conventional loan from banks, peer-to-peer lending or P2P, has become popular. Peer-to-peer lending allows […]