[avid investor]

I've been investing in LC notes since 2008.  I used to post on here a lot, but not in recent years. 
We've all seen the changes, downturn of ROI (mostly due to increase in write offs), paucity of notes to invest in, etc.

I'm at a crossroads, having fine-tuned my investments through the API to the most conservative based on my criteria, and seeing something of a rebound in my ROI.  On the other hand, I have over $11,000 in sideline cash since there are so few notes available.  It used to be an October through December problem, but here we are in February and there's still nothing to buy.  69 notes available this morning, all dogs.

I'd like to hear from my fellow investors on what they are seeing for ROI.  I can't trust LC's ROI % calculations.  Not when I look at my LC IRA accounts (which have had no cash added or subtracted for years).  That ROI is pretty simple to calculate.  How much has the account grown in 1 year?  That's the ROI % with no cash added or subtracted from the account.  That calculation never comes up to their number.

[JDII]

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[rawraw]

I don't have my ROI.  I do know that I was involved for ~9 years, but my balance was only large for a year or two since I started as a broke college student.  I have withdrawn 21% more money than I have deposited.  When my account was small, I had zero losses for a long time (because there used to be a way to sell notes before they went bad).  As my account grew in size, that corresponded with the negative trends in LC performance.  I didn't have nearly as risky mix as many on this board, but I had several negative months.  I have always invested in a taxable account and the swing in losses made me hit my tax deduction threshold.  Moved the money to leveraged SP 500 funds, which are more tax efficient.  I know the prior sentence may sound like a joke, but it is an underutilized strategy for buy and hold.

[TravelingPennies]

Thanks for your reply.  Even though you don't know your actual ROI, do you still consider the platform a worthwhile investment given risks vs. returns?

I am also considering pulling out because of the less than liquid nature of the investments, having to wait 3 to 5 years for maturity.  I signed up for the aftermarket trading, but saw it as a way of "just losing less" by dumping poorly performing notes for a huge discount, which feels more like "cutting to the chase" and writing off a bad loan early.  After all, the only one wanting to buy your bad loans is someone who is getting them for a steep discount and has much less to lose on them.

I have heard all of the comments for years, how LC doesn't care about the individual investor market, the returns are poorer, and availability of notes poorer.  I have stayed with it because I am a software developer and developing the software to invest over their API was easy and frankly, fun.  Since I don't have to put any energy into perusing and investing in notes (as my software does that for me),  it has been easy to let things run on autopilot and not take more definitive action. 

Still hoping for more responses here, to help me make my decision.

Thanks to those that have posted.

[TravelingPennies]

There is no fact on whether the returns are good or bad. It really depends on the alternatives, your portfolio, and your requirements. Will it be the highest returns possible? No, that would be equities. But perhaps you need more predictable income streams or you want to reduce the volatility of your investments. For me, I'm still a relatively young person although not as young as I once was 😂  and the returns were good enough to be my fixed income alternative earlier. But due to the tax issue and the fact I've decided just to go all in on equities (more or less), I don't have need for an investment like this. But I manage an account for my parents near retirement that suits their requirements very well. It really depends

[ThinleyWangchuk]

Most of my performance came in the first few years.  Been loosing money ever since. 

[trixh0]

from: avid investor on February 14, 2020, 10:57:41 AM