Mostly about Utah
On New Years Day Jill went with some of her family to Mantua to snowmobile. She knows Mantua well for it is only four miles from Brigham City where she grew up. Her father still lives in Brigham City. The few times that I have been snowmobiling I usually manage to get my rickety snowmobile stuck. Which is just what Jill did this time out. Susan (her sister) and Byron (her nephew) had to come and pull her snowmobile free as you can see in the video.
The Lending Club blog announced four new features today:
These are all very useful features. I checked them out in my Lending Club account. But first, to give you some idea of the possibilities of peer to peer lending here are a few details of my rickety lending. Currently I have 44 notes in Lending Club that have a weighted average interest rate of 11.45%. None of my notes have ever been late. Based on outstanding principal the composition by rating are A 6%, B 55%, and C 39%. It seems to me that this is a very good interest rate when compared to Certificates of Deposit.
The “Notes Already Invested in” feature was one that I had requested in October. The part that is most useful to me is the ability to exclude notes already invested in when browsing and searching. I just have to select the check box at the top of the search page.
As far as “Charged off loans and notes” are concerned, I don’t have any of my notes that are past due so there is nothing for me to see — yet. Here is what Rob has to say:
We have added a “charged off” status to your account, so that you can now differentiate defaults from charge-offs. While “default” occurs automatically when a loan is 120 days past due, a loan or note only gets charged off when Lending Club considers it unrecoverable after a review of the collections activities (which can happen before or after 120 days). These charge-offs will appear in your end of year statement so that you can report them as losses for tax purposes.
The “give your friends $50” feature appeared at first to me to be a gift certificate I would have to buy. But no, it is a promotion and a very good one. Lending Club explains their generosity:
Well, we spend around $50 attracting a new customer anyway so instead of making an ad agency richer, we thought it would make more sense to let you invite your friends and deposit $50 in their account, make them $50 richer and make you look good in the process!
I have already sent invites to several friends and family who will appreciate $50 to play with. The slick interface allowed me to choose from my email contacts and edit the email invitation if I wanted.
“Reinvesting Monthly Payments” offers the ability to schedule a search that runs automatically when your cash balance equals or exceeds a given amount. This feature currently uses LendingMatch; Lending Club will be adding the ability to use the more granular credit criteria soon. I am using this feature by setting the minimum amount of $25 and the lowest target average interest rate. As soon as my cash balance reaches $25 I should be notified by Lending Club of the order that is waiting. I’m not interested in the order — I pick my own notes — I just want to be notified that I have enough to invest in another loan. We will see if it works the way I have set it up.
22 Feb 2009 A Lending Club Investment Analysis (PDF) was conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research (January 2009). Accounting for loans paid off early, late payments, defaults, and a Lending Club 1% service charge, the overall investment return still averaged 9.05%, with a median return of 10.48%, based on a Weighted Average Return on Invested Capital.
In England where I was raised, war memorials were prominent in almost every town. These monuments were often located in quiet places where one could relax and reflect on life (or death). I was often struck by the large numbers of soldiers killed in their prime. I am always grateful that I have never had to go to war, although I have served in the military.
The number of visitors to my blog from India is second only to the United States. I decided to write a post about India to see if any of my visitors could add any first hand experiences to what I have written. Searching for a photograph of India, I consistently came across India Gate. Therefore that is my choice for today. What is your favorite destination in India?
The India Gate is one of the largest war memorials in India. Located at Rajpath, in the heart of New Delhi, India Gate commemorates the 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who lost their lives during World War I and the Afghan Wars. The memorial is over 137 feet high and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, a leading 20th century British architect. The foundation stone was laid by HRH the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and the monument was dedicated ten years later by Viceroy Lord Irwin.
The arch stands on a base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge cornice, beneath which are inscribed Imperial suns. Above on both sides is inscribed INDIA, along with the date, MCMXIV (1914) on the left and MCMXIX (1919) on the right. The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries.
Following India’s independence, India Gate became the site of the Indian Army’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, known as the Amar Jawan Jyoti, or the flame of the immortal warrior. This flame has been burning in a shrine under the arch of India Gate since 1971. The shrine itself is a black marble cenotaph (a tomb in honor of a person whose remains are elsewhere) with a rifle placed on its barrel, crested by a soldier’s helmet. Each face of the cenotaph has inscribed in gold the words “Amar Jawan” meaning Immortal Warrior. This cenotaph is itself placed on an edifice which has on its four corners four torches that are perpetually kept alive. It was unveiled on January 26, 1972 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in the wake of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.
Presented here are portions of Elder Daniel Willoughby’s eigth email from the Missionary Training Center. He has a personal message for visitors to Rickety.
Dear Family and Friends,
Christmas was very exciting. Elder Holland came in the morning and taught us about Christ. He gave us 12 names of Christ to study each day for 12 days. He called them the 12 days after Christmas. It has been wonderful to get to know my Savior better and understanding His life more helps me with mine.
The RC has again been such a wonderful experience for me. I prepared this time as I felt I wasn’t doing exactly what Heavenly Father wanted me to. Through that preparation for the RC I learned wonderful missionary lessons. I was able to better follow the Spirit and help the people solve their concerns rather than just trying to get them to meet with the missionaries. I was able to bear my testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel and also of how much God loves his children. The people I talked to, some really wanted the help from the Church to get more peace in their lives. Others simply were interested in what the Church taught.
Any visitors to my Dad’s blog who are searching for God’s love or solutions to life’s toughest questions I invite you to hear The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints message. Our message is simple. We all have a Father in Heaven. He loves us. We are His children. He has placed us in families to help us have joy and happiness in this life. He has had a pattern of love and concern for His children throughout all of time as recorded in the Bible. He loved us so much that he sent His son, Jesus Christ, to come to earth. While on earth Christ set up His Church which taught His Gospel. He called apostles to help Him teach.
Though Christ only sought to do good, people rejected His message and killed Him and His apostles. After years of darkness and confusion God again has reached out to His children in love. He has restored His original truths taught by Jesus Christ through living prophets. The Book of Mormon is proof of this. We invite all to read it, ponder its teachings and pray for yourself to know whether God has restored His Truth to the earth.
We seek not to prove anyone wrong but to add to the good things that your religion already has. I know God my Heavenly Father loves me. I have felt of His love. He has great concern for all of His children and wants all of them to feel of His love.
I know that He has restored His truth again. It is the Book of Mormon. I know anyone that reads it will feel God’s love and get answers to any concerns or challenges they face. I promise that anyone who seeks out to know Christ and seek to know Him will find out. This is His church restored to the earth today. Please request your free Book of Mormon today and find out for yourself of its truth.
Love
Elder Willoughby
List of Daniel’s missionary posts.
