Post: #51

(06-15-2012 04:01 AM)Kona Wrote:  

(06-13-2012 10:13 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  

(03-17-2012 07:05 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  3. Black market cash is by far the most lucrative investment.

I'm one greedy mother fucker,

Can you guys talk a little more about this Black Market Cash, please?

It sounds interesting.

Aloha!

I would check out the thread I had on Venezuela, but black market "quick money schemes" are far and few between. The saying you need cash to make cash is true. You need minimum 5 figures, I ran a scheme in low-mid 5's multiple times now but to basically new forward contracts to make it work.

Post: #52

(06-15-2012 09:58 AM)chyamor Wrote:  West, what are your thoughts about euro and Greece election. I came across this article

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/caution-gr...00419.html

We believe there are four likely outcomes to these elections, with the highest probability of a Euro-negative outcome this weekend. They are:
SCENARIO #1: New Democracy wins elections and has parliamentary majority (> 151 votes) – EUR BULLISH – 10%
SCENARIO #2: New Democracy wins elections but does not have majority – EUR BEARISH (least bearish outcome) – 45%
SCENARIO #3: Syriza wins elections but does not have majority – EUR BEARISH (increasingly bearish outcome) – 40%
SCENARIO #4: Syriza wins elections and has parliamentary majority – EUR BEARISH (most bearish outcome) – 5%
In light of these expected outcomes, we find it most likely that the elections will not yield the most bullish outcome (scenario #1), but instead, falling somewhere between the least bearish and moderately bearish outcomes (scenario #2, #3). We have derived these probabilities from recent poll figures as well as commentaries from citizens and reporters in Greece.


I have traded fx on a very small scale ($2-$3k) mainly due to never having enough money to withstand the swings thus stopping out my account. I get my yearly bonus this September where I will be able to found my account about 15k.

I am expecting a shock drop then a huge upswing once people pretend the problem child is behind them. I expect this same issue to recycle with Spain and Italy down the road eventually causing the Euro to only have 3-4 countries.

I am hoping for a stalemate election thus allowing me to build up as much $$$ as possible. Yes I know this is a huge risk but I can afford to role the dice. (single, decent job, very little debt, etc)

I can already tell you're on the right track financially because you cared enough to give out info for me to help you.

Onto the points, if you are trading currency I suggest 2 things.
1. Buy currency in a place you would live this is an absolute must because it is very easy to lose cash in currencies.
2. Don't invest less than 10K. You can infer what currency I own by my taste in girls from previous threads if u must know my opinion

Point 2 is European sovereign debt crisis.
I am going to derail your comment a bit and refer you to my previous advise about investing "don't do consensus". Everyone is trying to figure out the debt crisis and are ignoring lucrative investments that were "dead". This means who cares what happens to Europe. It doesn't matter. Buy shit that's "dead" those reits I mentioned were "mortgage backed securities plays" hilarious because remember that caused the "2008 meltdown" so now that no one buys it, guess what I bought it and it's 2x market returns.

Anyway as I said going to derail you a bit and focus on the 15K you are getting.
1. Go into lending club
2. Buy bond funds like DBLTX (love this thing)
3. Put away the money

Feel free to critique my stock/investment advise it's all in print historically on this thread. If you believe your situation is different feel free to PM me.

If you put a gun to my head on Europe, I say bail out, inflation. Issue is everyone is linked to the USA and euro so those other currencies like Reals and pesos etc will get cheaper if shit hits the fan. Factually China has more USD than the USA! So it's funny because our "debt crisis" is really a debt benefit. If it crashes and you're massively in debt then guess who wins? You do. It's a big joke to me because its equivalent to me defaulting on you on a loan, who loses? You do!

Post: #53

I was curious about this lending club so I signed up, For those who have been using this

A few things dont make sense. Please tell me why this person would want a loan

Person wants to redo kitchen and is asking for 12k loan
According to his profile he makes 8k a month and has about 1k in monthly expenses. Debit to Income is 0.92%
Now If I wanted to redo my kitchen I would plan it out for 2-3 months, things I needed, color scheme etc. In the mean time I would save up. If I'm making 8k with lets say 2k in bills per month I should still be able to save that 12k that I am looking for in 2 months. The same 2 months if would take to figure out what I wanted to do in kitchen, appliance/brand research, color scheme etc...

It seams like If your an investor you almost don't want to finance a person who makes a lot of money since they have a better chance of paying off the loan much faster

Post: #54

(06-15-2012 03:13 PM)chyamor Wrote:  I was curious about this lending club so I signed up, For those who have been using this

A few things dont make sense. Please tell me why this person would want a loan

Person wants to redo kitchen and is asking for 12k loan
According to his profile he makes 8k a month and has about 1k in monthly expenses. Debit to Income is 0.92%
Now If I wanted to redo my kitchen I would plan it out for 2-3 months, things I needed, color scheme etc. In the mean time I would save up. If I'm making 8k with lets say 2k in bills per month I should still be able to save that 12k that I am looking for in 2 months. The same 2 months if would take to figure out what I wanted to do in kitchen, appliance/brand research, color scheme etc...

It seams like If your an investor you almost don't want to finance a person who makes a lot of money since they have a better chance of paying off the loan much faster

I strongly suggest avoiding over analysis. They basically priced it for you just spread out over hundreds of notes.

Law of large numbers so you'll regress to that average your time is better spent elsewhere.

If you really want to analyze, you can basically create your own simple screen maybe just don't loan to guys buying cars (a depreciating asset which would be one of the first liens to default for a owner)

Also the analysis u did on his life "2k a month" is crazy. Dude could have a trophy wife, could travel a ton, could just be dumb. Impossible to go into his house so I wouldn't try to personality assess beyond a few of your own gut instincts.

Post: #55

(06-15-2012 10:46 AM)WestCoast Wrote:  Anyway as I said going to derail you a bit and focus on the 15K you are getting.
1. Go into lending club
2. Buy bond funds like DBLTX (love this thing)
3. Put away the money

I'm Canadian and there is no Lending Club availible to us. WestCoast, I'm just curious is there any other place where you would be able to invest your money in the same form with the same risks/rewards possibly?

Post: #56

I will look into Canadian bond funds for you and see what I can scratch up. I'll pm over what I find, but direct answer is unfortunately no unless u find a way to open a USA account.

Post: #57

(06-15-2012 10:30 AM)WestCoast Wrote:  

(06-15-2012 04:01 AM)Kona Wrote:  

(06-13-2012 10:13 PM)WestCoast Wrote:  

(03-17-2012 07:05 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  3. Black market cash is by far the most lucrative investment.

I'm one greedy mother fucker,

Can you guys talk a little more about this Black Market Cash, please?

It sounds interesting.

Aloha!

I would check out the thread I had on Venezuela, but black market "quick money schemes" are far and few between. The saying you need cash to make cash is true. You need minimum 5 figures, I ran a scheme in low-mid 5's multiple times now but to basically new forward contracts to make it work.

I did. And I read some other things.

Black market cash swapping looks like it could be pretty dangerous. I give you credit.

If I was in control of any level of crime in the places that swapping makes money, I'd just rob the guys coming into town to do it.

I wish I'd known about this when I was in the Navy, but I'd never do that now.

Aloha!

Post: #58

Yep. I wouldnt do that now either. Was much easier because then I looked like I was 16, no one suspects a 16 y/o to be stacked.

Post: #59

WestCoast, you might be interested to know that in the last few months, Argentina has moved much closer to Venezuela in terms of currency controls.

There are now 4 dollar-peso exchange rates.

The "soy rate", buyer only and used only for export - soy exporters get 3 pesos to the dollar on their exports.

The "official rate" which tourists get from ATMs in Argentina when buying pesos, or when buying pesos from exchange houses - ~4.5 pesos to the dollar. This is also what is used when Argentines use their credit cards abroad. Good luck selling pesos for this rate directly - no one is buying pesos for anywhere near this rate unless they're forced to.

The "Blue Dollar" rate, the unofficial black market rate. Roughly 5.9 pesos to the dollar. This is what you get when you sell large volume dollars to the large black market houses; on the street you'll get slightly less. Interestingly, xoom.com, a Western Union style wire service, gives you something in between the Blue rate and the "official" rate.

Finally, the "blue chip swap" rate you can get when buying Argentine ADR's in the US (or elsewhere), transferring the stock, and selling in Argentina. Doing this basically guarantees an audit by the Argentine tax authority (AFIP).

There are various ways to profit from this. Probably the lowest-risk one would be to bring in dollars, sell them on the black market here for pesos, deposit them in your Argentine bank account linked to an Argentine CC, then use that credit card on amazon.com, etc.

Post: #60

(06-20-2012 09:08 PM)portofmanteau Wrote:  WestCoast, you might be interested to know that in the last few months, Argentina has moved much closer to Venezuela in terms of currency controls.

There are now 4 dollar-peso exchange rates.

The "soy rate", buyer only and used only for export - soy exporters get 3 pesos to the dollar on their exports.

The "official rate" which tourists get from ATMs in Argentina when buying pesos, or when buying pesos from exchange houses - ~4.5 pesos to the dollar. This is also what is used when Argentines use their credit cards abroad. Good luck selling pesos for this rate directly - no one is buying pesos for anywhere near this rate unless they're forced to.

The "Blue Dollar" rate, the unofficial black market rate. Roughly 5.9 pesos to the dollar. This is what you get when you sell large volume dollars to the large black market houses; on the street you'll get slightly less. Interestingly, xoom.com, a Western Union style wire service, gives you something in between the Blue rate and the "official" rate.

Finally, the "blue chip swap" rate you can get when buying Argentine ADR's in the US (or elsewhere), transferring the stock, and selling in Argentina. Doing this basically guarantees an audit by the Argentine tax authority (AFIP).

There are various ways to profit from this. Probably the lowest-risk one would be to bring in dollars, sell them on the black market here for pesos, deposit them in your Argentine bank account linked to an Argentine CC, then use that credit card on amazon.com, etc.

Thank you for the additional detail. The currency issues down there are a bit crazy and now it makes more sense to do something like what you said above, using it for consumer goods on a card. If you were to set up a cash transaction the US would log your name on file and likely catch what you're doing if you did it at a profit above a few g's.

Anyway, back half of the year is beginning so I am going to Be MIA again for a few weeks. If anyone has ?'s feel free to PM and I'll get back I July.

Post: #61

That was solid advice, thanks man

Post: #62

Just invested $25 in lendingclub to see how things work.

Also on a side note. Spain's Banks Need Up to $78 Billion

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spains-ban...24395.html

Its starting to look like the teenagers (Spain/Greece) are sucking every last euro from parents (Germany) before they give em the finger and move out the house

Post: #63

(06-21-2012 08:02 AM)WestCoast Wrote:  Thank you for the additional detail. The currency issues down there are a bit crazy and now it makes more sense to do something like what you said above, using it for consumer goods on a card. If you were to set up a cash transaction the US would log your name on file and likely catch what you're doing if you did it at a profit above a few g's.

Indeed, Argentina has now blocked withdrawals from foreign ATMs on peso-denominated accounts (you can have a dollar-denominated bank account in Argentina, and your ATM will still work abroad). The credit card method is still viable, and seems to be the best way to profit off of the currency arbitrage at this time. In order to buy dollars at the official rate from banks w/in Argentina, you need special permission from the Argentine tax authority (AFIP) proving need (dollar-denominated mortgage, travel, etc.). Thus you could be buying things for all your friends in the US on amazon w/ your peso-denominated CC, and have them transfer you dollars via paypal, which you then send to Argentina via blue-chip swaps (or another more convenient method, depending on how much you want to profit on this).
Obviously, you're not going to become a millionaire doing this, but it could be a fun way to make an extra grand or so a month. The paypal activity could conceivably look suspicious to the IRS, but I believe it's legal (I'm not an accountant).

Post: #64

(06-25-2012 01:33 PM)portofmanteau Wrote:  

(06-21-2012 08:02 AM)WestCoast Wrote:  Thank you for the additional detail. The currency issues down there are a bit crazy and now it makes more sense to do something like what you said above, using it for consumer goods on a card. If you were to set up a cash transaction the US would log your name on file and likely catch what you're doing if you did it at a profit above a few g's.

Indeed, Argentina has now blocked withdrawals from foreign ATMs on peso-denominated accounts (you can have a dollar-denominated bank account in Argentina, and your ATM will still work abroad). The credit card method is still viable, and seems to be the best way to profit off of the currency arbitrage at this time. In order to buy dollars at the official rate from banks w/in Argentina, you need special permission from the Argentine tax authority (AFIP) proving need (dollar-denominated mortgage, travel, etc.). Thus you could be buying things for all your friends in the US on amazon w/ your peso-denominated CC, and have them transfer you dollars via paypal, which you then send to Argentina via blue-chip swaps (or another more convenient method, depending on how much you want to profit on this).
Obviously, you're not going to become a millionaire doing this, but it could be a fun way to make an extra grand or so a month. The paypal activity could conceivably look suspicious to the IRS, but I believe it's legal (I'm not an accountant).

The irony of this financial set up is the guy who is willing to do this... Likely doesn't have money to lose/career to risk. If you did you don't care about making an extra $500 because it's not worth losing your 6 figure job. Definitely good info to have out there, of I got laid off I would definitely go down this route since I could cover my tracks and have nothing to lose.

Post: #65

What ObamaCare Means for Your Taxes

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-obama...taxes.html

After reading this article , It sounds like those who invest are getting bent over.

Im not sure if this is possible or not but can I open a trading account in my home country (over seas) and trade us stocks?

Post: #66

(06-29-2012 11:05 AM)chyamor Wrote:  What ObamaCare Means for Your Taxes

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-obama...taxes.html

After reading this article , It sounds like those who invest are getting bent over.

Im not sure if this is possible or not but can I open a trading account in my home country (over seas) and trade us stocks?

Sure I will happily give my view on taxes, issue is we will have to wait till year end because of all the bush tax provisions, make work pay tax cuts etc. But as i've mentioned before you're thinking about money in the right way but i am going to try and help steer you away form your current thinking which is "penny pinching to get rich" there is a fine line.

1. Would you rather save $1 on coupons, or make $150 by opening a new checking account? Both take the same amount of time but clearly $150 is better
2. Are you worried about taxes because you are super rich (net worth $500K+)? sure fine. Most people on here are not mega rich, including myself, so you shouldn't give a fuck about tax laws and should spend your time making more money/finding large items to cut costs (rent, clothes, cell phone, your 401K which is getting charged 1% fees for no reason, cost of air transportation, cost of your car etc.)

Sounds like you've started making good coin, so i would focus more on building a safety net, making "decent interest" such as 5%ish and avoiding trying to "make it big".

Anyway that's about it, but per the request i'll give info on taxes in Jan.

Post: #67

I have stated before as soon as something is consensus safe you know it's time to GTFO.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/ju...pe=article

If you do not understand the severity of this, you've got a lot of learning to do before making high risk investment bets and apparently before getting into " safe bonds" as well

In laymans terms: Pegged Libor. This is straight insane, everyone who has taken out a loan? All of you have been fucked by this and just don't know it, try reading this, now try reading this and pretending you don't get it at work and agreeing with bullshit explaining away he issues. Life is about poker faces.

Post: #68

Just remember...

there's never just one cockroach.

Westcoast gives you good idead of where to invest your money and how the stock market is not necessarily the only nor the best.

Why not taxi cab plates.?

Let's break it down. Where I am, a plate costs roughly $300,000. The city is not issuing anymore plates, so they are in limited supply. 10 years ago they were worth $90,000.

That's a 233% return in 10 years. Better than the market and better than real estate.

Further, you can do two things with the plate. Plate a car and rent it out or just rent the plate.

The rent on a plate is $1800-$2000 a month.

That's a annual dividend yield of 8%? Am I calculating this correctly?

Better than most stocks and bonds.

Let's look at a house by comparison.

The avg house price where I am is $500K. But, its shit, you need to spend $800K for a decent size one where you can rent 2 apartments out.

Let's assume you can rent the basement for $900/m and the upper for $1700. = $2600/m

Your yield would be 3.9% a year. That's just gross income. You need to pay taxes, repairs, tenent bullshit, etc.

Taxi plate...you collect the rent.

My point being, there are other avenues of making money.

The largest plate owner in my city owns about 90. He originally inherited 154 from his father and sold a bunch.

90x $2000 = $180K a month for him.

Post: #69

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/20...1-million/

Why taxi medallions cost $1 million

Post: #70

That's what I am talking about player, you're already seeing what this thread was originally going to be called... Life's bitch so be a HUSTLER. Find niche shit, hit that red till you hear it main stream and leave! Hustle till you tap out and then relax.

Great idea for your location!

(07-03-2012 04:32 PM)Zeus Wrote:  Just remember...

there's never just one cockroach.

Westcoast gives you good idead of where to invest your money and how the stock market is not necessarily the only nor the best.

Why not taxi cab plates.?

Let's break it down. Where I am, a plate costs roughly $300,000. The city is not issuing anymore plates, so they are in limited supply. 10 years ago they were worth $90,000.

That's a 233% return in 10 years. Better than the market and better than real estate.

Further, you can do two things with the plate. Plate a car and rent it out or just rent the plate.

The rent on a plate is $1800-$2000 a month.

That's a annual dividend yield of 8%? Am I calculating this correctly?

Better than most stocks and bonds.

Let's look at a house by comparison.

The avg house price where I am is $500K. But, its shit, you need to spend $800K for a decent size one where you can rent 2 apartments out.

Let's assume you can rent the basement for $900/m and the upper for $1700. = $2600/m

Your yield would be 3.9% a year. That's just gross income. You need to pay taxes, repairs, tenent bullshit, etc.

Taxi plate...you collect the rent.

My point being, there are other avenues of making money.

The largest plate owner in my city owns about 90. He originally inherited 154 from his father and sold a bunch.

90x $2000 = $180K a month for him.

Post: #71

Taxi plates have struck me as a great business in pretty much every major city I've visited. I always ask the driver what his expenses are - whether he owns his cab, how much he rents the plate for, whether he shares it with another driver, etc.

Same deal in Buenos Aires. Plates are expensive as shit and the credit system is fucked, they're out of reach for drivers to individually buy, so dudes are working 10 hour shifts and sharing with another driver to pay the rent on the plate.

(07-03-2012 04:32 PM)Zeus Wrote:  Just remember...

there's never just one cockroach.

Westcoast gives you good idead of where to invest your money and how the stock market is not necessarily the only nor the best.

Why not taxi cab plates.?

Let's break it down. Where I am, a plate costs roughly $300,000. The city is not issuing anymore plates, so they are in limited supply. 10 years ago they were worth $90,000.

That's a 233% return in 10 years. Better than the market and better than real estate.

Further, you can do two things with the plate. Plate a car and rent it out or just rent the plate.

The rent on a plate is $1800-$2000 a month.

That's a annual dividend yield of 8%? Am I calculating this correctly?

Better than most stocks and bonds.

Let's look at a house by comparison.

The avg house price where I am is $500K. But, its shit, you need to spend $800K for a decent size one where you can rent 2 apartments out.

Let's assume you can rent the basement for $900/m and the upper for $1700. = $2600/m

Your yield would be 3.9% a year. That's just gross income. You need to pay taxes, repairs, tenent bullshit, etc.

Taxi plate...you collect the rent.

My point being, there are other avenues of making money.

The largest plate owner in my city owns about 90. He originally inherited 154 from his father and sold a bunch.

90x $2000 = $180K a month for him.

Post: #72

I think you're a bit off on the renting part, most guys who succeed with housing use leverage so you wouldn't be earning 3.9%.
ex: 800k house, 5:1 leverage. 20% down-payment of 20% = 160k. say mortgage & maintenance run 2% of house value

2600x12=31200
expenses = 2%x800k=16000

31200-16000=15200/160000(down-payment) =9.5% yield
btw I assume you can deduct property taxes from income, you can also use it as a tax shield carry forward. There's a lot of ways you can play that.

just my 2c

Post: #73

https://servicing.chase.com/reo/property...Properties

I'm surprised how cheap some places are going for. Condo's in prime places in chicago are going for 150's. It almost makes sense to buy 1 and airb&b, vrbo the shit out of it

Post: #74

(07-18-2012 09:42 AM)chyamor Wrote:  https://servicing.chase.com/reo/property...Properties

I'm surprised how cheap some places are going for. Condo's in prime places in chicago are going for 150's. It almost makes sense to buy 1 and airb&b, vrbo the shit out of it

Orlando seems like a great spot for this. Cheap and brings tons of families for Disney/Universal studios.

2br/2ba condo for 78k, on the market for a while so will probably sell significantly below, looks to be across the street from Universal Studios, building w/ pools, tennis, gym, etc. & building rental center offers to rent out when not in use:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6165-C...3154_zpid/


This guy looks to be like 75% booked up at $150/night in his 3br/3ba:
http://www.airbnb.com/s/orlando--florida...home%2Fapt

Post: #75

Now the question I have does not contain that much about investing since I'm broke. But West do you or anyone else know any offshore banks or anywhere where I can save my money into? This could help not only me, but for other players on here that are in college.

The only reason why I ask this is because I still fear the FAFSA application, which is still the financial aid program that is ran by the US government. At the money making mindset that I'm having at this point, I am afraid that once they see the money I am making, they are going to shit on me by lowering the aid. My total costs for my first semesters were 10k a semester, now they had doubled it into 20k.

Any tips on how to fix this? Or should I just take this tuition and such and stop being a pussy?