The Carnival of Personal Finance is up. Just one of the many exciting happenings today in the world of finance.

Not too long ago, I was introduced to Lending Club. I find it an intriguing way to invest, and have enjoyed buying a few notes. While P2P lending isn’t for everyone, I think that there are benefits to the process for those who are interested in helping others while making a return — as long as they can stomach the risk that comes with such an investment.
Funding an IRA through Lending Club
I was interested, therefore, to learn that Lending Club now offers an IRA option. You can fund a retirement account through Lending Club. Here is something from an email …read more

One of the best things you can do is look ahead, planning for the future. When considering tax planning and retirement, the year 2010 is something to keep in mind. I recently received this helpful information from James Wagner at Trust Administration Services:
The year 2010 presents a wonderful opportunity for many individuals to convert to investments in traditional IRAs to a Roth IRA. Investors that are interested in taking advantage of growing money tax-free for retirement should check in with their advisor. Resulting from the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 the $100,000 modified gross adjusted income ceiling …read more

Here are the top 5 tips for your retirement account.

Right now, there is a battle heating up over your retirement account. It has to do with tax breaks on your contributions, and whether your earnings are tax deferred. The new proposals regarding contributions don’t really affect me, since my husband and I are all about the Roth IRA, and we don’t have an employer-sponsored plan. But I know that there are plenty of other folks out there whom this would affect. Jeremy at Gen X Finance offers this:
If you currently save in an employee-sponsored retirement plan, how would you feel if you stopped getting a tax break on your …read more

My Roth IRA lost in value last year. A great deal of it happened in November. I’m sure it was rather rocky last week as well. But I didn’t check. Mainly because I’m not terribly worried about what this bear market is going to do to my retirement portfolio. If were retiring next year, I’d be terrified. I’d make a plan to keep working a little longer until the market recovers (which it almost always does in the long run). But I am decades from retirement, so the bear market isn’t a bad thing for me.
CNN Money points this out …read more

When it comes to being self-employed, there are many things that you have to think about on your own. From health insurance to retirement plans, you only have yourself to rely on when getting some of the things that many people who work for “the man” take for granted.
Happily, in terms of retirement plans, there are several to choose from for the self-employed. There are plans that can be used for your business, to cover your employees, and there are plans that offer benefits just for yourself, in the event that you just make money yourself, and don’t have employees.
Personally, …read more