How Nice Guys Finish First With Money

Kevin McKee recently had an excellent guest post at the blog Sweating The Big Stuff that argued in favor of being nice in dealing with businesses that you frequent. And I personally could not agree more. At every sales position that I have ever worked at in my life, I have been much more inclined to help someone out who is kind to me and honestly asks me for assistance. If someone comes in cussing, yelling, and screaming, then there is no incentive to help that person out. Why would I want to make a jerk's life any better? There's no motivation there. I'm amazed by how many people don't seem to realize this. Whenever I visit McDonalds and they screw up my order, I politely ask for a free order of fries to compensate me for my trouble, and every single time, without hesitation, I have received that free order of fries. And this has generally been true for more expensive items as well. If you have an honest gripe with the company, presenting it in a reasonable manner will make the company want to help you out--after all, what company thinks it is in their long-term interest to screw over nice people asking for justice? That would be a disastrous business model. If you want to take a look at Mr. McKee's post, be sure to visit it by clicking here: http://sweatingthebigstuff.com/a-drop-of-honey-makes-you-money-in-negotiations/

Lending Club Investing

Peter Anderson of Bible Money Matters recently published a post about his success with Lending Club Investing, which is an online form of peer-to-peer lending. It's a good read. Personally, I would not join up for Lending Club Investing. The best case scenario with peer-to-peer lending is that you will earn 10-12% returns on your investments. Of course, the worst case scenario is that you never see any of your money again. If I want to get a 10-12% return on my money, I'm going to invest in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Berkshire Hathaway, Exxon-Mobil, Johnson & Johnson, Clorox, etc. If I'm going to aim for low double digit returns, I'm going to be more comfortable betting my money on the fact that these mega-cap companies are less likely to default or go bankrupt than someone I might find in peer-to-peer lending websites. It's not only the returns you receive from your investments, but the Risk-Adjusted Returns that you receive from your investments, and I would feel much safer trusting my hard-earned dollars to the companies that I listed above. But be sure to check out Mr. Anderson's article, he offers a perspective that is worth observing: http://www.biblemoneymatters.com/lending-club-investing-returns-above-10-5-as-high-risk-loans-stay-current/ .