Become a loan shark
Although stocks, ETF's, and mutual funds are a bit more popular for becoming wealthy from investing, loaning money can be a lucrative way to increase your portfolio, even during poor economic times.
"I'm not rich enough to loan money"
If you have $50, you can participate in a decentralized loan through propser.com. Prosper is an online borrow/lend website where lenders bid on three-year loans. You can read all about it at Prosper's website, but the essence of the service is that you loan money to borrowers in $50 increments at an interest rate that you bid on.
You can support celtickane.com by signing up for Prosper.com via my referral link -- if you sign up as a lender, you and I will both receive $25. If you would like to join without referral, you can join without a $25 bonus.
APY Return on Investment
According to Prosper's statistics on loan performance, lenders earn an average APY return between about 6-9%, depending on the credit rating of the borrower. There is more of a risk with Prosper than with a guaranteed interest-bearing account, but you can potentially make more money.
Lending for 0%
I realize that you're probably reading this website in order to make money, but if you have any interest in a more benevolent form of loaning, you might consider Kiva -- lenders give money to entrepreneurs in developing countries at an interest rate of 0%, and the entrepreneur pays back the loan as they are able. It's an excellent way to use your money to help others.
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