Filed under: Finance, Internet, Features, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0
As you may have noticed, now might not exactly be the ideal time to get involved in the stock market. Sure, year over year, chances are you’ll make money. But there’s a good chance that if you throw a few thousand dollars into a mutual fund right now it might be worth less in 3 months than it is today. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to turn your savings into more savings. And thanks to the web, a couple of new opportunities have developed over the last few years.
First up, you might want to take a look at on the web savings accounts and CDs. Since banks like ING Direct don’t have to spend a lot of money on bricks and mortar operations, they can offer higher interest rates than many traditional banks. And even many old school banks offer on the internet accounts with higher interest rates than their traditional offerings.
But thanks to the current economic downturn, many of these banks are lowering their interest rates. While you could easily open an account with a 5% interest rate a few months ago, you’ll be lucky to find one over 3% now. If you’re looking for another opportunity, albeit a riskier one, you might want to check out a new breed of financial transactions: social lending services like Prosper, Lending Club, or Zopa.
Continue reading How to make, borrow, or lose money with P2P lending
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