I know 12% is on the high end and probably not sustainable with a large portfolio. My default rate was lower than average because I picked every loan myself and at the time their rating system was different so the interest rates paid to investors was higher than they are now. Choosing every loan on a highly diversified $10k+ portfolio would be too time consuming. LC now gives you a tax form but you still have to report them all when filing. Unless you have an IRA set up with them you're also paying those taxes every year instead of only when you sell off like you would with stocks or mutual funds. Not very tax efficient. Google lending club bogleheads and read some of their message board threads about it.

The whole thing seems great at first but the more you get into the details the less appealing it turns out to be.

So they treat every loan you have a piece of as a separate transaction? Hmmm that could def get unwieldy. Seems like an interesting concept. I suspect they are doing it the way they do for legal reasons having to do with status as a fund or not.

There are no funds paying 12% yield. You may be able to squeeze that type of total return out of a bond fund over a particular year (particularly during a falling interest rate environment) but it is not coming through yields (more or less interest rates).

They have this "Automated Investing" system now which is really sweet, although takes a while to get fully invested.

Agree, the individual account does suck for taxes. IRA is the way to go.

Will do. I have definitely heard some criticisms and need to get smarter on it.

Yes every loan is treated as a separate purchase and therefore a separate gain. Originally they left it up to investors to self report on taxes until they were given the smack down by the SEC. 12% long term in a large LC portfolio is not realistic at this time and probably never will be. I was lucky to invest a small amount before a thier reporting system and interest rates changed. Still it was a few buy ins worth and nothing life changing. Like I said, not worth the hassle and I'll just stick to buying funds instead.

Problem with the automated investing tool is that you aren't evaluating every loan purchase yourself. When I invested I made sure to weigh the return vs the credit rating, default history, outstanding loan balances, and general story of why each person needed the money. Can't do that with an automated system and therefore being "lazy" about it will directly result in a lower overall return and higher default rate.

What about an investment vehicle like silver or gold? I think they are pretty low risk and super liquid. Suppose something like 5-10% of your roll?

I think if you are fully rolled for the game you may never miss it.

Just feels like a shame having all this cash doing nothing.

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Precious metals are not really an investment. They are a storage of wealth with a hedge against inflation. Keeping about 10% of your total investing money in PMs isn't a bad hedge, but there's little money to be made.

I have been playing 1/1 with a $5 max + $2 jackpot ($7) rake (at $45 pot).

As I understand it, a rake that high makes the game unbeatable. What would a decent loss rate be then?

Right now I'm down $446 in 70 hours. So, ~6.4 bb loss per hour. Trying to figure out just how bad I suck. Thanks.

Don't play a game that can't be beat

Bigger factor is how deep the game plays. If its 150+ buy ins with $8 preflop raises getting some calls then its fine. If its a bunch of tight players with $20 to $40 buyins then its not worth it.

It's $80 max.

Play a 7/4 nut camper strategy until you're at least 200bb deep with someone. Then revert to standard longball and treat the game like a 1/2.

Also move up stakes asap.

Nothing like a 16 buyin downswing @ 2/5 to make you rethink your ENTIRE approach to the game.....

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May not be a bad thing!

Well....still have a winrate of 3.5 bb per hour over 1200 hours so....

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hello guys.is a 200nl game as i said in the title beateable?

Yes.

ty iraisetoomuch..how much u think should be my winnings if I play 8 hours a day everyday to consider myself I beat this game.I pay like 120 for rent a week plus 20 transportation plus 60 food..so i have 200 a week expense.ty very much

If you make 8bb/hour that's $16/hour. At 40 hours a week, that's $640 a week. Which means you are netting $440 a week. That's ~$1700 a month.

So, that should give you an idea.

But without posting a tl;dr answer, if you are asking this question, you likely shouldn't be trying to play for your only means of income. If you haven't taked the time to read through most of this thread (which would have answered most of your questions) then there is a strong chance that yo haven't done enough research and studying in other areas and that you should not be playing for a living.

I'd stick with a different job for a while.

Talking to some of the other MDL regs last night, a couple have had 25+ buy in down swings as well as 600+ hour breakeven stretches at 2/5. They both now think a minimum of 35 buyins for a roll is essential. The standard 20 isn't enough. That way you don't have to drop back down in stakes if things go south and you can comfortably ride out the variance tsunami.

They both had ended up with their case money on the table at one point. Luckily they both pulled through but said it was extremely difficult to play well while you are "up against it."

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If you are a pro and you have the last of your money on the table, you did something horribly wrong before that in order to make that happen.

If you are a rec player who can just reload later from your life roll then it's very different obviously.

MDL is 100bbs yes? Ima go ahead and say a 25 bi downswing is close to unacceptable for live 2/5.

25 BI downswing = not a pro poker player.

This scares me

Real easy to lose 10k in a 1k+ bi 2/5 game imo