Mintos.com Review 2020 (36 Month of Investing in Peer to Peer Lending)

16 January, 2020 | Peer to Peer Lending | 53 seen

I've been investing in the Mintos.com peer to peer lending marketplace since the beginning of 2017, or it has been already 36 months or three years since I've been exposing my funds to this Latvian fintech platform. 

In the past three years, I've made a nice revenue of EUR 1,477.86 (before tax) and in today's article, I decided to share a quick overview for the past three years and also make a quick glimpse for my plans for 2020

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending website, by clicking on links on this page and by making investment on mintos.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to you. Also, I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds, bonds or cryptos are risk investments and you could lose some or all of your money. Do your due diligence before investing in any kind of asset. 

Background - I first heard about Mintos.com at the start of 2016, one thing that made it attractive to me was an option to lend in…

Income Goal For Dividends and Option Trading Q1 2020 ($1,200/mo)

14 January, 2020 | Investments | 19 seen

I have a goal to make at least $1,200 per month for the next 3 months of the year in dividend income + selling options.

Every quarter I create a brief income plan/goal laying out plans for the next three months.

Last quarter (Q4 2019) I had a plan to take $1,000/mo from the financial markets, unfortunately, it didn't work as expected.

In total, I made slightly more than $3,000 during the last quarter, but not all months were even so, for example, October was the best income month so far with $3,294.29 taken from the market, then come November and I got hit hard, ended month with negative -$959.06, during the month of December I traded safe and made slightly less than thousand - $927.98.

The past quarter has been like a roller coaster with high ups and low downs.

For the Q1 2020, I have a $1,200/mo goal. It seems quite doable and also is a pretty serious amount of money. 

I have a plan to invest about 16K this year into…

Fabrika Tbilisi

11 January, 2020 | Tourism objects | 92 seen

Fabrika Tbilisi is a stylish hipster place located on Egnate Ninoshvili street 8 in a renovated Soviet Era factory building, 

Fabrika is the space for rebellious minds to create and share.

Once a Soviet sewing factory has been revived and transformed into a multi-functional urban space bringing together enthusiastic individuals ready to stretch their minds with new exhilarating experiences.

First discovered back in 2016, this place has been on our radar ever since - I wouldn't call myself as often guest here, but I find this place chill. 

Fabrika Tbilisi

Space now continues its life as the popular hotspot that unites urban style cafes and bars, artist studios and shops, educational institutions, co-working space, the biggest in the region hostel, mind blowing open space courtyard, ever-changing one-off events and creates synergy between them.

Ar the place is relatively close to our apartment, I have been using the coworking facilities run by the ImpactHub time after time, and I'm thinking to use it more often in the future

…

Top 10 Hotels in Bergamo (Italy)

10 January, 2020 | Hotel reviews | 24 seen

If there is a good reason to visit Bergamo in Italy's region of Lombardy, then exploring the old town, city walks and architecture are the top 3 reasons according to Booking.com

Another reason you might find yourself in Bergamo is if you are traveling to/from Bergamo airport and are looking for just a nice accommodation after/before your flight.

That's actually how we ended in one of Bergamo hotels near the airport (Grand Hotel Del Parco - Bergamo Airport) when traveling here by Ryanair flight.

You should expect to pay about $60-$100 per night for a decent hotel in Bergamo

Please note: Hotels listed in this article contains affiliate links to Booking.com, and if you will click on them and make an actual booking I will earn an affiliate income from that

One of our top picks in Bergamo.Offering a rooftop restaurant, Hotel Excelsior San Marco is set in Bergamo's central square, Piazza della Repubblica. It has free WiFi throughout and is a 2-minute walk from the main shopping area of Bergamo Bassa.

There is a free internet point…

December 2019 Dividend Income Report - $235.94

8 January, 2020 | Investments | 17 seen

Welcome to the thirty-second (#32) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in December 2019.

Last December we spent some 10 days in Latvia, unfortunately, global warming has hit Latvia too and instead of snowy meadows and white fir trees, all we got was some gray haze and green grass.

Christmas tree 2019

Every citizen is allowed to cut one fir tree from Latvian State Forests (Latvijas Valsts meži), there are rules that apply, but here we got our Latvian tree (we have another live tree in Tbilisi)

The last December was quite OK in terms of dividend income. Also, I almost recovered from my bad option trades I was hit last November.

At the end of the month, I have collected $235.94 from dividend stocks and Mintos peer to peer lending platform.  Compared to the previous December in 2018, that is a growth of 47.11%% (+$75.64). I really love such YoY growth

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending and…

2019 in Review and Financial Goals for 2020

7 January, 2020 | Investments | 17 seen

I'm 34 years old now and I have a goal to save one million dollars by the time I will turn 60. Just 26 years to go. I've been documenting my journey towards financial independence for the last three years already.

In today's article, I will review the past year of 2019 and take a quick glimpse at the New Year of 2020.

Make sure to check out previous yearly review articles here:

• 2018 in Review and Financial Goals for 2019
• 2017 in Review and Financial Goals for 2018

In 2019 I made a huge shift from a focus on peer to peer lending and cryptocurrencies to option trades..For now, I can surely tell - options trading is the best thing I have discovered in 2019.

Naked puts on dividend stocks I would like to hold forever; covered calls and vertical spreads on SPX (SP 500 index) and GC (gold futures).

I was introduced to the options world from a fellow Italian investor/trader Massimo, who I first met at the start of January in Tbilisi, we have been in close contact ever since. Last time we met in person in Milan, Italy at the end of 2019…

Keti's Bistro

4 January, 2020 | Restaurant reviews | 13 seen

Keti's Bistro is another stylish  Tbilisi restaurant located on Tamar Chovelidze street 3 (opposite to hotel Stamba)

My better part took me here just before the New Year 2020, and I found this place quite a chill. 

We agreed to order here some steaks before going to the Christmas market opposite the Radisson hotel. As we were out with our almost 18-month baby girl, we wanted to make sure we will go to a place with a lot of space and few people. During our time at Keti's bistro we were the only guests and that helped. Baby girl was happily running throughout the bistro, while we enjoyed the food. Win-Win

Steak in mushroom sauce in Keti's Bistro

The steak was good. Sauce? Not this time. Potatoes? They were eatable. 

Christmas style interior at Keti's bistro

Hotel Lenno (Italy)

3 January, 2020 | Hotel reviews | 15 seen

4-star hotel Lenno is set in an elegant building just off the main road, and right on the shore of Lake Como, in the fantastic Gulf of Venus. There is free Wi-Fi.

We booked this hotel in mid-November 2019, during our week-long trip to Italy/Switzerland and paid about $110 per night. We arrived here from the lovely town of Lecco

We were lucky and managed to get a baby crib for our 16-month old daughter:

Hotel Room at Lenno hotel

The room was spacious, we even managed to order some food to our room and paid just some EUR 30 extra for some pizzas and salads:

Ordering dinner at Lenno hotel

At Hotel Lenno you can taste typical Italian dishes and prestigious wines, enjoying an enchanting view on the lake.

At Lenno hotel I learnt that it's OK to order a glass of Merlot for dinner. Now I know one more smart word - Merlot

Lake Como near Lenno hotel

From Lenno hotel you can visit Como by boat and return to the hotel in the same day, or take the funicular railway up to Brunate and admire the lake from above…

Tbilisi Christmas Market 2020

2 January, 2020 | | 15 seen

In today's Piece of Life series, a brief photo story from the Christmas market held near Radisson Blue hotel Tbilisi. 

To get here we took a taxi from our apartment to Keti's bistro. After finish steaks and Cokes we were ready to explore the market. The little one was excited the most.

Christmas market in Tbilisi 2019/2020

From traditional Georgian souvenirs to hot wine. All the classical Christmas market stuff.

People at Christmas market

I did find this picture funny  - smoking is still very popular in Georgia, especially among young people. I wonder what it will be like in 10, 20 years?

The main Christmas tree in Tbilisi

Christmas decorations in Tbilisi

Christmas decorations in Tbilisi

Happy new year everyone!

New Year's Eve Fireworks 2020 Tbilisi

1 January, 2020 | | 15 seen

As every year I contribute to fireworks photography, 2020 was no exception, from our Tbilisi apartments balcony I made dozens of long exposure night photography.

A sturdy tripod, ISO 400-3200, f stop 3,5 up to f11 and exposure from 4 sec up to 10 seconds. The magical beauty of night photography.

Tbilisi fireworks 2020

With SPX still trading I found myself running from the balcony to inside the room to check if SPX has reached 3224 levels (at the end it closed above 3230)

Long exposure to fireworks photography

Fireworks from Tbilisi 2020

That said, have a very prosperous 2020. Trade safe

0 DTE SPX Trading Challenge

31 December, 2019 | Options trading | 44 seen

I've been trading options since March 2019, I have been trading verticals since September 2019. Option trading is not easy, it can hurt. Money can be made and more money can be lost - been there seen that.

In my short options trader career I have tried naked puts, covered calls, futures, indexes - a lot has been learned and a lot is still to be learned. I prefer learning through practice, and that's how 0 DTE SPX Trading Challenge was born.

Subscribe to the Covered Calls with Reinis Fischer newsletter

I like 0 DTE over longer-term options - money is made (or lost) during the trading day, less time in the trade, less stress. Actually the potential return in day trades are much higher than in those with longer-term (take 7 DTE, 45 DTE and so on)

Challenge starts just a day before Christmas on December 23, 2019, to make me accountable a separate FB group - 0 DTE SPX Traders has been created. 

• Trade for one year or till the end of 2020
• Enter trade every Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Start capital: $500

Idea trading with such small…

Georgian Museum of Fine Arts

28 December, 2019 | Museums | 39 seen

Georgian Museum of Fine arts is located on Rustaveli avenue just opposite to Tbilisi parliament building. The museum has been opened for public just recently at the end of 2018. It is interesting to note that currently, it is the only building in Georgia built purposely to house art exhibitions.

The museum houses over 3500 artworks, created by over 80 artists during the last 70 years.  The museum exhibits private art collection of the family of Dr. George (Gia) Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevardadze, founders of Magticom, the largest telecommunications company in Georgia.

There is an entrance fee of GEL 15 (2019), we paid a half-day long visit here in early November 2019. There is a cafe inside the building and an elevator. In total there are 5 floors of exhibition halls.

The exhibition hall at Georgian museum

According to Wikipedia: Dr. George (Gia) Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevardnadze started collecting art in 1990s. After successful entrepreneurial endeavors, Dr. Jokhtaberidze started buying art for personal interests. During one of the shopping visits, the gallery was about to ship art to a foreign country for very low…

Lecco town in Italy

27 December, 2019 | Tourism objects | 15 seen

Lecco is a small city in northern Italy, some  50 kilometers (31 mi) north of Milan. The city lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como.

The Bergamo Alps rise to the north and east, cut through by the Valsassina of which Lecco marks the southern end.

We visited the town of Lecco for a couple of hours in mid-November 2019, during a week trip to Italy/Switzerland. Really stunning.

Como lake near Lecco

The lake narrows to form the river Adda, so bridges were built to improve road communications with Como and Milan.

There are four bridges crossing the river Adda in Lecco: the Azzone Visconti Bridge (1336–1338), the Kennedy Bridge (1956) and the Alessandro Manzoni Bridge (1985) and a railroad bridge.

Piazza XX Settembre, in the centre of the town, and the San Martino mountain.

Archaeological finds demonstrate the presence of Celtic settlement in the area before the arrival of the Romans. The latter built a castrum here and made it an important road hub. After the fall of the …

How to Setup Charts with Interactive Brokers

24 December, 2019 | Investments | 78 seen

This is a quick tutorial on how to setup / enable charts in Interactive Brokers to trade stocks, ETFs, indexes e.t.c.

For the last couple of months I've been trading 0 DTE SPX, for charting using either Google Finance or Trading view - both are great to get a basic view on what's happening.

Google charts are indeed great to follow up on what's happening, while Tradingview offers some customization, like to add RSI and many other indicators. But as I'm using TWS platform form Interactive Brokers (Lynx Broker) I decided there should be an easier and more native wat to do charting inside the TWS, and there is. I just didn't know about it.

Creating custom charts with Interactive Brokers

From the portfolio page right-click any of holdings to open the popup menu - chose - Charts -> New Chart

In the next window, you can configure your chart - candle sizes e.t.c

Creating a custom chart with Interactive Brokers

Once you are satisfied, click OK and enjoy your chart

Creating a custom chart with Interactive Brokers

To add RSI or other indicators, from…

Tori 'Cafe-Restaurant' near Akhaldaba

21 December, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 10 seen

Tori is a small roadside cafeteria located near the town of Akhaldaba.

We have made a stop and dinned here at the end of June when traveling to Borjomi

Cafe Tori Restaurant

Well, what can I say about this place? A typical roadside cafeteria, you can get here some coffee and decent food. Prices seemed kind of expensive, maybe because the cafe is located on a pretty touristic route close to Borjomi.

Road to Borjomi

There is free parking available in front of the restaurant.

A decent place to take a break from the road.