I've been investing on Mintos.com peer to peer lending marketplace already 6 months. In today's article, I'll share some of my key findings so far
Before continuing, please see Review of Mintos Peer to Peer Lending After One Month of Investing and Mintos.com Review after 3 month investing in Peer to Peer loans. There is one reason I'm investing here on Mintos - option to invest in Georgian Lari currency, as I've been living in Georgia for a while, I like the idea of having some of my money in the local market. See: Invest in Georgia - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending - Mintos.com
Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.
Affiliate link here: Signup to Mintos.com here. By using this affiliate link for registration both you and I will receive — 1% of our average daily balance which should be paid in 3 installments for the first 90 days.
About Interest earned on Mintos.com
During the past 6 months I've invested in total EUR 2,707.28 and made a profit from interest EUR 118.29. Mintos contributes regularly to my dividend income with about EUR 30/mo, and I'm looking to increase interest here to EUR 50, during next 6 months.
Monthly return on Mintos.com platform (February - July 2017)
Here is the fun fact, I actually started lending on Mintos.com already in January, it took me some time for my deposit to go through, more interesting to observe that in February I got even a negative return (-0.42 EUR) because of currency exchange fees. See: My Start at Investing on Mintos Peer to Peer Lending Platform: Depositing Funds
My investments are spread between EUR and GEL currency loans. GEL isn't the most stable currency, in the past GEL have lost it's value against EUR and USD a few times already, see:
- My February Savings Report - GEL Loses Another 16.5% Against USD; -17% Against EUR
- My Savings Report January 2015 - GEL Loses It's Value Against USD For 14% Since September
If you are lending on Mintos marketplace and you are exchanging EUR to GEL directly on the platform, keep in mind - GEL is volatile. Speaking of me, I'm depositing GEL directly on the platform and then exchanging it to EUR, it's pretty costly, but I don't care much as I'm more concerned of GEL volatile against EUR.
Mintos as part of investment portfolio
At the end of July 2017, mintos.com took second place (43.2%), after stocks (47%) from my total investment portfolio. The rest goes to - Mutual Funds 6.4%, Cryptocurrencies 2.6% and cash 0.8%
Portfolio structure as of July 2017
43.2% from total portfolio in peer to peer lending seems a bit high to me, and I'm planing to diversify more of from peer to peer lending loans, by increasing investments in stocks, cash and a little bit in crypto currencies. Right now, when looking on investments on Mintos.com marketplace, I can see increasing total amount to about 5,000 EUR, but not more, as frankly speaking - don't get me wrong, mintos.com is cool, rates are amazing, buybacks works great, but that's it - 5,000 EUR is limit for my investments here (for foreseen future)
Withdrawing money and paying taxes
I haven't yet withdrawn any money from mintos.com, though I'm planing to do so (withdraw interest earned here) in January 2018. I haven't paid any taxes yet (should do after withdrawal).
About secondary market
I have started to limit the long term loans in my portfolio, I did find I've a few long term (5 years and more) loans and decided to use secondary market to sell off some of them.
Mintos.com Secondary market
Unfortunately, after about 3 weeks already listed on secondary market, no loans have been sold yet. That might be a problem for those looking to exit quickly from mintos.com. If nobody will buy these loans, it means I will be "tied" to mintos.com platform until 2022. I don't mind using mintos.com for next 5 years, but let's agree 5 years are a long time, a lot can change (and will).
About Auto Invest
Auto Invest works like a charm, I've defined a few auto invest portfolio, all with buyback guarantee and longest remaining loan term 48 months (4 years)
Mintos.com Auto Invest
Future plans
During the next 6 months I plan to increase my investments on Mintos.com marketplace to about EUR 5,000 both in EUR and GEL currencies.
