I wanted to start a thread for ideas on how to make money with the internet or save money. I am hoping people will jump in with ideas..

Ok first up... this year I joined something called "Lending Club". It is a peer to peer way for people to get loans from other people. I invested a small amount and so far I am pleasantly surprised. It is a passive investment so, kind of like a bank, you get interest. I have made about 8% and though I had a few defaults you are able to sell the notes. (at a steep discount). I also found a good strategy that cuts the risk of default in half. You just buy used notes that are about 10 payments from paying the whole thing off. Who is going to default at that point?

On the saving money ends... I found a strategy on "the penny horder". I eat at Dunkin Donuts all the time and I found out you can buy gift cards at a discount. So I found this gift card site that will alert you based on your preferences and say you buy a 25% off gift card.. you got yourself a sale!

[BeyondtheRainbow]

www.swagbucks.com You have to put time into it but if you do you can make quite a bit of money. Before my real computer broke I was consistently making $25-$50/month for 5 years. This thing won't let me do surveys or certain other tasks so now I'm not making much at all but if you mess around and find what works for you it can be a way to get a bit of extra cash.

[reb569]

I'm a freelance web developer and I have several ideas on how to supplement my income once I retire, a necessity since my retirement account is pretty lame. So for me any one of, or a combination of the following:

• Online store selling as a drop shipper
• Affiliate advertising
• Website Design
• Digital Marketing for small companies

I really want to get started on some of these ideas now, but time is an issue. I do freelance web design work now on a very limited scale. I'd prefer to set up my own sites and make money that way however.

Originally Posted by reb569

I really want to get started on some of these ideas now, but time is an issue. I do freelance web design work now on a very limited scale. I'd prefer to set up my own sites and make money that way however.

That is one of my problems too. I took my job to be able to get stuff done at work and have a lot of leave time but it hasn't turned out that way. So I am focusing on passive investments that make me money for little work. I also saw that you can buy websites on the web that are already a growing concern and have viewers already.

Also, there is a real estate crowdfunding site called "Ground floor". It is only open to certain states but you basically get to invest in a house flip. So a flipper buys a house for like 20K and seeks a loan from ground floor for 120K. Ground floor grants the loan (with my and 300 other investor's funds) and when the flipper completes the home and sells it... I get paid back with interest. This site seems more safe than lending club because it has a lien on the property. But still they have managed to lose some money. But so far I have done pretty well.