Sometimes you might be looking to invest for a longer term than what Lending Club offers. One of the ways to do so when saving for college is by using the 529 Savings Plan. This plan is named after section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. It is a savings plan specifically set up to help ease the process of saving for higher education. Let’s look at the benefits of a 529 plan.

• Tax-Free – Anything you can do to generate tax-free savings is almost always a good idea. In this case, the money in a 529 plan is allowed to grow free of any taxes from any state or federal taxes (according to the SEC). When the money is withdrawn and used towards college expenses, in most states there are no taxes either.

• Covers most college expenses – The money from the 529 plan can be used to pay for tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies. It is not required that the money be used for tuition and fees only.

• Higher than inflation – College expenses have risen nearly 51% in the last ten years (according to the College Savings Plans Network). This means that having some kind of savings (especially the tax-free kind from 529 plans) can be a major help down the road when it’s time to pay back any student loans.

• Very few restrictions – Unlike other programs, the 529 plans have very few restrictions. Your minimum contribution can be as little as $15 and in most states the plan can hold $300,000 or more per person. There are also no income requirements for contributors. Finally, you can participate in any 529 plan across the United States.

• A lot of control – The person that sets up the 529 plan can change the beneficiary of the plan. The plan can be moved from state to state, to allow you to shop around for plans that have low fees. If it turns out that the money will never be used for educational purposes, it can be withdrawn after paying taxes. A 529 plan can be used at any accredited school of higher education.

More information: If the 529 College Savings plan looks interesting, you can use this calculator to decide if it makes sense for you. Read the SEC introduction to the 529 plans, which offers a helpful comparison between prepaid tuition plans and college savings plans. You can also download this 18 page brochure (pdf) from the Investment Company Institute. These plans vary from state to state and are often changed, so check with your state for full and up-to-date details before taking any action.

For all the good that has come from email, there has been a major downside as well. Despite filters and increased awareness of the problem, spam continues to be an issue. Of the many forms of spam: annoying, virus bearing, or trolling for personal information, the latter has the direst of implications for your personal finances.

The practice of sending a spam message in the hopes of tricking you into divulging personal information is known as phishing. Perhaps the only thing more alarming than the number of phishing messages out there is the number of people who fall for them.

It’s understandable how the untrained eye can be duped by such a message. They tend to look very professional and legitimate. I recently received a message that apparently came from my bank. It had the company logo, was well written, and explained that there had been repeated failed attempts by multiple computers to access my account. It provided a link to login and verify my account information.

I found it suspicious that the link they provided was simply an IP address, as opposed to something like www.nameofmybank.com. I also noticed that the link used http:// instead of https://. Secure login screens, like the ones you would expect for logging in to a bank or similar institution, use the https:// protocol for added security.

In addition to helping you notice these signs of phishy activity, here are some other tips to help you protect yourself:

Don’t Click on Links in Email
Regardless of the apparent sender, never click on an email link requesting personal information. If your bank needed to inform you of a legitimate issue, they likely wouldn’t do so through email.

Type the address directly into your browser
If you think an email is legitimate, login to your account in the normal manner. Open your web browser and type the address in directly. Also verify that your browser takes you to the right website. Many banks now use site keys for this purpose. If you mistype the address, you may be taken to a knock-off website designed to look like your bank. Once you are in your online banking environment, you can see if there are any account alerts waiting for you.

Try a Bad Password
One of the most interesting phishing tips I’ve heard is to intentionally try a bad password if you’re suspicious of a website. If it logs you in anyway and asks for you to update your personal information, you can be quite certain that you are at a fake website.

Ignore Such Requests
If a true issue has arisen, and you ignore a suspicious email, you can expect to hear about the problem from your bank in other ways. They may send you a letter describing the problem, tell you at their local branch on your next visit, or telephone you. Be careful about divulging personal information in unsolicited phone calls as well. If someone calls you, claiming to be from your bank and requesting information, hang up and call your bank back. When you initiate contact, you are less likely to be victimized.

Keep Protective Software Up to Date
In addition to anti-virus software, consider installing anti-spam and anti-spyware software. Maintain all such software regularly to remain protected.

Lending Club is concerned about your privacy. While even the most watchful of consumers can sometimes be tricked into divulging personal information, we hope that these tips help to keep you safer online.

One of the coolest new ideas I've seen are the new car sharing services. You might have heard of ZipCar or FlexCar---these companies are now providing a service to people who want to drive, but don't have the need, money or ability to own a car. Although this idea might sound odd (what would I do without my car all time?), it's gaining a lot of popularity.

How does this service work? These companies charge you by the hour when you use the car. They have lots of locations in major metropolitan areas (I count over fifty throughout San Francisco) and they allow you to pick up your car at their location, drive it around, and return it back. You can reserve your car so that you know yours will be in stock.

There are a lot of good reasons to consider them. Check it out.

1) No insurance premiums, gas costs, or parking fees - ZipCar and FlexCar take care of all of this for you. You don't have to pay for insurance from an external source.

2) Environmentally friendly - You are only using the car when you need it. ZipCar estimates that each of its cars takes the place of 20 other cars on the road. Good for the environment, good for traffic, good for you.

3) Sweet rides for less - Where else are you going to get to drive a new Beamer for 8 bucks an hour? Or a minivan. (Mini van, mega fun)

4) You don't have to look for parking – I hate finding parking in metropolitan cities. ZipCar and FlexCar offer parking spots only for people who use their cars.

In today's fast paced world, it seems as though time is about the only thing that moves more quickly than money. One aspect of money does remain slow: the personal check. As technology progresses, the relevance and use of checks are both diminishing quite rapidly.

It used to be that checks were used for nearly all monthly expenses. From bills to groceries, shopping trips to car repairs, the personal check reigned supreme. Increased acceptance of credit cards and technological improvements in the banking sector have certainly changed things in recent years. There hardly seems to be an expense today that requires payment by personal check.

Using check alternatives certainly doesn't mean that you should rely more heavily on your credit card. As you'll often read on the Lending Club blog, credit card debt tends to be a major problem for many consumers today and should be avoided. Credit cards are just one check alternative. The real revolution has been in alternative ways to access one's checking account. ATM machines, debit cards, direct debit, and online bill pay all serve the functions that personal checks once did.

The fact that checks are being used less doesn't mean people should be less vigilant about tracking their finances. In fact, the opposite is true. When all transactions were by check, you could easily track your account balance in the register of your checkbook. Now, with transactions coming in multiple forms (ATM, Direct Debit, Online Bill Pay, and checks) tracking your expenses is a little more complicated. Using personal finance software can really simplify the process.

In time, the personal check may become an antiquated form of money that totally disappears. Before that happens, acclimate yourself to the check alternatives that suit you best. Whether these alternatives are superior is a matter of personal opinion, but their increasing role in the world of money is one that cannot be ignored.

Want to read an article that might shake your world? Check this out: researchers showed that higher IQs can lead to less wealth overall.

Counterintuitive, eh? Doesn't it seem that the smarter you are, the more money you will have? It doesn't turn out that way. The article cites several reasons, such as the idea that intelligent people spend less time managing money and think that they will be able to handle any sort of financial distress. But, by doing some other research, there are lots of reasons why being smart is a hindrance.

Exhibit A: Ben Stein (He is so cool.)
Ben wrote this amazing article about why "stupid investors" seem to do so well. Check out what he says (emphasis mine):

"The ‘smart’ investor also reads that the Fed has injected, say, $100 billion into the banking system in the last week or ten days, and says, "Aha! The whole country is vaporizing. Look how desperate the system is for money!" What he does not see is that the Fed is always either adding or subtracting liquidity and that recent moves are tiny in the context of a nation with a money supply in the range of $12 trillion. No, the "smart" investor is far too busy looking for reasons to run for cover and thinks he can outsmart long-term trends.

The stupid investor knows only a few basic facts: The economy has not had one real depression since 1941, a span of an amazing 66 years.
...
[D]espite wars, inflation, recession, gasoline shortages, housing crashes in various parts of the nation, riots in the streets, and wage-price controls, the S&P 500, with dividends reinvested, has yielded an average ten-year return of 243%, vs. 86% for the highest-grade bonds. That sounds pretty good to him."

The smartest people think they can beat the market. Other people don't think they can, and they follow the general advice of long-term investing. Who wins? The long-termer.