Andy Hough

Oral Arguments

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Oral arguments are presentations you make before a panel of judges stating the legal reasons why your client should prevail.  It isn’t the same as a speech because the judges will frequently interrupt you with questions about your case.  As a law student you usually have to do an oral argument during your 1L year as part of your  legal research/legal writing class.

I had to do an oral argument during my 1L year but when I transferred my current school said that my former school didn’t say anything about oral arguments in their class description.  They made me take another class that requires oral arguments.  I didn’t want to take it but it is required for graduation so I did so.

I got one of my oral arguments done today.  In this class you have to do two oral arguments and I’ll be doing my second one in a couple of weeks.  I really hate public speaking and I don’t think that is going to change.  When I’m a lawyer I might occassionally be required to speak before a court but I’d prefer to keep those occassions to a minimum.  I doubt I’ll ever feel comfortable with public speaking and for now I’ll be happy to get my oral arguments behind me.

Alternative Income: Peer-to-Peer Lending

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Peer-to-Peer lending (P2P) also known as social lending is a way for people to borrow or lend money without going through a bank.  The main P2P site is Prosper.com.  Another P2P site, Loanio, just recently launched.  Lending Club is another P2P site but it is not currently accepting new lender registrations or loan committments and its future is uncertain.  To get a good idea of how these sites work read the faqs and overview articles on their sites.

These sites can be a good way to make extra money and have worked out well for me.  I have nine loans with Lending Club and two with Prosper and haven’t had any late payments or defaults yet.  The average interest rate on the loans is over 11% which compares very favorably with the negative return of my stock investments.  Some people view these loans as risky but I don’t think they’re overly risk for the return on investment.  If you just want to keep your money safe you can put it in an ING Direct or FNBO Direct savings account.  You’ll only recieve 2.75% APY or 3.50%APY though which doesn’t compare well with the over 11% returns available from P2P lending.

I haven’t invested much in P2P loans yet because I wanted to see how they would perform.  It has only been ten months since I started making loans but I’m pleased with the results so far.  I’ve seen other bloggers who’ve had bad results.  I made loans mostly to people with high credit grades and relatively low debt to income ratios which seems to have helped reduce my risk.  Or maybe I’ve just been lucky.

I plan to invest more in P2P loans once I start making extra money.  The monthly payments would work out very nicely if manage to retire early.

The $25 referral bonuses the P2P sites give is also a nice source of income. I’ve already made more in bonuses than I’ve invested in loans so I’m kina freerolling now.  If you’d like a referral for a $25 bonus send me an email or leave a comment.

Refill Your Printer Ink Cartridge

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New ink cartridges for your computer printer can be very expensive.  The cartridge for my printer costs about $35.  Refilling your printer ink cartridge rather than buying a new cartridge saves you quite a bit of money.  You can buy a refill kit for about $10 depending on what type of printer you have.  I haven’t used a refill kit but I’ve had friends that have used them successfully.

The other option is to have a store refill the cartridge for you.  I recently had my printer ink cartridge refilled at Walgreens and was pleased with the process.  The cost is $10 for black ink and $15 for black ink.  I had a coupon for $3 off ink refills plus a $5 off $20 purchase coupon so I effectively had the cartridge refilled for $2.  A $33 savings over buying a new one.  It took a half hour for the cartridge to be refilled.  When I got home I just popped it back in the printer and it printed great with no problems.

I’m sure there are other stores that refill ink cartridges but you probably can’t get a better deal than at Walgreens.   They frequently have coupons, register rewards, and free after rebate items that can allow you to buy stuff for free or even make a little money.  Check out Money Saving Mom for details on how to get the best deals.  I’m too lazy to come up with my own scenarios but picking the best ones off her site works well for me.  Even if you don’t want to bother with the deals you can save a lot of money by having your printer ink cartridge refilled.

Gas is Back Under $3 a Gallon

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At least here in KC it is.  I’ve seen it as low as $2.91 a gallon and most places have it under $3 a gallon.  I’m wondering if now people will go back to their old habits and not worry about conserving gas.  That is probably what most people will do.  I plan to continue keeping my gas usage to a minimum.  I never thought gas would go back under $3 a gallon but if everyone starts using lots of gas the price will go back up quicker.  It will eventually go up regardless of how people drive but if people conserve gas now it will help slow the eventual gas price increase and make them better able to deal with the higher price of gas.  I’m seriously thinking of getting rid of my car next year.  It will depend on my ability to use public transportation to get to school and any job I might have.

Halfway Through the Semester

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I’ve made it halfway through the semester. I have two half-semester classes.  I took the final for one on Friday and the other one will be on Tuesday.  Having my half-semester classes completed means I’ll now only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That should save me a little gas and I hope to increase my productivity with the extra time.

I’m dreading the rest of the semester though.  Since I transferred they’re making me take a class where I have to oral arguments-two of them to make it even worse.  Public speaking is almost my least favorite thing in the world.

For my clinic class I have now been assigned two real cases.  I’m not looking forward to calling the clients and setting up appointments and then interviewing them to collect the information necessary for the case.  This all stuff I’ll have to do if I become a lawyer but not stuff I like.  People skills aren’t really an asset of mine.  Of course, I knew this is what I’d have to do when I started law school but didn’t worry about it when it seemed far off.

Sometimes I feel like quitting law school but it would be stupid to do so this late in the game.  Anyway, I’m halfway through the semester now so I might as well finish.  And if I finish this semester I’ll only have one part-time semester left so I might as well do that and get my degree.  I’ll probably be more positive about this once it is all over.