First passive lien allocation redeemed out. I understood none of it going in.

I put 25k into a small lien fund fourteen months ago, mostly because I wanted one position that wasn't tied to the service business I'm building. It came back at 26.9k after fees. That's about 6.5% annualized on my money, which is less than the certificate rates they quoted me and more than I expected once I saw where the gap went.

What nearly broke it was me. At month nine they sent a statement showing a chunk of the portfolio unredeemed and carried at face plus accrued interest, and I read that as a loss coming. I emailed the manager ready to ask for my money back, which the documents did not permit anyway. He walked me through it: certificates in the redemption window aren't late, they're inside a statutory clock that in that state runs longer than nine months. I had confused "hasn't paid yet" with "won't pay."

The thing I'd keep is the question I asked after that call, which was how they mark a certificate that genuinely goes bad and when the accrued interest comes off. He answered it in two sentences and sent the policy. I should have asked that before I wired, not after I panicked.

The other thing I'd keep is the size. 25k was small enough that the month nine statement scared me instead of ruining me, and I learned the mechanics on a position I could afford to be wrong about. Anything I put in next will be bigger and I'll read the valuation section first this time.