Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in January as part of my Emigrant Direct Bonus should have gotten paid last week. If not, please e-mail me. Thanks to all who participated, I paid out over $100 this month.
Ameriprise Financial Consultants are offering incentives for going to their sales pitch again. Choose from a $75 Gift Cheque, 5,000 Membership Rewards points, or 3,000 Delta Skymiles (10k more if you sign up).
I’ve done one of these, so be sure to read up on my initial perceptions, some interim research results, and my post-consultation thoughts before you go (don’t skip the comments). That reminds me, I haven’t gotten my gift card yet, although it’s not quite 12 weeks.
Wow, I just reread all the thought-provoking comments in my Don’t Be A Victim post. After some good discussion with friends, I’ve put a finger on why I feel so strongly about this - Entitlement. When people feel entitled to things it just irks me. I’ve also linked it to why many people have problems paying off their student loans after college…
*Newsflash* It is not your inalienable right as a college graduate (focusing on new grads here) to receive any of the following things:
Read the rest of this entry…
Although I messed up my Treasury Bill Ladder by switching to 6-month T-Bills, they continue to be a pretty good cash investment alternative for those people in states with high income taxes, as they are exempt from such taxes. For example, the most recent 6-month T-Bill paid a rate of 4.754%. Using my Equivalent Rate Calculator, and a federal tax rate of 25% and state tax rate of 9%, that’s the equivalent of a regular 6-month bank CD paying 5.40%. The 4-week T-bill equivalent rate is 5.07%.
For all my posts on Treasury Bills, please see here, reads bottom to top.
For those that have an Roth, Traditional, or SEP IRA at Vanguard like me, you probably noticed that they charge a custodial fee of $10 a year for each mutual fund you have with a balance of less than $5,000. This can add up if you own multiple funds in different IRAs. The only way to get around this is if “the IRA owner?s Vanguard account assets (including IRAs, employer-sponsored plans, brokerage accounts, annuities, and nonretirement accounts) total $50,000 or more.”
I just discovered that for joint accounts, the total value goes towards both account holders. For example, if my wife and I hold a joint taxable account with $50,000 in it, we would both be exempt from IRA custodial fees no matter what our IRA balances were, even though the $50k is shared between us. Might be helpful for those near the threshold.
For those that are looking for a new discount brokerage, TradeKing is currently offering a $100 bonus for opening a new account with them. They offer $4.95 market and limit orders, both online and broker-assisted. No minimum balance requirements, no annual or inactivity fees. After talking with them, here are the offer details:
» Use the promotional code ‘(expired)‘
» Open with at least $1,000, and place your first trade by 4/15
» The bonus should credit ~2 weeks after your first trade
» You still need to keep $100 equity in the account for 6 months after your first trade to keep the bonus.
Per their fee schedule, they do charge a $50 fee for IRA closures or transfers, but there is no fee for an ACAT transfer out of a regular taxable brokerage account. This means that if you open this account and don’t like it, you can just move out all your shares of stock without having to sell them or pay transfer fees.
Here’s a possible plan for me:
1) Open with code and $1,000
2) Buy 1 share of EEM or other ETF at about $100 + $5 commission.
3) Take out rest of money except for maybe $25 in case EEM tanks.
4) Get $100 bonus, take it out too.
5) Treat it like I got a free share of EEM and move for free it to my Ameritrade I-Zone account if I choose, or just keep it there if I like the brokerage more than I-Zone (which also has $5 trades).
Seems like an easy way to try out another brokerage without any commitment
