$100 Bonus from Suze Orman and TD Ameritrade
While skimming my new Suze Orman eBook, I ran across her SaveYourself promotion that I blogged about almost a year ago, but is still going on for a little while longer.
You can get a $100 bonus after one year if you open an account at Ameritrade by March 31, 2008 and set up an automatic deposit of at least $50 per month for 12 consecutive months. This deal isn’t bad as a mandatory cash savings vehicle if you don’t need to withdraw the money. They even offer a special money market rate much higher than their usual piddly 0.05% rate:
Get started on Suze’s Save Yourself Plan by opening a new account with TD AMERITRADE, featuring a special high-yield deposit account with a 2.78% Annual Percentage Yield (as of February 1, 2008). Your cash is held in an FDIC-insured Money Market Deposit Account (MMDA) at TD Bank USA, N.A.
There are no maintenance fees on the account, plus you receive the $100 offer for making 12 monthly automatic deposits of at least $50 each to help you build up your account balance. […] Should you need to withdraw the money prior to the twelve-month commitment, you may withdraw all of your deposits, plus the interest earned. However, you will forfeit the $100 bonus.
Doing the math
Looked at one way, if you just put in the minimum $50 in each month, at the end of a year you will effectively have earned 35% interest on your money. If you are truly starting out on a savings plan, this is a pretty nice guaranteed return. $50 a month isn’t too painful, and at the end of the year you’ll end up with over $700 tucked away for your emergency fund, Roth IRA contribution, or whatever. It’s a good incentive to get in the habit of saving.
Alternatively, if you’re already saving all you want in high-yield savings accounts, you’ll still be ahead by about $90 in extra interest.
I wouldn’t necessarily stay and invest with TD Ameritrade, though. They are alright, but at $10 per trade with potentially small balances, here are a few alternatives that I suggest exploring. Note that TD Ameritrade has a $75 fee for transferring out your account directly to another broker. Keep your money in cash, and then simply withdraw it and close your account with no fee when you wish to leave.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:48 am
There are also reports that they’ve had a compromise in their system for the last several years, and they’ve known about it but not been able to solve the problem. I can believe it. It was just after I contacted them about an account that my email address went from “off the spam radar” to “deluged with spam.” That seems to be the pattern I’ve read about online.
I recommend a Google search for “Ameritrade” and “spam” before you decide to go with them.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:15 am
My last of the 12 automated payments went through a week ago, and I haven’t seen my $100 yet.
I’ll give it a couple weeks, and then I’ll start calling. For some reason, I think getting that $100 will not be easy.
If this was the first I’d heard of this account, I would wait to open this account until the early adopters (me) actually get paid.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:48 am
So this being the case and with T-Bills being as low as they are (essentially making my t-bill ladder as low as 2-3%) what do you think is the best investment an online savings account ?
February 20th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Hard pull?
February 20th, 2008 at 8:13 am
not worth the effort.
Suze can keep her few millions from Ameritrade for pushing their product.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:43 am
$100 is nice, but I will wait to see if Dogatemyfiances gets paid.
Not trying to change the subject:
Is anyone having problems with HSBC internet banking? In the last 4 days, when I go to HSBC internet banking (USA), all I get is “internet explorer can not display the webpage”
“Most likely causes:
You are not connected to the Internet.
The website is encountering problems.
There might be a typing error in the address”
HSBC.com loads fine. But the tab for USA does not. Is it just me?
February 20th, 2008 at 8:43 am
dogatemyfinances: Did you read the T & Cs from Jonathan’s link?
“If deposit requirements have been met, please allow 4 weeks for $100 cash deposit to post to account.”
And also, is there a hard pull?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Sorry, my bad. I figured out my problem (cookies). HSBC works.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I’m doing this program already too - but my last payment isn’t until March. I 100% expect to get paid once its done. Actually I was at a book signing with SO about a year ago (the same book she launched this program with - ok, so not a great book, but a good program).
At the signing she said she’s not making a dime from Ameritrade… they bought a bunch of books at cost but that’s it. She said she came up with this idea originally - and then approached several companies to find somebody to impliment it. Her original plan was to, literally, pay people for saving. Her hope is that the segment of society who doesn’t save at all because they don’t think they can afford to will start the program for the $100 but after 12 months not miss the money anymore and, in theory, keep saving. That’s part of the reason they made the automatic deposit criteria mandatory.
Now of course once you finish your 12 months and get your $100 - Ameritrade is obviously hoping you’ll use it to buy some stocks, but that doesn’t have anything to do with her. At least what she told the group in NYC that night, but I believe her - and I think I have a decent BS meter.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Great find, I actually think I am going to do this. Its a supplemental to my other accounts, but its hard to turn down a 35% return on investment.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
I’ve had both an Ameritrade and Ameritrade I-Zone account in the past, with no hard pulls.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Thanks Jonathon, I was actually going to open a new account with them since my current TD account is a single but I need a joint acct and figured I’d transfer my funds internally once it was opened. I’ve been procrastinating and this is a good incentive to get going on that. I really won’t do much trading with this account since I get free trades with Wells Trade but their user interface is definitely much friendlier and gives you more tools than WT (not that I use any of those tools).
February 20th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I just opened my account. I shouldn’t miss the $50 per month, and I love the return on investment. Thanks, Jonathan!
February 20th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
As a financial planner I know the hardest thing for anyone is just to get started. As you point out, there are MUCH better paying accounts out there, but if this gets someone to actually open the account and start putting money in it, then great. Truth be told the difference between the 2 and change % they are offering and a 5% rate is just pennies if we are talking about people who are just getting started on a savings plan. After all, 5% on $500 is $25 while the 2.78% is around $14 (yes, I’m aware that compounding changes the math, but for these purposes, the estimate is fine.) I’ll tell you for a fact that opening the account now versus waiting another 12, 18, 24, or more months will pay back way over the $11. Besides, once you hit $1000 you can use one of the free mutual fund money market accounts that are paying higher.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Are you sure about the 2.78% yield? I just signed up and was looking around the site, and I don’t see any mention of that. Do you have to do anything special to get that rate on your cash?
February 20th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
@dogatemyfinances:
On http://www.tdameritrade.com/saveyourself/ it says:
“If deposit requirements have been met, please allow 4 weeks for $100 cash deposit to post to account.”
February 20th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
One of the reasons why I like this blog is the constant influx of account bonuses I could get online. I like free money.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I opened the account, although I don’t understand–is the $50/month automatic deposit setup for us, or do I have to do it myself?
February 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Am I missing something or is it actually more like 20% interest rather than 35%? If you do the minimum of $50 a month for 12 months, that’s a $600 investment. $100 interest on that would be 16.7%. Add in the 2.78% they give you normally, you would have about 19.5%. I mean 20% is still good, but not quite as impressive as 35%.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
It’s not automatic. After verifying your external account, it’s really easy to set up the automatic deposit, just follow the “Deposit/Withdraw” link under the “Portfolio & Accounts” tab.
Thanks for the post Jonathan, since reading your site I’ve put a lot of “free money” and even an IPod in my pocket. Can’t wait to see what’s next…
February 21st, 2008 at 1:20 am
Andy, I have the same question but when I opened it asked for funding bank account therefore it seems to be automatic.
My account at TD already shows $50 balance available for trade.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:53 am
Yeah, but that seems to be a one time thing–it doesn’t seem like it will keep doing it every month?
February 21st, 2008 at 2:40 am
not worth the effort
February 21st, 2008 at 8:20 am
[…] I was reading MyMoneyBlog.com and saw a pretty good […]
February 21st, 2008 at 10:32 am
Thanks again for a great lead! I had wanted to open an account with them just for the research tools and such but was put off by the minimums. This give quite a workaround and a nice incentive to boot.
One question if anyone knows, is this offer good for multiple accounts? ie: Regular brokerage account, IRA, and a joint account all together?
February 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
@Oliver - I think Jonathan’s calculation is taking into account that because you’re making deposits over the course of a year and then get the bonus at the end of the year, on average, the money is in the account for only six months. That results in a higher effective APY.
For example, if you earn $5 in a month on $100, the annualized yield is much more than 5%.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I started this plan with a Roth IRA in April 07 and is going to have my final deposit of $50 on Mar 08. I haven’t bought a single stock yet because of the $75 account transfer fee so I’m glad to hear Jonathan said that I can simply close the account, get the cash and put it somewhere else without paying the fee.
One thing that makes me upset is that my automatic transfer set the contribution year to 2008 when the year starts, even though I want everything through Mar 08 to be contributed towards 2007. I called them and they said to send them a form every month to change the contribution year afterwards, but when I sent them the first form in Jan 08, they called me and told me they changed their policy and they could not change the contribution year for me.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Jonathan, I’m also confused how you reached 35% interest. The APY already takes into account any intra-year compounding. I could be way off here but I’m thinking that 600*2.78% = 16.68. Add that with the $100 bonus and my interest rate is 100+16.68 / 600 = 19.45%. Interest rates confuse me so my calculations may be wrong but 35% seems high.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Try any interest calculator where you start with $0, contributed $50 per month for 12 months, and yet end up with $700. You should require an annualized return of about 32%.
Now, add in the 2.78% APY.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I am not saying this can’t happen to any of the other online brokerages…
http://www.darkreading.com/doc....._id=134056
February 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Jonathan, I did the calculation and it’s actually about 30.2% (including the 2.78%) because you have to wait 4 more weeks to get the money (I assumed that to transfer it takes no time after that, but it’ll probably lower it slightly).
February 21st, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Andy - You’re right, it will be slighltly lower than 32% if it takes another month to get the $100 bonus. as well as other smaller variables.
But the 16% number being thrown around is too low because I think that assumes you put in $600 in the very beginning, when in fact you only need $50 per month. For example, halfway through you’ve only put in $300.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Oh yeah, I get it now. Thanks. Geez, I hate math.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 am
I have been informed by email that I have to setup the ACH monthly transfers on my own since they do not save original funding bank information. It may be any number of deposits as long as the total for a month is $50.
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:34 am
Thanks, Anne and Jonathan, for pointing out how you get to the 32%. You’re right, I had overlooked the fact that you contribute the money over time. My bad.
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
The tiny print say that: Rates may change after the account is opened. The Save Yourself account earns the 2.78% apy; but TD Ameritrade’s website discloses the MMDA rates for cash sweep vehicles interest rates at 0.05%. Are these 2 different deposit accounts at TD Ameritrade? How do we know they will just change it to the 0.05%. Either way, I guess, for ~13 months of keeping account open and continually putting $50/month into account for the 12 months required will be a nice way to earn $100 (minus fed/state tax on this interest income?).
I’ve heard people get hard inquiry pulls if you allow account to have margin capabilities.
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Wow thanks for posting this great offer! I just signed up today. Great blog too - I’m a fairly recent reader.
February 24th, 2008 at 10:30 am
My last payment cleared January 29, 2008. I guess it will take them four weeks to figure that out.
I don’t trust this account because even inside it, you have no idea what your interest rate is. That’s why I am dubious my $100 will ever show up.
March 1st, 2008 at 9:00 am
The interest rate is available by clicking the account description link under “Balances and Positions”.
2.75000% 2.78%
March 15th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hey dogatemyfinances - any report on the bonus?
March 19th, 2008 at 11:37 am
3/19/08 - Just an update… I got my $100! I noticed it enter my Ameritrade account a week or two ago, and today I got an email from Suze/Ameritrade annoucing the deposit:
“I’m pleased to announce that your $100 bonus has been deposited to your Save Yourself account. As a part of Suze’s Save Yourself movement, you made a commitment and have successfully accomplished your 12-month goal. You should feel proud knowing that you’ve taken the initiative to control your finances. TD AMERITRADE and Suze hope that you continue on the path of investing in your future.”
March 19th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hi Kathy - thanks for the update! I now feel that much better about signing up
(only 10 more months to go…)
March 20th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
hi, all! newbie here, jumping in.
did you need a code to set up your account? supposedly suze’s books each contain a different code that can be used only once. were you prompted for this code?
April 1st, 2008 at 1:34 am
guys, just wanted to point this out
http://www.tdameritrade.com/sa.....learn.html
this is where i joined- it does not mention an ‘offer code’
http://www.tdameritrade.com/saveyourself/
Here, you have to enter an offer code….
i joined with the first link (No offer code) it never asked me for one. But then on the other page it says i have to enter one…i hope this doesn’t mean that it skipped the $100 bonus for me
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 am
Just wanted to let everybody know that this deal is still going on. I called Ameritrade and they confirmed the signup was extended until May 31. Some of the links above were dead but I was told to use http://www.saveyourself.com/ - it did NOT ask for any offer code but it definitely is offering the $100 signup after 12 months of deposits.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Thanks, Ryan! I missed the March cut-off date and never even thought to check for a possible extension. Great news, good of you to share it…
April 26th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I got my $100 bonus between 3 or 4 weeks after my final $50 transfer. The big hit then came when I tried to withdraw all my money last week.
They told me that the $100 bonus must stay in the account for an addition 9 MONTHS before it’s available for withdrawal!
April 29th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I got my $100 today, I wrote them an email last week asking about it, and got the Save Yourself: Good News About Your Bonus email informing me that I had recieved my $100 bonus.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:17 am
I had no problem withdrawing all my money (even after the bonus) right away. I was going through my online statements and my March one still says I’m earning 4.59% apy like I was when I opened the account back in March ‘07. I guess I shall have to wait until my April statement comes to verify. But do you guys think that is just a typo?
May 6th, 2008 at 10:25 am
After reading Earl’s comment, I tried to withdraw my $100 for a second time, and it went through!
Thanks, Earl. I guess that customer service representative did not know what she was talking about.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I signed up for the Ameritrade deal a couple months ago and found this site because I am trying to figure out what to do with the money. I know it’s not much (I’m just doing the minimum $50 deposits), but I thought I would try to put it into a mutual fund or something. This is pretty much my first attempt at investing (other than an IRA that I opened a little over a year ago), so this is all new to me. Should I just leave it in cash, or is it worthwhile to figure out a different investment?
Any suggestions?
May 16th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
http://www.saveyourself.com/ does not mention anything about a $100 bonus. Has anyone received written confirmation that the promotion is still going on?
May 24th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Greetings all…
Just wanted to pass on the word that I opened a Save Yourself account last May, I’ve been contributing at least 50 bucks a month, and earlier this week I received a $100 credit. I was surprised that it showed up that quickly, I was expecting something maybe 1-4 weeks from now, but it was deposited right away.
Take care everyone!