Free $500 From OptionsXpress November 30th Only

EDIT: This promo has expired, there is a new $100 account promo HERE

OptionsXpress brokerage is giving away a free $500 when you open a new account with at least $500 and make one trade.

Assuming you open a new account with at least $500 and make one trade, the bonus will be paid out on May 15th 2009.  A balance of $500 must be maintained in the account for at least 6 months. So if you plan to make a trade, make sure to add more than $500 to your account incase the stock you buy could lose value.

This deal is only good today November 30th or until the promo is removed from their site. I suggest you get in on this quickly before it is gone.

You must go through this Promo Link for the deal.

Check out details on the promo HERE

I don’t have an account with these guys, but you can bet your rear that I am opening one today with this promo!! 100% return in 6 months is crazy!!!

Free iPod Nano From Firstrade on November 28th

There will be a new Firstrade promo running on November 28th where they are giving away a free iPod Nano to the first 200 people that sign up for a new account. This is sort of a Black Friday deal for them I guess.

The promo will run from 7AM to 1PM on the 28th. It will end sooner than 1PM if 200 people open a new account.

To qualify you need to open a new Firstrade account account on Nov. 28th using the promo code EARLYBIRD08 , fund it with $3,000 (or transfer assets of at least $3,000) and make 1 trade within 30 days. The iPod should arrive at your home within 90 days of the qualifying trade. Don’t forget that you need to be one of the first 200 people to open an account. Since Firstrade isn’t going to tell you how many people have signed up, if you are interested in this deal, it is in your best interest to sign up at 7AM!

Note that you need to keep the $3000 initial deposit in your account for at least 9 months after account openinig, otherwise they can charge you $150 for the cost of the iPod. Check out their Promo Page for more info.

Check out my previous firstrade post for more details on their accounts and service.

If you are looking for a cash bonus, Tradeking Brokerage has a $50 Promo going on where you will get $50 when opening an account with $2500. This deal expires Sunday 11/30!

$50 Tradeking Promo Ends Sunday

EDIT: This promotion has ended. Their latest promo can be found HERE.

The $50 Tradeking Promo ends Sunday November 30th. Get in this week if you haven’t done so already. Tradeking Promos tend to only appear every so often, so there is no telling when another may happen. Besides if you haven’t started trading is this down market shame on you! Now is the time to get in low and ride the wave up.

Here are the promo details. You will get a $50 bonus credited to your account when you open an account by November 30th by using the following link: , fund it with at least $2500 and make 1 trade. They will deposit the $50 into your account shortly after your first trade is completed.

Tradeking is the only brokerage account I use. Let’s face it, I don’t have a whole lot of money to invest, so you can be pretty sure I am not going to waste in on high commissions like at other online brokerages. Tradeking’s $4.95 commission suits me just fine and there is nothing that I have wanted to buy that I could not do on Tradeking.

One feature that I thought was pretty neat is that when my last company had a stock employee purchase plan my company actually issued me stock certificates. I was like, “What the heck am I supposed to do with these?”. Well after talking with Tradeking they told me that they would take the certificates from me for free. And sure enough after a week, the shares appeared in my online brokerage account for me to sell or do whatever I wanted with them. It is those little customer service things that keep me coming back!!

Please check out my review here for more detail on there services or

Save On Heating Costs This Winter

For those of you that live in a warm climate all year, move on! This post is for all of us that hunker down through a cold winter season and are terrified the day we see that heating bill in the mail box.

There is nothing out there that is going to reduce your bill easily, but there are a few things you can do that can add up to some significant savings.

Programmable Thermostat – I can personally attest to this one. A programmable thermostat allows you to set the temperature of your home based on the time and day. So for example if during the weekday no one is at home between 8 and 5, then you can set the temperature to go down to say 55 degrees at 8am and then have it go back up to 70 degrees around 4:30pm before you get home. Doing this keeps the furnace from running all day. Why heat the air when no one is there to feel it. I recommend a 7 day programmable thermostat. This allows you to set each day differently for this with changing schedules throughout the week.

Space Heaters – If you have a gas furnace, why not take the load off of the furnace by using your electricity to power a space heater in the rooms where people are sleeping. Don’t forget that electricity rates are lower in the evening and why heat the whole house when you really only need to heat the rooms where people are sleeping. There are obvious risks with space heaters, so make sure to follow the directions that come with the heater to make sure everyone stays safe.

Close off unused rooms – If there are rooms in your house that are rarely used, close the doors and shut the vents. This will allow that heated air to go to rooms that really need it. Having a small space heater in that room ready to go is perfect for when you may need to use it.

Other Miscellaneous Items – If the above options don’t work for you then at least go back to the basics.

• Keep curtains and blinds closed at night. They help provide a small barrier between the cold windows and the inside.
• Use plastic window wrap around those windows that aren’t insulated or are drafty. The wrap will help keep those drafts from coming into your home and help lower your heating bill.
• Make sure all outside door seal correctly and replace the weather stripping as needed.
• Turn down the water heater. Remeber that the water heater runs all day long. If you usually never run out of hot water during a normal work day, try turning it down a few notches. You will quickly notice the savings.
• Replace your current lightbulbs with flourescent bulbs. These things are crazy how much less energy they use. Swap them out to reduce your bill so that you have more room for heating costs!
• If you have a fireplace keep the flue closed when not in use. Even an unused fireplace sucks the hot air out of the house.

There are quite a few things that you can do to try to get that heat bill down. With rising gas and electricity prices, anything helps. And you can revel in the fact that while you are saving money you are also helping out the environment!

HSBC Weekend Card – Get 2% Cash Back on Weekends

HSBC has launched a new card called the “Weekend Card”. Essentially this card is a cash back card that earns you one percent back on purchases. This is pretty much similiar to all the other cards out there. What makes this card a little different is that any purchases made on the weekend will double your cash back from one percent to two percent.

There is no limit as to how much cash back you can earn with this card. The cash you earn can be redeemed in $25 increments.

As I have said before if you are using your credit card/debit card anyway, why not get some money back while doing it. Just be responsible and pay off that bill every month!

More Info on the HSBC Weekend Card

Free McAfee Virus Scan with Scottrade Brokerage Account

I received an email this morning with an offer for a free copy of McAfee Virus Scan from Scottrade Discount Brokerage. This offer is for new account holders as well as anyone that currently has a Scottrade Brokerage Account. According to the offer terms you can use this on up to three different pc’s in your household.

Details on the McAfee version:

McAfee VirusScan Plus offers anti-virus protection, anti-spyware technology and protection from computer hackers.

• Stops Viruses. Automatically blocks, cleans and removes viruses so you can surf the Web safely and download files without worry.
• Blocks Spyware. Blocks spyware before it installs on your computer and removes existing spyware so you can surf the Web safely.
• Stops Hackers. Protects and conceals your computer from hackers so you can surf the Internet safely.
• More than One Computer? VirusScan protects up to three PCs.
• A $59.99 Value

 Get Your Free Copy of McAfee here!

Not a bad deal if you already have an account with them. Not sure it is enough to get me to sign up. But how about a $50 bonus when signing up with Tradeking Brokerage instead?

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