SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE LATEST POSTS VIA EMAIL!Year End Promotions Expiring
December 29, 2009
I hope everyone had a great holiday and if you are like me you are dreading those pending credit card bills from all the Christmas shopping you did! If you are looking to make a little cash before the end of the year, you might take a look at a few of these promotions that are ending on 12/31:
- OptionsXpress Promo – OptionsXpress is giving away $100 when you open a new account with them. (See post for more details)
- Optionshouse Promo – Get 100 free trades when you open a new account, with $2.95 flat rate stock trade commisions. (see post for more details)
There is nothing better after Christmas than a little extra cash in your pocket. So if you are interested check out the associated post to learn more about the promotion and how to qualify.
Happy Holidays
December 25, 2009
From all of us here at BudgetCents.net, we want to wish everyone and their families a Happy Holidays!
Hopefully this coming year as the economy turns around there will be more exciting bonus and money saving deals!
Free Movie Rental from Amazon.com
December 24, 2009
Amazon.com is giving every one a Free Movie Rental
Click the link above and use the code AVODGIFT. This code is good for up to $4. This will get you a free movie rental but can also be used to discount the price of buying a movie. This is only available for their video on demand service. Amazon’s Video On Demand allows you to watch rented or purchased movies on your PC. You can also watch them on a TV if you have a networked Xbox 360 or a Roku Player
I use my Xbox 360 to rent movies from Amazon quite a bit and love not having to go to the video store!! Just don’t get addicted to it like I am. I believe that is why they are offering the free code!
OptionsXpress Review December 2009
December 21, 2009
I decided to do a review on OptionsXpress for those of you that have been emailing me about my experiences, so here you go… If you are looking for the $100 bonus link, check out the OptionsXpress Promotion page.
About OptionsXpress
The first thing you need to understand about OptionsXpress is the lack of the “e”. It is not OptionseXpress, but rather OptionsXpress. However they were smart enough to purchase both domains, so it you mispell it, no worries you will still get there. They were founded in February 2000 and are based out of Chicago, IL. They have been named Best Online Broker by Barron’s in four of the last five years.
OptionsXpress is a full service broker, meaning they allow you to trade stocks, mutual funds, options, open IRA’s, etc. OptionsXpress however focuses their sevices on options trading. So their commissions are based around options and the number of contracts that you buy or sell. For example, their commission to buy 10 contracts is only $15. Most brokerages charge a flat commission then $.50 – $1.00 extra per contract. If you tend to deal in a lot of contracts that can get very pricey!!!
They are a public traded company, trading under the OXPS symbol. They are SIPC insured, but they also have additional insurance that goes above and beyond that limit to cover a maximum limit of $24,500,000 per customer, $900,000 of that can be cash. So it is safe to say that your money isn’t at risk with them.
Account Features:
OptionsXpress has institued a new symbol format for identifying option contracts. This was very helpful for me as I trade a lot of covered calls. So I need to see the underlying stock as well as the associated call written on it easily. Here is a small sample of what I am talking about. (the red text is what I added)
Notice that their option symbols are prefixed with a period. They also order everything by the underlying stocl, so I can easily see what options/covered calls I have tied to which stocks. When you start to deal with tens of stocks and multiple calls on each, trust me, this makes things very easy to understand. This is important since you don’t want to get yourself in a “naked position” by selling a call on a security that is already open.
OptionsXpress has a fast execution time. In the begining when I signed up they had 10 free trades, so I used a few of them to purchase stocks with a limit order lower than the current stock price. Those trades executed immediately after I clicked the “submit order” button. I also monitored limit orders that were slightly above the current tradking price and those as well executed as soon as the “bid” price was the same as my limit price. I have been very happy with the speed at which my trades have been completed.
They offer an ACH feature where you can link a checking account to your OptionsXpress account and move money in and out for free. The ACH takes one day if you submit the request before 3:30PM EST the same day. There is a 2 day hold on the money once it is transfered. A few times their customer service department has made the money available the same day of the transfer. They sent me an email letting me know so I could trade with that money the same day. I was pleasantly surprised that they did that. To set up your linked account you just add your account number and routing number on their ACH setup page. They do a deposit into your account which you need to verify the amount. Once that is done your linked account is set up. No sending in voided checks, no faxing SSN’s or your signature to anyone, very easy!
They also have a Perodic ACH setup, where you can have them deduct money out of your linked account on a regular schedule. This is great if you want to build up your trading account over time automatically. Not many brokerages offer this. Most places you need to initiate each and every request. I love this feature!
Training & Education
They offer a ridiculous amount of training and education. So much that I don’t think I have the time to even cover half of it. This is good if you are trying to get into the market and want to understand how options, futures, bonds, ETF’s and even stocks work. They even have a virtual trading account where you can trade with fake money to see how your trades would have played out had you been trading for real. This is a great tool for those of you wanting to feel comfortable with stocks and options prior to invesitng your own money!
Customer Service
I have never had to deal with their customer services. I make abount 10-15 trades a month with OptionsXpress and so far everything has worked out. Other than the times they emailed me about making my ACH transfers available sooner, that has been the extend I had to deal with them. I did try calling their customer service line to see how long it would take to get to a person and it only took 28 seconds. This is pretty good considering I called around 9am EST on a Monday morning when I am sure things are very busy around there. There is also an online chat feature available Monday through Friday during normal trading hours.
So that is my long winded review for OptionsXpress. Also not that there is a $100 promo going on with them if you are interested. Check out the OptionsXpress Promo page for more details.
Also as always, please share your experiences on OptionsXpress with my by adding a comment below.
$25 Restaurant.com Gift Cerfiticates for $2
December 18, 2009
Now until Christmas (12/25) you can save 80% off of gift certificates from Restaurant.com when using the code SANTA during the checkout process.
Most restaurants allow you to use one gift certificate per table. And most have a minimum purchase requrement which is usually around $35, but I have seen the range from $20 – $50. Even still this is a great offer since you can get $25 worth of food for $2.
Restaurant.com allows you to search for Restuarants in your area by zipcode. You can then see the requirements per each restaurant.
So say for example you and a friend go out to eat and it will cost you $40. You then figure a 20% tip. The total comes to $48. Now say you had purchased a $25 gift certificate for $2, your total would be $48 – $25 – $2 (cost of certificate) = $25. Not bad for a two person meal!
I like to stock up on these when they have a restaurant.com promo since that can be big savings over time if you like to eat out alot. To date I have never had an issue where the restaurant refused my certificate, besides they uses these as ways to get you in to their place to eat so that is the cost of advertising for them. Plus I’m sure they hope you will stay and drink too! 
$.99 Domain Registration at GoDaddy.com
December 17, 2009
GoDaddy has a promo going where you can register or transfer a new domain name for $.99.
All you need to do is to go to GoDaddy.com, add a domain name to your cart, and enter the promo code BUYCOM99
According to their small print, there are only 7500 of these available so if you want to get a domain name now for later use, now is the time to do it.
Go Daddy Offer Small Print:
Applies to the first year only of new or transfer registrations. This offer may not be used for renewals, bulk registrations, premium domains or Sunrise/Landrush domain registrations. Limited to one order per customer, expiring after 7,500 redemptions or on December 29, 2009 (whichever comes first). Discount will be reflected in your shopping cart; cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Customers may not use gift cards or PayPal® to redeem this offer.
* Plus ICANN fee of 18 cents per domain year when applicable.
