TradeKing $100 New Account Bonus is Back!

EDIT: This bonus is no longer available. Their current November 2008 promo is offering a $50 bonus when signing up for a new account. See details HERE.

Looks like TradeKing is again offering a $100 bonus when opening new accounts.

 Here is the skinny:

• New accounts must be opened and funded with $2,500
• A minimum balance of $1,000 is required in the account for the first six months
• Must Make 1 Trade in your account
• Bonus paid up to 180 days after executed trade

If this is like the last TradeKing Promo, you will see the $100 bonus paid in less than a week after your first trade, rather then the “up to 180 days” There is no expiration date on this so I imagine it could disappear at any time. So jump on this one before it is gone!

Offer Details and SignUp Link

Happy Trading and collecting that free money!

Prosper.com Experiment

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Well after careful review of my Prosper account, I have decided to move a head with my experiment. I currently have 15 loans outstanding with 2 late more than 4 months. Those 2 account for only 4% of my portfolio. If they were to default, I would still be up 7%, so that is still a pretty good return considering.

I have decided to add 20 more loans all at $50 each. So each month, I would receive around $50 in payments to reinvest into another loan. ($50 is the mimimum amount you can loan with Prosper) So essentially this will be a self sustaining investment where I just need to direct the monthy payments into a new loan each month. It will be interesting to see how this will increase in value over time.

I am considering all of this throw-away money since this is obviously a higher risk than just putting this money into a savings account, but if it does well it might provide some revenue generation for me in the long term. Ideally if I could get the value of the account up to $10,000 I could see possibly $500 / month in payments (assuming no defaults). I will keep you posted as to how this plays out.

Prosper.com has a promotion that if you become a new lender you will receive $25 after you fund your first loan. Sign Up Here (you can sign up through that link if you want to be a borrower as well, unfortunetly there is no bonus for being a borrower at this time )

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Free $100 from optionsXpress With New Account

optionsXpress, an online stock and options brokerage, is offering a free $100 when opening a new account. You must deposit a minimum of $500 by 12/31 when the promo expires. You will receive the $100 bonus in your account on or before January 10, 2008.

Promo Details & Sign-up

I have never used these guys so I can’t comment on service. And although they don’t have the lowest commisions of places like Tradeking.com or Firstrade.com, earning 20% on that $500 in a few weeks isn’t too shabby!!

If I Hate Stocks, Where Else Can I Put My Money?

So you don’t want to touch the stock market with a 10 foot pole? Lately I don’t blame you! So what else can you do with your money rather thank stuffing it into your mattress? Well here are some ideas for you. Obviously the more risk you take, the greater reward….

P2P Lending Sites: (High Risk)
P2P (Person To Person) Lending Sites are becoming very popular for people to invest money. These sites give you the chance to act like a small bank and loan money out to indivuidals at a specified interest rate which is paid back over a certain period of time. I currently have money loaned out at Prosper.com. Prosper only does 3 year loans with a minimum of $50 per loan. You can get a great interest rate here, but that does not come without risk of the borrower defaulting or filing for bankrupcy. Prosper does give you credit information on the indivuidal which should help you narrow down your decision. I also suggest that you only loan the minimum of $50 for each loan that you do so you can spread the risk among many different borrowers.

High Yield Savings Accounts: (Low Risk)
If you are not a high risk investor, why not stuff all that money into a Federally Insured High Yield Savings Account? Many of them are still offering in the upwards of 5% APY. One of my favorites is UFBDirect.com. (See my Post) They are currently offering a 5.31% APY with a $1 minimum balance. This is definetly better than keeping it in the Free Checking account!!!

US Savings Bonds: (Low Risk)
Another possibility is investing in the good old US of A. US Savings Bonds are a pretty safe investment since they are backed by the full faith of the US Government. Treasury Direct is an online service offered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Bureau of the Public Debt as an easy way to purchase and sell bonds online. Depending on the Savings Bond you can probably see interest rates in the 3-5% range. The great thing about savings bonds is that these are longer term savings tools, so if it is hard for you to put money into savings and not spend it, savings bonds can force you to save since most can’t be sold for one year after purchasing without some sort of penalty.

Collections: (Medium Risk)
Many people invest their hard earned money into collecting things. This can be tricky since you need to collect something that will increase in value over time. I used to collect baseball cards, but once people found out that old cards were worth a lot of money they started to collect current year cards which ultimately devauled them. Ebay.com is a great place to help you seek out items for your collection as well as give you a good idea of what you could start collecting. Some things that are poplular these days are old Coca-Cola memorbilia, Hello Kitty Items (don’t ask me why!) and Matchbox Cars.

Item Flipping: (Medium Risk)
Sites like Ebay.com and Craigslist are great ways to buy an item, then turn around and sell it for a profit. Many things that I see do well are cars and furniture. The reason is that the base prices for these items are high enough where you can buy an item, add $200 to the price and resell. But this can be done with anything from baby clothes to antique arcade games. Things you need to consider when item flipping are shipping costs, taxes, and payment methods as they tend to cut into your profits.

Real Estate: (Low Risk)
The reason that I marked this as low risk is that I am assuming that you are investing in your primary home and you are planning on living there for a while. If you are looking to buy and flip land or houses, than that would increase the risk. If you are currently renting, now is the time to buy a house. Prices have softened all over the country and mortgage rates are approaching their historic lows again. If you currently own a house and are looking to move, selling that house could be your biggest challenge. In Chicago, the average house is taking in the upwards of 9+ months to sell.

The above are just a few alternative ways to earn a little extra money on your cash. If you have a great way to invest your money why not comment at let us know! I am always looking for different ways to make some money.

Firstrade Brokerage Account Promos

Firstrade has a promo running for new accounts. Here are the details:

Fund in $2,000 or more and receive 100 commission-free trades.

Fund in $25,000 or more and receive 100 commission-free trades and up to $100 account transfer rebate.

Fund in $50,000 or more and receive 100 commission-free trades and up to $100 account transfer rebate as well as a $100 cash bonus credited to the account.

Promo Signup Form

I have had a Firstrade account for a few years and like it very much. Their site is very simple and easy to use. For $6.95 market, limit and option orders, it is very attractive to help keep your commissions low especially if you are a smaller investor. They offer an ACH feature that allows you to push and pull money from a linked checking account which makes investing much easier. Trades execute quickly and I have never had any issues where I needed to contact their customer service. The one service that keeps me with Firstrade is the free dividend reinvestment program. Many other brokerages drop the dividend into a money market and if you want to invest it back in the stock you have to pay another commission. This feature is great for you dividend investors!!

This deal ends 12/31 so act fast for the free trades!!!!

Loanio.com - New Person 2 Person Lending Site

I just stumbled across Loanio.com. They appear to be a pre-launch person to person lending site similair to that of Prosper.com.

There isn’t a whole lot of info out there on Loanio, but you can sign up for Loanio’s mailing list and they will send out an email to you as their launch approaches.
It will be nice to have some competition here. I am hoping that Loanio builds on some of Prosper’s weaknesses. I have had my issues with Prosper early on, but things seem to be looking better lately. Just 2 bankrupicies to deal with at the moment.

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