Savings/investments/bonds Master Thread.

[ExGingi]

I got a mailer from Discover. $150 bonus for depositing 15k into a savings account, $200 for depositing 25k.

APY on the savings account is 3.5%.

$15,000 with the bonus comes out to 9.5% APR using my back-of-the-napkin calculation. It says personal accounts only. I don't know if that means no ROTH IRA. If available for ROTH IRA this is a no-brainer for me.

[Euclid]

I got a mailer from Discover. $150 bonus for depositing 15k into a savings account, $200 for depositing 25k.

APY on the savings account is 3.5%.

$15,000 with the bonus comes out to 9.5% APR using my back-of-the-napkin calculation. It says personal accounts only. I don't know if that means no ROTH IRA. If available for ROTH IRA this is a no-brainer for me.

Pro tip - you don't actually need to deposit all the money. You can do a series of transfers/cancels. See comments here for more details https://www.doctorofcredit.com/discover-savings-bonus-450-with-35000-deposit/

[ExGingi]

Pro tip - you don't actually need to deposit all the money. You can do a series of transfers/cancels. See comments here for more details https://www.doctorofcredit.com/discover-savings-bonus-450-with-35000-deposit/

The offer I have says money needs to be there 60 days.

Also, unless this is valid for a ROTH IRA, I am not really interested.

[nucheiner]

This just executed today.

Executed at a great rate that's not available in todays market. Guess it works and they don't cancel.

Fidelity vs Schwab. With Fidelity your cash is earning interest until this date as it is held in a money market. With Schwab however it needs to be 100% liquid and you therefore miss out on interest between the purchase date and settlement date.

[CountValentine]

Executed at a great rate that's not available in todays market. Guess it works and they don't cancel.

I guess they were hoping I would cancel. I wonder if rates went the other way if I would have had that long to cancel?

With Schwab however it needs to be 100% liquid and you therefore miss out on interest between the purchase date and settlement date.

You don't miss out that whole period. If settlement date is 3/31 when do I have to be liquid? Can I sell my fund on 3/31, 3/30 or does it need to be earlier?

[CountValentine]

26-week T-bills creeping up. Ok CD's, it is your turn! 

[nucheiner]

You don't miss out that whole period. If settlement date is 3/31 when do I have to be liquid? Can I sell my fund on 3/31, 3/30 or does it need to be earlier?

Seems that you won't be able to set up the trade unless its liquid and settles. Bit of a deal breaker as with fidelity it will automatically revert to money market and earn something decent but with Schwab upon maturity you need to be there to catch it. not really set it and forget it.

[CountValentine]

Seems that you won't be able to set up the trade unless its liquid and settles.

That doesn't seem right. If settlement date for buying the CD is 4/4 then funds need to be available on 4/4, no?
If I see a better rate for CD's I will give Schwab a try.

[sam2015]

Would you open a savings/cd account in a random bank which is FDIC insured? For example Home Savings Bank in Utah which has less than 100 million in deposits? (For comparison purposes Chase has 2.5 trillion or even CIT Bank which Dan uses and advertises has 90 billion) I guess the risk would be losing out on the interest you earned on the account (or would have earned, if rates have dropped by that time) which is not FDIC insured?

[SOS]

What is the projection for upcoming I bond season?

(pondering whether to grab the extra $5K via tax return)

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-variable-i-bonds-rate-expected-to-be-3-38-around-4-total/

[elimmm]

Can someone summarize differences or recommend between Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard.
Most important is which is simplest and most user friendly. Also important, do any of them offer more/better options.

[sguitarist18]

I have all 3, not an expert, but will just share my thoughts.

I find Schwab and Fidelity much easier to use, especially in terms of trading.

Fidelity and Vanguard both automatically place all cash into a decent interest bearing account, currently over 4%, in Schwab you have to transfer money into the specific fund with a decent interest rate, their standard sweep account has a very low (if any) rate.

[HoKo]

Can someone summarize differences or recommend between Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard.
Most important is which is simplest and most user friendly. Also important, do any of them offer more/better options.

Here's some useful resources that were written/updated fairly recently:

https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/investing-retirement/fidelity-vs-vanguard-vs-schwab/
https://investorjunkie.com/stock-brokers/vanguard-vs-fidelity-vs-charles-schwab/

[farmbochur]

Can someone summarize differences or recommend between Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard.
Most important is which is simplest and most user friendly. Also important, do any of them offer more/better options.

Don't sweat it. All 3 are great options for low cost index funds and allow "set-it-and-forget-it" auto-investing in IRA's (I'm assuming this is what you want so CMIIW). Discerning pros and cons is splitting hairs.

[herb]

Sure it's been asked a bunch, but I'm looking to setup a separate fund for each of my childrens weddings and have an automatic transfer monthly. Is this the right place? https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/list/all?strategy=all_in_one
And can you suggest which fund?
TIA

[Redbull3]

My family members got both for the accounts that qualified. (It was basically free $86 just for moving $300 into Fidelity Bloom Save, and clicking on some activities on the Bloom app).

Unfortunately for my own account (unlike other family members) I made the mistake of funding it from an existing Fidelity account, so I missed the SUB. But I did get other free money, such as $1 per $10 charge on the debit card (now it's down to $0.10, but you get that amount also on a $0.50 Amazon reload). And still giving 5% match on savings beyond the first $300 (and both Spend and Save accounts aren't 0% checking accounts, but rather Money Market funds, and while not the highest yielding, 4.2% on a spending account is nothing to sneeze at).

I'm doing Bloom now and searched DDF this is the only reference to it, seems like a very easy 86/person. Nice call on the amazon reloads - basically potential 20% back on amazon with a ton of effort and some risk lol

[ExGingi]

I'm doing Bloom now and searched DDF this is the only reference to it, seems like a very easy 86/person. Nice call on the amazon reloads - basically potential 20% back on amazon with a ton of effort and some risk lol

I'm not sure what all the rewards were at this point, but definitely got more than $86. The 10% on $300 to savings account seems to have worked again in 2023 after maxing out in 2022.

Can you imagine how much grief I had to go through with my family members to beg them to do this for the free money with very little effort?

[Euclid]

Unfortunately for my own account (unlike other family members) I made the mistake of funding it from an existing Fidelity account, so I missed the SUB.

Where's it say that this isn't a valid funding source? It says that existing Fidelity customers are eligible for the bonus.

[ExGingi]

Where's it say that this isn't a valid funding source? It says that existing Fidelity customers are eligible for the bonus.

Yup, eligible for the bonus, but I guess the funds needed to come from outside Fidelity. For DW's account I funded with outside money and got the bonus (despite her being an existing Fidelity customer), I was just lazy to link an outside account and funded from an existing Fidelity cash management account and didn't get that bonus (but still got various other offers, so overall not too bad).


DW:



Mine:

[elimmm]

I'm not sure what all the rewards were at this point, but definitely got more than $86. The 10% on $300 to savings account seems to have worked again in 2023 after maxing out in 2022.

Can you imagine how much grief I had to go through with my family members to beg them to do this for the free money with very little effort?

does the 10% max out after $300 spent, meaning that it maxes out at $30? is that per month?