After putting some money in a brokerage to get miles, I thought I'd invest some instead of just letting it sit in cash. Between the loss when I changed my mind a couple days after the stock price went down and the comissions, the "free" miles ended up costing more than 1.5 cpm, which is on top of not having the money in bankdirect for a month. Although I guess I get the tax deduction on a small cap gains loss.

Transferring for miles bonus is one issue,

You deciding to invest, and losing money is completely another issue.. Maybe its just better you didn't pull the trigger on some securities.. I guess the lure of miles in this case, caused an enticing draw to securities that resulted in a loss..

How many miles did you earn as a bonus for transferring?

Right, but not for miles, the money would have stayed in cash (bankdirect). Nothing about the promo obligated me to invest, so you're right that my own independent investment decision caused the loss, not the promo. And by investing I could have made money, so I got something in that sense. But in a but for sense, the promo cost me money. It was for 25k miles.

You need to use the 25K at a 290 euro a night holiday inn in Paris, or a 285 USD Crowne Plaza in Hong Kong instead.

Well, the decision to buy security really should not have anything to do with the cash sitting at the brokerage firm.

To all fairness and honesty, you cannot blame the promotion offer for your investment loss. Your investment decision should not be done based on "just because I have this money sitting at the brokerage account, so I need to do something about it..."

Well, it is more of the opposite -- when not in a brokerage there was no opportunity. In any event, I still think it is within the spirit of the thread. There is a reason brokerages give people incentives. They want you to try their services. So, if the question is what kind of stuff makes for bad returns to get miles, I think my experience is instructive on miles buzz.

My argument and the lesson would be treat miles transactions strictly as miles business. Don't get caught in the switches, or it can be expensive.

Oh, man, yes. Forgot to add that to my hall of shame. Maybe right at the top, for frustration right when it happens. In many other cases, we have to wait weeks to learn that we have failed. ("Gx" Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points are an example of the latter.) And I'll raise you, toomanybooks: The surveys we spend the 15 minutes they said it would take - only to find out that we don't qualify. Or the blanket, "We already have our quota of survey-takers" at the same juncture - which sure makes you wonder if they actually didn't like your negative answers. . .

For everything you say about BA, Thunderroad, the same goes for bmi. bmi have been most generous, in my book, with their miles for joining, surveys etc. But then when you go to redeem the miles, you find that it only works out to a meager percent discount on your spend, when you consider all of the UK's t&f. (I have seen t&f on flights out of LHR that were actually multiples of the free base fare.) Thus they have become useless to me because I now avoid flying through the UK (esp. LHR) at all costs. And after all those generous survey-generated bonus miles (including < five-question surveys!). Seemed like a great investment of time in the event. Shame because I did like all other aspects of bmi's Diamond Club (lounge privileges at low status level, and one-way awards before they became prevalent in Star Alliance partners). Someday, I'll probably regret stopping keeping track of what I have with them. I digress.

But I do want to emphasize that I think bmi and BA take the rap and loss of business because of all the governments' t&f.

BA at least definitely deserves that 'rap' for its fuel surcharges on award flights.

Oops. Fair enough. Indeed.

Self-disciplined, my friend.

You know what you are going after and dont be swayed by temptation. It is no different than the CC companies dangling big bonus and hope you to spend spend spend, or worse, carry the revolving balances and pay hefty finance charges....

Dont play "victim" - after all, nobody forces you to take the offer.

But yes, your story can serve as a reminder that one needs to be careful not to be "caught" unprepared in the process of pursuing miles.

Couldn't agree more. Also MFU from premium economy to business is pretty good value.

The proposed new Avios rules may make short haul economy a little better value from what I've been reading with a fixed tax rate.

e-rewards is something I have spent quite a bit of time on and still not got enough to convert to miles!!! Not worth it IMO.

Investing into securities for myself is sort of like gambling, unless one truly understands the financial position of a company.. That means, reading and understanding financial statements, looking at their debt average, considering eps, comparing industry comps, and seeing if multiples are in line.. If good value, then buy.. if not, don't..

But, investing to most, is getting into a stock tip, and getting burned.. which I've seen millions, actually hundreds of millions of dollars get wiped out at a blink of an eye..

100% agree with this statement..

It's not just investments too. I mean, if there's a certain wine one likes to order at restaurants and the normal restaurant he goes charges $30, but he goes to a restaurant because it's on the miles list instead of his favorite, and they charge $40, that's like the investment story if you order it. There's no problem ordering it, and enjoying it, but all other things being equal, the lure of miles led that person to an opportunity to spend more. And it's ok, and maybe he had a great dinner, but the miles cost an extra $10.