And with the Starwood deal, if you have more than $25,000 to invest, you can open separate accounts for others who share your address, and then combine all the points into a single account. I've also read that with any of the Ameritrade offers, you can open one account in your own name, a joint account, and several other types of accounts and direct the points/miles earnings to a single airline/hotel account.

Grasshopper,

What is American Beacon Money Market Mileage Fund exactly?
Is it FDIC insured?
Is it some kind of Municipal fund?
May the fund loose value?

Thanks, netsurferrr

".. with any of the Ameritrade offers, you can open .. several .."
Now we're gettin' somewhere -- anybody else bothered by the slope of that 'declining milage' scale ??

Between Dad, Mom, and two kids -- 4-single & 5-joint accounts & you're in the 27k-mi zone for just $9k without breaking a sweat. ^

/.

Before you open more than one kind of account I will email Ameritrade's customer service and ask them specifically. Ameritrade has been really good in getting back to you within a day or so. If they give the go ahead, SAVE the email because it may come in handy for the future. I think an individual and joint account will do it. Revocable living Trust accounts and any type of IRAs will NOT work. And always take into account closing/transferring out (and possibly inactivity) fees!

H.H.: Can you clarify your response for me. To what are you referring when you talk about the"*wood deal"? I'm fully aware of the 20,000 points converting into 25,000 miles but don't recognize what program is involved. Are you and gregorygrady still referring to Ameritrade? From what I can see, Ameritrade's site only deals with investing up to $50k for up to 25k miles with specific airlines. Am I missing something? Thanks

www.ameritrade.com/spg

It's the best deal out there as it requires only half the initial outlay ($25K instead of $50 for the top bonus). You get 20,000 SPG points for the $25,000 initial deposit (although it comes at two different times, the first batch right away and the second batch after 6 months).

As for the previous poster who opened (or was thinking of opening) 9 different accounts with $1000 in each, I would not reccommend that as there is a $15 quarterly account maintenance fee charged by Ameritrade if you don't either a) have a minimum of $2500 in your account, or b) make a certain number of trades each quarter, maybe 3 or 4 trades. So look into it before you go doing something like that. And opening 9 accounts seems like quite a PITA just to get 27K FF miles!!! Might not be worth the hassle.

See my post earlier in this thread (#9) for a link to the prospectus which answers all of these questions. The answers, in order, are 1) it's a money market fund that invests in short duration fixed income; 2) no; 3) no; 4) yes.

I have been wondering a lot about this kind of "may lose value" & non-FDIC insured daily sweep money market funds with variable daily interest rates. I have tried to do some research on www.fool.com but cannot find any answer to my concern. How likely it is for these funds to fall below $1 a share?

If a money market ever falls under $1/share, money is the last thing you'll have to worry about. SEC rules are pretty conservative in this regard.

Thanks.
I am not asking for further answers here.
Can someone direct me where I can find more information on "may lose value" & non-FDIC insured daily sweep money market funds with variable daily interest rates online?

I would try google searching for your answers. In general I would not invest in a money mkt account without FDIC insurance...just me.

I opened another account at Ameritrade with $5k for the 8k miles with United. I plan on having my SO open a joint account with me as well for another 8k miles (she will be the primary account holder this time). We will then try to flip them both (separately) to Fidelity where we have the rest of our $. You can avoid account closing costs...just convert the account to a retirement account or apply those dollars to a retirement account you may already have at the brokerage house.

Can I transfer my stocks from an existing account in a different brokerage to fund my Ameritrade account and qualify for the offer?

Yes.....

After going through 15 pages of google searches, all I have found about "may lose value" & non-FDIC insured daily sweep money market funds with variable daily interest rates is this:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/m...ty/5_steps.htm

The rest of the pages were all from banks stating their daily sweep money market funds with variable daily interest rates "may lose value" & are non-FDIC insured... dah!

You know how it goes, those pages from the banks do not really tell you the real implications of "may lose value" & non-FDIC insured daily sweep money market funds with variable daily interest rates on your deposits!

Now, I have done googling and I have found nothing. What should I do next? Can something really give insights on such funds?

THANKS

Is Ameritrade merging with E*Trade? I was very disappointed in the way E*Trade treated me a few years ago.