Current bonus offers for 401K/IRA rollover
 

I searched and only found a really old thread without any useful responses and a couple of other threads that were not really the same question, so I thought starting a new thread was the best option, since this seems like a topic that may be of interest to others as well.

I am planning to rollover my 401K from a former employer to a rollover (traditional) IRA and was wondering what bonus offers (cash, miles, other) are available. I'm not going to make my decision solely based on the bonus, but the bonus would be a factor if there were two or more companies that basically met my needs in a similar manner. I currently have accounts with Fidelity (non-retirement, Roth IRA, and current employer 401K) and probably will open a TD Ameritrade non-retirement account for SPG points. I'm not an active trader and prefer a brokerage firm with a good selection of mutual funds and/or ETFs available for purchase online with low or no fees. I would likely buy and hold a few different funds, so I am not interested in a bonus that provides a lot of free or discounted stock trades.

I am aware of the current cash bonus offers that TD Ameritrade and e-Trade have for opening a new retirement account/rollover IRA:
1) TD Ameritrade details: http://www.tdameritrade.com/planning...aaccounts.html
2) e-Trade: I couldn't find the details of the e-Trade offer on their website but did an on-line chat with a representative who confirmed similar tiers/bonus amounts as TD Ameritrade, at least for $100K+ invested) and also found more detail on another website (don't know it or if it is reliable): http://bankvibe.com/etrade-ira-bonus-up-to-500-cash/

Any other options out there? Any experiences with specific offers?

Thanks!

the old threads included info stating that incentives for creating/rolling over iras & 401ks are prohibited by law....are you sure your sources above are offering bonuses for these?....tia...

I got a cash bonus several months ago for transferring from Fidelity over to TDAmeritrade, similar to the current posted offer. No problems.

Here's the TD Link as of today - the link above didn't work.

was this only ira/401k, or did it include other assets?.....i can understand incentives for moving investment accounts & that the ira might be also moved....

my ? is, if i have 75k in stocks & 50k in an ira, and the incentive is for 100k, will i get the incentive....if i move 100k or more + an ira, i could be rewarded w/o counting the ira....

thanks for the link....i'll call them...

You probably need to call. I had transfers of both types and you can only earn one bonus per calendar year, iirc, and I don't remember to which it was credited.

I think it is by account, so your 75K plus 50K would, I expect, only earn one $100 bonus for the 50K-100K tier. But 100K in one type would be better - $250.

interesting. I transfered assets out of my fidelity brokerage into TD Ameritrade for the SPG bonus. Got the 10K SPG points pretty quickly and will get the 2nd 10K I'm told after 6 months (although I thought fine print said 9 months?). I never thought of rolling over my 401K as well to take advantage of promotions. Great idea!

That said I do love Fidelity. Lower trading costs and better trading platform IMHO. I dislike Schwab a lot and have yet to really toy with TD's platform.

One idea - take 50K IRA to Citi and open a Citigold Checking for 23k plus AA with the IRA as the qualifying balance to avoid fees.

Thanks everyone for the feedback

If your 75K in stocks is non-retirement funds, I doubt that they would count those assets together with the 50K IRA in awarding bonuses; I think all banks and brokerage firms have to maintain very clear separation between retirement and non-retirement accounts. Nevertheless, it can't hurt to ask.

Thanks for your thoughts on TD Ameritrade v Fido v Schwab. I have never dealt with Schwab and they don't seem to be offering any bonuses. I've basically been satisfied with Fido over the years, but I'm impressed by how proactive TD Ameritrade has been since I called them a few weeks ago about the SPG offer.

Is the 23K AA miles one of the CB bonuses for a banking account? If so, are people getting 1099s for these? I'm wary of CB banking offers with AA miles bonuses since I got a 1099 last year on a CB USA bonus(10K miles at 2.5 cpm).

I already have Citigold checking and actually am in the process of moving a smaller former employer retirement account there to meet the 50K CG minimum. From the preliminary discussions I have had with the Citi Personal Wealth Management investment advisor who opened my IRA, it seems like Citi's fees are high compared to Fido (not really surprising). It won't matter too much to me b/c I plan to just pick one or two mutual funds or ETFs and hold them, but this might be something worth considering for a more active investor.

I'd echo the advice above - pick an investment partner you're comfortable with. A few hundred bucks or thousand points aren't worth the hassle of learning all the new tools, navigation, etc. I held on to Fidelity as long as I could, transferring a couple of weeks before regulatory/independence restrictions and sanctions kicked in.

TD seems to be on par, and recent ratings agree that they've pulled equal to the Fidelity long-time leader. But learning the new tools is a pain. I'm fortunate to have one F account that I'm allowed to keep that continues access to all the analysis tools.

what regulatory/independence restrictions and sanctions?

Can you explain this a little more? Thanks.

I'm fairly sure he is referring to this offer:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...g-account.html
To open a citigold account for 30k aa miles. To avoid the monthly fees you need a certain amount in linked accounts - those accounts could include the IRA (based on his comments), I believe it also includes home loans and maybe also credit card spend.

Just did a google search and for up to $600 from Schwab for IRA, so this must not be illegal. http://content.schwab.com/web/retail...ira_promotion/

IRA bonus
 

I'm looking at the bonus offers and everything I'm seeing doesn't allow opening a retirement account. Does anyone know of a financial firm that gives a bonus for opening an IRA or other tax exempt instrument?

Merrill Edge: Up to $500 added to your account
 

Not travel-related but:

http://www.merrilledge.com/m/pages/iraoffer.aspx