fried.food.is.good

True, but with $10k you are paying $1 per point where you are paying $1.25 per point for the $25k scenario. That's what I meant.

Ken in Phx

You arent paying anything for the points. Its what you do with the money in your brokerage account that is your "opportunity cost"

If you were going to buy $25 in Mutual Fund A either by itself or in an AMeritrade account then your cost would be zero. Not $1 or $1.25

jgold

fyi, the promo now runs through 6/30/06:

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Ameritrade has teamed up with Starwood Preferrred Guest® to bring you a special offer. Open an Ameritrade account by June 30, 2006, and earn up to 20,000 Starpoints. The more you deposit, the more points you earn. See chart for details.
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The details seem otherwise the same as previously described.

JG

revelinit

Seems like a great deal, and I suspect that I'll take advantage of it soon.

Is anyone thinking about a more long-term switch to Ameritrade and concerned about the quality of the brokerage?
CNBC/MSN Money rates Ameritrade near the bottom of online brokerages.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...tra/P94745.asp
Admittedly, this article is a year and a half old. So is Ameritrade better after the merger or still in the basement? It appears that TD Waterhouse is maintained as a separate subsidiary.

Still. . . points are points

miesterjustin

Chasing points and sacrificing returns on $25,000 or more would be foolish, of course. However, the article does cite (and I believe this remains to be true) that Ameritrade has the most no-load mutual funds. I plan to stash my capital in something similar, so Ameritrade could be rather attractive for that purpose.

gpapadop

TD Waterhouse is not a separate subsidiary...the whole company is renamed TD Ameritrade as of April 21 or 24. I expect them to be even better. I have been a customer of TD Waterhouse for many years and I am not moving away!

Having said that, I do have an account over $50k that has been moved so many times I have lost count, I call it the "whore" account , it just goes to the highest bidder...After getting the 20k Starwood points i initiated a transfer to Fidelity (fist time there!) for the 25k United miles...After this one I think I have been to every single brokerage account for miles/points that was out there for the past 7 years! I even managed to get miles/points from ETrade more than I should have and I think they have marked my account that this guy is not to be given any more miles/points EVER again

All these companies are OK but I am still staying with TD Ameritrade for my accounts...As far as the whore account is concerned, I will stay with Fidelity for six months and then I will send it out at the cornrer again

CactusChowdah

papadop, did your second half of Ameritrade points post 6 months or 9 months after your initial deposit? I'm closing in on 6 months, and want to check my SPG balance if it truly is 6 months. Thanks

revelinit

I didn't do much research on the combined TD Ameritrade holding company, but was just reading what it says on the bottom of the TD Waterhouse website: http://www.tdwaterhouse.com/home.asp

TD Waterhouse Investor Services, Inc., member of NYSE/SIPC, a subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation.

I did find other reviews of the Ameritrade brokerage that put it in a better light. You can see the awards that Ameritrade has won on it's website.

Miesterjustin, the catch about the highest number of no-load mutual funds is that most of them are not no-fee as well. We want no-load and no-fee!!

cur

No, and I doubt you will be. Read the TOA.

Take out $25 000 and let it sit for 9 months in order to get 4 free nights in a cat2 hotel. Seems kinda stupid. I'd just spend $500 and get the 10 000 starpoints, or whatever that New Years promo was.

gregorygrady

I've got 2 Ameritrade accounts and both of them posted the second half of the points 6 months to the day after my first set of points posted.

miesterjustin

Ah, I spoke too soon. I was likely to throw this into a municipal bond fund, which tends towards lower fees, but for which a load can destroy the first year (or more) of return. Perhaps I'll just trade equity out of the account, which I suppose was Ameritrade's intention.

IAD777

Do you think they will extend this beyond March 31st? I hope so.

To those who consider this a bad return. Frankly, you need to deposit $25,000 in assets in Ameritrade and can invest this as you wish. Other than any transfer out fees, moving assets to Ameritrade should not affect your rate of return if you hold individual mutual funds or shares of stock (excluding again any transfer in/out fees).

miesterjustin

Yes, see the prior page of this thread.

As for rate of return, expenses are one of the largest determinant of long-term performance. Ameritrade may be a low-cost broker for purposes of equity trades, but the cost of investing in closed-end funds can be significantly higher than other brokerages if there are high loads or significant annual expenses. Similarly, for a money-market, every 1% of more return offered by another source equals $250 you don't earn at Ameritrade.

gpapadop

As you all know, my "whore" account has been around to the highest bidder (brokerage company) quite a few times. This is the first time it goes with Fidelity so I can't speak of it yet. From all other brokerages I was very pleased with Ameritrade, they were the easiest to deal with in regards to posting of miles/points. But, as usual, YMMV.

The second half of *points posted right on when it was supposed to, I was impressed.

Re: subsidiary
All of this companies have a "Holding" company owning them...basically, it's a non-entity and the combined company TD Ameritrade looks to be really good now that it can combine the best of both companies.

I will let you all know if we will have any trouble collecting from Fidelity

gregorygrady

I love the name of your "point-earning" account. I should probably do the same thing with one of my accounts.........actually now that you give me the idea, I think I will. ^