mjrube's challenge

[mjrube94]

Ok, so I am really late to the game (it's the story of my life!) but I'm ready to start the challenge. Disclaimer: I am the LEAST creative/crafty person you'll ever meet, so while I love the ideas I've seen from DivaJen and Akaivyleaf, there's no way I could do anything like that. So I'm going to attack this in two ways:

1) I love the idea of taking advantage of all of the cash bonuses from banks. There are literally thousands of dollars to be had. Unfortunately, I began doing this before the challenge began, so I've already picked off a lot of "low hanging fruit" (ING, BOA, Chase). The other bummer is that, in a lot of instances, the minimum deposit is $50 or $100, and in many cases you need to leave the $$ on deposit for at least 6 months. But I'll look over my list and take advantage of some that are still out there.

2) And this may be a bit of a stretch (but still in the spirit of the challenge), but I'm going to count money I've saved specifically as a result of the information I've read on this site. For instance, I never new about half.com or ebookdrop.com until I saw it here. So any money I raise from this point on from taking advantage of tips will count on my ledger.

Of course I'll keep my eye open for other ideas as well. The good news is that I can sell 10 books on ebookdrop.com for a total of $43.85, so as soon as I get them boxed up and shipped I'll add it to the total. Then, I can take advantage of one of the $50 bank opening offers.

More to come...

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

I finally mailed out the books for ebookdrop.com. That's $43.85 minus the $3.19 for packing materials (if I'm going to be serious about this, half.com, ebay, etc., I need to find cheaper packing materials!) so the total is $40.66. Yay

Tally: $20 +40.66 = $60.66

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

I'm on a roll...Using my new found wealth, I am taking advantage of a promotion from Sharebuilder http://www.sharebuilder.com/about_us/jump/iplangift/.

They will give you $50 for opening an account, after your first transaction. You can buy stocks under their basic plan for $4 per transaction. You can make regular investments, or one-time only. They will credit your account approximately 4 weeks after the first transaction is made. They charge a $15 fee to sell your shares, which seems high to me, but is still justified by the $50 bonus. My plan is to make this initial purchase and leave it. If I ever have the opportunity to add to it I will, then at some point in the future, I'll sell all the shares at once so I only get hit one time with the fee.

They also have a referral program, where if you refer someone and they sign up and make a transaction, you get 5 free automatic investments (thus waiving the $4 fee), and the individual who signs up gets a $25 bonus. I may end up signing up my two kids as well (though I'd do it with the $50 bonus link, as long as it is still active).

Tally: $60.66 - $5 = $55.66

(Although I invested more, I only count $5 toward the challenge to cover the $4 fee and the $1 minimum investment. I won't add the $50 bonus (or subtract the $15 sell fee) to my total until it's received).

[DivaJen]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Disclaimer: I am the LEAST creative/crafty person you'll ever meet, so while I love the ideas I've seen from DivaJen and Akaivyleaf, there's no way I could do anything like that. So I'm going to attack this in two ways...

Lol! I'd love to hear more about the stock site you just wrote about. Post a follow-up after you've created your account and all, if you don't mind.

[cicy33]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Does this mean that the person that signs up under you gets a total of $75? do you have any more info on this? thanks.

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Sorry for the confusion. If the person signs up using the link I listed a few posts ago, they would get a $50 bonus and I wouldn't get anything. If at some point that deal expires (no date is listed) before the person opens their account, they could get a referral for me, where they would get $25 and I'd get the 5 free $4 trades. Unfortunately, it's either-or, but wouldn't it be great if it could be both?

As an aside, my first scheduled transaction is set for this Tuesday. I should receive the bonus approx 4 weeks later. I think I'll wait to make sure I receive the bonus without a problem, and once that happens, I'll go ahead and set up the kids' accounts.

[Bluezy]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Excellent find Keep up the good work

[Amytheamazing]

Re: mjrube's challenge

What books are you selling on ebookdrop.com?

My mom works at a hospital so everytime me or my sister need to move apartments or haul stuff home she gets us nice boxes for free. See if a local hopsital can spare some boxes for you. You might even get some bubble wrap in some of the boxes.

Good Luck!!

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

I am on my way to placing another order on ebookdrop.com. I checked out a bunch of ISBNs today and was pleasantly surprised to find out that 5 of hubby's (15 year old) chemistry and engineering textbooks will sell for $40.83. I got his ok to get rid of them. They're currently at my mil's house, so I'll get them tonight after work when I pick up the kids, and place the order after I get home. Wahoo! There are a bunch more of his books at mil's house that I can check out as well. Yippee!

Also, I got an email notification from Sharebuilder that they processed my transaction and I am eligible for the $50 bonus, and it will be sent in 4-6 weeks. So it looks like that's on the up and up and I can set up the kids accounts as planned, with their first transactions in mid-September and the bonuses expected by the end of October. Wahoo!

[cicy33]

Re: mjrube's challenge

I would love to have some detailed info on the sharebuilder stuff. thanks

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Cicy, Check out the link to the offer on my 3rd post, above. I like the fact that you can set up recurring purchases (weekly, monthly, quarterly) or do a one-time thing when you have some extra cash. There are no inactivity fees, which I think is great, and sets them apart (from what I understand) from other online brokers. I'm not sure how I feel about the $4 transaction fee. On the one hand, $4 doesn't seem like a lot of money to me, but on the other hand, if you only want to buy $100 (or less) at a time, 4% or more seems like a pretty big commission. I think my strategy would be to save up my money somewhere else (ING?) and when I get a more substantial amount ($500-$1000) then make a purchase. When you're ready to sell, I think it costs $14.95. (Also, if you want to buy "real-time" as opposed to on a schedule (e.g., 2nd Tuesday of the month) it also costs $14.95. But I'm not trying to time the market, and I'll be in for the long haul, so this doesn't impact me). I think the $50 bonus more than makes up for this. Also, you can open accounts for your hubby, kids, etc. using this same link, and they'll each get the bonus as well. Can't beat it. And when this bonus finally expires, as an existing customer, you can refer others (kind of like ING), and you'll get 10 free ($4) trades, and the person you're referring gets $25.

As I mentioned earlier, I was waiting to make sure everything is on the up-and-up before I open the other accounts. I'm confident that it is, so I'm going to go ahead. Good Luck!

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

I'm officially upping my total! I packaged up another box of books for ebookdrop.com to the tune of $59.05! It will be going in the mail tomorrow. So my new grand total is $114.71! ($55.66 + $59.05). No shipping fees this time, because I'm using a box and noodles that I had in the house.

Tomorrow I'll open the Sharebuilder accounts for the kids, though I don't count these bonuses until I actually receive them.

It dawned on me this weekend that I need to figure out a few more ideas for making $$ related to this challenge. I've checked out almost every book I have access to and have exhausted ebookdrop (although I'm now looking at Amazon.com as a potential, and I have a few more to list at half.com). The Sharebuilder thing was great, and I have some options with bank bonuses, but it won't get me much closer to the $5k goal. I'm a bright spark, though, so I know I can do it. lol.

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

I opened the Sharebuilder accounts for the kids. So that drops my total by $10 ($5 per account), down to $104.71. I set up the first transactions to occur on September 20, so I should receive the $100 bonus ($50 each) by the end of October. Now to find a bank account to open...

[mjrube94]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Thanks to Retire@50, one of the regular journalers (is that a word?) on this site, I arranged a deal with Direct Tv to knock off $15/month on my bill for 6 months. While I won't count this chicken until it hatches (directtv is not the most consistent when it comes to customer service), I will include the $15 each month toward my challenge total when it arrives. If they're prompt, I can get 3 month's worth (Oct, Nov, Dec) before the challenge ends...

[Snakpac]

Re: mjrube's challenge

Nice job on the challenge so far. Do you have to know a lot about the stock market to get the $50 from sharebuilder?

Thanks,
Jason