Updated progress on October 2023. Each year, I challenge myself to earn the equivalent of the maximum annual IRA contribution limit (up to $6,500 for 2023) using the profits from various finance promotions alone. In 2021, I reached $5,592 in bonuses. In 2022, I reached $6,259 in bonuses. I just went back and tallied up the totals so far for 2023.
I consider it a profitable hobby with serious potential if you add in some disciplined investing. If you had put $6,000 into your IRA every year for the recent 10 year period (2013-2022) and invested in a simple Target Date retirement fund, you would have turned small, weekly deals into a $104,000+ nest egg. You didn’t need to be an investing genius. Another example of Focus + Long attention span = Surprising results.
That’s worth repeating: An extra 100 grand has been the real-world result of playing this game and investing $500 a month in proceeds for the last 10 years! Not to mention, a couple could double these numbers.
Ground rules: Real-world results for one real person only. Following with My Money Blog tradition, this will track my personal, real-world results. It would be quite easy to list a bunch of promotions that add up to $6,000, but these will be promotions that I personally sign up for and complete the requirements (even though I’ve already opened 100+ bank accounts, credit cards, and brokerage accounts over the years). I will track my individual results only, although my partner does also participate on a more selective basis. Nearly all of them have been documented in real-time in the Deals and Offers category, Top 10 credit cards list, and brokerage bonus list.
2023 bonuses and promotions list. The 💵 symbol means I have received and/or cashed out the bonus successfully. The ⌛ symbol means that the promo is still in progress. “Still live” means the offer is still available but the values may have gone up or down.
- Marcus Bank $100 Deposit Bonus (expired) 💵
- Tiicker Shareholder Perks $50 + $100 Amazon GC (expired, $11 bonus still available) 💵
- Free 1-Year TripAdvisor Plus Membership (expired, counting actual savings only) 💵
- Save App $5,000 Equivalent Investment (still live, actual return unknown, marked as zero for now) ⌛
- US Bank $600 Checking bonus (still live) 💵
- Fidelity Bloom App bonus $50 new/$30 existing (still live) 💵
- Target $10 off $100 Apple GC #1 (expired) 💵
- Laurel Road $440 Checking bonus (still live) ⌛
- Andrews FCU $200 Checking bonus (expired) 💵
- Plynk Invest $50 new/$100 existing bonus (still live) 💵
- Amazon $5 gift card w/ $50 purchase (expired) 💵
- Bilt June Rent Day 300 points ($3) (expired) 💵
- American Express Green Card 60,000 MR + $200 travel credit + $100 Loungebuddy + $189 Clear (still live) 💵
- Virginia529 $50 bonus x 3 kids (expired) 💵
- PSECU $300 Checking bonus (still live) 💵
- BofA Premium Rewards Card 60,000 points (still live) 💵
- Target $10 off $100 Apple GC #2 (expired) 💵
- Amazon Shop with Points $15 credit (still live, targeted) 💵
- Bilt July Rent Day $20 Lyft credit ($3) (expired) 💵
- Oxygen Checking app $100 (still live) 💵
- Amazon Prime Day $5 GC + 50% off S&S (expired) 💵
- CapOne Shopping $30 bonus (still live) 💵
- Moomoo Brokerage TSLA/GOOG + $150 + 15 free shares (still live) 💵
- Bilt August/September/October Rent Day Trivia + Double Points ($10) (1st of every month) 💵
- Upgrade Checking $150 (still live) 💵
- Target $10 off $100 Apple GC #3 (expired) 💵
- First Tech CU Checking $200 (still live, but hassle) ⌛
- Amazon Shop with Points $15 credit #2 (still live, targeted) 💵
- TradeStation $150 (still live) ⌛
- AmEx Checking $250 (still live) 💵
- Fierce Finance up to $500 (did $100 tier + $20 side bonuses) (still live) ⌛
- AmEx Offers x Lowe’s $50 (expired, works with any gift card) 💵
Totals so far: If I assume that all bonuses for which I have completed the required activity will eventually post, the total tally so far is $5,074, which is 78% of the $6,500 annual IRA contribution limit for 2023. This puts me a tiny bit ahead of the right pace required to reach my goal.
Honorable mention: I also made a $1,350 profit over only 10 calendar days from the Johnson & Johnson odd lot tender play. This did require a $17,000 commitment to buy 99 shares (the max allowed as an individual small investor) before the odd lot tender, but the lockup time was very short.
My Microsoft/Activision deal is also just about done wrapping up.
This is a personal challenge/game that I like to play, and I’ve been doing it for a long time. I enjoy trying out new apps and services. This is an enjoyable and profitable hobby for me, but I don’t like to waste my time either. I look for a solid return based on the time commitment required. I tend to avoid speculative bets, bonuses that are hard to convert to real cash-equivalent value, and anything that requires driving to stores where things may or may not be in stock. The deals that I post often last only a few days, but it’s a bit like value investing where you have to be ready to get off your butt and take decisive action when an opportunity shows up, because they won’t last forever.
Many things I have to skip simply because I’ve already done them. For those new to this hobby, I would first grab the low-hanging fruit like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Chase Sapphire Reserve and build up a nice stash of flexible Ultimate Rewards points. After that, I would recommend looking at the Citi Premier (ThankYou points), Capital Venture X (Capital One Miles), and American Express Gold (AmEX Membership Rewards points) to jumpstart your points stashes.
Exclusions. Importantly, this list ignores the additional interest earned from otherwise optimizing my existing cash balances, as well as everyday credit card rewards like 2% to 2.6% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on specific categories or 1% or better cash back on rent.
I am also excluding small-business deals like big Chase Ink Business Cash card bonuses, big business checking bonuses, and so on.