ETrade bonus offer for brokerage transfer

[DreamingOfFI]

Hello,

Etrade currently is offering bonus cash to transfer assets to a brokerage account with them. Below is the summary amounts.

I'm considering transferring some mutual funds and ETFs that I currently have at Vanguard "in-kind" to ETrade to collect the bonus cash. Just wondering if anyone sees any 'gotchas' here aside from having to track assets at another brokerage account.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Here is how to get your cash credit: Deposit cash or securities from any external account Get rewarded based on net new deposits made within 60 days (see table and disclosures below) Deposit Amount Cash Credit $5,000-$9,999 $50 $10,000-$24,999 $100 $25,000-$99,999 $250 $100,000-$199,999 $625 $200,000-$499,999 $1,000 $500,000-$999,999 $2,000 $1,000,000-$1,999,999 $5,000 $2,000,000-$4,999,999 $8,000 $5,000,000-$9,999,999 $15,000 $10,000,000 or more $20,000

 

[OldShooter]

It seems like there are probably better ways to earn a very small fraction of one percent.

 

[gauss]

Do they claw back part of the bonus if you don't leave your assets there long term?

I know some firms were giving up to 3% bonus a year or two ago, but they definitely had the claw back provisions as part of the deal.

-gauss

 

[foxcreek9]

Hello,

Etrade currently is offering bonus cash to transfer assets to a brokerage account with them. Below is the summary amounts.

I'm considering transferring some mutual funds and ETFs that I currently have at Vanguard "in-kind" to ETrade to collect the bonus cash. Just wondering if anyone sees any 'gotchas' here aside from having to track assets at another brokerage account.

Thanks a lot in advance.

​

Here is how to get your cash credit:​ Deposit cash or securities from any external account Get rewarded based on net new deposits made within 60 days (see table and disclosures below) Deposit Amount Cash Credit $5,000-$9,999 $50 $10,000-$24,999 $100 $25,000-$99,999 $250 $100,000-$199,999 $625 $200,000-$499,999 $1,000 $500,000-$999,999 $2,000 $1,000,000-$1,999,999 $5,000 $2,000,000-$4,999,999 $8,000 $5,000,000-$9,999,999 $15,000 $10,000,000 or more $20,000

I've done these types of things multiple time, just ACAT your shares over so no time out of the market, easy peasy.

Do you have the offer code, I'm not seeing the same numbers for "Offer26".

 

[foxcreek9]

It seems like there are probably better ways to earn a very small fraction of one percent.

When I'm not trying to find a cure for cancer, I will occasionally take 30 mins to make $5k, but that's me.

 

[Montecfo]

It's worth doing I think. As I slowly consolidated my accounts at E-Trade years ago I collected a lot of these fees.

And you are going to a brokerage which is rated the best by some. Certainly much more well regarded than Vanguard as a brokerage.

 

[RetiredHappy]

It really has to do with whether you have a strong preference for one brokerage over the other. You may pay me $10K to transfer to another brokerage, but I still will not transfer out of Fidelity. If you don't care, by all means, you can play the transfer bonus game. For us it is just not worth it.

 

[Texas Proud]

Do they pay good interest on their idle cash?

 

[Fermion]

Do they pay good interest on their idle cash?

Etrade does not but I have started to just park my idle cash in SGOV or VBIL

 

[Al18]

Morgan Stanley Premium Savings account is paying 3.50% APY, plus you can get a 0.5% bonus for six months. Morgan Stanley is associated with E*Trade
Premium Savings Account: 4.00% APY For 6 Months | E*TRADE

 

[NanoSour]

Easy money as long as you can resist the constant chaff to make you an active trader. That's where they make their money. I've done this with both Schwab and Fidelity when I decided to leave VG about 5 years ago.

 

[GrayHare]

Yup, might be easy to xfer into etrade, but the other direction, not so much.

 

[COcheesehead]

FYI when I got bonuses into Fidelity, they were considered taxable. Your results may vary.

 

[Montecfo]

Typically they will be taxable in a regular brokerage and tax deferred or tax free in tIRA or Roth, respectively.

 

[jim584672]

Morgan Stanley E*Trade just had a bonus for opening a Premium Saving account. This one looks new, maybe I can scrape some more free cash from them.

 

[dobig]

Do they claw back part of the bonus if you don't leave your assets there long term?

I know some firms were giving up to 3% bonus a year or two ago, but they definitely had the claw back provisions as part of the deal.

-gauss

I believe I read it's 12 months.

 

[DreamingOfFI]

Do they claw back part of the bonus if you don't leave your assets there long term?

I know some firms were giving up to 3% bonus a year or two ago, but they definitely had the claw back provisions as part of the deal.

-gauss

The deposit has to remain in the account for 1 year.

 

[DreamingOfFI]

I've done these types of things multiple time, just ACAT your shares over so no time out of the market, easy peasy.

Do you have the offer code, I'm not seeing the same numbers for "Offer26".

I also didn't see an offer code. It was just presented when I logged in to my other account and I was able to click "Enroll" to get the offer. I haven't yet moved the funds over but I likely will this week.

 

[Al18]

I believe there are separate dollar amounts for the bonus cash from the E*Trade account and the Morgan Stanley Premium Savings account. Since these companies are affiliated, I don't believe you can't sell some stock at E*Trade and then deposit the proceeds at Morgan Stanley, thinking you can meet the bonus balance requirements for both accounts. It's spelled out in the fine print - there's a lot of it.

 

[DreamingOfFI]

When I began the transfer from Vanguard, it required that I print out and sign an "Account Transfer Confirmation" form. Some of the language in that form states "I further authorize you to redeem my shares in nontransferable proprietary mutual funds ... and transfer the resulting credit balance to E*Trade." Although the ETF and fund I'm transferring are not in that category, this language does give me some pause.