Best Brokerage Account Deals and Bonuses Right Now: Earn Up to $3,500 With a New Account, my bonus investment.

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Blockfi referral bonuses read our full review of the TD ameritrade bonus.

Best brokerage account deals and bonuses right now: earn up to $3,500 with a new account

Get more cash to build wealth with these top brokerage deals and promotions.

Top forex bonuses

Brokerage	brokerage bonus offer	bonus trigger
TD ameritrade	$350-$2,500	account opening and deposit minimum
M1 finance	$250-$2,500	account opening and transfer minimum
stash	$5	account opening and deposit minimum
betterment	1-12 months of free portfolio management	account opening and deposit minimum
blockfi	$15-$250 free bitcoin	account opening and deposit minimum
ally invest	$50-$3,500	account opening and deposit minimum
robinhood	$2.50-$200 worth of free stock	account opening
webull	$8-$1,600 of free stock	deposit minimum
charles schwab	$100-$500	account opening and deposit minimum
merrill edge self-directed	$100-$600	account opening and deposit minimum
E-trade	$25-$2,500	account opening and deposit minimum

If you’re unsure how to choose between this list of brokerage bonuses, these deciding factors on an investment brokerage will show you what to look for in a new account.

Best brokerage account bonuses right now

Building an investment portfolio can take time, but some top brokerage firms can help you with promotions, deals, referral bonuses and sign-up bonuses. Depending on how much money you have to invest, these brokers may offer to deposit a cash bonus into your account, give you free stock or provide fee-free investing for a set period.

If you’re looking for a new brokerage to help manage your portfolio, or if you’re a beginner investor who is excited to get started, check out these brokerage bonus offers to see how you can maximize your return.

1. TD ameritrade bonus: $350-$2,500

One of the largest brokers in the U.S., TD ameritrade provides a platform for all kinds of investors. It offers a robust set of resources and tools and doesn’t charge commissions on online trades of stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (etfs).

TD ameritrade’s requirements to earn a sign-up bonus are a bit steep, so less experienced investors may not qualify. But the broker’s platform is among the best. With commission-free on stocks, mutual funds and other securities, TD ameritrade is still worth considering for long-term investing needs.

Read our full review of the TD ameritrade bonus.

2. M1 finance bonus: $250-$2,500

If you’re looking for an online stock broker that provides both investing and banking services, M1 finance may be ideal. With just $100, you can open an account and start trading various securities — that includes fractional shares, which allow you to purchase portions of shares in publicly-traded companies and benefit from gains without needing a lot of money. Plus, as an added benefit, the platform offers free trades.

M1 finance’s transfer bonus requires new money to be deposited into your account by october 31, 2020.

While this robo-advisor doesn’t offer a cash bonus, the features alone make this online broker worth considering. In addition to DIY-investing and checking, M1 finance offers the chance to borrow on margin at a low interest rate, especially if you register for an M1 plus account. It even offers commission-free trading for both trade windows and cash-back rewards for everyday spending.

Read our full review of the M1 finance bonus.

3. Stash bonus: $5 slickdeals bonus

slick tip: use this slickdeals affiliate link to automatically receive your $5 bonus offer to invest.

If you’re relatively new to investing, meeting high deposit minimums may not be an option. With stash invest, though, you can get a bonus of $5 after you open a stash investment account and deposit $5 or more in new funds. While it may be a small incentive, it is a dollar for dollar match on your first $5 deposit.

That $5 sign-up bonus can be among your first dollars to invest with stash, and you can use it to trade stocks — including fractional shares — and etfs. Stash also offers a stock-back rewards program with its checking account, which means that you can earn rewards in the form of stocks when you make qualifying purchases with your stash debit card.

Just keep in mind that there’s a monthly fee that ranges from $1 to $9, depending on which features you want and how much you want to earn in stock-back rewards. However, like many online stock brokers, stash offers free trades which can help you to recover the cost of monthly fees.

Read our in-depth stash bonus review.

4. Betterment bonus: 1-12 months free portfolio management

One of the pioneers of robo-advising, betterment offers the chance to invest and bank all under one roof. On the investing side of things, the brokerage firm uses algorithms to manage your portfolio for you in exchange for a 0.25% annual fee. You can also upgrade to a premium plan with access to certified financial planners and advice for investments outside of betterment for a 0.40% annual fee.

For smaller investments, getting just one month for free may not amount to much. But it can give you some time to test-drive the platform and decide whether a robo-advisor is right for you.

5. Blockfi bonus: $15 – $250 in free bitcoin

slick tip: use this link and automatically earn your bonus after direct depositing the eligible bonus amount (see below).

Cryptocurrency is a relatively new investment option, and blockfi is taking innovative steps to allow investors to take advantage of it. You can use the broker’s platform to buy and sell various cryptocurrencies, interest on your investment and even use your cryptocurrency as collateral to borrow money.

Blockfi is currently running a new block interest account (BIA) promotion. Fund your new block interest account with $25 or more on or before november to earn a one-time bitcoin bonus of $15 to $250. You must be a new blockfi customer to qualify for this bonus. Tier deposit amount (new money) BTC payout tier 1 $25 – $249 $15 tier 2 $250 – $999 $20 tier 3 $1,000 — $4,999 $40 tier 4 $5,000 – $9,999 $75 tier 5 $10,000 – $19,999 $150 tier 6 $20,000+ $250 The blockfi interest account lets you put your crypto to work and earn monthly interest payments in the asset-type that you deposit with blockfi. Blockfi bonus fine print New clients who sign up through this referral link and fund their account during the current promotional period are eligible to receive $15 – $250 bitcoin bonus (in USDC) depending on their investment tier. The current promotional period is defined as the current calendar month ending at 23:59:59 UTC on the last day of the month. Please note, this must be your first deposit, and you must maintain a minimum $25 crypto balance through the 14th of the month for two and a half months from the month of eligibility in order to remain eligible. Eligible payouts occur on the 15th of every month on a rolling basis. If the 15th falls on a weekend, then the bonus payout will occur by the end of the next business day. There is a maximum of one bonus per client. This offer cannot be combined with other trading offers. Trading qualifications are dependent upon geographical or regulatory restrictions. Terms subject to change. Blockfi referral bonuses Once you’ve become a blockfi customer, you are eligible for their referral program which provides referral links for you to share. For every person that signs up using your blockfi referral code and deposits $100 or more into their blockfi interest account, you and that friend will each earn $10 in BTC. You can obtain a blockfi referral links by visiting the refer-a-friend landing page. Similarly, new promotions and past promotions are listed here on the blockfi promotions page. 6. Ally invest bonus: $50 – $3,500 Ally invest is an online-only bank that offers a variety of banking, lending and wealth management services. It also offers one of the biggest bonuses for new investing customers that we’ve seen. If you open an ally self-invest account by december 31, 2020 and fund it with a certain amount within the first 60 days of account opening, you can receive up to $3,500. Ally invest features commission-free trades on eligible U.S exchange-listed stock, ETF, and option trades. In fact, at $0.50 per contract, ally invest offers low-cost fees for option trades and a wide selection of etfs from vanguard, globalx, ishares and more. Ally invest offers high-yield etfs from market leaders that may complement your portfolio and help diversify your investing strategy 7. Robinhood bonus: $2.50 – $200 worth of free stock Robinhood helped pioneer the mobile investing movement, as well as commission-free trades. The commission-free platform allows you to trade stocks (fractional shares included), options, cryptocurrencies and etfs, and there’s no minimum to get started. What’s more, the broker’s bonus is easy to earn: simply open a new account, and you’ll receive a free stock worth between $2.50 and $200. With no barrier to entry, this one may be the best online stock option for inexperienced investors. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that robinhood doesn’t offer retirement accounts. So you may want to consider another option if you’re hoping to open one of those. 8. Webull bonus: $8 – $1,600 of free stock Another great mobile-first trading platform, webull offers the chance to invest in stocks, etfs and options (though you can’t trade fractional shares). Also, like robinhood, webull doesn’t require massive deposits to earn its welcome offer of free stocks. You can receive up to two free stocks each valued between $8 to $1,600 when you open an account with the broker and fund it with $100 or more. The broker also offers several ways to earn more free stock, including through referral links and other ongoing promotions. If you’re just starting out or you’re not sure you want to move a lot of money, webull can get a great place to start. In addition to offering free trades, another one of webull’s strengths is its investment in technical research, which can be a huge plus for experienced investors and others who want to learn. 9. Charles schwab: $100-$500 Like TD ameritrade, charles schwab is one of the largest brokers in the U.S., and offers a much wider range of investment options, resources, tools and other features than many of the smaller brokers on our list. While the sign-up deposit requirements are a bit steeper than some other brokers, the lowest tier is still relatively accessible to investors with lower net worths. 10. Merrill edge self-directed account bonus: $100 – $600 To earn the cash bonus, you’ll need to make your qualifying deposit of new funds within 45 days of opening your account, then keep it in the account for 90 days after that. And remember, the sign-up bonus only works for merrill edge self-directed accounts, which is where you manage your own portfolio. If you open a guided investing account with a professional manager, you’ll be ineligible for the promotion. Merrill edge’s bonus is more accessible than many other broker bonuses, but still requires a good amount of cash to get the minimum amount. 11. E-trade brokerage and retirement accounts: $25 – $2,500 Once you meet the requirements, you’ll receive your cash bonus within seven business days. The offer is valid on new accounts opened by dec. 31, 2020, but you’ll have 60 days after that deadline to meet your deposit requirement. You also need to maintain the funds in the account (minus any trading losses you incur) for 12 months. What to do with your bonus money: when to save vs SPEND There are many things you could be spending your bonus money on, but if you want to be smart about it, you've come to the right place. This is the end all, be all guide on what to do with your bonus money. Read how to find out. This is a guest post by matt, from onemillionandbeyond.Com. Matt’s goal is to reach a million dollars in assets by his 35th birthday… he’s starting by getting out of debt. You log in to your bank account to see a pleasant surprise: your bonus has come in! You’re one of the many people out there that gets a bonus from your job and it’s come in. Visions of big-screen tvs and vacations swim through your head. Or is it all of that looming debt you’ve got? Regardless of what you are going to do you are now in possession of some extra money that you’re going to have to do something with. If this is a regular occurrence for you then you might have already spent the money. I know that when I got a bonus from work I was either counting on it for something or I already had a plan to spend it. Regardless that bonus was pretty much as good as gone no matter what I ended up spending the money on. I’m sure that I’m no different than most people who get a bonus as part of their pay. The money comes in and then just as quickly it’s gone leaving us to wonder what happened to it. Extra money comes into our lives from time to time and there are both things that we should do with it and things we shouldn’t. We’ll look at examples from both sides hopefully catching a few people out there and saving them some money in the process. What to do The list of things that you could do with a bonus is pretty much endless, from a $50 to a $10,000 bonus. Depending on your financial situation here are a few of the obvious choices for spending our bonuses: Pay down debt – A cash windfall is a great way to get ahead of the game Get caught up on bills – this one should come first Pay off loans – bonuses can be a great way to get rid of loans and credit cards in one fell swoop For example a few years back I got a $7,000 bonus, which I used to pay off a loan, that I had a little over a year of payments left on, of about $3,500. This helped me out greatly by removing around $300 from my monthly expenses. It was a challenge not to take a trip with that money but by doing this I increased my cash flow for those 12 months, which made my life easier since I was living paycheck to paycheck at the time. Now if you’re already ahead of the game and you’re not heavily in debt you’ve got a few more options open to you. First off I would set the money aside to keep yourself from nickel and diming it out of existence. The next thing I would do is set a part of it for yourself; you might as well reward yourself for your hard work. At this point you’ve got some options: Pay down the mortgage – this can save you thousands down the road Put the money into retirement savings – you might be able to save some extra money on your taxes if you do this Build up an emergency fund – if you’ve got one great, if not this is the best place to start Invest the money – aside from retirement investment this could be a great way to start an investment portfolio Using my previous $7,000 bonus as an example if I had used $4,000 of that money to pay down my mortgage the impact on the long term to my interest costs would have been enormous. Without getting into the dollars and cents of it that $4,000 can save you 10’s of thousands of dollars on your mortgage. What not to do The biggest problem in my opinion with bonuses is that you all of a sudden have all this extra money to spend. That vacation to thailand all of a sudden becomes possible as does that big screen TV but that doesn’t mean we should spend the money this way. A few things that you should avoid when it comes to bonuses: Big-ticket purchases – blowing all of the money at once won’t help anything Not setting the money aside in some way – it’s likely to vanish very quickly Splurge spending – you might be hitting the visa before you know it Expecting it to last longer than you think – because you have it doesn’t mean you need to spend it I know this part of the post doesn’t sound like fun but a bonus or unexpected money has this habit of vanishing very quickly. Not keeping an eye out for it can put you into some hot water if you’re not normally careful with your money. Keeping your lifestyle generally the same while getting the money to work for you will have a long-term impact far beyond the benefit a big screen TV will ever bring you. My experiences I’ve gotten bonuses and cash windfalls a few times in my life and pretty much every time the money vanished very fast. Each time I managed to pay down some debt before it completely vanished but there was rarely any lasting impact from these cash influxes. The one and only time I spent a massive amount from a bonus and been extremely happy about it was getting an engagement ring for my now wife. Other than this, every single time the money was typically gone within a matter of weeks. I changed my spending for that short period of time while I had the money and now years later I can remember the ring and paying off a loan; the rest of it is a mystery. Treating yourself to something is a nice way to spend part of it but if you don’t pay attention the money can be spent very quickly. Bonuses by nature are infrequent and we’re just not used to them (at least I wasn’t) so we spend the money as if it were our regular pay. To further illustrate how beneficial something like this can be had I invested my bonuses when I was getting them regularly, I could have paid off all of my credit cards or put a small down payment on a house. Even if I had left the money in an ING type account I could have made thousands in interest by now. Unfortunately, because I was careless the money vanished and if you’re not careful the same thing can happen to you. If you’re lucky enough to get a regular bonus treat the money with respect; save some of it and let the power of compound interest go to work for you. Remember a $2,500 investment at 4% in 10 years is over $3,700, which translates to free money. That same $2,500 each year adds up to a whopping $31,000 after 10 years (at 4%), which is over $6,000 in free money. If you’re not able to set it aside for investment this is a great way to boost yourself out of debt quickly. A bonus should be treated as something separate to your regular income, which can help you maximize it one way or another without seeing it vanish before your eyes. By keeping my lifestyle and spending the same I could have made a huge impact to my life, but instead, I spent the money like it was going out of style and now I’m left with nothing to show for it. Do you know your earning potential? Take my earning potential quiz and get a custom report based on your unique strengths, and discover how to start making extra money — in as little as an hour. The 14 best brokerage account promotions and bonuses for 2021 Updated january 21, 2021 Some links below are from our sponsors. This blog has partnered with cardratings for our coverage of credit card products. This site and cardratings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author's alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. More information Are you looking to open a new brokerage account to manage your portfolio of investments but aren’t sure which one? Many online investment platforms compete for business by offering new account promotions based on the assets you can transfer to their platform. While promotions shouldn’t be the only consideration, these promotion/bonus amounts are too hard to look past. There are a range of bonuses listed below, whether you have an established portfolio and looking to transfer stocks, or starting new. Continue reading to review the best brokerage account promotions for new accounts. Our top picks: Webull – 4 free stocks worth up to $1,600 Webull is a free trading app from webull financial. They are a brokerage based out of new york city and regulated by FINRA, you can look them up on brokercheck. We have a full review of webull and their offer here. For new signups, open and fund an account with $100 and they will give you 4 free stocks worth up to $1,600. They have no fees and no account minimums so it’s truly free stock. Robinhood – free share of stock Robinhood is a relatively new brokerage that will give you a free share of stock when you open an account. There are no other requirements of the offer, you just need to open an account. No deposit, no transfer, no nothing. You can read more about the free share of stock promotion here. Ally invest – up to $3,500 Ally invest is the online brokerage account I use because they offer free trades (U.S. Stock, etfs, and options) with no minimums and monthly balance requirements. I have an ally bank account so managing it all with one login is convenient too. I wish I would’ve taken advantage of their new account bonuses for transfers because it’s one of the most generous, here is the schedule based on how much you deposit within 60 days of account opening: Here is the ally invest bonus structure: Deposit or transfer amount your bonus $10,000 – $24,999 $50 $25,000 – $99,999 $200 $100,000 – $249,999 $300 $250,000 – $499,999 $600 $500,000 – $999,999 $1,200 $1,000,000 – $1,999,999 $2,500 $2,000,000 or more $3,500 They will also credit transfer fees if you move your account from another brokerage – up to $150 ACAT fee reimbursement. NVSTR – NVSTR has a referral program where you can get up to $1,000 (but at least $10) when you sign up. The referring customer gets $10 to $1,000 too – and it’s a limited time offer. If you’ve never heard of them before, our NVSTR review can get you up to speed. The only requirement is that you make one trade within a year and you can keep the bonus. There are no other requirements for the new account bonus. There is also a deposit bonus. For a limited time, after you open your account, you can get a bonus based on what you deposit. You need to maintain this amount for one year to keep the deposit bonus. Tastyworks Tastyworks will give you 100 shares of a “highly liquid stock” when you open and fund a new cash or margin account with $2,000. The shares will be selected at random from a list of eleven stocks priced between $1 and $6, so you can get anywhere from $100 to $600 in this promotion with a stated average bonus of $200 – $220. There is a 70% chance of getting a stock priced under $2 and a 30% chance of getting a stock priced over $2. You must keep the initial value of the stock, less any loss in value, in the account for a minimum of three months. The referral/promotion code for this offer is “STOCK_AWARD_20” and you must put it in the referral code field when applying. Sofi invest – $50 Sofi invest is the brokerage arm of sofi, the student loan refinancing company. They’ve recently branched out into other areas, including sofi money (banking), and they are now offering a $50 bonus if you sign up and deposit at least $25. With sofi invest, you can manage your portfolio (active investing) or go with a roboadvisor approach (auto investing). With active investing, you can invest in stocks, cryptocurrencies, and etfs without paying a trading commission. For a limited time, get $50 in stock from sofi invest if you sign up with a referral link and deposit at least $1,000. There’s no trading requirement. Betterment Betterment is one of the largest and most respected robo-advisors, you can see our review of betterment for a closer look at their service. For new accounts, they will waive the management fee of 0.25% depending on how much you transfer: Deposit $15,000 – $99,999, get 1 month managed free Deposit $100,000 – $249,999, get 6 months managed free Deposit $250,000+, get 12 months managed free Citi personal wealth management Citi personal wealth management has a juicy bonus offer when you transfer new-to-citibank funds within 2 months of opening an account. You also will need to enroll in e-delivery of statements and then keep those funds in the account through the end of the next month (or three months after the month of account enrollment). Bonus will be credited three months after you meet the maintenance requirement. Here’s the citi bonus transfer schedule: Fund with $50,000 – $199,999 – $500 Fund with $200,000 – $499,999 – $1,000 Fund with $500,000 – $999,999 – $1,500 Fund with $1,000,000 – $1,999,999 – $2,500 Fund with $2,000,000 or more – $3,500 Merrill edge – up to $600 Merrill edge, a bank of america company, will give you up to $1,000 if you open a new merrill edge account using the offer code 600ME. You just need to transfer your funds within 45 days, maintain that balance for 90 days, and you will get the cash bonus in 2 weeks. This bonus applies to individual merrill edge iras or cash management accounts, which is what they call their taxable brokerage accounts. Here’s the merrill edge bonus transfer schedule: Fund with $20,000 – $49,999: $100 Fund with $50,000 – $99,999: $150 Fund with $100,000 – $199,999: $250 Fund with $200,000+ $600 If you are a preferred reward client, you may get up to $900 with this alternative offer. Charles schwab – up to $500 Charles schwab will give stock plan services clients a bonus of up to $500 when you open a new account and transfer in new funds with 45 days. If you are not a stock plan service, they won’t give you this promotion (they will even let you apply and enter in a promotion code, but they won’t give you the bonus). Here’s charles schwab’s bonus transfer schedule: Fund with $10,000 – $24,999: $100 Fund with $25,000 – $45,999: $200 Fund with $50,000 – $99,999: $300 Fund with $100,000+ $500 Update: I have received reports from readers that you don’t get cash but instead get “trade credits” which can be used to pay the commission for trades. If you are considering this offer, call to confirm the details. E*TRADE – up to $2,500 When I think of new account promotions, I think of E*TRADE. For years, they had an offer where you could get up to $3,000 (if you had over a million dollars in assets to transfer!) and 60 days of free trades if you open a non-retirement brokerage account. With the recent rush of brokerages offering free trades, the promotion is now just cash. You can find the full details here but this is the offer: Deposit $5,000 – $9,999, get $50 cash Deposit $10,000 – $19,999, get $100 cash Deposit $20,000 – $24,999, get $150 cash Deposit $25,000 – $99,999, get $200 cash Deposit $100,000 – $249,999, get $300 cash Deposit $250,000 – $499,999, get $600 cash Deposit $500,000 – $999,999, get $1,200 cash Deposit $1,000,000 or more, get $2,500 cash Fidelity – promotion [expired] Fidelity doesn’t offer any cash bonus right now and their last promotion, for free trades, no longer applies as they’ve made many trades commission free. This offer has expired. We will update it when fidelity issues a new promotion. Tradestation – $100 [expired] Tradestation has a “cash madness” promotion where you can get $100 when you open and fund a tradestation securities account with $500 or more. All you have to do is open a new tradestation securities account using the offer code ZINGAFOG, deposit at least $500 within thirty days of opening your account, and then maintain the balance for one month after the funding date. The promotion expired on july 1st, 2020. We will update this section when a new promotion arrives. Frequently asked questions Here are some frequently asked questions about bonuses and the brokerage transfer process. Almost every brokerage firm supports ACATS, which stands for automated customer account transfer service, which lets you transfer your assets “in-kind.” this means that your holdings are transferred without you having to sell them (and create a taxable event). If you have big unrealized gains in a stock, the shares just get moved over without you having to sell them and you keep the same cost basis. You may run into hiccups if some items can’t be transferred. One common example is vanguard admiral shares of their mutual funds. Some brokerages will take them, others won’t. In these cases, you may have to transfer them to another asset type (like the ETF version), which will accept them. ACATS does take a week or two to complete the transfer. I don’t think it’s worth switching from broker to broker, grabbing up the bonuses, but the process isn’t difficult. If you’re looking to make a move anyway, getting paid a little for the effort is better than not being paid. Some brokers may charge you to leave, which is something you’d be paying anyway, so hopping around may reduce your returns from the bonus perspective. If you are creating new taxable brokerage accounts, the bonuses will be reported as income and you will have to claim them on your taxes as income. If you are creating retirement accounts, like an IRA, the bonuses are going into those accounts so you won’t owe taxes on them immediately. For traditional iras, you’ll just be taxed when you start taking distributions. Roth iras will never be taxed. For each account, review the terms and conditions to see how the brokerage is treating it and you’ll know for certain. 5 tax strategies for a bonus or windfall Yes, it’s inevitable: that cash bonus for a job well done can result in you paying a bigger chunk of money to the internal revenue service (IRS). To start, the IRS considers bonuses to be supplemental wages, which means your employer is required to immediately withhold 22% of your windfall.   you could get some of that back at tax time. But then again, a bonus might bump you into a higher tax bracket, which starts at 10% for low-income taxpayers and tops out at 37%.   Heed another precaution, says rosalind sutch, a philadelphia certified public accountant (CPA) at the tax consulting firm drucker & scaccetti: "if you work in two or more states during the year, you might need to pay taxes on your bonus to each state." Take heart: your tax advisor can map out a few strategies to let you keep as much of that extra cash as the IRS allows. Key takeaways The IRS considers bonuses to be supplemental wages, which means your employer is required to immediately withhold 22% of your windfall. A bonus or windfall can represent a great way to jumpstart your retirement savings, especially if you’re allowed to use your bonus to make a special contribution; it might make very good sense to use the extra cash to maximize your 401(k) contribution. If you are paid in shares of stock, you’ll want to mull over the best time to cash out of a security that has increased in value—in order to offset or limit capital gains. If you itemize your deductions on schedule A, you can shield some of your bonus by making a charitable donation to charity. 1. Set it aside for later Remember, uncle sam truly wants you to have a great retirement. He’s encouraging us all to build up our nest eggs by using contributions to qualified retirement savings accounts, such as 401(k)s and traditional iras, to reduce taxable income. With that in mind, a bonus or windfall can represent a great way to jumpstart your retirement savings, especially if you’re allowed to use your bonus to make a special contribution. That, of course, will depend on your plan's rules. 401(k)s It might make very good sense to use the extra cash to maximize your 401(k) contribution. This move may even reap an additional reward if your employer kicks in a matching sum—provided you qualify under plan guidelines. The amount you can contribute to your 401(k) or similar workplace retirement plan is $19,500 in 2021. The 401(k) catch-up contribution limit—if you're 50 or older—will be $6,500 in 2021.   For 2021, your total contributions to all of your traditional and roth iras cannot be more than $6,000 ($7,000 if you're age 50 or older), or your taxable compensation for the year, if your compensation was less than this dollar limit. The deduction you can take on IRA contributions, however, is subject to limits based on your income, filing status, and whether your employer has a retirement plan in place.   Roth IRA Another strategy, says sutch, is to make a contribution to a non-deductible IRA, then convert the account to a roth IRA as quickly as possible—at very least before the end of the year. You will need to pay taxes on any gains made because of an increase in the value of the converted IRA, but distributions you take later will be tax-free. That’s an important consideration that can save you money if the assets of the roth IRA increase, tax rates increase, or you end up in a higher bracket on the eve of your retirement. The caveat is that you’ll need to walk through the paperwork carefully with your accountant to avoid tripping up and generating taxable income, especially if you already have an IRA. Also, you'll need to fit the roth income limitations.   2. Defer compensation When it comes to getting back some of that 22% withheld bonus, you have a number of options. For one, you might look into a deferred compensation plan at work, which will allow you to spread out both the money you pocket and the tax liability. If you are paid in shares of stock, you’ll want to mull over the best time to cash out of a security that has increased in value—in order to offset or limit capital gains. Long-term capital gains rates are 0%, 15%, and 20%, depending on your income level.   3. Pay your taxes Yes, the heading here sounds like a no-brainer. But let’s be a bit more specific: one beneficial way to use your bonus is to “catch up” on estimated tax payments or your withholding-tax obligations and thereby sidestep an IRS penalty for coming up short.   And that’s not all you can do. Under certain circumstances, you might be able to pay next year’s real-estate taxes in advance. It all depends on when your real estate taxes were assessed. Under IRS rules, you can deduct the prepayment of property taxes for the next tax year if the assessment was received and paid in the current tax year. Any prepayment of property taxes that have yet to be assessed cannot be deducted. Taxpayers are advised to check with their accountant before trying this tack.   4. Give it away If you itemize your deductions on schedule A, you can shield some of your bonus by making a charitable donation to charity. For most cash contributions, up to 60% of adjusted gross income can be deducted.   the IRS maintains an online resource to help taxpayers determine the deductibility of their contributions to tax-exempt organizations. If you are unable to decide on a charity, you might consider donor-advised funds (dafs), a tool of high-net-worth individuals. When you contribute to a DAF, the money goes into an account with your name. You are permitted to take the full charitable deduction in the year in which it was made, even though the funds might not be dispersed to charity until later. However, as with donations to charity groups, taxpayers should be certain donations to the DAF are deductible.     5. Pay up your expenses Another way to shelter a bonus or windfall is to pay upcoming deductible business or personal expenses before dec. 31. You might consider upgrading your computer equipment or footing utility bills for your home office before year-end. Using a credit card may make sense, provided you can pay off the additional balance in january.   Another idea: if you’re signed on for a health savings account at work, consider using part of your bonus or windfall to pay up to the contribution limit. Just be sure it’s money you can carry over to next year, or that you know you will spend in time.   The bottom line As soon as you know of a bonus or windfall, book a meeting with your tax advisor to start safeguarding as much as you can. “like a lot of tax issues, things can get very complicated,” says sutch. “you don’t want to get whipsawed on some of the more intricate rules, so it’s a good time to lean on a competent tax adviser’s advice.” The only windfall that won’t put you in that situation: the (maximum) $15,000 that someone can give you tax-free each year. Neither you nor the giver owes taxes on a gift that falls within the legal limit. Such gifts can add up: for example, if all four of your grandparents gave you the maximum, you could collect $60,000 per year, gift-tax free.   The 9 smartest things to do with your year-end bonus Advertiser disclosure We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. 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If you’re expecting to get a holiday bonus this year, it can be tempting to think about everything you want to buy or start planning an extravagant vacation. But before that extra direct deposit hits your checking account, take some time to consider how you want to use it. No matter the size of your hard-earned bonus, you should think about how it can best serve you and your goals in both the short and long term. Here are nine ways to use a holiday bonus to extend its benefits into the new year and beyond. 1. Pay off debt If you have high-interest debt looming over you, bonus money can be a way to make a dent in the balance — and possibly pay off the debt entirely. Credit card debt is likely to cost you the most in interest, so that’s a great place to start. “if you’ve run up those credit cards and you’re paying astronomical interest rates, you may want to get those knocked off as a first step,” says dan keady, chief financial planning strategist at TIAA. Stephen williams, senior vice president and head of financial planning at BMO private bank, adds, “pay that down or pay it off completely with the bonus, because if you’re paying credit card interest of 15 percent, it doesn’t really make any sense to invest money in the stock market and hope you outpace the 15 percent. That’s a tough ask.” Use bankrate’s debt paydown calculator to craft a plan to get rid of your debt and figure out how long it will take to clear it. 2. Max out your retirement accounts Paying down your debt is a great first step, and the next best step is to consider socking away some of the windfall into your retirement accounts. You’ll get some great tax breaks and may be able to cut this year’s tax bill, too, putting even more money into your pocket at tax time. “your workplace plan may allow you to designate some of that bonus or all of the bonus to go into your 401(k),” keady says. “that’s a great way to save taxes and build your savings.” First, if your company offers a “match” for the money that you contribute to a 401(k), make sure you’re contributing at least enough to get the full amount of the match. That’s an easy way to make money with minimal effort. With a traditional 401(k), you contribute money to the account before you pay taxes on it, so it’s as if you’re receiving tax-free money to save for your future. On top of this, a 401(k) allows the tax on any investment gains to be deferred until you retire, allowing you potentially decades to let your money grow. If you’re unable to direct the bonus into your 401(k) before it’s taxed or you’ve maxed out your contributions for the year, williams recommends building the money into your budget throughout the year, and then designating more of each paycheck toward contributions. “you could say, ‘well now that I have this money that I can use for expenses or to pay off some debt, I’m going to up my percentage contribution to my 401(k),’” he says. If you’ve maxed out your 401(k), then you might turn to an IRA for additional savings. It offers similar tax benefits to a traditional 401(k) – a tax break today and tax-deferred gains – and you can invest it in a wide variety of assets, too. Here’s everything you need to know about iras Investing in a retirement account is an easy way to turn your bonus into even more money. 3. Invest in an index fund After your high-interest debt is wiped clean and you’ve maxed out any free money with a 401(k), look into investing the remaining money in a taxable account. One of the easiest ways to invest is by buying an index fund, especially one that’s broadly diversified. An index fund is an investment fund that’s based on a pre-selected index of stocks, such as the standard & poor’s 500 index. The S&P 500 is probably the most widely followed index in the world, and it contains hundreds of stocks across virtually every industry, so it’s diversified. Many investors make this index fund a cornerstone of their portfolio, because each share of the fund owns a tiny piece of all of those companies. Investing in a broadly diversified fund such as the S&P 500 can be an attractive alternative for investors who have little experience in the stock market. By buying the fund, you get the index’s return – which has historically been an average of 10 percent annually over decades – and you essentially own a slice of the broad stock market, or at least a reasonable facsimile of it. And with an index fund you don’t have to analyze individual stocks. You buy and then hold the index through good times and bad, and ideally add more over time. Your bonus could be a great way to kickstart your portfolio or add to a portfolio. 4. Check in on your emergency fund If you took a hit from some unexpected expenses this year or you haven’t yet built an emergency fund, use your bonus money to ensure you’re covered. “that can be an ideal thing to do with that cash, because we all get unexpected expenses that can make our cash reserves go way down compared to where they should be,” keady says. Experts recommend you should work to save six months’ worth of expenses in an accessible savings account in case of unexpected emergencies like a job loss, natural disaster or even car trouble. This can give you peace of mind and a backup plan for anything unexpected that may come your way in the new year. Stash your emergency (or bonus) cash in a high-yield savings account and let the interest pile up. Find the highest yields in the U.S. With bankrate’s rankings of the best online savings accounts. 5. Contribute to a 529 plan Another way to be proactive with your bonus money is to open or contribute to a 529 plan. Williams says this is an especially smart solution for people with younger kids who can let their 529 plans grow without worrying too much about current market volatility. “if you’ve got a long-term time horizon, some younger kids and you want to put some money into that 529 plan, have it grow 10, 12 years tax-deferred and then take it out for qualified college expenses, that certainly would be a good strategy at this time,” he says. 529 plans are also great vehicles for your bonus money because they often fall to the bottom of priority lists, behind retirement accounts and other investments. “right now, you’ve got that money,” keady says. “it would be a great way to fund that 529 plan, with those extra dollars.” 6. Invest in yourself Do you have a skill that you’ve always wanted to learn? A skill that you need to develop for a job? Using your bonus to develop that skill could be a great way to invest in your future. By investing in a job-related skill you may be able to set yourself up for a better job later, turning your year-end bonus into one that improves your earning potential, too. Personal skills can be a great source of life satisfaction, too. Learning to play a musical instrument, developing programming skills or becoming fluent in a foreign language can all be great ways to make your life more fulfilling. One point of advice: if you’re interested in a skill and don’t yet know much about it, see what free resources are available. Often libraries or a great internet resource – especially for language learners – can provide enough information for you to determine whether a subject interests you. If it does, then you can invest some of your bonus on honing that skill. If not, then you can save your money for a skill that will prove more valuable for you. 7. Move that bonus into a high-yield account quickly The longer you let your money sit in your checking account, the more likely you are to spend it without thought. Just don’t leave the reserve where it’s easily accessible and tempting. Instead open a high-yield savings account online in minutes, and consider moving your bonus into it. And while you’re at it, move the rest of your money earning a pittance at your traditional bank, too. Another option is putting the bonus into a high-yield CD. Cds typically pay higher interest rates than what you’ll find in a savings account, and you’ll lock up your money for a period of time, keeping you from spending it. Bankrate has surveyed the industry and lists the top CD rates. 8. Save for your next vacation Have you always wanted to go to paris? Rome? Madrid? You could also use your bonus as a down payment – or maybe a full payment – on your next vacation. Save the money now while you’ve got it, rather than paying for the vacation when you get back, and beat the stress. While you’re waiting for your vacation, stash that bonus in a high-yield online savings account or a short-term CD so that you’re earning some extra dough. Then also consider opening a travel rewards credit card to help take the edge off costs and stash away that extra bit of rewards. 9. Defer your bonus It’s not an obvious move, but you might want to try deferring your bonus, if it makes sense. The point of deferring your bonus is to push any tax payments on it into the next year. So if you usually receive a bonus in december, you might be able to push it a few weeks, if you ask your employer. You’ll still get to use the money almost as soon. This technique would work especially well for those whose income comes in lumps or whose income is less regular than what’s offered in a typical nine-to-five job. If your income might be less next year, you might be able to push the bonus and pay less overall tax on it. Bottom line Regular bonuses are a great year-end treat, but keady warns that becoming too reliant on your annual bonus can lead to trouble down the line. “one of the things that can be hard for people who have a repeat bonus that’s relatively similar for several years is they start to look at that as an extra paycheck each year, and it’s really not,” he says. “so I don’t like to budget it into day-to-day expenses.” However you choose to use your year-end bonus, decide on something that’s meaningful. It makes a lot of sense to use that extra money to do something that improves your future, reduces your stress around your finances and makes you feel good, too. Learn more: — bankrate’s kendall little also contributed to this story. How to invest your annual bonus and still splurge on yourself Your bonus matters when it comes to building wealth. Many people receive a high percentage of their compensation from their annual bonus. While the carrot of a large bonus helps employers to squeeze productivity out of their employees, this lump sum isn’t actually the best way for you to get paid. You don't know the amount until just before the bonus is paid out. It comes in a lump sum. Your bonus is taxed as "ordinary income." The "unknown lump sum" quality of the bonus makes the bonus money feel different than salary money. Since your paycheck comes regularly every month, you've already mentally allocated it for living expenses. Rent, food, and entertainment all come out of your paycheck. Hopefully, you carve out money for savings and investing from your check, too. The bottom line is your regular paycheck feels boring. Never in a million years would you take a paycheck and spend it all on a trip to cabo san lucas. Your bonus, on the other hand, feels like a windfall—fun and exciting. And unfortunately, easy to spend. You couldn’t count on it, so it feels like “found money.” but it isn’t. A dollar from your bonus is exactly the same as a dollar from your paycheck. The behavioral finance concept “ mental accounting ” refers to how we separate our dollars in our heads. For example, if you set aside money in an account for your kids, you’d never use those funds to pay off debt—even though the savings account may be earning 1-2% while your credit card is charging you 13%. The math makes sense to pay off the credit card, but your mind tells you, “that’s my kids’ money.” We can use mental accounting in our favor. For my clients, I recommend setting up separate accounts to save up for vacations, for a guilt-free "spending account,” and a sinking fund for irregular expenses such as home repair or property taxes. Setting aside funds for future expenses prevents going into debt. When you have funds set aside to splurge and for vacations, it reduces money stress. With an annual bonus, however, mental accounting can work against you. When you don't know the amount in advance, it's a challenge to plan ahead. Since it comes in a lump sum, we (incorrectly) see these funds as a windfall. Frankly, a bonus is simply part of your overall annual compensation. It's not a windfall at all. Tax-wise, it's taxed as "ordinary income"—as earned wages. In fact, on your W-2 at the end of the year, your salary and bonus are all lumped together. Social security taxes are taken out and even your 401(k) contribution percentage (if you don’t make any changes to your election ahead of time.) Your bonus doesn’t receive any tax-favored treatment such as tax-exempt or long-term capital gains. In the eyes of the I.R.S., your bonus is earned income --part of your salary. Yet, in our minds, many of us spend the bonus before it even comes. One former client of mine (I'll call him rick), took two family vacations a year and put them on his credit card. Then when his annual bonus hit, he'd pay off the cards. Fortunately, he always got a bonus! Obviously to me (and to him in hindsight), while rick just wanted to create great memories with his family while the kids were still at home, he was paying interest every year on the credit card for his trips. He admitted that he felt stressed every year at bonus time since he’d already spent the money. He needed that bonus badly. I suggested to rick that he should do a 180 on the way he planned family vacations. I recommended that they take a fun but inexpensive vacation that year, like camping or a stay-cation, that he could afford out of his regular paycheck. Then flip it the following year, and plan a vacation based on a percentage of the prior year’s bonus. For example, take 25% of your net bonus and plan your future vacations around that amount. Paying cash prevents you from having to worry about paying off credit cards, plus frees up extra money because you aren’t paying interest on the balances! Tips on how to allocate your annual bonus: Start by focusing on your financial goals Having a plan ahead of time makes it easier to allocate your funds the best way possible. Most of us have competing goals, such as saving for retirement while wanting to enjoy life now. Simply fund each of your goals with a portion of your lump sum bonus. Think in percentages Since you don’t know the dollar amount yet, simply set percentages of your net bonus to deploy your funds once you receive them. Retirement: 10% going to pre-tax 401(k) before you even receive the check Long-term goals: 15% invested for a goal such as a down payment on a house or to a diversified mutual fund earmarked to provide retirement income Debt repayment: 25% goes to pay off high-interest debt or to pay down a car loan (if you have debt) Boost savings: 25% to add to your emergency fund Bucket list: 25% for a special vacation or a special treat for yourself Fund your retirement. Unless you make a change, your 401(k) contribution will come out of your bonus. That can be a good thing! You'll need income in retirement. Many companies allow you to allocate a specific percentage in your 401(k) just for your bonus check. Increase your percentage to boost retirement savings if you aren’t at your maximum allowable contribution of $19,000 in 2019 (with an additional $6,000 as a catch-up contribution if you are 50 or older). You could also invest some of your bonus cash in an IRA or roth IRA. Remember that if you qualify for an IRA (there are restrictions for both the traditional IRA and the roth IRA ), you can invest $5,500 (for 2018) up until april 15, 2019. For 2019, the IRA contribution limit increased to $6,000, with a catch-up contribution of $1,000 if you are age 50 or over. Boost your emergency savings Many financial planners recommend having 6 to 8 months of income in an emergency fund. This way, you have a buffer in case you need to change jobs, or if you have an unforeseen emergency, such as a furnace going out on you. Use your bonus to beef up your cushion for unexpected expenses. Peel off funds for your "joy goals" or bucket list You work hard for your money during the year, so you certainly want to use some funds to splurge. One year, I made a significant contribution to my prior employer, so was rewarded by a top bonus. While I invested most of it, my husband and I purchased mountain bikes, which we used and enjoyed when we moved to park city, utah. Every time we used those bikes, I felt a twinge of joy from being able to help that company make big strides. We have since upgraded our bikes, but that purchase brought years of fun, adventure, and professional satisfaction. Since most people are behind in retirement savings, and a bonus is part of the annual compensation package, investing your bonus is important to your financial security. While a lump sum of money dumped into your checking account feels like a windfall, don’t let your mind play tricks on you. A dollar is a dollar, whether it comes in your paycheck or in your bonus. Invest it wisely and splurge strategically. The 14 best brokerage account promotions and bonuses for 2021 Updated january 21, 2021 Some links below are from our sponsors. This blog has partnered with cardratings for our coverage of credit card products. This site and cardratings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author's alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. More information Are you looking to open a new brokerage account to manage your portfolio of investments but aren’t sure which one? Many online investment platforms compete for business by offering new account promotions based on the assets you can transfer to their platform. While promotions shouldn’t be the only consideration, these promotion/bonus amounts are too hard to look past. There are a range of bonuses listed below, whether you have an established portfolio and looking to transfer stocks, or starting new. Continue reading to review the best brokerage account promotions for new accounts. Our top picks: Webull – 4 free stocks worth up to $1,600 Webull is a free trading app from webull financial. They are a brokerage based out of new york city and regulated by FINRA, you can look them up on brokercheck. We have a full review of webull and their offer here. For new signups, open and fund an account with $100 and they will give you 4 free stocks worth up to $1,600. They have no fees and no account minimums so it’s truly free stock. Robinhood – free share of stock Robinhood is a relatively new brokerage that will give you a free share of stock when you open an account. There are no other requirements of the offer, you just need to open an account. No deposit, no transfer, no nothing. You can read more about the free share of stock promotion here. Ally invest – up to $3,500 Ally invest is the online brokerage account I use because they offer free trades (U.S. Stock, etfs, and options) with no minimums and monthly balance requirements. I have an ally bank account so managing it all with one login is convenient too. I wish I would’ve taken advantage of their new account bonuses for transfers because it’s one of the most generous, here is the schedule based on how much you deposit within 60 days of account opening: Here is the ally invest bonus structure: Deposit or transfer amount your bonus $10,000 – $24,999 $50 $25,000 – $99,999 $200 $100,000 – $249,999 $300 $250,000 – $499,999 $600 $500,000 – $999,999 $1,200 $1,000,000 – $1,999,999 $2,500 $2,000,000 or more $3,500 They will also credit transfer fees if you move your account from another brokerage – up to $150 ACAT fee reimbursement. NVSTR – NVSTR has a referral program where you can get up to $1,000 (but at least $10) when you sign up. The referring customer gets $10 to $1,000 too – and it’s a limited time offer. If you’ve never heard of them before, our NVSTR review can get you up to speed. The only requirement is that you make one trade within a year and you can keep the bonus. There are no other requirements for the new account bonus. There is also a deposit bonus. For a limited time, after you open your account, you can get a bonus based on what you deposit. You need to maintain this amount for one year to keep the deposit bonus. Tastyworks Tastyworks will give you 100 shares of a “highly liquid stock” when you open and fund a new cash or margin account with $2,000. The shares will be selected at random from a list of eleven stocks priced between $1 and $6, so you can get anywhere from $100 to $600 in this promotion with a stated average bonus of $200 – $220. There is a 70% chance of getting a stock priced under $2 and a 30% chance of getting a stock priced over $2. You must keep the initial value of the stock, less any loss in value, in the account for a minimum of three months. The referral/promotion code for this offer is “STOCK_AWARD_20” and you must put it in the referral code field when applying. Sofi invest – $50 Sofi invest is the brokerage arm of sofi, the student loan refinancing company. They’ve recently branched out into other areas, including sofi money (banking), and they are now offering a $50 bonus if you sign up and deposit at least $25. With sofi invest, you can manage your portfolio (active investing) or go with a roboadvisor approach (auto investing). With active investing, you can invest in stocks, cryptocurrencies, and etfs without paying a trading commission. For a limited time, get $50 in stock from sofi invest if you sign up with a referral link and deposit at least $1,000. There’s no trading requirement. Betterment Betterment is one of the largest and most respected robo-advisors, you can see our review of betterment for a closer look at their service. For new accounts, they will waive the management fee of 0.25% depending on how much you transfer: Deposit $15,000 – $99,999, get 1 month managed free Deposit $100,000 – $249,999, get 6 months managed free Deposit $250,000+, get 12 months managed free Citi personal wealth management Citi personal wealth management has a juicy bonus offer when you transfer new-to-citibank funds within 2 months of opening an account. You also will need to enroll in e-delivery of statements and then keep those funds in the account through the end of the next month (or three months after the month of account enrollment). Bonus will be credited three months after you meet the maintenance requirement. Here’s the citi bonus transfer schedule: Fund with $50,000 – $199,999 – $500 Fund with $200,000 – $499,999 – $1,000 Fund with $500,000 – $999,999 – $1,500 Fund with $1,000,000 – $1,999,999 – $2,500 Fund with $2,000,000 or more – $3,500 Merrill edge – up to $600 Merrill edge, a bank of america company, will give you up to $1,000 if you open a new merrill edge account using the offer code 600ME. You just need to transfer your funds within 45 days, maintain that balance for 90 days, and you will get the cash bonus in 2 weeks. This bonus applies to individual merrill edge iras or cash management accounts, which is what they call their taxable brokerage accounts. Here’s the merrill edge bonus transfer schedule: Fund with $20,000 – $49,999: $100 Fund with $50,000 – $99,999: $150 Fund with $100,000 – $199,999: $250 Fund with $200,000+ $600 If you are a preferred reward client, you may get up to $900 with this alternative offer. Charles schwab – up to $500 Charles schwab will give stock plan services clients a bonus of up to $500 when you open a new account and transfer in new funds with 45 days. If you are not a stock plan service, they won’t give you this promotion (they will even let you apply and enter in a promotion code, but they won’t give you the bonus). Here’s charles schwab’s bonus transfer schedule: Fund with $10,000 – $24,999: $100 Fund with $25,000 – $45,999: $200 Fund with $50,000 – $99,999: $300 Fund with $100,000+ $500 Update: I have received reports from readers that you don’t get cash but instead get “trade credits” which can be used to pay the commission for trades. If you are considering this offer, call to confirm the details. E*TRADE – up to $2,500 When I think of new account promotions, I think of E*TRADE. For years, they had an offer where you could get up to $3,000 (if you had over a million dollars in assets to transfer!) and 60 days of free trades if you open a non-retirement brokerage account. With the recent rush of brokerages offering free trades, the promotion is now just cash. You can find the full details here but this is the offer: Deposit $5,000 – $9,999, get $50 cash Deposit $10,000 – $19,999, get $100 cash Deposit $20,000 – $24,999, get $150 cash Deposit $25,000 – $99,999, get $200 cash Deposit $100,000 – $249,999, get $300 cash Deposit $250,000 – $499,999, get $600 cash Deposit $500,000 – $999,999, get $1,200 cash Deposit $1,000,000 or more, get $2,500 cash Fidelity – promotion [expired] Fidelity doesn’t offer any cash bonus right now and their last promotion, for free trades, no longer applies as they’ve made many trades commission free. This offer has expired. We will update it when fidelity issues a new promotion. Tradestation – $100 [expired] Tradestation has a “cash madness” promotion where you can get $100 when you open and fund a tradestation securities account with $500 or more. All you have to do is open a new tradestation securities account using the offer code ZINGAFOG, deposit at least $500 within thirty days of opening your account, and then maintain the balance for one month after the funding date. The promotion expired on july 1st, 2020. We will update this section when a new promotion arrives. Frequently asked questions Here are some frequently asked questions about bonuses and the brokerage transfer process. Almost every brokerage firm supports ACATS, which stands for automated customer account transfer service, which lets you transfer your assets “in-kind.” this means that your holdings are transferred without you having to sell them (and create a taxable event). If you have big unrealized gains in a stock, the shares just get moved over without you having to sell them and you keep the same cost basis. You may run into hiccups if some items can’t be transferred. One common example is vanguard admiral shares of their mutual funds. Some brokerages will take them, others won’t. In these cases, you may have to transfer them to another asset type (like the ETF version), which will accept them. ACATS does take a week or two to complete the transfer. I don’t think it’s worth switching from broker to broker, grabbing up the bonuses, but the process isn’t difficult. If you’re looking to make a move anyway, getting paid a little for the effort is better than not being paid. Some brokers may charge you to leave, which is something you’d be paying anyway, so hopping around may reduce your returns from the bonus perspective. If you are creating new taxable brokerage accounts, the bonuses will be reported as income and you will have to claim them on your taxes as income. If you are creating retirement accounts, like an IRA, the bonuses are going into those accounts so you won’t owe taxes on them immediately. For traditional iras, you’ll just be taxed when you start taking distributions. Roth iras will never be taxed. For each account, review the terms and conditions to see how the brokerage is treating it and you’ll know for certain. The 11 smartest things to do with your end-of-year bonus According to CNN, 91% of businesses now have variable compensation programs — salaries coupled with bonuses or commissions. Bonuses tend to come around the holidays, meaning that many employees are in for a nice supplemental check soon. While it can be tempting to splurge on the latest iphone or treat yourself to an extravagant vacation, excessive spending may not be the most productive way to handle your bonus. Making a long-term plan and investing your hard-earned money in retirement, an emergency fund, a health account, or even yourself will pay off more in the long run. Katie brewer, CFP and founder of financial planning firm your richest life , previously told business insider that you should put 80% of your holiday bonus to "serious money" and 20% of it toward "fun money." Before blowing your check on gifts, trips, or gadgets, consider directing it towards these 11 options. Kathleen elkins contributed to an earlier version of this post. Increase your 401(k) contribution You should already be contributing to your employer's 401(k) retirement account and taking full advantage of any available company match program if one is available — but if you get a bonus, that's a great opportunity to increase that contribution. The more you can set aside today, the better off you'll be in the long run, thanks to the power of compound interest. Just know that the 401(k) contribution limit for 2018 is $18,500, according to the IRS. Max out other retirement savings accounts If you haven't yet reached the contribution limits on other retirement plans, such as a traditional IRA or roth IRA, direct your bonus towards one of those. There are a few key differences between the two accounts: 1. The income limit. Anyone can open and contribute to a traditional IRA, whereas there's an income cap on the roth IRA for the 2018 year: only married people earning less than $189,000, or single people earning less than $120,000, are eligible. The maximum yearly contribution for both accounts in 2018 is $5,500 (or $6,000 for people age 50 or older). 2. Taxes. Contributions to a roth IRA are taxed when they're made, so you can withdraw the contributions and earnings tax-free once you reach age 59 1/2. Traditional IRA contributions, on the other hand, are tax-deductible when they're made. Both contributions and earnings are taxed when you withdraw them starting at age 59 1/2. The advantage to the roth IRA is clear: you only pay taxes on a portion of your savings (your contributions), while with a traditional IRA, you're taxed on every penny (contributions and earnings). Roth iras are particularly well-suited to millennials. However, even if you're not a member of gen Y, it's worth considering if you don't exceed the income cap. Start a 529 savings plan for your kid College tuition has more than doubled since the 1980s, currently at an all-time high. Time has a way of flying by, and before you know it, you'll be responsible for a hefty tuition bill. Take your bonus and put it towards a 529 savings plan, a state-sponsored and tax-advantaged investment account that you can start when your child is born. These plans allow a single parent to contribute up to $14,000 a year — $28,000 for a couple — for each of their children's college educations. It also allows anyone (a grandparent, godparent, or particularly generous neighbor) to contribute to the fund. Pay off lingering debt If you have debt — whether it's student loans, car loans, or credit card debt — a bonus can be a great way to start tackling it aggressively. If the interest rate on your debt is high, you'll want to pay it off as fast as possible — interest can cost you thousands in the long run. If you aren't sure where to start, consider the advice from 13 real people who paid off thousands of debt. Start, or contribute more to, an emergency fund Not setting aside money in an emergency fund is a common (and costly) mistake — it's easy to ignore the possibility of your car breaking down, a medical emergency, or losing your job, but these are all scenarios that could quickly become expensive realities. Use your bonus create an emergency fund if you haven't done so already. The amount of savings you need is highly personal, so it isn't usually measured in terms of dollars; rather, it's months of living expenses that money could cover. A general rule is that it's smart to have six months' worth of savings tucked away, but you may need more or less depending on your situation. Contribute to a healthcare flexible spending account If your employer offers a healthcare flexible spending account, it could be a smart investment. It's a pretax benefit account you can use to cover a variety of healthcare products and services, from acupuncture and physical therapy to vaccines and over-the-counter medicine (note that OTC medicines are only eligible when prescribed by a physician). You can put up to $2,650 of tax-free money into this account in 2018, according to the IRS. Note that you must spend the money saved in an FSA by the end of the year. Contribute to a health savings account (HSA) Another health-related benefit you may be able to tap into is the health savings account (HSA), into which you can put pre-tax money and use towards medical costs whenever you want, not just during the plan year. The contribution limits are higher than fsas — $6,900 for a family in 2018 — and there's no limit to how much can be rolled over at the end of the year. To qualify for a HSA, the IRS requires you to be on a high-deductible health care plan (HDHP) — a plan that offers a lower health insurance premium and a high deductible. This option is particularly advantageous for those who are generally healthy and don't have to go to the doctor's office or hospital that often, such as 20- or 30-somethings without children who are looking to save for future health care expenses. "it's one of the more popular benefits these days," britta meyer, CMO at consumer-directed benefits administrator wageworks, told business insider. "it allows you to contribute on a paycheck by paycheck basis, and you can keep it for as long as you want, even if you change jobs." While you can use it to pay for qualifying healthcare expenses today, you can also use it as a complementary tool for retirement planning, as the funds will always be available for you to use. "if you can afford it, you can contribute to it even in the early years of your career when you may not have a lot of medical expenses," meyer said. "you can contribute year after year and develop a 'healthcare nest egg' that grows over time and will always be there for you." Contribute to a dependent care flexible spending account (FSA) If you have younger children, dependent care fsas are worth considering. This account works very similarly to the healthcare FSA in that you can contribute pre-tax money, but is specific to dependent care services, such as preschool, summer camp, daycare, or before and after school programs. Again, you must spend the money in your FSA by the end of the plan year. "it is probably the single most underutilized benefit," meyer said. "employers offer it quite frequently, but people are not taking advantage of it." Set aside money for big purchases There are bound to be big expenses in your future — a home, car, vacation, and kids, to name a few — that require diligent savings. The best way to prepare for these expenses is to create savings goals and then set aside money as early as possible. Use your bonus to jump start these savings goals, or add to previously established ones. Consider investment platforms outside of retirement savings plans An end-of-year bonus is a good opportunity to start investing in low-cost index funds, which legendary investors warren buffett and jack bogle recommend. Even millionaires prefer this simple investing strategy for the high returns and low costs. There are also online investment platforms known as "robo-advisers," which manage your investments for you through unique algorithms. You could also make a lump-sum investment with your bonus — when you invest your money all at once rather than over time, according to richard graziadei, managing director of TIAA-CREF: "putting a bonus to work right away is a smart thing to do. Get it invested — if you're going to invest it — within a few weeks. Don't wait three, six, or 12 months." Of course, you'll want to make sure your general finances are in order before you invest — but if you have a sound emergency fund, have prepared for future expenses, and are debt free, the quicker you put your money to work and jump start its growth, the better. Invest in yourself Self-educate by enrolling in a course, attending a work related conference, or investing in books. The wealthiest, most successful people are constantly exercising their brains and looking for ways to continue learning long after college or any formal education is over. On a similar note, invest in your health — consider using your bonus for a gym membership, yoga classes, juicer, fitness magazine subscription, or anything else that will better your health and strengthen your mind. Also consider picking up a hobby — even the world's most successful people have them. Hobbies can make you even more successful by helping you develop additional skills. Chase you invest bonus: $200, $350, $725 promotion offer [nationwide] Find all the chase you invest account bonuses here. At the moment you can earn a $200, $350, or $725 bonus. When you open a chase you invest using the link below you can earn up to a $725 bonus. Additionally, you will also receive commission-free online stock and ETF trades. In addition you can also find out about other chase offers here. However, continue reading to find out about chase you invest offers. Chase you invest information To earn your chase you invest trade account bonus, open a new account and meet the specified requirements. What you’ll get: up to $725 Eligible account: chase you invest trade Credit inquiry:soft pull, which does not affect your credit Where it’s available: nationwide (online only) How to earn it: open a chase you invest account and fund the account within 45 days. When you’ll receive it: within 10 business days of completing requirements. The information for the you invest SM account has been collected independently by bankdealguy. The product details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the bank. How to earn bonus Open a you invest trade account through the link provided above. Fund your account with qualifying new money within 45 days and on day 45 your incentive tier will be determined. If you maintain the balance for 90 days, chase will deposit your bonus within 10 business days. Bonuses will be determined by your total fund amount as follows: bonus funding amount $725 $250,000 or more $350 $100,000 – $249,999 $200 $25,000 – $99,999 Chase you invest mobile application- use the application wherever you are and monitor trading. The account must maintain at least a $25,000 balance for at least 90 days from the date of funding (losses due to market fluctuation will not be taken into account). Fund, transfer or roll over your investments Access insights and education from J.P. Morgan Get tools that help you make good choices Diversify investments with portfolio builder There are no monthly fees with this account. Cash promotion is limited to one per customer and can only be applied to one new you invest trade account (brokerage, traditional IRA, or roth IRA). For the cash bonus: To enroll in the up to $725 offer, you must open an account through the offer page. Customers must open and fund a new you invest trade account with new money of $25,000 or more in cash or securities from a non-chase or non-J.P. Morgan account and cannot be funds or securities held by chase or its affiliates. New money must be transferred within 45 days of account opening. At day 45, the bonus tier will be determined The new money balance must be maintained in the account for at least 90 days from the date of funding (losses due to trading or market fluctuation will not be taken into account). Cash bonus will be credited to the account within 10 business days of these requirements being met. You can participate in only one you invest, chase private client checking, or sapphire checking new money bonus in a 12 month period. Account types and other restrictions apply. Offer terms are subject to change and/or termination without advance notice. The value of the cash award may be considered miscellaneous income, and they may be required to send you, and file with the IRS, a form 1099-MISC (“miscellaneous income”), or a form 1042-S (“foreign person’s U.S. Source income subject to withholding”) if applicable. You are responsible for any tax liability associated with the award. Please consult your own tax advisor if you have any questions about your personal tax situation. How to fund account To earn the sign-up bonus you will have to fund the account with new money. New money is defined as deposits and investments not previously held by chase bank or it’s affiliates. However, fear not for at bankdealguy we provide you a number of resources to help you. For example, you can set-up a direct deposit to have money automatically deposited to your account. Alternatively, chase allows you to fund the account with certain credit cards up to $500. Additionally, you can transfer money from an outside branch to your account. To assist you we have compiled a list of chase routing numbers. Other chase bank offers Although there is no guarantee that you will make money from investing you can always secure a simple chase checking offer, such as one of the few from the table here. BEST CHASE BANK PROMOTIONS *find all chase bank promotions here* PROMOTIONAL LINK OFFER REVIEW chase business complete banking SM $300 cash review chase total checking® $200 cash review Author’s verdict While you can earn one of the largest bonuses offered by chase there are easier alternatives. For example you can also earn a $200 bonus by opening a total checking account by chase. However, if you want to earn a similar bonus consider opening a chase savings account. Additionally, if you have experience using you invest please leave us a comment below letting us know how it went. Alternatively if you want to find a full list of brokerage bonuses check out our brokerage promotions. Check back to find an updated list of chase you invest offers. INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT A DEPOSIT • NOT FDIC INSURED • NO BANK GUARANTEE • MAY LOSE VALUE FEATURED BANK PROMOTIONS PROMOTIONAL LINK OFFER REVIEW chase business complete banking SM $300 cash review chase total checking ® $200 cash review HSBC premier checkingmember FDIC $450 cash review HSBC premier checkingmember FDIC up to $600 review HSBC advance checkingmember FDIC $200 cash review HSBC advance checkingmember FDIC up to $240 review huntington 25 checking $500 cash review huntington bank unlimited plus business checking $750 cash review huntington bank unlimited business checking $400 cash review huntington bank business checking 100 $200 cash review TD bank beyond checking SM $300 cash review TD bank convenience checking SM $150 cash review wise business banking $100 cash review axos bank basic business checking $100 cash review aspiration spend & save $100 cash review About anthony nguyen Anthony nguyen, founder of bankdealguy.Com, has a passion for finding the best bank deals and bank rates. With over 10 years of experience, he is dedicated to bring you the latest bank promotions! Contact anthony for media/advertising. Leave a reply cancel reply This site uses akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. So, let's see, what we have: TD ameritrade $50-$1,500. M1 finance $250-$2,500. Ally invest $50-$3,500. Charles schwab $100-$500. Blockfi $15-$250 free bitcoin. Chase you invest $250-$725 at my bonus investment Contents of the article Best brokerage account deals and bonuses right... Get more cash to build wealth with these top... Best brokerage account bonuses right now 1. TD ameritrade bonus: $350-$2,500 2. M1 finance bonus: $250-$2,500 3. Stash bonus: $5 slickdeals bonus 4. Betterment bonus: 1-12 months free portfolio... 5. Blockfi bonus: $15 – $250 in free bitcoin 6. Ally invest bonus: $50 –... 7. Robinhood bonus: $2.50 – $200 worth of free... 8. Webull bonus: $8 – $1,600 of free stock 9. Charles schwab: $100-$500 10. Merrill edge self-directed account bonus:... 11. E-trade brokerage and retirement accounts:... What to do with your bonus money: when to save vs... What to do What not to do My experiences Do you know your earning potential? The 14 best brokerage account promotions and... Our top picks: Webull – 4 free stocks worth up to $1,600 Robinhood – free share of stock Ally invest – up to $3,500 NVSTR – Tastyworks Sofi invest – $50 Betterment Citi personal wealth management Merrill edge – up to $600 Charles schwab – up to $500 E*TRADE – up to $2,500 Fidelity – promotion [expired] Tradestation – $100 [expired] Frequently asked questions 5 tax strategies for a bonus or windfall Key takeaways 1. Set it aside for later 401(k)s Roth IRA 2. Defer compensation 3. Pay your taxes 4. Give it away 5. Pay up your expenses The bottom line The 9 smartest things to do with your year-end... Advertiser disclosure How we make money. Share Editorial integrity Key principles Editorial independence How we make money 1. Pay off debt 2. Max out your retirement accounts 3. Invest in an index fund 4. Check in on your emergency... 5. Contribute to a 529 plan 6. Invest in yourself 7. Move that bonus into a high-yield... 8. Save for your next vacation 9. Defer your bonus Bottom line Learn more: How to invest your annual bonus and still splurge... The 14 best brokerage account promotions and... Our top picks: Webull – 4 free stocks worth up to $1,600 Robinhood – free share of stock Ally invest – up to $3,500 NVSTR – Tastyworks Sofi invest – $50 Betterment Citi personal wealth management Merrill edge – up to $600 Charles schwab – up to $500 E*TRADE – up to $2,500 Fidelity – promotion [expired] Tradestation – $100 [expired] Frequently asked questions The 11 smartest things to do with your... Increase your 401(k) contribution Max out other retirement savings accounts Start a 529 savings plan for your kid Pay off lingering debt Start, or contribute more to, an emergency fund Contribute to a healthcare flexible spending... Contribute to a health savings account (HSA) Contribute to a dependent care flexible spending... Set aside money for big purchases Consider investment platforms outside of... Invest in yourself Chase you invest bonus: $200, $350, $725... 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