I guess to me, every little bit counts. I know it's not a big deal given the account size, but it's not insignificant. And I usually do it when the bonus return is good or when I would have done something anyway. For example, I took the Fidelity bonus because I wanted to consolidate to Fidelity at that time so it was just a cherry on top. I didn't specifically think the $700 bonus was amazing or anything. I'm doing the ME bonus now to split apart some money to stay within SIPC limits. I don't chase every single bonus, but I do it when it makes sense.Considering your monthly spending and tax bills, you sound wealthy, so I am genuinely curious and wondering if keeping all this accounting and going through such hassles is worth your time for $700.Just wanted to give some info for folks on Fidelity's bonuses and rules. I think the way they do the bonuses and terms is really murky, so be careful.
Right after I had transferred in the 800k last year, nearly 300k went out due to a large tax bill last year. I also had a much smaller tax bill this year and all my monthly spending goes through the CMA (~25k spending a month). In aggregate, the CMA was down about 280k since I started the bonus period. All of these were spending transactions such as credit card payments. But Fidelity does not actually keep track of what is spending and what is not. They only look at aggregate amounts, so the Fido guy saw that I was down 280k and didn't believe that this was all spending, so he claimed this was a transfer. So lesson here is even though they say you can spend using the money you transfer in, be very aware that they do not differentiate between transfers and spending and only count as spending what they personally think is reasonable spending amounts.
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Statistics: Posted by datascientistdude — Mon Jun 03, 2024 8:20 pm — Replies 8343 — Views 1563134