Tag Archives: Free Stuff

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2020?

Good morning everyone, happy New Year’s Eve!  Doctor of Credit has a Best Bank Account Bonuses page that he keeps up to date with the best offers each month.  In that master post, he links to individual bank account bonuses with helpful information regarding the bonus details, how to avoid monthly fees, when to close the account, how often you can open a new account, and much more.  For the last 6 years, I have been opening new checking accounts for the new member bonuses.  And at the end of each year, I share my results on the blog.  Over the last 6 years, I have made $12,250 in bank account bonuses.  You will receive 1099-INT tax forms every year, so you have to pay taxes on the bank account bonuses, but sometimes you can fund the opening deposit with a credit card and earn miles, points, or cash back.  If you are lucky, you can meet a minimum spending requirement by funding a new checking account or reach a high spending target to earn more rewards.  Here are my results from the last 6 years with links to corresponding blog post summaries:

Drum roll please… Here are the 3 new checking accounts I opened in 2020:

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Need a Last Minute Gift? Earn Rewards for Buying Virtual Gift Cards from Slide, Fluz & MileagePlusX

Good afternoon everyone.  The holiday season is upon us and we are now in the home stretch.  If you still have a few more gifts to give this year, there is still time to send your friends, family members, neighbors and teammates a gift card.  Of course you can run out to your local grocery store, restaurant, pharmacy, or office supply store to pick up a physical gift card, but if you don’t want to leave your house, you can buy a virtual gift card from the convenience of your phone (and earn rewards).  Whenever I need to buy a gift card for myself or for someone else, there are 3 apps that I use: Slide, Fluz, and MileagePlusX.

I will go into more detail on how to use each app, but there are 3 important things to know about these apps: your virtual gift card is ready to use right away; you can usually purchase the virtual gift card in an exact dollar amount; and you earn rewards in the form of cash back or United Airlines Miles.  Without further ado, let’s go through these 3 apps.

Slide (Apple App Store / Google Play Store)

Slide offers 4% cash back on all virtual gift card purchases (which may be higher or lower than the other 2 apps, depending on the store).  If you are a new member, please use my Slide referral link and you will get a $5 credit towards your first 4 purchases ($20 off total).  For comparison purposes, I bought Panera Bread virtual gift cards from all 3 apps to compare the process and show the various rewards.  After you create your Slide account, type the store name into the search box.  If the store is offered on Slide, you will see it in the search results.  Click on the store name to purchase a virtual gift card.

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Last Chance: 49% Off ExpressVPN + 3 Free Months (Expires December 13)

Good evening everyone, I hope your week is going well.  ExpressVPN (the VPN service I have been using for years) is currently running their extended Black Friday & Cyber Monday deal where you can get 49% off a 12 month subscription + 3 free months.  ExpressVPN works across many devices (desktop, laptop, browsers, tablet, phone, video game consoles, and more) and many different operating systems (Apple, Windows, Linux, Android, Chromebooks, and more).  Plus, a single ExpressVPN subscription can be used simultaneously across 5 different devices, so the whole family can be protected online.  Click here to review their plans and start protecting your online information.

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Last Call for Discounted FTU Online Membership & Reminder to Register for FTU Virtual Seminar (December 12)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  If you do not have any plans this weekend, I highly recommend attending the FTU Virtual Seminar this Saturday, December 12 from 11am to 3pm ET (8am to 12pm PT for those on the West Coast).  Here is the full schedule of speakers and presentations.  You can either watch the FTU Virtual Seminars live on Saturday or watch the recording later, but you need to register before the event begins.  Tickets to the FTU Virtual Seminar are free if you have a FTU Online Annual Membership or $25 for non-members.  I highly recommend signing up for the FTU Online Annual Membership (read Buy a $49 Frequent Traveler University (FTU) Online Annual Membership & Attend First Virtual Seminar December 12).  The FTU Online Annual Membership is currently $49 but will go up to $129 on December 12.

Assuming I persuaded you to attend the FTU Virtual Seminar or better yet, purchase a FTU Online Annual Membership, the next thing you need to do is register for the FTU Virtual Seminar before December 12.  I assumed (incorrectly) that I was automatically registered for the FTU Virtual Seminar when I purchased my FTU Online Annual Membership, but that is not true.  You still need to register for the FTU Virtual Seminar if you want to live stream or watch the recording.  In this post, I will walk you through the steps to register for the FTU Virtual Seminar.

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New PFS Buyers Club US Mint Coin Deal: Spend $407, Make $23 (Live 12/10 @ 12pm ET)

Updated 12/9/20 at 9:40am PT: Deal is already full and PFS Buyers Club just sent out the following email: “Tomorrow’s deal is completely subscribed. We have other members asking to join, but we do not have any open spots.”  If you missed this deal, I recommend signing up for an account so that you receive the next deal email right away.


Good morning everyone, I just received an email from PFS Buyers Club about a new US Mint coin deal that is going live tomorrow (December 10 at 12pm ET).  PFS Buyers Club did a deal last month for a gold and silver coin.  I was able to buy the silver coin from the US Mint, sell the coin to PFS Buyers Club, and make $62 profit ($150 – $87.95 = $62.05).  This deal has higher spend ($406.95), but a lower profit ($23.05).  If you are interested in joining PFS Buyers Club, please sign up with my referral link (I earn a $20 referral bonus after your first PFS Buyers Club sale).  PFS Buyers Club does a great job out outlining all the necessary steps and tips to place your order on the US Mint website.  I will briefly cover the necessary steps below.

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