Gift of Stock at Sharebuilder

My wife and I have been blacklisted at Sharebuilder for a couple years now, having taken advantage of multiple $40 and $50 bonuses (probably 5 or 6 each). Neither of us can open up new accounts, even without opening incentives.

Sharebuilder is an inexpensive stock purchasing site ($4/trade) which offers promotions ranging from $25-50 throughout the year. Many organizations (including my bank here in upstate NY) affiliate themselves with Sharebuilder, and give incentives for signing up and placing a trade. Bonuses appear within a month of your first stock purchase. It's so easy to do transfer $5 from my checking and purchase $1 worth of Google ($4 trade fee), that I guess I did too many.

Well, lately I've been thinking about taking some of my children's birthday and gift money and buying stock in Citigroup, which recently dropped below $30/share. They combined have $4000 sitting in separate accounts at Ing, where rates keep dropping. Citigroup pays a dividend that is higher than 7%, so even if the stock doesn't go back up, they should accumulate a modest chunk of shares over the next few years.

Sharebuilder allowed my wife and I to open linked accounts with each of our children, so they both get a $50 boost when purchasing their shares. The Gift of Stock for Sharebuilder has the promotion code CHILDGIFT for $50 after your first trade, and the account must be opened by January 15. Give it a try - you'll be surprised at how easy it is to make $50 on this.