The stock market can be a dangerous game, but with enough patience and a little know-how, it can also be very rewarding. I won’t be giving any stock tips here, but a little over a year ago I took advantage of a mileage bonus through Fidelity to get a chunk of miles just for opening a new account. I didn’t expect to make anything on it besides the miles, but I didn’t want the money to just sit there so I invested in a couple of big name tech stocks. Now, roughly 15 months later, I not only got a great mileage bonus (15,000!), but also a really incredible return on my investment (66%!). These results are obviously not typical or guaranteed in any way, but if you’re looking to add miles into your frequent flyer accounts, this is a super easy way to do it — as long as you have some liquid assets that you can dump into an account for a little while.
Not everyone will make money with their investments (and you don’t even have to invest — the cash can just sit there), but if things go well, you can have you miles and make some bucks on top of it, too! Win-win!
The Fidelity bonus is for American Airlines, United, and Delta, and they all offer the same terms:
Earn up to 50,000 miles when you open and fund a nonretirement brokerage account or add new money to an existing one.
| Deposit Amount | $25,000+ | $50,000+ | $100,000+ |
| Miles Earned | 15,000 | 25,000 | 50,000 |
If I remember correctly, the miles were in my account really quickly, but keep in mind that you have to keep the money in the account for nine months. After that, you’re free to withdraw it and start again three months later because you can take advantage of the promotion once every twelve months!
I don’t get any kind of referral credit for this. Just wanted you to be aware of a great opportunity to accrue miles without much work.
Will the miles be taxed?
The only mention of tax in the terms and conditions is this: “Taxes and fees for award travel are the responsibility of the passenger and must be paid at the time the ticket is booked.”
Be careful signing up for these offers. Eligibility is at Fidelity’s (rather whimsical) discretion, not the posted T&Cs. I know this from personal experience and lengthy discussions with several Fidelity CSRs, who were none too helpful. You can peruse this FT thread for more details on the hit or miss experiences of others — http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1339055-fidelity-bonus-offers-airline-miles-hotel-points-only.html. Good luck and happy travels.
I think it’s smart to be careful when signing up for any offers involving your personal assets. Definitely evaluate whether this is a good offer for you or not before committing any money to the deal.
@Jason, this is a helpful post for me as I’m about to seriously get involved in stock trading and deeply discounted premium travel via miles.
I’d love to get your take on this… if it’s possible (no guarantees of course) to make 200% or more yearly return trading stocks (no options, no derivatives, no currencies, no short selling) how much would pay for such a service? If you’ve subscribed to similar services before, please share your experiences.
A service that’s promising a 200% return on stocks? I would pay $0 because whoever’s trying to get me to pay is obviously lying. The market is a volatile place. Any claims of returns like that sound like snake oil to me.