This post is part of our series on IRA & Brokerage bonuses. Every Tuesday we share another bonus with you.
The Offer
USAA is offering a bonus of 50 free trades for eligible customers who open a new, USAA brokerage account before 6/30/2015.
USAA typically charges $5.95 for high-volume traders or $8.95 for low-volume traders. Individuals considered eligible for the $5.95 rate for Internet or telephone trades are defined as account holders who trade stocks 25 or more times in 90 days, or who have $50,000 or more in qualifying assets with USAA Investments. Qualifying assets include those held in USAA Managed Portfolios, USAA 529 College Savings Plans, and USAA mutual funds.
Get 50 Free Trades
To receive the free trades, you must do the following:
- Use the link above to open a new USAA trading account by 6/30/2015.
Rules:
- Offer expires 6/30/2015.
- Only new customers are eligible for this offer.
- Transaction-free mutual funds are not eligible with this offer.
- Offer valid for U.S. citizens or permanent residents only.
- Offer is limited to the first account opened by an individual and the account must be opened online.
- Free trades are limited to domestic, NYSE, AMEX or securities listed in NASDAQ, for up to 1000 shares placed. After 50 free trades or 90 days expires, the account would change to the gold or platinum fee schedule, depending on the assets and frequency of activity.
- Offer is not valid in conjunction with other offers.
- Investing involves risk.
The Verdict
If you are eligible and committed to opening an account with USAA, and you would qualify for the lower trade fee rate due to being a high-volume trader, you might find appeal in this offer. For the average, low-volume investor, however, $8.95 fee rate is considerably higher than the standard fee structure of TradeKing, among other brokers we have covered. In addition, if you are seeking a short-term gain, the conversion of the account to a gold or platinum fee schedule based on your asset volume and trading activity after 90 days may not be suited to your goals.
USAA offers stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, and CDs. They also offer mobile trading and mobile check deposit.
Do you have experience investing with USAA? Let us know in the comments below!
I have been with USAA for life and have no plans to change that. I took advantage of this without reading the fine print of the “within 90 days”. The average investor, in my opinion, has no business making that many trades in 3 months. The only average consumers who might maximize this are those liquidating a lot of different securities, or putting a lot of cash into securities in a short period of time. If one is looking for high-trade volume, pick a couple of good actively managed funds (not that those are the best option for many!).
TLDR – Love USAA BUT their fees are somewhat high and this bonus should not be useful to most.
Thanks for sharing your insights, Trevor!