Which Banks Offer Benefits Like CitiGold and BOA Preferred Rewards

[md80only]

I have $200k in a normal brokerage investment account so I can get the CitiGold benefits ($200 towards subscriptions, $120 worth of Thank You Points, No ATM fees, etc).

I have $75k in my Roth IRA and $60k in a 529 at Merrill Edge so I can get BOA Preferred Rewards (75% bonus on credit card earnings).

Retirement and Deferred Comp are at TIAA and can't be changed while employed. HSA (~$27k) is at Fidelity.

I have another $650k in a brokerage at M1Finance. I have loved M1 Finance but as they've scaled up it hasn't been the same. I still endorse it, but I hate the 2FA they have now. And I get no benefit for having that much $ there. I do love the auto investment, partial shares, etc.

If I get $1mm at Citibank there is another level of status that comes with at least $200 more in annual benefits. So I will probably do that soon unless I can find another option.

I am wondering what other banks offer an elite level of banking with benefits? I have tried to find info on Google without success.

I am investing in just ETFs and not actively, just once a month when I get paid. So it doesn't really matter where that $$ is sitting, it will be in $VOO, $SCHA, $SCHM, $IXUS, etc regardless of where.

So, any other banks I should be looking at? I use personal capital to aggregate all my accounts, so it doesn't bother me to have more than one brokerage if it gets me extra $ or a good benefit like Merrill/BOA (which is as good as money that 75% bonus is legit).

THANKS!

[NewMoneyMustBeSmart]

At first glance, you seem willing to put $1M in a bucket to earn $200 - or 0.02% (not 2%, 2/100ths of a %).

You may find https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ interesting. You can make more than 0.02% on your money by chasing bonuses from deposits.

[mogg]

Can you tell us more details about your Citibank setup? Is your brokerage a Citi Self Invest Account, and does that qualify you for Citigold? Do you have Citibank branches near you? Parking a $200k IRA for annual benefits doesn't sound too bad.

[md80only]

At first glance, you seem willing to put $1M in a bucket to earn $200 - or 0.02% (not 2%, 2/100ths of a %).

You may find https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ interesting. You can make more than 0.02% on your money by chasing bonuses from deposits.

Not exactly. More like, this million dollars is already in a bucket and that bucket is a bunch of etfs. it doesn't really matter where that bucket is (vanguard, fidelity, schwab, robinhood) its contents are going to be the same and perform the same. So is there a place that bucket can earn an extra $200 a year? Or other benefits like Merrill BOA Preferred Rewards.

I could move it every xx months when a new bonus comes up, etc, but that seems like a pain and lots of paperwork - but probably easy money. I'm more open to another banking relationship than pays some side bennies annually, easy enough to handle.

[md80only]

Can you tell us more details about your Citibank setup? Is your brokerage a Citi Self Invest Account, and does that qualify you for Citigold? Do you have Citibank branches near you? Parking a $200k IRA for annual benefits doesn't sound too bad.

I do not have any citi branches near me. It is a citi personal wealth management account. It is an older account and can have an advisor but mine doesn't. Etf and stock trades are free, it is basically like the self invest account- if I were opening this account today I would open a self invest. But I already have this and I haven't seen a reason to change it (if someone else knows of a reason let me know!) As it seems to have the same costs, etc.

As long as you have over $200k across your citi banking relationship, you get $200 annually off subscriptions (costco, prime, etc) and the $120 worth of thank you points. If you have $1mm scross you get $400 in subscriptions. I use my Citi Checking and ATM card (no fees) etc religiously. It's my primary bank

I don't know why more people don't do this. Why be at Vanguard or any of the others when you can get $320 a year to be at Citi. If you use credit cards the BOA 75% bonus for Preferred Rewards is practically untouchable. If you are going in to see an advisor, etc then that would be a reason to be somewhere else if no Citi in your area but if you are only doing online and have this amount of $, I can't figure out the added benefits elsewhere.

So I'm trying to figure out what else is out there. As most people don't know about the Citigold option I'm sure I don't know about the XYZ Tita-Plat-Iron option somewhere.

[galawdawg]

From a prior post, you say you are single, live cheaply, make a quarter of a million a year or more and save a significant portion of that.

I'd say quit stooping to pick up pennies on the sidewalk! Pick a brokerage with excellent customer service, excellent investment options and competitive rates on money market funds and stick with them. Perhaps you prefer Citi. I've not been impressed with them in the past and ratings of their service are poor. But you may be happy there. If you aren't you may want to consider Schwab, which I prefer. If you hold cash, you can get 4.27% yield on their SWVXX money market fund. No cost trading of ETFs and stocks. You can buy brokered CDs, bonds and treasuries of all sorts of flavors and set up a ladder if you desire. Schwab Bank will give you free checking, free check orders, free ATM withdrawals, three free domestic wires per quarter, and other features at no-cost. And if you can move $1 million or more there, you'd probably be looking at $2k or more in a transfer bonus. Cash in your accounts, not "side bennies."

[retired@50]

At first glance, you seem willing to put $1M in a bucket to earn $200 - or 0.02% (not 2%, 2/100ths of a %).

You may find https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ interesting. You can make more than 0.02% on your money by chasing bonuses from deposits.

Not exactly. More like, this million dollars is already in a bucket and that bucket is a bunch of etfs.

Maybe you'd benefit from reading some of the posts in the Final, Definitive Thread On Brokerage Transfer Bonuses.

Regards,

[md80only]

At first glance, you seem willing to put $1M in a bucket to earn $200 - or 0.02% (not 2%, 2/100ths of a %).

You may find https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ interesting. You can make more than 0.02% on your money by chasing bonuses from deposits.

Not exactly. More like, this million dollars is already in a bucket and that bucket is a bunch of etfs.

Maybe you'd benefit from reading some of the posts in the Final, Definitive Thread On Brokerage Transfer Bonuses.

Regards,

Yes, I did review that thread. I know it is poor forum etiquette to not search first. But that is about bonuses for switching, not benefits of being a client with some sort of status (private banking, CitiGold, etc). But I suppose why not keep bouncing that $ in ETFs around and around to collect bonuses.

[md80only]

From a prior post, you say you are single, live cheaply, make a quarter of a million a year or more and save a significant portion of that.

I'd say quit stooping to pick up pennies on the sidewalk! Pick a brokerage with excellent customer service, excellent investment options and competitive rates on money market funds and stick with them. Perhaps you prefer Citi. I've not been impressed with them in the past and ratings of their service are poor. But you may be happy there. If you aren't you may want to consider Schwab, which I prefer. If you hold cash, you can get 4.27% yield on their SWVXX money market fund. No cost trading of ETFs and stocks. You can buy brokered CDs, bonds and treasuries of all sorts of flavors and set up a ladder if you desire. Schwab Bank will give you free checking, free check orders, free ATM withdrawals, three free domestic wires per quarter, and other features at no-cost. And if you can move $1 million or more there, you'd probably be looking at $2k or more in a transfer bonus. Cash in your accounts, not "side bennies."

Thanks, and yes that is still my financial situation. I put 73% of my earnings in 2023 into the market. I grew up without a lot so I think I'll always look for pennies. That's what bothers me is I feel like there is always something I'm missing being naive and not knowing anyone with wealth to ask which is what that thread was about.

Right now with the transfers so high it probably does make sense to move vs collect the $320 per year. I'd be fine having another brokerage out there too. Or move my $650k at m1 to Schwab at least. Schwab does do the fractional shares which I like. Have you done that there?

I also was looking at Schwab today because I have a bunch of amex membership rewards from My platinum card (signed up because of the 150k bonus, this card does not seem to be worth it to me other than that) and if you have a schwab brokerage they are worth 1.25 cents. The blogs say to transfer to airlines for miles but that's not very appealing to me. So I'd have to get it switched to a schwab platinum I'm order to avail myself of that 1.25 but shouldn't be an issue I don't think?

Thank you everyone for the feedback. As for your Beer Icon, I still only drink Busch Light.

[retired@50]

At first glance, you seem willing to put $1M in a bucket to earn $200 - or 0.02% (not 2%, 2/100ths of a %).

You may find https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ interesting. You can make more than 0.02% on your money by chasing bonuses from deposits.

Not exactly. More like, this million dollars is already in a bucket and that bucket is a bunch of etfs.

Maybe you'd benefit from reading some of the posts in the Final, Definitive Thread On Brokerage Transfer Bonuses.

Regards,

Yes, I did review that thread. I know it is poor forum etiquette to not search first. But that is about bonuses for switching, not benefits of being a client with some sort of status (private banking, CitiGold, etc). But I suppose why not keep bouncing that $ in ETFs around and around to collect bonuses.

The prior linked thread was just a thought, I didn't know if you were aware of it. "Status" is another story (and a million bucks isn't what it used to be), but bonus money is nice too. Best of luck.

Regards,

[md80only]

The prior linked thread was just a thought, I didn't know if you were aware of it. "Status" is another story (and a million bucks isn't what it used to be), but bonus money is nice too. Best of luck.

Regards,

I hope my reply didn't come off as snarky, that thread was definitely useful. Anyone with the name retired @50 knows what's up. I appreciate you weighing in.

[FedGuy]

I also was looking at Schwab today because I have a bunch of amex membership rewards from My platinum card (signed up because of the 150k bonus, this card does not seem to be worth it to me other than that) and if you have a schwab brokerage they are worth 1.25 cents. The blogs say to transfer to airlines for miles but that's not very appealing to me. So I'd have to get it switched to a schwab platinum I'm order to avail myself of that 1.25 but shouldn't be an issue I don't think?

The 1.25 cents was dropped to 1.1 cents a year or two ago.

[md80only]

I told M1 Finance I wanted to leave, and they offered me $2,000 to stay so long as I keep $500k in my account for a year. Seemed worth it.