HARVESTING SIGN UP BONUSES FOR VARIOUS ACCOUNTS

The TLDR:

Creating accounts with various credit cards, banks, or brokerages to collect sign up bonuses.

Good

Some of the best value for the time spent
May find new platforms that you like

Bad

Have to keep track of more accounts
Lots of options, but only a few really good ones, so you may run out of options quickly
Many sites don't have any visual tracking of qualifications, so you have extra pressure to track yourself and can easily end up with customer service to get credited for an award

Expected Results

$1000+ in a year is achievable
$100-$1000 in a year is easy

Resources

MY EXPERIENCE

Great, but limited

Account creation to reap sign up bonuses can have great payouts and introduce you to services that you may not otherwise try and could surprise you. Your business is valuable and many services out there are willing to gamble lots of money that they can convince you to use them.

The main downsides are that there may not be a ton of great options, and it may not be worth pursuing lower options. Sure, going through an account sign up process with some requirements may easily be worth $50. However, if you need to keep track of that account to continuously manage it, or close it down at some point, it may be an extra annoyance. Especially if the account comes with any fees or requires sitting on the phone with customer service to close it down.

some results

Chase often has great options

On the left you'll see the cashback results for a Chase card I opened. It required up to $6,000 in spend in 6 months. But paid out $350 worth of points after the first half, and another $300 will pay out when I finish. On top of that this card has 1%-5% cashback and slotted in very well to a few continuous expenses I have. The net result of this card compared to a typical 1% cashback card with no sign up bonus could add up to $1000 over a few years. Just for opening the account!