I did a little parusing for the sake of one of my swing accounts. BofA offers the Columbia family of funds for money market sweeps, currently yielding 5.15% which isn't too shabby (better than most). Margin rates were slightly lower than their ilk, but obviously not near FedFunds+100bp. All in all, worth checking out for the non-active trader.
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Free trades with Bank of America
- Thread starter just21
- Start date
I did a little parusing for the sake of one of my swing accounts. BofA offers the Columbia family of funds for money market sweeps, currently yielding 5.15% which isn't too shabby (better than most). Margin rates were slightly lower than their ilk, but obviously not near FedFunds+100bp. All in all, worth checking out for the non-active trader.
If you don't believe me, you may believe this quote from the WSJ (fair use):
"The question for consumers is whether the convenience of doing everything in one place is outweighed by lower interest rates or higher fees.
To answer it for Bank of America, check some of the finer print in its offer: The only free trades are the ones you make online; you can't use a broker. Then, you need a cumulative total of $25,000 in "deposit" accounts. Your stocks and mutual funds don't count. Here's what will: checking, savings and bank money-market accounts; certificates of deposit; small-business deposit accounts; and individual retirement accounts that only contain FDIC-insured products like CDs.
It's a long list, but $25,000 is a lot to keep in cash-like vehicles. That's particularly true given that Bank of America doesn't offer the highest interest rates in the land. If you could do one-half of one percentage point better anyplace else, in a year you'd lose $125 for every $25,000 invested at the bank."
"The question for consumers is whether the convenience of doing everything in one place is outweighed by lower interest rates or higher fees.
To answer it for Bank of America, check some of the finer print in its offer: The only free trades are the ones you make online; you can't use a broker. Then, you need a cumulative total of $25,000 in "deposit" accounts. Your stocks and mutual funds don't count. Here's what will: checking, savings and bank money-market accounts; certificates of deposit; small-business deposit accounts; and individual retirement accounts that only contain FDIC-insured products like CDs.
It's a long list, but $25,000 is a lot to keep in cash-like vehicles. That's particularly true given that Bank of America doesn't offer the highest interest rates in the land. If you could do one-half of one percentage point better anyplace else, in a year you'd lose $125 for every $25,000 invested at the bank."
Quote from drsteph:
Then, you need a cumulative total of $25,000 in "deposit" accounts. Your stocks and mutual funds don't count.
drsteph, thanks for clarifying this important point. I read through the details too quickily the first time and incorrectly assumed that the $25k applied to your brokerage account deposits as well. Leaving $25k in a taxed, low yielding cash account is hardly the type of activity most investors/traders would prefer to do.