ShareBuilder Promotion: $25 Bonus to Open a New Account

Are you still interested in ShareBuilder?

If you are, then you can get $25 bonus when opening a new account. This offer is only good for joint, individual and custodial accounts, not for IRA or ESA accounts. The bonus will be credited to your new account within four to six weeks after the first transaction is made. This means that you not only need to open an account, but also make a trade in order to qualify for the bonus.

Despite the bonus, ShareBuilder isn’t the online brokerage that I’d recommend for a few reasons. First, it isn’t really cheap to invest with ShareBuilder. You pay $4 with their automatic investment plan and $9.95 for real time trade. This isn’t the price I am willing to pay. Second, it’s not flexible to invest with ShareBuilder. With their automatic investment plan, you can only buy stocks on Tuesday on a monthly basis. Even though they recently introduced a feature to let you save first and invest later (so you don’t have to buy every month, potentially reduce the cost of investing), I’d like to have the flexibility of investing at my own schedule. There are many other discount brokers available that offer both low commission and investment flexibility.

Update: Use the new reference code 25W010 to open a ShareBuilder account and get $25 bonus. Terms and conditions for the new promotion are:

You must open a new account with ShareBuilder and deposit $25 or more to be eligible for this promotion. Initial deposit must be completed by 12/31/2010. ShareBuilder will deposit a $25 bonus approximately 4-6 weeks after your first $25 deposit. The $25 bonus offer is available for Individual, Joint and Custodial accounts only. Offer not valid for IRAs or ESAs. The $25 bonus from ShareBuilder is not available for withdrawal for 90 days after it is awarded to your account. This offer is not valid with any other offers and is non-transferrable. Limit one ShareBuilder account bonus per unique customer or custodial beneficiary. ShareBuilder reserves the right to terminate this offer at any time and to refuse or recover any promotion award if ShareBuilder determines that it was obtained under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that inaccurate or incomplete information was provided in opening the account, or that any terms or ShareBuilder’s Account Agreement has been violated. Offer expires 12/31/2010.