This isn’t the next Ponzi Scheme or Multi-Level Marketing program. It’s just a list of fun creative ways to earn some additional money with no more than $1. Sounds pretty far fetched and indeed in some cases it kind of is, but we’ve all gotta start somewhere. Since you’re already here and 4 sentences deep, why not take a look at some of the ways I actually made money by doing nothing more than filling out some paperwork with all my personal information.
Stock App Promotions:
Every other day there is a new stock app popping up. When you have your money in a brokerage account it’s hard to think of moving it away unless there is a really good reason too… like free money. Typically apps will offer promotions for deposits and leaving the money in for a set amount of time where you’re rewarded with free stock. My favorite thing has been to do this with all the stock apps and earn as much free stock as possible.
The most recent was WeBulls ‘Deposit Promotion.’ Deposit ANY amount and receive two stocks. The catch was the money had to sit there for 30 days before you could claim your free stocks. I was feeling frisky so I tossed in $10 and waited. The day finally came and I earned KHC and KO ($10 and $9 respectively) earning me $19 and a 190% on my $10 in 35 days.
WeBull is just one of many apps so all you have to do is keep up to date, subscribe to some additional emails to fill up your inbox, and pay attention to those promotions.
Cost: $1
ROI: 190% or $19
Retiring Early on this: No but I can buy a mediocre dinner?
Stock App Referrals:
Do you have a friend that wants you to always sign up for the newest app using their referral code? I don’t, but that’s because I’m that friend. Any app (but specifically brokerage apps like WeBull, Robinhood, Alinea, and others) have referral programs where you share your link and get something in return. In this case it’s a stock you can keep or sell. The catch? You just have to annoy everyone you know that hasn’t already signed up for a stock app to sign up for one and most likely fund it with a certain amount. There is normally a limit to how much you can get and how high of a stock you can earn.
You can take it to the next level (which will be more than $1) and use something like Google Ad Words to share your referral code with the masses. People you’ve never talked to will sign up using your link and you both earn money. I did this with Robinhood I earned over $250 in free stock. I ended up selling it all at $284 (14% capital gain) and got to report this as Miscellaneous income come tax time. Now I did use a free Google credit and with that credit I made $90.66 in profit, without that credit I would have been in the red (-$32.97).
Cost: $0 (just becoming the friend that ‘has the referral codes.’)
ROI: With the Google Credit 41% or $90.66 (without the credit – I lost $32.97)
Retiring Early on this: No, but being able to plaster your friends with ‘reminders’ for years is priceless.
Credit Cards:
The credit score is basically our master key to the treasure chest of debt. If we want to get a personal loan, mortgage, a new credit card – it all will be determined by the credit score we have built up. One way to do that is through lines of credit (credit cards), but you also can earn something else – Money in the form of cash back and points. A lot of cards will have promotions or point deals where you’ll sign up, receive the points after a certain spend, and then do what you will with those points. Example is the American Express Platinum I just upgraded to. It had a fee, but with the bonus points I will make about $300 in free money and I get to use the benefits of the card.
Can you do this with all kinds of cards? Yes. Can you basically live for free? Almost. Will it impact your credit score to have multiple hard inquiries for hundreds of cards? Most definitely.
