Deal has expired, view more Betterment deals by clicking here.
Update 4/22/19: Bonus is available until June 30th, 2019. As I’m slowly starting to change my mind on brokerage bonuses I thought this one was worth revisiting. The main difference between this and other brokerage bonuses is that you must let Betterment manage your funds. Because of this I don’t think this bonus is worth considering.
Extended until November 1st. American Airlines have also been aggressively pushing this out to loyalty members via e-mail so I thought it was worth reposting. Hat tip to all the readers that sent this in.
Extended until September 1st, 2018
Extended until June 30th, 2018.
The Offer
- Investment site Betterment is offering up to 30,000 American Airline miles when you invest with them. Bonus will depend on how much you deposit within the first 45 days, broken down as follows:
- $15,000-$49,999: 5,000 AAdvantage® miles
- $50,000-$99,999: 15,000 AAdvantage® miles
- $100,000+: 30,000 AAdvantage® miles
- You also must maintain these deposits for 60 days from the qualification date in order to receive the bonus miles
The Fine Print
- This offer is valid only for new customers who open a taxable Betterment account by 04/18/18 and fund such new account with $15,000 or more of qualifying net deposits within 45 days of account opening.
- Qualifying net deposits are calculated as assets deposited into a customer’s taxable Betterment account minus assets withdrawn from such account and transferred out of Betterment. Qualifying net deposits will be calculated as of the 45th day after account opening (the “Qualification Date”). Only outside assets new to Betterment qualify for purposes of calculating qualifying net deposits.
- The offer does not apply to deposits or rollovers into any trust account, tax-advantaged retirement account, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA or other IRA account, or 401(k) account. Employer-sponsored retirement accounts provided through Betterment for Business and accounts advised through the Betterment For Advisors platform or the Betterment Advisor Network are excluded from the offer, and deposits into such accounts are not counted towards the deposit thresholds set forth in this offer.
- Qualifying net deposits must be maintained in a customer’s account for a minimum of 60 days from the Qualification Date (the “Holding Period”) in order to receive an award of AAdvantage® miles. Customers who meet the criteria set out in these terms shall receive AAdvantage® miles as follows: (i) qualifying net deposits of $15,000 – $49,999 will receive 5,000 AAdvantage® miles; (ii) qualifying net deposits of $50,000 – $99,999 will receive 15,000 AAdvantage® miles; and (iii) qualifying net deposits of $100,000 or more will receive 30,000 AAdvantage® miles. Customers wishing to receive AAdvantage® miles must establish an AAdvantage® account directly with American Airlines.
- The customer opening a new Betterment account must be the same individual receiving any AAdvantage® miles earned in connection with this offer. Customers must provide a valid AAdvantage® account number to Betterment within 105 days of account opening pursuant to the instructions provided.
- Allow 3-4 weeks from the expiration of the Holding Period for AAdvantage® miles to appear in your AAdvantage® account.
- Betterment reserves the right to restrict or revoke this offer at any time. This is not an offer in any jurisdiction where we are not authorized to do business. A customer’s AAdvantage® account must be in good standing (as determined by American Airlines) to receive AAdvantage® miles. All AAdvantage® program rules apply to AAdvantage® program membership, AAdvantage® miles, offers, AAdvantage® mile accrual, AAdvantage® mile redemption and travel benefits.
- Open to U.S. residents only, and the offer is limited to one per individual.
Our Verdict
If you wanted to churn and burn the account your best option would be the $100,000 deposit for 30,000 miles. Ideally you’d deposit the funds on day 44 and then maintain it for a further 60 days (total of 61/62 days with the funds invested) before withdrawing. Let’s be conservative and say it’s 90 days and also say your current investments you pay 0% in fees (compared to 0.25% with betterment), in total you’d pay ~$62 in fees. That’s a pretty good deal for 30,000 American Airline miles, but it also assumes everything goes well and betterment performs as well as your other investments.
Personally I like my investments to be set and forget with as low fees as possible. The miles are nice, but long term I find these deals to be too much trouble with something usually not going perfectly so I opt to pass on them. That being said this might be a good deal for some people, especially anybody wanting to invest with Betterment long term (again I think there are better lower fee alternatives but do your own research).
