Hotels are expensive, and if you do a lot of traveling then it can really eat away at your travel budget. To help you out we wanted to bring to your attention that Hotels.com is having a rebate program that can get you up to $100 back when you book your hotel with with Hotels.com.

Click The Button Below to Get The Discount Code For Your Rebate:

Up to $100 Rebate

When You Book With Hotels.com

(Click Button To Reveal Code)

Of course there are certain restrictions to get this rebate, first you have to stay for a certain number of nights and the longer you stay the higher your rebate is. The amount you get is tiered like this:

• 3 Night Booking Gets A $20 Rebate
• 5 Night Booking Gets A $30 Rebate
• 8 Night Booking Gets A $50 Rebate
• 10 Night Booking Gets A $75 Rebate
• 12 Night Booking Gets A $100 Rebate

Of course if you want the full details you should read them all at the Hotels.com website.

Merrill Edge, the brokerage division of Bank of America, is now offering up to $500 when you open an investment account or IRA account.  (Note: the deadline to open an IRA account is April 15, 2012, which is also the deadline to fund your IRA for 2011). To claim your funds you simply open a new IRA or roll over funds from your old one.

You can open an Investment account here on the Merrill Edge Investment page.

You can open an IRA account here on the Merrill Edge IRA page.

Terms and Conditions

Of course there are terms and conditions involved just like the other broker promotions we told you about. The amount of money you get is tiered so the more you invest the more you get back, up to $500.  The tiers are as follows:

$10,000 in qualifying assets – $50 back

$25,000 in qualifying assets – $100 back

$100,000 in qualifying assets – $250 back

$200,000 in qualifying assets – $500 back

You must fund the minimum amount within 30 days of opening your account, either via transfer or rollover, and the funds can not be rolled over from Merrill or Bank of America 401K accounts.  Once you fund you must keep the account funded for a minimum of 90 days to receive your bonus and the money will be paid in the next calendar month.

So if you have been waiting to open an investment or IRA account now might be the time to take a look at Merrill Edge.

Current Stamps.com Promo Code

$45 In Free Postage

When You Use The Code Below

(Click Button To Reveal Code)

One of the things I hate the most is going to the post office, and if you have a small business like me you know what a time waster it is to drop what you are doing, drive to the post office and stand in line. Not to mention that you have to do it all on their short hours.

A better way to manage your postage is through Stamps.com and never have to waste time driving to the post office again.

How To Get Started With Stamps.com

1. Click Here to sign up for an account
2. Get $45 in free postage and a free digital scale
3. Print your own stamps/shipping labels at home
4. The US Post Office picks up your mail and packages

That’s it… really!

How Stamps.com Works

All you need to do to use Stamps.com is log in to their system and using your free digital scale you get when you sign up, calculate the exact postage you need to ship your package. Just weight, print and have your package picked up… it really doesn’t get much easier.

If you ship products you may also be interested in their one click package tracking, or easy print return labels in case your customers decide to return their products.

Stamps.com also will give you discounts on USPS postage. For example, customers can save up to 21% off USPS Express Mail, and up to 15% on Priority mail as well. Not only can you save on the cost of shipping, but you can save up to 40% on shipping insurance as well.

Need to track your postage expenses? Stamps.com does it all for you, keeping a detailed transaction log on every bit of postage you print. This way you can prepare weekly, monthly or yearly reports at the click of a button.

Don’t forget to bookmark this Stamps.com promo code post for the latest offers!

All in all, going to the post office is a major hassle and what small business has time to burn? If you want to save both time and money on shipping and postage, Sign Up For Stamps.com Today

Are you thinking about opening an account at OptionsXpress? If so you can get up to $100 back just for opening a new account.

How Does It Work?

All you need to do to get your $100 back is open a new account (individual or joint) and fund the account with just $500… a much lower minimum than most other popular online brokers. Once you have funded your account you need to execute a minimum of 3 trades between the opening of your account and 11:59pm on December 31, 2012 or the end of the year for those of you who like things put simply

Once you meet these terms OptionsXpress will deposit your $100 promotion in to your account and your account must stay open for 6 months after that or you may be charged. Be sure to read the fine print for the details on this.

What Accounts Are Eligible?

As mentioned new individual or joint accounts are eligible for the promo, but unfortunately if you are planning to open up an IRA, tax-exempt, or shared account you are not eligible to receive your $100 promotion bonus.

How To Get Started

If you are ready to get started you can simply click here to open your new account at OptionsXpress. Fill out the forms and be sure to read all the fine print so you understand all of the terms properly. The whole process should only take a few minutes and once you meet all the terms of the promotion you could have a cool $100 in your account.

As savvy investors we know a good deal when we see one and that’s why I’m really impressed that TD Ameritrade has decided to put their money where their mouth is by offering a fantastic deal. Now when you join TD Ameritrade you trade free for 60 days + Get up to $600 but only if you click here or click the banner below.

So far this offer is the best broker promotion that we have going, just edging out the ETrade Promotion of up to $500 back.

Those of you who stuck around to this point might be interested in some details on how the $600 back works. First it’s tiered so the more you deposit the more you get back (as I’m sure you already assumed). So here’s a little about how it works (if you want more info please visit the TD Ameritrade page for full details).

The Basic Promotion Summary

• Valid for new accounts opened before 2/29/2012 only
• The 60 days worth of trades are always included as long as you deposit $2,000 or more
• Deposit $25,000 to $99,999 get $100 back
• Deposit $100,000 to $249,999 get $300 back
• Deposit $250,000 or more get $600 back

I mentioned that this is for new accounts only, though there is a mention in the fine print that the offer is only valid for new individual, joint or IRA accounts, so if you have one of these accounts and are planning to open up a second you may want to check with them to see if you qualify on the new account. I’m not sure if it that would be valid or not though so again, check with them first (can’t hurt to try though right?)

If you think you qualify for any of these offers you get 60 days to fund the account to the levels mentioned in the summary above. So if you want the full $600 back promotion you need to make sure your $250k is deposited within 60 days or you may lose it (figuratively and literally). You’ll still get your 60 days of free trades though (once you fund your account that is).

My wife and I love the Entertainment Book which is a book full of coupons that saves us a lot of money at local restaurants, movies, and other attractions. The book is available in most areas of the country and I really like how it’s localized so you can support local businesses and save money at the same time.

With the Entertainment Book you can save literally THOUSANDS of dollars if you use most of the coupons, and these days, in this economy, who doesn’t want to save thousands of dollars?

The book is also great for finding new places to go and new restaurants to eat at. One of the reasons my family likes it is because we sometimes find new restaurants we otherwise wouldn’t have considered, but since we found a really great deal there we give it a shot. I can’t tell you the number of places we have found like this and have been very pleasantly surprised.

The book normally costs around $25 but now you can get it for close to 20% off if you order now, plus get it shipped to your house for free. If you want your copy of the Entertainment Book now is the time because all 2012 Entertainment Books are Only $20.12, plus Free Shipping! This Week Only!.

Current ETRADE Promotion Codes:

Special Offer: Trade Free for 60 Days at E*TRADE and get up to $500

ETRADE is one of the oldest and most respected online brokers on the web today, with everything from outstanding tools and resources to hysterical baby commercials, ETRADE does it all well. Don’t take my word for it though, ETRADE was recently given five stars by both Kiplingers and and SmartMoney. Whether stocks, options, ETFs or mutual funds are your game, and whether you are a pro trader or just starting out… ETRADE is a great site for you.

The following post is another piece in our Online Stock Broker Reviews series designed to help you find the broker that meets all of your investing needs

After 20 years of being one of the leading online stock brokers, ETrade is one of the most recognizable investment brokers in the country. Whether it’s their name recognition or their cute commercials with the talking babies, ETrade has a great reputation from both critics and customers.

Account Setup

Signing up for an online investing account at ETrade is simple and easy. All you need to do is open an account by clicking here and fill out the form for the type of account you want.

Once your account is opened you just need to fund your account either via wire, ACH or by check. If you have an account elsewhere that you would like to transfer in you can also do that instead.

ETrade requires a minimum balance of $500 in cash or securities for your account, which is a fairly low amount but some brand new investors may prefer a no minimum balance account elsewhere.

Fees & Commissions

ETrade charges the following fees and commissions for online trades:

Stocks & ETFs: $9.99 per trade ($7.99 per trade if you place 150+ trades per qtr)

Simple Options: $0.75 per contract plus $9.99

Mutual Funds: No load, no transaction fee funds: $0, Transaction-fee funds: $19.99

Bonds & Treasuries: US Treasury Auction: $0, Online Secondary Trades: $1 per bond (min $10, max $250)

Futures: $2.99 per contract, per side + fees

Types of Accounts

Trading & Investing
- General Investing
- Employee Stock Plans
- Business
- Corporate/LLC
- Trust & Estate
- Investment Club
- Managed Investment Account
- Unified Managed Account

Active Trading
- Power E*TRADE
- Futures Trading

Global Trading
- Global Trading

Retirement
- Rollover IRA
- Traditional IRA
- Roth IRA
- IRA for Minors
- Complete IRA
- Beneficiary IRA

Small Business Retirement Plans
- SEP IRA
- SIMPLE IRA
- Individual 401(k)
- Money Purchase
- Profit Sharing
- Investment-Only Non Custodial

Educational
- Custodial
- Coverdell

Banking
- Complete Savings
- Money Market
- Max-Rate Checking
- E*TRADE Checking

Investments Available

At ETrade you can invest in the following:

• Stocks
• ETF’s
• Options
• Mutual Funds
• Bonds
• Treasuries
• CD’s

Customer Service

ETrade features 24/7 customer support, which I am a big fan of. Although the markets are only open for limited hours throughout the week there are a lot of scenarios where you will need assistance and it’s nice to know ETrade is there.

Unlike many other discount online brokers, ETrade also has physical branch locations so if you live near one you can stop in for assistance. If you don’t live near a local branch, ETRade’s customer service can be reached either by phone, via online chat (which I have personally used and can recommend) or via email.

For the first time since 2004 Apple missed their earnings estimate bringing in $7.05 per share against expectations of $7.39 per share… a huge miss for such an enormous company notorious for blowing away estimates in the past.

The earnings miss comes just weeks after founder and CEO Steve Jobs death, and also shortly after one of their largest competitors, Google, crushed their earnings estimate.

Apple shipped just 17.1 million iPhones against 22 million units which was expected by the street… the news ironically coming shortly after iPhone 4S set a record for one day phone sales. IPad sales on the other hand exceeded expectations by around 10% with 11.1 million units against an expected 10.0 million units.

Shortly after the announcement shares of Apple (ticker: AAPL) dropped about 6.5% to the mid $390’s before bouncing back to the low $400 range.

Analysts are split on whether the drop in the stock represents a buying opportunity or the beginning of a decline in the most profitable company in the world.

Apple will host an earnings conference call at 5:00 on Tuesday (10/17) to explain what happened.

Many children who are now grown adults are wondering if it is a good idea to take out a life insurance policy for either one or both parents. In the case of their passing, the coverage could be left to the children and the grandchildren.

The two main concerns and emotional responses that come up are of a financial and moral nature. From a financial aspect, some parents might only be in their sixties and still have an abundant life ahead of them. The person taking out the insurance policy would have to be willing to pay it for the next 25 years or more.

From a moral standpoint, children might feel as if they are pushing their parents into the grave, so-to-speak, or that the action of taking out a policy is selfish and self-serving. In addition, if the parents or parent are surviving on a low income budget, it could be that the money would be better spent caring for them during their living years, taking care of issues like healthcare and long term living assistance.

Regardless, you must find some solid ground between financial and moral balance that gives you the peace necessary to feel like you are making the correct decisions.

This is definitely an issue that takes careful consideration, and at the end of the day be sure to follow your heart as well as your head. Consider this: Is your parent (or are your parents) in full agreement with the plan? Maybe the parent had always hoped to have this kind of plan, but due to financial constraints could not bring it into fruition.

If the parent welcomes help for this sort of thing and it has even been on his or her mind, it might be a good decision.

As for the feeling that one is “gambling on their parents’ death,” ask yourself if the sole motivation for considering such a plan is indeed for your own monetary gain. If this is the case then there are definitely opposing forces at work. If your mind is preoccupied with wanting a claim, how can it be focused on loving the life that is?

If there is a case where the parent is in declining health but is still able to acquire a life insurance policy, then the situation looks pretty lucrative financially, but who would want to capitalize and speculate on the death of any person, let alone their own flesh and blood?

As a result, it’s no surprise that many people would feel a little shady taking out a policy under those circumstances, but sometimes it is necessary to pay for expenses that will pop up after death. In addition, keep in mind that if a policy is being taken out on a person who still has a great 25 years ahead of them, financially this is often not a wise investment.

At best, the idea of putting the money that would go towards a life insurance policy into savings instead, especially for a parent who is not so well-off financially, is a plan that is both financially and morally rewarding. This money could provide comfort to a parent (or parents) whose finances have gotten out of hand, while saving this money in advance can also help you be prepared to rise to the occasion and help out if necessary with very little financial strife. In addition, if the money never has to be used, it could always be invested differently in the event of the parent (or parents) passing.

Photo Credit: roblisameehan