Kapitall is basically a brokerage with a user interface like a video game. Their motto is “Drag, Drop, Trade. It’s that simple.” I don’t think the idea of equating stock trading with a game is a good lesson for long-term investors, so I’m not a big fan. In general, the more a person trades, the lower their returns.

However, Kapitall is offering a up to $200 bonus promotion that is worth mentioning. New customers who open and fund an account by March 31, 2014 can earn the following:

• Deposit $50-$999, get $50.
• Deposit $1,000-$9,999, get $100 and 1,000 Kapitall Koins.
• Deposit $10,000+, get $200 and 2,000 Kapitall Koins.

The $100 for $1,000 deposit is essentially a 10% bonus and I don’t see any minimum holding period or trade requirement. On a separate page. they do appear to add a 180-day minimum holding period for the initial deposit and one minimum trade. But if you want to withdraw your money, you’ll have to make a minimum of two trades (buy and sell).

$200 for $10,000 is only a 2% bonus but that’s still not a terrible risk-free return over 180 days when compared with current bank rates of 1% interest over a full year.

(Kapitall Koins are their form of reward points. As a reference, 2,000 Koins = 1 free trade worth $7.95.)

Fees and Commissions
Their commissions are $7.95 with no account maintenance fees and no inactivity fees. Paper statements and trade confirmations are $5 each so you should be sure to accept paperless statements. Here is the full fee schedule.

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Costco and Procter & Gamble have a mail-in rebate promotion for a $33 Costco Cash Card if you spend more than $100 pre-tax on any P&G products in March. Must purchase by 3/31/14 and postmark the rebate form by 5/1/14. You can apply for two rebates per household (for two $33 cash cards), but they must be on two separate $100+ receipts.

Stack the $33 rebate on top of the current coupon savings book valid 3/6/14-3/30/14, and you can get some significant savings by stocking up on items that you probably would buy eventually anyway. I have listed all of the participating brands below, and also added the coupons available during this period. I’m just going to print this blog post out as my shopping list. 😉

(Kind of makes you want to buy some shares of PG stock, eh? Well-known name brands and a 3%+ dividend yield!)

• Charmin ($2 off toilet paper coupon)
• Bounty ($2 off paper towels coupon)
• Puffs
• Tide
• Gain
• Dreft
• Downy ($6 off scent booster? coupon)
• Bounce ($1.80 off dryer sheets coupon)
• Cheer
• Cascade ($3 off dishwasher soap coupon)
• Dawn
• Joy
• Febreze ($1.50 off coupon)
• Swiffer
• Mr. Clean ($2 off Magic Eraser coupon)
• Gillette ($8.99 off blade/gel combo coupon)
• Braun ($35 off shaver coupon)
• Venus ($7.49 off blade/gel coupon)
• Crest ($4 off coupon)
• Glide
• Oral-B ($20 off toothbrushes, $8 off heads)
• Duracell ($3 off 9V batteries)
• Secret
• Pantene
• Head & Shoulders
• Fekkai
• Olay
• Tampax
• Always
• Metamucil
• Prilosec OTC ($6 off coupon)
• Pepto-Bismol
• Vicks
• Align
• ClearBlue
• Iams ($10 off dog food coupon)

Hotel Tonight is a well-reviewed smartphone app that specialized in last-minute hotel bookings. Currently, there are promo codes active that can get you free credit good for any hotel available on the app. The selection is pretty good in my brief experience. Found via xlilsp1keyx of FW. Paraphrasing:

1. First, sign up online at this link. Be sure to add promo code JPING2 for $25 in credit (new customers only). This is my referral code, as are the rest of the $25 new-customer-only codes out there.
2. Download the Hotel Tonight app (Apple or Android)
3. Sign into the app and apply the following code FACEBOOK for another $25 in credit (valid for existing users). You should end up with $50 in total credit. (Update: According to the original Fatwallet forum post and your comments, the FACEBOOK code no longer works on existing accounts. Sorry about the quick expiration, they had a similar $25 code good for existing users in early February that lasted longer.)
4. It worked for me (screenshot).

The credit expires one year after the promo code is applied. Please let me know if you know of any other codes that are active for existing customers. There are many other codes for a one-time $25 credit for new customers. These codes may stop working at any time, so I’d do it quickly.

Groupon is selling a $10 Whole Foods Gift Card for $5 for one day only. They want to teach you about their search bar for some reason. No expiration date. Limit 1 per person, I’m sure it will sell thousands and thousands.

Remember that you can save a bit more on your Groupon with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($10 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.

Online stock brokerage firm OptionsHouse has a promotion where new customers* can get a free iPad Mini (16gb WiFi model w/ Retina display, $399 value) if you satisfy the following requirements:

• $10,000 minimum funding required
• Must fund within 30 days of completing application
• Must make 30 commissionable trades ($4.75 each)
• Must complete those 30 trades within 90 days of account funding
• IRA accounts are not eligible
• Must not withdraw to below minimum funding level for 180 days (market fluctuations okay).

*You cannot have a current Optionshouse account or maintained an account with them during the last 30 days.

30 trades times $4.75 a trade is $142.50 in commissions. iPad Mini with Retina 16GB is $399 at Apple store and even $399+ on Amazon. According to the terms, retail values under $600 will not be including on your 1099 form. Seems like a good promo for a new iPad, especially if you’re looking to try out a new brokerage firm and need to make a number of trades anyway to establish your positions.

Presidents Day Weekend Special. Get $10 off a Groupon of $40 or more (Local deals only) with promo code 10OFF40LOCAL. Valid 2/15 through 2/17 at 11:59pm PST.

Presidents Day Weekend Special. Get 20% off at LivingSocial.com with promo code 2014PRESDAY. Valid 2/15 through 2/17 at 11:59pm PST. Good for purchases of any amount, but maximum discount is $20. Savings will be reflected on the final purchase confirmation page.

I saw that a book called The Science of Getting Rich was temporarily free at the Amazon Kindle store, so I checked it out as with most financially-related titles. Surprisingly, it had over 300 reviews with a 4.3/5 star rating, quite rare for a free eBook. It turns out that this specific eBook is a bit of a “recycling” job done by someone else on the original 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich [Wikipedia] by Wallace Wattles. I guess if you keep the original book but add a bit of your own content, you can add yourself as an author and charge money for it. The original book itself is old enough that the copyright expired and is now in the public domain. You can get a completely free copy of the book in various formats from Archive.org.

Further digging reveals that this book is the basis of the popular book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which was made into a bestseller after being recommended by Oprah Winfrey. Both books talk about the power of positive thinking and visualizing your goals. Now, I can already tell that some people will hate this book and some will love it. I’m usually the one to call this sort of thing “fluffy mumbo-jumbo” as I’m more of a practical nuts-and-bolts type of person but I can’t deny that it has helped some other people. (Just don’t pay hundreds of dollars for this type of thing…) Here’s an excerpt:

People must be taught to become rich by creation, not by competition. Every man who becomes rich by competition throws down behind him the ladder by which he rises, and keeps others down; but every man who gets rich by creation opens a way for thousands to follow him, and inspires them to do so.

The book is short, only about 70 pages.