Another Way to Profit from Rewards by FLINT

[FLINT]

All those pennies you earn, and nowhere to spend them. If your New Year’s Resolution was to drop most of all of your earnings programs, I would say you are not in the minority. The year 2002 was definitely not a good year for these programs, and lets face it, 2003 will be worse. Only a few of the corporate based programs remain (such as Mypoints) and their future is shaky.

It seems that all that remains are a few small programs that pay Cash by Paypal and whose sponsors are fellow rewards program creatures. The corporate community has forsaken us, for good reason, because they have FINALLY learned that we will not buy their products, unless it is a very, very, very, good deal.

Rewards program folk are penny pinchers, or should I be politically correct and say…Frugal. The rewards programs of old never realized or researched their demographic, but of course, their objective was to merely get rich via the stock exchange by flinging their incomprehensible business plan into the quickest IPO and making a grand exit. It was this knowledge that made the largest profit in rewards programs for me. I sold-short Mypoints at it’s high point all the way down to about 2 dollars a share before I “cashed out”. (If you are unfamiliar with short-selling a stock, it is essentially betting on a stock to lose, and taking the profit when and IF it does).

With the current landscape in rewards programs, I would say that the party has been long over, and a retreat back into the real world is in order, UNLESS, you want to experiment with a few schemes. I will present to you a couple of possibilities that might make the small change on rewards programs a worthwhile endeavor. If there is interest in this line of thinking, I will post other ideas I have on the matter.

This scheme is an ADAPTATION of what someone could do without a rewards program but emphasizes using the profits from the small cash paying programs to invest in dividend paying real estate:

#1 Only bother with programs that pay CASH and have a reasonable record of being honest in making payment.

I consider the following to be in this group, listed in order of minimum effort verses reward and length of time to earn or receive payment:

Quickrewards – daily cash-out
CashforAction – monthly cash-out, no minimum
Linkburst – monthly cash-out, no minimum
Links2Cash – monthly cash-out, no minimum
Opt-In-Pays – monthly cash-out, no minimum
Blink – approximately 3 months to cash-out at $2.00, Western Union/Achex Moneyzap
Netflip – valuable for sign-ups only, high cash-out, but does pay in cash
SeachCactus – same as above
Gozing Surveys – if you can get a survey, pays in cash, somewhat reliable
Stockback – Online Shopping
Upromise – Groceries, Online Shopping
…and all those Credit Card Rebates!

There may be others, please respond and add to the list.

#2 Establish a high interest bearing (as high as you can get) bank account to store the proceeds. Do not plow this loose change into the family budget. May I suggest you start with an ING Bank account and get $25 dollars to be referred to start you out.

#3 Invest (yes, I said INVEST) this loose change in small increments in commercial real estate that will pay a monthly or at least quarterly dividend when the balance in the account reaches enough to buy a few shares. This way, your efforts will continue to yield benefits long after this rewards program madness grinds to a halt.

I will give you two such places you may want to consider that are good little investments that this sort of small investment can bring in about 10%.

Great Lakes Realty: This is a REIT (pronounced REET) which is a Real Estate Investment Trust. You will be a shareholder in commercial property. They pay a MONTHLY dividend and currently yield just under 10%. This is not FDIC insured so you can lose money, or gain, based on the market. REITs do not usually fluctuate near as heavily as regular common stocks, so there is a degree of safety. This REIT trades on the stock exchange under the symbol of GL. To avoid your profits being eaten up by trading commissions, enroll in their Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP).

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Congratulations, you are now a landlord!

Or try this one:

National Health Properties: This REIT invests in Health related properties (Nursing Homes, Doctor and Medical Office Buildings, etc). They pay a quarterly dividend that yields approximately 11% annually. Stock Symbol is NHP.

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Of course, you can play it ultra-safe and invest in savings bonds, or you can substitute the above with any stock or investment that suits your disposition. My general point is that one should shift from a consumer viewpoint, to an investor viewpoint. This not only goes for rewards programs, but your daily routine and budget.

I see so often in posts where people’s main drive is “saving for Christmas gifts” or getting some small gift certificate. This is basically a consumer mentality, which is fine if that is what is needed at the moment. This post however, is geared toward those who wish to think about making these small rewards into a perhaps larger more significant reward geared towards the future.

This is not a complete solution, but is meant to stimulate conversation or thought. FLINT would be glad to help, comment on, or learn from any experiment of this nature you have tried.

I hope some of you found this post elucidating.


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