Updated with new limited-time offers. Hilton Hotels and American Express have co-branded credit cards with special perks for Hilton customers. Each person can typically only get one welcome offer, per card in your entire lifetime, so it’s best to apply during a temporary bump-up and/or limited-time offer. Hat tip to DoC, which has found some personal links without the once-per-lifetime language (“NLL” or “no-lifetime-language”). The business links below still include the NLL. Here’s what the “lifetime-language” looks like, and there should be a pop-up indicating that you are indeed not eligible for the bonus based on their records.

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.

Hilton Honors American Express Card (No Annual Fee)

• Limited Time Offer: Earn 100,000 Bonus Points and a $100 Statement Credit after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 7/29/26.
• 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
• 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on purchases at US restaurants, US supermarkets, and US gas stations.
• 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases.
• Hilton Honors(TM) Silver Status comes with this card. Spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on this card within a calendar year and upgrade this benefit to Hilton Honors(TM) Gold Status through the end of the next calendar year.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• No annual fee.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card ($150 Annual Fee, waived first year)

• Limited Time Offer: Limited Time Offer. Earn 130,000 Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 7/29/26.
• 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
• 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points per dollar on purchases at US restaurants, US supermarkets, and US gas stations.
• 4X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar on U.S Online Retail Purchases.
• 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases.
• Hilton Honors(TM) Gold Status comes with this card. Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on this card within a calendar year and upgrade this benefit to Hilton Honors(TM) Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.
• Up to $200 in Hilton Credits annually. Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. That’s up to $200 in statement credits annually.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Earn an additional Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card ($550 Annual Fee)

• Limited Time Offer: Earn 175,000 Bonus Points after you spend $6,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 7/29/26.
• 14X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
• 7X Bonus Points for eligible purchases: on flights booked directly with airlines or amextravel.com; on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies; & at U.S. restaurants.
• 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases.
• Hilton Honors(TM) Diamond Status comes with this card.
• $400 Hilton Resort Credit. Get up to $200 in statement credits semi-annually for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts on your Hilton Honors Aspire Card. That’s up to $400 back annually.
• $200 Flight Credit. Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter, for a total of up to $200 back each year, on flight purchases made directly with an airline or through amextravel.com using your Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.
• $209 CLEAR+ Credit. CLEAR+ helps get you to your gate faster by using your face to verify you are you at 55+ airports nationwide. Receive up to $209 per calendar year in statement credits, when you pay for a CLEAR+ Membership (subject to auto-renewal) with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Multiple Free Night Reward Opportunities. Enjoy an Annual Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors in your first year of Card Membership and every year upon Card renewal. Earn another Free Night Reward from Hilton after you spend $30,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year. Plus, you can earn an additional Free Night Reward from Hilton after you spend a total of $60,000 in purchases on the Card within the same calendar year.
• $550 annual fee.

Hilton Honors American Express Business Card ($195 Annual Fee, waived first year)

• Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $8,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. $0 Intro Annual Fee for the first year, then $195. Offer ends July 29, 2026.
• 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on eligible purchases made directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
• 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points on other purchases made using the Hilton Honors Business Card on the first $100,000 in purchases each calendar year, 3X Points thereafter.
• Up to $240 in Hilton credits annually (Up to $60 per quarter). Get up to $60 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made with this card directly with a Hilton portfolio property.
• Complimentary Hilton Honors(TM) Gold Status (free breakfast, room upgrades based on availability, 5th standard reward night free).
• Upgrade this benefit to Hilton Honors(TM) Diamond Status through the end of the calendar year if the total eligible purchases that you spend on your Card Account during a calendar year reach $40,000 or more.
• $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $195.

What are Hilton Honor points worth? The best value is from booking free hotel nights or using their “Points & Money” option where you pay with a combination of Hilton points and cash. Hilton has some really nice properties, but the value varies from hotel to hotel. I just ran a search and for the same 60,000 Hilton points, I could book rooms that cost $320 or $532 cash. I’ve seen some valuations around 0.6 cents per point, which I think is fair on average, but I would be more conservative at 0.5 cents a point. That would make 150,000 points = $750 value and 100,000 points = $500 value towards Hilton hotel stays.

The good part of Hilton points is that they have so many different hotel brands, from business-class DoubleTree to luxury Waldorf Astoria. Hilton also lets you transfer and pool points with other with other family or household members. As long as you are able to keep them active (once every 12 months), I do like to keep some around. These credit cards are handy for creating activity.

Free Night Award details. When it is offered (not all the time), the Free Night Award is valid for a one-night standard room at eligible Hilton properties, and also covers resort fees and taxes. There are many great and valuable options to redeem, but importantly read about the property exclusions here. Here are the full terms. To redeem the Free Night Reward, you must call 1-800-446-6677 (1-800-HHONORS). It’s quite easy and I’ve found the agents to be very helpful if you want to combine multiple certificates, combine a paid stay and a Free Night Award, etc. Free Night Rewards will expire 12 months from date of issuance.

I’ve used this Free Night Award at the Grand Wailea in Maui, and that standard room would have cost 110,000 Hilton Points otherwise. Other fancy possibilities include Conrad New York, Conrad London, Waldorf Astoria Park City, and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

Bottom line. Hilton American Express cards offer regular Hilton customers a good opportunity to earn additional points towards free Hilton hotel stays as well as additional perks like status upgrades. The best time to apply for a Hilton co-branded American Express card is during a limited-time increase to their welcome offers. This is because American Express has changed their standard policy to only allow each person to get a welcome offer once per card.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers and Top 10 Best Business Card Offers.

Back for 2026. Barnes & Noble has brought back their Summer Reading Free Book Giveaway for kids in Grades 1-6. You child will need to read any eight books this summer and record them in this Summer Reading Journal [printable PDF]. This year has a “playoff” format.

My family has participated the last two summers, although for 2026 they have added a requirement to visit a Barnes & Noble store four separate times, each time you finish two books:

1. Each time you complete two books (one matchup on your journal), bring your journal to your local Barnes & Noble store. You’ll receive an exclusive Summer Reading sticker and create a recommendation slip for your favorite of the two books — your recommendation slip will be displayed in the store!

2. Return after each completed matchup to collect your sticker and share another recommendation.
Be sure to check out other kids’ recommendation slips for ideas on what to read next.

3. After completing all four matchups on your journal, you’ll complete your full sticker collection and earn a special Barnes & Noble Champion sticker. Keep your journal so you can look back on all the great books you read this summer.

4. Finally, select a book from the list below to receive for free! Thank you for reading with Barnes & Noble this summer.

• Vanguard Total US Stock Market ETF (VTI), which tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index representing ~100% of the investable U.S. stock market and includes large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap stocks.
• Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), which tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index representing equity market performance in developed and emerging markets, including 48 countries and excluding the United States.

However, a lesser-known option is to own a single Vanguard ETFs that attempts to track all the investable stocks in the entire world:

• Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT), which tracks the FTSE Global All Cap Index, a free-float-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the market performance of large-, mid-, and small-capitalization stocks of companies located around the world.

You may already have noticed that VTI/VXUS together have a lower blended expense ratio than VT, at least partially due to how big they are and their economies of scale. This Elm Wealth article goes into detail about one of the major benefits of owning them separately in a taxable brokerage account: the ability to obtain the Foreign Tax Credit. VT is ~60% US stocks and thus does not qualify for the Foreign Tax Credit.

The net result of this is that VXUS effectively earns you an extra 0.23%, which when added to the expense ratio difference in a blended 60% VTI/40% VXUS portfolio ends up being worth 0.13% annually. The effect of an extra ~0.13% in essentially guaranteed extra performance every year (in a taxable account) is pretty significant and can really compound over time. I’m happy to see a number placed on this benefit.

The article includes other good points, with the overall takeaway being that owning both VTI and VXUS has a lot of notable advantages and only minor disadvantages. VTI and VXUS are my largest holdings by far, and I agree that it’s hardly any extra work to add the tiny bit of complexity of owning two ETFs (that mostly already rebalance automatically with price changes).

(Update: The end date for this offer has been extended to 6/30/26.)

CIT Bank has a new limited-time Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion, offering a boosted interest rate of 4.10% APY for 6 months on their Platinum Saving account that is 0.35% APY above the standard APY (currently 3.75% APY) for balances of $5,000 and above. Thankfully, this offer is available to both new and existing customers that activate the promotion.

New customers will need to sign up for a new CIT Bank Platinum Savings account using the promo code CITBoost to qualify. There is a $100 minimum balance required to open, and you will need a $5,000 minimum balance to get the higher interest rate on this tiered account. There are no monthly service fees.

Existing customers with a Platinum Savings account opened prior to the promotion must enroll via the enrollment web page using promo code CITBoost. You will not get the 6-month boost automatically. Note that the terms also add the following:

Customers are ineligible to participate in the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion if:

– They are earning an APY over the standard rate.
– They participated in a cash bonus promotion in the past 6 months.

Still, I am appreciative that existing customers are again eligible for this promotion, as most other banks will only allow new customers to participate.

Note that if the base rate on the Platinum Savings account changes, during the promo you will maintain a 0.35% APY interest rate boost above the standard interest rate.

¹APY disclosure for Platinum Savings:

Platinum Savings is a tiered interest rate account. Interest is paid on the entire account balance based on the interest rate and APY in effect that day for the balance tier associated with the end-of day account balance. *APYs — Annual Percentage Yields are accurate as of February 17, 2026: 0.25% APY on balances of $0.01 to $4,999.99; 3.75% APY on balances of $5,000.00 or more. Interest Rates for the Platinum Savings account are variable and may change at any time without notice. The minimum to open a Platinum Savings account is $100.

² Discloser on multipliers:

Based on comparison to the national average Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on savings accounts as published in the FDIC National Rates and Rate Caps, accurate as of February 17, 2026.

* Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion Terms and Conditions

This is a limited time offer available to New and Existing customers who meet the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion criteria.

Accounts enrolled in the Platinum Savings Annual Percentage Yield (APY) Boost promotion will receive a 0.35% APY boost on the Platinum Savings current standard APY tiers for 6 months following the opening of a new account or when an existing Platinum Savings account is enrolled in the promotion. The Platinum Savings APY boost will be applied on account balances up to $9,999,999.00. Account balances above $9,999,999.00 will earn the standard APY. If the standard-published APY should change during the promotion period, the APY boost will move with it, offering an account APY above the standard rate.

The Promotion begins on February 13, 2026, and ends June 30, 2026. Customers enrolled in the promotion prior to the end date will receive the APY boost for the 6-month period outlined in the terms and conditions.

The promotion can end at any time without notice.

For complete list of account details and fees, see the CIT Bank Personal Account disclosures.

Here’s my monthly survey of the best interest rates on cash as of May 2026, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Banks and brokerages love taking advantage of idle cash, and you can often earn more interest while keeping the same level of safety by moving to another FDIC-insured bank or NCUA-insured credit union. Check out my Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to see how much extra interest you could earn from switching. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 5/14/26.

TL;DR: Savings account interest rates dropped slightly overall. You can get 4.4% APY if you accept certain hoops/restrictions, but most are under 4% now. Short-term T-Bill rates ~3.7%. Top 5-year CD rates are ~4.1% APY, while the 5-year Treasury rate is also ~4.1%.

High-yield savings accounts*
Since the huge megabanks still pay essentially zero interest, everyone should at least have a separate, no-fee online savings account to piggy-back onto your existing checking account. The interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, so I list the top rates as well as competitive rates from banks with a history of competitive rates and solid user experience. Some banks will bait you with a temporary top rate and then lower the rates in the hopes that you are too lazy to leave.

• The top saving rate at the moment: Pibank at 4.40% APY (no min), but they have some weird restrictions; you can only use wire/Plaid to deposit and wire transfers to withdraw funds?! CineFi (no min) is at 4.34% APY, a division of Southern Bancorp Bank. OnPath FCU held at 4.25% APY with $25,000 minimum balance. CIT Platinum Savings held at 3.75% APY with $5,000+ balance, with a new 4.10% APY for 6 months Boost promotion; open your account by 5/31. There are many banks in between.
• SoFi Bank is at 3.30% APY (new customers can get up to 4.00% APY for 6 months + increased $425 bonus with qualifying direct deposit. You must maintain a direct deposit of any amount (even $1) each month for the higher ongoing APY. SoFi has historically competitive rates and full banking features.
• Here is a limited survey of high-yield savings accounts. They aren’t the top rates, but a group that have historically kept it relatively competitive such that I like to track their history. This month they start at 3.10% APY on up.

Short-term guaranteed rates (1 year and under)
A common question is what to do with a big pile of cash that you’re waiting to deploy shortly (plan to buy a house soon, just sold your house, just sold your business, legal settlement, inheritance). My usual advice is to keep things simple and take your time. If not a savings account, then put it in a flexible short-term CD under the FDIC limits until you have a plan.

• No Penalty CDs offer a fixed interest rate that can never go down, but you can still take out your money (once) without any fees if you want to use it elsewhere. Marcus has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 3.80% APY ($500 minimum deposit). Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 9-month No Penalty CD at 4.00% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit). USALLIANCE Financial CU has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.90% APY ($500 minimum deposit). CIT Bank has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.75% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit).
• E-Trade Bank has a 12-month CD at 4.10% APY (no minimum deposit). Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.
• Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 12-month CD at 4.00% APY with new money required. $1,000 minimum to open. Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.

Money market mutual funds
Many brokerage firms that pay out very little interest on their default cash sweep funds (and keep the difference for themselves). Note: Money market mutual funds are highly-regulated, but ultimately not FDIC-insured, so I would still stick with highly reputable firms.

• Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) is the default sweep option for Vanguard brokerage accounts, which has a 7-day SEC yield of 3.55% (changes daily, but also works out to a compound yield of 3.61%, which is better for comparing against APY). Odds are this is much higher than your own broker’s default cash sweep interest rate.
• Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) is an alternative money market fund which you must manually purchase, but the interest will be mostly (100% for 2025 tax year) exempt from state and local income taxes because it comes from qualifying US government obligations. Current 7-day SEC yield of 3.61% (compound yield of 3.67%).

Treasury Bills and Ultra-short Treasury ETFs
Another option is to buy individual Treasury bills which come in a variety of maturities from 4-weeks to 52-weeks and are fully backed by the US government. You can also invest in ETFs that hold a rotating basket of short-term Treasury Bills for you, while charging a small management fee for doing so. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local income taxes, which can make a significant difference in your effective yield.

• You can build your own T-Bill ladder at TreasuryDirect.gov or via a brokerage account with a bond desk like Vanguard and Fidelity. Here are the current Treasury Bill rates. As of 5/13/26, a new 4-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.66% annualized interest and a 52-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.80% annualized interest.
• The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) has a 3.55% 30-day SEC yield (0.09% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years. The Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) has a 3.59% 30-day SEC yield (0.06% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years.

US Savings Bonds
Series I Savings Bonds offer rates that are linked to inflation and backed by the US government. You must hold them for at least a year. If you redeem them within 5 years there is a penalty of the last 3 months of interest. The annual purchase limit for electronic I bonds is $10,000 per Social Security Number, available online at TreasuryDirect.gov.

• “I Bonds” bought between May 2026 and October 2026 will earn a 4.26% rate for the first six months. The rate of the subsequent 6-month period will be based on inflation again. More on Savings Bonds here.
• In mid-October 2026, the CPI will be announced and you will have a short period where you will have a very close estimate of the rate for the next 12 months. I will post another update at that time.

Rewards checking accounts
These unique checking accounts pay above-average interest rates, but with unique risks. You have to jump through certain hoops which usually involve 10+ debit card purchases each cycle, a certain number of ACH/direct deposits, and/or a certain number of logins per month. If you make a mistake (or they judge that you did) you risk earning zero interest for that month. Some folks don’t mind the extra work and attention required, while others would rather not bother. Rates can also drop suddenly, leaving a “bait-and-switch” feeling.

• La Capitol Federal Credit Union pays 6.50% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases of at least $5 each per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization, Louisiana Association for Personal Financial Achievement ($20).
• OnPath Federal Credit Union (my review) pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and login to online or mobile banking once per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization. You can also get a $150 Visa Reward card when you open a new account and make qualifying transactions.
• Genisys Credit Union pays 6.75% APY on up to $7,500 if you make 10 debit card purchases of $5+ each per statement cycle, and opt into online statements. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
• Oklahoma Central Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases (non-ATM) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union if they are “affiliated with another credit union”.
• First Southern Bank pays 5.50% APY on up to $25,000 if you make at least 15 debit card purchases, 1 ACH credit or payment transaction, and enroll in online statements.
• Credit Union of New Jersey pays 6.00% APY on up to $25,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit, online bill payment, or automatic payment (ACH) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
• Andrews Federal Credit Union pays 5.25% APY (decreased) on up to $25,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization.
• Capitol Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $15,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization ($5 to Wild Basin Wilderness).
• Find a locally-restricted rewards checking account at DepositAccounts.

Certificates of deposit (greater than 1 year)
CDs offer higher rates, but come with an early withdrawal penalty. By finding a bank CD with a reasonable early withdrawal penalty, you can enjoy higher rates but maintain access in a true emergency. Alternatively, consider building a CD ladder of different maturity lengths (ex. 1/2/3/4/5-years) such that you have access to part of the ladder each year, but your blended interest rate is higher than a savings account. When one CD matures, use that money to buy another 5-year CD to keep the ladder going. Some CDs also offer “add-ons” where you can deposit more funds if rates drop.

• NASA Federal Credit Union has a 5-year certificate at 4.18% APY ($1,000 minimum), 4-year at 4.10% APY, 3-year at 4.05% APY, 2-year at 4.00% APY, and 1-year at 3.95% APY. Early withdrawal penalty for the 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone nationwide can join via a complimentary membership to the National Space Society (NSS).
• Advancial Federal Credit Union has has a 5-year certificates at 4.14%/4.24%/4.34% APY APY based on either a $1,000/$25,000/$50,000 opening balance. Early withdrawal penalty for the 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone nationwide should be able to join via membership with partner organization US Dog Agility Association, but I would call to verify first.
• Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) has a 5-year certificate at 4.05% APY ($500 minimum), 4-year at 4.00% APY, 3-year at 4.00% APY, 2-year at 4.20% APY, and 1-year at 3.90% APY. Early withdrawal penalty for the 4-year and 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization American Consumer Council (use promo code “consumer” when joining).
• You can buy certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. You may need an account to see the rates. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance and easy laddering, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. Right now, I see a 5-year non-callable brokered CD at 4.10% APY (callable: no, call protection: yes). Be warned that both Vanguard and Fidelity will list higher rates from callable CDs, which importantly means they can (and will!) call back your CD if rates drop significantly later.

Longer-term Instruments
I’d use these with caution due to increased interest rate risk (tbh, I don’t use them at all), but I still track them to see the rest of the current yield curve.

• Willing to lock up your money for 10 years? You can buy long-term certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. You might find something that pays more than your other brokerage cash and Treasury options. Right now, I see a 10-year CDs at [n/a] APY (non-callable) vs. 4.44% for a 10-year Treasury. Watch out for higher rates from callable CDs where they can call your CD back if interest rates drop.

All rates were checked as of 5/14/26.

* I no longer recommend fintech companies due to the possibility of significant loss due to poor recordkeeping and the lack of government protection in such scenarios. The point of cash is absolute safety of principal.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

(Updated: 2% ACAT transfer bonus is back, valid on both IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts. For example, $2,000 on a $100,000 account value. 5-year minimum hold. Only a 1% bonus on 401k rollovers. )

SoFi (“Social Finance”) is an all-in-one finance app that expanded from students loans into banking, stocks, crypto, credit cards, and more. They often run a bunch of different promotional offers; New users can receive a separate opening bonus for each separate part of SoFi (Money, Invest, Loans, etc).

• SoFi Checking Referral Offer: Up to $425 new account bonus. Open a new SoFi Checking account and add at least $50 to your account within 21 days, and get $25. Then get up to $400 additional bonus with qualifying direct deposit. Plus up to 4.00% APY for 6 months.
• SoFi Credit Score Monitoring Offer: $10 bonus. Earn $10 in rewards points when you activate free credit score monitoring. Also get a few free points when your score rises.
• SoFi Invest Referral Offer: $25 new account bonus. Taxable brokerage account. Open an Active Investing account with $25 or more, and you’ll get $25 in stock.
• SoFi Crypto Referral Offer: $25 new account bonus. Open a new SoFi Crypto account (you’ll need a SoFi Checking and Savings account), make a single qualifying purchase of at least $50 within 30 days, and get a $25 bonus.
• SoFi ACAT Transfer Offer: 2% Match Bonus. Get a 2% match on ACAT transfers to IRA or taxable brokerage accounts (max $100,000 on $5,000,000 transferred). Minimum hold period for five (5) years from the settlement date.
• SoFi 401(k) Rollover Offer: 1% Match Bonus. Get a 1% match when you roll over your 401(k) into a SoFi IRA. Minimum hold period for five (5) years from the settlement date.
• SoFi Student Loan Refi: $300 bonus. Warning: Do your research before refinancing your Federal student loans to a private lender. You may lose some protections.
• SoFi Doctors and Dentists Student Loan Refi: $1,000 bonus. Special low rates just for doctors and dentists.
• SoFi Private Student Loan: $300 bonus. For those looking for a new student loan (not a refinance).
• SoFi Personal Loans Referral Offer: Fixed $300 bonus. Fixed $300 bonus, 90 days after successful funding. The loan has no fees and you can pay it back in full after 90 days (you can pay it down to $50 before then to accrue minimal interest, thus making it an opportunity to make a net profit).

The Atmos Rewards Visa Signature Business Card is the business card version of the Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa. Right now, there is also a limited-time increased 85k + $99 Companion Fare offer for this card, which you may find promoted by flight attendants inflight with their code handwritten on the flyer. However, any 7 digit promo code works on the application, and I’ve historically always gotten the bonus with any code.

The highlights are very similar to the consumer card, although the spending requirement is a bit higher. Note that you can now also use your “$99 + fees” Alaska Airlines Companion Fare on Hawaiian Airlines flights within North America, including to/from Hawaii as long as the booking is made on alaskaair.com.

Get 85,000 bonus points and a $99 Companion Fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) after you make $5,500 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.

Earn another $99 Companion Fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) each account anniversary after spending $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year.

Save with a free checked bag on Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flights for any cardholder and up to six guests on the same reservation when you pay for your flight with your card.

Enjoy preferred boarding for any cardholder on Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flights, so you can get to your seat quicker, when paying for the flight with your AtmosTM Rewards Business Card.

Earn 3 points for every $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases, 2 points for every $1 spent on eligible gas, EV charging station, shipping and local transit (including rideshare) purchases, and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

Earn a 10% rewards bonus on all points earned from card purchases if your company has an eligible Bank of America® business banking account.

Limited-time offer. The Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature Card is the one of the new refreshed Alaska Airlines cards in the new combined Alaska–Hawaiian ecosystem. Formerly the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card, and still issued by Bank of America. Note that you can now also use your “$99 + fees” Alaska Airlines Companion Fare on Hawaiian Airlines flights within North America, including to/from Hawaii, as long as the booking is made on alaskaair.com.

Right now, there is a limited-time improved 85k offer, which is usually also the one promoted by flight attendants inflight with their code handwritten on the flyer. However, any 7 digit promo code works on the application, and I’ve historically always gotten the bonus with any code.

Highlights:

• 85,000 Atmos points + $99 Companion Fare (must pay taxes & fees from $23) after $4,500 in purchases within the first 120 days of opening your account.
• Annual $99 Companion Fare. Get a $99 Companion Fare (must pay taxes and fees from $23) each account anniversary after you spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year. Valid on all Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flights within North America booked on AlaskaAir.com.
• First checked bag free on Alaska & Hawaiian (primary + up to 6 guests on same reservation). Any cardholder who purchases Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines airfare with their card, and up to 6 additional guests traveling on the same reservation, may check their first bag free.
• Preferred boarding. Primary cardholder + up to 6 guests traveling on the same reservation paid via this card can enjoy preferred boarding in group C before general boarding. Preferred boarding is only available on flights operated by Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, or Skywest.
• 20% back on all Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines inflight purchases. Eligible in-flight purchases include food, drinks, and Wi-Fi.
• 3X points on eligible Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines purchases; 2X points on everyday categories like gas/EV charging, local transit & rideshare, cable and select streaming services; 1X everywhere else.
• 10% extra with Bank of America relationship. 10% bonus on points from purchases if you have an eligible Bank of America® or Merrill® account.
• Earn 1 status point for every $3 spent on purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• $95 annual fee.

Bottom line. The Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® offers a unique set of perks for Alaska Airlines customers (along with Hawaiian Airlines in many cases), including free checked bags for more than just the primary cardholder and the “famous” $99 Companion Fare is still here as well.

I don’t receive any commission for this offer. I will be adding this offer to my ongoing list of Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

Fidelity Investments sent messages alerting her that her phone number and email address had been removed from her profile — and to contact Fidelity if she hadn’t done it. Alarmed, she quickly logged in, “only to find that all of my accounts had disappeared and my balance showed zero dollars.”

[…] Now in full panic mode, she called Fidelity on her way into her clinic; it told her that she didn’t have any accounts there.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be calling Schwab?” Ms. Gruntmane recalled one representative saying, referring to Charles Schwab. “Are you sure it’s with us?”

Even if her account was closed or deleted, the reps told her, they could usually see that. They also refused to connect her with the fraud department, Ms. Gruntmane recalled, for the same reason — if there wasn’t any trace of her accounts, how could there be a fraud?

I recommend reading the entire article for the details, but in the end she was able to regain control of her accounts because she was able to provide an account number. Fidelity claims there was an uncommon technical glitch due to her opening some accounts with a Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and others with her Social Security number.

The most important takeaway:

From here on in, she said, she’s going to be sure to keep physical evidence of her accounts and balances in a secure place. Her tale serves as a reminder that we all should adopt that habit.

Every time I say it, I know I sound like an old man, but I still like receiving paper statements in the mail for my important accounts. I either use a locked mailbox and/or a PO Box, and this way, even if something happens to me, my wife will be notified by paper statements about overdue bills and major accounts. I also download online versions periodically and store them on an external USB drive, making sure I have a complete collection at the end of each year. For some accounts, I might just print out a year-end statement.

However, I’m sure many folks just assume that the online statements will always be available, as they usually promise to store them for 7 years to whatnot when they repeatedly bug you to go “eco-friendly”. Consider what would happen today if this “uncommon” glitch happened to you. Do you know all your account numbers? What if it was your primary checking account? Do you have backups?

Even JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently admitted that their greatest risk was now “cybersecurity”, basically hacking due to AI. The “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton himself divides his assets across multiple banks and brokerages due to the risk of theft due to AI. I agree that it’s only a matter of time before a big hack occurs to one brokerage or another. Splitting your assets and maintaining a historical physical record of your asset ownership won’t solve every potential problem, but they are both precautions that I am taking.

Barclays Bank Delaware has a Select Savings account (currently at 4.00% APY on all balance tiers) as part of their “AARP® Digital Banking” package which also offers Select CDS (with currently subpar rates) that is only available to AARP members with an active membership number.

(AARP membership regular price is $15 for the first year when you sign up for automatic renewal, with no age requirement. You can turn off the renewal later. Cashback portal TopCashBack is also offering $15 cash back on the first year if you sign-up and click through them.)

Right now there is a $400 bonus for new members that deposit $40,000+ in new funds. You must fund within 30 days of opening, and maintain the balance of at least $40,000 for another 120 consecutive days after funding. Bonus arrives after another 60 days. You must be a new Select Savings from Barclays customer. Note that they have other flavors of savings accounts, so be sure to apply for the right one. Direct deposit is not required. Offer expires 7/31/26. Thanks to reader Bill from Wisconsin for the tip.

Bonus math. This is a 1% bonus on $40,000 if you keep it there for 120 days, which makes it the equivalent of 3% APY annualized. Bonus will be paid around Day 180 and the account must be open at that time, but you only need to maintain full balance through Day 120 after funding. The bonus is on top of the standard interest rate, currently 4.00% APY.

The equivalent of roughly 7.00% total APY over 120 days makes it a decent offer for those with compatible balances looking for short-term place to hold their cash for a few months. Might be worth signing up for an AARP membership.

Last month, I mentioned that Morningstar had bought the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) from the University of Chicago. CRSP started out as a non-profit, but was later converted to an LLC and sold for $375 million. Vanguard used these low-cost indexes to keep their expense ratios extremely low, and I expressed concern over this as Morningstar is a for-profit, publicly-traded corporation. This contrasts with Vanguard’s famous “at-cost” structure.

Vanguard just announced that starting in July 2026, Vanguard will add the “Morningstar” brand to 13 different US stock index funds (across 51 different share classes). Just a few examples:

• Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)
• Vanguard Morningstar Large-Cap ETF (VV)
• Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF (VTV)
• Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR)

Was this a strategic blunder on Vanguard’s part? CRSP basically only had one client: Vanguard. According to RIABiz, “Vanguard funds accounted for 97% of all assets tracking CRSP indices” at the time of sale.

Vanguard should have either bought CRSP themselves or switched to in-house indexes. In-house indexes are exactly how Fidelity offers their ZERO fund line with 0.00% expense ratio. The Four Fidelity ZERO Funds:

• Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Total Investable Market Index.
• Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund (FNILX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Large Cap Index.
• Fidelity ZERO Extended Market Index Fund (FZIPX) tracks the Fidelity U.S. Extended Market Index.
• Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) tracks the Fidelity Global ex U.S. Index.

I don’t think poorly of Morningstar, but at the same time they did not create these indexes out of some exceptional skill or store of knowledge. Morningstar does make other (not so popular) indices, but they just bought these from a university that needed money.

I can only speculate that Morningstar went to Vanguard and said something like “We own these indexes now. We’ll keep the price the same so your expense ratios don’t blow up… IF you add our name to every fund that uses them.” They get name recognition in lieu of bigger cash payments. Here’s what RIABiz says:

A Vanguard spokesman confirms better economics in the form of “cost certainty,” is part of the “agreement,” following the rebrand. “Consistent with our longstanding commitment to low-cost investing, our agreement includes long term cost certainty for Vanguard,” he says, in an email.

“Cost certainty” may prove a polite way to say that Morningstar can’t use its monopsonistic market power to ask for a bigger cut of revenues over time.

Overall, seems like a clever move my Morningstar, not so much from Vanguard. Vanguard does use other index providers like Russell and FTSE, but historically do not use their name on their flagship low-cost index funds.

The 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting occurred on May 2nd, 2026. Here is the full 5-hour meeting (pseudo-transcript) and a 7-minute highlight reel from CNBC from Omaha. This is the first one where Warren Buffett was not on stage answering questions as the CEO, but it still felt very similar to past meetings. I think they are lucky that both Buffett and Abel don’t have enormous egos and are allowing for a gradual transition. In addition to the main meeting, there was also a ~25 minute CNBC interview with Warren Buffett (transcript). Did you also know that Bill Murray was also interviewed as a shareholder since the 1970s and regular meeting attendee?

In a way, this meeting was a throwback in the way that focus was more the details of BRK as a company instead of Buffett and Munger talking about worldly wisdom. I still enjoyed watching and listening to the entire Q&A session with new CEO Greg Abel, Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer, and NetJets CEO Adam Johnson. Of course, Charlie Munger’s unfiltered honesty was still sorely missed. It does get a bit sleepy when everyone is so polite.

Here are a few personal takeaways and notes.

Transition is going well, still lots of cash because they see prices as too high, and are still holding cash for the next inevitable crisis. From the Buffett interview, I thought this was a nice summary of the current situation.

Well, I think it’s all working. It’s all working. It isn’t our ideal surrounding area or environment, I should say, in terms of deploying cash for Berkshire, but in terms of how we got the right management, we got the right arrangement, and you know, we can pick our spots, and nobody can tell us what to do exactly. And so sometimes we’re doing nothing, but other times we get quite active.

Gambling is everywhere. I’m seriously disturbed by the amount of people who think that zero-day options are their path to financial freedom. More truth from Buffett:

Well, it feels like, you know, I’ve compared the markets to a church with a casino attached. And people can move between the church and casino. And I would say there are more people in the church and more people in the casino, but the casino has gotten very attractive to people. If you’re buying one day options, or selling them, I mean that is – that’s not investing, it’s not speculating, it’s gambling.

Investing and insurance both involve saying “no” a lot. From Ajit Jain:

You know, insurance, like investing, is a game of patience. It’s extremely difficult to get people to sit idle and do nothing. When I recruit people, my usual approach is to tell them upfront. I say, your job is to say ‘no.’ You will be bombarded day after day with various deals, but your fundamental responsibility is to say ‘no.’ I tell them, occasionally you’ll come across a deal that hits you like a plank, shouting ‘money here,’ and that’s when you come to me, and then we’ll decide together whether to proceed.

You know, joking aside, when everyone else is being hustled by brokers and taken to London, it’s really hard to just sit there and do nothing. I believe that in the insurance industry, and certainly in the investment field, the true test of success lies in the ability to say ‘no.’

This feels similar to what individuals face these days. There are so many things that will gladly take your money. Crypto memecoins, sports betting, prediction markets, risky options, Buy Now Pay Later debt, margin leverage.

As a shareholder, I feel that we’ll have to be patient as well to see what happens as Abel takes a more active role in improving the internal operations.

Past BRK meetings:

• 2025 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2024 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2022 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes
• 2021 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Video, Transcript, and Notes

Ally Invest has a new $200 bonus offer for opening a new brokerage account with them, however it is specifically targeted to existing Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who have never had an Ally Invest account before. (Some of us may have Ally Invest accounts that were previously TradeKing.)

This offer is only available to current active Ally Bank and Ally Auto customers who do not have, nor previously had, an account with Ally Invest.

If you don’t have an Ally Bank account yet, check out this $100 new Ally Savings account bonus first.

Here are the details for their traditional self-directed brokerage account, with zero commissions on trades and no minimum balance requirement. (I wouldn’t recommend opening their Robo account, too complicated to unwind later with all those tax lots).

• Open an eligible new Self-Directed Trading account by selecting Open Account on this page by 12/31/2026.
• Transfer in a minimum of $1,000 in cash and/or securities within 30 days of opening it. (FYI: It’s OK to do so over multiple transfers.)
• Once at least $1,000 has posted to your account, you’ll need to keep it there for a minimum of 90 days.
• We’ll pay your cash bonus within 30 days of all steps being completed — including the 90 day minimum.

Note that the $1,000 must come from a non-Ally account to get the $200 bonus. If you transfer from an Ally Bank account, you’ll only get a $100 bonus.

Still, this is a pretty easy bonus if you qualify. Move over $1,000, get $200. The promo is scheduled to run until end of 2026, so there should be time to open a new Ally Savings account first for $100 and then stack this bonus on top. Then I’d wait to see if the $300 Ally Checking account bonus comes back.

Bonus extended. Ally Bank is one of my favorite banks in terms of user interface, practical features, customer service, and reliability. They were my primary checking account for years (the checking can auto-draft from the savings). Unfortunately, their savings account rates have been lagging the top rates recently. Despite that, I still keep maintain active accounts there because I use them as my central hub connecting all my many different bank accounts with fast transfers and a clear schedule of exactly when the money will be withdrawn and deposited.

Ally is running a $100 new account bonus by referral only (that’s mine, thanks if you use it). You must first enroll with your name and address by 12/31/26, and then using the same e-mail address open one of two possible account types (Ally Spending, Ally Savings) within 30 days of enrollment and make qualifying transfers to get the $100 bonus. You are not eligible if you are a current customer (with any Ally product), or has had any Ally account open since January 1, 2024.

Thus, my recommendation is to first open a Savings account with this offer (which works for both Savings and Checking but only works if you have no Ally accounts at all) and if you can, wait until their Spending account bonus comes back (last year it was for $300).

Here are the details for the Savings Account. Taken from full terms and conditions [pdf].

Ally Bank Savings Account

1. Once your Savings Account is open, setup (within your new account) a monthly automated recurring transfer of any amount and have it start within 30 days of account opening.
2. Complete an automated recurring transfer at least once a month for at least three months in a row.
3. Your $100 Welcome Bonus will be deposited within 30 days of receiving your third consecutive monthly recurring transfer. To be paid, make sure you keep your Savings Account open and in Good Standing through the Payout Date.

What do they mean by “automated recurring transfer”? I tried it out in my Ally account it just means setting up as little as a $1 transfer every month into your savings account. You can connect an external bank account to fund the transfer.

Overall, the requirements are pretty easy for a $100 bonus and it has useful characteristics noted above. I personally use this account nearly every week to manage my interbank transfers. I even hit their maximum limit of 20 linked external accounts.

Every existing I Bond will earn this inflation rate of ~3.36% eventually for 6 months; you will need to add your own fixed rate that was set based the initial purchase month. See you again in mid-October for the next early prediction for November 2026.

Original post from 4/12/2026:

Savings I Bonds are a unique, low-risk investment backed by the US Treasury that pay out a variable interest rate linked to inflation. With a holding period from 12 months to 30 years, you could own them as an alternative to bank certificates of deposit (they are liquid after 12 months) or bonds in your portfolio.

New inflation numbers were announced at BLS.gov, which allows us to make an early prediction of the May 2026 savings bond rates just before the official announcement on the 1st. This also allows the opportunity to know exactly what an April 2026 savings bond purchase will yield over the next 12 months, instead of just 6 months. You can then compare this against a November 2025 purchase.

New inflation rate prediction. September 2025 CPI-U was 324.800. May 2026 CPI-U was 330.213, for a semi-annual inflation rate of 1.67%. Using the official composite rate formula:

Composite rate formula: [Fixed rate + (2 x semiannual inflation rate) + (fixed rate x semiannual inflation rate)]

This results in the variable component of interest rate for the next 6 month cycle being ~3.34 to 3.39%, depending on the fixed rate.

Tips on purchase and redemption. You can’t redeem until after 12 months of ownership, and any redemptions within 5 years incur an interest penalty of the last 3 months of interest. A simple “trick” with I-Bonds is that if you buy at the end of the month, you’ll still get all the interest for the entire month – same as if you bought it in the beginning of the month. It’s best to give yourself a few business days of buffer time. If you miss the cutoff, your effective purchase date will be bumped into the next month. (You should always sell at the very beginning of the month.)

Buying in April 2026. If you buy before the end of April, the fixed rate portion of I-Bonds will be 0.90%. You will be guaranteed a total interest rate of 0.90 + 3.13 = 4.03% for the next 6 months. For the 6 months after that, the total rate will be 0.90 + 3.36 = 4.26%.

Buying in May 2026. If you buy in May 2026, you will get ~3.36% plus a newly-set fixed rate for the first 6 months. The new fixed rate is officially unknown, but is loosely linked to the real yield of short-term TIPS with some reductions. In the previous 10 days, 5-year TIPS real rates have ranged from 1.34% to 1.42%. If I had to guess, I’d put a new fixed rate somewhere between 0.9 to 1.0%, for a total rate of about 4.26%. Every six months after your purchase, your rate will adjust to your fixed rate (set at purchase) plus a variable rate based on inflation.

If you have an existing I-Bond, the rates reset every 6 months depending on your specific purchase month. Everyone will eventually get this variable rate. Your bond rate = your specific fixed rate (based on purchase month, look it up here) + variable rate (total bond rate has a minimum floor of 0%).

Buy now or wait? Between those two options, if you are a long-term holder, you may consider waiting until May or even October to see if the fixed rate goes up a little. You may also think higher inflation is coming, and you’ll get that next inflation rate sooner if you buy in May. See below for why I am buying TIPS instead.

Unique features and benefits! There are definitely reasons to own Series I Savings Bonds, including inflation protection, tax deferral, exemption from state income taxes, and potential tax benefits if used toward qualified educational expenses.

Unique drawbacks! You can only buy new savings bonds through TreasuryDirect.gov, which is limited in its customer service resources and features. There is also no option for paper tax forms nor statements (or even online monthly statements), so your heirs may never know they exist! If they do find it, it may take them several months and a lot of effort to close out all the estate paperwork. If you forget your password, it may take weeks or longer to unlock your account.

If you become a victim to theft or fraudulent activity, they will not replace any lost or stolen savings bonds. They explicitly accept no liability:

§ 363.17 Who is liable if someone else accesses my TreasuryDirect ® account using my password?

You are solely responsible for the confidentiality and use of your account number, password, and any other form(s) of authentication we may require. We will treat any transactions conducted using your password as having been authorized by you. We are not liable for any loss, liability, cost, or expense that you may incur as a result of transactions made using your password.

The juice may not be worth the squeeze when you can own individual Treasury bonds or TIPS within any full-service brokerage account. It’s sad that they’ve basically let this investment decay away due to neglect.

I also used to believe that the government would not tamper or attempt to politically influence these BLS CPI statistics that are at the core of many important functions, including Social Security inflation adjustments, TIPS, and these Savings Bonds. Now I’m not so sure. I found this guest article from TIPSWatch to offer some perspective: A historical look at political influence over the BLS.

Personally, I sold all my savings bonds in 2024 and do not plan to buy any more. I’m older now and I feel the small potential benefit just doesn’t outweigh the small possibility that I could lose the entire amount due to estate-handling mistakes or online hack. I’d rather own TIPS and US Treasuries directly in a full-service brokerage account. As a long-term holder, I can lock in a 2 to 2.7% real yield with a longer term TIPS bond.

Annual purchase limits. The annual purchase limit is now $10,000 in online I-bonds per Social Security Number. For a couple, that’s $20,000 per year. You can only buy online at TreasuryDirect.gov, after making sure you’re okay with their poor service. (No more tax refund savings bonds.) Technically, the purchase limits are per Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number. For those looking for another way to expand their purchasing power, that means you can also buy for a child, grandchild, LLC, or a trust.

Bottom line. Savings I bonds are a unique, low-risk investment that are linked to inflation and only available to individual investors. You can now only purchase them online at TreasuryDirect.gov. They have both unique benefit and drawbacks. For more background, see the rest of my posts on savings bonds.

[Image: US Savings Bond advertisement – source]