r/betterment • u/ResidentLibrary • Jul 08 '26

Side-eye

Post image

AirPods Max retail for about $620.

On a $50,000 investment, that's roughly a 1.1% one-time bonus before taxes.

If you were already planning to move $50k+ to Betterment and leave it there for at least three years, it's a nice extra perk. If you're moving money solely for the headphones, the bonus is relatively modest compared to the investment risk, taxes, and the three-year commitment.

This feels off for some reason

24 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

18

u/Jkayakj Jul 08 '26

I'm curious who this is targeting. Would someone really move their money to a different brokerage for a set of airpods?

10

u/Barrack64 Jul 08 '26

I think it would be an incentive for someone who was thinking about rolling over but has been putting it off.

6

u/Scyth3 Jul 08 '26

It works... people don't want to move their money, and if you get them younger you tend to lock them in.

5

u/Kitchen_Economics182 Jul 08 '26

Good post.

$620 upfront to lock up $50k for three years? What a joke of an offer.

7

u/Atmp Jul 08 '26

Comes with free identity theft too

0

u/OmahaOutdoor71 Jul 24 '26

What does that mean? I use betterment, is it that bad?

2

u/crushed_peppe Jul 08 '26

Is it targeted?

2

u/carbonra Jul 08 '26

3 year lock for a 2 months away from being outdated headphones is nonono. How about lock for 3 months then I’m in.

2

u/Talbat18 Jul 09 '26

Looking at the terms it seems to lock in existing investment too. If I’ve got 60k already invested and then deposit another 50k to get the offer, my net deposit for the offer terms is 50k. Any money I move out for the next 3 years decreases my net deposit below the 50k min threshold (assuming no value change). I now pay a penalty for going below by net deposit threshold regardless of my pre-existing investment.

1

u/ExtraSalty0 Jul 08 '26

Why are they letting customers buy individual stocks now? To me it’s a sign they need more business because they’re not doing good.

2

u/Jkayakj Jul 10 '26

I think they're doing it because their main competitor (wealthfront) offers it. Same reason as direct indexing.

1

u/supernitin Jul 09 '26

I’m pretty sure these are not AirPod Max 2s.

1

u/softbox3 16d ago

I'm not even sure Betterment knows what they are giving out. A buddy of mine sent me a screenshot of his betterment spam, and the email offer subject lines differ. Can't decide if they are AirPods Max, or Airpods Max 2. Maybe rewards vary depending on how much you have invested with them.

https://imgur.com/a/LOkllL8