Where to Get High Rates of Return on Your Money

1.  Buying necessities on sale.  Everybody need things like toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, right?  When you buy items at a 2 for 1 sale, you are getting a 100% return on your money.  If you buy a tube of toothpaste for $2.49 and get one free, then you are earning $2.49 on your initial $2.49 investment. That is a better rate of return than you can get even in most bull stock markets.  This works only if you buy necessities and the price of the item hasn't been increased to cover the sale.  Many stores have loss leader sales to attract customers.  Take advantage of these loss leader sales and stock up when you can.

2 for 1 ROI: 100%

2.  Discounted employee stock purchase plans.  You can make a great rate of return on your money if your employer sells stock at a discount with no vesting period required before you sell the stock.  At a former employer, my husband buy company stock at a 15% discount.  We signed up to buy $20,000 worth of stock each year.  The money was subtracted in equal installments from my husband's paychecks twice each month.  The stock was bought at the end of each quarter. At the end of each quarter we would then turn around and sell the stock right away for the full price.

Each quarter my husband had $5,000 deducted from his paychecks in equal amounts over the quarter.  The average amount of money we had in the stock purchase plan during each quarter was $2,500 - zero at the beginning of the quarter and $5,000 at the end.  At the end of each quarter $5,000 of company stock was bought at a 15% discount, or $5,882 worth of stock. We then sold it right away making a profit of approximately $882.  (The amount varied slightly because of changes in the stock prices during the settlement period.  But more or less, we averaged $882 profit each quarter, before taxes and less minor transaction costs.)  Over the course of the year we had an average investment in the stock plan of $2,500 and made $3,528.

Employee stock purchase plan: ROI: 141%

3.  Shopping at Costco of Sam's Club - A local leading consumer magazine recently calculated that Costco and Sam's Club prices were approximately 37% lower than retail store prices for comparable items.  I have compared prices myself and agree with this figure. This means that if you spent $63 on groceries at a warehouse club, those same groceries at a regular supermarket would cost $100.  In effect, you are saving $37 on your $63 investment, for a rate of return of almost 59%.

Costco/Sam's ROI: 59%


4.  Outsourcing your life - If you are self employed or paid hourly, and you make significantly more than minimum wage, then consider hiring teenagers or other people willing to work for minimum wage to do the routine tasks of your life, such as mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, and going to the dry cleaners. If you can work more hours at $30 an hour and hire someone to do routine chores for you at $10, then that is a 200% return on your money.

Outsourcing Routine Tasks ROI: 200%, varies based on your hourly income and what you pay your helpers.

5.  Hire someone to shop at Costco for you - If you don't have the time or interest to shop at Costco now, you could potentially pay someone to do monthly shopping there for you.  If your helper buys $128 worth of groceries and other necessities that would have cost $200 at the regular grocery store and you pay them $10 for the Costco shopping trip, then you are in effect earning $62 on your $10 expense of labor costs.

Hiring a Costco Shopper: Potential 620% ROI

6. Signup Bonuses to Open New Checking Accounts:  I just opened an account for $500 to get a $100 signup bonus.  The only condition is that I have to leave my $500 in the checking account for 3 months.  The ROI for this is 20% for one quarter so if I can do this 4 times a year with other banks the annual ROI on my $500 will be 80% ((4X100)/500).

Checking Account Bonus ROI: Up to 80% Annually

7.  Use Sam's Club Click N' Pull Service - Sam's web site has a feature where you can order your groceries online and they do all of the shopping for you. They send you an email when your cart full of goods is ready to be picked up and paid for. Best of all this service is completely free.  If you are self employed like me this is a real time and money saver.

Sam's Click N' Pull Service ROI: It's free, so it save you per hour whatever your time is worth.