[UPDATED] Make an Easy $50 $25 (At Least) for Your Next Trip or Other Expenses

UPDATE: Sofi now offers a $25 bonus for an initial minimum deposit of $100.

A free $50 is very handy for traveling. It pays for parking, Uber or Lyft, a cheap Basic Economy flight (where you just might get upgraded), maybe one cup of coffee at Starbucks… 😉

I received my free $50 — and you can do it in about five minutes.

Now, I was skeptical when I heard about this deal. But a trusted colleague insisted it worked. He heard about it from another trusted colleague. (It kind of sounds like that REO Speedwagon song).

So I tried this “Here’s $50!” thing.

And it worked like a charm.

I was $50 richer for less than five minutes of tapping on my phone — and introduced to a great new product.

And $50 $25 is the minimum you can make. It’s entirely possible you’ll make hundreds, if not thousands.

Here’s the deal:

SoFi, So Good

Finance company SoFi will give you $50 $25 for opening a new SoFi Money account and depositing just $100. (Their name may sound familiar; SoFi is advertising all over the place and also scored the new Los Angeles NFL stadium’s naming rights. So they seem pretty legit.)

I originally wasn’t too keen on opening another bank account. But it was incredibly simple; I did everything on my phone.

I linked my bank account to my new SoFi Money account and transferred the bare minimum of $100. This took me about five minutes while waiting for a meeting to start.

My $50 new account bonus popped up a couple of days later.

Once the money’s in your account, you’re free to withdraw it or let it earn interest. (SoFi’s current interest rate, BTW, is 1.60% with no monthly fees, ATM fees, or overdraft fees.) That a heck of a lot better than what many big-name banks offer.

Or you can transfer it to their investing program — where, yes, they’ll give you more money to start a new account.

To be honest, I fully intended to yank my $150 out ASAP. But I ended up keeping the money in my account, added more, and am letting it accrue interest.

I’ll be 100% upfront — I earn a $50 $25 referral fee if you sign up (and I thank you!). I don’t know who signed up, deposited how much money, or any of that.

And you, too, can score $50 $25 for each person you refer.

Here’s How You Can Make Even More

Have a significant other? Great! Refer him or her. She or he will receive the $50 $25 bonus for opening a SoFi Money account — and you will make $50 $25 for that referral. That alone is a free $50 for a couple.

I’m guessing you have some friends and family members. Refer them and they’ll each get $50 $25 for depositing $100 into their new SoFi Money account and you’ll get $50 $25 for each person you refer.

So five referrals, for example, scores you a pretty easy $250 $125.

This isn’t a multi-level marketing program or a “pyramid scheme.” You don’t get a cut of referrals generated from people you refer. 

SoFi offers a host of other referral programs:

If you know people who could use SoFi’s products, you might pocket some nice money.

But at the bare minimum, get yourself $50 $25 .

— Chris

(Hat-tip to the amazing Rick Ingersoll, who told me about the SoFi referral program. He heard about it from Mark Ostermann over at Miles to Memories.)

Feature image: ©iStock.com/vtupinamba