I got this ad on the AMEX cards site by typing my password wrong..

LINK

Complimentary Financial Consultation from Ameriprise Financial
Plus, $75 in American Express(R) Gift Cheques*

Ameriprise Financial, formerly American Express Financial Advisors, has more than 110 years of providing solutions to help clients reach their financial goals. Now let us help you ? starting with a complimentary initial consultation.

What can you expect? You're likely to find our professional, confidential consultations unique. Here's why:

Your goals. Our advisors concentrate on understanding your needs and goals, rather than on promoting specific products or investments.
Options and guidance. Trained in a wide variety of retirement and investment strategies, our financial advisors can lay out the facts and provide you with options and guidance. They are a good resource for discussing things like reducing taxes, college planning or preparing for a more secure retirement.
Experience. With more than 110 years of experience and more CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professionals than any other firm, we're fully poised to meet your financial planning needs.
No obligation. This is a complimentary consultation. There is no cost or obligation, just sound financial guidance.

* One incentive may be received per household for an initial consultation with an Ameriprise financial advisor. Offer is valid to new Ameriprise Financial clients only. Please allow 10 - 12 weeks after your initial consultation to receive your Gift Cheques by mail. The bonus you receive is subject to income tax. Please consult with your tax advisor.

Milk em for the free gift check, but DO NOT signup for their services.

read these Prior discussions from 2003 and

2003 again

2004

AMEX FINANCIAL ADVISORS IS NOW CALLED AMERIPRISE. Same tactics, same company.

I like their criteria for offering you the bonus: a mis-typed password.

...

I can just imagine how the discussion of this marketing strategy might have gone in the back offices of "Ameriprise":

Bob: "Heck, if this guy can't even type his password correctly, maybe he'll ALSO be stupid / gullible / naive enough to believe that our consultants are trustworthy and competent and miss the fact that they're nothing more than underqualified, overpriced, and biased-by-commission shills for our insurance and annuity products."

Bill: "Good idea, Bob! Gold stars and 100 shares for you."

...

Edit: I just signed up for my free consultation. Green for you OP -- thanks for sharing!

Be very careful if you go in for one of their "consultations". I went to the one several years ago and it was two hours of hard sell tactics. It took me the entire two hours to get the guy to tell me exactly how he intended to invest my assests.

Basically they charge very high prices to implement a very simple diversified investment scheme. You can implement their investment plan all on your own, without paying the high prices, if you like it.

if you tell em youre broke, theyll stress how important LTD is if you lose your job

Is this a phone consultation, or do you need to visit a B&M location?

It's a B&M location. When I did it last time, I just described a budget where simply every penny was being used. Hopefully since you're a FWer you are saving cash every month, but you don't have to tell THEM that, just inflate your mortgage, deflate your income, whatever you need so they think there's no money they can pinch from you, and then hopefully there will be no hard sale tactics. Also, designating your spouse (who couldn't make it to the meeting) as the decision maker is a great way out. I'll do that if I have to, even though I'm single

The "grilling" is about 30 min to 1 hour, but the cheque comes in the mail, in 10-12 weeks. Keep in mind though, it's a "consultation", not an "interrogation". So ask THEM as many generic financial questions you can think of, even if you may already know the answer, that way you're taking the spotlight off yourself. Just remember that they may be biased because they want to sell you services, so take their answers with a grain of salt.

What can I use the AMEX gift card for?

if you try to maximize AMEX credit lines, would it be wise to tell them youre broke??