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Published: Thursday, 09 April 2020 14:55

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Gift Cards:

A lot of companies in USA issue gift cards to buy their items. These gift cards are touted as being perfect gift, as they do not expire, and are better than giving a gift (which the recipient may not like).

Most of the times you can get these giftcards for 10%-20% discount, which makes for nice savings. There are multiple places where you can buy these discounted gift cards. you should never buy a Gift card at face value, without any discount.

Risks of GC:

Gift cards carry a lot of risk, and are not worth the paltry discount for following reasons:

1. Gift cards get hacked frequently.

Gift cards may not expire, but they may get hacked, which is nothing in your control. Once giftcard is hacked and it's balance drained, there is no recourse. The retailer who sold you these giftcards will ask you to contact the issuer of gift card. The issuer of gift card will ask you to go back to the retailer, or they will out right deny the claim. Most of the gift cards have a clause stating that "Gift cards are not refundable if lost or stolen. Protect it like cash". So, basically any hacked gift card is your money lost.

I learned it the hard way with Southwest Airlines gift card that I bought from paypal. About $500 worth of multiple giftcards showed $0 balance on trying to redeem it. I called paypal, and they redirected me to southwest, stating that they are just the processing company, and have nothing to do with gift card themselves. Southwest asks them to facilitate their gift card sale, and they process it, collecting no money for gift card themselves. It all goes to southwest, and they are the ones who should deal with resolution of dispute on their gift cards. Sounded fair.

I called Southwest Airlines and they told me that I should ask Paypal since they sold me a giftcard which is not as what they promised. Paypal are 3rd party merchant, and any dispute has to be resolved with the merchant, from where the gift card was bought from. Kept on switching back and forth between these 2 companies for couple of weeks with no resolution. This is when I had valid receipt/email for the purchase. Ultimately got a southwest rep, who told me that even if the GC was hacked, Southwest would not refund the money as "lost or stolen GC are non refundable". I tried to explain her that a GC getting hacked was a issue on their side (not enough safeguards for preventing fraud), and I shouldn't  suffer. She said I didn't protect it adequately. She suggested that I should change my email password, keep GC number/PIN secret, and lots of other things, implying it was an issue on my side. Ultimately lost $500 trying to save $50. Learned my lesson, or did I

2. Gift cards have no clause for refund:

Almost all the giftcards that you buy have no clause for refund. So, don't expect to get paid back if it gets hacked. You can file a dispute with your credit card company, but most of the times, you come to know about the GC hack, only when you try to redeem the GC. Usually it's too late to dispute it with Credit card company. So, use the GC while within the dispute window. Don't hold for more than a month.

3. Returns on items paid with GC get messy:

When you buy an item with a GC, and decide to return it, it gets very messy. sometimes, you will not get any money back, and no one would be able to help you. Many companies have the standard language in their return policy that says that "refunds would be provided in the same mode of payment that was originally used". So, if you used GC, refund goes back to that GC. Most of the times, you have already gotten rid of that GC, so even if they return the money back on that GC, there's no way to access it. No rep can help you getting that GC+pin back, as it's not stored anywhere (at least not the PIN). To make matters worse, a lot of times, the refund amount never makes it back to GC. I had this issue with BestBuy refund, where $400 of refund amount never made it back to original GC. I had to fight for 6 months, and finally I found a nice BestBuy rep, who issued me new GC. Otherwise that money was toast, just because I decided to return an item. So, basically when you return items bought with GC, insist them to issue you a new GC. Otherwise, you can say bye bye to refund.

4. Most GC provide no purchase history:

Some GC allows you to see purchase history (i.e Walmart, ). But most of them don't allow that citing privacy, even though you might have the receipt. Then there is no way for you to see if you spent the GC, or if someone else drsined it off.

5. GC don't provide any protection at all:

Items bought with credit card can be disputed, but items bought with GC are sort of one way traffic. Once bought, you are at the mercy of the vendor.

Safe way to use GC:

• GC should be used as soon as possible. We should never sit on GC for too long (I mean more than a month or so).
• Get at least 20% off on a GC, else it's not worth the risk.
• Grocery store GC, restuarant GC are usually safe, as these are used to buy consumable items  and not refundable anyway. Also, these are targeted less by the hackers, as they can't drain it easily.
• When buying electronics with a GC, it's risky as there's no protection in case the item malfunctions, and you want to get a refund. There's no credit card company to file a claim. I would strongly recommend buying a "accidental protection plan" with such a purchase, usually if the purchase is of > $200. It usually costs < 20% of the purchase price for 2-4 years of protection. If you are buying from amazon, some of the items are offered 4 yr "accidental protection plan: for about 10%-15% of the price of the device, which you should definitely add. Similarly, ebay, Amazon and bestbuy also offer such protection plan on eligible electronics. Be sure to add "accidental protection plan", and NOT the regular "warranty plan". The default plans under "ebay certified refurbished" or "ebay refursbished" are regular warranty plans.Those regular warranty plans are useless, as they don't cover issues caused due to normal wear or tear, or due to user. Basically they hardly pay any claims, as they will point everything to being caused by user or as part of normal wear and tear. They only cover issues caused by "manufacturing defects" which are hard to prove for any electronics. Since these warranty companies are not regulated by the government, there's no where to file a complaint.

Popular GC:

Even though I've listed multiple reasons above for not buying GC, sometimes the discount is large enough to warrant such risk. Also, some GC are less prone to hacking, or are used frequently so that chances of them getting hacked are lower. Most popular GC that you can get on discount are below:

1 Kohls: Usually Walgreens and regional chain Grocery stores (as HEB, Kroger, etc) have sale on them. You end up getting free $10 GC with $50 GC purchase. These are in store offer only. They are offered couple of times every year. Kohls GC can be used to buy a lot of items at Kohls, especially those which are almost free after Mail in Rebate (MIR)

2. Macy's, GAP, JCP: Same story as with Kohls. These GC also go on sale at paypal, newegg and other online tores.

3. Lowes: Usually at Grocery stores as HEB for 15%-20% off. Other places like paypal regularly have them for 105 off, but not worth at 10%. Lowes has gone down the drain since 2020, and everything over there is overpriced compared to HomeDepot.

4. HomeDepot: Usually at Grocery stores as HEB for 15%-20% off. These are rare, since HomeDepot usually has better sales and clearance than Lowes.

5. Dominos: These usually are on sale for 20% about a dozen times a year at multiple grocery stores, walgreens, paypal, newegg, etc. Papa Johns go on sale very infrequently (may be once a year at Kroger online). Coctsco usually have them on sale for 25% off or more, so never settle for 20% off.

6. Chipotle, Subway: These go on sale for 15%-20% off at bestbuy, grocery stores. Taco Bell GC go on sale less frequently, so load up on them when you get them (not the e-card ones, but the physical GC. e-GC have no way to redeem except online or thru app, which may be a big pain). Coctsco usually have Subway GC on sale for 25% off or more, so never settle for 20% off.

• Buying Subway GC from subway.com: GC selling on subway.com are basically a scam, where they usually offer coupon code for buying GC (i.e $5 coupon for buying $25 GC). These coupon code just have a link,, and no real coupon code that you can apply manually. That's messy. On top of that, the coupon doesn't stack with any other coupon (i.e BOGO etc), so the coupon link is basically worthless (unless you plan to by something at full price). Found it the hard way.

7. BestBuy: These GC usually are not on sale in traditional way, but you may get these at discount when redeeming rewards for credit cards. These are good to have, since there's always something you can buy at bestbuy. As of 2020, I haven't seen much on sale at BestBuy, so may not be worth having anymore. They do price match, so sometimes you may end up with a good deal matching price with amazon.

8. Amazon: These GC usually are not on sale in traditional way, but you may get these at discount when redeeming rewards for credit cards. These are the best ones to have, as you can immediately load it to your account, so there's 0 risk of getting hacked.

9. Target: Target always has it's $500 GC on sale for $450 during black friday week. It's once a year event and lasts for a couple of days. Limit is just one GC per account. Look in "BF deals".

10. Visa, Mastercard, Amex Prepaid debit cards: You get these on sale where they waive the "purchase fee" of $5 (UPDATE 2023: The purchase fees are now $6 on $500 card). Or sometimes you have 5%-10% cashback going on at grocery stores, drug stores, etc with particular credit cards (some Amex cards have 6% flat cashback at grocery stores). You can buy these debit cards and get the cash back. You lose 1% in purchase fee, but you can use these debit cards later to buy groceries, pay medical bills, etc and enjoy the discount. MasterCard debit cards are risky as they are hacked pretty easily, so avoid them. Amex cards are the best, but they aren't accepted everywhere. Visa are 2nd best. Never had them hacked. But there are more stories now on how even they are drained out by hackers, and there's no recourse.

• As of 2024, lots of online stores don't take prepaid Visa, etc, Amex GC. The virtual prepaid cards are even worse because  99% of the online places may not take it, and you cannot use them in store. Of the whole lot of Prepaid cards, Amex cards are the most likely to be taken at online stores.
  
  • Tmobile takes only Amex cards for prepaid.
  • Spectrum takes no prepaid cards of any type except the serve Amex card from Walmart.
  • Trash pickup companies like TDS don't accept any prepaid GC at all.

Gift Card stores:

Even though I've you convinced that GCs are not worth the discount, I'll still list GC deals below where they are discounted by 20%+. Below are some of the stores that regularly have GC deal.

1. Wholesale Discount Stores: Wholesale Discount stores as Costco, SamsClub have discounted GC in their stores and on their website all the time. The discounted GC are Southwest Airlines and many fast food chains as Taco's Bell, Dominos, Subway, etc. Discounts are usually from 10%-25%, but sometimes they will have a sale where you get extra 10% off.
   1. Dominos: These GC are always 25% off ($75 for $100GC). On sale they go for $5 less ($70 for $100GC). So, never buy for < 25% from any store (or get a friend to buy it for you, if you don't have membership. These are eGC, so your friend just need to email the eGC to you). 
      • 04/01/2025: Ex Link (deal applies to both Sams and Costco): https://slickdeals.net/f/18259615-sam-s-club-members-100-4x-25-domino-s-pizza-multi-gift-cards-75-free-s-h
   2. PapaJohns: These GC are usually 20% off, but on sale they go for 25%/30% off. 
   3. Subway: Usually 20% off, but on sale, they go for $75 GC for $55.
   4. Cinemeark is also 30% off, true for many others GC too. So, look for 30% off discount when many of the GC go on extra sale.
2. HEB: If you live in Texas, HEB grocery stores have a deal on giftcards at least once a month, where they discont specific GC by 20%. Previously they used to have coupons in store, so you could potentially buy unlimited GC. However, now they have digital coupons which are limited to one per account, so you have to make multiple accounts if you want to get multiple of these. Some of the GC still have physical coupon in store which are unlimited.
3. Walgreens: Right after HEB comes Walgreens, which have offers every year during Thanksgiving/Christmas, and also about once a month or so. You buy 2 GC and you get $10 Walgreens GC for free. Depending on the lowest denomination card you can buy, your discount will be from 20%-50%. i.e if you bought 2 Cinemark GC = 2x$10=$20, you will get $10 in WGC => 50% off. The best part is that you can use walgreens GC for anything in store or at pharmacy for your prescriptions, so it's equal to cash value.
4. Kroger: They also have both online and instore GC deals. They also have 4X fuel points on GC, which gives you $1 off per gallon upto $35 (35 gallon is the limit)
5. Grocery stores: A lot of local grocery chains have discounted GC on sale from time to time. Keep looking or asking employees about any such offers. They are local to a region, so don't get widely advertised on deal sites.
6. Paypal digital gift card stores: Paypal on ebay usually has 10% off on bunch of gift cards from time to time. However, these are all egift cards, so if they get hacked, there is no recourse. As of 2023, Paypal is no longer affilaited with ebay, so they have GC on sale directly on paypal.com. I've never seen any GC on paypal that can't be bought cheaper at other places. So, in my opinion it's not worth buying any GC from paypal (as larger or same discount exist elsewhere).
7. Newegg: Newegg has multiple eGC (usually gap/old navy, lowes) on sale from time to time. Look on slickdeals. However, whatever newegg sells is also available on other sites, so I avoid newegg.
8. Staples / OfficeDepot: Staples have multiple GC on sale almost every few months. As of 2024, OfficeDepot also has few GC on sale (OD gives 20% back in points which can be redeemed for stamps).

Sticky Gift Card deals:

Costco/SamsClub Gift Card Offers - Buy Various GC on discount online and in store (expiry - ongoing):

Costco/SamsClub GC deals keep coming at least once a month. You get extra 5%-10% discount on top of regular discount. You need to be a member to get full discount, else you will pay 5% fees for buying as a non member. Look for close to 30% discount on fast food GC.

• Coctco GC to buy when on sale:
  • Dominos: $100 GC for $70-$80 (Close to Best Value, as sometimes Walgreens has it for 33% off)
  • Papa Johns: $100 GC for $70-$80 (Best Value)
  • Subway GC: $75 GC for $55 (Not available anymore as of 2025).
    • UPDATE 11/09/2025: Subway GC available again (Now, it's available for $100 total in denominations of $20 each). Available on sale $100 GC for $80.
  • Cinemak GC: $50 GC for $35 (Close to Best Value, as sometimes Walgreens has it for 50% off)
  • Macaroni grill GC: $100 for $75
  • Gap GC: $100 GC for $80 (regular 20% off discount, same as what you get elsewhere)
  • Misc: Uber, UberEats, Instacart, etc for 25% off 

Below are the deals:

• 02/11/2025 => (UPDATE: YMMV may be southeast states only. NOT in all stores). Costco: $100 of subway for $60 in store only (NOT online, online still has $75 for $55). This is the max discount that I've seen on subway GC. Load up. Expiry unknown.
  
  • Subway: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/costco-100-subway-giftcards-for-59-99-5x20/
• 09/07/2024 => Costco: $100 of Papa Johns for $70, Similar to last few times. 30% discount is the max it gets.
  
  • Papa  Johns: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/costco-100-papa-johns-giftcard-4x25-for-69-99/
• 11//28/2024 => Costco: $75 of subway for $55, Cinemark $50 for $35, Uber $100 for $75 and many more. Others not that great of a discount.
  
  • Cinemark: https://slickdeals.net/f/17949546-cinemark-theatres-50-egift-card-34-99
  • Subway: https://slickdeals.net/f/17841594-starts-11-28-costco-members-5-pack-15-subway-restaurant-egift-cards-75-value-54-99-email-delivery
  • Uber / Uber Eats => https://slickdeals.net/f/17948787-costco-members-2-count-50-uber-uber-eats-e-gift-cards-75
• 09/07/2024 => Costco: $100 of Papa Johns/IHOP for $70, Regular price at Costco is $80, so extra $10 discount. 30% discount is the max I've seen for PJ, so load it up.
  
  • Papa  Johns: https://slickdeals.net/f/17742864-costco-members-papa-johns-four-25-e-gift-cards-100-value-69-99
  • IHOP: https://slickdeals.net/f/17728908-ihop-four-restaurant-25-e-gift-cards-100-value-69-99
• 07/28/2024 => Costco: $75 of subway for $55. $100 of Dominos for $75. Same as sale from last few times. Expires 08/11/2024
  
  • Subway: https://slickdeals.net/f/17658009-costco-members-75-for-55-subway-restaurant-egift-cards-deal-is-back-54-99
  • Dominos: https://slickdeals.net/f/17657946-costco-members-4-pack-25-domino-s-egift-cards-email-delivery-74-99
• 06//11/2024 => Costco: $75 of subway for $55. Same as sale from Feb, 2024. That's the best discount on Subway GC.
  
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17549115-costco-75-subway-gift-cards-5-x-15-each-for-54-99-from-6-10-24-to-6-16-24?src=frontpage
• 03/31/2024 => Costco: $100 of Papa Johns for $75, Regular price at Costco is $80, so extra $5 discount.
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17395113-papa-johns-four-restaurant-25-e-gift-cards-100-value-75?src=frontpage
• 02//10/2024 => Costco: $100 of dominos for $70, $75 of subway for $55. Dominos go for 33% off at Walgreens, while subway hasn't gone for > 20% so far. So, good price for both of these.
  
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17287618-costco-members-egift-cards-75-subway-egc-55-100-domino-s-pizza-egc-70

SouthWest Airlines GC deals:

These GC are usually 10% off, but from time to time, you get extra 5%-10% off. These are under "Airlines" section => Look in "flights" under travel section for details of the offer: flights

HEB Gift Card Offers (in Texas stores only) - Buy Various GC on discount (expiry - ongoing):

HEB GC deals keep coming at least once a month. You need to load digital coupon in your account. Then at checkout you scan the barcode from your HEB app. Sometimes they have physical coupons in store too. HEB GC deals usually last a week (deals start from Wednesday and continue until Tuesday of following week). Below are the deals for 2023:

• 11/28/2024 => BF yearly GC sale on Visa, MC and AmEx. $100 GC + $20 Free HEB GC for $100. Free ~$40. Other gift cards added too. Expires 11/30/2024.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-buy-visa-mc-amex-giftcard-get-20-h-e-b-gift-card-works-on-500-giftcard/
• 11/20/2024 => BF yearly GC sale. Home Depot, Lowes, BestBuy and many others. $100 GC + $20 Free HEB GC for $100. Expires 11/27/2024.
  
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/18841624-h-e-b-in-store-only-buy-100-gift-card-get-free-20-heb-gift-card-home-depot-lowes-best-buy-airbnb-academy-cinemark-and-more
• 11/12/2024 => Pre BF yearly GC sale. Macys, JCP and many others. $100 GC for $80. Expires 11/18/2024.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-20-off-100-on-selected-giftcards/
• 01/29/2025 - 02/12/2025 => Yearly Valentine day sale. Buy $75 of various GC, get $15 of HEB GC free => Includes many useful ones as Macys, JCP, Academy, etc.
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-stores-purchase-75-giftcard-get-15-h-e-b-giftcard-select-brands/
• 01/22/2025 => Same as BF sale.Buy any of MC, Visa and AmEx cards $100 or more and get $20 free HEB GC. Free $42 (after subtracting the activation fees of $6*3=$18). Best to buy $500 Visa, MC, AMEX for a total of $1500 using Chase card for additional 5% off.
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-buy-100-visa-mc-amex-giftcard-get-20-heb-giftcard-free/
• 12/12/2024 => BF yearly GC sale. Lowes, HomeDepot and Bunch of other GC cards wit 20% in free HEB GC. Useful ones are HomeDepot, Lowes, JCP and Chipotle. Others you may possibly get elsewhere for higher discounts.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-stores-purchase-100-giftcard-get-20-h-e-b-giftcard-home-depot-lowes-more-2/
• 11/29/2024 => BF yearly GC sale. MC, Visa and AmEx cards have $20 free HEB GC. Free $42 (after subtracting the activation fees of $6*3=$18). Many other GC available too. $20 HEB GC Free with any $100 GC.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-purchase-100-visa-american-express-mastercard-get-20-h-e-b-giftcard/
• 11/21/2024 => BF yearly GC sale. Lowes, HD and many others. $20 HEB GC Free with any $100 GC. Expires 11/28/2024.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-stores-purchase-100-giftcard-get-20-h-e-b-giftcard-home-depot-lowes-more/
• 01/24/2024 => Buy $50 in Visa GC, get $10 HEB GC free. This comes couple of times a year. Since the Visa GC has $5 activation fee, it nets you free $5 free money.
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-buy-50-visa-giftcard-get-10-heb-giftcard-free/
• 01/17/2024 => Dining related  GC on sale. Buy 2 get $10 HEB GC free. Good one to grab is 2 of Olive Garden for $25 each. unlimited use as it's printed coupons in store.
• 01/03/2024 => Buy various travel related GC for $150, get $25 HEB GC free. Basically 15% off. Good one to buy is Southwest GC.
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-buy-150-in-select-giftcards-get-25-h-e-b-giftcard-southwest-disney-uber-hotels-com-more/
• 11/22/2023 - 11/29/2023 => Buy $100 of various GC, get 20% off => This is 2nd week of BF sale, where really good GC come on sale. Useful GC are Home Depot, Lowes, JCP, Academy, etc. Others you can get 20% off multiple times a year. Dining Gc as McDonalds, Chipotle, etc are Printed coupons in store, so unlimited use.
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17092009-heb-in-store-only-offers-free-20-or-10-heb-gift-card-when-purchasing-a-100-or-50-gift-card-of-home-depot-lowes-bath-body-work-online-exchange-and-18-more
• 11/15/2023 - 11/21/2023 => Buy $100 of various GC, get 20% off => This is every year at BF, where really good GC come on sale. Useful GC are BestBuy, Kohls and Macys. Others you can get 20% off multiple times a year. Chipotle is a Printed coupon in store, so unlimited use.
  
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/17085676-heb-select-100-gift-cards-for-80-best-buy-khol-s-macy-s-more
• 09/14/2023 - 09/26/2023 => Buy $25 of various GC, get $5 of HEB GC free => Std 20% discount. Useful GC are Chipotle. Printed coupon in store, so unlimited use.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-purchase-25-in-giftcards-get-5-h-e-b-card-chipotle-wendys-more/
• 08/23/2023 - 08/29/2023 => Buy $75 of various GC, get $15 off => Includes many useful ones as Kohls, Macys, JCP, Gap, Academy, etc.
  • Link: https://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/heb-promotions/
• 05/26/2023 - 05/30/2023 => Buy $100 of various GC, get $15 of HEB GC free => Only 15% discount this time, so not that good. Useful GC are HomeDepot and Lowes.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b/
• 04/12/2023 - 04/18/2023 => Buy $50 of various GC, get $10 of HEB GC free => Useful GC are HomeDepot and Lowes.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-purchase-50-home-depot-lowes-more-get-10-h-e-b-giftcard/
• 02/01/2023 - 02/14/2023 (Valentine Day Sale)=> Buy $75 of various GC, get $15 of HEB GC free => Eligible GC are Macys, Cinemark, Bath and Body Works, Aeropostle, Academy, J.C. Penney and bunch more GC
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/16419484-free-15-heb-gift-card-when-purchasing-a-75-gift-card-of-one-of-the-16-retailers-including-macy-s-jcpenney-academy-ulta-and-more-in-store-only?
• 01/24/2023 => $50 Visa GC with free $10 HEB GC. Activation fee is $5, so essentially you are getting $50 Visa GC for $45. You may also get 5% in grocery store cashback by using Chase Freedom or Discover card.
• 01/18/2023 => $50 JCP GC and Dardens $50 GC with free $10 HEB GC. Dardens can be used at Olive Garden Restaurant as well as 5 other restaurant chains owned by Dardens

Walgreens Gift Card Offers - Buy 2 GC, get a $10 Walgreens GC free (expiry - ongoing): BEST GC DEAL YOU CAN FIND ANYWHERE !!

Walgreens GC deals keep coming at least once a month. You need to buy 2 of same kind, and add $10 WGC to purchase, which will come out as free. So depending on the lowest denomination card available, you can either get $15*2=$30 cards with $10 WGC free, or $25*2=$50 cards with $10 WGC free, resulting in 20%-50% off on GC. Most of the times you can 33% off with Dominos, TacoBell, etc, while 50% off with Cinemark, etc. No other store can beat that ever. Take 2 GC along with one Walgreens GC, and checkout like normal. At the final checkout, the price of Walgreens GC will be deducted. Always grab the right Walgreens GC (one with W logo on it, and NOT one with "Walgreens" written on it). Else Walgreens may not scan as free GC, and it might be embarrsing to figure out why?

Link with more details => https://thekrazycouponlady.com/coupons-for/walgreens/walgreens-gift-cards

Below are the deals for 2023:

• 12/03/2023 - 12/09/2023 => Every year, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, lots of weekly GC deals. Buy 2 GC, get free $10 WGC. Best deals are Dominos (2x$15), H&M( 2x$15), Ace Hardware, Delta Airlines, get $10 WGC free
  • Link => Walgreens Weekly Ad for that week
• 09/03/2023 - 09/09/2023 => Buy 2 Dominos (2x$15) Cinemark (2x$10), Wayfair (2x$20), get $10 WGC free
  • Link => Walgreens Weekly Ad for that week
• 08/27/2023 - 09/02/2023 => Buy $30 of TacoBell GC, $40 of DoorDash and get $10 WGC free
  
  • Link: https://slickdeals.net/f/16886813-free-10-walgreens-gift-card-with-mywalgreens-and-purchase-of-any-two-doordash-or-taco-bell-gift-cards
• 07/01/2023 - 07/08/2023 => Buy 2 TacoBell (2x$15), Cinemark (2x$10), etc, get $10 WGC free
  • Link => https://hip2save.com/deals/walgreens-gift-card/

OfficeDepot and Staples Visa/MasterCard Gift Card Offers - Online and in stores

OD stores regularly have deals on Visa (V) and Mastercard (MC) GC. Usually instore is $15 discount on $300 Visa or MasterCard GC purchase. Since activation fee is about $7 per card, and OD sells max $200 GC, you will end up paying $14 in fees. So, net you get $400 GC for $400 (i.e activation fee is nulled by discount). It's better to buy two $200 GC.Other offer is online where they offer three $100 GC for net $285. Not much of a deal as such.

UPDATE 2025: OD allows the same person to stack multiple offers in the same transaction. The best way to maximize is to buy three $200 Visa gift cards; you should get $30 off ($15*2) in a single checkout and pay $624.So, you end up paying $594 for $600 worth of GC.

Staples stores also have deals for Visa and Mastercard where they waive the activation fee. It turns out to be the same as the deals at OD.

However, the real deal in this offer is if you have 5% cashback on your credit card (Chase Business cards give 5% cashback on office supply stores). Other deal that frequently shows up is on Chase Freedom cards or Bank of America cards where they have regular OD offers (in deals section) for 10% CB with a max limit. You can split the payment among 2 or 3 credit cards that have such offers. So, you net about $20 in cashback. But that is valid only for instore purchase. Online purchase is thru giftcardmall and doesn't code as office supply store. So, either way you make $15-$20 on $400 purchase. These deals run for a week, and seems like Staples run their deals, a week after OD runs their deals.

OD: $400 Visa GC for $400 (in Store) => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/office-depot-max-stores-buy-300-in-visa-giftcards-get-15-instant-discount-12-19-12-25/

OD: $300 Visa GC for $285 (online) => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/officedepot-com-gcm-10-off-100-visa-giftcard-limit-2/

Staples: $200 MC/Visa (in Store) => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/staples-no-activation-fee-on-200-mastercard-gift-cards-12-5-12-11-limit-5-per-day/

NOTE: Visa GC are always less prone to hacking than MasterCard GC for whatever reason, so I prefer Visa GC when looking to bite. Also, drain these as soon as possible (within a week or so), or else you may not be able to dispute it with your credit card company if the card has incorrect amount (Lots of discussion on DOC website links below where people got cards with $0 balance on them) 

Below are the deals for 2023 and later:

• 05/11/2025 - 05/17/2025 => Office Depot in store has Two $200 Visa GC for $400. Buy 3 of $200 GC for $600 and get $15*2=$30 in discount all in one transaction. This works as OD allows you to buy more than one of these offers in single transaction. So $600 card for $594 netting you $6 or 2% in free money. Link same as above.
• 11/19/2023 - 11/25/2023 =>  Office Depot in store has Two $200 Mastercard GC for $400 + $15 discount instantly. Since fees are $8 each, you end paying $401 for $400 GC. NOT a deal, as there's no extra cashback on any credit card.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/office-depot-max-stores-buy-300-in-mastercard-giftcards-get-15-instant-discount-2-13-2-19/
• 02/19/2023 - 02/25/2023 =>  Office Depot in store has Two $200 Visa GC for $400 + $11 cashback on Chase Freedom or Bank of America Credit card (if you have the offer for 10% cashback up to $11) or 5% cashback on office store credit card. NOTE: it's VIsa GC this week which is always preferable.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/office-depot-max-stores-buy-300-in-visa-giftcards-get-15-instant-discount-12-19-12-25/
• 02/12/2023 - 02/18/2023 =>  Office Depot in store has Two $200 MasterCard GC for $400 + $11 cashback on Chase Freedom or Bank of America Credit card (if you have the offer for 10% cashback up to $11) or 5% cashback on office store credit card.
  
  • Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/office-depot-max-stores-buy-300-in-mastercard-giftcards-get-15-instant-discount-2-13-2-19/
• 02/05/2023 - 02/11/2023 => Staples instore has $200 Visa GC with no activation fee (Limit of 8 per customer, 5% cashback on office store credit card)
  • https://slickdeals.net/f/16421539-at-staples-no-purchase-fee-when-you-buy-a-200-visa-gift-card-in-store-only-a-6-95-value-starts-2-5-2-11-limit-8
• 01/29/2023 => Staples instore has $200 MC GC with no activation fee (Limit of 8 per customer, 5% cashback on office store credit card)
• 01/22/2023 => Office Depot online has Three $100 Visa GC for $285  (No cashback on any credit card)
• 01/22/2023 => Office Depot instore has Two $200 Visa GC for $400 + $11 cashback on Chase Freedom or Bank of America Credit card (if you have the offer for 10% cashback up to $11) or 5% cashback on office store credit card.

Lowes MasterCard Gift Card Offer - $200 MC Card + $15 Free Lowes egift card  for $215

This deal pops up couple of times a year. It's in store only. Lowes egiftcard has to be redeemed online (i.e submit your receipt online to get $15 Lowes egiftcard, they are not given in store). It's only worth doing when you have 5% cashback in rotating categories on any of the CC. Usually Chase Freedom and Discover CC have 5% cashback at Lowes for at least one quarter every year. Limit of 2 per email addr. So, only get 2 per receipt. If you want to buy more, get separate receipt. Effectively you are getting $15 Lowes GC for $8. Not worth it for such meagre savings.

• 04/01/2023 ($200 MC GC + $15 Lowes egift ccard for $215) expires on 04/05/2023 => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/lowes-purchase-200-visa-giftcard-get-10-lowes-giftcard/

Current Gift Card deals:

2025:

11/18/2025: Multiple Gift Cards Offer - Black Friday (BF) yearly deals10% off at BestBuy (amazon gc included) and Target (expiry unknown)

There are multiple GC deals, which are available every year around BF. Best ones are at HEB, Amazon, BestBuy, Target, Dollar General, etc. 

These deals are for 10% off, which is worthwhile only for amazon GC, walgreens GC, ebay GC. HEB has theirs at 20% off which is lot better (which is in the HEB GC section above). 

BestBuy GC offer: Best one is Amazon GC on bestbuy, but it's going OOS quick. Walgreens and Ebay GC are other good ones.

• BestBuy GC offer => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bestbuy-com-free-10-best-buy-giftcard-when-you-purchase-100-in-select-giftcards-disney-ebay-more/
• BestBuy amazon GC offer (Limit 3, previously was limit of 5) => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bestbuy-com-100-amazon-giftcard-10-best-buy-egiftcard-for-free-limit-5/

Target GC offer: Nothing worth buying

• 10% off GC => https://slickdeals.net/f/18807163-target-11-16-11-22-select-100-gift-cards-apple-disney-nintendo-ps-xbox-more-10-target-egift-card-for-100

Amazon GC offer: Nothing worth buying. Most are 20% off (even physical GC available for no extra charge). Amazon used to allow buying 3rd party GC with amazon GC, but that isn't true anymore. Promo codes (for using Dicover, Amex, etc) still work on GC.

• Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18836872-physical-gift-cards-various-retailers-50-outback-steakhouse-dave-busters-white-castle-black-angus-california-pizza-kitchen-cold-stone-40-more-via-amazon

Dollar General GC offer:  Most GC 15%off, some 20% off. Most stores only accept cash for GC. Not worth buying as you can get same discount elsewhere with credit card.

•  15-20% off => https://slickdeals.net/f/18857140-dollar-general-gift-card-deals-11-23-29-15-off-bass-pro-cabela-s-20-off-ihop-popeyes-cracker-barrel-red-lobster-more?src=frontpage

11/23/2025 (Apple GC ofer): Apple $100 GC + $15 free GC at multiple retailers. It may be worthwhile since 20% off Apple GC last came 2 yrs back, since then the best for Apple GC has been 15% off. It's available every year during Black Friday. Usually Limit of 1 per customer, but some are able to purchase multiple, so YMMV.

• Amazon (Starts 11/28/2025) => https://slickdeals.net/f/18840430-starting-nov-28-100-apple-gift-card-15-amazon-credit-100
• Target => https://slickdeals.net/f/18835555-target-11-23-11-29-100-apple-gift-card-15-target-promo-egc?src=frontpage
• BestBuy => https://slickdeals.net/f/18835192-100-apple-egift-card-digital-delivery-15-best-buy-promotional-egift-card-100

11/12/2025: Walgreens Gift Cards Offer - 15% off at BestBuy

This is THE best discount you can find onWalgreens GC. If you buy prescriptions at Walgreens, you can use these GC and save 15% compared to cash payment.

Limit of 1 only for each of $25 and $50 GC, so max savings of ~$10 only.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18796711-walgreens-50-gc-42-50-25-for-21-25-egc-via-best-buy-limit-one-of-each-face-value-25-and-50

06/18/2025: ebay Git Card Offer - 10% off  for max $20 discount (valid until  06/30)

I'm seeing any deal on ebay GC after a long time. Bite on it since you still have to buy low cost items from time to time. Buy no more than $200 in GC else you will be charged full price on any amount over $200 in GC.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18389236-ebay-egift-cards-10-off-100-max-20-off?src=frontpage

06/09/2025: Taco Bell Git Card Offer at amazon - 15% off 

With extra 5% cashback with Chase Freedom cards, it's essentially 20% off. Not the best deal, but nothing better so far this year. Many other cards available too, but nothing worth buying.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18369613-50-taco-bell-gift-card-physical-42-50-free-shipping?src=frontpage

2024:

04/07/2024: Target Git Card Offer - 10% off  (valid only on  04/13)

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/target-circle-week-4-7-4-13-10-off-target-giftcards-more/

Limited to $500 in Target GC per person. Both in store and online.

2023:

03/10/23: Groupon Gift Card Offer - Buy Various GC on discount (expiry - unknown):

Groupon is offering various e Giftcards for 20% off. Popular ones are Lowes $20 for $16, CVS $20 for $16, Papa Johns $10 for $8, Cinemark $26 for $20, etc. 

https://slickdeals.net/f/16502152-16-for-20-lowe-s-egift-card-groupon

2022:

10/28/2022: OfficeDepot Visa Git Card Offer - $200 Visa Card for $192  (expires 11/03/2022):

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/officedepot-com-gcm-10-off-100-visa-giftcard-limit-2/

Free $8. Visa GC may be used anywhere. If you have a credit card that gives 5% cash back for office store purchase, use that (not sure if that will work, as seller is giftcardmall and not OfficeDepot)

05/24/2022: Kroger Gift Card Offer - $5 off $40+ on any eGiftCard  (expires 05/26/2022):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15806071-5-off-your-40-or-more-egift-cards-purchase-from-kroger-35

Free $5. Buy ebay GC which are never on sale, amounts to 12.5% off.

04/27/2022: Ikea Git Card Offer - 20% off  (expires 04/27):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15752218-ikea-egift-cards-email-delivery-50-20-off

Limited to $1000 in eGc per person (or per email). They are 20% off. Comments indicate prices are jacked up by 20% or more.

04/11/2022: Staples Git Card Offer - Buy Groupon, Wayfair, Chipotle, Gamestop $50 GC for $42.50  (expires 04/15):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15721423-50-electronic-gift-card-to-chipotle-groupon-wayfair-and-gamestop-for-42-50-at-staples?v=1

Groupon and Wayfair are the ones worth it. They are 15% off and limited to 3 per user.

04/06/2022: PayPal Gift Card Offer - Buy $50 JCPenney GC for $40  (expiry=unknown):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15712087-paypal-has-dominos-old-navy-jcpenney-and-h-m-gift-cards-on-sale-40

Buy $50 JCP eGC for $40, GAP eGC is also 20% off, but that's regular discount. Others not worth buying.

01/31/2022: Best Buy Gift Card Offer - Buy Delta Airlines and hotels.com $100 - $500 GC, get 15% in Best Buy GC (expiry=unknown):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15596401-100-or-500-delta-gift-card-or-100-or-250-hotels-com-gift-card-15-back-as-bestbuy-egc

Buy $500 Delta eGC, get $75 back in Best Buy eGC. Also, buy $250 in Hotels.com eGC, get $40 in Best Buy eGC. Limit 2 for each type of card. Even though the Best Buy GC don't expire, last 2 years, there hasn't been anything at BestBuy at prices worth buying. So, don't accumulate too many of these Best Buy eGC.

01/05/2022: HEB Gift Card Offer (in Texas stores only) - Buy Southwest, Delta, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb and hotels.com $150 GC, get $25 HEB GC free for each (expires 11th Jan, 2022):

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-purchase-150-airbnb-uber-delta-southwest-get-25-h-e-b-giftcard/

You need to load digital coupon in your account. Then at checkout you scan the barcode from your HEB app. Make sure you add $25 HEB GC to the order along with other GC. You can buy all GC in the same order.

2021:

11/25/2021: HEB Gift Card Offer (in Texas stores only) - Buy Home Depot, Kohls, Academy, Childrens's Place, Vanilla Visa $100 GC, get $20 HEB GC free for each (expires 30th Nov, 2021):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15440479-h-e-b-grocery-texas-buy-100-select-home-depot-kohl-s-academy-children-s-place-vanilla-visa-gift-cards-get-bonus-20-heb-gift-card-free

You need to load digital coupon in your account. Then at checkout you scan the barcode from your HEB app. Make sure you add $20 HEB GC to the order along with $100 other GC. You can buy all GC in the same order.

11/25/2021: Walgreens: Gift card deal: Free $10 Walgreens GC with purchase of 2 $25 Apple GC.

https://slickdeals.net/f/15454639-ymmv-walgreens-stores-2-apple-gc-for-25-each-10-walgreens-gc-for-50

Look in weekly ad for walgreens on walgreens.com. Terms as below:

10/14/2021: Kroger Gift Card Offer online - Buy any $25 GC for $20 (expires 10/17/2021):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15333310-kroger-buy-any-25-egift-card-email-delivery-for-20-earn-4x-fuel-points

This is free $5. Buy an ebay GC as it's never on discount. If you buy other GC, those usually go on discount elsewhere, so you aren't maximizing your profit. This will expire pretty fast, won't last until 17th.

06/16/2021: HEB Gift Card Offer (in Texas stores only) - Buy Lowes $100 GC, Home Depot $100 GC or Academy $100 GC, get $15 HEB GC free (expires 06/22/2021):

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/h-e-b-purchase-100-in-giftcards-get-15-h-e-b-giftcards-home-depot-lowes-more/

You need to load digital coupon in your account. Then at checkout you scan the barcode from your HEB app. Make sure you add $20 HEB GC to the order along with $100 GC. This is essentially 15% off, which is not as good as 20% that you get most of the times. You can buy one each of Lowes, Home depot and Academy in the same order. I don't think Academy is worth the 15% discount, as you can easily get it at 20% if you wait.

06/02/2021: HEB Gift Card Offer (in Texas stores only) - Buy Lowes $100 GC or Home Depot $100 GC, get $20 HEB GC free (expires 8th May, 2021):

 https://slickdeals.net/f/15067939-buy-100-00-in-home-depot-lowes-gift-cards-get-free-20-00-h-e-b-gift-card

You need to load digital coupon in your account. Then at checkout you scan the barcode from your HEB app. Make sure you add $20 HEB GC to the order along with $100 Lowes or Home Depot GC. This is essentially 20% off, which is as good as it gets for these 2 stores. You can buy one each of both Lowes and Home depot in the same order.

05/09/2021: Walgreens Gift Card Offer - Buy Kohls 50 GC or Burlington $50 GC, get $10 Walgreens GC free (expires 15th May, 2021 - will run out of stock fast !!):

https://slickdeals.net/f/15013942-free-10-walgreens-gift-card-when-you-purchase-any-two-kohl-s-chili-s-burlington-fanatics-or-spa-wellness-gift-cards-in-store-only-30

The other cards in the deal aren't of much value. You will need to buy two of $25 GC and then add $10 Walgreens GC in store. At checkout, it will show discount of $10, making Walgreens $10 GC free. I Came to know that it has to be Walgreens GC which has Walgreens logo on it. There is some specific Walgreens GC that doesn't get discounted.

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Published: Wednesday, 08 April 2020 14:48

Hits: 3092

Warren Buffett is among the richest people on earth, and has amassed all of his wealth via stocks. So, it's helpful to analyze what stocks he buys or sells. This information is publicly available.

Warren buffett is the chairman and CEO of the company "Berkshire Hathaway" t(aka BH) hat he founded. Berkshire Hathaway was a textile company that he bought in 1960's. It was a money losing company, but Buffett started adding other businesses to Berkshire Hathaway. He started buying shares of other companies, as well as buying whole companies. Thus over years, it has become holding conglomerate company, which has lots of wholly owned companies as GEICO, BSNF Railway, etc, as well as having partial equity stake in other companies as Apple, Wells Fargo, etc (by buying stocks of these companies).

Berkshire Hathaway's market cap is about $500B as of Dec, 2019. It trades on the stock market as any other stock, and has 2 classes of stock. If we look at BH cash and equivalents, we see that BH has $200B in stocks. $100B or so in cash, and 100's of wholly owned companies which market values at about $200B based on the income they generate. Hence the $500B valuation of the company. As you can see about half of BH stock valuation is based on value of stocks that it owns. So, BH stock can also be seen as a mutual fund index, whose price goes up/down based on stock price of it's holdings. so, a lot of people prefer owning BH stock instead of holding an index fund as "S&P500", as BH stock holdings have always risen much more than S&P500 holdings. On top of that, wholly owned companies of BH also generate more cash and grow more profitably than the market as a whole, so their valuation also keeps on increasing. Also, BH keeps a lot of cash on hand, so anytime there is a severe market correction, BH invests that cash to buy stocks at lower prices. But that's assuming, BH can time the market, which is almost impossible. Anyway, the end result of al this is that BH stock has given a return of about 20% compared to S&P500 return of 10%. However, BH stock doesn't pay any dividend.

Warren buffet's wealth is around $100B of which, 99% of it is held in BH stock. The remaining 1% of his wealth is in personal portfolio of stocks, which pretty much mirrors the stock holdings in BH. This personal portfolio allows him to get dividends in tens of millions, which becomes his income for tax purpose. Since 100% of his income is from dividends, he pays a very low 15% long term tax on his income. I've no idea, why he doesn't have all of his wealth in BH stock, when he can get away with paying any tax at all. Since Buffett doesn't have high expenses due to his cheap lifestyle, he doesn't need those dividends at all.

 Personal Portfolio: This link lists stocks owned in his personal portfolio:

https://www.gurufocus.com/news/88541/lessons-from-warren-buffetts-personal-portfolio

 BH Portfolio: This link lists stocks owned in BH portfolio:

https://www.simplysafedividends.com/intelligent-income/posts/4-warren-buffett-s-dividend-portfolio

As of Sept, 2018: $200B of stocks were owned byBerkshire Hatahaway Portfolio. There were 45 stocks in this, of which 34 paid a dividend. $100B in cash and short term investments still remains in the portfolio which is getting invested in stocks little at a time.

1. Apple: 25.8% (=$50B)

2. Bank of America: 11.7% (=$24B)

3. Wells Fargo: 10.5% (=$22B)

4. Coco-Cola: 8.4% (=$17B)

5. Kraft Heinz KHC : 8.1% (=$16B)

6. AMEX: 7.3% (=$15B) => 70% of portfolio is comprised of just 6 stocks

7. US Bancorp : 3%

8. Goldman Sachs: 1.9%

9. Moodys: 1.9%

10. JPM: 1.8%

11. Bank of New yourk, Mellon: 1.8%

12. Delta airlines: 1.7%

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Published: Wednesday, 08 April 2020 14:46

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FIXME: moved to "Investing in stocks"

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Published: Wednesday, 08 April 2020 14:42

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Main driver of Stock Market:

Most of the stock market is owned by people in USA via their retirement accounts (401K or IRA accounts). Some people also have personal brokerage accounts. Only about 50% of Americans have any ownership in stocks.

Very good article on fool.com showing stock ownership (All data as of 2019): https://www.fool.com/research/how-many-americans-own-stock

UPDATED 2025: Of all the financial assets owned by Americans, equities account for 45% of their total asset. Link => https://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-more-money-stocks-ever-090052709.html

USA stock market is about $45T as of 2022. Number of American households is about 130M as of 2022. Of these, 50% or 65M households own stocks. Out of this 65M, 45M own stocks via retirement accounts only. Remaining 20M or so also have additional personal brokerage accounts, in which they keep stocks. In 1990's, stock ownership used to be in 30% range, and it has kept increasing with now 50% of American households owning stocks. That increase is mostly due to more American participating in retirement plans. In 1989, only 17M families had 401K accounts, while as of 2010, 50M Americans had 401K (Based on above link, at most 65M American families have retirement accounts of 2022).

• Top 1% American households own 50% of stock market.
• Top 10% own 90% of US stock market which amounts to $40T of stock market wealth.
• Bottom 50% of people who own stocks own < 1% of stock market, and own less than $40K in stocks (including retirement accounts) per family. So, we may safely ignore this group as it's insignificant with such low stock ownership. So, we may say that only about 30M or so households have > $40K in stocks. 
• Of the 20M families who own personal stocks, 50% of them have < $25K in personal brokerage account. So, we may ignore this group too, which leaves us with just 10M families who have > $25K in personal brokerage accounts, and probably > $100K in retirement accounts.

This link from another site shows the ownership which matches the one from above: https://wallethacks.com/stock-ownership-in-america

What's interesting to note from above link is that of the top 10% of earners (those making > $100K/year), 95% own stocks and their median value is $363K.

Combining the data, we see that just 7M or 5% of families own stocks > $400K (including personal + retirement accounts). This is the group that keeps getting rich and richer every day doing nothing.

Retirement Accounts: The main driver of stock market is retirement account which have nowhere else to invest in, except in stock market.

www.ici.org: gives all details of such accounts. Fact sheet(for year 2010): http://conferences.ici.org/pdf/2011_factbook.pdf

total US retirement market: $17.5T.

1. IRAs: 49 Million households owned IRAs. IRA assets: 4.7T, share of mutual funds and securities thru brokerage a/c = 3.9T
2. DC Plans: 401K, 403(b), 457, etc: Assets: $4.5T. 401K held $3.1T in assets, while 403(b) and 457 held $0.9T in assets.
3. Other Plans: fed/state/local pension plans, fixed/variable annuity reserves at life inc co., Assets: $8.3T

Mutual funds accounted for $4.7T  of this 17.5T market.  60% of this (2.8T = 2.1T in domestic equities and 0.7T in foreign equities) is invested in equities.

Link: http://conferences.ici.org/pressroom/news/10_news_ebri_ici_nov

401K accounts:

An estimated 51 million American workers were using 401(k)s at year-end 2010, and assets totaled about $3 trillion. The average account balance of workers was $60,329 in 2010, compared with $58,351 in 2009. Fidelity Investments is the largest provider of 401(k) plans with almost 11.7 million participants.
On average, at year-end 2009, 60 percent of 401(k) participants’ assets were invested in equity securities through equity funds, the equity portion of balanced funds, and company stock. Thirty-six percent were in fixed-income securities such as stable value investments and bond and money funds.

Total assets in stable value funds: According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), total assets in 401(k) plans amounted to $2.7 trillion (www.ici.org/home/retmrkt_update.pdf) in 2006. GICs/stable value funds and money-market funds, accounting for 15 percent of the total, amounted to about $405 billion in 2006. Balanced funds, at almost 13 percent of the total, held about $348 billion in 2006.

Latest Data:

From a report from Sept, 2019 (when Total USA stock market cap was $30T), Fidelity reported that out of 30M retirement accounts, 200K of 401(K) accounts had balances of $1M or more.  On average, Contribution rate of employees was 8.8%, while employers contributed 4.6%, resulting in total contribution of 13.4%. So, basically 13% of employees income goes into 401(K). Apart from 401(K) accounts, most people also have individual retirement accounts like Roth, etc. The number of such accounts with $1M or more also hit all time high at 182,400 accounts. This is the highest number of retirement account millionaires ever. All of it is a result of strong bull market that saw S&P500 index go up 5 times from 2019 to 2019. So, basically, $200K or so from 2009 grew into $1M by 2019. The avg account balance in 401(K) was $105K, which was also all time high. It's much lower amount, since it includes young people also, who have very little in their 401(K) accounts. $1M used to be the gold standard for retiring. However, Charles schwab survey showed that $1.7M is the new number for retiring in USA. This is all assuming 10% stock market return for ever (which is a return that can only be sustained by Government's ponzi scheme).