Chase Freedom Unlimited Review: Extra 1.5% Cash Back (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year)

January 4, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 18 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited Card is a no-annual-fee rewards card which earns a flat 1.5% cash back on all non-bonus purchases (or a possibly more valuable 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent). This is a different card from the new Chase Freedom Flex, which has 5% cash back on rotating categories, on up to $1,500 in purchases each quarter. Here are the highlights for new cardholders:

  • INTRO OFFER: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) – worth up to $300 cash back!
  • Enjoy 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 3% on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year).
  • After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
  • 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% – 29.24%.

Here is the standard rewards structure, before any doubling during the new cardholder offer:

  • 5X points (5% cash back) on travel purchased through Chase Travel.
  • 3X points (3% cash back) on dining out, take-out, and eligible delivery services.
  • 3X points (3% cash back) on drugstore purchases.
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
  • No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
  • Cash back does not expire as long as your card is open.
  • No annual fee.

1.5% cash back on all purchases is better than the 1% cash back you see from a lot of cards, but there are now multiple 2% back back cards out there.

But wait, you actually get Ultimate Rewards Points! The lesser-known perk of this card is that you actually earn Ultimate Rewards points, which are in turn redeemable for cash back at a rate of 100 points = $1 in cash back, or 1 cent per point. But you don’t have to do that. Ultimate Rewards points are worth collecting because of their flexibility. (I hope Chase doesn’t forget this fact.) This is important because there are many ways in which Ultimate Rewards points can be worth much more than 1 cent per point.

If you have also have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred Card, then you can pool all of your Ultimate Rewards points together (even with your spouse/partner as an authorized user) and thus utilize all of the same transfer partners with the following results:

  • Earn 1.5 United Mileageplus miles per dollar spent on ALL purchases.
  • Earn 1.5 Hyatt points per dollar spent on ALL purchases.
  • Earn 1.5 British Airways Avios per dollar spent on ALL purchases.
  • Earn 1.5 Southwest Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent on ALL purchases.

Notice that you are earning more miles and points on ALL purchases than even the specific co-branded cards from United or Hyatt themselves! Most of them just offer 1 point/mile per dollar spent on all purchases.

If you placed a perceived value of 1.5 cents on each United Airlines mile or Hyatt hotel point, then you’d receive 2.25 cents of perceived value per dollar spent with this card. Your actual numbers will depend on your own specific redemption choices, but you can see that you can definitely exceed 2% cash back value on an ongoing basis with the Sapphire Preferred/Freedom Unlimited combo.

With the Sapphire Reserve, you can also redeem for travel through the Chase Travel portal at 1.5 cents per point value, which means 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points = $300 towards airfare, hotel, car rentals booked through Chase Travel. 5% cash back on groceries turns into 7.5% potential value back, and so on.

If you would like the opportunity to earn 5% cash back on rotating bonus categories each quarter, compare with the Chase Freedom Flex card. You can have both a Freedom and a Freedom Unlimited card, but you’ll have to apply for each card separately. I think this is actually a great combo if you plan to keep a Sapphire Preferred/Sapphire Reserve/Ink Preferred cards as well.

Restrictions. This card is subject to “5/24” restrictions, which means that your application will be automatically denied if you have opened 5 or more credit cards in the last 24 months (check your credit reports). Our household strategy is to have one person only apply for Chase 5/24 cards, and the other person applies for everything else. There is also this language on the consumer card:

This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

Bottom line. The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a unique card that works best in combination with either the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Preferred Business cards. The combination of earning 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all purchases plus the unique redemption options from those other cards can create a value exceeding that of 2% cash back. You also get a bonus category of 3X points on dining out and drugstore purchases.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, General
Last updated: February 29, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

SoFi 2% IRA Match Promo + Recurring Deposit Bonus

January 4, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 3 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

SoFi has a new 2% IRA match promotion (previously only 1%), where they will add an extra 2% bonus towards your annual IRA contributions to a SoFi IRA (active or automated). You must contribute by April 15, 2024 (“Tax Day”). Both Traditional and Roth IRAs are eligible (no SEP). The bonus does not count toward your contribution limits. ACH transfers only (no ACATs, wires, or rollovers).

The IRA contribution limits for 2024 are $7,000 for people under age 50, which means they can earn up to a $140 bonus. For people age 50 and over, the limit is $8,000 which means they can earn up to a $160 bonus on top of their contributions. You must keep the contribution at SoFi for two years (until 4/15/2026).

New SoFI Invest customers can also either get a guaranteed $25 new user bonus or a lottery-style prize with an average expected value of under $10 (85% will only get $5, but you get approximately a 1 in 3,500 chance of getting $1,000).

The SoFi Active IRA is basically a normal brokerage account where you can buy whatever you want, including low-cost index ETFs with no trade commissions. The Automated IRA is a robo-advisor account where they will manage a portfolio for you (no advisory fees).

Robinhood announced a similar 1% IRA match earlier, although Robinhood seems to suggest that will be more of a recurring feature, and I’m not sure if SoFi will continue this every year. Keep in mind that if you want to move your IRA to another broker later, SoFi charges a $75 outgoing ACAT fee.

Here are the full terms.

Recurring deposit bonus. Here’s a lesser-known way to earn even more rewards if you commit to automatic, recurring investments. SoFi Points is their loyalty rewards program where you earn points for doing various activities like logging into the SoFi app for 7 days in a row, activating your debit card, linking external accounts, or paying a bill. SoFi Plus is a premium tier that activates if you have a SoFi checking or savings account and maintain a direct deposit of any amount (even $1), and allows you to earn extra points.

Right now, one of the bonus perks is 100 now only 50 points each time you make a recurring scheduled transfer of $50+ into a SoFi Invest brokerage account, valid up to 3 times per week. $150 a week times 52 weeks = $7,800, which is above the IRA contribution limits. 100 SoFi points = $1, so $0.50 bonus on a $50 transfer works out to an additional 1% bonus/match.

They could always cut this (even more) in the future, but for now it’s a pretty good deal. I’ve been doing the transfer into a regular taxable SoFi brokerage account, but I imagine it should work for IRAs as well.

SoFi new customer bonuses. New users can receive a separate opening bonus for each separate part of SoFi (Money, Invest, Crypto, etc):

  • SoFi Checking Referral Offer: Up to $325 new user bonus. Open a new SoFi Money account and add at least $10 to your account within 5 days, and get $25. Then get up to $300 additional bonus with qualifying direct deposit. Plus up to 4.60% APY.
  • SoFi Invest Referral Offer: $25 new user bonus. Brokerage account. Open an Active Investing account with $10 or more, and you’ll get $25 in stock.
  • SoFi Invest Alternate Offer: Claw Game. Feeling lucky? Compare a guaranteed $25 above against having a 0.028% chance of a $1,000 bonus. (That is less than 1 in 1000 odds.)
  • SoFi Invest Asset Transfer Offer: Up to $5,000 Bonus. Transfer over your existing assets from another broker and SoFi will pay you a bonus. From $50 bonus for transferring $5,000 in assets all the way up to $5,000 bonus for $2 million in assets.
  • SoFi Student Loan Refi: $300 bonus. Warning: Do your research before refinancing your Federal student loans to a private lender.
  • SoFi Doctors and Dentists Student Loan Refi: $1,000 bonus. Special low rates just for doctors and dentists.
  • SoFi Private Student Loan: $100 bonus.
  • SoFi Personal Loans Referral Offer: Fixed $300 bonus. Fixed $300 bonus, 90 days after successful funding. The loan has no fees and you can pay it back in full after 90 days (you can pay it down to $50 before then to accrue minimal interest).
Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing
Last updated: April 3, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Fierce Finance App Review: 5.25% APY + New Deposit/Referral/Trade Bonuses

January 3, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 5 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update January 2024: If you opened an account with Fierce previously, keep a lookout for e-mails with new promotions. In addition to the new account bonuses detailed below, I have received the following promos: a $25 bonus for setting up recurring $100+ deposits for 90 days (doesn’t have to be “direct deposit”), and another $25 bonus for making 10 stock purchase orders of $10+ before the end of the quarter. (Note: The roundtrip cost of an SGOV buy/sell trade of a single share has been only a penny in my experience during the trading day.)

Here is the fine print from my e-mail. I am not sure if they are targeted.

*To qualify for the $25 Bonus, you are required to set up Direct Deposit or Recurring Deposits to your Fierce Cash account with a value of $100 or greater per deposit for a minimum of 90 days from your first deposit. After your first successful Direct Deposit or Recurring Deposit transaction, the $25 Bonus will be credited to your Fierce Cash account at the end of the following month. Normal account service charges and miscellaneous charges may apply to the Fierce account, which may reduce earnings.

*To qualify for the $25 Bonus, you are required to execute 10 or more stock purchase orders of $10 or greater before 11:59pm ET on March 31st, 2024. The $25 Bonus will be credited to your Fierce Cash account at the end of the following month. Normal account service charges and miscellaneous charges may apply to the Fierce account, which may reduce earnings. The $25 Bonus offer cannot be used in combination with any other Fierce promotional offer.

Original post with new account bonuses:

Fierce Finance is another new fintech with big ambitions. Currently available as an iPhone app (Android “coming soon”), it combines a checking account, stock trading, and crypto. Notably, the checking account pays 5.25% APY and offers a few different bonus opportunities, which they say don’t stack but I’ve still been offered them one after another. Additional details below.

Banking

  • 5.25% APY (as of 1/3/24) on the Fierce Checking Account.
  • No monthly fees, no minimum balance requirement.
  • Banking services provided by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC.
  • Uses the Allpoint ATM network of 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs worldwide.
  • “Live Support via phone, email, or live chat.”

Investing

  • It says “zero management fees”, I can only guess they also have zero stock commissions like nearly everyone else.
  • Brokerage services provided by FIN2, member FINRA and SIPC.
  • “Earn yield on your stocks” – I’m guessing this is also just fully paid securities lending.
  • Regulated Crypto Trading in all 50 states.

Deposit Bonus details (EXPIRED). If you open a new Fierce account and reach one of the deposit tiers below within 30 days of account opening, keep it there for 180 days, and keep your account open for 210 days, you can receive the following bonus amount:

  • $25 for deposits of $1,000+
  • $100 for deposits of $10,000+
  • $200 for deposits of $30,000+
  • $500 for deposits of $100,000+

If everything goes perfectly, the $100 for $10,000 deposit tier would add about 2% to your APY over that period (in reality probably a little less). As long as they maintain their currently competitive interest rate, it’s not a bad combined total return for 6-7 months.

Fine print from their website:

The Deposit Bonus offer is only available to new customers that meet all current account opening requirements. To qualify for the Deposit Bonus, you are required to open a new Fierce account and initiate cumulative new money deposits, according to the table below, within 30 days of account opening. The cumulative value or greater must remain in your Fierce account for a minimum of 180 days. The Deposit Bonus will be credited to your Fierce Cash account at the end of the following month. Accounts must be kept open for 210 days from the time of qualifying. Normal account service charges and miscellaneous charges may apply to the Fierce account, which may reduce earnings.

Deposit Bonus:
$25 for deposits of $1k+
$100 for deposits of $10k+
$200 for deposits of $30k+
$500 for deposits of $100k+

The Deposit Bonus offer cannot be used in combination with any other Fierce promotional offer. For tax purposes, the value of the bonus will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT. Fierce reserves the right to limit an individual to one account-related gift incentive per rolling 12-month period. Accounts closed at the time of bonus payment are not eligible. Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other bonus offer. Fierce is not responsible for, and will not honor, promotional offers that appear on third-party websites that are not authorized by Fierce.

$25 Referral Bonus details. If you open via a referral link (opening on iPhone recommended, my link), you will get a $25 bonus if you open a new account and deposit $250. The terms suggest you can’t combine this with the deposit bonus below, so I would just do this bonus if you don’t want to deposit $10,000+ for the deposit bonus. Swagbucks also has their own bonus (currently I see 3,000 SB for a $25 deposit).

Fine print from their website:

The $25 Referral Bonus offer is only available to customers that meet all current account opening requirements. To qualify for the $25 Referral Bonus, the referrer is required to have a Fierce account in good standing with a balance of $250 or more. The referred customer must initiate cumulative new money deposits totaling $250 or more into their Fierce Cash Account within 30 days of account opening. A cumulative value of $250 or more must remain in their Fierce account for a minimum of 30 days. The $25 bonus will be credited to the referrer’s Fierce Cash account at the end of the following month. Accounts must be kept open for 90 days from the time of qualifying. Normal account service charges and miscellaneous charges may apply to the Fierce account, which may reduce earnings. Limited to 10 Referral Bonuses payments or $250 in bonus payments per customer.

The $25 Referral Bonus offer cannot be used in combination with any other Fierce promotional offer. For tax purposes, the value of the bonus will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT. Fierce reserves the right to limit an individual to one account-related gift incentive per rolling 12-month period. Accounts closed at the time of bonus payment are not eligible. Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other bonus offer. Fierce is not responsible for, and will not honor, promotional offers that appear on third-party websites that are not authorized by Fierce.

Trading bonus details. This appears to be their advertised bonus on their front page at the moment (January 2024), but it was sent to me via email after opening up my account so I feel they should be stackable in my situation. I would open up using the deposit or referral bonus above, and then keep a lookout. $10 bonus for your first $10+ stock purchase, and a separate $10 bonus for your first $10+ crypto purchase. Total $20.

Fine print from website:

The Trading Bonus offer is only available to customers that meet all current account opening requirements and have not previously purchased stock or crypto on Fierce.

To qualify for the Trading Bonus, you are required to have a Fierce account in good standing that has not previously purchased stock or crypto. The customer must initiate cumulative new stock or crypto orders, according to the Trading Bonus table below, between the time the offer is received and 11:59 pm ET on October 31st 2023. The cumulative value or greater must remain in your Fierce Stock or Fierce Crypto account for a minimum of 30 days. The Trading Bonus will be credited directly to your Fierce Cash account at the end of the following month. Accounts must be kept open for 90 days from the time of qualifying. Normal account service charges and miscellaneous charges may apply to the Fierce account, which may reduce earnings. Limited to 1 Stock Trading Bonus payment per customer and 1 Crypto Trading Bonus payment per customer, or a total of $20 in bonus payment per customer.
Trading Bonus:
$10 cash bonus for stock purchases equalling $10 or greater.
$10 cash bonus for crypto purchases equalling $10 or greater.

The Trading Bonus offer cannot be used in combination with any other Fierce promotional offer. For tax purposes, the value of the bonus will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT. Fierce reserves the right to limit an individual to one account-related gift incentive per rolling 12-month period. Accounts closed at or prior to the time of bonus payment are not eligible. Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other bonus offer. Fierce is not responsible for, and will not honor, promotional offers that appear on third-party websites that are not authorized by Fierce.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 10, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Fidelity Bloom App: Fintech App from Traditional Broker ($30 Savings Match for 2024)

January 3, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 20 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update January 2024: If you have the Fidelity Bloom app, this is a reminder that the 10% annual savings match is reset and you can again get $30 for a $300 transfer into your Fidelity Bloom Save account. If you use the SPAXX option for cash sweep, you are also earning close to the equivalent of 5% APY (as of 1/3/24). Here is a screenshot of my 2023 rewards:

Full review:

Fidelity Bloom is a new(er) app from Fidelity Investments targeted at helping young adults become more financially aware and develop better savings habits. iOS and Android. Fidelity has included many “behavioral psychology” features from other fintech startup apps like a match on savings transfers, debit card cash back rewards, rounding-up purchases and saving the difference, and shopping portal cashback. The highlights:

  • (No new user bonus at the moment. Was $100.)
  • 10% annual savings match (up to $30). Get a 10% match on the first $300 saved into their Bloom Save account (up to a $30 match on $300 of new money deposited).
  • 10 cents from Fidelity with every debit card purchase. Fidelity will automatically deposit a fixed 10 cents into the Fidelity Bloom Save account every time customers use the Fidelity Bloom debit card. Reminds me of the Citi Rewards+ credit card.
  • Automatically round up purchases into savings. Customers can automatically round up purchases to the nearest dollar and have the difference moved to savings from their Fidelity Bloom Spend to their Fidelity Bloom Save account.
  • Up to 25% cashback through shopping portal. Receive up to 25% cash back into your Fidelity Bloom Save account when you shop in-app with 1,100+ participating retailers.

Interest rate is competitive (up to ~5% as of 1/3/24 with SPAXX), but it’s a brokerage account. Is it a bank account? Is it a brokerage account? It’s a SIPC-insured brokerage account:

The Fidelity Bloom App is designed to help with your saving and spending behaviors through your Save and Spend accounts, which are brokerage accounts covered by SIPC insurance. They are not bank accounts and therefore are not covered by FDIC insurance.

You do get a routing number and account number for your two accounts, but the cash is held like their other non-retirement accounts. During the sign-up process, you can pick between one of three options for your core position:

  • Fidelity® Interest-Bearing Option (FCASH)
  • Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX)
  • Fidelity Treasury Money Market Fund (FZFXX)

Although I have confidence in Fidelity’s long-term experience and conservatism in running these money market mutual funds, the lack of FDIC coverage is something to note. The rates may change daily. View current rates here.

After you open via app, you can see the account balances at Fidelity.com but you’ll still need the app to change any settings. Here’s a screenshot from my app.

Fidelity recently shut down another of its experimental apps called “Fidelity Spire”, so we’ll see if this one catches on a bit better.

For posterity, here are the terms & conditions for the (expired) $100 limited-time offer:

This offer is valid for new or existing Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC (“Fidelity”) customers who make an initial total deposit of at least $50 (“Qualifying Deposit”) into their Fidelity Bloom Spend account or Fidelity Bloom Save account on or after August 13, 2023 through the Fidelity Bloom app. This offer is limited to one cash award per individual. For clarity, existing Bloom clients who have not yet made any deposits into either of their Fidelity Bloom Spend or Fidelity Bloom Save accounts can participate in this offer by making a Qualifying Deposit by August 27, 2023. Existing Fidelity customers who have previously made deposits into their Fidelity Bloom Spend or Save accounts, including individuals who have already participated in the Bloom $50 offer, are not eligible for this offer.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing
Last updated: January 3, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

HealthyWage Review: Bet on Yourself, Get Paid To Lose Weight ($50 Limited-Time Prize Boost)

December 31, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 53 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

(Limited-time New Year Promo: Click this special link for extra $50 added to your prize through January 7th. They offer up big boosts only a few times per year. Look for the banner on top. Read on for how HealthyWage helped motivate me to lose 50 pounds – yes, really.)

hw_logoAfter reading academic studies which found that financial incentives were effective in helping people lose weight, I joined HealthyWage.com. You tell them how much weight you want to lose, your current body details, how much time you want, and and they’ll calculate what prize to offer you based on how much you want to bet on yourself. Since I eventually lost 50 pounds with the help of HealthyWage and other weight-loss betting sites (and have kept it off since), and I wanted to share my experiences including both positive and negative aspects. Importantly, you can do everything from home!

My overall HealthyWage bet was to lose 10% of my body weight over 9 months (22 pounds in my case). My offered bet was to put up $50 per month for 9 months for a potential win of $500. You may like the sound of “winning $500”, but know that a lot of it will be your own money:

healthywage500

Honestly, risking $450 to win $50 didn’t feel like a very good risk/reward ratio, but I wanted the extra motivation. Perhaps my goal was too easy and that was why the payout wasn’t as high. You can put up your own numbers and calculate your own HealthyWage offer. Your payout may be much better than mine. The quote is free, you just need to provide any e-mail address.

If I joined during a limited-time offer prize boost, I could have earned a lot more money:

Initial weigh-in verification. There are four ways to verify your weight:

  1. Smartphone app. There is a HealthyWage app for iOS and Android. You take a clip using the app and your personal scale. Importantly, everything can be done from home!
  2. Video Verification. Upload a video to their website using your personal scale.
  3. Verification by a Fitness or Health Professional – Bring a form to your “local gym, pharmacies, corporate wellness clinics, walk-in clinics, HR reps, nurses, your personal doctor, your personal trainer or your chiropractor.”
  4. Verification at a Weight Watchers Meeting.

I followed their directions carefully, uploaded my video, and both my initial and final videos were accepted with no issues or additional requests.

Every month, I would see a $50 charge on my credit card bill from HealthWage. However, that was about it. There were no encouraging e-mails. No virtual meetups or prize giveaways. I was fine with this, but if you like group encouragement or peer pressure, you’ll need to find it elsewhere.

Upon initial sign-up, I was given my 2-week window for final weigh-in. HealthyWage’s two-week window is definitely more generous than DietBet’s 48-hour window, with the important difference that I was never sent any reminders by HealthyWage when the time actually came. In comparison, DietBet sent me multiple reminders beforehand. Now, I had the date marked on my digital calendar with several alerts, so I completed my weigh-in by the second day of the window. It is quite possible that if I waited until closer to the final deadline, I would have gotten a reminder. But I wouldn’t rely on it. Remember, if you forget, they keep your money!

I also did a DietBet at the same time, which is similar but different in that it collects participants into groups and then takes a cut from the pooled bets. See my separate DietBet Review. You can consider doing both as well.

Extra final verification hoops. Upon final weight verification, you’ll have to submit another verification video that includes of your weight scale. Again, you can just do it through their HealthyWage app. I also had to upload a scan of my driver’s license. Here’s a link with final weigh-in details. Note the following:

As part of our review, we occasionally request that some (very few) participants submit an additional weigh-out video. If an additional weigh-out video is required, HealthyWage will contact you with instructions. Optionally, you could also keep on hand a set of full-body before-and-after photos, and have your teammates do the same. You do not need to submit the photo(s) to HealthyWage.

The fact is that if you really lose 10 lbs or more of your body weight, you will look noticeably different to human eyes! That is why they need the video. Looking at my before and after photos was a shock even to me.

Finally, I successfully referred a few people to Healthwage and received extra money added my “pot”. This referral program is nice feature to get some social support, but remember that you get the referral money only if you win your own bet.

Final payout options. There are two options to receive your winnings. A mailed check takes 3-4 weeks to process, with no fee. The other “fast” option is PayPal, which charges a 3% fee. I picked the PayPal option because I didn’t want to wait around for a check. However, they later clarified that it would still take 3-5 business days for PayPal transfer. The 3% fee is taken out by PayPal, so HealthyWage actually sends the full amount (they just choose not to subsidize the fee). In retrospect, maybe I should have just waited for the check. Here’s a screenshot:

hw_finalpay

Bottom line. I committed to a Healthywage bet to lose 10% of my initial weight over 9 months. I lost the weight, completed my verifications without hassle, won the bet, and was paid my winnings. Although I found the process a bit impersonal, they are a legit company. Calculate your own HealthyWage offer here. No obligation to get a quote. However, the fact that HealthyWage motivated me to finally lose over 50 pounds was worth way more to me than the cash winnings. I’ve kept it off in the years since as well, so it literally changed my life and quite possibly made it longer.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: December 31, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

TurboTax Desktop 2023: Deluxe Federal & State $55 w/ $10 Amazon Gift Card (Premier $75 w/ $10 GC)

December 27, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 17 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update: Still on sale, but not as low as 12/27. As low as around Black Friday. The benefit of “old-school” desktop tax software is that it doesn’t require your Social Security Number and income details to be stored in the “cloud”, a fancy word for a third-party server where it can be copied or hacked.

As a post-Christmas deal, Amazon has TurboTax Deluxe 2023, Federal & State + $10 Amazon Gift Card Bundle for $54.99 in either Download or Disc versions. That’s a pretty solid net price for TurboTax these days. You also get 5 Federal e-Files so you can file taxes for other family member in your household. (Click here to view the Amazon links if you can’t see them.)

State e-File is extra ($20 per state). I would personally just print the (usually shorter) state return out and snail mail it in if you don’t have a free State e-File option.

Note that TurboTax Deluxe lets you manually input stock gain/loss information, but does not include “guidance”. For that, you’ll need TurboTax Premier 2023 Fed/State + $10 Amazon Gift Card Bundle for $74.99. This is what makes H&R Block Deluxe a more affordable alternative (as it does include guidance for stock sales) , if you are willing to make the switch. However, I also understand the urge to stick with what works.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: December 29, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Chase Ink Business Preferred Card Review: 100,000 Points worth $1,250 Towards Travel

December 21, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 2 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Updated with new 100k offer. Business credit cards can be used by self-employed or side-gig workers with eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Uber/Lyft, Adsense or other 1099 income that make you a sole proprietorship. The Ink Business Preferred(R) Card has a new 100,000 point bonus for new cardholders, worth at least $1,250 towards travel when redeemed through Chase and potentially more via points transfer to Hyatt hotels, etc. This is their premium travel card with 3X points on travel purchases and the ability to transfer points to airline miles or redeem at a 25% premium through their travel portal. Here are the details:

  • 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s worth $1,250 toward any airfare or hotels booked through the Chase Travel portal (works like Expedia or Travelocity).
  • 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel, shipping purchases, internet/cable/phone services, and advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines.
  • 1X point per $1 on all other purchases with no limit.
  • Ability to transfer points directly to airline mile partners.
  • Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel(SM).
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • Free additional cards for employees.
  • Primary rental car coverage when renting for business purposes.
  • Member FDIC
  • $95 annual fee.

Ultimate Rewards points. This card offers a 25% bonus on travel bookings made through the Chase Travel website. 100,000 Ultimate Rewards = $1,250 in travel. Similar to Expedia or Travelocity, you can book flights on Chase Travel at most major airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies. This makes it much more flexible to spend your points. You can even buy something more expensive and pay the difference.

If you have other Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points like the Ink Business Cash or Ink Business Unlimited, you can transfer points into this card account and take advantage of the 25% premium. However, if you happen to have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you could transfer your points over to that card and grab the better 50% premium.

You could think of this card as the small business version of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Prefer airline and/or hotel points? This card also allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points into hotel and/or airline miles. Transfer to United Airlines, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest, Hyatt Hotels, IHG Hotels, and Marriott Hotels at a ratio of 1 Ultimate Rewards point = 1 mile/hotel point. Miles redemption continue to offer great value for savvy travelers, especially for last-minute travel and business class seats.

For example, I could definitely get more than $1,250 in value by converting into 100,000 World of Hyatt points.

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. The business type is called a sole proprietorship, and these days many people are full-time or part-time consultants, freelancers, eBay/Amazon/Etsy sellers, Uber/Lyft drivers, or other one-person business owners. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

Note that Chase has an unofficial rule that they will most likely deny approval on new credit cards if you have 5 or more new credit cards from any issuer on your credit report within the past 2 years (aka the 5/24 rule). This rule is designed to discourage folks that apply for high numbers of sign-up bonuses. This rule applies on a per-person basis, so in our household one applies to Chase while the other applies at other card issuers.

The good news is that small business cards from Chase don’t show up on personal credit reports, so getting this card in itself won’t affect your future 5/24 eligibility. This it makes a “free” application if you are otherwise eligible.

Bottom line. The Chase Ink Business Preferred Card has a new, bigger 100,000 point sign-up bonus worth at least $1,250 towards travel, along with premium travel features included with the $95 annual fee. You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points from other Chase cards to increase your value. If you’d rather have a more simple cash-focused rewards structure and no annual fee, be sure to compare with the Ink Business Unlimited and Ink Business Cash.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, General, Reviews
Last updated: March 21, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

NASA FCU Premier eChecking Account: $300 Bonus

December 21, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 2 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

NASA Federal Credit Union (NASA FCU) has a new checking account promotion that is a bit of extra work, but may be worth it when you consider they often have pretty good certificate rates (see current special rates including 9-month CD at 5.70% APY). Anyone can join NASA FCU by agreement to join a partner association (they will pay your membership fee to National Space Society).

Their $300 checking account promo has the following requirements:

  • Open a Premier eChecking account between 12/11/2023 and 12/31/2023. You must also open a Share Savings account and keep $5 in there as long as you are a member.
  • Establish a $500 minimum monthly recurring direct deposit for 3 consecutive months AND make at least 15 debit card purchases (pin or signature) for 3 consecutive months, all within 120 days of account opening. (You get 5 cents of rewards for each signature debit transaction, up to $250 annually.)
  • There is no monthly fee as long as you maintain direct deposit (any amounts) OR active billpay + paperless online statements. Otherwise, $8 a month. There is no minimum balance requirement otherwise. Limit one bonus per member.

You are able to fund up to $500 initially with a credit card. Some ways to generate extra debit card purchases beyond your usual small purchases may include Amazon gift card reloads, paying cell phone or other bills online in increments, and making credit card charitable donations. There will be the usual “Know Your Customer” identity checks and they will ask to upload your driver’s license and/or other ID like passport. Finally, be aware that they will close your idle accounts without notice if you don’t have any transactions for a while.

This will go towards my 2024 IRA challenge bucket.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers
Last updated: December 21, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

IKEA Gift Card Promo: Buy $50 Gift Card, Get $10 eGift Card

December 21, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 1 Comment
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

ikea0Buy a $50 IKEA eGift card, get bonus $10 eGift Card. Not bad, 20% off. Not sure how to read the limit (see terms below), it is only one $10 bonus card? Set to expire 12/23/23, but this offer comes around every once in a while and often ends early. Terms and conditions:

*Valid in U.S. only. Limited quantities of Bonus Cards available. Valid on eGift Card purchases of $50 or more only from IKEA-USA.com. Not valid on physical or in-store Gift Card purchases. Offer will apply automatically at online check-out if purchase qualifies. Additional $10 eGift Card (“Bonus Card”) will be emailed automatically to the purchaser’s email address provided at check-out within 24-48 hours. LIMIT: $1,000 in eGift Cards/$10 Bonus Cards per purchaser during offer period. Gift Cards not redeemable for cash (unless required by law). Except for purchase limits set forth above, offer subject to IKEA Gift Card terms and conditions, https://www.ikea.com/us/en/customer-service/gift-cards-pub3d1efe50. Other restrictions may apply. See IKEA-USA.com for details.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: December 21, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Lowe’s: Buy $50 Gift Card, Get $10 eGift Card Free

December 21, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 2 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

We are in the home stretch of 2023. I hope that you all will be able to spend time with friends and family this holiday season. Posting will be extra brief and sporadic for the rest of the year.

Buy $50 in Lowe’s Gift Cards, get a $10 bonus eGift Card free. Limit 2 per household. While supplies last. Expires 12/24/23. $20 savings is still $20 savings…

If you’re anything like me, whenever there is a home improvement project going on, it’s always 11 extra trips to Home Depot or Lowe’s because you forget a single piece of hardware or need just one more tube of caulk.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: December 21, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Targeted Fidelity Customers: Free TurboTax Premium Online ($5 for Download)

December 17, 2023 By Jonathan Ping 18 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Fidelity Investments is offering selected customers free access to TurboTax Online Premium (Federal and State), or $5 for the TurboTax Premier Desktop edition. To find out if you are eligible, it is suggested that you look for the offer under “Accounts & Trade” and then “Portfolio” and look for a tile with this offer.

Exclusive offer on TurboTax®
Fidelity is pleased to offer you a free federal and state tax return using TurboTax Online Premium, or for $5 use TurboTax Premier desktop download. Select the link below to access your offer.

However, a more direct method is to simply visit one of these links below directly, log into your Fidelity account, and see if the offer link works.

$5 for TurboTax Premier Desktop edition is a significant savings (worth at least ~$68 due to the lowest ever price of $73 at Amazon), but I don’t know that the lower 30% offer is really that much better than other discounts out there.

< blockquote >Special Offer: 30% off TurboTax
To help make tax time easier this year, Fidelity partnered with TurboTax. Whether you’d like a tax expert to file for you, help you along the way, or you’d like to file on your own, take advantage of 30% off all TurboTax federal products.

There are many theories as to what characteristics you need at Fidelity to qualify for this offer, but I don’t know that there is any single thing that applies. I have significant assets at Fidelity across a variety of account types, from a Solo 401k to IRAs to a taxable brokerage account, and I did not qualify. However, it’s a quick click and worth a moment to check.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: December 18, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Top FDIC-Insured Savings Account Interest Rate vs. Inflation (2017-2023)

December 15, 2023 By Jonathan Ping Leave a Comment
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Whenever an article mentions the “average savings account rate”, I find that information useless. There are a lot of zeros in that average! But this Axios article has an interesting chart comparing the top savings rate vs. the rolling 3-month inflation rate from January 2017 through December 2023. That’s more applicable. Via reader Bill.

This serves as a good reminder that back in July 2021, the absolute top interest rate on an FDIC-insured savings account was redlining at… 1.00% APY. And that was actually a very good relative rate as the Vanguard money market fund with a yield of essentially zero (0.01% APY). Conservative savers had a very hard time earning hardly any interest and were falling behind inflation.

As of December 2023, you are now able to take zero principal risk and yet earn 5% from both the top savings accounts and the top money market funds. Every $10,000 should earn you $500 a year in interest. Every $100,000 should earn you $5,000 a year in interest. $1,000,000 will earn out $50,000 year, absolutely guaranteed. Best of all, that amount is finally a good margin higher than inflation at the moment.

But for those of us with long investing horizons, we must remember that over that long horizon, cash (as tracked by Treasury bills) has historically only just barely kept up with inflation. Sometimes cash wins, sometimes inflation wins, but over the long arc, it’s basically been a a draw. Even if we rate-chase and gain an extra 1% of “alpha”, that’s historically still not as good as stocks for the long run.

So while I still chase rates, 2/3rds of my investment portfolio remains held permanently in stocks. Here’s a chart of the S&P 500 total return for 2023 year-to-date (credit Ycharts). Up 25% as of this writing (12/14/23).

I did not predict that. This should also serve as a reminder that any 2024 S&P 500 forecasts you read this month are also garbage.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing, Retirement
Last updated: December 15, 2023
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

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