Intro offer
$10,000 investment bonus
Intro offer
$10,000 investment bonus
Details
Intro offer
$10,000 investment bonus
Recommended Credit
Good to Excellent
Regular Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
15.99% – 23.99% Variable
Pros & Cons
Highlights
Lately, the credit card market has become exploratory in the way it rewards cardholders for spending. For example, we’ve seen the debut of many cryptocurrency credit cards. Your incentive for swiping these cards is a non-cash product that can be liquidated at rates determined by a (clearly) volatile market.
Another credit card concept has debuted, with an outsized payoff potential contingent on stock market performance — and it’s likely more digestible (and understandable) than crypto for most of us.
Instead of earning airline miles, hotel points, or direct cashback, the $750-annual-fee Save Wealth Premium
credit card rewards you with stock every time you swipe your card. The result for you is cash back, but your earnings aren’t a flat rate as it is with other credit cards. Instead, it’s ever-changing.
Review: Is the Save Wealth Premium right for you?
“The Wealth card is designed for consumers who are looking for the potential of better economic value from their credit card in a low-interest rate environment, and with high inflation,” said Michael Nelskyla, CEO at Save.
A credit card that earns investments instead of cash back or travel rewards is a novel idea. But with a $750 annual fee, is it a worthwhile concept to experiment with?
Here’s how it works. Save purchases a strategy-linked security with an investment value of a little over twice the amount you spend. If you spend $100, Save will invest $217 in stocks.
The card is as simple or complicated as you want it to be; you can swipe mindlessly and allow Save to handle the investments (Save charges a management fee of 0.79%), or you can dictate what you want to invest in. Save estimates that you’ll net a 5.7% average return on all purchases. We’ll show you how Save arrives at this number in a minute. Also realize that you could get a much higher (or lower) return, depending on stock market performance.
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Earn unlimited 3x points on restaurants, travel, gas stations, transit, popular streaming services and phone plans. Earn 1x points on other purchases.
Limited time offer of 30,000 bonus points when you spend $1,500 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (offer expires 01/10/2023)
Earn 3x ThankYou® points at restaurants and supermarkets. Earn 3x ThankYou® points at gas stations, air travel, and hotels. Earn 1x ThankYou® points on all other purchases.
80,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
Earn 5x points on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Earn 3x points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out. Earn 3x points on select streaming services. Earn 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs). Earn 2x points on other travel. Earn 1x point per dollar on everything else.
60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.
How to earn with the Save Wealth Premium
“Save is a discretionary advisor, who will allocate a portfolio that matches the customer investment profile, but the customer can overrule independently as needed,” said Nelskyla. “Customers have full transparency into the investment portfolio assets and strategy.”
A lot of big words, I know. In short, Save will invest for you, or you can tell them exactly how you’d like your reward stock invested.
You’ll hear this disclaimer repeatedly: There’s no way to guarantee an exact return rate. Earning rates fluctuate depending on stock market performance. But through Save’s hypothetical back-testing procedure which views market data from 2006 to the present, the company has calculated an average growth rate of 5.7% (that’s after their mandatory 0.79% wealth management fee).
With that in mind, they’ve crafted a valuation chart to compare the Save Wealth Premium to other premium rewards cards. This reflects the expected return rate based on $3,500 in monthly spending — and the “Annual Rewards Value: Year 1” includes the welcome bonus of each card.
Save
For this comparison, Save has assumed the points value of competing cards is worth 1.5% back. If you’re familiar with Insider’s points valuations, you know it’s not difficult to receive a value significantly higher than this from rewards currencies earned by the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and The Platinum Card® from American Express
when you redeem them for travel. But when it comes to cash back, the Wealth Premium card is (theoretically) uncontested for everyday spending.
One other important note: Your minimum return will always be 0%. You won’t lose money if the stock market takes a turn for the worse. Here’s how Save described this situation to Insider: “The customer can not invest their own funds, and any investment is generated by spend, hence there is no risk to the customer if there is no return for periods when the market underperforms.”
There is no cap on the amount of money you can earn with this card. But there is a cap on how much you can lose — and that’s a good thing.
How to redeem cash back
While the card doesn’t earn cash back directly, it’s effectively a cash-back credit card. You can’t transfer its rewards to valuable airline and hotel partners like you can with other premium cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or The Platinum Card® from American Express. Here’s how you get your cash back:
- For every dollar you spend, Save buys a strategy-linked security with an investment worth twice the dollar spent.
- The investments remain untouched for a little over a year
- Save deposits the returns earned by the stocks into your bank account (minus Save’s mandatory 0.79% wealth management fee)
To be clear, you will not have access to the actual investments — only the gains from those investments. For example, if you spend $100, Save will purchase $217 in stocks (chosen by either you or Save). One year after that $100 purchase, you’ll be eligible to withdraw the gains on that stock. If the stock has yielded the expected return, you’ll receive $5.70 for your $100 purchase.
In the event that you make less than 0.79%, you won’t be charged the wealth management fee.
Because the return rate from your funds isn’t available until a year after the initial investment, “you’ll have a monthly annuity of returns coming in for every month you spent in the previous year, which is a good income generator,” said Nelskyla. “At any time, you can cancel your account and we will liquidate your investments at their market value and you will receive them. But it defeats the purpose of the program, and hence your returns may be lower than typical portfolio returns, but still likely to be higher than any cashback value of other cards.”
In short, you’ll be most rewarded by letting your stocks ride instead of withdrawing every month.
Save Wealth Premium benefits and features
Welcome bonus
Currently, the card offers a $10,000 investment bonus. That does not equate to $10,000 in cash — this is an investment made on your behalf. There’s no way to say for certain how much this is worth, as the market fluctuates, but a reasonable estimate is $278. Here’s why.
For every dollar you spend, Save will purchase $2.17 in investments. That means a $10,000 bonus is equivalent to spending $4,608. If you net a projected average return of 5.7% return on that spending, you’d receive $278.
In addition to this, both you and a friend will receive a $5,000 investment bonus when you refer to the card. Again, this is not a cash bonus. Using the above equation, this bonus should be worth $139, on average.
It’s worth restating that this dollar amount could be dramatically higher depending on the stock market. And by that same token, you could net absolutely nothing.
Earning rates
It’s been stated before, but the Save Wealth Premium’s big selling point is its potential earning rates on everyday spending — a whopping 5.7% estimated average return. There are no limits to what you can earn. And there are also bonus categories that earn the following (again, all are estimates):
- Tesla, Peloton, SoulCycle — 18% back
- Samsung, Apple, Microsoft — 12% back
- Amazon, Whole Foods — 9% back
As you can see, the Save Wealth Premium credit card is designed for members with high-quality brand loyalty. You won’t find annual Walmart+ subscription credits on this card.
These categories yield higher returns because Save purchases more stock per dollar when you transact with these merchants. For example, think of Tesla as a 3x category, Samsung as a 2x category, and Amazon as a 1.5x category.
Premium Market Savings account
The card comes with access to Save’s enhanced FDIC-insured cash management tools which include:
- A Premium Market Savings account (which yields 1.5% on cash deposited)
- A high-yield checking account (which yields 0.5% back on cash deposited)
There are no deposit limits except for the $250,000 maximum for eligibility for FDIC insurance provided by Save’s bank partners.
Travel benefits
The Save Wealth Premium is not a travel credit card, though it’s got some fair travel benefits that are mostly standard with Visa Signature credit cards:
The card also offers premium benefits you won’t find on most other cards, such as:
- 15% Audi rental discount
- Avis Presidents Club status (normally by invitation only, and comes with perks like 50% bonus points, a guaranteed car, and double upgrades when available after booking an intermediate car or higher)
Lifestyle benefits
This card comes with access to the Visa Signature Concierge, which can help with such arrangements as travel, restaurant reservations, and tickets to entertainment events.
The Save Wealth Premium is also good for large purchases, as it offers purchase security and extended warranty benefits.
Fees and costs
The Save Wealth Premium charges a $750 annual fee. You’ll also be charged a wealth management fee of 0.79%. If your earnings are less than that, however, you won’t be charged a fee.
Comparison: Save Wealth Premium vs other Save Wealth credit cards
Save Wealth Premium vs other cash back credit cards
*6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 spent per year, then 1% back
What to know about the Save Wealth Premium Card
We’ve never before seen a credit card like the Save Wealth Premium. The opportunity to earn stock rewards instead of direct cash back comes with uncertainty — a stock market free fall could mean you don’t earn a dime for your spending.
But Save’s hypothetical back-testing procedure suggests cardholders will receive an average of 5.7% back on all spending. Just be aware that you’ll have to wait at least one year before you see any returns from the card, as the investments generated by your spending must remain untouched for at least one year.
Depending on the success of the Save Wealth Premium, this could be the future of credit card rewards.
