Owner's Rewards Card by M1 Finance

Owner’s Rewards Card is Best for

• Passive investors interested in building long-term wealth;
• Investors looking for favorable cashback rewards;
• Investors already shopping at companies in the 5% and 10% cashback rewards categories;
• M1 Finance users investing in individual securities.

What Are M1 Owner’s Rewards Card Advantages?

This cashback credit card offers favorable benefits to cardholders.

Up to 10% cash back on eligible purchases

You can earn back up to 10% cash when you are an M1 Plus member. The standard cashback baseline for all everyday purchases is 1.5%, regardless of the merchant. However, you can add extra cash when spending at select merchants. The three cashback tiers include:

The Owner’s Rewards Program includes over 70 brands², with the list constantly expanding. However, M1 refreshes it periodically according to investment popularity.

No annual fees

This card has no annual fee, and you will not be charged any cardholder fee, no matter how long you’ve had the card.

However, with the M1 Plus membership which has a $125 annual fee, you receive additional benefits, including:

• Up to 10% cash back rewards;
• Earning interest on your M1 Spend account;
• Lower borrowing rate;
• 1% APY checking and cashback on your M1 Spend Visa Debit Card;
• Four monthly ATM fee reimbursements instead of one;
• Lower interest rates if you open an M1 Borrow account to borrow against your investments.

This credit card also has a variable APR that’s pretty low compared to most premium credit cards. Another plus is no foreign transaction fees.

Reinvesting rewards into an M1 portfolio

You can redeem your cashback rewards by transferring them to your M1 Spend account, but you can also reinvest them into your underlying securities for continuous growth. M1 automatically reinvests them into your portfolio (it calls it a “Pie”) depending on your target percentages for each slice – every eligible company you’ve invested in using your M1 Invest account. You can allocate a minimum of 1% of your rewards to each, and they should add up to 100%.

Here’s an example: you have four companies in your investment portfolio, and you set your Pie to spread the rewards equally across all those companies. If you’ve earned a monthly cashback of $200, you’ll reinvest $50 (25%) of your cashback into each company. You can include individual assets or multiple Pies into a single Pie. You can also choose the so-called “Expert Pie” with various investment strategies.

Visa Signature Benefits

The Owner’s Rewards card is a Visa Signature credit card from FDIC-insured Celtic Bank. Some of the numerous Visa Signature® benefits¹ include:

• Zero liability policy;
• ID Navigator for identity theft protection;
• Emergency card replacement;
• Travel and emergency assistance services;
• 24/7 customer support;
• Luxury Hotel Collection for exclusive benefits at prestigious hotels;
• Roadside dispatch.

The sleek, metal card supports mobile (Google Pay and Apple Pay) and contactless payments.

Are There Any Disadvantages?

No credit card is perfect. Add rewards to it, and you’re bound to disappoint some users. Here are the most significant Owner’s Rewards card’ features that may be a deal-breaker for some people.

Maximum $200 cashback per month. You can’t earn more than $200 in cashback rewards on eligible purchases per calendar month. That may not be as much as you hope to gain or reinvest.

Strict eligibility requirements. You must meet a few eligibility requirements³ to get the Owner’s Rewards Card by M1. They include: having at least a good credit score (700-749), and, an address that is in one of the 50 US states (US territories are not supported yet).

However, using the card for purchases at select merchants guaranteed you 1,5% cashback rewards. And, you don’t need anymore to own shares of an eligible company in order to invest in it using the M1 Invest account.

What Makes This M1 Finance Card Different

The Owner’s Rewards Card isn’t your regular rewards card. It’s a unique product for investors looking to earn like business owners. Besides saving on your purchases, it lets you support your favorite brands and boost wealth in the long run.

M1 Finance offers⁴ a dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android to streamline its users’ automated investing and direct trading. The Finance Super App is intuitive and offers digital banking, margin lending, and fractional shares trading. You can also use it to manage and freeze your card and customize your trading strategies while enjoying the lack of account management fees and trading commissions.

Another advantage of using this card is the SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) insuring up to $500,000 worth of securities in M1 Invest accounts.

Competition and Alternatives

• Save Wealth Plus – replaces rewards with investments, $10K signup investment bonus, up to 4% APY average return, and $2,5K investment per referral

Bottom Line

The M1 Owner’s Rewards Card is excellent for passive investors looking to build long-term wealth. It can help them automate reinvestments from savings on frequent purchases with companies in which they own stock. There is no annual fee and you can use M1 Plus membership to enjoy additional benefits. Investors looking to build an investment portfolio should look for solutions other than a rewards credit card. This one doesn’t connect with brokerage platforms, but ties to your M1 Invest account. You must buy and hold individual stocks in select companies to receive and preserve the best rewards. Additionally, M1 Finance periodically refreshes the company list, making it challenging to keep track of investments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Article Sources

1. Visa Benefits Reimagined. Visa (USA)
2. The program includes travel companies, fuel brands, restaurants, apparel, labels, and more. See the full list.
3. Who is Eligible to Apply for the Owner’s Rewards Card by M1? M1 Finance
4. M1 Finance Review. Investopedia