Ready to spend your bitcoin? It may be time to invest in one of these debit cards. Here’s how to easily fit your digital currency into your wallet.
Bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency are continuing to become more popular. Trading Bitcoin has been increasing in prevalence, and people want convenient ways to spend it.
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to spend. And frankly, this has kept Bitcoin from becoming as mainstream as it could be.
Enter the Bitcoin debit card.
People want to spend their Bitcoin in ways that are easy to understand. This makes using it more welcoming and more accessible to turn your currency into goods.
In this article, I’ll discuss what Bitcoin debit cards are, how they work, and some of the pros and cons of getting one. From there, you can decide if getting one is right for you.
What Is a Bitcoin Debit Card?
Before Bitcoin debit cards, people were forced to exchange their currency for legal tender on the market to spend it. More merchants are accepting Bitcoin as a payment option but not as many as you’d think.
This is why getting a Bitcoin debit card is so attractive. It gives you a convenient way to purchase goods and services using your Bitcoin as the payment method.
The card will work the same way your standard bank debit card does. You pay for things using the debit card, and your Bitcoin will be paying for the transaction.
So it works no differently than a regular debit card option. It just allows you to use those Bitcoin funds you have been accruing to get tangible goods or services.
Related: Bitcoin Tax Guide
How Do Bitcoin Debit Cards Work?
As I said above, Bitcoin debit cards will work the same as normal debit cards for the most part. You can swipe it and use the funds to pay for whatever you’re buying.
In the past, you needed to exchange your Bitcoin for a form of legal tender before buying most products at traditional retailers. This eliminates that annoyance and winds up letting the card companies handle the exchange for you.
Basically, the exchanging of currency is done behind the scenes when you make use of Bitcoin debit cards. The card company will be transferring your currency for legal tender instead of making you do it.
It’s an efficient way of handling this business that allows you to use your Bitcoin just as you would standard United States dollars or other types of currency. It doesn’t matter if a merchant accepts Bitcoin, because the debit card should work at any retailer that would normally take a debit card. This happens because the Bitcoin debit card companies have partnerships with the biggest credit card names around.
As an example, many of the most popular Bitcoin cards have a working relationship with Visa. As you know, Visa is accepted all around the world. So you can enjoy that same level of convenience while spending your Bitcoin.
Related: How to Buy Bitcoin and Other Digital Currencies
Why You Should Get a Bitcoin Debit Card
Many of the positive aspects of using a Bitcoin debit card are relatively obvious. For example, having the financial freedom to spend your Bitcoin more readily is nice.
In the past, you could not spend Bitcoin easily at just about any store. Having access to a Bitcoin debit card changes things up entirely and opens up new options for you.
Using a Bitcoin debit card also has the potential to protect your holdings, too. If you travel to other countries regularly, then you know that currency rates can change all of the time.
Spending typical forms of legal tender can sometimes present certain risks. The stability of local currency can fall into question in some countries, and this can wind up causing you to lose out on some money when exchanging currency and then exchanging it back once you leave.
A Bitcoin debit card allows you to purchase things conveniently at the current best exchange rate. This happens behind the scenes, and you never have to worry about getting a raw deal.
Thus, you shouldn’t be shocked by fluctuating market prices after spending a week in a country with stability issues. This protects your finances and allows you to keep things safe.
To add to this, you can even withdraw currency at an ATM if you need to. This is helpful because it allows you to turn Bitcoin into physical cash as quickly as you need to.
If you encounter a situation where someone doesn’t take debit cards as a payment option, you can always find an ATM and get the money you need that way. This is genuinely versatile just the same as a traditional debit card from your bank of choice.
Read More: 4 Ways to Track Your Bitcoin Investments
Why You May Not Want a Bitcoin Debit Card
Sometimes the fees will be high. The companies that offer Bitcoin debit card options will be charging you fees to make it worth their while.
The fees will differ depending on which card you go with. Some will be better than others and will be more worth your time.
Make sure you’re transferring your Bitcoin to the wallet account associated with the debit cards too. This can be somewhat of a nuisance for some people.
Most people want to avoid any potential risks of having their Bitcoin stolen and transferring the Bitcoin to the wallet may increase the risk of cyber theft. Mostly, this will be a safe situation, but it is something that you should know.
How to Get a Bitcoin Debit Card
Getting a Bitcoin debit card is not actually going to be too difficult. You just need to reach out to one of the credit card companies offering these cards.
You can sign up and will then have to pay any associated fees to get started. It will generally be easy with most companies to be able to get a Bitcoin debit card quickly.
Related: 5 Ways to Invest in Bitcoins
Best Bitcoin Debit Cards
Below are some of the most sought-after Bitcoin debit cards on the market. These cards are all excellent and will be useful to you.
Look at the pros and cons of each so you can make an informed decision. This will help you to spend your money wisely, and everything should go smoothly.
Cryptopay Debit Card
The Cryptopay debit card is one of the most popular options for people who like to spend Bitcoin. This is based in the European Union.
Some of its positive benefits include low commission fees and free worldwide delivery. It should be accepted anywhere that will take major credit and debit cards.
The negative side of this debit card is there will be fees for loading it, and you must pay maintenance fees. This is common, and the charges aren’t unreasonable.
You need to know some fees could somewhat hamper your experience. There is also a limit on how much you can load onto this debit card until you are verified. The limit is fairly generous, but it is still something to know before signing up.
Spectrocoin Visa Debit Card
Spectrocoin is one of the most straightforward debit cards to use when you want to spend your Bitcoin. Getting one should be a natural process and you can use it almost right away.
Loading money onto your card is quick and easy. It is associated with Visa, and that makes it a trustworthy card right off the bat.
The shipping fees for this card are high, though. Getting an actual plastic card to use in stores will cost you quite a bit. There should be a good experience once you use the card, though.
Uquid Visa Debit Card
Uquid is a good debit card option for anyone who wants to order multiple cards. Due to the association with Visa, it will be easy to use this card at most stores.
You can get a card through this company without having to go through an identity verification process. This streamlines things and makes it simpler just to use your Bitcoin how you want to.
Logging into the site is annoying and isn’t as intuitive as most would like it to be, though. Combine this with the poor English on their website and lack of customer service, and you have a problem.
This is still a sound card, but it does come with some caveats. Look into all of your options before deciding on this one.
BitPay Visa Debit Card
This is a very well-known company, and you should have no trouble using this card around the world. As with the other options associated with Visa, the BitPay Visa Debit Card will be very simple to use in familiar locations.
The associated fees are reasonable, and it makes it easy to see why this card is so prevalent. If you are looking for a good card based out of America, then this might be the best option for you.
One negative is this is only available to residents of the U.S. You also must use a standard home address to get this debit card.
They will not ship these cards out to a P.O. Box and you will also need to provide your driver’s license and social security number just to apply. This will be too much for some people so take the time to think about whether this is right for you.
Xapo Debit Card
Xapo is one of the first companies that issued Bitcoin debit cards. This makes them a reliable company that can offer you a good experience.
This is an easy debit card to get, and it will ship to you in most countries of the world. If you are looking for a simple application process, then this will be one of the preferred methods.
Problems arise when you look into the fees of this card. Some fees seem to be excessive. For example, they charge a fee for changing your PIN number.
They also do not offer PIN or chip cards, which could be a bad thing for many people. It is a good card in many ways, but the negatives can be somewhat frustrating.
Bottom Line
So you can see that using a Bitcoin debit card will be a convenient way to spend your Bitcoin. You can enjoy using your Bitcoin in just about any store you want to.
Getting a card shouldn’t take you long, and you will be using it just the same as a traditional debit card quickly. Some cards will have more associated fees than others but just do your best to pick the option that works the best for your specific situation.
Topics: Credit CardsThe post Best Bitcoin Debit Cards appeared first on The Dough Roller.
via Finance Xpress
Hello! Today, I have a great article from Melissa. You may remember her from How Melissa Made $40,000 In One Year Flipping Items. I recently heard about her fun challenge and asked her to share her story with you all. Enjoy!
(This is not the chair that was flipped. You can see the image of it below.)
Have you ever taken something that was old and worn out and turned it into something desirable again?
Do you love finding things that other people no longer value (and have maybe even thrown away!) and finding a new home where that piece will be wanted again?
I do! And my husband and I get to do this every day.
Hello! My name is Melissa Stephenson and my husband Rob and I flip items full-time.
Rob has been flipping items for 22 years now (I married into it 12 years ago). It’s always been our part-time gig, but three years ago we made the jump to full-time with our three young kids.
So what exactly is flipping?
Flipping items (also known as reselling) is finding undervalued items in one market and bringing them to a new market where they are desired and valued for more.
For example…
Every Saturday we head to our local flea market to browse the many booths full of items. We are looking for items that are being sold for less than what they are worth.
If we find something that catches our eye, we check the comps on eBay and decide if it’s worth it or not.
If so, we buy it, list it on eBay and sell it for a profit.
And most of these vendors are doing the exact same thing as we are! They bought their items at an auction or thrift store (or picked it from the trash) and are selling it for more than they paid for it.
It’s the life cycle of the flipper.
We’ve bought and sold items of all shapes and sizes over the years and now we also help other’s do the same over on our blog Flea Market Flipper.
I’m sure you have heard the phrase:
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”
We have taken that phrase and run with it this year!
In January we started a flipping challenge for our audience, and we have taken a chair we found in the trash and turned it into $103,000 of inventory!
I’ll dive into that in just a second.
The guidelines for the challenge are:
- Find an item for $25 or less (from a thrift store, yard sale, flea market or even curbside in the trash).
- Resell that item. (using eBay, OfferUp, Letgo, Facebook Marketplace or other platform)
- Take the money and reinvest it in other items to resell.
- Keep reinvesting the money until the end of the year and see how much you can save.
We started in January with a chair that we found in the trash.
It was a nice little accent chair from Target – retail was around $200.
One evening we were walking with our three young kids (we try to do a walk almost every evening), and we spotted this chair sitting on the side of the road.
It looked to be in great condition so once we got home, my husband brought the car back and picked it up.
When we got it back to the house we realized there was one broken piece of wood underneath it, so he cut a small piece of wood and attached it where it was broken.
A $2 fix that took 5 minutes and we had a new chair!
We listed the chair on Facebook Marketplace and sold it for $50 in a few days.
Next we took that $50 and bought two exercise bikes. One was $15 and the other was $25.
We sold both of those bikes for $500 each on eBay!
They both had to be shipped freight on a pallet and we included shipping in our price, so the end profit for both together came to $473.
All from a chair we found in the trash.
But we didn’t stop there.
We have kept reinvesting the money in items to resell and have now made over $11,000 in cash, and have over $100,000 in inventory and in less than 5 months!
Our goal is to be at $150,000 cash by the end of the year and buy a rental property with the money.
We are currently home owners and have one rental property, but have always wanted to expand our rental portfolio.
Our goal is to be at 10 rental properties in the next 10 years.
We are on our way to number two this year – and all from a chair from the trash!
People throw things out all the time.
Just in our few blocks of walking each day, we have found numerous items that we have picked up and resold.
Why do people throw perfectly good items in the trash?
Sometimes we wonder the same thing, but don’t complain because it makes us extra cash. Ha
There could be several reasons why people throw things away.
They could be redoing an area in the house and no longer want/need the furniture that used to be there.
Maybe they’re Marie Kondoing their house and the item no longer brings them joy…
Sometimes a piece may be broken and they don’t want to take the time or the money to fix it.
But why throw it in the trash and not donate it?
Sometimes people just don’t want to mess with the time it takes to donate items. (Not a great excuse to not recycle).
And also they know if the item is in good condition most likely someone will come take it out of the trash. (That’s where we come in.)
Just the other day we were walking and saw a bed that was thrown away.
We picked it up, dusted it off and sold it on Facebook Marketplace for $100 in just a few days!
It’s crazy the amount of nice things that people throw away.
And the amount of money that ends up sitting on the curb.
We like to think of ourselves as not only resellers, but recyclers too. Our society can be very wasteful at times.
When something breaks on an item, instead of trying to fix it, many people just get a new one and put the old one in the trash. (YouTube can teach you to fix almost anything!)
Or sometimes people upgrade to new colors or design in their house and have no need for the old décor – so curbside it goes.
On the flip side of that, there are people who would love to have that old décor – and for a fraction of the cost.
And we get to connect the two.
And get paid for our time.
We are so excited to see where this challenge will take us at the end of the year!
And the best part is – anyone can jump in at any time! It doesn’t have to be January to start.
What if you started today and were able to save up an extra $2,000, $5,000, $10,000 or more!
All from a $25 investment.
What would you do with that extra money?
Take a cool family vacation?
Slash a credit card debt?
Buy a car?
Whatever it is, know that it is possible to make it happen with a little work.
People ask us all the time if anyone can do this – and our answer is ABSOLUTELY!
You don’t need a special degree, you don’t need any special tools. If you have a smart phone and transportation you can start this side-hustle today!
So where do you start?
We have boiled it down to 10 steps to get started with a flipping side-hustle, and here is our top 3:
1. Clear out your closet
First start by selling your own unwanted items from home. Get your feet wet on the reselling apps by going through your own items and see what you haven’t used in a while.
A good general rule is if you haven’t used it or worn it in over a year you most likely can live without it.
Wouldn’t you prefer a stack of cash sitting on your night stand instead of something you aren’t using anyway?
2. Take good pictures
There is no need to be a professional photographer, but having a clean, well-lit area for pictures is very helpful when selling items online.
People can get fancy with their photo set ups, but that can evolve as you make more money reselling.
A phone camera and a solid wall or sheet work great when starting out.
Some things to remember when taking pictures:
- Keep out the clutter in the background
- Take pictures of all angles of items and especially any imperfections
- No pets in pictures (I know, shouldn’t have to be said, but we see it happen)
3. Cross-post items
There are many platforms to sell items on, and it can get a bit overwhelming.
- Local selling apps – Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, LetGo, Craigslist
- Global selling apps – eBay, Amazon, Mercari, Poshmark
Now Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp are starting to offer shipping, but until they really break into it, we will keep them in the local selling category.
We sell 80% of our items on eBay, about 15% on Facebook Marketplace, and the other 5% a mix of OfferUp & Craigslist.
We recommend cross-posting on local selling apps and on global ones because you never know where the item will sell!
You don’t have to list on every app, but once you find the ones you enjoy the most, you stick more with those.
If you love reselling clothing and fashion (and now home décor) Poshmark may be your best app.
If you love selling unique items and reach a large audience like us, then eBay may be your best app.
Each app is a little different, and has a little learning curve, but the best way to get started is to just jump in!
For those who are ready to make a great side income or full-time income from flipping, and who want to dive into the rest of our 10 steps, check out our FREE workshop to see if flipping items a good fit for you.
And don’t forget to jump into the flipping challenge with us and see how much you could save up by the end of the year!
Can’t wait to hear about your flipping success!
Thank you so much Michelle for having me!
Are you interested in learning how to buy and sell items?
The post How We’ve Turned A Free Chair Into $103,000 appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.
from Making Sense Of Cents
via Finance Xpress
Posted by: LK Lam
EDITOR’S RATING 3 / 5
PROS
- Competitive rates.
- Solid policy discounts.
- Nationwide availability.
- Only available to AAA members.
- Complaints about customer support and roadside assistance service.
- Average claims support.
AAA Review Summary: AAA auto insurance is only available to AAA members. An annual membership can cost anywhere from $50 to $130 on average, depending on the level of membership you decide to purchase. If you’re already a member and wish to consolidate all your insurance policies with one company, AAA auto insurance is worth considering given its competitive rates, discounts, and other member benefits. In particular, AAA’s accident forgiveness and disappearing deductible benefits are worth highlighting since not all auto insurers offer those features.
However, you can certainly find a broader range of coverage options and a better insurance shopping experience with other major auto insurers. Many of the regional AAA websites have an outdated feel, and it’s often difficult to get details about policy options in your state without calling a AAA agent.
In the sections below, learn more about AAA car insurance and how it fares against popular competitors.
Find the Cheapest Auto Insurance Quotes in Your Area Age 16-20 21-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-65 65+ Currently Insured? Find Insurers AAA Auto Insurance Reviews & Ratings-
- WalletHub: 3.4/5 (152 user reviews)
- Better Business Bureau: A+ (accredited)
- J.D. Power: 3.3/5 (average rating of 3 AAA affiliates)
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC): In 2018, AAA auto insurance received fewer complaints than other auto insurers of similar size.
A review of AAA auto insurance complaints online reveals that the quality of AAA’s flagship roadside assistance service is a crapshoot. While some customers praised AAA’s performance of repairs, many others took issue with the response time and customer service during roadside emergencies. Customers have also pointed out AAA auto insurance’s unexplained premium increases over the years.
AAA-affiliated companies have received an excellent rating for financial strength over the years from A.M. Best, a nationally recognized credit rating agency that focuses on the insurance industry.
Fun Fact: AAA conducts reviews of hotels and restaurants for travelers. With the help of professional onsite inspectors, AAA has rated more hotels and restaurants than any other professional rating organization in North America.
AAA Auto Insurance Coverage OptionsAAA sells auto insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, but policies are only available to AAA members.
The company offers all the standard coverage options to keep you and your vehicle protected on the road. These include liability coverage for bodily injury and property damage as well as coverage for medical payments, personal injury protection, collision damage, and uninsured/underinsured motorists. Comprehensive coverage is an option, too. Additionally, all AAA members have access to the company’s flagship emergency roadside service.
AAA members can choose to enhance their auto policies with additional coverage options. It’s important to note that the availability and details of these extra coverage options vary widely. AAA is organized regionally, and each regional organization operates largely independently. As a result, not all coverage options are available in all states.
Supplemental Coverage Options from AAA Auto Insurance:- Rental Reimbursement: Covers the cost of a rental car when your vehicle is in the repair shop due to an accident.
- Gap Coverage: Pays the difference between the actual cash value of your car and the amount that is still owed on your loan or lease if you total your car in an accident.
- Accident Forgiveness: Protects you from a premium increase after an accident.
- Disappearing Deductible: Reduces your comprehensive and/or collision deductible by $50 for every policy period in which you remain claim-free (up to $500).
- AAA Commercial Auto Insurance
- AAA Rideshare Insurance
- AAA Mexico Auto Insurance
- AAA Motorcycle & Recreational Vehicle Insurance
WalletHub’s editors obtained AAA auto insurance quotes for driver profiles varying in age and experience.
| Age | Clean Driving Record | Poor Driving Record |
| 21 | $310 / month | $480 / month |
| 30 | $217 / month | $334 / month |
| 42 | $186 / month | $289 / month |
Premiums may vary by state and coverage level. To learn how WalletHub obtained these quotes, please refer to the Methodology section below.
AAA Insurance Discounts- Prior Insurance: Discount for switching to AAA. To qualify, drivers must have had continuous coverage while they were insured with their previous auto insurance company.
- AAA Membership: The longer you’re a AAA member, the more you save.
- New Car: Discount for insuring a brand-new vehicle on your policy.
- Multiple-Product: Discount for bundling more than one AAA insurance product.
- Multiple-Car: Discount when you insure more than one vehicle with AAA.
- Vehicle Safety: Discount for having certain vehicle safety devices on board (e.g., airbags and anti-lock brakes).
- Anti-Theft: Discount for installing anti-theft equipment in your vehicle.
- Paperless: Discount for choosing to receive your policy documents electronically.
- Pay in Full: Discount when you pay your premium for the entire policy period within 7 days of your insurance’s effective date.
- AutoPay: Discount for enrolling in automatic premium payments.
- AAA Safety Inspection: Discount when your vehicle passes a safety inspection by AAA.
- AAADrive™: Discount for enrolling in AAA’s driving monitoring program. AAADrive uses a mobile app to track your driving habits, giving you feedback on how safely you drive and what you may need to work on.
- Defensive Driver: Discount when you complete a defensive driving course.
- New Young Driver: Discount for adding a driver under the age of 20 to your existing auto policy.
- Good Student: Discount for students who receive a “B” or better average in school.
- Student Away: Discount for parents whose young drivers are attending school more than 100 miles away without access to their vehicles.
The eligibility criteria, availability, and amount of these discounts vary by state.
AAA vs. GEICO, State Farm & Allstate| Insurer | AAA | GEICO | State Farm | Allstate |
| Average Annual Premium | $3,322 | $3,546 | $3,925 | $4,949 |
| WalletHub Ranking (total of 46 companies)/td> | 14th | 21st | 26th | 40th |
| Complaints Score (lower is best) | 1.12 | 0.84 | 0.59 | 0.88 |
| Customer Satisfaction | 3.3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
Note: Customer satisfaction ratings are from JD Power’s 2019 automotive insurance surveys.
MethodologyIn order to rate and rank AAA auto insurance, we looked closely at the auto policies sold by some of the most popular insurance companies in the United States. We evaluated the relative strengths and shortcomings of each company, and based our AAA auto insurance review on the following key factors:
- Cost
- Coverage options & limits
- Claims process
- Customer reviews
- Watchdog ratings
- Customer service
- Transparency
To assess customer satisfaction at AAA auto insurance and other companies, WalletHub assigns each auto insurer a complaints score, which represents the annual number of complaints against the company adjusted to its market size based on its share of annual premiums for personal auto policies. This adjustment is necessary as larger companies tend to log more complaints.
Assumptions for AAA Auto Insurance Quotes:Gender: MaleMarital Status: SingleState: CaliforniaCar: Honda Accord
| Coverage Type | Coverage Limit |
| Bodily Injury | $100,000/person $300,000/accident |
| Property Damage | $50,000 |
| Medical Payments | $5,000 |
| Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (Bodily Injury) | $30,000/person $60,000/accident |
| Comprehensive | $250 deductible |
| $250 deductible | $500 deductible (waiver add-on included) |
In order to compare auto premiums across major insurance carriers, WalletHub collected quotes for at least 30 cities in the state of California. California was chosen given its population size and its average ranking in WalletHub’s research on car insurance pricing. The sample quotes we obtained from the state insurance regulator’s database are based on a variety of driver profiles with different ages and driving records, where a poor record means that the driver has had at least one at-fault accident or traffic violation.
You can learn more about the findings of our car insurance research in WalletHub’s 2019 Cheap Car Insurance Study. And if you would like to help other consumers as they shop for auto insurance, feel free to share your own experiences with AAA by writing a AAA auto insurance review.
from Wallet HubWallet Hub
via Finance Xpress
Posted by: John S Kiernan
EDITOR’S RATING 4.8 / 5
PROS
- 1.5%+ cash back
- No annual fee
- Cell phone insurance
- 3% foreign transaction fee
- 3% intro or 5% on-going balance transfer fee
- $20 - $25 redemption minimum
- High regular APR
The Verdict: The Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Card is both the best card that Wells Fargo has to offer and one of the best cash back credit cards from any issuer.
Cash Wise Card doesn’t charge an annual fee, which makes it $18.15 per year cheaper than the average credit card offer. It gives you at least 1.5% cash back on all purchases, which is roughly 50% higher than the average cash rewards card’s base earning rate. And you even get a bit more (1.8% back) on mobile-wallet purchases for the first 12 months.
Although the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Credit Card offers 0% introductory interest rates on purchases and qualifying balance transfers, it’s far less competitive for financing than it is for rewards. The length of its 0% intro term is slightly above average. There’s a balance transfer fee to take into account. And depending on your creditworthiness, the regular APR could be quite high.
So it’s fair to say the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card is best for people who pay their bills in full every month and want simple, attractive everyday rewards. If you fit that description, make sure to check your latest credit score before you apply, too. You need at least good credit to qualify.
To learn more about the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa, check out WalletHub’s complete breakdown below.
The Highlights- 1.5%+ Cash Back on Purchases: The average cash rewards credit card currently offers just 1.06% back. So Cash Wise is clearly leaps and bounds better, considering that you’ll earn 47% to 75% more on every purchase you make. Most purchases will yield 1.5% cash back, and you’ll get 1.8% back when you pay with a mobile wallet.
- No Annual Fee: Most everyday cash back credit cards don’t charge annual fees. So the Cash Wise Visa’s lack of one probably won’t do much to differentiate it from the competition. But it will save you $18.15 per year compared to the average credit card offer. And all else being equal, not having to pay is always preferable.
- 3% Foreign Transaction Fee: It would not be wise to use the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card for purchases that will be processed outside the U.S. That means any purchase made while traveling abroad as well as purchases made from internationally based merchants. And that’s because the Cash Wise Card tacks a 3% surcharge onto foreign transactions. The average credit card charges just 1.50%, and there are dozens of no foreign transaction fee credit cards to choose from.
- 3%+ Balance Transfer Fee: The average household owes more than $8,000 to creditors. So they’d have to pay a fee of about $240 if they were to transfer that balance to the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Card. And that’s only if they make the transfer within 120 days of account opening. Otherwise, the card’s 3% intro transfer fee rises to 5%, bringing the average household’s expected fee to $400.
There are much cheaper options offering 0% intro APRs for far longer. So there’s really no reason to opt for the Cash Wise Visa if you’re looking to reduce the cost of existing debt.
- $20+ Redemption Minimum: Wells Fargo Cash Wise cardholders cannot redeem their cash back earnings whenever they want. Rather, you can only redeem in increments of $25 (online and by phone) or $20 (with a Wells Fargo debit card at a Wells Fargo ATM). That could be a thorn in your side, for sure. But it shouldn’t be too big of an issue in the long run.
- Potential for a Very High Regular APR: The Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa’s variable APR currently ranges from 16.24% - 28.24% (V). That’s problematic for a couple of reasons. For starters, it’s not very transparent. Applicants have no idea which end of this very wide range they’ll get matched up with. And that uncertainty warrants concern, considering that the high end of that range is well above the averages for secured cards (18.54%) and credit cards for people with fair credit (22.99%), according to WalletHub research.
Nevertheless, the decision here should be pretty clear. Even the low end of the Cash Wise Visa’s APR range is above the average among credit cards for excellent credit. So this is not the card for carrying a balance from month to month, particularly when regular rates are in effect.
- 0% Intro APRs: The average credit card offering 0% purchases gives you that intro rate for roughly the first 10.6 months your account is open, according to WalletHub research. And the average 0% balance transfer credit card delays regular rates by about 12 months. So the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa certainly isn’t bad as far as financing is concerned. But it’s nothing special, either.
In short, the good or excellent credit needed to qualify for Cash Wise could buy you hundreds more in savings. You can use WalletHub’s balance transfer calculator to find the best offer for your needs.
- Cell Phone Insurance: If your cell phone is damaged or stolen, Wells Fargo will cover the cost of a replacement, up to $600 per claim and $1,200 per year. You just have to pay a $25 deductible.
You’re limited to two claims every 12 months. And coverage doesn’t apply if you pay your cell phone bill with a Wells Fargo debit card or a Wells Fargo business credit card.
- Good Credit Required: This is important to reiterate because two-thirds of consumers don’t have the good or excellent credit needed to qualify. And you applying for a credit card you have no chance of getting will only hurt your credit standing. Fortunately, you can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub.
If you discover that you don’t have at least good credit, you’ll still have options. There are usually a few cash back credit cards for people with fair credit. And there’s even an option or two for people with bad credit from time to time.
There’s a lot of competition among cash back credit cards for people with good or excellent credit. After all, people who seek out such cards tend to use their cards everyday and pay their bills on time every month. And competition among credit card companies leads to great terms for consumers. So make sure to consider all of your options before submitting an application.
To help you find the best deal, WalletHub compared the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa to some of the most popular offers from other issuers. Here’s a breakdown of what they bring to the table:
 Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Card |
 SponsoredCapital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card |
 SponsoredCiti® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer |
 SponsoredBlue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express |
 SponsoredChase Freedom Unlimited® |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $0 | $0 | $0 | $95 | $0 |
| Rewards Bonus | N/A | $150 | N/A | $250 | Double Cash Back |
| Rewards Rate | 1.5 - 1.8% Cash Back | 1.5% Cash Back | 2% Cash Back | 1 - 6% Cash Back | 1.5% Cash Back |
| Purchase Intro APR | 0% for 12 months | 0% for 15 months | Not Offered | 0% for 12 months | 0% for 15 months |
| Transfer Intro APR | 0% for 12 monthsTransfer Fee: 3% (min $5) | 0% for 15 monthsTransfer Fee: 3% | 0% for 18 months*Transfer Fee: 3% (min $5) | 0% for 12 monthsTransfer Fee: 3% (min $5) | 0% for 15 monthsTransfer Fee: Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater. |
| Regular APR | 16.24% - 28.24% (V) | 16.24% - 26.24% (V) | 15.74% - 25.74%* (V) | 15.24% - 26.24% (V) | 17.24% - 25.99% (V) |
| Editors’ Rating | 4.8 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 | 5.0 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 |
| Details, Rates & Fees | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn MoreRates & FeesTerms Apply | Learn More |
| Winners |
|
|
|||
from Wallet HubWallet Hub
via Finance Xpress
Posted by: John S Kiernan
Credit cards offer a lot of travel-related benefits that most people don’t seem to know much about. Rental car insurance, travel accident insurance, and insurance for lost/delayed luggage are just a few of them.
To see whether such perks will be put to good use this summer travel season or left unused, plus a whole lot more, WalletHub conducted a nationally representative online survey. You can find the results below.
| Which benefits do some credit cards offer? | |
|---|---|
| Rental car insurance | 47% |
| Insurance for accidents while traveling | 41% |
| Trip delay/cancellation insurance | 39% |
| Extend manufacturer’s warranty | 34% |
| Refund if an item’s price drops within 60 days after a purchase | 34% |
| Airport lounge access | 30% |
| Extra time to return purchases | 28% |
| Cell phone damage insurance | 19% |
| None of the above | 25% |
| Which credit card feature do you want most? | |
| Refund if an item’s price drops within 60 days after a purchase | 29% |
| None of the above | 18% |
| Trip delay/cancellation insurance | 12% |
| Rental car insurance | 10% |
| Insurance for accidents while traveling | 9% |
| Extend manufacturer’s warranty | 9% |
| Extra time to return purchases | 7% |
| Cell phone damage insurance | 7% |
| Airport lounge access | 5% |
| Which would you prefer? | |
| Retailer price-match / lowest price guarantee | 60% |
| Credit Card price protection | 40% |
| Do you trust the rental car insurance provided by credit cards? | |
| Yes | 56% |
| No | 44% |
| Which do you trust more? | |
| Credit card companies | 56% |
| Rental car companies | 44% |
| How much money would an item’s price have to drop to file a claim with your credit card company? | |
| $50 | 29% |
| $20 | 28% |
| $10 | 28% |
| $100 | 8% |
| $101+ | 7% |
| How long would your flight have to be delayed to file a claim with your credit card company? | |
| 3 hours | 34% |
| 5 hours | 26% |
| 12 hours | 15% |
| 1 hour | 13% |
| 24 hours | 12% |
| Have you ever had purchases declined due to suspected fraud while traveling? | |
| No | 60% |
| Yes | 40% |
| Have you found your credit card’s customer service to be helpful while you’re traveling? | |
| Yes | 69% |
| No | 31% |
Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
from Wallet HubWallet Hub
via Finance Xpress
High trading fees are highway robbery. But justice prevails in the form of Robinhood–not the guy who robbed from the rich to give to the poor, but a trading platform with a feather in its cap… it’s free!
Robinhood
Pros
- You’ll save a lot of money
- Trading options
- Low minimum balance requirement
- Easy to use app
Cons
- Customer service
- No mutual funds
- Only one account
Table of Contents
Investing can be complicated and expensive, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. But using an app like Robinhood can save you time, money, and headaches.
Robinhood is a trading platform that is entirely free. If you are interested in trading stocks or other assets, then you likely know how expensive the fees can get.
Most trading applications charge trade fees that will add up to a lot of money at the end of the year. Robinhood is different, as it seeks to eliminate the negatives of trade fees by offering a truly free experience.
This all sounds amazing, but is Robinhood really a good trading app that you can trust? Look at this Robinhood review so you can learn everything that you need to know.
You can figure out if this platform is right for you or if it is something that you should ignore. It’s always smart to look into opportunities that can save you money, so dig in and get the necessary information to make an informed decision.
Robinhood Key Features
The features of this application are actually impressive. It does lack some of the advanced trading tools you will get with more prevalent trading apps, but it’s fully featured for something that’s free.
Robinhood Crypto
Robinhood recently announced they’ve received a license to sell cryptocurrency in the state of New York. There are now 39 total states where you can invest in crypto, and “you can invest in seven cryptocurrencies on Robinhood Crypto: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.”
Robinhood Gold
Robinhood Gold has been a premium option for a while, but they’ve recently improved it significantly. According to their blog,
“In addition to margin investing and bigger instant deposits, it now includes new premium features like in-depth research and data.”
The premium features you’ll get include:
- Morningstar Research Reports
- Nasdaq Level 2 Market Data
Gold costs $5 per month and you’ll get access to bigger instant deposits and a margin account. You can learn all about the new and improved Robinhood Gold here.
Robinhood Snacks
Robinhood also recently acquired a media company called MarketSnacks, which had a financial news podcast and newsletter. They’ve relaunched under the name Robinhood Snacks, which gives you “digestible and easy to understand financial news you’ll enjoy.”
Trade Multiple Investment Types
You can trade stocks, cryptocurrency, and more using this convenient trading platform. This can be done from your mobile phone.
Intuitive Mobile Platform
This is one of the best trading platforms for people on the go. The mobile interface is intuitive, and it feels comfortable to navigate. Having a smooth experience while trading makes things that much better. You won’t fumble around in menus while trying to figure things out. This app just clicks with people easily, and it makes your trading time more pleasant because of it.
Research Tools
You will also enjoy solid research tools when using this app. It makes getting information simple so you can go into a trade with confidence you are making a move right for you.
Robinhood Pricing & Fees
The most appealing thing about the Robinhood app is there are no associated fees. Most trading platforms make use of trade fees, but Robinhood has a different philosophy. It’s a free app that allows you to trade without having to worry about lining someone else’s pockets.
There are minor trading fees, though, which is required by the SEC. Here’s what Robinhood has to say about their fees:
Investing with Robinhood is commission free, now and forever. We don’t charge you fees to open your account, to maintain your account, or to transfer funds to your account.
However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) do charge a small fee for stock sell orders. They charge these fees for all sell orders, regardless of the brokerage. Robinhood doesn’t benefit financially from these charges, and we pass them along to the relevant regulatory agencies when we collect them.
-
SEC: $13.00 per $1,000,000 of principal. This fee is rounded up to the nearest penny.
-
FINRA Trading Activity Fee (TAF): $.000119 per share. This fee is rounded up to the nearest penny and no greater than $5.95.
Signing Up for Robinhood
Signing up for Robinhood is quick and easy
Signing up for Robinhood will be simple. You just need to make sure you have at least $2,000 to open an account. From there, you can create an account using the typical information.
You’ll need to provide your social security number, personal information, contact information, and a method to fund your account.
After that, you can trade fast, and everything can be done from your mobile phone.
Robinhood Security
Go into the Robinhood trading app with full confidence. The safety of this app is outstanding. This app is monitored carefully by professionals, and there is a deep commitment to ensuring that the trading is done safely and securely.
According to Robinhood, they’re an:
“SEC-registered broker-dealer, and a member of both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). This means stocks and options in your account are protected up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). For details, check out the SIPC website, and for more information on Robinhood Financial, you can find us on FINRA Broker Check.”
They also take your information protection seriously. Robinhood’s website states the following as examples of how they protect your information:
- Your account password is hashed using the industry-standard BCrypt hashing algorithm, and it’s never stored in plaintext.
- Sensitive details, such as your social security number, are encrypted before they’re stored.
- Our mobile and web applications securely communicate with our servers using the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol with the most up-to-date configurations and ciphers.
- We don’t store your online banking credentials, and we never will. Your banking credentials are used once to authenticate and verify that the specified account belongs to you.
Robinhood Mobile Support
Make trades where ever you go
Robinhood is tailor-made for mobile users, so the mobile support will always be top tier. You can enjoy a fully-featured application that makes trading as easy as it can be. Accessing your trades and account information from anywhere is a real convenience. It gives you the power to make trades and significant moves whenever you need to.
The flexibility of the Robinhood app deserves to be commended. This is very accessible and easy to navigate the application. It should work well for both trading veterans and those who are new to trading. If you have been looking for a new platform to help you facilitate your trades, then this one will be worth your while.
Robinhood Customer Service
Most of the Robinhood review submissions by customers will show you that the customer service and support of the Robinhood trading platform are only passable. This won’t be the most robust customer service you’ve ever seen.
You can rely on support staff if you need to, but you might not get the same level of attentiveness as you would with some of the larger platforms. Robinhood handles everything through email customer support, and this may not be ideal. This manages to cut out many fees and other associated costs of trading.
That being said, Robinhood has a deep help center that has tons of information about using their platform and trading in general. So if you’re good with self-support, it might be enough.
If customer service is imperative to you, then stick to one of the bigger trading platforms on the market. This will allow you to have a more traditional experience and that might be ideal in your situation. Consider the factors before you jump into anything.
Robinhood Pros & Cons
Pros:
- You’ll save a lot of money: The most obvious positives about the Robinhood trading platform are that you can eliminate many fees you’re used to paying. The reason for the naming convention is that it is all about helping people to trade while hanging onto as much of their money as possible. Whether or not this is taking from the rich and giving to the poor is up to you to decide. If you do your best to use this app to its full potential, then it may wind up saving you a lot of money.
- Trading options: This app can provide you with 100% commission-free stock trading. You can also trade cryptocurrency, options, and ETF in the same fashion. Account fees are kept to a minimum on this platform, and this saves you more money eventually. Trading stocks and other things without being forced to pay lots of fees will be a real benefit to your bank account.
- Low minimum balance requirement: Even the minimum portfolio balance will be easier to handle when using Robinhood. Most trading platforms require you to keep a large sum of money in an account, but Robinhood is different. All you will need is a portfolio of at least $2,000 to create an account. After this, you will never have to deal with any account minimum ever again.
- Easy to use app: This app is easy to use with a very streamlined interface. Signing up will be a quick process, and it will only require necessary information such as your social security number, contact details, and a way to fund your account. Once you get things going, you’ll have a smooth experience using the mobile app to trade. This is one of the most convenient methods to trade when you want things to be easy and affordable.
Cons:
- Customer service: The cons come into play when you think about customer service. Overall, the customer service for Robinhood is okay. They do things through email and do not even publish a phone number for you to contact them. This makes things somewhat tough, but the app is well made and should not give you many problems, to begin with.
- No mutual funds: Also, mutual funds and bonds are not supported by this trading platform. This will make people feel like their options are being limited. If you want to trade in bonds and mutual funds, then this will not be the trading platform for you. Turning to one of the larger and more well-known trading platforms will likely work out better.
- Only one account: It should also be noted that you can have only one single individual tax account. This may not work out well for people who want to invest using a tax-advantaged account such as a 401(k). Keeping this in mind, you have to weigh the positives against the negatives. Depending on your needs, this platform will either be fantastic or something that will not work for you.
Robinhood Alternatives
There are two alternatives you will want to consider using. The most popular alternative will likely be E-Trade. E-Trade is a popular trading platform working for people for many years. They have a more robust customer support team and offer many more options. There will be more fees and other problems to deal with, but it will be a more traditional experience you can count on. You can expect the trade fees to be set at $6.95 per trade and there is a $500 account minimum.
You may also want to think about trying out Ally Invest. Many people actually prefer to use this trading platform as opposed to E-Trade. It offers you a $4.95 trade fee and does not have an account minimum. If this sounds good to you, then it might be the best option that lies somewhere between Robinhood and E-Trade.
Is Robinhood Right for You?
Determining whether Robinhood is right for you will be tricky. It actually comes down to what you expect and what you need out of a trading platform. If you value not paying fees and not having to worry about account minimums, then Robinhood is very appealing. It offers you a convenient way to trade from a mobile platform and using the interface always feels intuitive.
This is an excellent trading app that does have a few drawbacks. Not trading bonds or mutual funds might be a dealbreaker for some. You merely need to ask yourself what your needs are so you can move forward with confidence.
For some people, a more traditional trading experience will be ideal. If you want access to robust customer support options and a conventional trading structure, then you should go with one of the tried and true platforms. Those who want to try something new and like avoiding fees will wind up loving Robinhood.
Bottom Line
Robinhood is a fantastic trading platform convenient for mobile users. You can trade stocks, cryptocurrency, options, and ETFs easily. Avoiding fees and not having to worry about account minimums will be great. It is not as good for customer service as most other apps, but it is a secure platform you can trust.
If you have no plans to trade in mutual funds or bonds, then it is easy to recommend that you give Robinhood a shot. The potential for saving money is there when you use this app. It feels good to use and is likely to improve. Remember it if you are fed up with some of the bigger trading platforms and are looking to make a change.
Topics: Investing • ReviewsThe post Robinhood Review – Don’t be Robbed by Fees, Invest for Free appeared first on The Dough Roller.
via Finance Xpress
Regular physical activity reduces “all cause mortality” by 40 to 50 percent. But fewer than 1 in 4 U.S. adults exercise enough. (Photo: Flickr)
There is strong evidence that exercise is wildly beneficial. There is even stronger evidence that most people hate to exercise. So if a pill could mimic the effects of working out, why wouldn’t we want to take it?
Listen and subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or elsewhere. Below is a transcript of the episode, edited for readability. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, see the links at the bottom of this post.
* * *
AUTOMATED VOICE: Pedal faster, Stephen.
Hey, this is Stephen Dubner. I’m at the gym.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Your current heart rate is 110 beats per minute. Your target rate is 130 beats per minute.
We all know that exercise is good for us. We also know that most people don’t get nearly enough. Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults are “physically inactive”; another 20 percent are “insufficiently active.” And, not surprisingly, almost 40 percent of U.S. adults are classified as obese. To be reductive: many of us eat too much and exercise too little. Now, why don’t we get more exercise? Let’s be honest: it is hard work.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Stephen. I told you to pedal faster.
The cost of physical inactivity is massive — not just in illness and death but in dollars too. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Emory University say the U.S. spends around $117 billion a year on healthcare due to inadequate physical activity. And those are just the direct costs from treating cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and so on. It doesn’t even include things like loss of productivity.
AUTOMATED VOICE: There is a big hill coming up, Stephen. Are you ready?
It’s strange, if you think about it. For thousands and thousands of years, our ancestors worried about not getting enough food to eat, and their daily life required physical activity. Today, food is everywhere, and cheap, and super-fattening. And a lot of us have lives that require very little physical activity — which is why I’m here, on this stupid bike.
AUTOMATED VOICE: I am not going to take that personally.
A lot of smart people have spent a lot of time and effort trying to get people to exercise more. Mostly, they’ve failed. So what happens next? Wouldn’t it be amazing if, instead of exercise, there was something like an exercise pill?
AUTOMATED VOICE: I do not like that idea. I do not like that idea one bit.
* * *
Okay — glad that’s over. So: obesity started out as a problem in wealthier countries, but now it’s spread to middle- and low-income countries. The contributing factors are not in dispute: we consume too many calories, especially low-quality calories; and we don’t burn off nearly enough calories with physical activity. Now, to be fair, burning calories through exercise is a pretty inefficient process; it takes a lot more exercise than you’d think to burn off one cheeseburger. In that regard, it’d be better to just eat less. That said, exercise is also considered a very valuable input for overall health. That’s what we’ve been told at least. But let’s not take that for granted; let’s see if we can find some real evidence for that claim — and understand why exercise is supposed to be so good for us. We’ll start with this man:
Michael JOYNER: My name is Michael Joyner, and I’m a physician scientist at the Mayo Clinic.
A “physician scientist” meaning what?
JOYNER: I’m basically a physiologist who’s also a clinical anesthesiologist.
So that sounds pretty impressive: a physician scientist at the Mayo Clinic. But just so you know, Michael Joyner was an unimpressive student growing up in Arizona.
JOYNER: You’re correct, I was a sort of an indifferent student at Rincon High School, and I started college in 1976 and went to several schools in one year. I ended up, in 1977, at the University of Arizona, where I promptly almost flunked out. And in December of 1977, I’d actually signed up to take the test to become a Tucson city fireman. And what happened was, I was out running a race, a 10K race.
Joyner was a pretty good athlete.
JOYNER: I ran track and field at the University of Arizona, where I ran the 5,000 and the 10,000. I also ran a 2:25 marathon in the late seventies.
If you’re not familiar with marathon times — 2 hours and 25 minutes, for more than 26 miles, that is a very fast time.
JOYNER: And then I continued to run until I was about 40.
He still exercises about an hour a day.
JOYNER: It varies between a relatively easy day of aerobic exercise on the bike, or maybe some swimming, and then on the opposite days, I do something relatively intense, which includes a warm-up and then about 30 or 40 minutes of circuit training. And because I’m 60 years old, is, I’ve done probably a little bit more strength training the last five, ten years because, as you get older, you really want to avoid frailty, muscle loss; you don’t want to slip on the ice, that sort of thing.
Back when Joyner was thinking about becoming a fireman, and he was running that 10k race:
JOYNER: A man named Eddie Coyle, who’s a well-known exercise physiologist, Eddie was a graduate student in the lab at Tucson at the time, and he said, “Do you want to be a subject in a study on lactic acid?” Said, “Sounds good to me.” So, I showed up and ran in the lab, and I said, “Man, this is unbelievable. There’s actually people who do this for a living.”
Joyner was told he could work in the lab as a student assistant if he got his grades up.
JOYNER: I had a square-wave experience with my grades and started basically getting straight A’s. And I saw that if you wanted to do studies in humans where you put catheters in and do biopsies and that sort of thing, it would be facilitated if you were a physician. So, unlike a lot of physicians who get interested in research in medical-school residency or fellowship, I actually went to medical school with the express purpose of becoming a research-based integrative physiologist.
It did take Joyner a while to get into medical school.
JOYNER: Because I had to do a little academic rehab to make up for those first bad two years, and then I came to Mayo in 1987 and I’ve been here ever since.
DUBNER: So, you’re a big deal in the field of physiology, exercise physiology. Can you first, just for total laypeople, define physiology for us?
JOYNER: If you think about anatomy, anatomy describes the parts of the body. Physiology is really the engineering equivalent of that and says, “What do these different parts do alone and in combination?” There are all sorts of regulatory mechanisms that increase or decrease our breathing, increase or decrease our urine output. What we do as physiologists is study these regulatory systems and try to understand how all living forms adapt to environmental challenges.
DUBNER: Okay, so, open ended-question: tell us what we know, in a nutshell — we’ll get into details as we go — but tell us what we know about the benefits of physical exercise.
JOYNER: What we know in a nutshell is that people who are physically active, especially if they get somewhere between 150 and 300 minutes per week of moderately vigorous physical activity, have a large reduction in their all-cause mortality — typically about a 50 percent or maybe 40 percent reduction in their all-cause mortality. And typically, they live somewhere, depending on the study, between about four and seven years longer.
DUBNER: Wow, okay. Quickly, define for me “all-cause mortality.”
JOYNER: It just means you could die of anything. Could be cancer, heart disease, infectious disease, and so forth. And that’s one of the points people need to remember: we typically think of exercise as being especially protective against death and disability and diseases associated with the cardiovascular system. But it’s also protective against a number of forms of cancer, and a number of things like diabetes and other diseases.
Okay, so you may be saying to yourself: Michael Joyner sounds credible, and he’s got great credentials. But we also know he’s a bit of an exercise fanatic himself. So how can we be sure that it’s exercise that’s actually causing better health outcomes? What sort of baseline physiological evidence is there for that claim?
JOYNER: Well, a couple of things. The best evidence comes from various population cohorts, the most famous being the bus driver/bus conductor data from after World War II in London, where they showed the sedentary bus drivers had much higher rates of coronary-artery disease and heart attack than the active conductors who were walking around punching tickets, going up and down the stairs all day. And they showed a similar thing when they compared clerical workers to postmen. Again, all males, all members of the British civil servants. And that’s where that 40, 50 percent reduction in all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality came from.
Okay, that is a neat story, the bus drivers. But that was a long time ago. Has the effect been shown more recently?
JOYNER It’s been shown over and over again in every sort of cohort study. Then, you come to some other things. So if you start looking at people with risk factors — people with hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, so forth and so on — people with high levels of physical activity or cardiorespiratory fitness, their risk is markedly blunted. So, I like to tell people that exercise and fitness really absolve you of other sort of risk-factor sins.
Alright, fine — but a couple things here. Cohort studies, or population studies — those are not the randomized, controlled trials that scientists consider their gold standard. And how do we know that people with high levels of physical activity, as Joyner’s describing here, how do we know that there aren’t other reasons for their good health? Maybe the people who are more likely to exercise are the same people who are more likely to eat better, or sleep better; maybe they’re the same people who don’t smoke, or who face less stress in their lives — stressors like poverty or difficult work or home environments. How does Joyner know that exercise is such a strong causal mechanism of good health?
JOYNER: You get into studies in individual humans, where you can take people and do very brief periods of exercise training, improve their glucose tolerance, improve the function of their blood vessels, and improve a whole lot of biomarkers which are associated with health. And then you go one step further to animal studies, and you can really take a deep dive into the mechanisms behind those positive changes.
Okay, what are those mechanisms? A lot of Joyner’s research is about how physical activity increases blood flow to skeletal muscles.
JOYNER: Your heart rate goes from 60 or 70 to around 200, so you have about a threefold increase in heart rate. And then the amount of blood pumped with each heartbeat also goes up. So, think about that. At rest, a tiny amount of that blood flow — maybe 500 mls. — is going to all the muscle in your body. During maximum exercise, perhaps 16 or 17 liters is going to muscle.
DUBNER: Now, why is blood flow per se important or beneficial?
JOYNER: Well, the bottom line is, if you’re going to do prolonged exercise, you’ve got to get oxygen from the lungs to the skeletal muscles, so you have to have a big cardiac output. And you’ve then got to get it to the muscles that are actually contracting. So, it’s just a supply/demand situation.
DUBNER: Okay, so take me from there, though. So you do vigorous exercise, it increases the blood flow a lot. What, then, are the longer-term, I guess, physical and cognitive benefits of that increased blood flow?
JOYNER: One is that the blood vessels grow, they become larger in diameter. The lining of the blood vessels, the vascular endothelium, becomes more slippery and becomes more prone to relax versus constrict, which makes your blood pressure lower. And then the capillaries in small blood vessels around the skeletal muscles also grow. So, because there’s this large increase in cardiac output, all of the large blood vessels throughout the body become larger, and the endothelial function increases; they become more elastic, less stiff, which is also a good thing.
The other thing to remember is — and this is a really big finding in the last 20 years — is that there are hormone-like substances secreted by the skeletal muscle, which have remote effects. They have effects on the liver to improve metabolism, they have effects on blood vessels everywhere, and they also release something called B.D.N.F.: brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is good for brain growth. And people think that’s at least one of the links between physical activity and cognition, and preservation of cognition as you age.
DUBNER: So it sounds like the benefits of exercise are massive and widespread, and therefore we would all be idiots to not do a lot of exercise, or at least enough exercise. So, Dr. Joyner, what share of Americans do get what you’d consider to be enough exercise?
JOYNER: Oh, you see various numbers, depending on whether they’re survey research or tracking research, but if it’s 20 percent, that’s a generous number.
DUBNER: So, do you feel that you, personally, have been preaching the gospel of exercise for a long time, and that people are not really buying?
JOYNER: I just try to point out the benefits and set a good example and be as encouraging to people as I possibly can. People really need to understand that they need to do something, do it regularly, and it’s okay to take it in small bites. But until we have a wholesale change in transportation and food policy and just the way things are, I don’t see a whole lot changing. Most of the population’s behavior aligns with various overt and covert incentives, and we have a whole lot of incentives to be physically inactive and eat a lot.
I mean, there’s a terrific study from Toronto showing that the walkability of whatever ZIP code equivalent you’re in in Toronto, the walkability of that neighborhood predicted who gained how much weight over 10 or 20 years. We have a built-environment problem. We’ve got an incentive problem. As much as I’d like to tell everybody to go exercise, we’ve also got a transportation-policy problem. When you go to places like the Netherlands or Denmark, where they are very biking-friendly, when whole cities are built to do that, you see a lot of really fit people.
Ronald EVANS: The challenge is, we are endlessly pitted against the technologic advances in civilization that tends to make us not move.
That’s Ronald Evans.
EVANS: I am the director of the Gene Expression Laboratory at the Salk Institute.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the most important biomedical research institutes in the world.
EVANS: And a lot of the work that we do studies the nature of genetic circuits that control metabolism.
Dr. Evans, like Dr. Joyner, is a big believer in the benefits of exercise.
EVANS: Exercise is a beneficial factor that burns calories, but it also activates many metabolic pathways that are pro-health.
But Evans is also a realist. And this, given the human propensity to eat too much and exercise too little, has turned Evans into a futurist. He wonders whether we should accept the fact that most people are never going to exercise enough, and instead think of a biomedical solution.
EVANS: Very big question, and it deserves a lot of thought.
What sort of solution is Evans working on?
EVANS: Exercise in a pill.
Details coming up, right after this.
* * *
Fact one: the typical modern human would do well to exercise more than they do. Fact two: public-health advocates and others have been urging us to exercise for many years. Fact three: their urging doesn’t seem to work. Consider fact four: in the U.S., more than 80 percent of large companies offer programs that encourage, and often incentivize, exercise and weight control. A randomized study of one such company, BJ’s Wholesale Club, was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It found that employees in the wellness program did self-report that they were more likely to exercise and manage their weight. But the data revealed there were no significant differences in actual health markers, including weight loss. And as we heard on last week’s live show, a world-class team of behavioral scientists recently did an experiment over 28 days, with 53 different interventions, to try to increase the exercise activity of people who were already members of a gym.
Katy MILKMAN: So after our 28-day program, pretty much we saw nothing in terms of behavior change.
That’s Katy Milkman, from the University of Pennsylvania:
MILKMAN: All 53 versions of the program, pretty much nothing sticks. And that was the ultimate goal. So that was major failure.
With so much failure, you can understand why a lot of people look for exercise shortcuts:
ANNOUNCER: The revolutionary new Ab Transform system is the safe, effective, and affordable way to change the way you work out, and look, forever.
But maybe there’s another kind of shortcut. Something a bit less hucksterish. A bit more grounded in science. Which brings us back to the biologist Ronald Evans from the Salk Institute. Evans is well known in the field for having discovered a family of hormone receptors that act as genetic switches.
EVANS: And if you think of genes as instruments in an orchestra, you can have many different kinds of sounds, or many different ways to have them work together. And the conductor that makes the genes come on at the right time and orchestrate all that are regulatory factors that are called transcription factors, that activate the gene. So those are genetic switches. This is really the underpinning of a lot of our body’s physiology is, while all cells have the same number and same set of genes, individual cells activate different sets of genes and the receptors and the hormones control gene networks. A lot of our physiology is about genetic control.
The discovery, and understanding of this mechanism of genetic control has been incredibly important.
EVANS: Once you have a mechanism, then you can think of how to actually develop therapies or drugs that can control that mechanism. Everyone’s familiar with hormone replacement for people. Sometimes we lose a thyroid gland for various reasons, and you can replace that by finding the or making the hormone and then giving it back to the person. The steroid hormones are amongst the most widely prescribed drugs on the planet.
And, perhaps, the most famous steroid-hormone therapy: the birth-control pill.
EVANS: And that’s all about using these receptors and in many ways, the impact of this family of receptors, and pharmaceuticals have changed society.
Ronald Evans may be on his way to creating a new pill, which once again has the potential to change society.
EVANS: “Exercise in a pill.”
His lab is developing a pill that would mimic the effects of exercise in the absence of actual exercise. Other labs around the world are working on similar exercise mimetics, as they’re called, with various mechanisms. Evans’s pill works by targeting one of two key hormone receptors.
EVANS: There are two hormone receptors that we discovered that are very, very close to each other but play exactly opposite roles, and complementary roles, in body physiology as well as in disease. One of the hormone receptors is called PPAR-gamma. And it is the master regulator of adipose tissue.
Adipose tissue is what most of us know as “fat.”
EVANS: You need this genetic regulator to activate the fat network. It’s critical for survival. You need to store energy and fat to survive. And then the partner for that, that’s called PPAR-delta, which we discovered in 1995, that’s the receptor that burns fat. And most of the problem with disease is too much storage and not enough burning. So one of the ways that we have approached the problem is looking at drugs that can be specifically built to target the fat-burning receptor PPAR-delta. And that’s led to a number of companies producing new kinds of molecules. And one of the companies that I created a number of years ago developed a screen technology that was licensed to Glaxo Wellcome, and they built a drug called GW1516.
Glaxo Wellcome is now known as GlaxoSmithKline. GW1516 originally had a different purpose.
EVANS: It was made to change cholesterol levels and to try to increase something called HDL. And this drug never made it into F.D.A. approval. It had problems.
Problems like: causing tumors in the mice it was tested on. Evans eventually began working with a less powerful version of the drug, with the assumption it would be less toxic. Another difference: he wasn’t looking at its effect on cholesterol.
EVANS: So, one of the surprising things that came out of studying the GW1516 compound — and it was very dramatic result — is, when we gave it to sedentary mice, or obese sedentary mice, either one, for about 30 days, the GW drug progressively activated the genetic program that is normally activated by exercise.
I think we should hear that last bit again.
EVANS: The GW drug progressively activated the genetic program that is normally activated by exercise.
In other words, their physiology seemed to indicate the mice had been exercising.
EVANS: But these mice were not getting exercise. They were just getting the pill.
As you can imagine, this was a pretty exciting research result. But how well did the pill do in terms of giving the benefits of exercise in a general sense?
EVANS: You have to be careful when you say, “Does the pill give the benefits of exercise in the general sense?” because exercise is a hundred things, but I should say, in general, exercise, no matter how you do it, focuses on a few things. It increases energy expenditure. It tends to increase burning of lipids and fats and sugars. You get adult neurogenesis, and that enhances cognitive performance. It also improves immune fitness, lowers inflammation — so it has many benefits to the heart and other parts of the body.
Now, if we go to this, “What does PPAR-delta drug do,” in terms of metabolic fitness in, let’s say, the brain, it does exactly the same things. It gives you this increased energy expenditure, you burn more lipids, you burn more sugar, and you correct your insulin. Your adipose depot starts to shrink, so you lose weight. And the drug, by itself, gives you adult neurogenesis.
The drug also seemed to boost endurance, at least in the mice. After 30 days of giving them the drug, Evans and his team put the sedentary mice on a treadmill.
EVANS: It’s a mouse treadmill. It’s very cute. And we compared the mice that got the drug with ones that did not get the drug. And the difference was striking: the ones that got the drug could run approximately one hour longer, continuous running, than the ones that didn’t.
And what is the mechanism for this endurance effect?
EVANS: What the actual drug does, it increases fat burning by the powerhouse of the muscle cell, which is called the mitochondria, and the mitochondria can burn sugar or fat, but what the drug says is, “We want the mitochondria to burn fat specifically and convert fat into the chemical form of energy called ATP — but don’t burn sugar.
That’s because the sugar — or glucose — is needed for brain energy.
EVANS: The PPAR-delta drug powers the brain and powers the fat by separating out the two energetic molecules in the body for different purposes: one for the muscle and one for the brain. And by doing that, you’re able to sustain your running time by an hour or an hour and a half, if you’re a mouse.
So this sounds pretty much like a miracle drug, doesn’t it? Others thought so too. Right before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Evans reached out to the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, about the potential for athlete abuse, and he eventually helped develop a test for it. Soon after, WADA banned the drug. But in 2013, a bunch of pro cyclists were caught using it. Fast-forward to today: Ronald Evans and a pharmaceutical firm he co-founded, Mitobridge, are working on a new form of the drug that’s meant to minimize side effects.
EVANS: So the Mitobridge drug has been in what’s called phase 1 studies and it’s now moving on to phase 2 studies. So, the most critical is the phase 1, to me, because that’s the safety. They’re now through that part. So, the next part is, does it work? And it works very well in the mouse models, but we have to show that it works well in people. We know it’s safe in people, but we now have to show that it works. I would say, two or three years, that we will have a pretty good idea if it’s working in human disease in a way that could achieve F.D.A. approval.
To get the drug through FDA approval, Mitobridge is targeting patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. That’s a genetic disorder, typically striking young boys, who rarely survive into their twenties.
EVANS: There is no real drug to treat it. But our approach is to restore this balance of energy utilization in the muscle, and we can stimulate that muscle to actually burn fat and become activated as if it was being exercised.
But Evans clearly sees a much wider potential use for this drug.
EVANS: There is absolutely no way that the potential here is going to be limited to one or two diseases. It will be very high, from metabolic to neuro to vascular to aging. We can think of the potential here in different ways, and maybe, to the wider question, can it be used preventatively in some cases just to maintain health, as opposed to just treating disease. And this is not an easy issue, because taking healthy people and giving them a drug is not common. Now, it does happen. A lot of people take adult aspirin for their entire life because it’s thought to be helpful to reduce inflammation and reduce heart disease.
Tens of millions of Americans also take statins every day to forestall heart disease; millions more take metformin to treat diabetes, or even the onset of diabetes. We put fluoride in our water supply to prevent tooth decay.
EVANS: Could you transition this to a society that is getting heavier and running into the problem of obesity and diabetes and the related complications? The answer is yes, but from a social and ethical component, it raises a big question that should be addressed. It’s not unusual for scientific advances to raise social issues and questions. We have this all the time.
Indeed: just because a drug may soon exist that could mimic the effects of exercise does not necessarily mean we should immediately spike our water supply with it. So Evans’s drug, if it does make it through F.D.A. approval, will surely have its philosophical and ethical skeptics. But even now, it’s got its physiological skeptics.
JOYNER: So, an exercise memetic.
That, again, is Michael Joyner from the Mayo Clinic.
JOYNER: If you think about it, the main ones have been designed to try to increase the function of the mitochondria, the little organelles in skeletal muscle, that burn carbohydrate and fat and are critical to the metabolic benefits of exercise. And certainly, you can stimulate those with drugs. But if you look at the broad class of things that exercise does, it goes way beyond just affecting the mitochondria. It affects, again, the blood vessels, the remote effects of training, the effects on the brain, the effects on intermediate metabolism, and all sorts of other things. You can find a mimetic for things that sort of look like exercise, but I don’t think you’re going to find the big-picture drug or compound that can do the 10 or 15 main things that exercise does for people.
DUBNER: What would you think of, let’s call it, the exercise pharmaceutical, that works along the lines you’re describing there on a mitochondrial level for those who can’t exercise due to, let’s say, a physical handicap or some other condition. Do you like that idea?
JOYNER: Absolutely. Absolutely. You start thinking about exercise is good for your lipids, exercise is good for diabetes, exercise is good for this and that, and there’s a terrific idea and very interesting paper in the early 2000’s, I believe in the British Medical Journal which said, why don’t we put everybody on low-dose statins, low-dose antihypertensives — everybody over 50 — low dose anti-diabetic drugs, and see what it would do to their life expectancy and all-cause mortality. So, some people have argued that really this is closer to an exercise mimetic than drugs that target the mitochondria, for example.
But you can imagine that if a so-called “exercise pill” does come to market, it might provide people the license to never exercise again.
MILKMAN: There’s been research showing that there can be licensings effects with diet behaviors — you remind me that I’ve been dieting well, then I maybe eat more.
Katy Milkman again, from the University of Pennsylvania.
MILKMAN: So if you give people a pill, and say, this has the effects of exercise, will they feel licensed not to exercise? It’s a real risk.
EVANS: I do not actually like to think of it that way, because we are designed to move.
And that, again, is Ronald Evans, the man behind the exercise pill.
EVANS: The social issue is not just, should we give the drug to everyone — it’s how do we manage the intrinsic advances that are working against our health?
MILKMAN: He may not intend for it to replace fitness, but will people take it and then feel that they’re licensed to skip workouts? Whether that’s the intent of the medication doesn’t mean it won’t be a nasty side effect.
Marcas Bamman, a physiologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, is also not in favor of an exercise pill.
Marcas BAMMAN: Because there are thousands upon thousands of molecular responses to exercise that cannot be recapitulated by one pill.
Bamman has another idea, a sort of hybrid idea — which he feels may be necessary, given the difficulty of turning an inactive person into an active one.
BAMMAN: Going from true sedentary status to a regular exercise training habit or behavior, there are a lot of steps required to make that happen. And one of those that would be very tangible for people is a prescription with good guidance.
A prescription meaning an individualized exercise regimen.
BAMMAN: It really doesn’t do the patient a lot of good for a healthcare provider to just say, “Well, your blood pressure is high, your glucose is high, and you need to lose some weight so you should do more exercise.” They don’t know how frequent, what intensity, what dose. Is it resistance, is it endurance, is it a combination?
Bamman and his research team at U.A.B. have been doing research for 15 years on this idea. They started with older adults and now work specifically on patients with Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy. But their idea is that everybody could benefit from an exercise prescription.
BAMMAN: Let’s just take the individual who comes to the clinic, 45 years old. They’ve got a body mass index of 32.
For the record, that is a pretty high B.M.I.— the equivalent of a five-foot-ten person who weighs more than 220 pounds.
BAMMAN: They’ve got some level of insulin resistance going on, they’ve got stage 1 hypertension, they’ve got some knee pain.
In a perfect world — or at least in Marcas Bamman’s world — a physician would have a lot of good data on exactly what forms of exercise, at what intensity and duration, would be most useful.
BAMMAN: If you can then point to that data and say to that person, “The evidence is clear this works, and now I’m going to refer you to somebody who knows how to implement this evidence-based prescription,” that would have a major impact on whether or not somebody adopts the change.
But the truth is, those data on ailment-specific exercise, are fairly sparse.
BAMMAN: In terms of which type of exercise is best for a given disease risk cluster, the research is really void in many areas.
That may be starting to change. The National Institutes of Health is starting an exercise trial this summer as part of a program called the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium.
BAMMAN: And that study is really comparing resistance training to endurance training and trying to understand the molecular mechanisms by which each of those modes of exercise training induces potential health benefits.
You could also imagine that technology, especially smart technology, has a larger role to play in helping us achieve our fitness goals. Like making exercise equipment and apps that, rather than beating us up:
AUTOMATED VOICE: Stephen. I told you to pedal faster.
Are a bit more encouraging.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Well, aren’t you the little champion? Five whole minutes on the bike without a break. That’s your new personal best.
* * *
Freakonomics Radio is produced by Stitcher and Dubner Productions. This episode was produced by Morgan Levey, with help from Daphne Chen. Our staff also includes Alison Craiglow, Greg Rippin, Harry Huggins, Zack Lapinski, Matt Hickey, and Corinne Wallace; we had help this week from Nellie Osbourne. Our theme song is “Mr. Fortune,” by the Hitchhikers; all the other music was composed by Luis Guerra. You can subscribe to Freakonomics Radio on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Here’s where you can learn more about the people and ideas in this episode:
SOURCES
- Michael Joyner, physician scientist at the Mayo Clinic.
- Ronald Evans, director of the Gene Expression Laboratory at Salk Institute.
- Katherine Milkman, professor of operations, information, and decisions at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Marcas Bamman, physiologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
RESOURCES
- “A Pill to Make Exercise Obsolete,” by Nicola Twilley (The New Yorker, 2017).
- “Warning to Beijing Olympics Over Pills That Mimic Exercise,” by Jeremy Laurance (The Independent, 2008).
- “The New EPO? — GW1516, AICAR and Their Use in Cycling,” by Matt de Neef (CyclingTips, 2013).
- “A Strategy to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease by More Than 80%,” by N.J. Wald (The British Medical Journal, 2003).
- “London Transport Workers Study: Coronary Heart Disease and Physical Activity of Work,” by Jeremy Morris (The Lancet, 1953).
The post The Zero-Minute Workout (Ep. 383) appeared first on Freakonomics.
via Finance Xpress