You Can Now Invest Your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, but Should You?

Chase just added a completely new way to use Ultimate Rewards points: investing them. It sounds appealing, but should you really redeem your points this way?

Here’s how the new option works and what to consider before cashing in your points to invest.

How Chase’s New Invest Your Points Option Works

Chase’s new Invest Your Points feature lets eligible cardholders redeem Ultimate Rewards points for cash and deposit them into a qualifying J.P. Morgan investment account.

The feature allows you to invest the points in an eligible J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account or work with a J.P. Morgan advisor to invest the cash in an eligible taxable investment account.

If you have a self-directed account, you can access the feature through the Chase mobile app or Chase.com. From there, you can choose how to invest the cash based on your goals and risk tolerance.

The redemption rate is straightforward: 100 points equals $1 to invest. That means:

• 10,000 points equals $100
• 50,000 points equals $500
• 100,000 points equals $1,000

The feature is available to eligible cardmembers with Ultimate Rewards-earning cards across the Sapphire, Freedom, and Ink families.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers commission-free online trades on thousands of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), although certain investments and transactions may carry fees.

Is It Worth It?

For most travelers, this probably won’t be the best way to redeem Ultimate Rewards points.

Invest Your Points gives you a value of 1 cent per point. That’s the same value you can typically get by redeeming Ultimate Rewards points for cash back or a statement credit, so Chase isn’t offering an incentive or bonus for investing them.

At Upgraded Points, we conservatively value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents each when redeemed strategically for travel, typically through airline and hotel transfer partners. By that estimate, 100,000 points could be worth around $2,000 toward travel — twice the $1,000 you would receive through Invest Your Points.

For example, eligible Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card redemptions can potentially be worth up to 1.75 cents per point, while eligible Chase Sapphire Reserve^® redemptions can be worth up to 2 cents per point.

Final Thoughts

It’s always good to see Chase add another way to redeem Ultimate Rewards points, and this option could make sense for someone who doesn’t travel or prefers investing over earning cash back.

Still, 1 cent per point isn’t a particularly attractive return. Unless you have no plans to use your points for travel, you’ll likely get more value by transferring them to a Chase travel partner or finding an eligible Points Boost redemption.