HealthyWage
Strengths
- Two-Sided Incentives
- Individual and team challenges
- Customizable challenges
Weaknesses
- Must lose at least 10% of body weight
- You will lose money if you don't meet your goal
- Team challenges mean your win (or loss) depends on others
- HealthyWage does not issue refunds
Do you like the idea of losing weight – and getting paid to do it? Our HealthyWage review will show you how that’s possible.
HealthyWage is an app that allows you to make a bet that you will lose a set amount of weight over a predetermined amount of time. You choose your weight loss goals, time frame, and amount of the wager. If you win your bet you’ll get your money back plus a prize. If you lose, you don’t get your money back.
It’s a great motivator to lose that weight! So if you have been struggling to lose weight, this might be exactly what you need.
Table of Contents
What Is HealthyWage?
HealthyWage started in 2009 as a for-profit company dedicated to helping people reach their weight loss goals. The goal of the company is to provide people with several ways to motivate them to reach their weight loss goals:
- Financial motivation
- Positive peer pressure
- Social encouragement
- A competition-type environment
So, if you get motivated by the idea of winning (or potentially losing) money by competing with others, or by doing group challenges, you might really like this concept.
HealthyWage can serve as a way for you to achieve your fitness goals while potentially earning some cash for any financial goals you might have.
How Does HealthyWage Work?
HealthyWage works to help you lose weight with a double-incentive approach:
- If you don’t reach your goal you will lose your money
- If you do reach your goal you will get your money back – and then some
When you sign up with HealthyWage, you start by making what the company calls your HealthyWager.
Make Your HealthyWager
Your HealthyWager is the amount of money you put at stake when you make when you decide on the parameters of your bet. You use the HealthyWage calculator to enter how much weight you want to lose, how long you want to take to lose it, and how much money you want to bet that you’ll achieve your goal.
The HealthyWage calculator will then show you how much money you can win if you reach your goal.
You can pay your wager up front or pay it on a monthly basis. The minimum bet you can make is $100 total and the maximum bet you can make is dependent on your goals. The top prize you can earn is $10,000 (for team challenges) – not bad!
Note that to use the HealthyWage system you have to have a weight loss goal of at least ten percent of your current body weight. Also, your goal time has to be between six months and 18 months.
In other words, if you’ve only got a few pounds to lose this might not be the program for you.
If you’ve met your weight loss goal by the end of the designated time period, you get the money you’ve paid in along with the designated prize earnings as well.
And if you don’t meet your weight loss goal, HealthyWage keeps the money you’ve bet.
Individual Challenges and Group Challenges
One cool thing about HealthyWage is that it offers a variety of challenge types for users to choose from.
You can do an individual challenge by yourself, you can create your own team challenge, or you can join up to ten team challenges HealthyWage already has going.
You can even have the company you work for set up a challenge for you and other employees.
With the individual challenge your winnings depend on you and you alone. With the team challenges the goal is to win the greatest percentage as a team.
Jackpot Challenges
HealthyWage also offers Jackpot challenges that you can enter as an individual or a team. If you’re among the winners you split the jackpot prize with other members.
Step Challenges
HealthyWage also offers Step challenges. The Step challenges are jackpot challenges that involve increasing the number of steps you take each day, and you can join them as an individual or as part of a team.
Other Features
There are a few other details you might want to know about HealthyWage and the commitment as well.
Weigh Ins
There are two required weigh ins with HealthyWage: One at the beginning of your program and one at the end. You can actually weigh out within two weeks of your wager’s end date if you want to.
You can do your weigh in at home by sending in a video (see HealthyWage rules), or you can get a verified weigh in at a gym or a doctor’s office.
There are non-verified weigh ins that you can do on the app just to monitor your progress, but those weigh ins are not required and not official.
Buy More Time Option
If you get part way through your challenge and decide you need more time to reach your goal, you can opt to use the Buy More Time feature.
Note that this feature adds six more months and six more payments to your challenge, but your prize and weight loss goal remain the same.
Get Paid One of Two Ways
If you win your challenge, HealthyWage will pay you via mailed check or via PayPal; whichever you choose.
HealthyWage does charge a $7 processing fee if you choose to get paid via check. And PayPal will charge their typical 2.9% plus 30 cents if you choose to get paid via PayPal.
Win More Money by Referring Others
If you refer others who sign up and use the program, you can earn $40 or more per referral. See the HealthyWage website for more information.
You Can’t Participate if You’re Pregnant
It’s worth mentioning that you’re not allowed to participate if you’re pregnant. If you happen to get pregnant during your challenge, let HealthyWage know and they’ll suspend your payments and your challenge.
You can then resume your challenge or start it over after your baby is born.
Is HealthyWage Legit?
So, how do you know if HealthyWage is legit? To begin with, the company has been in business for over a decade. Also, the testimonies and photos on the site share real-life stories of people who have used the system and won real cash.
HealthyWage has also been featured in several major news publications, such as:
- The Today Show
- Good Morning America
- The Doctors
- Fox News
And others. Additionally, HealthyWage has an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau. They have a 3.7 out of 5 rating with Trustpilot as well.
The only reason the Trustpilot score is lower is because they only have one review with a score of “Excellent.”
A Real-Life Experience With HealthyWage
As I was researching HealthyWage for this article, I decided to reach out to a fellow personal finance aficionado who had used HealthyWage recently to get his thoughts on the concept.
J.D. Roth, founder of Get Rich Slowly, was happy to share his story. Here’s a short recap of his experience with HealthyWage.
I decided to try HealthyWage when a friend cajoled me into it. On July 29th, 2020 I placed a $600 wager that I’d lose 30 pounds in six months.
I’m writing this recap on December 29th, which means I’m exactly one month away from my deadline. I weighed in this morning at 180.0; still 6.6 pounds away from my target goal.
My guess is that there’s a 50/50 chance that I’ll reach the goal, meaning I could lose the $600. That’s one way to look at it.
However, there’s another way to look at it. I’ve lost 23.4 pounds in five months, and I going to lose more over the next four weeks as I’m committed to the program.
Even if I fall short of my goal and lose my money, it will have been worth it. If, in July, you’d asked me if I’d be willing to pay $600 to be 25-30 pounds lighter in January, I would have said “Hell yeah!”.
Plus, there’s still a solid chance that I will meet my goal and get $721 in return – a $121 profit.
And let’s be honest: HealthyWage is the ONLY thing that’s kept me on track with my diet and exercise during the holidays. If I didn’t have this deadline looming I would have over-indulged as always.
So I’m very glad I chose to partner with HealthyWage.
Update: J.D. won his wager!
HealthyWage Promotions
From time to time, HealthyWage will run promotions where you can get money added to your wager for free.
For example, near the end of February 2021, HealthyWage offered a $50 bonus in partnership with Emmy Award winner Sherri Shepherd. If you signed up between Feb 22nd and March 1st, you would get $50 added to your prize.
We will update this with the latest promotions they’re running. There’s no promo code, you just need to use a link from our site (you’ll see the promo listed at the top of the HealthyWage page):
They currently have a $100 bonus if you sign up by 4/12/2021:
HealthyWage Pros and Cons
HealthyWage has its good points and bad points like any other company. Here’s a rundown of some of HealthyWage’s good points and bad.
Pros
- Two-Sided Incentives – motivation to both win and not lose
- Individual and team challenges are available
- Customizable challenges mean that you get to choose how much weight you lose and over what time frame
- Can participate in more than one challenge at a time
- Employer partnerships
Cons
- Must lose at least 10% of body weight
- You will lose money if you don’t meet your goal
- Team challenges mean your win (or loss) depends on others
- HealthyWage does not issue refunds
Summary
A program such as HealthyWage can be beneficial on several levels. Along with offering you the potential to earn money as you lose weight, HealthyWage can be a motivational way to lose weight and get more fit.
Think of HealthyWage as a way to invest in yourself. After all, you deserve better health.
Have you ever used HealthyWage? If so, what was your experience? Feel free to share in the comments section.
