Видео

BA is really great for booking JAL business class and a great Delta miles sweet spot is on Vietnam Airlines within Asia, Europe and Australia.

Thanks for the info + video!

This is a card that has the potential to be a front runner. However in my own setup I use the card once per month since hitting the minimum spending requirements. It will be a straight up cancel for me in 2026

Low tier: $0 - $150 Mid tier: $155 - $450 High tier: $455 - $1000 Due to monetary inflation and the hundreds of points and miles blogs telling everyone how to redeem, lounge overcrowding, etc. we're going to see a huge increase in annual fees across the board in 2025. $95 hotel card is going to be no more and the premium travel cards are going to be $750+. Gold and business gold are most certainly mid-tier.

Major benefit with the airline cards, is being able to eat at the lounge on arrival. Cuts out paying for a meal on your trip.

What about Alaska Airlines? I think status based on mileage is great and they reciprocate on American. Alaska is coming out with a premium card this summer.

I have an upgrade offer from business gold to platinum. Only considering it since I cannot do the full $20k welcome offer. I think most people can use enough credits on the platinum to offset the annual fees. I don’t think the Gold credits are as good.

Downgraded mine to the BIZ Green as well for the same reason = waiting on an upgrade offer. Thanks for the info + video!

My Amex business gold renews in February and I was also thinking about downgrading to the business green and waiting for an upgrade back to the business gold. It can change if they offer me a retention bonus but from the numbers I’ve seen the upgrade downgrade play seem to offer a heck of a lot of more points with obviously more spend.

Also focusing on Bilt & AA this year having reached Bilt Plat last year & almost AA Plat next month from spend on our home renovation. Hope to ride these to the future & parlay into other statuses 🤞 Happy New Year!

We tried Hyatt last year. I was high at globalist through work. I just couldn’t get used to some of the the hotels in the consistency. We are definitely sticking with Hilton going forward.

I like Avianca I have the Avi card so I have free cancellation. Their customer service is not the best but every time I’ve had to deal with them once I’ve had the credit card. I’ve not had a problem canceling or changing. Also, their taxes and fees are much cheaper than Aeroplanalthough I will say Aeroplan has a lot more partner rewards overall.

❤Aeroplan❤ Thanks for the info + video!

Just got approved for this card today and also subscribed to your channel for this fantastic review.

Great strategy! Thanks for the info + video!

hope you are well. I'm a personal RUclips thumbnail designer, and I'm passionate about creating engaging, brand-focused thumbnails for your channel. My goal is to create designs that enhance your content and attract more visitors. If you want, I can create a sample thumbnail for you to review first. If you are satisfied with this, we can discuss future work opportunities. I am waiting for your valuable reply, Thanks!

I completely agree with your take on AA. For a 3-person, international family trip in October (flying AA metal), I was able to locate a single business award seat via AS. So I purchased 2 refundable business class tickets for my wife and I, and put the award seat in my daughter's name. Now I'm just checking a couple of times a day on both platforms (and also the Avios partners); to see if another seat or 2 opens up. It's a bit of game, but worth it when you hit it right...

You should keep it, but if you didn't want it, can't you just downgrade it to a no AF card? Then, upgrade it back to VX if you want it?

Venture X is a solid card. Thanks for the info + video!

800+ credit score and they won’t give me the Venture X 😢🤣 My fiance got it and now I’m an authorized user on her account. I don’t use the card at all - only for lounge access.

As long as the credit and anniversary miles offset the AF completely, it’s a keeper.

Well done video! You made some very good points! I am similar to you in the fact that my family and I followed Dave’s Principles to take control of our finances from the dumpster fire 🔥 it used to be some 20 years ago. Also like you I diverted from Dave’s advice on credit cards as well! Credit cards can be useful tools ⚒️ and can be beneficial for anyone who manages Their over all finances responsibly. I tried the envelope system for a while but found it cumbersome personally and eventually moved to a digital solution as well. I built a comprehensive spreadsheet that I use to track all my income, expenses, & overall cash flow. I then pay 💰 for everything with different credit cards on a daily basis that help me optimize each reward category again all the while like you mentioned only spending money 💵 I have already made that is currently in my bank account and I have already budgeted. I then fine tune everything once a week to make sure I am still on track week to week. I have been able to automate a lot of the process so my over all time investment is minimal but so definitely worth it! Thanks for the video good stuff 👍

sitting on a great amount of these venture miles. I plan to keep it, i added the ventureX business in addition to the personal card! solid video

Yes, keeper. In fact, am thinking adding Savor to boost C1 points. Wish it had Hyatt tho.

Good job with this video

You look suspiciously like lin Manuel Miranda

"Grocery" spend, aka $1500 at Kroger in $250 increments during their 4x fuel points promotions.

Ride share credit is bull . Give me the whole 120 at one time and when it’s gone it’s gone. That’s how Bank Of America does it.

For a beginner, I ranked the setups exactly the same as you. I like the Citi setup for beginners partly because of the multipliers, especially for groceries. I also like it because it is strong as a travel setup, but it is also strong as a cash back setup. For beginners, flexibility is key.

❤Conrad Hotels❤ Hilton. For the Stay.

❤AMEX Delta Reserve❤ Thanks for the info + video!

Honestly the Aspire is so good because the credits are relatively easy to use, making the AF irrelevant. The FNC alone pretty much covers it. And yes the multipliers are really good for a co-branded card. We put any dining or on-site purchases on it to get 14X points. Even at .4CPP, that's a 5.6% return. Oh and yeah the Brilliant is not nearly as good, because the Marriott program itself is not very good. Out of all my credit card points and eco systems, I've found Marriott to be the worst value.

Chase sapphire is wildly overrated - totally agree.

Pretty new to it but I see lots of potential.

Thanks for the info + video!

CSP deserves more love due to unlocking the Chase transfer partners and good protection benefits

Very nice video..good points..also AAA Travel Advantage has 3X at wholesale clubs & 5X at grocery stores & Wal-mart (in-store)

Yea I got the discover it cash back and capital one quicksilver going the for the Amex platinum 🥹

If I were you, I would definitely product change to the Green or cancel given the reasons that you provided. For me, the Gold has never made sense as I can only organically use the Resy and Dunkin' credits.

If you shop at Walmart Neighborhood Market, it gets the 4x.

Cancel

Good review! I noted that you seem to dislike portal travel bookings, yet placed Venture X in the S tier (??). I have the card and have assessed its points profile vis-a-vis Amex MR and Chase UR. It comes solidly in 3rd place due to lack of value: flexibility, boost, transferability.

Nice tier list and ranking. It's always interesting to see which cards people have and the value they place on them. Thanks for the info + video!

Great video. I enjoyed it. I would have made some different choices, but I have a different lifestyle and different spending habits. However, that Citi Custom Cash, which I have and like, does not deserve to be in the same category as the Venture X, Aspire, and Prestige even for you I bet.

Great video. For my use, Saphire is an a-tier since I can pay using my grocery store’s app and get 3% which I value more than the 4% I can get on the Amex gold.

Surprised there are no Wells Fargo cards. Feel like they provide good value on most of their no annual fee cards, especially their easy welcome offers. Is it hard to juggle all those credits?

Love this type of video!

that ATL Centurion lounge just got busted for health code violations lol

We dont often check bags. AMERICAN to get the card id need some credits I could use. Have the Business Delta Gold. The $150 AF is a easy fee to erase with the delta stays credit that i would be booking anyway. Dont know long term but i dont worry about the annual fee knowing the stays credit at least neutralizes it Priority pass and some chase lounges are enough for us.

Good video. U got me thinking now whether it’s better to have one premium card and one premium airline card.