If I had to choose 2 cards for business + personal, I would probably go for the Venture X Business and the Alaska Business, looking for some kind of rewards debit card for personal. If I could do 2 personal too, USBAR and Hilton Aspire. I wouldn't care about the grocery category because of the USBAR, and going over $15K on the Surpass would annoy me. Aspire would give me more benefits, and $30K would be a reasonable goal for a 2nd free night (even if I had to top it off with an accidental business expense).
Great content as always, Stan! U.S. Bank for the win! The Altitude Reserve and Smartly (at 4% back) in my opinion would be the best two card setup at least right now.
Can't fault your logic. I have Hilton Gold for life as a Hilton Club Timeshare owner, so for me the 2 card setup is: 1) BILT (all my spend) platinum status gets be 12x dining, 4x travel, 2x everything else when holding out for travel bonus (Alaska, air France, air Canada, Emirates, and others) with AA, United and Hyatt hotel as transfer partners too. 2) Ritz Carlton with airport lounges (priority Pass and sapphire lounges), Marriott Gold (already have Hilton Gold for life), 85k night award, $300 airline incidentals (vs $200 amex platinum good with only one airline). These will be the only 2 cards in my wallet in 2025, with Amex Gold in my digital wallet for grocery spend. I have 18 other credit cards and am contemplating canceling most of them as I really think those are the only 3 cards I need - BILT and MR ecosystems only.
Very nice! The one thing I would say to Bilt is that you can hold out for a transfer bonus, but the one you want may never come. Of course, the same could be same for the Hilton transfer bonus that I talked about in the video, but at least that one has shown up more often than the ones from Bilt, none of which have repeated since the card first launched. Ritz Carlton is very powerful, but since you have Hilton Gold for life, that makes sense. I probably would have picked RC if I had lifetime Hilton Gold too!
Stan, If you buy the Hilton Honors points at .5 cents per point and use the USBAR for the purchase, do you know if US Bank counts that as a travel purchase for the 3x back and the ability to use the 4.5% Real Time Rewards Redemption option? Or are the points sold through a third party?
If only 2? CSP/CSR and RITZ for me. I use Hyatt, Marriott and Door Dash way too much in my daily life...since joining Dash Pass I saved 6752.00 in Dash Pass Fees over the years. The only US Bank card I have is my work related FAA issued Government Travel Charge Card I rock with AA Exec MC (Miami based), CSP, CFF, CFU, RITZ Carlton, Hyatt Card, AMEX Delta Plat/gold, Chase Southwest Priority I found that a stand alone Dragon Pass works for me in some key locations in SE Asia and parts of the Caribbean where I frequent most
Lots of great cards there! That’s great that you’ve gotten so much value out of DashPass. Definitely a lot of DoorDash orders hah! CSP is tough because it’s not the best earner card so in your case it’s almost like you have 2 benefits cards. Luckily, we aren’t limited to just 2 cards usually!
Hi Stan, Have you seen the TH-cam video "The True Cost of Points & Miles Credit Cards" by Jake Broe? It does touch a bit on the psychology aspect with the idea of going out of your way to use a credit card benefit, which is spending additional funds that you weren't going to spend.
I think I may have watched it awhile ago. Certainly a lot psychology with credit cards and spending more than you should. It's a pay to play system. As long as you know yourself well, you have to trek forward carefully and try to avoid the landmines along the way to get good value!
Could you still PC from for example cash+ to USBar? I did that (before they discontinued) and even managed to get my 50K SUB! crazy. First bank i seen do this.
@@sonpham4298Nope you can’t do that anymore. Some people including me were able to product change within a week right after it was discontinued. They closed that route after a week of discontinuation. I only converted my cash + to reserve but regret not converting my connect to reserve too. I woukd have got SUB for that too and later downgraded one reserve card.
Thanks for the info + video!
Picking the Surpass over the Ritz is a testament to your focus on the game over blind loyalty to a brand, nice job
Absolutely! Value is value and Hilton has more of it! 😆
@ guess there’s a reason Frequent Miler call it “getting Bonvoyed”
If I had to choose 2 cards for business + personal, I would probably go for the Venture X Business and the Alaska Business, looking for some kind of rewards debit card for personal. If I could do 2 personal too, USBAR and Hilton Aspire. I wouldn't care about the grocery category because of the USBAR, and going over $15K on the Surpass would annoy me. Aspire would give me more benefits, and $30K would be a reasonable goal for a 2nd free night (even if I had to top it off with an accidental business expense).
Great content as always, Stan! U.S. Bank for the win! The Altitude Reserve and Smartly (at 4% back) in my opinion would be the best two card setup at least right now.
Great core setup! I would say the same but can’t overlook the amazing benefits from hotel cards.
Our setups are different (13 cards, team cashback) but I really like your unique takes + strategies. keep up the good content.
Thanks! Yeah, we’re all different, but it’s always fun to see wha other setups are out there to compare!
Can't fault your logic. I have Hilton Gold for life as a Hilton Club Timeshare owner, so for me the 2 card setup is:
1) BILT (all my spend) platinum status gets be 12x dining, 4x travel, 2x everything else when holding out for travel bonus (Alaska, air France, air Canada, Emirates, and others) with AA, United and Hyatt hotel as transfer partners too.
2) Ritz Carlton with airport lounges (priority Pass and sapphire lounges), Marriott Gold (already have Hilton Gold for life), 85k night award, $300 airline incidentals (vs $200 amex platinum good with only one airline).
These will be the only 2 cards in my wallet in 2025, with Amex Gold in my digital wallet for grocery spend. I have 18 other credit cards and am contemplating canceling most of them as I really think those are the only 3 cards I need - BILT and MR ecosystems only.
Very nice! The one thing I would say to Bilt is that you can hold out for a transfer bonus, but the one you want may never come. Of course, the same could be same for the Hilton transfer bonus that I talked about in the video, but at least that one has shown up more often than the ones from Bilt, none of which have repeated since the card first launched. Ritz Carlton is very powerful, but since you have Hilton Gold for life, that makes sense. I probably would have picked RC if I had lifetime Hilton Gold too!
Stan, If you buy the Hilton Honors points at .5 cents per point and use the USBAR for the purchase, do you know if US Bank counts that as a travel purchase for the 3x back and the ability to use the 4.5% Real Time Rewards Redemption option? Or are the points sold through a third party?
I haven’t tried it myself, but it’s very likely it codes as a 1X purchase. The points come from a third-party.
If only 2? CSP/CSR and RITZ for me. I use Hyatt, Marriott and Door Dash way too much in my daily life...since joining Dash Pass I saved 6752.00 in Dash Pass Fees over the years.
The only US Bank card I have is my work related FAA issued Government Travel Charge Card
I rock with AA Exec MC (Miami based), CSP, CFF, CFU, RITZ Carlton, Hyatt Card, AMEX Delta Plat/gold, Chase Southwest Priority
I found that a stand alone Dragon Pass works for me in some key locations in SE Asia and parts of the Caribbean where I frequent most
Lots of great cards there! That’s great that you’ve gotten so much value out of DashPass. Definitely a lot of DoorDash orders hah! CSP is tough because it’s not the best earner card so in your case it’s almost like you have 2 benefits cards. Luckily, we aren’t limited to just 2 cards usually!
Hi Stan, Have you seen the TH-cam video "The True Cost of Points & Miles Credit Cards" by Jake Broe? It does touch a bit on the psychology aspect with the idea of going out of your way to use a credit card benefit, which is spending additional funds that you weren't going to spend.
I think I may have watched it awhile ago. Certainly a lot psychology with credit cards and spending more than you should. It's a pay to play system. As long as you know yourself well, you have to trek forward carefully and try to avoid the landmines along the way to get good value!
Rocking the bilt and pnc cash unlimited as a broke person with good credit 😅 that's my 2 card
You do what you gotta do! Still great setup with good multipliers! 👍
Good logic on surpass… it’s gonna be my catch all in 2025.
An excellent choice! Especially if you make it to at least $15k by the end of the year!
Pretty good idea, but too bad the USBAR card is discontinued so for the ones who don't have it can't use that route.
Yeah, still sad about that 😢
Could you still PC from for example cash+ to USBar? I did that (before they discontinued) and even managed to get my 50K SUB! crazy. First bank i seen do this.
@@sonpham4298Nope you can’t do that anymore. Some people including me were able to product change within a week right after it was discontinued. They closed that route after a week of discontinuation. I only converted my cash + to reserve but regret not converting my connect to reserve too. I woukd have got SUB for that too and later downgraded one reserve card.
@@sonpham4298 I don't think PC's are open anymore either!
First!
Congrats! You are first!! 🥇