What Was in Rick's Wallet This Month

Often, miles and points fanatics love to share the cards they have been carrying in their wallet. I enjoy seeing others current cards and strategies, as do many of you. Sometimes it gives me a new idea or what our wallets might look like at different points in the hobby (no pun intended there). We are all at different levels and have different spending so do not ever get caught up on how someone can meet more minimum spends or get more cards. Simply go at your own pace and do what works for you.

In case it helps some I figured I would deep dive what is in my wallet currently. As someone who is over 5/24 and over ten years in the hobby. Have no fear, even this long in the tooth there are always more cards, welcome offers, spending offers and ways to maximize spend. Not only do I have my personal spending, but I have two businesses I do on the side. That is in addition to my normal full time day job, which helps. I also routinely rotate cards out at times, and am known to travel with many cards in case I can take advantage of offers while traveling (I see Mark rolling his eyes now).

The end of the year is busy for me with personal and business spend as I was grabbing new cards. With that in mind, here is what has been in my wallet over the last few weeks. I'll be sure to come back and update this post every few months with my current lineup.

Delta Business Gold

Offer: 90,000 SkyMiles with $6,000 in spend. This card offers a $200 Delta credit if you spend $10,000 total as well.

Thoughts: This card did not stay in the wallet long. I was just wrapping up my minimum spend as the month began. decided to put the extra spending on the card to hit the $10,000 which earned me that $200 Delta credit. This equated to about a 5% return on that extra spend and was worth it to me. If you feel you need to have Delta Cards go with business cards while under 5/24. I am just making my way down the list, because of the lifetime language rules and the Amex family rules.

My Plan: I flew Delta, including Delta One, for years without a Delta card, but they are nice for easy SkyMiles. I use them mostly for West Coast routes and Mexico. Also, don't overlook some random long hauls where Thrifty Traveler recently alerted us to Asia on Delta One for around 80,000 SkyMiles one way.

American Express Business Gold

Offer: I grabbed a No Lifetime Language Offer (NLL) about a week before we covered them on the blog. This was a nice way to add 200k in Membership Rewards (MR) to my account.

Thoughts: I almost never pass up a NLL offer and this was no different.

My Plan: For me this card is well worth it in year one. I have received some retention offers on other Amex Business Gold cards, but otherwise its a one year card. The $240 in monthly credits on things I would spend money on anyway help offset the annual fee. That makes it a $135 card if you value the credits at face value like me. If I am lucky enough to have a 200k referral, that will add to my year one winnings here. This welcome offer went straight to my Roth IRA via the Charles Schwab Platinum. While there is more value initially in travel, I already have enough Membership Rewards, and other currencies, to get me through 2025 and beyond.

Bank Of America Alaska Personal card

Offer: 75,000 Alaska Miles with $3,000 spend.

Thoughts: Since I already have the Alaska Business Card, grabbing the personal card was an easy decision and will come in handy. As I often preach to all my local friends, you can survive in SEA (Seattle) without an Alaska Airlines card. I did not have one at all until I grabbed the business version last year. I think too many people have FOMO (Fear Of missing Out) over these recently, but I know I will use them. I also loved the reminder in the envelope from Bank of America on the offer you signed up for. They do a good job of reminding me with a pop-up when I log into my account too. I wish more credit card issuers would do that.

My Plan: While I have no plans to use them to fly Alaska Airlines, I hope to put them to good use for a international trip. There are so many great uses for these miles.

Hilton Surpass

Offer: Current Card

Thoughts: A great over 5/24 card if you like Hilton Free Night Certificates. The credits on these cards are getting a bit out of hand though.

My Plan: I think many know I love these, but with my high spend at times, racking up $15,000 in spend each year is a must for me. I use it as my catch all for groceries (when not maximizing a Freedom) and dining to get the 6x while finishing the required spend.

Other Notable Cards In The Rotation:

It is also worth noting that I have my Freedom Cards and Freedom Flex in my wallet for grocery. They will stay there until my 5x earning cap is hit for the quarter. We always say take as many of these as one can get as they are long term keepers. I finally have an annual travel insurance policy and it just renewed so many trips I can put on any card. I may put some travel, if needed, on my Ritz Card for CSR level protection.

What Was in Rick's Wallet This Month: ToP Thoughts

I felt like I had a slower year when it comes to grabbing new cards, but I pushed strong in the last couple months. As you can see, I stacked a lot of new cards on top of each other the last few weeks. We will see what this year brings, but for now I am starting to plan some travel for the first couple months of the year.

Any thoughts on my wallet? Let me know over in our Facebook Group.