Don’t forget about the Fidelity card!

This is really clear and lots of nuances are explained that I cannot find in other videos. Thank you bro! One thing I want to double-check is that the reason you transferred your money to CMA at the end of Dec, 2022 and waited until Jan. 1st, 2023 to do the Roth Conversion is because you want to keep your Traditional IRA 0 balance to avoid pro-rata-rule for the 2022 Roth Conversion you did maybe on Jan. 2022, is that correct? So keeping 0 balance by Dec. 31, 2022 is for the tax year 2022, not for tax year 2023? And the Roth conversion you did in this video is for the 2023 tax year, is that correct? Thanks!

Congratulations🎉❤

Used priority pass restaurant last week

That Summer 2023 offer for Hilton cards was wild. I knocked out Hilton Honors and Hilton Surpass for total of $3,000 spend in 3 months for 200k points and 2 FNC. Won’t see it quite like that again

Are there opportunities to stack credit card benefits with timeshares? Apparently there is a big resale market for cheap timeshares with Mariott and Hilton.

11:44 were you able to figure it out ? I just applied for this card and was untested in the united bank credit

Really enjoy your videos! We are from Los Angeles, US and will be going to Tokyo in January. I was wondering if we need adaptors for charging our iPhones and laptops when we are in Tokyo. Thank you.

If you truly value simplicity transferable currencies are terrible. Maybe you’re different but I have to plan my vacations a year in advance and it’s hard or impossible to change it so points redemptions are sometimes hard to find or the good redemptions cut my time in half. Having the usbar, csr, cash back, and cobranded cards are always better for people like me because I get guaranteed value I can use whenever I want.

AU cards screwed me. I didn’t know they counted as 5/24 slots. Early on in the game I added my wife to every card. Now she is locked out of chase for years because of my accounts.

Superb content, Stan! Long time viewer, first time commenter. So here is an idea for a potential strategy that I would love to get your thoughts on: Calculate your household’s typical annual credit card spend and utilize the recurring annual spend bonuses on hotel cards to ensure you get each bonus. So for instance, say you spend around $30k/year on credit cards. If you made sure $15k was on the Hilton Surpass and the other $15k was on the World of Hyatt, you would achieve each card’s spend bonus (FNC for each in this case). Could also add or sub in the $20k threshold for the IHG card which gives 10,000 points + $100 statement credit. This may make things simple for a Player 2 (who isn’t into the credit card game) by giving them one card at a time, while Player 1 uses both cards simultaneously and can ensure spend is on track and each card’s multipliers are optimized as much as possible.

Hi Stan…I wanted to know your opinion on a couple of things 1) Is buying airline / hotel points would that code as travel? 2) If you don’t have an Airline/Hotel credit card..what card would you use to buy points?

If I have a Roth IRA with investments in Chase and want to do everything through Fidelity? How would you go about that? Creating the new account in fidelity and following the steps in this video?

Hey Stan, great video. After my Brilliant’s anniversary card date and receiving the FNC, I plan to downgrade to Amex Bonvoy $95 card. Will the 25 elite nights still be in my account or will it drop to 15?

I already had an AMEX personal card when I got my first business card, and if I recall correctly, it did another hard pull . So in my case I had a hard poll for both my first personal and first business card. Sounds like it can vary some person to person. 🤷‍♂️

marriott is a very bad company to deal with there free night stays are only good for off season stays i would avoid this card if you can

Thanks for the info + video!

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).

Costco card is absolutely useless. He should replace it with another Visa such as Active Cash, Signify Cash, Venture X, Venture, Altitude Reserve (for Costco ), Wyndham Business (for gas at Costco)

Good logic on surpass… it’s gonna be my catch all in 2025.

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.

Hilton surpass card AF is $175 less then the Amex gold and $400 less than the aspire. You could buy approximately 35000 Hilton points for $150 and 80,000 Hilton points for $400 . Something to consider..

Rocking the bilt and pnc cash unlimited as a broke person with good credit 😅 that's my 2 card

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?

Picking the Surpass over the Ritz is a testament to your focus on the game over blind loyalty to a brand, nice job

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.

I am getting close to being eligible for SUBs on the Amex Marriott cards but because I’m increasingly invested in Hyatt and Hilton I’m wondering if it’s better to wait until I can stay there more frequently. Plus I still seem to be in perma jail on any Amex personal cards without a NLL link. If I wanted to upgrade to a Ritz I’d have to downgrade then upgrade again which is something I’d rather not have to do

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

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.

Our setups are different (13 cards, team cashback) but I really like your unique takes + strategies. keep up the good content.

First!

Great job on KZbin ♥️

You both got cheated. They offered me the 25k on the BBP with spending $6k in 4 months. Also anytime I hear Amex close credit cards, they usually close all your credit cards, not just the one card that had a problem.

I have the Marriott Bonvoy Premier which gives me a 25k free night award every year on the card anniversary. I believe Marriott also came out with a Premier Plus as well. As far as I know these cards came out before the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card came out. My question is, can I upgrade to the Ritz Carlton card from my Premier card, or do I have to apply for the Boundless card & then wait a full year? Also I was thinking about getting the Marriott Brilliant card, but the sign up bonus is only 95k & have heard of past promotions being in the 185k to 200k sign up bonus territory. Do you know what time of year they normally offer greater sign up bonuses? Anyways great content, thank you. Praying Marriott doesn't nerf the Ritz benefits before I have a chance to get it.

3X uncapped at Costco is probably why the issuer of USAR cannot afford new applicants

Just got the Surpass Card today. Using the Surpass card on Rakuten to earn MR points can be very lucrative. I average 11-17,000 MR points annually w/ Platinum card and I’m finding more useful ways to maximize Rakuten and even compound with Amex Offers.

Hilton just recently did a devaluation when it comes to a lot of their higher end properties and pumped the point prices massively so I guess Hilton aint too great for the high end part of yhe travel spectrum unless you use a free night certificate.

Love my surpass. not that high of annual fee. usable spend categories and coupons to discount the annual fee,

I am converting my Hilton Surpass into a pseudo business card next year and will spend $15K under "Online Retail" at 4X. I don't like having 2 HH personal cards. If my free night is worth $500, then I would have to spend $100K at 5X on the actual business version to break even!

Great video Stan! I used my surpass this year as a catch all to work on getting the FNC. Im surprised no one talks about the PayPal 5% back debit card. Seems like an easy way to fill in any gaps in a cash back setup. It’s up to $1000 spend a month /$50 back and you pick your category every month.

Amex setup works best for me. Gold and Platinum work well for my lifestyle. I was already using uber eat, Disney plus, staying at hotels, and the flight credit made it worth it for me.

Yo can I plz have 10$

An interesting comparison. $325 Gold AF would equal 65k additional HH points. Which would be 24% in additional points for the gold, however that is assuming 100% spend is dining/grocery. The Surpass is really surprisingly strong and simple!

Adding the gold card provides flexibility, so if an opportunity comes up in another system you can take advantage of it. I don't think hotel points will transfer well to say airlines.

I’m with Uncle Luke, give me the points and make them flexible, I will make my own trip. I would never lock myself into a program.

Thank you, Stan, for another very informative video.

The Surpass is my primary card (get Diamond as well) and have Costco as well. My set up is similar. Also have the Marriott Amex business - just a great card for benefits and big SUB. Also have Chase Amazon Prime. My big fee card is AMEX Platinum. For spending, Surpass is great. Are there better? Sure, but not much.

Since Marriott gold isn’t really worth it if you could only get one would you get? the bonvoy brilliant for the platinum status or get ritz Carlton card and try to get enough nights to earn platinum?

$40k on dining😳😳

Let me know where the Weston Club is. I'm 0-3.