How I Justify $2,133 In Annual Fees (My Strategy)

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Hey guys, in this video, I explain exactly how I’m managing my annual fees on my existing credit cards as well as the credit cards I have on my roadmap to add to my setup in the year. In doing so, I discuss when and why I’d choose to cancel a credit card and also explain how I can justify the annual fee on even the most expensive credit cards. I am currently holding 5 credit cards with annual fees on them, the Chase Sapphire Reserve ($550), Capital One Venture X ($395), Amex Business Gold ($375), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless ($95) and Citi Strata Premier ($95). In total, I'm paying $1,510 currently, with plans to be paying $2,133 by the end of this year, yet all of these cards give me positive value, and this video explains exactly how. If you’ve been wondering how I manage credit cards with annual fees on them or how I get value from my high annual fee credit cards, this video is for you.
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Card Links:
💳 Chase Sapphire Preferred: spencerjohnsonofficial.com/sa...
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💳 Capital One Venture X: spencerjohnsonofficial.com/ve...
💳 Amex Business Gold: spencerjohnsonofficial.com/am...
💳 Marriott Boundless: spencerjohnsonofficial.com/bo...
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Join My Communities:
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Watch Next:
🎥 I Ranked All Of My Credit Cards (Here’s What’s BEST): • I Ranked All Of My Cre...
🎥 How I Started The Credit Card Game In My 20s (REVEALED): • How I Started The Cred...
🎥 Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Reserve (Why I Upgraded): • Chase Sapphire Preferr...
🎥 Is The Venture X ACTUALLY Worth It? (My 1-Year Review): • Is The Venture X ACTUA...
🎥 Why I Canceled The Amex Gold (And YOU Should Too): • Why I Canceled The Ame...
📚 Chapters:
00:00 The Gameplan
01:01 How I Use Every One Of My Credit Cards (Earning Categories)
06:13 Summary Of Main Spending Categories
07:07 How I Maximize Every Dollar Spent
08:22 How Much Value I Get From My Annual Fee Cards
09:25 Value From Credits & Benefits: Chase Sapphire Reserve
12:17 Value From Credits & Benefits: Capital One Venture X
13:57 Value From Credits & Benefits: Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
14:54 Value From Credits & Benefits: Amex Business Gold
16:05 Value From Credits & Benefits: Citi Strata Premier
16:39 Effective Annual Fee Summary For Every Card
17:19 Annual Fee Manager (Present & Future Cards)
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#creditcardstrategy #bestcreditcards #creditcards

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

💲 Download MaxRewards: maxrewards.app.link/spencer (Code: SPENCER)

[@Anthonyjones-pq4ff]

Hey Spencer hope is well with you I really like your spread sheet in. The line up of How many cards you have . Like something like that for myself so I can when I’m under 5/24 For chase cards .. Your doing Big thing Young men Keep it up Wish I was like you when I was younger Lol … be proud of yourself

[@IonicTechYT]

I mean, being a credit card KZbinr with a good number of subscribers is already enough justification to me. I am impressed how you built a business around it. Thanks for the content!

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That's a great point. I do plan on adding as many cards as I can to review them from my personal perspective, so good note there.

[@jimmyjames6492]

Great breakdown! Thanks for the info + video!

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Thanks so much my man!

[@TheArtistFKApingaso3687]

Great video and a good roadmap on how to calculate value from your cards.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Thank you so much! I appreciate you watching!

[@manuelmata9870]

Great vid! ALSO, 20k subs ! Congrats goat !

[@Jack_Kisala]

Great vid as usual, Spencer! Do you think you can share table file?

[@johnmckinstry6057]

Great job on going over how you use your cards and the value you're getting from them versus the annual fees! It's good that you're getting positive value in all of your cards with annual fees. Out of the 12 cards that I have now, I'm only paying $194 in annual fees. The IHG Premier card is definitely worth more than its $99 AF and I'm looking forward to see how much value I can get from the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I'm hoping to add the Hilton Surpass card to my setup later this month, so that will up my total annual fees to $344.

[@sjg6158]

Sounds like you know what you''re doing, and that's all that matters. It's all very impressive.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I really appreciate that man! I was going back through old videos earlier and saw your comments on videos from a long time ago. Super cool to still see you around 🫡

[@wanderingdoc5075]

I agree with you my CSR gives me all of the value and benefits that my venture X does, but still have 180k capital 1 miles that unfortunately have been hard to use so i think i still need to keep the venture x open.

[@theVhin]

All of my credit card annual fees are well planned to pay for itself. My rule in keeping the cards is either net positive or zero, and by putting in a bit of effort, you’ll open up some privileges that cost tons of money to get there.

[@jamesyu613]

Those AF can really add up but if you can use it well it can sure pay off. This quarter I’m using CF for gas 5x and IHG and prime for groceries from a bonus offer

[@druiz012]

Crushing the game. Income, spend and travel habits are the most important factors of this game.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

You're the man David! I appreciate you! And I completely agree with you here.

[@noah.rebranded]

Bro you need the AMEX trifecta

[@chrisv4920]

Man I just upgraded my Capital QS to a V1. I’m happy with this move. I was planning on a VX, but l don’t see much value on the lounge and the 2x. I could find the same PP lounge with a CSR. 2x with a Citi double Cash. My Capital setup is V1 (just to have access to transfer partners) and my workhorse is the S1, all of that with no annual fee😁

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

It sounds like you made the right decision for your setup and that's exactly what we all need to do! Pairing that V1 with the S1 is super solid for sure.

[@RtheStory3333]

Beers in the delta sky club that I would otherwise be buying in the airport more than makeup for the annual fee on my delta amex reserve so gotta factor those in

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Absolutely!

[@karenmyrie6215]

I feel the same way. The SkyClubs (or AMEX Centurion Lounges) are my happy place when I travel. For me, it's food at one or both ends of my trip plus beverages. If I tried to do that from an airport vendor, that would likely be at least $20-25 each time. For 1 round-trip, where I go to the SkyClub before and after each flight, that's $80-100. That plus the no baggage fees. If I do 5 or 6 plane trips/year, that AMEX Reserve's AF is a wa$h. Plus I can get myself & my devices recharged. Win-win!!

[@sawhneyshivam]

The main reason (spencer)why expanded my portfolio to 9 credit cards including business

[@soapa4279]

To me, as long as you get close to break even, or net positive, AF's are a wash. It's just once you get a bunch of cards, is when it gets harder to keep track. One Amex Platinum and it's already a chore 😆

[@colinblumer31]

The two workhorses of my setup are the VX and the AMEX Gold (I also utilize Bilt, Marriott, etc., but those earn minimal points on everyday spend). I am with you that the Gold just doesn't make sense for the credits, especially when there are essentially free versions of the Gold with the Savor 1 and some Chase combos. I am tempted to drop the Gold and get into the Chase ecosystem since I don't have any Chase cards. However, it would be redundant for me to get the Reserve I think since I already have the VX. I could get the Chase Sapphire Preferred just for the transfer partners, but is that worth it over the Savor 1?

[@rmknicks]

Among my annual fee cards, I too have both the CSR and the VX. I'm cancelling the VX this month when the fee hits. I'd rather cancel than downgrade to the V1 and sock drawer it. I'm trying to simplify things.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s a fair approach and one I’m not against. But considering I’ll likely have points stored up on it, I’ll want to keep it active by downgrading I assume. We’ll see though!

[@evangibson8020]

Spence do you have a link to a template sheet similar to what you've put together to track your setup? I want to copy your homework. Also, once you get the Ritz card, are you going to keep CSR or downgrade to CSP? I don't see much benefit to holding both.

[@kristenletsinger600]

Same! I am a spreadsheet girl, and would love to tweak this to fit my cards.

[@Plague_GG]

What do you do with the cards that aren’t in your strategy? I’ve heard that if you don’t use a card they might close the account or it might hurt your credit.

[@samuelbenton9437]

Any reason you wouldn’t get the Marriott bonvoy brilliant before product changing boundless to the ritz?

[@germananditravels]

Yeah some people look at me like I'm crazy for having multiple credit cards too (even though not overboard), but when you explain to them how much value you get then they understand the obsession 🙏🏻

[@APRNVJ]

For me it just waste of time trying to explain to people (who don’t really care about credit cards) and they still look at me like “dude.. you have too many cards, thats not good for you.” 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@germananditravels]

@@APRNVJ that too, the main thing is just not carrying any large balances, since many people assume that's what's going on lol

[@seanhughes2026]

@SpencerJohnson there is an account that I believe is trying to pose as you responding to comments on your videos just wanted to make sure you were aware!

[@flipevent]

Thanks for sharing this! Looking at your strategy--and I say this as a Venture X fan--I think that the Venture X IS very redundant for you. Now, does it hurt? Probably not, given that its the only card that really gives you access to C1 travel partners. AND, it technically does "pay you" with the $300 + 10k annual points. And yes, while you can downgrade to the normal Venture, then it would be pretty much a "dead" card in your wallet. But, any spend you're doing on C1, you're probably "throwing away" to an ecosystem you do not really care too much about. All in all, interesting, as the above is LITERALLY how I feel about Chase (the reverse of your situation). I just like the C1 benefits a bit more, and how "international-friendly" the C1 duo is > Chase trio.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Absolutely man! I definitely agree with you here. It's not a card I need to close by any means, but it also doesn't really give me anything special right now. I do plan on using C1 miles more in the future, but with the VX being my only C1 card, I'm not accumulating too many points on it every year outside of referral points. It's cool to hear you resonate with this with a different ecosystem though. That's the beauty of the credit card game!!

[@Trinity-ooof]

My guess is that since this is your business, KZbin credit card content, that you are able to deduct the credit card expense on taxes as business expense. Just my guess, how it makes sense for you.

[@412foto]

I am currently at 14 cards and $1785 in annual fees but that has the Amex Platinum as a big outlier and the Amex Business Gold that I will be canceling as I just hit one year from it, they raised annual fee ($375 ouch!), and the one offset credit doesn't fully offset it and is a pain to remember to use (I buy a case of water and some snacks at an office supply store to trigger it). When I get under 5/24 in March 2025 there will likely be a few new annual fee cards added but all relatively low amounts and eventually might add a Hilton Aspire card to maintain Diamond status but will have to see how the math works and will have to close my Hilton Business card to free up a spot too.

[@JakeVanderPloeg]

20 drinks?!? Woah lets calm down Spencer Haha jk jk. Loved the breakdown of the EAFs. Keep up the good work my friend!

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

My buddies help me out a lot lol. Gotta live it up when you're in the lounge! I appreciate you boss 🥈

[@2arias2]

You totally missed the 10k points you get from VX every year on your anniversary

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I mentioned it in the video, but I intentionally left off all points earned on the cards in these calculations including those anniversary miles. That definitely helps lower my effective annual fee though!

[@tooeasy4217]

Those are rookie number! 😂

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Hahah I’ll get em up one day!

[@wanderingdoc5075]

Been at over $4500 for years 😂

[@tooeasy4217]

Since you want more UR points why not take advantage of the 5x with CIC and get visa gift cards?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

That’s not a strategy I’ve been super comfortable with implementing but I know it works well for folks. Maybe one day!

[@tooeasy4217]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial why is that?

[@hc2777]

Are the drinks free in the lounge?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Yessir! Free with my access, but of course I pay the AF on the CSR for that benefit.

[@hc2777]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficial ohhh ok got it. Thanks for the heads up

[@IanMaschal]

Define editing spend? Someone else? Software?

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

It codes as media services or something like that on my Amex business gold but it’s a team of editors that I pay a subscription fee to every month.

[@Just_Stevo]

I like your videos, but the only way you can justify them is with referral bonuses.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Well based on this video, that being the "only way" I justify them is not accurate as I didn't take into account any referral bonuses or points on my cards at all. But you're right in saying referral bonuses make almost every card worth it for us KZbinrs. I just don't factor that in my reviews since that's not relatable to the audience.

[@Rowdyyy_rod]

You left out the annual 10k mile anniversary bonus for the Venture X?

[@Tyrantt__]

It’s 10k, but I thought the same thing. I assumed he might’ve left it out since he said at around 8:50 that he wasn’t calculating points, but just benefits. Although I consider the 10k points a benefit personally.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I left it out since I didn't include any points earned on any of my cards in these calculations, those 10k points included.

[@proscoe]

Seems like some wishful evaluations. I’m sure you’re getting a lot of value from other redemptions but I wouldn’t value chase points at $.002/pt on a redemption for $.0015/pt. Also, the free night certificate is great but it isn’t worth the full value of its points (85k*$.0008/pt) since it’s way less flexible. Unless you travel a ton or are planning a whole trip around using the certificate you’re probably not getting that full value. And if you do have that kind of flexibility you can probably get an even better redemption just having the points to split up over multiple nights or combine with other points.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

I appreciate your perspective! As you’ll see in my next video, the 2 cpp valuation for Chase points as an average is pretty spot on. As for the Marriott free night, it all depends on the redemption. I took the average value of the points since I haven’t used them yet. Once I use the free night I’ll have a concrete number to share. Thanks for watching!

[@SOXGATORS]

😊

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Killing it! 👑

[@SOXGATORS]

@@SpencerJohnsonOfficialreally no way 🍪 for me I guess.

[@IanMaschal]

Dang man 24 years be looking like they 30 now

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

Hahah I’ll take that as a compliment 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@fwoodbridge]

$2133? You're a child.

[@SpencerJohnsonOfficial]

👶🏼