AmeriKop45

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Alrighty...I've been lurking in this thread for years, but need some advice. We're finishing up a home renovation and close on the refi at the end of the month.

By that point, we will have hit the maximum benefit threshold on our existing DL Plat Amex, and have already churned through the SW RR cards to get me companion pass.

What's available for us? I wish the Marriott 100k bonus was another month longer, but I need to wait until the house closes to open up anymore lines.

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AmEx Biz plat is at 100K right now until 8/8. Needs 25K in spend within 3 months. Could look into that. Gives you SkyClub/Centurion/Priority Pass access. Also get the 35% rebate on points when booking F/J flights

Given the fact that you can contribute $5.5K in a Roth IRA and upto $18K in a employer sponsored salary deferral plan (401k), you should not be looking anywhere else before you max out this for yourself (and your partner if you are a couple). Look at the tax savings as added "ROI" in addition to the growth of your funds. Tough to beat any other way.

Add another $3,450x2 if you have an HSA. If you don't; look into it and see if it works for you.

Once you have maxed your IRA, 401(k) and HSA (if applicable) for both you + partner, that is when you can look to get creative.

There's no "re-opening" a closed account. Not even a week later. Your only choice is to get a new CC, for which, yes - they will do a hard pull.

Oh nice. I work in Public which is probably why I thought AUD was easiest. Definitely overstudied. But I dont retain info well for a long period of time so I had to.

Practice a LOT of LCM, and know your consolidations. You'll likely have a Sim on both. Also know specific time event accrual rules. I thought these were by far the most heavily tested individual areas.

I agree. Becker worked really well for me too. Do all the questions and sims at least twice. Passed all on my first try 96, 92, 92, 88

Chase Ink is 3x on gas. That is the highest AFAIK.

Tokyo
Singapore
Bali
Maui
Boston
NYC
New Orleans
Knoxville
Denver
Cancun
Charlotte
Austin

Quite a bit but it was my CPA study year so a bit "lesser" than usual.

107K miles flown this year. Have 4 more trips before the end of the year (3 are for work)

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I have two CSR's (myself and wife) with over 300K points so far. With the travel credits, I don't really see the need to downgrade them, but am open to reasons why folks do it.

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No reason to have both after year 1. Drop 1. If travels a lot by herself and needs lounge/rental car benefits, just add her as an AU on your account for $75. Make sure you transfer all the UR over from her account to yours before you cancel.

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Anyway, I've had a Barclays card with 2% cash back that is up for renewal next month. I have enough travel credits to zero out my points on it, and was thinking I should move to the Chase Unlimited Freedom for non CSR purchases

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Yes. I think you should drop the 2% card and move to Freedom Unlimited. With the combo of of CFU and CSR, it will be very easy to beat the 2% card and the CFU has no AF. So win, win.

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and possibly add the CSP or maybe even the INK to bolster my points. Or should I cancel the CSR and downgrade to CSP?

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You can no longer have both the CSR and CSP at the same time. So when you cancel wife's CSR, get her a CSP for the bonus. Then cancel in year 2. No reason to have both CSR and CSP in the same household. Definitely add the Ink for 80K bonus points plus very good points earning.

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Not keep all my eggs in the Chase basket?

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It usually helps to branch out. But unless you were gonna go all out, I would advise you to keep building up UR as much as you can. UR gives you access to all 3 airline alliances and Hyatt. Maybe pick up hotel cards here and there to get the hotels free.

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Also, I haven't really googled, but wanted to ask about points redemption. My closest airport is LEX and it's mostly Delta with a couple of AA and United Flights, and Allegiant. I also have about 200K Hilton points, but wonder if I should use them and move to Marriott, as I think that is a Chase partner.

My goal was to bank points for future vacation use, but I really haven't studied enough as to airlines/hotels/etc that would get me the most bang for my buck with my UR points.

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As far as redemption goes, *deleted* anytime and I can help you out with award searches and bookings.

Further, if you tell us what your goal is, people here can certainly give you advice as to what cards to get etc.

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That's the thing, they're not really clear on how they grade it.

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I very much think that they do some sort of a tiered-percentile. They probably have a band where they see what the top 5% people scored and place them at 99, then place people on tiers from then on. 96,90,88 and so on. So if you made between say a 62-70, they give you a 74. Because how else would so many people fail with a 74?

Buy bitcoin obviously preferably on 100% margin. 600K in BTC is the right way to start the life of a billionaire.