Wow! This is exactly the kind of information I'm looking for; thanks! I'm amazed at what you've been able to do; I think it's absolutely extraordinary. As I get older the thought of "lie flat seats on international flights" sounds very appealing. When my husband and I retire I would like to experience more of that kind of travel. In the meantime, as a family of four with a child at home for at least 9 more years, my current goal is to get us all wherever we're going as cheaply as possible.
I'm a non-traditional (which means "old") grad student so my husband currently earns the vast majority of our income. We have discussed taking a year (or maybe slightly less) to travel once I'm done with school, before I find a job. This will be approximately 12 to 18 months from now, so any points I can accrue in that time would be very helpful. My husband works partway across the state from where we live and flies back and forth about half the time (sometimes he drives) so he has quite a few ff miles, and he stays in a Marriott while he's away (3-4 nights a week) so he has a ton of Marriott points and is a lifetime Platinum member. This is all a good start, but there is so much I don't know about how to maximize our credit card use for the best benefits.
So let me see if I understand this correctly. I should probably hang on to the AmEx Blue Preferred because I've had it for a few years and longevity counts toward your credit score, correct? This card has a $95 annual fee, but pays 6% cash back for the first $6000 worth of groceries annually. So if I use this card solely for groceries for the first 7 months or so (until I hit $6000) I'm still coming out $265 ahead. I guess I should also figure out which of my cards pays the most back for gas and use that one for that. I also spend quite a bit of money on
Amazon. Beyond these three things, I don't spend a lot of money.
Well, I do spend a fair amount at Disney. I'm not sure what the best card for that is. I've thought about getting a Disney Visa (the free one) just for the special meet and greets and few other perks, but every time I've checked over the last year the signup bonus has been uninspiring. I read that a lot of you buy Disney gift cards though avenues that garner you points (or at Target with the 5% off red card) and then use them for your Disney expenses. Is this preferable to just using a card with good "travel" cash back/points rewards? What's the best way to do it?
Regarding churning, I should get up to 5 Chase cards per 24 month period, get the bonus, and then cancel before I have to pay an annual fee? Is this too simplistic an explanation of this? I still have a lot of reading to do! With cards that have an annual fee, when do you pay that? Is it up front or after the first year? So can you sign up, get the bonus, and cancel before the year is up and avoid paying the annual fee? I'm getting offers from AmEx to upgrade to Platinum for 60,000 rewards points, but I have to spend $5000 in three months and membership is $550 a year. I'm not sure what 60,000 points even translates to in miles or dollars so I'm not sure if it's worth it, but it might be if I could avoid paying the annual fee. It's all very confusing to me still.
I could never get on board with the extreme couponing to save money on groceries/household items--I just wasn't interested enough. But I find all off this really intriguing and feel that getting to vacation more and possibly better would be entirely worth the time and effort put into it.