$2,000 in Travel Card Annual Fees? Learn How to Audit Your Wallet to Make Sure They’re Worth It (Video Episode)

Speaker 1 We find Vecna. We end this once and for all, together.

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Speaker 1 It's a bit insane. Everyone in?

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Speaker 2 Get ready for one last adventure.

Speaker 1 We stay true to ourselves.

Speaker 2 Stay true to our friends, no matter the cost.

Speaker 2 Found you.

Speaker 2 Stranger Things, Season 5, Volume 2, begins December 25th, only on Netflix.

Speaker 1 $2,000 a year in credit card annual fees?

Speaker 4 That's what one of our fellow nerds is paying. But should she?

Speaker 1 We're doing a credit card consult with Smart Money's Elizabeth Iola to find out if her wallet is working for her or if it's time to trim the plastic.

Speaker 4 Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.

Speaker 1 I'm Megan Coyle and I'm Sally French.

Speaker 4 And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.

Speaker 1 But before we bring Elizabeth on and brace yourself, listeners, because I think she has more energy than us. We have some beefy news.

Speaker 4 And before the news, we got to do that disclaimer. Sally, take it away.

Speaker 1 Okay, yes. Chipmunk mode is on.
Listeners, as always, we will talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners in this episode, but that does not influence how we discuss them.

Speaker 1 The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can change.

Speaker 1 Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening, so for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.

Speaker 4 Thanksgiving weekend is here, which means airports and highways are about to be packed.

Speaker 1 Yes, this is historically the busiest travel weekend of the entire year. And if you're flying Sunday after Thanksgiving, godspeed.

Speaker 1 That day almost always breaks travel records for the busiest travel day to fly.

Speaker 4 You think we'll break another record this year, Sally?

Speaker 1 Well, you know, Megan, funny you say that because last week I was like, yes, definitely, we are still expecting records.

Speaker 1 Sirium just sent me some new data that overall Thanksgiving flight bookings are actually down 3.3% compared to last year.

Speaker 4 Now, just to back up a little bit, Sirium said that bookings were actually ahead of pace in late October, but then that government shutdown started at the end of the month.

Speaker 4 And since then, everything's just dipped. Travelers might be feeling a little spooked about delays, or maybe they're just driving instead.

Speaker 1 Yes, and driving is a good point. So I do think there is still a really good chance we will see record numbers, but I do wonder if people are now driving versus flying.

Speaker 1 For example, AAA gave us some data that nearly 82 million Americans will be traveling for Thanksgiving, up more than a million from last year, but their data accounts for not just flyers, drivers as well.

Speaker 1 And then you look at AirDNA, they track data around vacation rentals. They are telling me that bookings are pacing above last year by Get This by about 8%.

Speaker 4 Okay, so it sounds like people are still going places, just maybe not flying there.

Speaker 1 Are you traveling for Thanksgiving, Megan?

Speaker 4 Well, as you know, going to another wedding. It's the Monday after Thanksgiving, so I'm going to avoid that whole mess.
It's also international, so I'm not worried at all.

Speaker 1 Okay, okay, all right. So yeah, the best way to avoid Thanksgiving travel is to travel, but internationally.

Speaker 4 Yeah, they do not have Thanksgiving in this country.

Speaker 1 Okay, amazing. Now, speaking of Thanksgiving, we have to talk about Black Friday deals.
And as we talked about on last week's episode, Christmas seems to come sooner than ever.

Speaker 1 Black Friday seems to come sooner than ever. Tess and I already shared a bunch of Black Friday deals that we loved to see.
I would recommend listeners visit nerdwallet.com.

Speaker 1 Our wonderful colleague Craig Joseph has been updating this list of Black Friday deals. At this point, he has found more than 100 NerdWallet approved deals.

Speaker 1 We will post a link to those deals in the episode description.

Speaker 4 And there's so many different types of deals. There's airfare deals, cruise deals, hotel deals.

Speaker 4 So I think no matter what kind of travel you're looking to book, especially in the next year, I think you might find something on that list.

Speaker 1 Anything you found, Megan?

Speaker 4 I don't know, man. I just got a new travel credit card.
So I'm looking for the perfect thing to actually buy with my new credit card.

Speaker 1 You got to hit that sign-up bonus. That's right.
Maybe book a deal to hit it. Now, moving on to some big news from Emirates, they have had a massive week of news this week.

Speaker 1 New planes, new partnerships, even new Wi-Fi. It feels like they are doubling down on pretty much everything.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's been like the airline version of Oprah. It's like you get a retrofit and you get faster internet and you get a code share.
So let's start with Air Canada news.

Speaker 1 I love it. I love it.
Everyone gets a Wi-Fi.

Speaker 1 All right. So, first off, in the news is that Emirates and Air Canada are extending their existing partnership now through 2032.

Speaker 4 That means more code share routes, which basically translates to smoother connections for travelers between Canada, the U.S., Dubai, and beyond.

Speaker 1 Right. We should kind of explain what CodeShare means for people who don't know.

Speaker 1 Basically, instead of having to book an Air Canada flight to maybe Vancouver to Hong Kong and then catch a Emirates flight from Hong Kong on to Dubai. Now you could easily book that same itinerary.

Speaker 1 So you're technically still doing the Air Canada flight, but you can check bags all the way through. You're on the same ticket.

Speaker 1 It just makes it so much smoother rather than having to book two literally separate flights.

Speaker 4 Right. So next up, they also ordered eight more Airbus A350s, which brings their total to 73.
They already have 13 flying.

Speaker 4 So that just builds on that fleet of ultra long-haul jets with premium economy cabins.

Speaker 1 Yo, I love their premium economy cabins. I don't know if you know this, Megan, but they invited me to SFO to go on a tour of one of their planes because they were showing off these new cabins.

Speaker 1 And Megan, they are fabulous. They aren't quite live flat.
I mean, they're not live flat, but they recline so much that I was like, I feel like I'm in my lazy boy in the living room. So comfy.

Speaker 4 I'm becoming a premium economy convert on international flights. I just took a premium economy seat on an international flight and I was like, wow, this is like first class domestic.

Speaker 4 And it was like half the price, you know, of a business class or first class seat. So I really liked it.

Speaker 1 You know what they have in real first class in Emirates?

Speaker 4 What?

Speaker 1 They have not just showers. They have heated floors inside their bathrooms.

Speaker 4 I love the idea of a heated floor. It's just so cozy.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 When they invited me for the tour, I was like, can I please stay on a flight? They're like, no, ma'am, you need to leave. Get off.
Get off. We're born now.

Speaker 1 Take your photos for a nerd wallet and leave.

Speaker 1 True.

Speaker 4 Okay, but then you could send those photos over Wi-Fi. Is that the idea?

Speaker 1 All right, Megan. I see what you did there.
And that ties into the next big piece of news from Emirates. That is that they are undergoing a massive retrofit program on many of their planes.

Speaker 1 Starting next year, they will upgrade 111 existing aircraft with brand new seats, 4K entertainment screens, and even Starlink satellite Wi-Fi.

Speaker 4 The Starlink part is wild. It's rolling out this month on their Boeing 777s, and it's free, high-speed internet for everyone on board.

Speaker 4 So you can stream, you can video chat, you can even maybe game mid-flight. And I know United has Starlink as well on some flights.

Speaker 4 So our fellow writer, Ben, got to test it out, and he said it was super good.

Speaker 1 I saw he wrote in his article that the person next to him was playing World of Warcraft on the flight. I was like, great detail, Ben.

Speaker 4 I love that.

Speaker 1 So Emirates says that by mid-2027, every A380 and 777 in service will have it. That makes them world's largest Starlink-enabled international fleet.

Speaker 4 Okay, this is great. It sounds like we can work remotely from this big airplane.

Speaker 1 Honestly, it looks like better Wi-Fi than what I have in my house. So I do think maybe we should just record our next podcast episode from the flight.
What do you think?

Speaker 4 I don't know how Tess would feel about that.

Speaker 1 Bosses, let us do it. All right, Megan, time to move over to our better fancier studio where Elizabeth is waiting for us.
Yes, this episode is a special episode that we've got on video.

Speaker 1 You can watch it on YouTube, on Spotify. Just search for NerdWallet so you can see us in video form as well.

Speaker 4 See you all there, sort of.

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Speaker 6 This week on Scene on the Screen, we were like, okay, we're going to do three times, more than three times that amount of animatronics for the second one.

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At least if we stick the landing with them,

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Speaker 1 And now it's time to get to the fun stuff. So first off, thank you for being here.
Thank you for having me. And we want to get to know you and your financial self.

Speaker 1 So why don't you tell us what you're looking for in a credit card, what your family's like, what your spending is, all that. Introduce yourself.

Speaker 7 Okay, so I'm a fabulous single mama. I have one kid.
He is seven. In terms of my lifestyle, I like to eat out sometimes because I have to cook often because I'm a mom.

Speaker 7 Otherwise, I would live off of cereal and peanut butter jelly sandwiches. So I also do do lots of grocery shopping multiple times a week sometimes.
Could be more efficient with that.

Speaker 7 I like to travel. What else do I like to do? I like buying clothes.

Speaker 4 Where do you live?

Speaker 7 Oh, I live in Houston.

Speaker 1 Okay. That's very important.
Yes. Yeah.
And then the other thing I want to know is, do you have any outstanding debt going on?

Speaker 7 No, I don't. Okay.
Car loan.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Yeah. With this show, we always talk about travel credit cards that have high interest.

Speaker 1 And so the cards that we typically talk about on the show are not for people who have credit card debt.

Speaker 1 So I'm glad to hear that is not you because we are going to be talking about cards with high annual fees, high interest rates. So I think let's actually get to that.

Speaker 1 I want to know what credit cards do you currently have in your wallet?

Speaker 7 All right. So I will start with my oldest card, which is the American Express Blue Cash Preferred.
Got an annual fee on that. I also recently got the American Express Platinum.
Ooh.

Speaker 7 I have the Chase Sapphire Reserved, and then I have the City AA Advantage card. And then I have a bonus one, the only one without a fee.
Okay. The TJ Max Marshall slash slash slash card.

Speaker 1 Shout out to TJ Maxx. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, I'm just doing my math in the head.

Speaker 1 And you said you have one card with no annual fee, and then you have a whole bunch of cards with many annual fees.

Speaker 1 So you mentioned the MX Blue Cash Preferred. That is a less than $100 annual fee, but it is still something.
And then you you mentioned other cards that have many hundreds of dollars in annual fees.

Speaker 1 The Chase Affair Reserve, $795 annual fee. Amex Platinum, as we just have been talking about on the show, annual fee increased to $895.

Speaker 1 So I'm quickly doing the math and you are paying close to $2,000 in annual fees for your credit card. How does that make you feel?

Speaker 7 Well, when you say out loud like that,

Speaker 7 but honestly,

Speaker 7 it makes me feel, I feel like money is a tool, right?

Speaker 7 So in some ways, it's like, well, that's a lot of money to spend on fees, but I think if I'm getting a benefit out of it and it brings me joy and I can afford it, right? Then, you know, why not?

Speaker 7 Everyone has what they're going to spend their money on.

Speaker 1 So yeah, and we are definitely not judging you. There are so many people who say, I will not pay any annual fees for a credit card.
And that is also completely okay.

Speaker 1 But you are talking to two people who also pay it.

Speaker 1 You pay $2,000. I think Megan pays more than $2,000 in annual fees.

Speaker 1 So we are also not immune to annual fees on credit cards.

Speaker 1 I think it's just important to break down, are you actually spending enough to not just justify the annual fee, but justify the opportunity cost of using another credit card that could give you similar benefits with no annual fee.

Speaker 1 When we brought you on the show, I was genuinely expecting to add another credit card to your wallet, but I'm kind of

Speaker 1 thinking about it. I'm actually kind of thinking we should talk about, should we almost get rid of one of these credit cards?

Speaker 7 Well, that's what I've been thinking, especially since Chase increased their annual fee. I was like, oh, no, I'm getting rid of this card.
But then I saw there's an option to downgrade the card.

Speaker 7 So essentially I'm on the fence and that's why I'm here. So you guys can help me think through this so I can make an informed financial decision.
Can you tell I work at Nerd Wallet?

Speaker 1 Yes, I love it. Okay, well, let's kind of go through the high-level benefits, especially with these cards that have high annual fees.

Speaker 1 We're not going to go over every single benefit on these cards because that would take two hours or more, but let's go through some of the top line benefits.

Speaker 1 So let's start with the Chase Sapphire Reserve since you've already alluded to maybe possibly wanting to dump this one. This card has a $795 annual fee.

Speaker 1 There is a $300 travel credit, which I personally find easy to use.

Speaker 7 You agree? Yeah, I travel pretty often, so I could use that.

Speaker 1 What about the lounges?

Speaker 7 Oh, so see, that's what got me in this mess in the first place. I love a lounge.
Okay, I'm a lounge girly. I love a lounge.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Same with Sally. Yeah, you are speaking to the right people.

Speaker 1 Let's see. TSA pre-check credit, $500 in annual credit, but this comes in two twice-a-year, or well, one twice-a-year a year credit, $250 each for the edit, which is their hotel booking portal.

Speaker 1 Have you ever used that? I have not. Yeah, I actually find it kind of a pain to use myself.

Speaker 4 Have you ever used your Chase points?

Speaker 7 So since you asked, I have about 80, no. About 83,000 points and I have not used any of them yet.

Speaker 1 You haven't used your points? Okay. Well, that's good to know.
Let's bring her back to the next show on how to spend your points. Yeah.
So you do have a ton of points.

Speaker 1 Other credits that are relatively new, twice a year dining credit, which is 150 two times a year thoughts on that easy to use because i like to eat well it is fancy restaurants you like fancy restaurants when someone else is paying sure or when

Speaker 1 when your daddy chase is paying

Speaker 1 when you paid for the chase uh let's see another new credit is two 150 a year credits for stub hub i do not use stub hub no concerts you're not taking your seven-year-old to concerts oh wait a second see thank you for saying that because i'm a concert lover actually i've been to three already this year I'm going to three more, but I never use StubHub.

Speaker 7 So I'm missing an opportunity there.

Speaker 1 Would you buy the tickets on StubHub?

Speaker 7 Well, I'm going for the cheaper price. So it depends.
You know, are their prices competitive? So that's something I'm going to go on. I don't know.

Speaker 1 I don't use StubHub. I think that's good advice, though.

Speaker 4 Like, if there's something you're going to buy and you have an option between buying a cheaper one, not with a merchant that has a credit or buying the more expensive one with the credit.

Speaker 4 I think you have to weigh your options here and think about I would usually go with the cheaper one anyway.

Speaker 1 Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 7 I feel like sometimes that's the lure or the cash cash because they're like, we're giving you a discount here, but I could get it cheaper somewhere else. There you go.

Speaker 1 Okay. And then, so there's a bunch of other credits.
We'll just kind of quickly go through. There's a $250 Apple TV credit.
I don't know. Do you do Apple TV?

Speaker 7 Sometimes. Okay, sometimes.

Speaker 1 It's on the show. A $10 a month Peloton membership.
Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 Okay. Well, so, you know, kind of what you're already saying is $300 travel credit, easy to use.
You're saying a $300 dining credit, you feel like, is easy to use.

Speaker 1 And then it sounds like the $300 step hub credit you would also... You could potentially use.
So that's $900 right there.

Speaker 1 If we're talking about the annual fee is $795, you have at least justified this annual fee.

Speaker 7 With those, and I didn't have to go through the whole list to do that.

Speaker 1 Right, right.

Speaker 4 And then, you know, I feel like we haven't even talked about the value you can get from the points yet, which you haven't spent yet. But I mean, that offers a lot of opportunity there as well.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then like some of these silly credits, it's like maybe you wouldn't value Apple TV at $250, but. Maybe you would value it at $20, in which case, yeah, it's a little cherry on top.

Speaker 1 Okay, so I don't hate that. Should we talk about the Amex Platinum?

Speaker 4 Yeah, let's do it. Okay, so that one has an annual fee of $895, but we'll go through some of the credits.
There's a $300 twice-a-year credit.

Speaker 4 So $300 of the first half of the year, $300, second half of the year, for their fine hotels and resorts

Speaker 4 prepaid through American Express. Do you ever book those hotels through American Express?

Speaker 7 I don't. And it's interesting.
I mean, honestly, I don't stay at hotels that many times a year.

Speaker 7 So sometimes when I travel, I'm usually traveling to somewhere where I have family or friends and I end up staying with them, you know? So we probably don't stay at hotels that much.

Speaker 1 I mean, the fact that you didn't use the chase version of the credit, I'm not optimistic. You used effectively the same version of the credit for Amex, just their service.
Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 4 There's also a $200 airline fee credit. And so this isn't for like flights.
This is for like baggage fees, fare change fees. Do you use something like that?

Speaker 7 Oh, I have a cute story for you about that. Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 Let's hear it.

Speaker 7 So my ex was like, hey, if you're traveling with me, I don't check in. bags.
And I was like, wait, what? That changed my life because now I don't check in bags. So I learned to pack efficiently.

Speaker 7 So all I have have to take is a carry-on and I will cry if you love checking my bags.

Speaker 1 She's a candidate for co-host on the show.

Speaker 1 We love the no carry-on life.

Speaker 1 No, no, check bags. It's like a great life.

Speaker 7 There's no going back.

Speaker 1 Okay, good.

Speaker 4 And well, you also have an airline credit card. So that also gives you some benefits.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 1 I need an airline fee credit for.

Speaker 4 Okay. That makes sense.

Speaker 4 $15 monthly in Uber cash.

Speaker 7 I'm going to let you guys take a cheeky guess on that.

Speaker 1 You're an Uber girl. I'm an overeats girly.

Speaker 7 So yes, I use it. Overeats.

Speaker 1 Yes, I like the easy stony breeds. Nice.

Speaker 1 Okay, you already said you you like dining, and this one has in a $100 quarterly Resi credit, very similar to the Chase Dining credit, but it's Annex's version. You like that?

Speaker 7 Yeah, but you know what? I'm going to go after this and research what restaurants are under this Resi credit, and maybe some might jump out at me.

Speaker 4 Okay, there's also another $25 monthly digital entertainment credit. So that's like certain streaming services or subscriptions to news.

Speaker 4 Do you use any of those?

Speaker 7 Yeah, I think I have Netflix and I'm stealing everyone else's password for the rest. So

Speaker 1 maybe not.

Speaker 1 We don't endorse that on the Smart Travel Show. Just kidding.

Speaker 1 You said you like shopping. Amex has some interesting shopping credits.
It has $800 broken out into two $50 per year credits to Saks Fifth Avenue.

Speaker 7 Thoughts? Oh, that sounds a little expensive.

Speaker 7 I like thrifting and I like, you know, if it's obviously if it's good quality, I'm here for quality.

Speaker 1 Also, I feel like $50 of Saks Fifth Avenue is like a pair of socks. Exactly.
It's really hard.

Speaker 4 I buy soap with it and I still go over $50.

Speaker 1 Okay, but thoughts, when Amex announced their new changes, their higher annual fee, they also announced a new shopping benefit that I like. I'm curious your thoughts is $75 quarterly at Lululemon.

Speaker 7 Now I like that because I buy workout clothes to motivate me to work out. So if I have a cute outfit, I'm probably going to do it.

Speaker 1 If we're saying that you can use a $400 Resi credit, you can use the $300 total for Lululemon. Let's say you can use the $200 annually in Uber credits.

Speaker 1 That's $900 in value right there, which is what the annual fee is. So I do feel like we are at least breaking even on annual fees on these cards with kind of like just these benefits alone.

Speaker 7 I have a question for you all. How do you justify? Because I feel like a lot of my justification has centered around the lounges, right?

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 7 So I am, I have a whole experience. I am not the person who likes to get to my flight five minutes before.

Speaker 7 I get there two to three hours before so I can get a drink, get a margarita, get a meal and relax. So I like the Centurion lounge.
I went for the first time actually.

Speaker 4 The one in Houston?

Speaker 7 Yeah. Yes.
The one in Houston. And I'll try the one in Arizona as well.

Speaker 7 But my point is, can I justify, hey, if I would have not had that lounge access and bought, I don't know, 10 meals 10 times I traveled, right? You know, does that count?

Speaker 7 Do you guys think about it that way?

Speaker 1 Absolutely. I mean, I also factor in the cost.

Speaker 1 So we said with these credits alone, we are already justifying the annual fee, but justifying is not good enough because you could also just use a card with a $0 annual fee.

Speaker 1 So that's where we have to factor in these benefits that don't have a clear dollar value. And I think about something like a lounge.

Speaker 1 I'm not a big drinker. So I don't get like the alcohol value of the lounge, but I still get food.

Speaker 1 And so I would figure I would probably buy a coffee at the airport, which let's face it, airport coffee is like $8.

Speaker 1 And then I'm going to get maybe a sandwich, which is.

Speaker 4 $15. I don't know.
Right.

Speaker 1 And so, you know, for that, it's like, okay, let's say maybe I would value a lounge at $25.

Speaker 1 If you're someone who would pay for two airport cocktails, which let's say that's $20 each, maybe you might value a lounge at $50.

Speaker 1 And so you do have to kind of do that calculation for yourself. And then how often are you going to lounges? Yeah.

Speaker 4 How often do you fly?

Speaker 7 Like if I'd say maybe like 10 times a year. And sometimes I take myself.

Speaker 1 So if you go into the lounge 10 times and then you're valuing it at $50, it's like, okay, so is this $500 of value right there? And it is hairy math. You know, would I just bring a PBNJ from home?

Speaker 1 You do have to.

Speaker 1 So you do have to actually factor in all this.

Speaker 1 And I am actually feeling like maybe it is worth keeping these cards because you are actually justifying the annual fee on the statement credits and then you're also able to go into the lounge which is maybe 500 in value right there and did you know that amex platinum gets you into delta sky clubs as well so oh i didn't know that you could also hit up the delta sky club next time you're at the airport if you have a delta flight of course and you paid for it with this card okay elizabeth i got bad news for you we're like halfway through your cards and it already seems like we got to keep both of them oh man okay i'm scared over that american airlines card though that you had i'm interested it has a 99 annual fee fee.

Speaker 1 I think its top benefit is the free checked bags. And you just said you don't check bags.

Speaker 7 No.

Speaker 4 Interesting. Okay.
I am also very curious because you chose an American Airlines card and you fly out of Houston where I looked it up.

Speaker 4 There was only like 5% of flights that were American out of Houston. They're actually big United hub.

Speaker 4 Have you found that to be a problem when you're looking for flights?

Speaker 7 Yes, now. So that has been a recent change.
I was in Florida before and I didn't have as much of an issue with that.

Speaker 7 So I have been thinking, but I just have have an affinity towards American right now because it was my first airline that I started air miles with, you know, so I just used to flying with them.

Speaker 1 I guess, why do you have this card if the top benefit is checked bags?

Speaker 7 For the lounges. So I wanted access to all the American lounges, right?

Speaker 1 You're probably only going to one lounge. And if you have now, exactly.
You have Centurion Lounge access and Chase Lounge access and American lounge access.

Speaker 1 Do you like the American lounges more than the Centurion lounge?

Speaker 7 Well, now that I've been to the Centurion lounges, no. So I'm like saying that might be the weakest link.

Speaker 1 Okay, I agree.

Speaker 4 Okay, that's good to know. I think we'd recommend probably considering getting rid of that card.

Speaker 1 I agree.

Speaker 4 It seems like the least valuable in your wallet so far.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it cuts out $100 in annual fees right there.

Speaker 1 Wait,

Speaker 7 it's not $100. No, it's like $500 or something.

Speaker 1 I got the one with lounge access.

Speaker 4 Oh, of course, of course.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 That's going to save you a ton of money. It is.
Okay.

Speaker 4 Let's get rid of that card.

Speaker 1 But wait.

Speaker 7 So I have like 113,000 points on there.

Speaker 1 So do I need to use those points first oh that's a really good question the great thing about airline cards is that your airline miles go straight into your airline loyalty account so when you do downgrade or close that card your miles will stay safe inside of the menu airline account and that is different from if you have more of a general travel card like your amex platinum or your chase sapphire reserve if you close those cards and you don't have let's say like if you had a chase sapphire preferred and then you had a chase freedom unlimited your points would still stay there.

Speaker 1 But if you close a Chase Sapphire Reserve and you didn't have another Chase card, you would lose those points. Wow.

Speaker 4 So you have to move them before you close the card.

Speaker 1 Yeah, to another card that can hold them. Okay.
Right. But that's not the case with airlines.
So I'm kind of tempted to close the American Airlines card. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then you will still at least save the miles. Yeah.

Speaker 1 One more card that you have that has an annual fee, that would be the MX Blue Cash Preferred, which its annual fee is $0 intro offer for the first year and then $95, which I am assuming you are now paying that.

Speaker 7 Yeah. And I have a little side quest about that.
So earlier this year, when I was like, hey, girl, you might have too many cards.

Speaker 7 I had called them to cancel it. Cause I was like, do I really need this card? And then they learned me back in because they were like, well, how much do you spend on groceries? And I was like,

Speaker 7 maybe quite a bit. And they were like, well, and then I didn't realize I wasn't using the card right.
Well, in terms of maximizing the benefits, because I wasn't using that to buy all my groceries.

Speaker 7 So yeah, I have started trying to do that to see if I could maximize the benefit.

Speaker 4 Okay. You got something called a retention offer.

Speaker 4 That's usually when the credit card company will try to make sure when you're thinking about canceling, they'll lure you right back with a really good offer.

Speaker 4 And it sounds like it was helpful because you were able to learn like, oh, how I can maximize my spending on this card. This one gets 6% cash back at U.S.
supermarkets. So that's really good.

Speaker 4 6% cash back is awesome.

Speaker 1 It is on only up to $6,000 per year. So I am curious, do you happen to know how much you spend on U.S.
supermarkets?

Speaker 7 Yeah, I would say around about $500 a month.

Speaker 1 Okay, interesting.

Speaker 1 The other thing that I do want to note about this card is it is U.S. supermarkets.
It is not groceries, which drives me wild because I buy my groceries at Target and Costco, which are not U.S.

Speaker 1 supermarkets. So you do need to factor that in.

Speaker 7 Well, are Kroger and H-E-B? Yes.

Speaker 1 Okay, Kroger. Those are supermarkets.

Speaker 1 Okay, good. Okay, we're there.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you know, I was going to say you might want to downgrade to, there's a similar card called the Blue Cash Every Day, which has a $0 annual fee. And that one earns 3% back at U.S.
supermarkets.

Speaker 1 But actually, what you're telling me is,

Speaker 1 I think the Samix rep is right that you are still doing well because you spend so much on supermarkets. Yeah.

Speaker 4 I mean, you only have to spend about $1,600 at US supermarkets, or they have another bonus category on streaming subscriptions. So that might be your Netflix.

Speaker 4 You're spending $5,000 a year, then you're already making enough back in cash back to pay for the annual fee. So that might still work.

Speaker 1 About $6,000 annually in spending at supermarkets, you would basically be looking at $265 cash back on the blue cash preferred versus $180 on the blue cash every day.

Speaker 1 So you are kind of, I hate to say it, but you are really doing well with this card.

Speaker 7 Oh my God, on accident.

Speaker 1 Didn't know. Seven-year-old child is eating a lot.

Speaker 4 I would actually recommend, though, if we're going to recommend another card for you, I would recommend the United Airlines card to replace your American Airlines card.

Speaker 4 And you could even get a cheaper version because we've now found out you've got the lounge access through the Amex Platinum. So you don't need lounge access with your airline.

Speaker 4 So you could get a a united card the annual fee is zero dollars for the first year and then 150 dollars

Speaker 4 and yeah you are able to earn united points plus like you get the free check bags if you ever do need them there's also two united club passes per year so that's like kind of easy to use and justify as well yeah and the final card you have no shade to the tj max credit card it has a zero dollar annual fee i say keep it Well, it's not doing anything to me, so it collects dust in my room.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yes.

Speaker 1 And it is helping your average age of credit. I'm assuming you've had this card for a long time.

Speaker 7 I have, maybe about four years now.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. So

Speaker 1 if you at least go to TJ Maxx enough, then keep it open.

Speaker 7 I do, but it's a reminder to actually use it. I don't know.
I just tend to not use it.

Speaker 1 You don't have to use it. You could just keep it open and you might find that the bank could see she never uses it and they might choose to close it,

Speaker 1 which it is what it is. Yeah.
I don't think you need to worry about closing that one. So how are we feeling about all the cards that we have?

Speaker 7 Wow. Surprisingly, you know, I it was going to be like, girl, you need to utilize this more and do that, but it sounds like, again, on accident, I'm utilizing my benefits.

Speaker 7 So, but I do think I am going to get rid of the American Airlines card. Yeah, at least.
Because it just doesn't have that many benefits that are useful for me.

Speaker 1 Yes. And my only other word of caution for you is we did justify the annual fees on these cards and then some, but you do have to just calculate the anxiety of managing all these benefits.

Speaker 1 I literally, because I am like you, both of us are like you, that we have all these cards with all of these bougie coupon book credits. And I have a document of, it's called expiring things.

Speaker 1 And it's when all the statement credits expire. And I'm like, you know, end of the month, did I use my Uber credit for every month? And then twice a year, did I use my SAX credit?

Speaker 1 And sometimes it's stressful and it'll be like mid-June. And I'm like, what do I buy from Stacks? Like, do I want this pair of socks or this pair of socks? Like, what do I do? And it's very stressful.

Speaker 1 And I do think it is completely okay to say my mental energy of managing whether or not I use my Uber credit is not worth paying this annual fee.

Speaker 1 That I do think it is okay to not pay annual fees for these cards for your sanity.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 4 And the nice thing about keeping track of it is then you have the data. Like, did I actually use my Uber credit every single month? If it turns out you're like, you know, I actually didn't.

Speaker 4 spend as much at restaurants as I thought I did. Then you have the information.
And then the next year, you can be like, you know what?

Speaker 1 I don't need to, I can downgrade this card.

Speaker 4 I don't need to keep it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. We did it.

Speaker 1 I think we we have a good strategy for you at least close one of these cards and I think maybe we'll have to bring you on again to talk about how to actually redeem all these points because you have so many high high earning cards and I think in addition to being an awesome host you're also a mind reader because I was going to say the same thing so you got to follow up with me you got to follow my journey okay and and everyone can follow you over at the smart money podcast that's right so we're going to tell you guys how you can budget for all of these cards if you choose to have all of these cards if it's right for your financial situation I love it.

Speaker 7 And a whole bunch of other stuff too, whether that's mortgages, insurance, but you got to go and listen so you can hear what we talk about over there.

Speaker 4 And Elizabeth, since you host a personal finance podcast, how is your emergency fund going?

Speaker 1 Oh my gosh.

Speaker 7 I'm so sad to say it's very vanilla. It's in good shape.

Speaker 1 Very good. Very good.
Okay, time for the fun part of the show. This is what we call hot takeoffs.

Speaker 1 Now, usually Megan and I give a hot take, but because you are our guest, we invite you to share your hottest take in travel.

Speaker 7 The one that comes to mind is that first class should have do not disturb or do not talk to me signs oh i love that one of my car well one of my flights got upgraded to first class recently so i'm celebrating because it got you know and i kid you not this man spoke to me the entire

Speaker 1 three hours on the flight so it's not to tell the flight attendants to not talk to you it's to tell the person next to you to not talk to you there needs to be a button assigned don't talk to me let me alone stop jacking

Speaker 4 you ruined my upgrade experience because you would not be quiet okay i agree elizabeth why are we limiting this to first class every seat should have this yes okay yes i love that it's like a go button or not don't talk to me talk to me i love it yes also did you know some first class seats have like privacy doors now so that is like a nice upgrade when you get those kinds of seats you just shut the door i didn't know

Speaker 1 are we all don't talk to me on airplane people well if you don't have social cues then just don't talk at all right So like, I like a little chit chat here and there, but the yap has to stop at some point.

Speaker 7 You got to know when to be quiet.

Speaker 4 Especially if it's a long flight. I'm like, oh no, did I start a conversation and now I have to talk for nine hours?

Speaker 1 This is awesome. Yes.
Okay. That's also awkward.
I just want to point out the elephant in the room.

Speaker 1 We all talk for a living and we're all saying, don't talk to us on airplanes because I like to sleep.

Speaker 7 I'm trying to take a nap.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us on this show.

Speaker 1 And make sure to follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app. That includes Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio.
You can automatically download new episodes when you do that.

Speaker 1 And if you are listening on Spotify, you can drop a comment right on the app.

Speaker 4 This episode was produced by Tess Biglin and edited by Nick Charismy, Claire Soci, and Hilary Georgie helped with fact-checking. And thank you to our studios, Eden Visuals.

Speaker 1 And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors.
This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes. It may not apply to your specific circumstances.

Speaker 4 We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. See you next time.

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