Annual fees are getting more expensive, and it can feel like quite an investment to keep every rewards card. Luckily, Greg’s developed a worksheet which you can access and use to help determine when a card is worth its annual fee, based on how you actually value the different perks.
How to decide which premium cards are keepers
(00:33) –Find our worksheet for valuing premium cards here.
(01:17) – Using the link in that post, you’ll make a copy of our worksheet in your own Google account
(01:27) – Our worksheet is designed to tell you if your spreadsheet version is out of date and needs to be recopied
(01:54) – By clicking “summary”, you should see a list of all the available cards within the worksheet
(03:23) – Click the card you want to view from the summary tab to investigate a specific card, then you can click the prompt to return to the summary tab for a view of all the included cards again
(04:33) – You can begin to enter perk values, but instead of asking yourself how much each perk or certificate is worth, ask yourself how much you would pay in advance for a subscription to that perk. Do this for each perk or benefit individually. The amount you assign should be less than the amount you’ll save and no more than other ways to get the same perk. Greg’s included his own estimated value, but you should edit this to your own value.
(08:50) – You can enter notes and your own values into the green column of the spreadsheet, entering the amount you would be willing to pay for the perk
(11:30) – You’ll be able to see the total value for the perks you’ve assigned an amount to. You can compare this to the annual fee to assess whether or not the value is enough to justify that amount (by at least matching it)
(15:43) – The notes you enter will show up in the summary tab as well as your assigned value
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Thee point of this spreadsheet is to let everybody make their own objective decisions about what cards to hold and what to discard, not to assume that your personal use case applies to everyone else.
Exactly.
If it’s not named venture x, it’s not worth it. Save yourself the mental gymnastics of trying to justify prepaying for coupons.
I have the Venture X as well. There are certain properties I use that are not bookable on the Capital One Travel platform. But, I’m overjoyed that it works for you-you-you.
Why is prepaying for $300 of travel on a portal OK but $600 for some hotels I enjoyed staying at not?
If anyone was wondering what cards had the highest value/annual fee ratio for Greg’s made up numbers, they are the Citi Strata Premier, Delta Reserve Amex (personal & business), Delta Platinum Amex (personal & business), United Business, AA Executive Card, Hilton Surpass and Bonvoy Boundless
There are some idiosyncacies in the scoring:
DL Platinum Biz MQD boost halfway to Silver: $250
AS Atmos Summit boost halfway to Silver: $50
Me: $150 for each (I hold both cards)
Earning status on spend per dollar for Delta Reserve: $50
Earning status on spend per dollar for Delta Platinum Biz: $0
Earning status on spend per dollar for Atmos Summit: $0
I went with $25 on the DL platinum Biz and $50 on the Summit.
like Greg was saying – they’re made up numbers and nobody should take them at face value.
I can save everyone some hassle and math. None of the premium cards are worth it if the annual fee is over $95 because of the time, hassle, and headache involved in tracking and redeeming the coupon books.
For the Amex Platinum, the Uber credit just happens. The digital entertainment credit just happens. The Clear credit just happens. That’s $700 without doing anything. Then, going out to dinner once a calendar quarter adds $400 for a total of $1100. Exactly what is so (stinkin’) hard? Then, add a one-night hotel booking semi-annually, which gives you $300 off plus breakfast for two plus $100 property credit — call it 2 * $450 = $900. I ask again, exactly what is so (stinkin’) hard?
Plus lounge access.
Are you holding out for a pony?
Ok Tom, so now which of those purchases would you be making anyway without the coupons? You really paying cash for Clear? You really staying at those specific hotels? You really dining at those specific restaurants? You really signing up for those specific streaming services? You really going through that many yoga pants?
You are brainwashed. They’ve successfully convinced you that you are saving money by spending more money.
First, I said nothing about the Lululemon credit. Although, I am curious to see a group photo of the FM team all in spandex.
To answer your question: Yes. My wife and I regularly go to a particular Resy-qualified restaurant down the road. I do go to a specific FHR property more than twice a year. You’re talking to a Disney fan, so of course I have Disney Plus. For us, it IS spending we were already going to do. For us, it works out to an effective 50% off for spending we were already going to do.
And, I use Amex-specific lounge access at least a dozen times a year — that’s worth something and it’s a value few enter into the equation.
I absolutely understand your logic. If the credits are not a fit, someone should not get the card. If the credits are not a fit, someone should not spend for the sake of capturing the credits. Agreed.
But, if the credits are not a fit for YOU, don’t assert that the credits can’t possibly be a fit for anyone else. Your comment reminds me of a reader who criticized Stephen for writing a particular article, saying that because he himself wasn’t interested in the topic that Stephen was wrong for publishing the article. That’s a very self-centered view of the world.
PS
For those who are cash buyers of airline tickets, I’ve seen Amex Travel’s pricing on eligible Insider/Platinum routes to be 5 to 10 percent lower than otherwise available prices. And, on occasion, I’ve seen FHR hotel prices as much as 10 percent lower than otherwise available prices. That’s hard cash savings that can be added to the equation. But, these savings seem to escape some.
Along that line, looking at just its coupon credits, many/most will say the Citi Strata Elite is a non-keeper. There are a couple of my regular non-network hotels that Citi Travel either provides the best cash pricing or provides booking access when my platform of choice provides none. This value needs to be added to the equation as well.
When someone is operating in hand-to-mouth mode, their view of the world is narrow.
Thank you bob. To clarify, IF you otherwise wouldn’t buy Clear yourself, stay at FHR hotels, dine at resy(?)restaurants, buy tons of yoga pants, and subscribe to Disney plus, then the plat is probably a bad idea. If, however, you are a Lululemon, disney, clear, fhr, and resy loving guy, then you might eek out a small profit. In which case congrats, but you’re also kinda pathetic.
The card isn’t a fit for everyone, but there are so many credits that there are multiple ways to make it work. You do have to be careful to do the valuation in terms of what you would reasonably pay in advance for the credit.
For my valuation I have the Schwab card and get $200 off the annual fee. I rarely use the FHR credits and value them at $0. Several of our favorite restaurants are on Resy so that one is pretty easy. I use the streaming credit with NY Times, which I read anyway. I have a college age daughter who uses the Uber credits for Uber Eats. Initially I didn’t think the Lululemon credits would be worth much and I used the first two for some nice, if overpriced running shorts. But then my wife and daughter found out about the credit and they buy a lot of things from there, so now there is a standing wish list for the credit. I wouldn’t pay for Clear at full price but will happily use it as a discount, so it is worth something.
For me it still might not be worth it except that I fly out of ATL, so Delta lounge access is worth a lot to me. Your valuation will be different.
Would I stay at a hotel if I didn’t have a VX/Amex Platinum/Delta Platinum Business/Bilt Palladium? Yes, I’ve done it many times before I had any of those cards?
Would I take an Uber? Yes? I’ve taken Uber before I had credits or when I have exhausted them.
My mom’s favorite restaurant is a Resy credit eligible place, would I take her out to dinner anyway? Yes, sure.
But no, I don’t have a Dunkin in my state so the credit’s worth $0 for me.
PS
For the Bilt Palladium, the points boost coupon affords up to 25k extra points per year. Those points alone, with no transfer bonus, are worth $600 to me. Once a month, I clip the Lyft credit — big deal — $120. With virtually zero effort, the annual fee is more than covered. Anyone who says the Bilt card is too complex is making it complex of their own accord.
By the way, for some, the credit for extra Priority Pass guests is golden.
Would also be nice to add into worksheet UBS card to bank cards and IHG cards to hotel cards. Thanks