Earning A Million (Valuable) Points on Autopilot

Today we'll talk through an overall strategy for your first few years in points , so that this doesn't happen to you . Welcome back to Points for Normal People . I'm Katie and I'm here because I know that travel costs add up , especially for a family , but I believe that travel isn't just for the rich .

That's why , on Points for Normal People , I share the tips and tricks that my family has been using for over a decade to help you use your everyday expenses and credit card welcome offers to supercharge your travel points so that you can pay for entire vacations every year .

I wanted to wrap up this last regular episode of season one by fleshing out what your first few years earning points can look like . I have an easy to follow three-year plan on my website and I've mentioned it a few times in season one .

Today I want to walk through it so you can start to see an overarching picture of how you can earn your first million points , mostly on autopilot . I'll also talk at the end about how you can accelerate this plan if you want to , and give some other tips for more intermediate points collectors .

One of my biggest goals with the three-year plan was to make it feel like you're on autopilot , to make it easy to follow along with , so you don't have to be wondering what you should do every few months .

I hope that season one of this podcast has helped you feel more confident in your knowledge for how you can approach booking flights and hotels with Chase Ultimate Rewards . You won't know everything , but you don't need to know everything . You won't know everything , but you don't need to know everything .

You just need to understand the basic framework of points , to know how to use them well and to keep earning them , and then to be able to know how to search for the right information that you don't have already . This is my same philosophy towards education .

As a homeschool mom , I'm less concerned with the specific facts that my kids learn and remember , but it's very important to me that they have the confidence that they know how to learn , how to search for the information they need and that they are interested in . My three-year plan focuses heavily on earning Chase Ultimate Rewards .

My three-year plan focuses heavily on earning Chase Ultimate Rewards . When you focus first on one area , you can get to an intermediate level of knowledge in that one area . This in turn will really reduce your time and mental energy .

I just finished reading a book called Slow Productivity by Cal Newport , and a lot of his principles apply to points collecting as well as business . One of them is the idea that you have to recognize that every project you start has a level of administrative tasks that go along with it , and this is so true of points currencies .

There are ins and outs to learn and be aware of , and the more kinds of points you add to your list and start collecting , the more you have to track and understand . But if you can reduce the projects you're working on , you'll also reduce the administrative tasks , which means you can spend more time on meaningful and productive activities .

Start with very few points currencies and learn those well . If you've been following along this season , you also know that I picked Ultimate Rewards to feature first because it is a points program that's easy to use .

It has a wide variety of transfer partners , which means anyone can take advantage of these points , and it also has a large number of cards that you can open to keep earning these points , these ultimate rewards . Chase also has some very clear restrictions , known as the Chase 524 rule .

So the strategy of my three-year plan takes all of that into account and allows you to prioritize these cards first . So let's walk through it and as we go , I'll give my thought process behind it .

The very first card I recommend is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card . This should come as no surprise if you've been following along this season , because we talked extensively about this card and its benefits . But let's talk about a few substitutions you could make to that very first card you get , because I do often get asked about substitution possibilities .

So one card you could substitute for that first card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve . That card has a much higher , $550 annual fee but does have a $300 annual travel credit . That's super easy to use . There are two main reasons why you might want this card , in my opinion . One is if you frequent one of the airports that has a Sapphire Lounge .

If you do , this card allows you and two guests to enter . These are currently at Dulles , jfk , laguardia , austin , boston and Hong Kong with more slated to open . Another reason to pick the reserve instead of the preferred is if you think you'll book a lot of travel via Chase Travel .

We broke down the math on this in previous episodes , but essentially if you're going to book 60,000 points or more via Chase Travel , you'd want this card . So that's one substitution you could make for this first card , the Sapphire Reserve instead of the Preferred .

The other substitution you could make for the Sapphire Reserve would be to get an Ink Business Preferred card . The Ink Preferred and the Sapphire Preferred are somewhat parallel cards and they both have $95 annual fees .

If you have a business or are comfortable applying for business cards right off the bat , you could get the ink preferred instead of the Sapphire preferred . The biggest reason I don't typically recommend this is just that the ink preferred typically requires a much larger spend .

As of right now , it requires $8,000 in three months to get that bonus , and that amount of spending is just not in an average family budget . Now this card actually is in my three-year plan , but not until year three , and the reason I put it in year three is that I find that usually after a few years of engaging with this hobby .

People get more skilled at finding ways to put more expenses on credit cards so that $8,000 in three months is easier to think about for more people after a few years .

Any of those cards , either of the sapphires or the ink preferred , will get you a good chunk of points right off the bat and instantly give you that ability to transfer those points to partners or book via Chase Travel .

Now the next card I recommend is one that really deviates from this season's topic and is a bit of an outlier , and that's the Capital One Venture X Rewards card .

This one is less about the points and more about the benefits , and a reason this is a good one to get very early on is that it can be harder to get Capital One to approve credit cards , unlike with Chase , we don't have a clear rule , but generally it seems like Capital One doesn't like to see lots of other recent credit inquiries .

The more cards you get , it seems less likely that you'll get approved for this card . Now , this isn't a hard and fast rule , and I was actually approved for the VentureX when I was at 824 . So it's possible with more cards , but I think that at that time , although I was 824 , I had no new cards in the past six months , so I think that helped me .

One quick application tip on Capital One cards is that Capital One has what seems like a trick question on their application . They will ask you if you typically carry a balance on a card .

You if you typically carry a balance on a card , and anecdotally it seems that they prefer people who check that they will and do carry a balance , presumably because they think they will make more money off of you . The VentureX has the best all-around value when it comes to perks compared to the annual fee .

Now , it does have a $395 annual fee , but for that you will get a bunch of benefits . The first is a $300 annual travel credit . Now , this is kind of annoying to use for some people , myself included . It's essentially like a $300 coupon that you get for Capital One Travel .

You need to book via Capital One Travel , but you can book a little at a time , you don't have to use it all at once . You can book flights or rental cars or hotels . It also gives you 10,000 points on your card member anniversary every year . So those 10,000 bonus points are worth a minimum of $100 towards travel .

So with those two alone , we consider this a break-even card , so we keep it , but then there actually are even more perks . The next one that we love is airport lounge access . Now your home airport can really vary as to whether lounge access with a credit card even exists . Some airports are lounge deserts .

Even in Chicago , for instance , it's basically a lounge desert . But if you live at an airport like Denver or Dallas or Dulles , you have access to the Capital One lounges with this card , which are truly so nice .

This card also has more perks , like a credit for global entry or TSA pre-check , so you can start to shorten your wait at security and keep your shoes on , and it gives you cell phone protection if you pay your cell phone bill with it , and more . I have a YouTube video where I walk through all of these perks .

If you end up getting this card , you'll want to watch it and make sure that you're not missing out on any of those benefits . I'll link that in the show notes for you . So those are the first two big ones a Chase Sapphire , followed by a VentureX .

Now , if you're in two-player mode or one-player mode , I have different options on my site for this three-year plan with suggestions on who would open which card After

that ? After those two , I recommend that , if possible , you move on to some business cards . If you remember from episode 16 , business cards have some distinct advantages . First , they are good for your credit score .

When you apply for a business card from Chase , you will see an inquiry on your credit report , also called a hard pull , but the actual credit card account won't appear on your credit reports .

That means that if you cancel the card after a year , it won't affect your length of credit history at all , because these business cards don't show up on your credit report . They also don't add to your 524 count , your credit report . They also don't add to your 524 count . I typically recommend the Inc Business Cash credit card next .

Currently , that's because the welcome offer is split into two tiers , so you have a total of six months to do the full $6,000 of spending . Now this offer may change , but that's the main reason that I recommended this one . First , remember that on the ink cash , the bonus will show up as cash back , so it might show as $750 cash back .

Technically , though , it really earns a version of Chase Ultimate Rewards that can only be redeemed as cash back . But there's an important exception Pair your ink cash card with a Chase Sapphire card or ink preferred card , and then you can transfer your points to any of Chase's airline and hotel transfer partners .

If you lost me there with all that information , just go back and review some of the previous episodes , where I dive into those deeper and more slowly . After you earn this offer with the ink cash , you would combine your points with the Sapphire card that you've already opened In my written plan .

Now the next step for two-player plan would be that you would refer your partner to the Sapphire preferred card . Now , ultimately , you only need one Sapphire product per family .

Due to the way that households can combine points , some people may choose to keep two , so they each have access to travel insurances and protections if they travel on their own , or if one person is the primary user on the Sapphire and one is the primary on the VentureX . That could work too , since they both have excellent travel protections .

There are a few reasons I recommend the referral to a second Sapphire fairly early . First of all , you can only earn a welcome offer on a Sapphire every 48 months , so you want to start your clock ticking for both people as soon as you can .

And then the next reason is just that if you plan to downgrade the first one after a year , you want to give yourself plenty of time for your referral points to post to your account .

Now , my plan assumes a January start date , and people decide to get started with points at various times in a calendar year , so , again , all of these timelines can be adjusted . The next set of cards , though , does have a more optimal timing , and that's the Southwest cards to earn a companion pass .

These you would ideally open in late fall or early to midwinter , like November through early January . Season two is going to focus in about the ins and outs of the Southwest companion pass , so you'll get more details on that really soon . Now , the companion pass doesn't make sense for everyone .

If your airport isn't served by Southwest , or if the Southwest routes from your airport are inconvenient to you , you may very well want to skip over this . If that's true . I listed an alternate here , which is to start earning points with another airline .

Now , the first one I'd recommend is American Airlines , and , in line with my other general principles , I'd recommend looking at the business American Airlines cards first . I like earning airline miles directly with airlines , as well as earning points like ultimate rewards that can transfer to airlines .

Now , american Airlines in particular is not a transfer partner with any bank , so you really need to earn them directly and they have a lot of great partners through the One World Alliance along with really good overall pricing right now , especially for international trips .

For us it's the number two airline we focus on earning points with after Southwest , and that's kind of my hierarchy in general . I have to take into account 524 and balance the cards I'm opening . But I always look first to see if I can open cards to earn ultimate rewards as my top priority .

Then I check in with my Southwest companion pass situation and strategy for keeping it long-term . Then I see if I can open any American Airlines cards . So with my three-year plan , after earning some airline-specific points either Southwest or American or something else I'd recommend going back to opening ink cards .

That's because there are three different ink cards you can open and if you're in a two-person household , you can each open all three of them . In fact , if you have multiple businesses , you can open one for each business as well . But it's not just the welcome offers , it's the fact that you can earn referral points with your welcome offers .

Referral bonuses on the ink cards are typically 20,000 points , and that's a big chunk of extra points you get . We've also seen periods where they are elevated to 40,000 points per referral .

And because the ink cards enjoy family referrals meaning you can refer from your ink card to any of the other ink cards it allows you to really rack up a lot of points in your household once you get your first one . Just keep in mind an overall velocity you don't want to open more than four chase cards in a 12 month period per person .

And then the last category of card I recommend later in the second year of the plan , is a hotel specific card . Now , if you've been earning all these ultimate rewards , you may very well be transferring most of them to Hyatt to book hotel stays all along . That's truthfully what we do with most of ours .

But we like to diversify the hotel points we have , because no hotel chain is going to meet all your needs . There isn't one best hotel card or one best hotel chain out there . This is going to vary a lot on where you're hoping to go and what experiences you value . Now I'd say , more than anything , this is where people start to feel overwhelmed by options .

This is compounded by the fact that hotel chains vary so much on how they price hotels . Even as someone who has points with all the major hotel programs and I've had most of the hotel credit cards I don't particularly find it fun to spend hours pouring over hotel websites to figure out where we might want to stay with our points .

To combat this , I started making Google Maps for different categories of properties . You can find these on my site , and if you have ideas for new ones , please let us know and we'll consider them .

So right now we have , for example , marriott Hotels for Families , hyatt's with Club Lounges , ihg Villas you Can Book Choice Properties with One or More Bedrooms and these maps can serve as a launch point if you're looking for some inspiration .

Overall , I don't recommend getting a hotel credit card unless you have one to two concrete ideas of where you might use those specific points . So this one you'll want to do a little of your own research before picking one , but that's essentially it .

The last year of my three-year plan focuses on referring back and forth if you're in a two-person household , if you're in one-player mode . It has some other suggestions for cards you can expand into Now . One question I've gotten a few times is how to accelerate my three-year plan .

If , for instance , you have a lot of spending coming up or you're just ready to jump all in Now . The first caution I will give is to be aware of your overall velocity with chase . Even if you will stay under 524 , you'll want to keep your applications to a maximum of four chase cards per year . So you can't necessarily just squash more chase inks in .

You'll still want to space them out , especially if you're also opening a Sapphire card and if you're also getting a Southwest Companion Pass which requires two Chase cards to get .

But if you look at my plan , you'll see that some years are lighter on one person , so it's easy for that person to add in more cards , and sometimes adding more Chase ink cards would be the first step . Also , you can always add in business cards from other banks . This is a great fallback .

My only caution is that there are some cards , like specifically some of the business cards from Capital One , that will add to your 524 account because they do actually report to your personal credit report . So you just have to be cautious with Capital One business cards . If you type in almost any business card and will this add to 524, .

There's a good chance you'll find an answer on Reddit somewhere . Business cards from Citi or American Express or Barclays or Bank of America are all fair game . None of those report to personal credit reports . I'd personally recommend the City Business American Airlines card first .

Then it comes down to which offers are good and which cards interest you and seem compatible with your goals . With American Express , you could get Delta , hilton or Marriott business cards , and you can also get business cards that earn American Express membership rewards . With Barclay , you could get business cards from JetBlue , hawaiian and Wyndham .

I sometimes even get the US Bank business cards because they offer cash back and sometimes it's just nice to have extra cash in our pocket . Now , on my website we always try to flag higher than usual offers for these cards and other business cards and we list them on our best offers page , even when we don't earn a commission .

Almost all those cards I just mentioned we don't earn a commission on . You can also check out Doctor of Credit , which does compile lots of card offers as well . Those are the general principles of how you can add more to the three-year plan .

There's one more really important reason why you might change it If you have a very specific goal , you can throw my general principles out the window for a season while you focus on earning the right points for that goal . Then you could always go back to the three-year plan .

If you saw a video on the Hilton property on Morea in Tahiti and you just really want to go there now , it's okay to open a few Hilton cards in a row to get the points you need to stay there .

If you really want to go to Japan and want to fly on Japan Airlines using American Miles because you read our Japan guide and realized that's the best for your home airport routing , you can just focus on earning American miles and do that first .

If you want to go to Venice and stay at Hotel Aquarius , which is one of our favorite hotels , you're going to need choice points , so you might want to open a City Strata Premier card . Whenever you have a really specific goal , it's fine to deviate .

Just be aware that when you have met your goal , you may need to cool off to get under 524 again , and by cool off I just mean open business cards while you wait to get back under 524 . And that's okay . That's great actually to be opening cards to meet your goals .

I gave my card hierarchy at the beginning of the episode , but I'd actually put cards that serve an immediate goal at the top of the list . So those are the top ones you should apply for . Then after that I'd prioritize cards that earn Chase Ultimate rewards . Then for me I'm always making sure I've allowed for continued earning of our Southwest Companion Pass .

So that's kind of third , next Next up . Like I said , I generally prioritize American Airlines cards and then after that I personally go with business cards that have an elevated offer .

Even if a business card doesn't serve an immediate purpose , I still often get an elevated offer , but only if there's a reason I'm not opening a card for one of those other higher up priorities . There are lots of reasons I might not be working on these top parts of my hierarchy . I might not have any specific goal .

I might be holding off on chase cards for six months because I'm taking a break . I might have just gotten an American Airlines card , so I can't get that right now . Your hierarchy very well might be different , but this is the internal flow chart that I use as an action step today .

I'd encourage you to map out a few ideas of your next few cards you want to open and just jot it down . You can reference my three-year plan and just follow along with it , or you might be working towards a specific goal , but either way it can help to know what you're working on now and what your next say three cards might be .

I don't think you need to go further out than three cards , but that can also help because if one of your next three cards comes out with a higher welcome offer , then you can switch it in earlier and if you have a general plan , it can help cut down on your FOMO .

If you feel like everyone is talking about some offer , you won't feel like you need to get it just because it's elevated if you are working towards a larger general plan and goal . I'm also going to link the flight guides and map section of my blog in the show notes in case you want to browse those for some inspiration .

Thanks so much for spending time with me today and I can't wait to see you next time where we continue unlocking these secrets of travel points together .