I was lurking in a group chat where tech people were having a conversation about juggling credit card bonuses. One of them found it sickening that credit card companies prey on the poor in a wealth transfer toward the upper middle class. It’s generally agreed that optimizing rewards is more of a hobby-type activity, because really the financial bonus is rarely worth the mental load. You get the best points exchange rate from using points on expensive flights and hotels regularly. For me, it’s not “true savings” since I don’t naturally travel lots; it’s just the travel companies trying to manufacture spend.

Instead of trying to get the best point-to-cent conversion, I’ve mostly settled on converting points to cash, or using no-AF (AF = annual fee) cash-back cards as daily drivers. When I can, I still pick up a card and get its sign-on bonus, but I downgrade from the AF version as soon as I can. I used to feel a need to max my points but you know, it’s not worth the time. The quick free cash is still worth it, though.

It’s worth it for people who travel often for business (then get reimbursed by their company), or people who just like traveling a lot. For example, for Bilt 2.0 has this weird twice-annual $200 hotel credit, that must be used on stays 2 nights or more. I’m never gonna use that! This is like getting coupons in the mail and then believing the “the more you spend, the more you save” on things you weren’t planning on buying in the first place.