Hmm. Well, "cash benefits" is tricky. While I prefer cash redemption, I often take gift cards or travel if I can get more bang for the redemption buck. So it's hard to say when I'm earning rewards, how those rewards will be redeemed.
I can tell you that in 2014 I earned $6,048.13 in rewards on spending of $75,603.70, for an average of 8%, which isn't too bad. The total rewards earned is a record for me, going back to 2009. Note that for non-cash based cards, rewards earned are based on a nominal redemption rate; airline miles, hotel points, FlexPerks points, URP, are all valued at 1¢ per point. In reality, I try to get much more out of them. So far, I've managed to get almost 2¢ per FlexPerks point redemption, and thanks to some other posters on this board, I plan to get much more than 1¢ per point out of my URP. My averge annual earnings are $4,077.96.
Redemeption is the other side of the coin. I do tend to prefer cash which, for my purposes, I define as money I can spend anywhere; paper checks, deposits to bank accounts, statement credits (which either reduce how much I have to pay out on a future statement or I call CS and have a paper check sent to me for my credit balance), or Visa, M/C, AmEx or Discover gift cards (my least favorite option, but reduce the amount of future spending). But I will redeem for other items of value (store gift cards, airline flights, hotel stays, etc.) when the redemption rate is better than for cash (e.g. Discover or AmEx PRG), or when I have no other options (e.g. airline, hotel cards). In 2014, I redeemed $4,796.78 of rewards, of which $3,610.82 was in cash. The remainder was redeemed as store gift cards. While $4,796.78 redeemed was not a record, $3,610.82 in cash was a record for me. My average annual redemptions are $4,042.69 of which $2,485.05 is in cash.
Without detailing all 34 cards, here are the highlights for 2014:
| Card | Spent | Earned | Rate |
| Discover It | 3,447.35 | 161.33 | 4.68% |
| Discover More #1 | 3,538.63 | 404.82 | 11.44% |
| Discover More #2 | 1,594.20 | 157.01 | 9.85% |
| BarclayCard Arrival | 14,239.00 | 738.22 | 5.18% |
| USBank Travel Rewards | 12,237.63 | 462.74 | 3.78% |
| Chase Ink #1 | 6,597.62 | 872.37 | 13.22% |
| Chase Ink #2 | 1,970.42 | 98.50 | 5.00% |
| PenFed AmEx | 41.33 | 30.32 | 73.36% |
| BBR #1 | 134.44 | 130.88 | 97.35% |
| BBR #2 | 150.58 | 133.60 | 88.72% |
| BBR #3 | 87.20 | 125.95 | 144.38% |
| BBR #4 | 246.35 | 136.58 | 55.44% |
| USBank Cash+ | 3,175.04 | 190.40 | 6.00% |
| SallieMae | 4,681.12 | 222.86 | 4.76% |
| CSP | 3,004.89 | 594.10 | 19.77% |
Earnings include normal rewards earning, special offers (AmEx offers, Discover Deals, etc.) and signup bonuses, but not non-card bonuses, like TopCashBack or other shopping portals, since I could still get those using a debit card or even a check (in theory).
Chris.
