Others may be concerned about managing their cards, optimizing credit limits, making their collection more prestigious, polishing their FICO score, etc. I don't care much about that; those things are useful only as a means to an end, and that end is rewards!
I've pretty much completed my spreadsheet for 2017, and the totals look like this:
Value of rewards earned: $6,891.66
Value of rewards redeemed: $6,573.46
Actual cash received: $4,414.37
For the seventh year in a row, I beat my record for actual cash received. Rewards earned and rewards redeemed were not records, but were respectable.
The distinction between earned and redeemed is because rewards persist across years. Not all of the rewards I earn in a year are redeemed that year, and rewards I redeem this year may have been earned a previous year. In many cases, I don't when or even how I will redeem rewards earned.
The "rewards earned" value reflects a nominal redemption value for rewards accumulated over the year. Cash is, obviously cash. Point systems that can be redeemed for cash I generally value at the cash redemption rate, even when it's quite possible I will redeem them at a better rate for travel, gift cards, etc. Airline miles I value at $.01 per point. Other rewards get more squishy; I try to value them based on the amount of cash I would otherwise pay for what I redeem points for. For example, we stay at LaQuinta hotels quite often. When we do redeem points, it's usually about a $.01 redemption rate; we're choosing between using 60,000 points or spending $60, so on calculating earnings, I value those points at $.01 per point. OTOH, we rarely stay at Hilton, and when we do, there are other choices we could make. We could stay at the Hilton near O'Hare for about 27,000 points. But we could alternatively Hotwire or Priceline a nearby hotel for around $90. So I only value Hilton points at $.003 per point. I try to be conservative so that I don't create the impression that my rewards are greater than what they actually are. As an overall rewards percentage, I averaged about 9.06% rewards on my spending for the year, which isn't shabby. My best percentage was back in 2011 when I nailed it at almost 14% rewards, while my highest dollar level earned was in 2016 at $7,570.
This was my second best year on redemptions, my best being $7,174 in 2015. The "rewards redeemed" value reflects actual redemptions during the year. This can be similarly squishy. If I redeem miles for a flight, is the redemption value what I would have paid for the ticket in cash? What if we could have gotten a comparable flight on another airline for less cash, but we decided to use our miles instead? If we have a buttload of miles, maybe burn a few more to go business class. But would we have upgraded if it actually took more cash to do so? I try to make my best estimation of what using these points actually *saved* us on our bottom line, and that can be tricky.
On the other hand, "cash received" is simple. It's the amount of actual funds received from rewards, whether that be ACH deposits, statement credits, checks or Visa/MC/AmEx/Discover gift cards. Those are the rewards that definitively affect the bottom line.
This year's total of $4,414 tops last year's record of $4,127 and is an all time-record for the ten years I've been collecting stats. This time each year I look at the stats and think "well, last year was outstanding, but there's no way I'll top that this year." Then throughout the year things happen that surprise me. in 2017 DW got the CSR, which added $400 in statement credits to the tally, which wasn't completely a surprise. But then the USBank Travel Rewards card came out of nowhere and I earned $425 of statement credits on that. The biggest haul was on my Alliant Visa card, which I was unexpectedly able to convert to a 3% card in the beginning of April. That card alone added $775 to my cash haul. Another sleeper was my AmEx SimplyCash Business card. While the actual purchase cashback only added $155, I was able to take advantage of AmEx offers to the tune of $361.08. Throw in redemption of some old Discover it Miles (earned at 3x), expected cashback on quarterly rotating and other cards and my typical $500+ on BofA BBR cards, and it all added up.
Looking forward to 2018, it's hard to tell. I already have over $400 awarded, and another $800 cash pretty much guaranteed with typical spending. I have a buttload of points and cash in various programs which, if redeemed flat out for cash would add another $3,500, which added together would top this year's cash total. While some of those redemptions are likely due to cancelling/converting cards (e.g. USBank), many (e.g. URP and Discover CB) are likely to continue to be hoarded pending redemption options more favorable than cash. OTOH, it's hard to predict what bright shiny card with a big cash bonus might stride on the scene and tempt me. We'll see how it all panned out in about 12 months.
Chris.
I've pretty much completed my spreadsheet for 2017, and the totals look like this:
Value of rewards earned: $6,891.66
Value of rewards redeemed: $6,573.46
Actual cash received: $4,414.37
For the seventh year in a row, I beat my record for actual cash received. Rewards earned and rewards redeemed were not records, but were respectable.
The distinction between earned and redeemed is because rewards persist across years. Not all of the rewards I earn in a year are redeemed that year, and rewards I redeem this year may have been earned a previous year. In many cases, I don't when or even how I will redeem rewards earned.
The "rewards earned" value reflects a nominal redemption value for rewards accumulated over the year. Cash is, obviously cash. Point systems that can be redeemed for cash I generally value at the cash redemption rate, even when it's quite possible I will redeem them at a better rate for travel, gift cards, etc. Airline miles I value at $.01 per point. Other rewards get more squishy; I try to value them based on the amount of cash I would otherwise pay for what I redeem points for. For example, we stay at LaQuinta hotels quite often. When we do redeem points, it's usually about a $.01 redemption rate; we're choosing between using 60,000 points or spending $60, so on calculating earnings, I value those points at $.01 per point. OTOH, we rarely stay at Hilton, and when we do, there are other choices we could make. We could stay at the Hilton near O'Hare for about 27,000 points. But we could alternatively Hotwire or Priceline a nearby hotel for around $90. So I only value Hilton points at $.003 per point. I try to be conservative so that I don't create the impression that my rewards are greater than what they actually are. As an overall rewards percentage, I averaged about 9.06% rewards on my spending for the year, which isn't shabby. My best percentage was back in 2011 when I nailed it at almost 14% rewards, while my highest dollar level earned was in 2016 at $7,570.
This was my second best year on redemptions, my best being $7,174 in 2015. The "rewards redeemed" value reflects actual redemptions during the year. This can be similarly squishy. If I redeem miles for a flight, is the redemption value what I would have paid for the ticket in cash? What if we could have gotten a comparable flight on another airline for less cash, but we decided to use our miles instead? If we have a buttload of miles, maybe burn a few more to go business class. But would we have upgraded if it actually took more cash to do so? I try to make my best estimation of what using these points actually *saved* us on our bottom line, and that can be tricky.
On the other hand, "cash received" is simple. It's the amount of actual funds received from rewards, whether that be ACH deposits, statement credits, checks or Visa/MC/AmEx/Discover gift cards. Those are the rewards that definitively affect the bottom line.
This year's total of $4,414 tops last year's record of $4,127 and is an all time-record for the ten years I've been collecting stats. This time each year I look at the stats and think "well, last year was outstanding, but there's no way I'll top that this year." Then throughout the year things happen that surprise me. in 2017 DW got the CSR, which added $400 in statement credits to the tally, which wasn't completely a surprise. But then the USBank Travel Rewards card came out of nowhere and I earned $425 of statement credits on that. The biggest haul was on my Alliant Visa card, which I was unexpectedly able to convert to a 3% card in the beginning of April. That card alone added $775 to my cash haul. Another sleeper was my AmEx SimplyCash Business card. While the actual purchase cashback only added $155, I was able to take advantage of AmEx offers to the tune of $361.08. Throw in redemption of some old Discover it Miles (earned at 3x), expected cashback on quarterly rotating and other cards and my typical $500+ on BofA BBR cards, and it all added up.
Looking forward to 2018, it's hard to tell. I already have over $400 awarded, and another $800 cash pretty much guaranteed with typical spending. I have a buttload of points and cash in various programs which, if redeemed flat out for cash would add another $3,500, which added together would top this year's cash total. While some of those redemptions are likely due to cancelling/converting cards (e.g. USBank), many (e.g. URP and Discover CB) are likely to continue to be hoarded pending redemption options more favorable than cash. OTOH, it's hard to predict what bright shiny card with a big cash bonus might stride on the scene and tempt me. We'll see how it all panned out in about 12 months.
Chris.
I should have tracked, but I didn't, as 2017 was the first year I had truely significant rewards, mostly due to signup bonuses. This was my apparent breakaway year in the credit game.
I have an estimated $1,800 in rewards collected.
$400 redeemed as gift cards
$1,400 redeemed as cash ($600 thanks to Discover's double cash back redemption).
Kinda hard to put a cash value on points when airfares fluctuate so much but I got enough in rewards to fly me and my wife to Israel, Turkey, and Greece, and stay in 3-4 star hotels with several hundred in cash left over. Estimated cash value is somewhere around $5K. We’re going in October.
This year’s rewards will go toward our next trip. Haven’t decided where we’re going yet but it’ll likely be mostly on Delta and Hilton points.
This year’s rewards will go toward our next trip. Haven’t decided where we’re going yet but it’ll likely be mostly on Delta and Hilton points.
IME, I earned somewhere between $2,000 - $2,200 earned in cashback + bonuses over the past year.
