topic Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help in Credit Cards

Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 18:29:17 GMT

Hello all, longtime lurker, first time posting.

I am selling my current house today and buying my new house tomorrow. I will be getting about 50k in proceeds from my current house and putting it into the new house (garage, appliances, floors, etc). And I’m not sure why it JUST dawned on me to put my money to work.

About me:
I have a 778 TU score and the following cards. Citi diamond (12.5k), Wells Fargo (10k), barclay (8k) And Capital One (3k). I currently have ZERO CC debt. Just a 9k car loan and the new mortgage.

I have been looking around and it seems like the Chase Sapphire Preferred has the best signup bonus with 50,000 points and 5,000 additional points when I add my wife as an AU. My questions are, is there a card out there that I’m overlooking that will give me the most rewards for my dollars spent? Should I have my wife get a card too and get potentially 110,000 chase points then cancel them after redeeming them? Also, if I were to pay off my current car loan with a card, would I get reward points for that or is it considered a balance transfer?

Thanks a lot and I appreciate any potential help!

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

HeavenOhio — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 19:02:12 GMT

Welcome, @Anonymous.

Your profile should be in fine shape for the CSP. You didn't provide your wife's data, but if her profile is similar, she should be fine too. The main thing is having a profile that won't make Chase shy away from approving a card with a limit of $5,000 or more.

If you don't want to keep the card over the long haul, consider a product change to one of the Freedom cards when it's time for the annual fee to hit.

AMEX is another option if you're looking for a generous limit. You'd want to read up on the cards and decide if cash or MR points are your thing. Oftentimes, your credit limit can be increased to 3X its original amount after 61 days. For information on limit increases, read the first few pages and the last few pages of The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

wasCB14 — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 19:08:51 GMT

You might also want to consider a card that offers a strong extended warranty or price protection on appliances and fixtures.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

K-in-Boston — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 19:10:46 GMT

+1 Also, depending on how you plan to use the points, you may want to consider the Sapphire Reserve instead. As for paying off the auto loan, that depends on how you pay for it. Doing a balance transfer would not count toward either the spending bonus or earn points, but if your lender were to accept credit card payments then the answer is yes.

Welcome to the forums!

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 19:19:35 GMT

Thanks for the quick response guys. The wife’s credit situation is FAR better than mine. 800+ credit score, 75k in cards and zero utilization.

The sapphire reserve scared me off with the sign up fee and honestly, I am happy with my current cards, I just want to sign up for something, exploit the hell out of their points and cancel it lol. Cash back is cool, but if I’m going to get more bang for my buck with travel perks, I’ll take the wife on a trip. I’m looking at this solely as, I was going to spend the money anyway, let’s get the most I can out of it in the next 3 months 😁

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

jamie123 — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 22:45:51 GMT

This is what I would do:

App for an AMEX BCE and a Discover IT or Discover Miles. Your looking for their 0% APR for X amount of months.

Open an E-Trade account and split your $50K to buy shares of AMD and ENPH. $25K each.

Charge all your house upgrades to the cards and pay the minimum amount each month for the next 12 months.

After 12 months, sell your shares of AMD and ENPH, pocket the 30% profit or $15,000 that you made and pay off the AMEX and Discover cards.

Take your wife on the Hawaiian vacation that she always wanted to go on with the $15K profit and relax!

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Skymogul — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 23:27:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The sapphire reserve scared me off with the sign up fee and honestly, I am happy with my current cards, I just want to sign up for something, exploit the hell out of their points and cancel it lol. Cash back is cool, but if I’m going to get more bang for my buck with travel perks, I’ll take the wife on a trip. I’m looking at this solely as, I was going to spend the money anyway, let’s get the most I can out of it in the next 3 months 😁

Chase Sapphire Reserve would be a poor deal for home improvement spend. You'd only get 1% back, 1.5% if you booked your travel through the portal. And you can get a flat 1.5% cash back on everything on a ton of different cards.

There are a number of good flat 2% cards. Since you'll obviously be paying in full, Citi Double Cash. Fidelity Visa gives a straight 2% cash back on everything. Cap One Venture gives 2% back on everything if you redeem it for travel, otherwise 1%. There are other 2% cards that would be better deals for you. CSR/CSP is a poor choice for your situation.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Skymogul — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 23:30:10 GMT

@jamie123 wrote:
Charge all your house upgrades to the cards and pay the minimum amount each month for the next 12 months.

After 12 months, sell your shares of AMD and ENPH, pocket the 30% profit or $15,000 that you made and pay off the AMEX and Discover cards.

Take your wife on the Hawaiian vacation that she always wanted to go on with the $15K profit and relax!

Or scrape around and eat Ramen if there's a significant correction in the next 12 months. Never borrow to invest, which is what you're suggesting doing.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 23:43:51 GMT

@Skymogul wrote:
@jamie123 wrote:
Charge all your house upgrades to the cards and pay the minimum amount each month for the next 12 months.

After 12 months, sell your shares of AMD and ENPH, pocket the 30% profit or $15,000 that you made and pay off the AMEX and Discover cards.

Take your wife on the Hawaiian vacation that she always wanted to go on with the $15K profit and relax!
Or scrape around and eat Ramen if there's a significant correction in the next 12 months. Never borrow to invest, which is what you're suggesting doing.

This. Investing on margin is scary. That is a quick way to end up with insurmountable debt if the stocks decline. I would advise against this, as it is terrible personal finance advice.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

wasCB14 — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 23:48:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Skymogul wrote:
@jamie123 wrote:
Charge all your house upgrades to the cards and pay the minimum amount each month for the next 12 months.

After 12 months, sell your shares of AMD and ENPH, pocket the 30% profit or $15,000 that you made and pay off the AMEX and Discover cards.

Take your wife on the Hawaiian vacation that she always wanted to go on with the $15K profit and relax!
Or scrape around and eat Ramen if there's a significant correction in the next 12 months. Never borrow to invest, which is what you're suggesting doing.
This. Investing on margin is scary. That is a quick way to end up with insurmountable debt if the stocks decline. I would advise against this, as it is terrible personal finance advice.

ENPH has a $600M market cap, declining revenues, and has lost money in each of the last five years.

Sure, it could rise 30%. But there is very, very significant risk here.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 01:35:52 GMT

First of all, investing (gambling) with the proceeds would result in my wife kicking my ass. Secondly, I don’t believe just a 2% cash back card is going to get me the total amount possible. I need something with an amazing sign up bonus that I can exploit.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 01:40:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
First of all, investing (gambling) with the proceeds would result in my wife kicking my ass. Secondly, I don’t believe just a 2% cash back card is going to get me the total amount possible. I need something with an amazing sign up bonus that I can exploit.

Careful with the idea of cancelling the card right after getting the bonus. American Express has terms to claw back bonuses if you cancel within one year. I am not sure about chase. Maybe look into the BofA Premium Rewards. If you have that 50k in savings you can get 2.25% on all purchases. If you have 100k total you can get 2.65% on every purchase. You also get a 50k($500) sign up bonus.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 03:51:04 GMT

If you are buying stuff for the house Lowe's has 5% off if you use their card and pif

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

jamie123 — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 06:25:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
First of all, investing (gambling) with the proceeds would result in my wife kicking my ass. Secondly, I don’t believe just a 2% cash back card is going to get me the total amount possible. I need something with an amazing sign up bonus that I can exploit.

Smart investing is not gambling. This is a great misconception and is what bankers and financial advisors would like everyone to believe so that they can keep stealing your money. In gambling, the house has the odds so they always win. With stock market INVESTING you can do due diligence on the companies that you plan on investing in so the odds then become in your favor. Sure there is risk but as long as you plan on investing long term (at least 6 months) the chances of you coming out ahead work to your advantage.

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) - I have been invested in AMD stock since the summer of 2016 when the price per share was $5.54. The closing price of each share today was $16.56. This is a total gain of 299% in less than 2 years. How long would it take for you to see those gains where you have your money invested? If the stock market should have the biggest crash in history tomorrow and drop 50% I will be crying in my beer because my gains will have only been 150% for the past 2 years.

ENPH (Enphase Energy) - I have been invested in ENPH stock since the end of February 2018 when I bought shares for $2.90. The closing price today was $7.02. This is a bit more risky investment but the extra risk has been worth it so far IMHO. I have made 242% profit on my money since the end of February. The closing price of ENPH on 7/17/2017 (One year ago) was $.86 price per share versus $7.02 today. That is a rise in price of 812% in one year.

Believe me...The risks can be great, but so are the rewards.

The only reason that I'm suggesting these 2 stocks is because I'm personally invested in them and have done my due diligence. I plan to still be invested in both these stocks 12 months (And probably much longer.) from now so feel confident in even giving out this advice. I have spent many, many hours researching these companies and know just about everything that there is to know about them.

There you have it...I put it in writing...

Stop back to this post and check out how my advice (Invest $25K in each stock) would have turned out in the next year.

Today's closing price for these 2 stocks:

AMD = $16.56 on 7/12/2018

ENPH = $7.02 on 7/12/2018

Good luck!

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 12:53:34 GMT

If only it were that simple... there's no such thing as a perpetual money machine. And even if it existed; human nature would ensure it wouldn't be given away for free.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 06:25:03 GMT

Check AmEx, received offer the other day for AmEx PRG, Spend 2k and receive 50k MR points within 90 days, and first annual fee waived. There’s a current offer via AmEx offers which was 1 extra MR point for BestBuy and Lowes online orders, you could probably find some appliances (Best Buy/Pac Sales) and Home Improvement items at Lowes, essentially making it 50k points + 2X points for BB and Lowes + waived annual fee. Check for pre-qualified offers on AmEx site. Good luck and congrats!

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

coldfusion — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 11:06:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If only it were that simple... there's no such thing as a perpetual money machine.

Well, a taxing authority (legal right to levy and collect taxes) comes pretty close.

Re: Making big purchases, need the right card. Please help

jamie123 — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 02:13:24 GMT

ONE YEAR UPDATE!

Farther up this thread, and exactly one year ago today, I gave some stock market investing advice and I'm back to update on how you would have fared if you had taken my advice. Investing in the stock market is not gambling as long as you do your due diligence and stick with buying stock of good companies that you have researched as best as you can.

The people that are on these forums have great analytical skills and would do really well in picking apart companies to find good companies that are on an upswing. It can be risky but you need to invest for the long term to get the best results IMHO. Never buy a stock unless you are willing to hold onto it for at least 90 days at the very shortest and more likely at least 1 year or more.

Well...Let's see how our returns look exactly one year later.

7/12/18 - bought 1,509 shares of AMD @ $16.56 per share = $25,000 invested

7/12/19 - your 1,509 shares of AMD are worth $33.21 per share = $50,113 investment

That ladies and gentlemen is almost exactly 100% return on your money in one year. Not bad IMHO.

But wait...I also recommended another stock...ENPH.

7/12/18 - bought 3,561 shares of ENPH @ $7.02 per share = $25,000 invested

7/12/19 - your 3,561 shares of ENPH are worth $19.67 per share = $70,044 investment

That ladies and gentlemen is 180% return on your money in one year. Now that is a great return on your money!

So to summarize, you invested $50,000. You bought $25,000 worth of shares each in 2 companies. One year later your $50,000 investment is worth $120,000. Time to take the wife on that Hawaiian vacation that she's always wanted.

Don't fall for the brainwashing of the investment/banking community that says you can't make money in the stock market without their help. They want you to think it is gambling but to do it right, it is a lot of work. (And sure a bit of luck too.) I personally have spent hundreds of hours investigating and following these 2 companies. I didn't just throw darts at a stock chart. And I only buy stocks and sell stocks. Don't fall for the investment/banking community's advice and buy puts, sell calls or get involved with options. That is gambling IMHO.

If you would have followed my advice a year ago and held those stocks for an entire year, on Monday you could sell those stocks and they would be considered long term capital gains. You would pay 15% tax on your gains. If you sell stocks before a year is up, they are considered short term capital gains. You would add the gains from the sale of your stocks to your income and pay whatever income tax percentage your tax bracket falls on. So yeah...Better to keep them for a year or more if possible.

Good luck!