AMEX Gold...

[Anonymous]

I initially got the card because as a young man I thought if you had an AMEX gold card, then you have arrived.  Largely just meant I had a large annual fee each year. 

I don't fly overseas much so I will struggle to find value there.   Wish the travel partners were similar to Chase's with United and Southwest.  

Is it 1:1 at Amazon with MRs?  Everytime I click the Amazon link it just takes me to Amazon's website. 

On the Charles Schwab note, if I get the Schwab CC then I can transfer those points to that card, which could then be trasnferred into the potential to buy stock?  Not a bad idea, but my 50,000 won't translate to much of a stock buy -- would have more fun if I could transer it to Southwest or something. 

Might just use it to buy gift cards -- some of them are 1:1 and I can use those as Christmas gifts I suppose, or just keep them. 

[NRB525]

Amazon redemptions of MR in volume are terrible. Some get an occasional targeted offer to redeem any (small) number of MR for a discount on an Amazon purchase, but that is not consistent.

There was a transfer offer to Hilton for something like 1 MR to 2.4 Hilton points, which isn’t too bad.

If your destination for points is United and Southwest, it would seem your better card might be CSR. Transfers or the 1.5cpp travel rate should get nearly same value as cash redemptions from MR.

[Anonymous]

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@jbsilva21 wrote:

I use the points to either make Amazon purchases or book travel through Amex portal. You can use them for statement credits but its not the best use for them.

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if you gonna use for travel, make sure to check airline website first to see if its cheaper to transfer points then buy at airline with points there.

At least for my travel, amextravel website's price has been very inflated.

[Anonymous]

I put them directly into my Charles Schwab index funds, 1.25 conversion.  CS has some excellent options.  Personal goal is to see how high I can get this "CC bonus retirement account".  DW will be doing the same, as she starts our next round.  We've become obsessed with building up assets.

[CBartowski]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I initially got the card because as a young man I thought if you had an AMEX gold card, then you have arrived.  Largely just meant I had a large annual fee each year. 

I don't fly overseas much so I will struggle to find value there.   Wish the travel partners were similar to Chase's with United and Southwest.  

Is it 1:1 at Amazon with MRs?  Everytime I click the Amazon link it just takes me to Amazon's website. 

On the Charles Schwab note, if I get the Schwab CC then I can transfer those points to that card, which could then be trasnferred into the potential to buy stock?  Not a bad idea, but my 50,000 won't translate to much of a stock buy -- would have more fun if I could transer it to Southwest or something. 

Might just use it to buy gift cards -- some of them are 1:1 and I can use those as Christmas gifts I suppose, or just keep them. 

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Makes sense, it's definitely not for everyone. I just travel so much for work sometimes I don't want to do a ton of personal travel.

If you did go with the CS plat you would have about 110k just from SUB (assuming AMEX doesn't deny pts like some folks have mentioned, 50k from gold and 60k from plat). That would translate into about $1,375 just from SUBs. Tho it may not be huge depending on which stocks, there's a ton of ETFs, etc that are much cheaper. This would also technically covers 2 years of AFs if you look at it that way, with no spending.

[mongstradamus]

Charles Schwab has some of the best index etf expense ratio wise. Just drop money into schb, Schwab's total market etf, and be done with it. That's if you are fairly young.

[CBartowski]

If you have a little extra and can make the $5k min investment...use their robo advisor Intelligent Portfolios if you really dont want to be bothered with it.

[Anonymous]

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@CBartowski wrote:

If you have a little extra and can make the $5k min investment...use their robo advisor Intelligent Portfolios if you really dont want to be bothered with it.

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Careful with these, the expense ratios can be much higher than a good index fund or etf.  Will make little difference for a small investment, but with a decent sized portfolio the difference in cost becomes significant over time.  I alse see these carry a 6% minimum cash position -- not a fan of this.  Generally its much better to set up a simple 3 fund portfolio and just rebalance once a year.  

All that said, CS does appear to have some cheap options as far as "robo" advisors go, cheaper than Betterment.  I haven't looked into it, but if it does tax loss harvesting for you, it could be worth the higher expense ratio.  Edit: I see it does tax loss harvesting for 50 K+ investments, that's not bad.

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CBartowski wrote:

If you have a little extra and can make the $5k min investment...use their robo advisor Intelligent Portfolios if you really dont want to be bothered with it.

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Careful with these, the expense ratios can be much higher than a good index fund or etf.  Will make little difference for a small investment, but with a decent sized portfolio the difference in cost becomes significant over time.  I alse see these carry a 6% minimum cash position -- not a fan of this.  Generally its much better to set up a simple 3 fund portfolio and just rebalance once a year.  

All that said, CS does appear to have some cheap options as far as "robo" advisors go, cheaper than Betterment.  I haven't looked into it, but if it does tax loss harvesting for you, it could be worth the higher expense ratio.  Edit: I see it does tax loss harvesting for 50 K+ investments, that's not bad.

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If i were going that route i would just use a schwab target index fund. its a really diversified fund and its relatively cheap depending on which you get. The one i was looking at has expense ratio of .08% which is pretty good if you ask me. The only issue is its in a taxable account so a diy fund with schb and whatever municiapal bond fund is probably just as good.