Card type vs. Income

[Anonymous]

Funny, that last part you just said sounds just like a Timeshare pitch.

[jsucool76]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Funny, that last part you just said sounds just like a Timeshare pitch.

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All the guys I work with tell me every time I explain a credit card to them it's like I'm trying to sell it, and that I should start selling cars. Lol. 

I'm passionate about rewards, and card annual fees are the perfect example of "It takes money to make money." 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, 55k annually. Ha. It'd be more. But, I'm not factoring in the BF's income. Together, we make 80k or so.

Hrrrrmmmmm, as far as spending goes... it's mostly on eating and enertainment, honestly. We spend way too much on restaurants. That's one of the reasons I decided to get the CSP. And, then occasionally we travel; but not too terribly much. My family is on the other side of the world. So, I want a good travel card for when I need to see them. I opted for the Venture. But, the APR they stuck me with is atrocious. 21.9% or something godawful... This got me looking into other travel cards; i.e. the Citi Pristige and the Amex Gold.

More so, I like having nice cards as a part of my portfolio. But, I want to avoid adding something that'd be excessive strain on my finances for no reason, no matter how pretty or rewarding the card. Haha. I'm not like super fancy-pants, rockefeller over here.

[Anonymous]

You might just be good at it but you will never have time for anything. Whenever you go on vacation there will always be that thought in the back of your mind...


"What if one of my clients came in today and wanted to outfit his whole family with new cars -- And I MISSED IT!"

[jsucool76]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, 55k annually. Ha. It'd be more. But, I'm not factoring in the BF's income. Together, we make 80k or so.

Hrrrrmmmmm, as far as spending goes... it's mostly on eating and enertainment, honestly. We spend way too much on restaurants. That's one of the reasons I decided to get the CSP. And, then occasionally we travel; but not too terribly much. My family is on the other side of the world. So, I want a good travel card for when I need to see them. I opted for the Venture. But, the APR they stuck me with is atrocious. 21.9% or something godawful... This got me looking into other travel cards; i.e. the Citi Pristige and the Amex Gold.

More so, I like having nice cards as a part of my portfolio. But, I want to avoid adding something that'd be excessive strain on my finances for no reason, no matter how pretty or rewarding the card. Haha. I'm not like super fancy-pants, rockefeller over here.

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The amex gold card isn't a travel card. The amex premier rewards gold card is. Don't mix up the two if you decide to app. The standard gold card is just a green card with some face paint. 

[Anonymous]

I think as long as you make great use of the cards'a benefit then the AF isn't bad at all. 3 rounds of golf per year makes the card worthwhile for me. Wife and I also vacation twice a year either in Europe or outside CA so the $250 flight credit is already useful. The 50k reward point pays for itself. We also fine out a lot so 2x points helps earn more rewards. 4th night hotel credit can be around $300 or $400 depending on where we stay. 

In all, the prestige is well worth the AF. Also keep it he premier since it comes with 50k reward points also. 

[Ghoshida]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So, I've been debating whether or not to apply for a high-end card. However, I'm not entirely sure if it's appropriate given my income.

For example, the Citi Prestige is extremely attractive. But the AF is 500 dollars, nearly!

And, I am really liking the Amex Gold card. But, again, the AF is really high...

I make about 55k. Does the card type I SHOULD get, versus want, directly correlate with how much income I have? I don't wanna get something that's more appropriate for a person who makes upwards of 100k, or so... Been curious about this for a while. I have the CSP, Marriot Rewards Premier, and the Venture, now. But, the AFs on those don't seem so unmanagable, considering the great rewards structure. And, they aren't hundreds of dollars.

What do you guys think? What's your advice or experience?

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Ask this question to Warren Buffett. He's got a Green Card from AMEX

[Anonymous]

I live in a small town down south, 55k is a ton of money to a lot of people down here. People think I'm rich and I'm like whatttt?!??

[Anonymous]

If you can justify it, by all means.  I'm still debating over a couple of them since the AF's are all about 500.  I can't see giving someone 500 just for the card. 

[jsucool76]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you can justify it, by all means.  I'm still debating over a couple of them since the AF's are all about 500.  I can't see giving someone 500 just for the card. 

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You're not giving them $500 for a card. You're giving them between $400-$500 for more money back 

Ritz gave me what I estimate at about $1800-$2000 in value on the signup bonus alone. Breakfast at my first hotel as a gold elite (from the ritz card) was $40 per person, there was 3 of us, and we were there for breakfast 5 days. That's $600 on just ONE STAY savings in breakfast since we got free breakfast in the executive lounge. Then there was the $600 in airline gift cards I bought and was reimbursed for. All in all (not counting any points earned through spend, or the 10% bonus on points earned through spend) thats between $3000 and $3200 in value for $395 my first year (which I then got waived). Gold status alone is enough for me to keep this card. Don't forget PRIMARY rental insurance. 

Prestige is $450 (a bit more expensive) but you get the $250 airline credit (twice in each cardmember year if you time it right), so $500 there. 4th night free on any hotel booking through CWT (cant even put a price on that one), 3 free rounds of golf a year (Some of the trump courses here are priced at $450 when looking at the golfswitch portal), 50,000 thank you points (worth $800 when redeemed for american airlines/us air flights), elite status with sixt, national, and avis....list goes on. Just on the airline credit and signup bonus you've got $1300 

@Anonymous plat gets the signup bonus (normally 40k but if you get the 100k offer you're even better off), the $200 airline credit, amex centurion lounges ($50 a visit if you don't have a plat card), SPG gold status, some car rental elite status as well (I wanna say national, avis, and enterprise, but I could be wrong), Signup bonus conservatively valued at $400, (or $1000 @ the 100k offer), plus $400 in airline credits is $800 (or $1400 with the 100k offer). Add in the FHR program and once again, set with only a few of the benefits. 

That's only a couple of benefits of each card easily giving you the value of the annual fee.