What’s In My Wallet: August 2019

Just as expected, at the beginning of August, I reached the end of my sign up bonus on the World of Hyatt credit card. With that out of the way, life should return to normal. As such, my credit card use for the first time all year will go back to normal as well.

Cards In My Wallet

1. Chase Sapphire Reserve
2. Chase Freedom
3. Blue Cash Preferred
4. Discover IT
5. World of Hyatt

Strategy

• Groceries: Blue Cash Preferred (6%)
• Gas: Chase Freedom (5%)
• Business Expenses: Chase Ink Business Preferred (1-3x)
• Restaurants: Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x)
• Travel: Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x)
• Everything Else: Chase Sapphire Reserve (1x)

How odd, but it’s been the first time all year that I’ve actually had a normal setup of cards to look after. I’ll be honest, it feels a little weird to go back to maximizing. Still, the categories are looking somewhat like this: Groceries is under the Blue Cash Preferred, Gas is paid for with the Chase Freedom, business expenses are paid for with the Chase Ink Business Preferred, and finally, restaurants, traveling, and everything else is paid for with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Next Card

The next card I’m looking to apply for is the IHG credit card. The IHG card has an $89 annual fee and comes with a few key benefits. The first benefit is available right away, and that is the top tier status that can be used to match to different hotel loyalty programs. The second benefit that makes it a long term keeper card is the anniversary night every single year thereafter. 

Final Thoughts

Now that the World of Hyatt sign up bonus has been met, it’s now time to revert back to the normal setup. I’m almost at a point where I don’t know how to act in a setup like this anymore! It’s almost too easy to just use one car, almost like an automatic transmission in a car. You don’t have to think about it, you just put it in drive and you go. But maximizing every dollar is really like that manual transmission, knowing which gear to be in for any situation… plus its more fun! 

Have you ever felt empty after meeting a sign up bonus an having to return to your normal card setup? Let us know down in the comment section below.