Episode 13 & 14: A Deep Dive into American Express 5 Card Strategies

We’ve got a special “double episode” of the No Annual Fee version of the Milenomics² Podcast this week.

In this episode we do a deep dive into our personal card strategies with Amex. For this exercise:

  • Amex is limiting us to a total of 5 active *credit* cards (personal and business, charge cards don’t count)
  • We already have/have had a lot of the best Amex cards (so we’re going deeper into the Amex portfolio than someone newer to the game otherwise would)
  • We want to make use of Amex’s generous referral program

Amex 5 Card Strategy Template

Here’s a template we used if you want to play along for you own situation:

Current Charge Cards
• A
• B
• C

Current Credit Cards
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E

Have had
• A
• B

Credit Cards Considering
• A
• B

Charge Cards Considering
• A
• B
• C

Cards I’m keeping an eye out for
• A

Final Answer
• #3 A
• #2 B
• #1 C

Spoiler alert

Sam’s picks:

  • #3 Blue Business Plus Credit Card
  • #2 Business Platinum Charge Card
  • #1 Plum Business Charge Card

Robert’s picks:

  • #3 Personal Green Charge Card
  • #2 Morgan Stanley Platinum Charge Card
  • #1 Simply Cash Plus Business Credit Card

You can visit our referral page for links to these cards, but read this first before using someone else’s referral links.
You’re probably better off with spousal referral, or trading referral links with a friend.

Subscribe to the Paid version of the Milenomics² Podcast

Like what you heard in the No Annual Fee version?

On this week’s Paid version of the podcast we explore:

  • The death of a Walmart
  • Lucrative targeted bank bonuses
  • Amex clawback fears
  • And more…

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About the author

- Written by Sam Simon. All ideas are my own, but I encourage you to see my point of view and I promise I'll try to do the same. Connect with me on Twitter @Milenomics.

Comments

  1. Thanks for another episode. I have a totally different setup for my Amex cards:
    Player 1 – SPG Bus, SPG Lux, Hilton Aspire, Hilton Ascend
    Player 2 – SPG Bus, SPG Lux, Hilton Aspire, Blue Business Plus

    I like the hotel anniversary nights since we travel regularly, so I know I can get good value
    from them. And pairing the cards up makes for good weekend getaway.
    It’s a much simpler card set up with only the 5th slot free for a rotating
    Amex credit card to churn once a year. Since I also plan to cycle 1-2 charge cards per year,
    it’s plenty for me to do, especially since I still have other banks’ cards I want to get churn too.
    But I’ll have to see what Marriott does with the peak awards chart –
    if it looks ugly, then I’ll drop the SPG Bus for another rotating slot.

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