I had some unexpected changes to my card strategy last year, including an unplanned new addition. My spending pattern also drastically changed. However, I don’t foresee quite as large changes in my 2024 card strategy, though I’m also a bit unsure of my use priorities. Alas, in this post, I’ll go over what I’m currently planning on.
2023 Recap
Last year, most of my cards remained in my wallet. The sole casualty was my Marriott Bonvoy Premier card, which got downgraded to the free version of the card. As I’ve mentioned before, I really see no reason to pay for a Bonvoy card any longer. I shifted most of my stays over to Hyatt and have already attained Lifetime Platinum Elite, so I don’t need to earn elite qualifying nights (EQNs) via card spend. As such, my spending pattern shifted from dumping most spend on the Marriott card to the following:
- Freedom Flex: quarterly bonus category merchants
- Sapphire Reserve: travel + dining
- Freedom Unlimited: drugstores, dining establishments with questionable merchant categories, most un-bonused categories
- World of Hyatt Visa: Hyatt spend, some other non-bonused spend
- Alaska Air Visa: gas station and cable purchases
- American AAdvantage MileUp: iTunes/iCloud purchases – just to keep the card active
Most of the above held true, though I ended up not putting most non-bonused spend on the World of Hyatt Visa. Instead, a huge percentage of that went onto my Freedom Unlimited and Apple Card. Plus, I did end up receiving targeted offers for my Southwest Priority and World of Hyatt cards, which helped to absorb what would have otherwise been non-bonused spending, as did Q4 2023’s PayPal Freedom Flex category bonus.
With that all out of the way, let’s get on with my 2024 card strategy.
My 2024 Card Strategy
At the moment, here’s what my card collection looks like:
- Alaska Airlines Visa Signature
- American AAdvantage MileUp
- American Express EveryDay
- Apple Card
- Chase Freedom Flex
- Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Hilton Honors
- Hilton Honors Surpass
- Marriott Bold Visa
- Southwest Priority Visa
- World of Hyatt Visa
Of the above cards, the ones that are at risk include the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Hilton Honors Surpass. If you read my 2023 year in-review and 2024 outlook posts, it’s easy to see why the Sapphire Reserve is potentially on the chopping block. With virtually no travel and barely any dining in the past year or in the year ahead, there’s little reason to keep the card with a $550 annual fee. Of course, I want to keep the account, so if I give it the ax, it’ll be a downgrade to a Sapphire Preferred. Plus, the card earns 3x points on online grocery purchases, making its earning power more relevant to me.
The Hilton Honors Surpass joins the Sapphire Reserve on the endangered list because, well, Hilton has been disappointing me lately. Moreover, Hilton Honors is an awful program, with low earning rates compared to the ludicrous redemption rates even semi-desirable properties charge. Is it worth paying about $150 per year to keep Hilton Honors Gold status? I’m leaning towards no.
Spending Strategy
The second half of my 2024 card strategy is utilization. While I’m a bit indecisive about what cards I will and won’t keep this year, how I plan on using my cards is even worse! Why? Because I have competing priorities. While Ultimate Rewards have outstanding value when transferred to a program like Hyatt, redeeming them for purchases isn’t so good. In that regard, the Apple Card is better since it earns 2% cash back on all Apple Pay transactions, which you can apply $0.01 for $0.01 to your balance.
On the other end of things, while I can earn 1.5 Ultimate Reward/World of Hyatt points for otherwise un-bonused spend using the Freedom Unlimited, throwing those purchases on my World of Hyatt Visa can earn EQNs. That’s an important consideration since I’ll only keep my current status through February 2025. That said, the card only awards you 5 EQNs per year, plus an additional 2 EQNs each time you spend an aggregate of $5,000 on it.
Since Explorist requires 30 nights, and I plan on staying two nights this year, I’ll need to earn 23 more EQNs to maintain my status at a cost of $60,000. Yeah, I’m not spending that much in a year. So that’s moot – especially since EQNs earned via your card don’t count towards lifetime status with Hyatt. So, logically speaking, this is how my spending strategy should look this year:
- Freedom Flex: quarterly bonus category merchants
- Sapphire Reserve: travel + dining
- Freedom Unlimited: drugstores, dining establishments with questionable merchant categories, un-bonused categories
- World of Hyatt Visa: Hyatt spend
- Alaska Air Visa: gas stations and streaming
- American AAdvantage MileUp: iTunes/iCloud purchases – just to keep the card active
- Apple Card: Apple purchases and un-bonused categories?
Yep. I really need to decide whether or not the 2% cash back or the 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points are more important to me. In all honestly, I’ll likely jump back and forth, depending on how I feel at the moment.
My 2024 Card Strategy, Final Thoughts
I know my 2024 card strategy is a bit inconclusive, but these are “different” times for me! I think I’ll get a better idea of what I really want to do later this year or, perhaps, next year. That said, the above is what my 2024 card strategy is now, and I don’t think I’ll deviate too much from this one way or another. At any rate, how do you all plan on using your cards this year? Are there any significant changes for you?