Originally Posted by
ThatAdamGuy
Happy, since you mention the $6K Groceries cap on the Preferred card and question whether it's worth it... I'd suggest that, at least mathematically, it is
If you value MR points at a minimum of 2 cents each* AND you believe you can spend $6K/year at grocery stores... off that spend alone, you'd glean a value of:
- $360 on the Preferred card (6000*3*0.02)
- $240 on the regular card (6000*2*0.02)
...and that's
without hitting the 20 or 30 purchase tiers.
If you DID hit those purchase tiers (and personally, this seems like a royal pain in the posterior, particularly for the 30-purchase-tier of the preferred), you'd earn respectively off just the $6K grocery purchases:
- $540 on the Preferred card
- $288 on the regular card
So in either case, it looks like it's well worth getting the preferred card if you plan on hitting the $6K grocery spend.
*If you value MR points at
less than 2 cents a piece... then you may be better off with the Fidelity Amex card, which pays a straight 2% cash reward on spend with no mileage-redeeming hassles. But personally I think MR points are worth well over 2 cents a piece, at least when redeeming for miles used to procure international business-class travel; my last MR redemption weighed in at ~10 cents per point (Singapore Airlines premium travel
.
$6K is too low a cap in today's environment. The 20/30 transactions can be achieved easily via online payment or what not but it is definitely a nuisance to say the least.
The absolute amount is too small to be bothered - yes, it is a positive number after subtracting the $95 fee based on your model - but we are talking about a $150ish NET incremental for a whole year. Not a big difference.
As for the redemption value, I do not fool myself of getting 10 cents per point by redeeming premium cabins because I would not pay out of pocket for such tickets. Only things I would pay out of pocket, would be the value to use in evaluating the point / mile worth. As much as the rave on SQ, CX F is just about as nice. We flew CX F at least once or twice a year since 2009. So I guess we are doing OK there.
Besides, we have enough miles in various programs that can provide CX F trip to Asia for the next 5 years. Or EK F trip for next 3 years except we dont care for transit thru Middle East. lol. There are also QR and EY. So missing SQ is no big deal when the other top airlines are available thru other means. The mile redemption is not as attractive to us than it is to others. I gather it all depends on what one already has.
Yes, I also have the Fido 2x card. That it earns straightly 2x without any effort to only use in bonus category and additional threshold to increase earning, is a nice feature. Plus it has only 1% forex fee versus the 2.7% on the Everyday. Is Everyday Preferred forex fee free?
What we need the most at this stage of life, is the hotel points - a month long trip 2 to 3 times a year burnt up a lot of hotel points! We spent 35 days in SE Asia and HKG between past Dec and Jan. Will spend the whole May in Asia and Europe. And another 35 days in Asia and Europe again in Sept/Oct. The 5x earning of HHonors actually helps us more than the 3x MR with the Everyday Preferred because HHonors has no cap. HHonors points save a lot of money for airport hotels which we always seem to need. I wish AMEX would make SPG earning more attractive.