Originally Posted by maksimfa

The tough part of the valuation of those claims is... The made up value of miles and points earned. They are not as simple as pure cash back.

For me personally, I value miles at about 1.5 cents per mile and Amex point as that is realistically what I will get if I have to liquidate them. For those flying in first class, let's take a look. If you can get a 5 cents a mile redemption, terrific, but is it really 5 cents if you were not willing to pay for a first class ticket anyway?

Is 10 hours of wine and dine in a little bit more space worth 5x the price of an Econ or Eco plus ticket? To me.... No. I would gladly spend the $1,000 on airfare and pocket the rest into a savings account. For people who need to travel in first class.... It is a different priority. To me money in the bank is more important than first class for a few hours.

Secondly, living in the north east with a lot of hubs, ticket prices are pretty low to begin with, so redemptions are not great anyway.

So for my family unit, cash is most preferred. Now, as part of our ms game, we generate points, miles, etc, however it is in addition to all the cash earned on the transaction. I would not even dream about swiping my delta or united cards for a regular transaction. Lol. However if I get back 4% cash plus 1 mile... Now we are talking. If you have not figured it out yet... Portals.

To supplement, we do run the Amex cash back cards at grocery stores and other 5% categories. The 2% and lower cash back cards are being only used right now, as long as opportunity is still there, with portals, for a net cash back of 5 to 6.6% cash back.

End of the day, you have to know what your goals are, take inventory of the tools that you have , and implement it. If there is a is a missing tool, get it, but most of all, have goals, stay focused, and do it. Over three months my ms went from low $20k to over $100k. Will likely soon be $2xxk.

Nothing fancy, just a plan.