I'm a millennial. I'm 24. Granted I'm not your normal millennial. Although I think and like old school styles. I run a low 7 figure company on my own (although I may hire a secretary soon) with an Associates Degree. (POS piece of paper IMO). American's maybe getting book smarter but they're certainly not getting CC points smarter.
Most people follow the crowd, I don't. Out of my close friends; only 4 have AMEX's and 3 of the 4 are non college educated self employed business owners like myself. 2 make 6 figures, 1 makes 7 figures. The other 10 or so close friends don't have an AMEX and they are all college educated. Heck some don't even have credit cards. I go out quite often and a common question people ask me after they ask about my business is how I travel for "Free" and stay in hotels for "Free" and I tell them about credit card points and say hey you should sign up for one and they all look at me like I'm crazy. Suit yourself more First Class availably for me. (Thank you Platinum 2 for 1 points).
(((funny story the 7 figure earner use to spend 7 figures with his debit card since "it was easy for me to keep track of everything". I was glad I was able to steer him in the right direction.))) He just went to Aruba 5 stars the whole nine yards for free.
Without a charge card (AMEX) since no one else offers one, (who accepts DINERS anymore) I could never spend the money I do on inventory. Think 20K a day sometimes. Without that charge card with yearly spendings over a million how else would I be able to charge that much. I really can't think of another way. Waiting for "payments to process" with MC and VISA is a PITA and the fact the second I hit submit payment with AMEX my line of credit (although that word is used loosely with a charge card) is extended. What sucks is I could have an additional 500,000 points a year with a "credit" card like the everyday preferred (which could cover not one but TWO black cards yearly fee)
And for the record I haven't gotten a Centurion invite yet but hopefully soon. I'm forever loyal to AMEX, although give us Business Platinum holders the damn metal card lol or at least 50% if you make 30 transactions a month. (yeah I know about the 5K 1.5% but 95% of my charges are just under that)
And in terms of "being cool and hip" no one ever comments on my Platinum Card. I get a lot of comments on my SPG AMEX, like wow what's that? (something about Purple and millennials??? lol)
Oh and I forgot to mention for the record I started the company with zero help from anyone and my first ever Credit Card was the Clear Blue Amex (i forget what the name was) at 17 (yes my father cosigned it since I wasn't legally allowed to) which with the revolving credit (since i needed instant credit reflection for more inventory buying) since I had less than $1000 to start with. It really helped me start from the ground up.
And yeah 2% cash back (CITI) could pay my taxes but heck getting a $6,000 FC ticket and traveling the world for literally a fraction of the cost in points and ZERO dollars out of pocket is priceless. I'll take it everytime. Now if someone comes out with a 3% (other than USAA which I don't qualify for) then maybe a reconsideration will be done.
Point of the story AMEX isn't popular among millennials but for this millennial it is!