Thanks for the good thoughts. First of all, I have lifetime silver now. I would like lifetime gold, but the last 50,000 MQMs I need do not sound so easy now that I am flying 0 or 1 time per year instead of 25 times per years. Because I fly so little my MQM earnings will mostly all come from the spend bonus. Once again, because my life has changed, that will be 10k MQMs per year. 5 years of waiting. Too long for an aging guy trying to enjoy his travel now.
Further, I built up all these award miles and want to start using them as I age. So buying tickets (absent an intentional mileage run) is not so much in the picture. I have had the thought you expressed; would lifetime gold really help me? Would I have that much more than the silver I have now? Well I just took a trip on my miles to Thailand. On every flight gold status would have gotten me into the elite lines. Silver does not. Elite lines at Security, often at initial check-in, and always at boarding. Further we stopped at international airports (eg Shangai) for long layovers like 5 hours. They would not let me into the partner lounge even tho I have a Sky Club membership. Sky Club members don't get into the foreign carrier's lounges, but gold elite members do. So these are not huge things in life, but in a sense none of this is. And it can absolutely make a long trip a little more pleasant and a long layover a lot more fun.
So I'm really dedicated to getting those 50,000 MQM miles. Thus I'm trying to understand the cards and mileage runs. I've read if I upgrade to the Reserve Card I get an upgrade bonus, but the spend limit to get the 15,000 additional MQM bonus is a little higher, and I'm close, right on the line at $25k spending. Getting to $30k, well its not as easy as it used to be with my life changes. I don't mean to go on and on, just explaining my situation. I'm glad fliers help each other with collective advice.