Congratulations, good that MS works for you. Be that as it may, many people report that they never did MS or have stopped MS or only do the low hanging fruit of MS. For many people MS is too time consuming, and/or too much effort, and/or too costly, and/or too risky (for shutdown). It’s unknowable how many people or the percentage of people who do aggressive MS, my estimation based on having done a fair amount of MS until several years ago and careful review of applicable threads here (and that I’d sooner gouge my own eyeballs out with a hot fire poker than voluntarily go to a Walmart Customer Service ), is that it’s a relatively small percentage of overall frequent flyer aficionados. I maintain that (for the vast majority or FTers) it’s all about the SUB(s).

I estimate that of the over 20 million miles and points I’ve earned across all programs during that past 35 years, probably 35% have come from SUBs and maybe 10% from CC spend (even with 2x-5x bonuses) and much of that spend has been minimum spends. I’ve long maintained that that for a single individual (presuming excellent credit history and scores), like the OP perhaps, without a partner or family or business, it’s far easier to earn oodles of miles via SUBs than via spend.