Originally Posted by
Mama
I know some people prefer living a complicated life. One card for grocery (because x2), one card for gas(because x2), one card for restaurants (because x2), one card for hotel A (because x3), one card for hotel B (because x4)....etc.
I don’t think 3-4 cards is all that complicated. More than about 5, and yeah, unless you really enjoy the game, at some point you start reaching diminishing returns with more work.
Just in the Amex MR ecosystem, you have air travel and hotels through the portal (5X on Plat), dining and groceries (4X on Gold), other travel (3X on Green), everything else (2X on BBP assuming you went through the motions with gig or other side hustle). Throw in some other affinity card where you are loyal for specific benefits, maybe, and that’s it. Doesn’t seem too complicated to me. Others in the Chase universe do similar.
It may well be that the *average* person carries about 3 cards. But I’d wager that among Platinum holders, it is likely considerably higher. The average person won’t pay $695 every year for a card.