Originally Posted by XenAeterna

At the end of the day, I know it's just a piece of black plastic (or metal) where 99% of the time nobody but myself will even see the card and, if this was any other card, I probably would've downgraded already when they raised the fees. But on the flipside, there's a small part of me where I'm hesitant to downgrade simply because it still appears to be one of the most prestigious, exclusive, sought-after cards in the world and, judging by my current situation, I feel like I won't be getting my hands on it ever again in the future.

As strange as it sounds, the Centurion is like a small 'trophy' that doesn't really boost or add value to my daily life just by having it around, but it's more of an ego or a "self-satisfaction" thing that reminds me of the success I had that led to an invite. Back then I was just another ambitious, young, single dude who did pretty well for himself and ended up with this card. But now I'm older (not super old but middle-aged), I have a family with kids and our expenses are more "down-to-earth" and non-luxurious, and my financial/mental situation has been on the decline in recent years due to the pandemic and ongoing global recession.

I'm willing to give the card one more year and, with that in mind, maybe more proactively try to make use of whatever benefits I can squeeze out of the insane annual fees. Honestly though, I'm not sure what benefits I'll be able to really use and find useful to me or my family.