What's my next move in the points game?
 

A few years ago I got into the points game and got the Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited and Ink Business Plus and I've just been spending away earning my points. I'm just wondering if there is anything else I should be doing now like trying to get new sign up bonuses for new Chase cards and or getting new cards from other banks, etc. or do I just stick with what I got and keep earning my points.

I don't actually do much travel. Just trying to earn points for our once or twice a year family of four vacations. I'm in California and we mainly like to go tropical beach locations like Hawaii, Caribbean etc. I don't really have a big airline preference. However I can get there for the best points redemption or price works for me.

I'm also wondering how it works having credit cards from different banks and I end up having some points with Chase, some points with American Express etc. I would think its best to have all your points pooled together.

Do you think any of the high fee cards like the Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum are worth it for me since I don't actually travel much? If I upgraded to the Reserve is there any way for me to get another bonus?

Any advice?

Sounds like what you're doing is fine. As you may be aware, Chase has a 5/24 rule which, to make a long story short, means that if you're relatively new to this game you might want to make your first five cards Chase because you can't get new cards from them if you've signed up for five of any kinds of credit cards over the course of the previous two years.

The bigger lesson, though, is that unless you're spending and traveling a lot the main value of new credit cards is the 40,000-100,000 miles/points sign-up bonuses you get for spending, say, $3,000 in three months.

Getting different credit cards from different banks really isn't a problem, since the best way to use those points is to convert them to various airline programs anyway. For example, Chase, Citi and Amex points can all be converted into Singapore Airline miles, which can in turn be used to book United award flights (assuming United award availability, which is a big if) or awards on other Star Alliance partners (though that's less relevant to you, given that you don't travel much beyond the USA and the Caribbean). But even if you don't redeem for awards, and simply use those Chase/Citi/Amex points directly for flights, there's no problem with diversifying.

One other option that might work well for you is Alaska credit cards, since its miles can be used on various airline including American and perhaps Hawaiian.

Not sure of the answer to your question re getting more points for the Chase Reserve upgrade. You might try posting it in the Chase credit card forum here.

Given your limited travel, the higher fees for the Reserve or the Amex Platinum probably aren't worth it.

Hope this helps!