I think mooper does some great analysis

I would add in the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card if you are doing any spending on flights. You get 3x membership rewards on all flight purchases. This is very attractive

Good analysis by all.

I've been an Amex customer for over 21+ years and I can personally vouch for Amex's superior customer service vs. other credit card companies with Citibank being absolutely atrocious.

Want to dispute a charge by calling in? No problem. Most other credit card companies want you to write them a letter.

Need to replace that lost card is a hurry? No problem. They overnight replacement cards without being asked.

Not sure if my calls are ending up in Bangalore or not but whoever I end up with speaks fluent English so it really doesn't matter.

Try that with Citibank ;)

As a high spend (Starwood ) Amex card holder you will be assigned a concierge.

Anyone can be an AARP member--join yourself for $16 or add yourself to someone old's membership for free.

Looks like it may have gotten ignored--fine with me ;).

It's a little hard for me to believe that, with that kind of spending power, you don't have access to a superior level of expertise than one might find in the MilesBuzz forum of FlyerTalk. I would think, for example, a wealth management consultant would have a more expansive point of view, taking in account your entire estate...

Thanks, that was very helpful
 

You have a point in there somewhere?

You did note that part where these are business purchases, right?

I think the best choice for the above is the Fidelity Visa. It's 1.5% cash back for the first 15k, and 2% cashback after that. It's similar to the venture card, but you don't need to spend the points on travel. You can get it straight as cash. Basically

That really depends on how much travel and hotel stays you do. I get the sense that you do very little of both. And when you do travel, you want to go different places all the time, and aren't loyal to any particular hotel brand. That makes it hard to get the most perks out of being a high status customer or having a lot of points/miles. Cash is much less hassle to spend and make sure you get your value.

Some people don't want to pay for a consultant, as it's easy to learn these tricks free from FT (and probably get better advice than a pro could give you anyway). I put millions of dollars on my credit cards (business expenses, primarily) and never hired someone to guide my credit card decisions. In fact, I know various consultants who get some advice from *me* on the topic.

Cash is king
 

I couldn't agree more, points are nice but it doesn't sound like the OP is actually using them and if/when (s)he needs them, with 1MM annual spend they can be racked up quickly.

Therefore cash back would be my "go-to" card with points balancing things out as points are needed.



This was better when restaurants/bars were bonused, but want award hotel nights this is better than SPG & Marriott

OP doesn't travel much and has 1.4MM SkyMiles. Lifetime status is nice, but if you don't fly much it's not very relevant.

Again, the OP says they don't fly much, so why suggest a card (that has a $450 fee) for lounge access??

Unless the vendors fall in the rotating categories, see the Fidelity recommendation or AXP Blue Cash or AXP Blue Sky

I would think the point of getting lifetime elite status is for those who don't travel much. They will always be able to use it, any time in their life, without having to hit the yearly requirements. This would be useful so when he does travel (and I believe he said he wants to begin traveling more) he will always have that option.

OP spends enough per year that he can spread out his purchases across various cards to obtain the maximum possible value. Not sure if his business expenditures will remain as they are now, but getting points across various programs will allow him to get status in various places (and get him status matched if he wants). If he can't find a SPG hotel here that he wants, then there's a Hilton there, or a IHG hotel.

Overall, I agree that cashback should be the go-to option in most scenarios, but OP wanted award stays. If he gets Hilton Diamond via spend, and travels somewhere with his family, he'll be able to redeem for a nice resort somewhere and receive better treatment and upgrades. Same with Priority Club IHG. Dropping $40k and $60k spend a year out of a million to get status, and $2 million for just two years for lifetime status makes sense to me.

You are right about the Platinum card.

Oh yeah, and Priority Club allows you to redeem across multiple hotel groups not even in its own. This can add to its use as a flexible card. The credit card also has no foreign exchange fees.

While cash IS king, MyTravels, when using a cash-back card for business expenses isn’t it a taxable event? While an individual consumer is using post-tax dollars, a business is using pre-tax. Although I have never had a cash-back card I assume that you get a net bill reflecting the rebate, so the business check you write (and deduct) is for the discounted amount. Since this might siphon off as much as 40%, or more, of the rebate in taxes, I don’t see the cash back as that great of an option for a busines owner. Maybe I am missing something fundamental.

While I don't know about the direct tax question, most "cash back" cards actually earn some sort of points that are redeemable for cash back. In that sense the bill is for the full amount and the miles/cashback is a separate transaction. And since, technically, they give you points, I'm guessing that means that they have the same tax status as miles cards.