Pretty much looks to me there are really only a couple of ways to earn status points.

I am Elevate Gold because of the promotion from AmEx

I would like to at least maintain Silver status.

Since I only earn 5 points per $$$ spent, i would have to spend a minimum of $4000 on flights in a calendar year

AND/OR

Use the VX branded Credit card to earn 5,000 bonus status points for every $10,000 of eligible purchases, up to a maximum of 15,000 status points per calendar year

No other ways to earn status correct?

If I spent $2000 on flights, I could earn half (10,000 points) PLUS, if I spent e.g., $20,000 on the card, I would earn the other half

I am used to the "butt in seat" PQM method used by United and I also have a branded credit card that earns PQM (no longer available to public)

its based on miles flown

base miles are now based on purchase price, but status miles (PQM) still use the old method.

Just trying to compare to see how hard to maintain status on VX

I only travel for leisure. It will be almost impossible for me to retain GOLD

I believe your understanding is correct. To use United terms, you would need $4,000 PQD (=20,000 points - it's the same exclusion of fees that UA uses for PQD) on VX tickets to be Silver, and can supplement that with up to 15k points from the CC and/or distance-based earning from flying VX partners. No component of VX elite status depends directly on BIS miles flown on VX.

Excellent! Thanks

two follow up questions then

As a Silver or Gold Elevate, do you earn more qualifying points per $1 spent. In other words, instead of (for example) 5 points per dollar, do Gold earn 8 per dollar?

And the spending on the credit card - to verify - its 1 point earned for $1 spent

No. As a Silver/Gold you will earn 6.25x/10x points per qualifying dollar as reward points (RDM) only. You earn 5x status points per dollar regardless of your current status.

No. If you have the Premium card only (the $149 AF version), then you receive 5,000 points for every $10,000 of annual spend (rounded down), up to a maximum of 15k/$30k. This is separate from the reward points (RDM) you earn at a rate of 1 per dollar of spend on either card. [I think I missed this misconception when I first read your OP.] If you don't need your CC points, they will roll forward for one year.

Thanks. And the Premium card points are 5,000 "qualifying" points for every $10,000 spending correct

Yes, you get 5,000 status (qualifying) points for $10,000 in spend in addition to the 10,000 (or more if categorized on VX tickets) reward points you receive normally.

One clarification: it is not just the CC-derived status points (maximum 15k for at least a $30k spend) that will roll over, it is all points beyond the last-reached status, provided you have the $150-fee card.

For example, I ended 2015 with 75k status points, only 15k of which may have been card-derived; and I started 2016 with 25k status points.

caseminole: As alluded to, you are correct that it is 5000 "qualifying"/status points per $10k spent, up to a maximum of 15,000.

Note also that for non-status points, you get 3x points per card-dollar spent on VX. So as a Gold member using the card, you end up getting 13 points/$ spent on VX flights (though just 5 status points/$ spent). Pretty good return.

One qualifier to this: In past years (never know what this year will bring) there have been TQP/Status Point bonuses with some promotions.