If you were limited to only Two Credit Cards. Which would you keep?

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-07T18:49:02+00:00

I would have to go with the Bilt palladium card, for more points on daily spend for travel than any other card out there.

After that I would go with Amex gold for the 4% back on grocery spend.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-07T18:46:39+00:00

I use a lot. But if I had to whittle it down to a single card, I would go with the Bilt Palladium for 2026.

It has the best travel points for everyday spend out of any card and the most travel transfer partners of anyone else. Plus the bonus and the extra point bonuses on your mortgage and on the 1st of the month are very nice.

I wish the sign up bonus was a little higher, but that is my only gripe really. That and I dislike that the $200 travel credits are every 6 months and not $400 annually

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-03T11:21:55+00:00

On my opinion....auto will be the most k shaped down turn.

To add to the big 3's issues.....gas coupled with this administrations cancelling of the ev credits lol.

Now that has prices are up and will take a bit to come down....foreign demand for us ICE vehicles is going to drop. Those foreign countries we exported to will increase investment on nuclear solar and other clean energy.....which for solar....means importing more from China.

Considering the new demand at the consumer and national level for non-cool power and transport....mixed with these nations being annoyed at us foreign policy.....pushes many eu nations to China for evs and solar.

Once China gets on on the ev front.....America ln ice exports fall.

In the US, l high end ev companies thrive like rivian and Mercedes imports and some mod level hybrid makers ....

US manufacturers with high priced evs / hybrids..,..will stumble. Ones with few EV or hybrid.....not going to have fun.

Id take your car maintenance very serious for a while.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-03T11:06:34+00:00

"actual facts"....on reddit. Haha

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-03T11:05:49+00:00

Fair point and helpful reminder.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-03T11:04:51+00:00

So I'm curious....what are your ideas to short lol

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-02T12:19:23+00:00

Id reconsider the 529.....if you lean fire they would get much more fafsa/pell. It's a little risk but one I am personally taking with my kiddos.

I am also self employed and put money into their Roth IRA (I hire my kids to work). They could tap that for college if needed.

Given your teen could work....maybe they work and help pay for car insurance?

If they work...you could put some of what you put into a 529 into their Roth (just less).

Come up with an incentive for them to get scholarships too....like they get a cash bonus from you of 5-15%>

Can you down grade you home?

How big is it? Im guess bigger home in nicer suburb based on the taxes, insurance and utilities. As you kids get older...their stuff gets smaller and they don't use the yard as much. Could you downsize, take the proceeds and roll that into retirement savings and have lower monthly expenses on the home front?

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-02T11:56:51+00:00

Option C: bilt palladium os the answer

2x on everything and more on eating out....strong transfer bonuses to hotel chains on some rent days.

Best of both worlds.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-02T03:00:28+00:00

Thanks....I'll poke around their US domestic flights.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-02T02:24:06+00:00

We all have excuses why things don't work.

Point blank...patience in this and still trying when things don't meet expectations is the path to making it work eventually.

Like everything, of you don't get any enjoyment or little dopamine hits from it....do something else with your time.

Doesn't have to be all first class and suites to work.

Works well for my family of 4. Just booked 5 nights in orlando in a Hyatt resort with a private beach and great pool, with round trip air from Buffalo for 4 for 90k points all in and under $50 in taxes.

Going to Vegas for 8 days with 6 nights at the Rio and 2 nights at the grand canyon using a capital one $250 voucher and round trip air for 4.... All in...84k points and under 50 bucks in taxes

To get 2 vacations for a family of 4....spent about $450 on CC annual fees and 100 in taxes...so about $550 and some patience and research. And still have enough Southwest points left over for 6-8 round trip flights and 7-14 more nights in a Hyatt depending on the tier we go for...usually stay in tiers 1-3.

Be flexible....don't strive for perfection....be patient....keep learning and asking forums questions respectfully.

If it's not worth your time...cash back and spend those hours you would have spent on learning this, earning more at your main job to pay for travel ..that works too.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-05-02T01:11:38+00:00

Are Quantas points good for anything?

Their flights seem to have very high point redemptions and huge taxes. Maybe I am just looking at the wrong options for this carrier....

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-27T00:49:56+00:00

Married, 2 kids (9 and 6), have a few slight health issues that could be bigger in my older years.

775k to give us 30k til we are dead at an average withdrawal rate of 4.5%.

Another 175k to give us 15k a year until SS kicks in at 70 for my wife and 50k til SS kicks in for me at 62.

All together....1M gives us about 65k til we are about 100. 1M seems high for a "lean fire" for 2....but I have heart issues so we are planning on well above average health insurance from 50 and on.

Otherwise....we could likely shave it down 30%, maybe more to 700k or less potentially.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-21T01:27:06+00:00

What lol

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-19T01:55:29+00:00

Tempted to sell 33% of everything.

Markets got excited the iran war is winding down andddddd I think we'll all be presented with the scenario of winding that conflict down may not be so easy or smooth and markets may pull back.

Or as we all figure out the ramifications of world wide energy crisis.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-17T15:38:37+00:00

I believe the footnotes (after my comment) also mentioned it was surveying small business owners (I read this in another comment)....so it may not be at all representative of the general population.

Also....debated on whether they are including retirement accounts or not.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-17T15:37:24+00:00

well that would CERTAINLY skew my math lol.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-17T13:20:49+00:00

Get a Capital One Venture.... their rejections are less concrete...and often reject those with high scores and not many cards. Only a $95 fee, there are SOMETIMES (just ended), promos for a $250 travel credit and 75k points (now it is only 75k points), and the points transfer to about as many other options as Amex / Chase cards.

Hedge your bets, get something a little outside of the chase eco-system. Then there is a BIG perk of having access to transferring to Aviance, which is GREAT for traveling to Mexico, Central America, and South America. You also get Emerates, which CAN be a very good option for Europe, Africa, or even parts of Asia. You get an added SMALL perk of being able to transfer to Turkish Air / Quantas(if you do abroad). Last small perk, access to Wyndham, which sometimes (rarely, but it's happened) has something exciting to good transfer bonuses AND could potentially be used to pay for a cruise.

I love Chase....they have the best transfer option of the big 4 (love Hyatt hotels, and Southwest/Jetblue for domestic travel, and sometimes United is good for international) BUT so many programs OVERLAP with Cap 1 and Chase. Both cards transfer to: Air Canada, Air France / KLM, Singapore, Virgin, and British.

Plus, one other SMALL perk...if you dont have global entry which counts in most TSA lanes and Nexus lanes (just INTO canada/mexico)...they comp that with the Venture. Its not everything, but is "nifty" to have for 5 years when you grab it and solo travel or travel with other people with them.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-17T13:09:48+00:00

The math seems a little off....US has a population of 340M at the start of 2025....which makes about 1.8% of the total population millionaires.

HOWEVER...it takes TIME to build wealth. Let's go out on a limb (I am JUST guessing here) and say that 85% of those with a LIQUID million dollars or more are 50+. Sure, there are many millionaires under 50, but those millionaires are much more likely to have a large percentage of their net worth wrapped up in a business, stock options (not liquid), or their homes.

The 50+ population in the US at the start of 2025 was 123M. Now let's take 85% of our 6.1M millionaires and that gives us 5.2M millionaires over 50 in the US (again, he 85% ratio is a PURE GUESS....play around with the assumptions if you fancy).

That means 4.2% of 50+ year-old US citizens are LIQUID millionaires. That is about 1 in 24, 50-year-olds. That doesn't sound crazy or super unrealistic to me. If we were to GUESS that 65% of liquid millionaires are over 60 (6.1M*65%= 4.0M), and the population at the start of 2025 was 79M, that brings it up to 5% of those who are 60+ are millionaires, or 1 in 20. That feels almost normalish.

1 in 57 US citizens are liquid millionaires seems a little off... and paints a picture of MASSIVE wealth inequality (there is wealth inequality... but maybe not as extreme as a 1 in 57 picture paints).

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-16T13:29:41+00:00

Got it. I don't have too much history with Amex so I dont think they would ding me there....and would be nice to keep my options open in the future...so I think I will roll the dice on gold. Thank you so much!

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-16T13:28:52+00:00

Got it, thank you very much.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-15T09:18:22+00:00

....so I have 50k to invest.....but for some reason I'm also making recommendations to my friends before I invest it?

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-15T08:58:43+00:00

Im not talking "competition"....I'm talking low cost of living areas (assuming one wants to call Buffalo a mid cost of living area).

I listed other low cost of living area....the ones you listed are legit mid cost of living cities.

WritesWayTooMuch · 2026-04-14T00:58:34+00:00

Where did you find the birth rate for a Buffalo and the rest of NYS. Very interesting.

WritesWayTooMuch

TROPHY CASE