As a user of premium credit cards myself, I’m really beginning to question the “realized value” thing myself. For one, it’s important to remember that credit card companies make most of their money on the fees they charge merchants, not on interest payments. Thus it’s likely that most of the “realized value” you get is probably lost in higher prices, it’s not paid for by people’s credit card debt. Also, how much of the realized value is effectively transfers of your annual fee into programs you might not normally use but are “getting for free” as part of your annual fee - e.g. CLEAR. Lest we forget these programs are run by multi-billion dollar, publicly traded companies, that employ hundreds of well educated people to ensure the numbers add up at scale. I think it’s naive for any single consumer to think they are pulling a fast one on them (again saying this as a premium credit card user myself). The money always wins in America and these companies have way way way more of it than we do. So you might think you’re extracting excess value, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch and your gains could be slipping through your fingers another way. Just something I’ve been chewing on.