Hey folks…
I’m mostly on Team Travel, but we all know cashback is king! For those of you who are dedicated and rocking 3+ Citi Custom Cash cards, flexing those BoA Platinum Honors, or even the rare unicorns carrying a real Robinhood Gold—I’m curious…How much are you earning in a year? Also, what’s your setup that gets you those earnings? Share your tips and strategies. TYIA…
I track things a bit differently than most people. First, I count all the merchant offers I get back as statement credit. What’s the difference between cash back as statement credit and a merchant offer as statement credit? Second, when I use my miles, I make sure to figure out their cash value based on the current ticket price. For example, if I redeem 10,000 miles and save $200, I record that I “spent” $200 plus tax on flights in my budget. This does inflate my travel budget each year—I’ve “spent” $8,000 on flights this year, including $4,250 in redemption value. I also add $200 to my credit card cash back redemptions.
Without the sign-up bonuses I’ve been using from my Venture X and Barclays Aviator Red cards over the past two years, I earn about $2,000 a year. This doesn’t include all the “cash back” from Target, since that 5% discount is included in the final price, but it’s basically the same as cash back.
My total has gone down because I’ve stopped redeeming for cash since I love using LifeMiles now—Savor gives me 4%, Autograph gives me 3%, and Citi DC gives me 2%. I’ll wait to sign up for the Strata Premier to do a big transfer.
I’ll end this year around $1400 on about $39,000 spent.
I just joined Amex ecosystem 2 months ago and started using Rakuten, already got 100k points from Rakuten, there’s some cash back as high as 100% on it
In 2020, I earned $4,400 using the Chase Trifecta (CSR, CFU, CFF) with the 50% Pay Yourself Back boost.
Since then, I’ve switched back to saving up my Ultimate Rewards for Hyatt redemptions and putting all my spending that isn’t earning 3-5% on the BoA Alaska card to help earn status.
I run a small retail business and put 450k through my chase 2%/2.5% card last year
I only average about $60/month, but I also have made my focus to lower my monthly expenses as much as possible. Recently in a savings and frugal mode.
Not exact sure since I normally cash in to pay but around 500 give or take