We Retired and Still Pay $1,503 in Credit Card Fees

We carry eleven credit cards between us, and this year the fees on all of them came to $1,503. Every one of those cards has to earn that fee back, or it doesn't stay in the wallet. New to our story? Start from the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUCnnhlKYk0&list=PL4kGiHocVcCi9MpqmybLDHk1F28MLmjqB&index=1

What's Inside This Episode

We line the fees up against what actually comes back — travel credits, free night certificates, lounge access, and the redemptions those points covered over the year. Two cards do most of the damage on the fee side, and we walk through what each one returns before the points even come into play.

The wallet sorts into three jobs. Flexible points cards hold value until we decide where to send it, toward a flight or a hotel, once we know what we actually need. Hotel loyalty cards stay tied to one program and carry a free night certificate we build into a trip every year. Simple earners run in the background with a flat return and nothing to track.

The real test of any of it is what the points bought. A Boston to London flight on points instead of $1,316 in cash. A Toulouse hotel stay that would have cost $288 in cash, covered without spending cash at all. Five nights in Southampton, where points bought during a promotion ended up cheaper than paying the cash rate outright.

That review is what pushed the Sapphire Reserve out of the wallet. Chase raised the annual fee by $365 this year, and once we lined the card up next to the Venture X, too much of what it offered was already covered somewhere else. We're moving down to the Sapphire Preferred and keeping the rest of the system as it is.

#creditcardstrategy #travelcards #pointsandmiles #travelhacking #earlyretirement #slowtravel

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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Why One Card Had to Go
01:00 — The Fee Math
03:26 — The Three Buckets
05:28 — What the Points Actually Bought
08:12 — How We Earned Those Points
11:44 — The Card We’re Letting Go
14:24 — Every Card Has to Earn Its Keep

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Disclaimers
This video is for entertainment only and doesn’t constitute professional advice.
© All photographs and video clips are owned by Scott & Liza Redefined. Please don’t use or repost without permission.

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