u/DougieStar

• Current cards: 
  • New
    • IHG Premier 3/26
    • Sapphire Preferred 4/26
  • Old (more than 10 years
    • Marriott Bonvoy (Old $95 Silver card),
    • CapOne Quicksilver
• FICO Score: 780
• Oldest account age: 20 years
• Chase 5/24 status: 2/24, 0/24(spouse)
• Income: $100,000 about to radically change
• Average monthly spend and categories: About to radically change
  • dining $600
  • groceries: $800
  • gas: $150
  • travel: $500
  • other: $2600 (medical insurance and expenses)
• Open to Business Cards: Yes
• What's the purpose of your next card? Travel Rewards
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? Category spending is OK

​I'm looking for a second opinion on a long-term strategy for me and my wife. I’m 57 and we're looking at a semi-nomad life starting early next year. The plan is roughly 6 months in Southeast Asia, back home to the Bay Area for a month, then 6 months in South/Central America (mostly Panama).

​Our Profile:
​P1 (Me): 740+ score. Currently 2/24.
​P2 (Wife): Probably 740+ score (haven't checked). Clean slate (0/24).

​Monthly Spend: ~$4,000 base. This is conservative but the plan is to reduce our spend in 2027 because we'll be living on points!

​Travel Style: Mid-range comfort. I don't usually prefer high end hotels because I feel like they nickel and dime you for $30 breakfasts and coffee at hotels like the Le Méridien. Holiday Inn and La Quinta are more our style. But I do think that I could use status and points to make Marriot hotels more affordable. Plus there are actually some pretty reasonable Marriot hotels in Panama City other than the Le Meredien where we have stayed.

My wife and I have been following channels like Grounded Life Retirement Travel on YouTube and would like to try it out to see if the hype matches the reality. Their strategy targets IHG hotels which are cheaper and offer great club level benefits in Asia. We have no experience as IHG members and our main experience is with Marriott Bonvoy as an occasional free room/splurge.

​The Proposed 10-Card Roadmap:
My logic is to jump on the great offers ending by June before acquiring others.

1. P1: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (Amex) - Applying before May 13th. Bonus: 200,000 points. Fee: $650. This gets me instant Platinum status for the free breakfasts, airport lounge access and a lot of other stuff.

​2) P2: IHG One Rewards Premier - Catching the 185,000 point offer before June 30. Fee: $99. We will use the 4th-night-free benefit for long stays.

​3) P1: Chase Ink Business Preferred - Bonus: 100,000 points. Fee: $95. I am starting a YouTube channel, so applying as a sole prop.

4. ​P2: Chase Ink Business Unlimited - Bonus: 90,000 points. Fee: $0.

5. ​P1: Capital One Venture X - Bonus: 75,000 miles. Fee: $395. The $300 travel credit makes this pretty reasonable I think.

6. ​P2: Chase Sapphire Preferred - Bonus: 75,000 points. Fee: $95. Her first personal Chase card to unlock point transfers.

7. ​P1: Marriott Bonvoy Business (Amex) - Bonus: 5 Free Night Awards (up to 50k each). Fee: $125. Stacking the 15 elite nights with the Brilliant so I only need 10 actual nights to keep Platinum status every year.

​8) 2: World of Hyatt - Bonus: 60,000 points. Fee: $95. For high-value redemptions in Thailand/Malaysia.

9. ​P1: Chase Sapphire Reserve - Bonus: 150,000 points. Fee: $795.

 

​10) P2: Wells Fargo Autograph - Bonus: 20,000 points. Fee: $0. 3x on travel/dining with no foreign fees as a Visa backup.

This should not violate the 5/24 rule because some of these are business cards.

​A few questions for the group:

​1) Is it worth getting the Sapphire Reserve? The reserve is getting a lot of hate lately. But the 150k bonus seem pretty good.

​2) Is the Amex Brilliant worth the $650 fee? I'm unlikely to use it much for normal spend because I find Amex is not accepted in Central and South America. Again, great sign up bonus and instant status.

3. Any cards you would sub for one of these?

Full disclosure: I did use AI to develop this strategy and help write this post. But it took a lot of time on my part to correct many surprisingly stupid errors, which leads me to believe there are probably still some pretty major problems with the strategy.