💳 What’s in My Wallet for 2025

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When it comes to credit cards, I look for three things: strong rewards on spending, perks that justify the annual fee, or a welcome bonus that’s too good to pass up. If a card checks one (or ideally all) of those boxes, it earns a spot in my wallet, at least for a while.

In this post, I’m sharing my 2025 credit card strategy—my goals for the year, which cards I’m keeping or cutting, and how I decide what’s worth adding. Whether you're after points, cash back, or just a simpler setup, I hope this helps you build a wallet that works for you.

Also, if you’re looking at new cards this year, I’d really appreciate you using the links below or the ones you can find on our Best Cards Page. However, if you find a better offer anywhere else, please go for it because I always want you to get the best deal!

🎯 My Credit Card Goals for 2025

Setting clear goals each year helps me stay focused and make sure my cards are actually aligned with how I spend. Here are my top priorities for this year. 

• Maximizing Everyday Earnings: I want to squeeze the most value from every dollar I spend, but I won’t chase marginal gains. Unless a new card provides at least $200 in ongoing value, or a welcome bonus worth $750+, it’s likely not worth it compared to other opportunities.
• Building Transferable Points Pools: I continue to prioritize flexible points programs like Capital One, Amex, Bilt, Chase, and now Citi. These give me the best redemption options with airlines and hotels.
• Snagging More Welcome Bonuses: Since both Amy and I are under 5/24, we’ve got room to open new cards. Business cards are especially appealing because they often don’t count toward that limit and offer big bonuses.
• Maintaining Lounge Access: We travel often with our kids, and lounge access has become essential. It’s a perk I won’t give up.
• Leaning Into Cash Back (When It Makes Sense): While I still love points, I’m also optimizing for cash back where it offers better value. With cards like the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card, sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to “buy” points at a premium.

🔎 A Look Inside My Wallet

Here's a rundown of the cards I currently have and why I'm keeping them (or not). Fun fact, I don't actually carry a physical wallet much anymore thanks to Apple Pay.

Chase

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®: It unlocks transfer partners for all my Chase cards and earns 3x on dining, 4x on flights and hotels, and the lounge access is great. It also has excellent primary rental car coverage and other travel/purchase protections.
• Amazon Prime Visa Card: We keep this for 5% off Amazon purchases.
• World of Hyatt Business Credit Card: This card has been instrumental in helping me achieve Globalist status with Hyatt, and it comes with valuable perks like points rebates and credits for Hyatt stays.
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card: This card helped us get closer to the Companion Pass this year and helps with free checked bags.
• Chase Freedom Flex®: We love this card for its 5x rotating quarterly categories. We typically hit the bonus cap in 2-3 quarters a year.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®: Only using this for 3x at drugstores, so I'm product changing it to another Freedom Flex or canceling.
• United Gateway℠ Card: This is my wife's oldest card and has no annual fee. We don't use it for spending, but it helps her credit history, so we'll keep it.
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Good for separating personal and business travel expenses and earns 3x on ads and some bill payment platforms.
• Ink Business Cash® Credit Card: Earns 5x on phone and office supply purchases. While we don't spend a ton in these categories, but it has no annual fee, so there's no real downside to keeping it.

American Express

• American Express® Gold Card: Our primary card for 4x dining and groceries.
• The Platinum Card® by American Express: Primarily only used for 5x on flights and Centurion lounge access, but curious about the big changes coming this year.
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant: Probably not worth the fee (for us), but having through next year will get me lifetime Platinum status with Marriott, so I'll keep it until then.
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: We have two of these and plan to keep them as long as they offer an annual free night certificate. These certificates, combined with free Hilton Diamond status, provide tremendous value, often used for stays worth thousands of dollars a night.
• Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: Primarily have this card for free checked bags on Delta, a companion certificate, and the 15% discount when using miles to book Delta flights.
• American Express® Business Gold Card: We had a lot of business spend in the cards' 4x categories, so as long as that's true, we'll keep it.
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Had a great welcome offer, but will likely cancel if the big changes coming this year aren't interesting.
• Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card: Got this a while ago to help earn elite nights towards Marriott status. This year, we're relying on the Bonvoy Brilliant for status, so this card's primary value is its free night certificate (capped at 35k points), which is barely worth the annual fee.
• Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express: My oldest card, held for over 20 years. I keep putting a few charges on it each year to maintain its long credit history.

Capital One

• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: It's been a great "everything else" card for 2x points, but I'm putting more "everything else" spend on cash back cards lately.
• Capital One Spark Cash Plus: This had a huge welcome offer, and we used it for a lot of spending to get 2% back on everything (which converts to 2x points). However, it's probably time to part ways, because we have better cash back cards

Bank of America

This year, we've added four new Bank of America cards, mainly driven by hitting Platinum Honors status. If you have $100,000 in a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch account (even a self-directed brokerage account), they multiply your card earnings by 1.75x (excluding co-brand cards).

• Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card: With Platinum Honors and the 25% boost when redeeming points for travel, it effectively becomes a 3.28% cash back card on everything and 4.4% on travel and dining. It's a nice everyday driver for cash back.
• Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card: Similar to the Premium Rewards Elite for general spend, and you can transfer points to the Premier Rewards Elite for boosted travel redemption.
• Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards credit card: This card offers 3x base earnings on up to $50,000 a year in a chosen category, which becomes 5.25% back with Platinum Honors. Since it's a no-annual-fee card, it definitely pays for itself.
• Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card: Opened this year because we've been flying Alaska more. It helps with Alaska status, offers an annual companion certificate and free checked bags. Interestingly, earning status on American Airlines (via a Citi card) has proven more valuable for flying Alaska than earning status directly with Alaska.

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card: We opened two when there were rumors it was being shut down. While no longer available for new applicants, this card effectively provides 4.5% cash back on mobile pay (like Apple Pay) and travel purchases from to its real-time rewards program. This is compelling for mobile wallet spend, especially at places like Costco.

Citi

I've been exploring the Citi ecosytem this year (my deep dive on Citi is here: Ep #228).

• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card: Opened for a great welcome bonus and to finally start earning ThankYou Points. That said it also earns a solid 3x on flights, hotels, gas, groceries, and dining, making it a good all-around card. I'm using it primarily to build up enough Citi points to use some of their unique transfer partners.
• AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard: I'm using it for other spending to earn American miles AND loyalty points for status.

Bilt

Bilt Mastercard® (rates and fees here): Despite not renting, I'm a big fan of this card because Bilt consistently offers amazing Rent Day promotions. In the past they've included 100% transfer bonuses to partners like Air France, Air Canada, and British Airways. That would make 2x Travel or 3x Dining and effective 4x and 6x respectively. Plus, it's a no-annual-fee card that let's you earn points on rent payments without fees.

🚫 Reviewing and Adjusting My Card Portfolio

Once the first year is up and the annual fee posts, I reassess whether a card still delivers value—whether through perks, rewards, or if it was just about the welcome bonus. Here’s the process I follow if a card no longer pulls its weight.

1. Downgrade the Card: Many issuers let you product change to a no- or low-fee version within the same card family. This keeps the credit line open and helps your credit history. For example, Citi’s Custom Cash is a great downgrade option.
2. Ask for a Retention Offer: If downgrading isn’t appealing, I’ll call the issuer and ask if they can offer a retention bonus—sometimes it’s a waived fee or extra points for a small spend.
3. Cancel (If Necessary): If neither works, I’ll cancel—but only after shifting the credit limit to another card if possible. I always wait until after the first year, and ideally cancel within 30 days of the annual fee posting to get a refund.

👀 Cards I'm Eyeing for 2025

As usual, I'm always on the lookout for new opportunities, especially cards with exciting welcome bonuses. Here are some specific cards that are on my radar for this year.

• Venmo Credit Card: I've been spending a lot at Costco lately, and this card offers 3% back in its grocery category, which includes wholesale clubs. It could be a great way to maximize earnings on those purchases.
• A Southwest Card (for Amy): I have the Companion Pass, but Amy doesn't. With two kids, having two Companion Passes would be amazing, essentially cutting our family's flight costs in half (minus taxes and fees).
• Citi® Double Cash Card: Since I'm excited about getting more Citi points this year, adding the Citi Double Cash would allow me to earn 2x ThankYou Points on everything. Too bad this card doesn't seem to have a decent welcome bonus.
• Hawaiian Airlines Cards: Eyeing these before the merger at the end of the month because they allow free point transfers between people (and have a decent welcome bonus)
• Capital One Venture X Business (for Amy): Since Amy is now working full-time on the business and doesn't have many business cards, this could be a great addition to her portfolio, opening up a world of new business card opportunities for us.
• Mesa Homeowners Card: A new no-annual-fee card for homeowners that earns 1x points on mortgage payments up to $100,000 a year. I'll be doing a full breakdown of this card soon, but it's definitely on my radar.

📇 Tools I Use to Manage My Cards and Maximize Value

With over 20 cards (and more on the horizon!), keeping track of everything can be a challenge. So here are some amazing tools I rely on to earn and save more.

• CardPointers Pro: This is my absolute favorite tool for managing my credit card portfolio. It tracks all my card perks and benefits—like dining or resort credits—without needing to link bank accounts, and even shows a calendar of upcoming annual fees so I know when to check for retention offers. My wife and I use it to manage our cards together, and I can create a custom view that tells her the best card to use for each category. Where it really shines is offer tracking: it manages both standard perks and card-linked offers, and with the browser extension, it can auto-add deals to multiple cards, send real-time alerts when I’m shopping, and help me avoid missing out on savings. I’ve easily saved thousands with it. You can get 30% off here or 50% off for All the Hacks members.
• Copilot: This is my go-to budgeting app. It helps us categorize all our transactions, so I can easily see exactly how much we're spending in each category, which is crucial for optimizing card usage. Get your first 2 months free with code HACKS2.
• Card Optimizer Tool: I built a spreadsheet tool that helps me analyze the earning potential of different cards based on my spending habits. It's available on my website and can help you see how adding a new card could increase your average return. It’s free for All the Hacks members.
• Kick: For business bookkeeping, Kick has been a game-changer. It simplifies tracking business and personal expenses, even when they're mixed on cards, making bookkeeping incredibly easy. You can get 50% off your first year here.