Ah, it is good to be back on the channel. What is going on you guys and welcome back to another video. This is a completely different setup and, as you guys may notice we're not in my parents bedroom anymore, we are actually in my brand new apartment. I will make an apartment tour video sometime in the future, maybe some more vlogs just because I know a lot of you guys do request that within the past few weeks we've had Christmas, my birthday New Year's and then moving in and I'm starting to finally get Settled so I do apologize from not getting back to people's emails.

I have a lot of messages I need to get back to so, if you guys did send me something - and I have not yet responded - please be patient with me. I am working on them, but I think to start out with a brand new video for the year 2020, we got to come out with a bang er and that's actually gon na be focused around the chase trifecta for anyone who doesn't know the chase, trifecta is A simple combination using chases cards to actually maximize the value that you can get. It really allows you to optimize the cashback value that you're gon na get from using those carts in a strategic manner. In addition to that, it's actually gon na improve the value of the points that you actually earn from doing that.

The chase trifecta really focuses on those two principles and towards the end of the video I'll go into more in death, detail just exactly what that all means. So here's how this all works whenever you guys use a chase credit card. What you get back is a chase ultimate reward points. Now I know that they advertise some of the cards like the chase freedom or the chase freedom unlimited card as getting cash back, but in reality, you're getting chased ultimate reward points and they just allow you to actually redeem that back for cash.

So if we were to break this down in a quantitative measure, if you guys spend X amount on a chase freedom card and they give you $ 100 back hypothetically, that would be equivalent to 10,000 points. Hash back is spit out at 1 cents per point. That's the proportions that you're going for, but for anyone who's trying to get started in this game, I often recommend users to never go for that. One point to one central: you actually want to go for about two two, three, even a five cent per point redemption.

So this is where the fun begins. You guys will actually see a ton of value when you start using your credit card points for travel, I completely understand that there are people out there who prefer getting cash back over points. Cash back just is a lot simpler to get, but in reality my opinion stands on getting points for travel, just because that's really how you can maximize those rewards. There's a huge debate in the credit card community whether or not no annual fee cards are actually better than point to earning cards with annual fees.

I'm not someone who actually has a strong opinion on both sides. Just because I can see myself being both type of users. In my opinion, it really depends on the spending habits that you guys actually have. So if you're, someone who does travel a lot, if you're someone who flies out internationally all the time and you love to get value from statuses, hotel upgrades, then obviously getting a card with an annual fee is going to make sense for you.

But if you're someone who's, maybe a college student - you don't make that much money, then cash back cards might be the way to go, and I do see people who do travel, who do still prefer to use cash back cards. It's really all a matter of personal preference as a community. I see a lot of point shaming. I see a lot of people saying you could have gotten more points or if you paid this annual fee, you would gotten way more value.

That's really not what this hobby and this community should be about. We really should be more about optimizing. Our own needs our own personal spending habits, because no two individuals are gon na be exactly the same. Everyone has different spending habits and different preferences on things and how much we gauge the value of different luxury items.

Now to me, I consider the luxury items like the American Express concierge service. The suite upgrades the free upgrades, the statuses cutting lines just being able to get admittance when I wouldn't be able to or getting like personal special event tickets. I think that's luxury. I think that really out pays itself for me personally.

There really is no cash value that you can actually put on some of these things. I apologize for that little tangent, but travel is really a way to go if you guys are trying to maximize the points whenever you guys are in the chase, trifecta game. So before I get into detail about exactly how the chase trifecta works, I want to share with you guys a little bit more about the chase 5:24 rule when it comes to the chase trifecta. You really want to be considerate about how many credit cards you applied for within the last 24 months, if you guys have applied for too many credit cards within those two years, you're automatically gon na get denied and if you want to fill up those slots within Your chase portfolio, you really want to make sure that you are under five twenty four, so you can successfully get all these cards now if you have never heard of the chase five.

Twenty four rule before I recommend you guys to check out some of my older videos. I made a foal, I think, was like a twenty minute video on the chase, five, twenty four, exactly what you guys need to know, especially for this upcoming year, so I'll have that pinned somewhere up above in this video. So how does the chase trifecta exactly work? Well, if you guys have any three combinations of chase cards that are earning you chase ultimate reward points, you guys are basically creating a trifecta system within at your wallet. This won't work.

If you have the world a high card, even though Chase owns that card, this won't work. If you get one of the Bond boy cards that Chase owns, it needs to actually spit out Chase ultimate ward points. There are actually many different versions of the chase trifecta. We will see some people saying the Chase, Freedom, the Chase Freedom, unlimited and the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the reserve.

That's gon na be like your two options for the og chase trifecta, but I want to share with you guys a little bit of a modified version that I created for myself when we're talking about the viability of the chase. Trifecta, there's really gon na be seven cards in total. It's gon na be the two Chase Freedom card, so the freedom and the freedom unlimited, it's gon na be the two Chase Sapphire card, so the Sapphire Preferred and it's sapphire reserve and then there's gon na be the three chase ink carts and that adds up to Be about seven cards that you guys can get. Yes, there's the chase slate card, and yes, there's the Chase.

Sapphire non-preferred or the regular secret preferred version that many people don't know about, but we're gon na focus on b7 right here and the combinations that this makes. So before I share with you guys exactly what that modified version of the chase trifecta is I really want to share with you guys exactly how this whole process works? So I hope you guys are still with me if you guys remember what I said in the beginning of the video here's a little bit more of what I was talking about. The chase trifecta focuses on getting increased percentages of cash back that you can get by juggling different cards and understanding. What's gon na give you the most amount of value.

So, as you guys can see on your screen, we have an example of how many points you guys can potentially earn. If you use the correct card for that category, so, on the left side we see restaurant dining, we see travel and transit. We see department stores, groceries and all other spending this chart right here is just an example of what a consumer could spend within a year say you actually use the proper cards for that category, so we use the Chase Sapphire reserved for the restaurant dining. We use the Chase Sapphire reserved on the travel we get 3x on that on department stores, depending on the quarter.

We actually max out the 5x we get from the Chase Freedom Card every time we don't use that we do use the chase freedom unlimited. So we can still get the 1.5 X back groceries. We use the chase freedom cart to get the 5 X during that quarter. I recommend using the American Express gold, because you get 4 X on that instead of the 1.5 X, if you're not getting the chase, freedom bonus right there and all other spending generally people are gon na use the chase freedom unlimited.

For that, I actually recommend you guys to sign up for new cards and then get the welcome bonus associated with that card, so, instead of it being 1.5 X per purchase, you guys can find yourself getting at least 10 to 20 percent. If you guys are chasing a welcome bonus now, if you guys strategically use the credit cards in this combination of maximizing that chase trifecta card, we're using the reserve, the freedom and the freedom unlimited, you can find yourself getting a total amount of 29,000 points, but say Just used a card like the Chase, Sapphire Reserve, you didn't really care to use the other combination of cards. You just use that card. You would only be limited to getting 20 2500 points.

If you guys had just used the freedom unlimited card, you would only get 17250 points or, if you guys just used the chase a freedom card for all of these purchases, you would only get 15,000 500 points. That is actually a substantial amount of points because 10,000 points cashback values $ 100. I know that may not seem like a lot, but even with this graph, this isn't a lot of spending right here. Usually, people are gon na, spend a lot more money and, in the course of your lifetime, you want to be able to maximize exactly how many points you guys can really get.

This stuff really adds up over time, and the whole point of that chart is to really show you guys the potential of the points that you guys can actually miss out on. If you don't use the proper cards, the main takeaway from this is to really spread out your spending among different cards. That really is gon na optimize you for the higher amount of cash back potential. You could get now doing this and knowing which card to use.

When you're going out or purchasing something, this is really what adds up over time, because the only other way for you guys to get more points is to either do something unethical that could lead to a shutdown or for you guys to spend more money that you Guys weren't gon na do anyways. Your real only option here is to just maximize and be more efficient with the cashback earnings you guys could get on the spend that you're about to do already. You really don't want to be the type of person that goes out there way that buys a purse and uses the excuse of the 5 % back as a reason for you to buy things that you normally wouldn't buy. Anyways, it's just a waste of money and that actually defeats the whole purpose of this guy's maximize the highest earning potential of your credit card on the purchases you're already gon na make.

That is that that needs to be said in the community. That's like the main takeaway. Now, that's the first part to it. I think once people really understand that first general principle of credit cards.

The second part to all this is to maximize those points that you got even more when you combine your points with certain cards. You're, actually gon na find even more additional value if you guys use those points towards travel. There's two ways to do this: you transfer your points out on the ultimate reward portal to another partner, and what do you guys do that you guys can actually find that hotel sometimes are cheaper with point value than it is for cashback value, or you guys can Use your points on the ultimate reward portal for anyone who doesn't know what the ultimate reward portal is. It's basically just where you guys can use your points to shop, it's kind of like going to Dave & Buster's and then using that to go to the back shop and then redeeming that for other gifts candy, like maybe an Xbox.

If you won a lot of games and that's really where it goes so, the Chase, Sapphire Preferred and the chase Inc business preferred offers you guys 25 % more value. When you use your points in the ultimate rewards portal, but you guys could actually do a little bit better if you guys get the Chase, Sapphire reserved, Chase, Sapphire Reserve, unlike the Chase, Sapphire Preferred or the Inc business preferred, offers you an additional 25 % to that 25 %, so you guys are getting 50 % more value with your points, so here's a good example. Typically, if you sign up for one of the Chase, Sapphire Preferred or the reserve cards, the sign of bonus usually sits around 50 or 60,000 points will do 50,000 points just to make this math a little bit easier. 50,000 points.

One-To-One cash back value is gon na, be five hundred dollars now five hundred dollars, it's not bad free, five hundred dollars I'll take that any day, but if I'm actually getting my fifty thousand points and adding an additional 50 % more value just by using it for Travel now, the ultimate reward portal actually allows you to level that up, instead of just getting a five hundred dollar cash back, those 50,000 points would actually be worth around seven hundred and fifty dollars. That is a substantial amount, and that's really something you guys need to consider when you're redeeming those points, it's two hundred fifty dollars of free money, in addition to the five hundred dollars worth of free money and that's only basing it off of the 50 % plus, If we're getting two to three to four cents, it's not a small percentage increase. This is doubling tripling or quadrupling the value of your points, so 50,000 points. If we triple that, instead of it being five hundred dollars, you guys could see yourself getting fifteen hundred dollars worth of travel benefits, because the Chase Sapphire reserve offers you guys at fifty percent extra boost.

I believe this is one of the most vital cards of a trifecta that you guys have now. This is really going to be dependent on your spending habits. What your budget is, what your salary? What's your income a lot of different things, but I do believe that the Chase Sapphire Reserve plays a key role when redeeming your points for more additional value. It offers you guys 3x back.

I know it has a high annual fee of four hundred and fifty dollars, but it comes with a three hundred dollar travel credit that you get annually that cuts the annual fee of that card to $ 150. Now, if we think about it, the Chase Sapphire Preferred only has an annual fee of ninety five dollars and you're paying about 40 more dollars to have a Chase Sapphire reserve, which gives you way more benefits. I usually recommend people to actually get the Chase Sapphire Preferred, though in the beginning, just because usually the welcome bonus is very similar to the reserve, get the Chase, Sapphire Preferred card first and then upgrade to the chase, a fie reserve. This is really the game plan that I recommend a lot of people just because most people, I know surprisingly, do not travel that much the Chase.

Sapphire Preferred allows you to get into the game. It allows you to have a point earning card on travel and dining, which is usually the most popular. It really allows you to get into chases eCos without committing to a close to four hundred and fifty dollar annual fee. Regardless of how much you travel, how much you actually make to me, the whole credit card journey is all about stepping stones.

I really never recommend people to go from a Discover card, all the way over to a Hilton aspire or an American Express Platinum or even like a sapphire Reserve. You really want to be able to work up the ranks and the reason why you want to do that is because of acceptance rate, and it's because you guys want to understand exactly how the whole credit card game works. I see too many people excited to get into this game. I see too many people making mistakes, paying interest on these credit cards and, as soon as you guys have a debt on your credit card that you're paying interest on you're, not making you're not coming out on top this.

This passion is not for you. This is really meant for people who are responsible who understand exactly how credit cards work, because, as soon as you start paying interest on some of these cards, that's where it's game over you guys it's GG pack, it up! Afk, it's out of there, so Chase Sapphire Reserve is really going to be the number one card for me. My next card is gon na, be the chase ink business preferred. This is because the ink business preferred has the same exact annual fee as the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but I do see myself getting additional benefits with this card in terms of the cashback categories you get, and also the cell phone protection business credit cards have a couple Very very good unusual benefits like, for example, not reporting onto your personal credit report.

This is not for all business credit cards. There are some business cards that do actually report to your personal credit report, but for Chase and American Express. These are two credit card issuers that actually do not report now for me personally, I have the chase ink business prefer the Chase, Sapphire Reserve and the next essential card is gon na, be the Chase Freedom Card. I really focus on using the Chase Freedom Card, because 5 % back on things is not that easy to come by.

So that's why Chase really breaks this up into different calendar year, so you guys really won't find other cards that offer you guys 5 % back most often it's gon na be a three to one cash back category system or it's gon na be a max of Four X or 4 % back 5 % is incredible. I really believe that the Chase Freedom Card is one of the most important cards in that arsenal, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve boosts all the points you can get so max out the chase freedom, 5 %. You could get there's usually a cap, I think it's $ 1,500 per quarter. You have the chase ink business preferred for all different types of spending, and then you have the Chase Sapphire reserved for your travel, dining and then getting a boost.

In those points that you receive now, people often think you have to go the chase trifecta. If you don't do the chase trifecta right, it's the end of the world, and this is what I assumed in the beginning when I first started my credit card journey, but this is far from the truth. You could really have the most simple chase. Trifecta, you don't.

Even have to have a trifecta, you could have a quad fact. You could have a a 5, a pent efekta, someone, someone correct me on this. I don't know if it I don't know the five word for that, but you guys, okay, you guys, could have a pent effect uh. That's not the right word, but you guys know what I mean if I'm spending a lot on office supply stores, if I'm spending a lot on ads.

If I like, the chase freedom unlimited card a lot just because I maxed out every single card, I had in terms of the ability to get more cash back value, it might make more sense, actually have all these cards and then just know when to use these Cards, but the whole idea of this is to maximize the spend that you guys are gon na. Do that's just a parallel. That's a continuty! That's really the whole purpose of this. It's the whole point: you're really just gon na hear this throughout the whole credit card journey, use the right cards to get the right rewards to get the most amount of points to be able to redeem that for more value.

For me, my version of the chase trifecta is gon na, be the Chase. Sapphire reserve the chase freedom, the chase ink business preferred mine may be completely different from yours. I may actually add the chase ink business unlimited card. If I can't find a spending that goes into any three one of these categories, but then I would just not use this card.

That's what I really don't find myself using the ink unlimited card, because I would actually just get another card that I'm getting a welcome. Bonus for so I can actually get more value. I think 1.5 % is really the lowest one point: 1.5 % is low, 1 % is really low, so I really am satisfied when I get anything from 3 to 5 X. If I can't do that, I'm gon na go for the 10 to 20 X by signing up for a new card.

Now there are some things you guys need to consider before actually getting into the chase trifecta. One of those things that you guys need to consider is the break-even point. This is something I've talked about a lot on my channel, and this is really how much you guys spent on a credit card with an annual fee to make sure that you're actually making money or you're not losing money. So here's the whole idea, if I'm paying $ 300 annual fee for a hotel card.

I don't use that card ever and I just pay them $ 300. I don't hit that breakeven point. I lose money. That means I need to get rid of that card.

If you guys understand the break-even point of even a ninety five dollar card, like the Inc business preferred or the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you need to spend X amount every year for you to actually get value so you're not losing out on money. That's the break-even point. There are calculators, sebby made a great calculator on that, especially on the American Express gold card that I made a video on a couple months back, so there are sources out there, where you guys can check that, but to really calculate this, it's very simple to use. I recommend using those resources out there, if you guys, are too lazy to actually like punch in your numbers, figure out how much you spend, but all you need is really one of these bad boys right here.

You just figure out exactly how much you're spending how many points you're getting back, what you redeem those points as and then subtract that from the annual fee number two things you guys need to know before getting into the chase trifecta is that this is not a Low maintenance setup at all. This is not a easy three to one percent. You just use one card and boom you're profiting. This is a system where you guys really need to understand exactly what benefits you're getting from that card.

You'll have to remember exactly which card to use, in which type of scenario I remember when I first started, I would have to Google exactly what I was getting on that card, because I just really didn't remember now a very easy way, if you guys actually keep Track of this is to get like a twenty thirty dollar DiMeo label maker and actually put down on a very small font, put it on your card, doing little tips and tricks like that. Actually uncomplicate things. I think. At the end of the day, you should know exactly which cards give you guys that benefit, but I do understand how confusing it can get just because I don't always remember exactly the benefits I should have on my card, and I know as a credit card youtuber Like that's something I should know for each one of my cards, but to be honest, I don't I really don't.

Sometimes I do Google exactly which benefit I'm getting from which card, because I have a lot of different cards and something like that is actually a little tip and trick that I recommend that I see people doing that. I know will help especially just to get your mind to memorize exactly what cash back reward you're getting now. I know we talked earlier about the 5:24 rule, but I need to say it again: a lot of people apply for Chase's card, not knowing exactly how many cards that they've applied for within the past 24 months they get automatically denied. Then they message me come to me saying Brian I just got automatically denied.

I have no idea what's happening. My first response to that is usually how many cars have you applied for within the 24 month period. This is something I need to reiterate. Just so.

People understand, if you guys have applied for too many cards Chase, will automatically deny you. If you guys have too low of a score chase, will automatically deny you if you guys that do not have any history with chase chances? Are they may deny you, so I made another video on my channel exactly what you guys should do if you're applying for your first chase credit card, it's all the ins and out it's exactly what you guys need to know, so you don't get denied when you're Applying for a new card with Chase now, final thing - you guys need to know is that if you're going into the chase, trifecta you're actually going into the ecosystem of Chase, and this is really the primary objective that banks have. This may not be relevant to you, but I think it's good knowledge to know the chase. Trifecta exists intentionally.

The banks did this intentionally, they want you to intentionally use their cards so that they actually get more interchange fees so that they get the interest. That may happen or may not happen when you guys use your cards when you commit to something like the chase, trifecta you're really committing to that bank issue, and that means you're gon na use other competitors less. So there's a debate between like the chase trifecta, the American Express trifecta, even different cards out there. I don't always say you should commit to one thing just because you can use different cards and still find yourself getting maximum amount of value.

But here's the thing: if you really have a preference with one company, if you really like chases ultimate reward points compared to American, Express as membership reward points, it's a no-brainer go with Chase. There's nothing wrong with that. If you prefer using American Express because you like their membership, reward points better, you, like their customer support better you just like the branding of them better go with them, it's really personal preference. I think this is the most important part of the video.

It doesn't matter exactly what you guys do. What matters is, at the end of the day, you're, getting the most amount of value that you think you're getting or whatever you value the most. That doesn't always have to be quantitative that doesn't always have to be 5 %, 3 %, 4 %. If I just missed out on one percent on this five dollar purchase, I just lost I lost this is this is over I'm, I can't I'm not.

I'm not cool in the credit card game, I'm gon na lose it. No! It's it's not like that. What you think makes sense for you. I know that after the first year on my American Express Platinum Card, I'm losing value, I haven't actually frankly used.

My wework benefit at all either, but I do value more things like using the card understanding the prestigious story brand, the the the customer support behind the card. There are more things that go behind a credit card than just a cash back face value get now. This may be subjective, there may be blogs out there, they may be other youtubers. That may disagree with me saying Brian.

At the end of the day, feelings are feelings, but cash back value is what we should focus on. We should be quantitative. We should be a number focused community. I actually disagree with that.

I don't think it's always about money. I don't think it's always about how much you can save or how little you spend or how much you can actually get back when you're spending something. I believe that in this community we should really focus on what makes us happy what makes sense for us what we valued the most when we're caught up in this idea of just saving as much money as possible. You know I have more of a mindset where giving feels better.

Now, I'm not saying give more to the banks, but I'm just saying being too frugal being too stingy with your money, it may not lead to happiness. I want to hear your guys thoughts. I want to hear two things. Let me know in one comment: what your version of the chase trifecta is.

Do you guys agree with my version, the reserve, the Inc business preferred and the freedom or do you guys disagree? Do you guys have your own version and why now? I also want to hear you guys as thoughts on my little rant that I had towards the end that I just talked about. What do you guys think about that? What do you guys think about community? What do you guys think about credit cards and like being just too frugal with the cashback earnings you can get? Do you guys value the customer support? Do you guys value the prestige, the story brand? Do you guys value? What points can actually be worth, or do you guys just value the money you can get from these companies? I really want to hear you guys as thoughts really interesting topic. Maybe this is another separate video I'll make, but this was a little bit of a longer video. I really really appreciate guys sticking around if you guys are watching this right now, you're an OG you're, an original, your stick until the end that helps my videos actually get ranked up, and another thing that helps it out is actually, when you guys drop a like That boosts the videos when I'm making the I actually gauge my performance based on the likes.

There is a direct correlation, at least on my channel, with the amount of likes I get with the views that I should see. So if this video helped you guys out, I hope you guys drop a like, because that'll actually help me get more views on this video which, in turn actually helps me grow the YouTube channel. On top of that, I want to say thank you guys so much for tuning by the channel. I hope you guys had an incredible holiday year.

I hope you guys have a really good 20 20 as well, and I just hope you guys stick with me during this adventure. Like I I don't know this is. This is a different chapter of my life right here. I've never moved out.

This is incredible. This is more than I've ever dreamt of guys. We're gon na be putting out some fire value on this channel. I'm gon na take this YouTube channel to a completely different level.

So I hope you guys are with me during this journey and I hope I was able to help someone out and I hope I see you guys, the next one yeah.