So over the past few years I've managed to get over 20 credit cards earn over 3 million points across my account, and if I had to minimize my setup from 20 down of five essential cards to keep and use forever, this would be that list. So by strategically using these cards together I Believe you can avoid having to apply for hundreds of different cards and you can manage to still have an S tier setup with the ones that I handcrafted from this video starting with card number one and this is the built Master Card Now this is a card that was released only this past year and it has easily become one of my personal favorites. This card is so good it's also won multiple Awards including the Point Guys top pick and even across my videos I've been hearing from all of you about how much you've been loving it too. That's probably because here in the US millions of people still rent and this happens to be the biggest monthly reoccurring expense for most people.

According to statistics, the average American pays $1,300 a month in rent. Personally, for me, this seems a bit more on the low side just because here. even in the DMV if you want to rent something decently nice a price are usually over $2,000 Before I moved into my custom newly built home earlier this year, I was renting a three-bedroom apartment and once I went to a month-to-month plan. living there was ridiculous.

It was $5,000 a month. Now the reason I mentioned all that is because Built MasterCard is the only credit card that exists where you can be earning free cash back for the rent that you pay. According to multiple studies, including data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, it's actually forecasted that rent will continue to rise year-over-year while purchasing a home right now is out of the question for most people. Based on how high current interest rates are at around 7% this area of spend should be where nearly everyone should aim to optimize the most.

It was also reported that the average American spends approximately 30% of their total monthly income on rent or mortgages every single month previous to the bill card being released. Your best option was to pay using a regular credit card and then eating a 2 to 4% transaction fee which often times offsetted the points you would get because most cards would just give you 1% back and you would need to make up the other amounts in the Redemption. Now if you chose not to use a credit card cuz you didn't want to worry about the credit card processing fee, generally they'll ask you for your bank account and routing number and they'll take your apartment rent directly from that. The issue there is: you're intrusting that this company here is not going to overdraft your account by mistake.

Look, even in my last four years of living in apartments I've had on multiple occasions them taking more money than they should have. Luckily, they gave me that money back cuz they did their own internal audit. They caught them himself. If I had a fight for my money coming from my check account, that battle is going to be a lot more difficult than if they were to pull it from my credit card issuer and all I had to do was call up AMX and let them know they made a fraud charge.

They made a mistake. Get that money back. So with all that being said, how does a bill card actually work? Because it's still a credit card and the rules are still the same. Okay, so here's where it gets good with this card.

You're going to be earning one point per dollar spent on your rent payments, but by using this card you will not have to pay that transaction fee. This is because Buillt as a company is going to wait. Wave that 3% fee and you can earn just straight points on your card. Previously this was valid just up to 60,000 points per year which is about $5,000 a month in rent, but they have increased that amount so it's a$ 100,000 points per year which is about $8,300 a month that you could spend for your rent.

Now if you have a mortgage and you don't pay rent or you send a check to your landlord or your parents every month, Buildt also has additional answers for that. going through their FAQ page and some additional rumors that we've covered in previous videos. It looks like they're working on the mortgage aspect and it's something that they quoted is something they're considering for the future. For the second scenario, if you're someone who landlord is your parents, you're paying them rent cuz you're living with them.

Which by the way is a very smart decision to make. If you happen to be paying mom and pop through PayPal Venmo, or even just writing them a simple check, Built still has a solution where they'll go ahead, mail them the check or cover it through PayPal VMO or whatever the case may be and you still just pay billt on your credit card and they'll go ahead and send the same exact amount that you owe to your landlord. Now in order, in order to be eligible for this benefit, you do have to do one thing, and that is to at least make five transactions in a month on your card. With this card, you'll also be getting 3 x points on dining, 2 x points on travel, and One X points on all other purchases.

Now one of my favorite benefits that I still use even as I Don't Rent Anymore is a program where on the first of every month Built doubles the cash back that you can earn. This means that you'll be getting 6X points on dining, 3 x points on travel, and then 2 x points on all other purchases excluding rent. One area that built does lacking, however, is a welcome bonus offer because they do not offer one. Now my justification for this is the fact that if you're paying rent, none of that really matters just because of how much passive income that you could still be making more than that.

Bill also has one of my favorite Transfer Partner programs in the space. With this card in particular, I'd say you want a score of at least 670 and that's because this is a card with no annual fee and approval. Odds have seemed to be solid from at least the data points that I've gathered from other people like you watching these videos and letting me know. By the way, if you are interested in applying, you are going to get the best offer using the link Down Below in the description.

the next biggest expense for the majority of people is then going to be dining and groceries aka the Fufu Now this card here that I'm about to talk about not only crushes it within that spending category, but it's been a personal favorite of mine since they made a revamp and this is going to be the AMX gold card now. I've had the AMX gold in my wallet as a daily driver since the day they came out and revamped it to what it is now little Easter egg by the way, but the MX gold card. It's actually one of the main reasons how I became the largest credit card channel here on YouTube Now thank you God for the MX gold card. Clutched it out.

Now let's start with the best part about this card and this is going to be the welcome bonus offer where currently you can earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months and this breaks down to about $1,000 a month in spend. Where then you can turn those 60,000 points to a minimum of $600 cash back at a conservative 1 Point to1 Cent valuation. With this card here, you're also going to be getting 4ex back at restaurants worldwide including takeout and delivery. In the US you get 4X back at US supermarkets on up to $25,000 per year, and then you get 3x on flights, book directly with Airlines or on Amextravel.com and then 1X back on all other purchases.

Now those benefits are pretty good just because anytime you're getting 4X back on a certain category consistently, it's good. Just take my word for, it is a very good thing. Not only that, but here is what I love about the MX gold because you actually get two additional benefits which I consider to be fairly overpowered. So one of them is $120 in Uber cash which comes as $10 every single month.

This is perfect for anyone who lives in a city or you're just trying to have a weekend night out and you plan to use an Uber at least once a month or for anyone who decides to use Uber Eats because this also applies to that as well. On top of that, you also get a $120 dining credit again which is $10 every single month and that applies to Cheesecake Factory Shake Shack GrubHub Gold Belly and more. You also get get a $100 experience credit where if you book two nights or more through the MX Hotel Collection, they'll be automatically applying that credit to your account. So not only do you earn points on the dining and the grocery spend, but you also get these additional credits that really help offset that annual fee which is going to cost you $250 a year to hold now.

I Personally don't really value the AMX Hotel Collection benefit all too much, but what I do value is the Uber Eats credit and even the $120 dining credit. With just those two credits alone, it adds up to be about $240 a year you get back in your pocket if you know how to use those benefits and you use it consistently, Which actually brings down the AMX Gold Cards annual fee to $10 a year. Now if you want to get approved for this card, I Personally recommend that you have a score of at least 685 before applying. American Express is generally pretty good at allowing new applicants to get into their system and get approved for a card.

So as long as you have a decent score, you should be good. All right. So we covered the first two categories: housing and dining. Let's talk about travel next within the travel category or this is probably the most saturated aspect of the market.

Because you have your hotel cards, you have your airline cards. You have a bunch of different travel cards amongst different issuers, but amongst that I had it dialed down to three choices and even amongst those choices I narrowed it down to one to one one. So for this we have the MX Platinum card, We have the Chase Sapphire reserve and we also have the Capital One Venture X card. Now personally, for me, what I've seen in the last few years is Capital One Just beginning to step it up to Target more pre prium clients and they've been doing a very good job.

So what makes this card great? Let's start with the welcome bonus offer and then go into some of the other perks that I've seen firsthand with this card. you'll be getting 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months, which I would personally value at $750 Now the earning rates on the Venture X is not too bad at all. You get 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One travel portal. You get 5x miles on flights booked through the Capital 1 Travel portal and then you get 2x M on all other purchases every single day.

By the way, way, if you hear miles, just know that it's pretty much interchangeable with points. It's just Capital 1's own way of labeling their own currency. You'll notice that you're getting 10x and 5x back on their travel portal. So one area of concern that I generally have is the fact that when you book through the travel portals, they'll tend to overinflate the actual cost of those travel bookings.

But something great that Capital One does is they offer additional perks like price monitoring to make sure that you're getting the best price for your trip. They give you price match guarantee so if you find a better price after you book it with a Capital Travel portal, they'll match it. and then they also offer you price drop protection where if the price drops within a 10-day booking period, Capital 1 is going to give you a $50 Credit Now The Capital 1 Travel portal also has a ton of different Transfer Partners as well. I'm not going to go over it, but you can see it on your screen here.

Now where this card really stands out is with the other benefits and credits you get. So you get a $300 travel credit for bookings. With Capital One travel, you get a $100 Global Entry or TSA pre-check credit. And they've also recently opened up two new lounges and let me tell yall! I Went ahead and checked out that new lounge and boy it was definitely the best Lounge I've ever been into Now with the mix of earning on your travel spent and luxury travel benefits that you get with this card is really where it shines.

But I Want to make note that out of the three cards that I mentioned earlier, this is the only one that has an annual fee only a fraction of the other cards. So what this means is if you're not someone who travels all that much, but you still take a few trips per year. I Can still see this card being of value Now if you're looking to apply for this card I recommend that you have a score of at least 690, but with Capital One they are a bit of a different issuer where sometimes even if you got a shot up credit score that's completely bombed, they may still approve you for one of their products. Now the fourth card here is going to line up so well with what we just talked about, especially the last card and that is going to be the Capital One Sa One card.

Now this card here was named on my channel multiple multiple times. The best no annual fee credit card right now. This is because for the cost of $0 a year, you are able to get 10% back within a very popular spending category. On top of that, this card is just going to pair very well with the Capital 1 Venture X card, but it's also going to boost up some of the other cards on this list.

So before I talk about how that's going to happen. let's first go over the welcome bonus offer with this card. You'll be getting $200 back after you spend $500 in the first 3 months with this card. And if you break that down, you're basically earning 4% back on the first $500 to spend going into the benefits.

Hold On Tight Cuzz Uh, there's a lot so you'll get 8% back on Capital One Entertainment purchases. And by the way, a lot of y'all might think okay, this is useless, but I Know some people who really value this because Capital One can get you seats into events that you normally wouldn't have access to and you're getting 8% back on that amount. With that, you're also getting 5% back on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital and Travel portal, which I think is still fantastic. Then you'll get 3% back on dining and grocery stores excluding Walmart Target and wholesale clubs.

You'll get 3% back on entertainment purchases and then 3% back on popular streaming services, but that's not it. You'll also be getting a Uber one membership fee credited until next November and then you can also earn a 10% cash back amount on Uber and Uber eat purchases. So the MX gold card is going to give you 4X and then you're also going to get that Uber Eats credit automatically deposited into your account. but then you connect your card on Uber with this one too and you're going to be getting 10% on all other purchases.

That right there is insane because even on the Uber Eats app, you can do a variety of different things. not just order food, but you can have pick up groceries, You can have them run errands and 10% really starts to add up. Now this is also a beginner card and one of the only cards on this list that actually gives you a 15mon 0% APR Intro period on purchases and balance transfers now I Stress on my channel constantly to never carry credit card debt, but this is just one of those benefits I at least wanted to get you guys reminded about. So once you add up all that value, then that $0 annual fee sounds even nicer.

So to get approve of this card I recommend that you have a score of at least 660. Now last but not least, we need a card for more of the general spending category that you'll be making in a month. and my favorite option for this currently is the Chase Freedom Flex card. So this is very similar to the Capital One Sa One card, but just with a few key differences.

Where they are similar is with the welcome bonus offer you spend $200 You get $500 back in the first 3 months. The best one is going to come from the quarterly rotating categories. Right now, the categories are that you're going to get get 5% cash back at PayPal Wholesale Clubs and select Charities Now out of those three categories obviously Charities you know that's that's my favorite one obviously. but PayPal too that one's going to be pretty good.

Towards the end of the year is usually the season where a lot of people go online shopping and most places take PayPal. So if you're able to earn 5% back on up to that $1,500 amount I Don't think it's a bad deal at all. So on top of that, you also get this 5% on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. So this right there really complements the Capital One Venture X card.

If you decide I don't want to book travel through my Capital One Venture X and I want to go through another issuer still getting a decent amount there. you're also going to be getting 3% on dining at restaurants including takeout and delivery. You're going to get 3% back on drugstore purchases and then 1% back on everything else. Now, unlike most cards, the cash back with this card comes in the form of Chase Ultimate reward points, but if you're new to the space, you should know that these points are generally very easy to use and you can still transfer them or redeem them for hotel upgrades.

Flight: UPG Grades, you name it. Knowing all that, this card has $0 annual fee which is also great and in a Flex itself, get it! Bo Boom! And aside from the Cory jokes, all you need with this card is going to be a score of at least 670 and you should be approved all right. So we just covered all the benefits of these cards, but it's time to break down why These five cards are essential to carry in your wallet. So first it starts with your rent and your housing which breaks down to be about 31% of your monthly spending.

This is going to get covered by the built MasterCard earning you points on rent and through the rent day reward. Next up, if we say approximately 20 to 30% of your monthly spend is then going towards dining, food, delivery, and groceries. The MX gold card is going to be your general go-to card because you can save money on the food that you're buying. you can earn at a very high rate and you can also get those AMX membership reward points and transfer them between future cards that you get or you could redeem those for pretty good travel too.

You can also pair that up pretty nicely with the Chase Freedom Flex card or the Capital One Sa one card depending on where you're buying your food from. So if I'm using Uber Eats to get stuff delivered, I would obviously use my Saver One card because I'm getting 10% back there. So let's talk about travel next. The Capital 1 Venture X card has a lot of the luxury travel benefits.

You still get some lounge access with this card and it still makes it a great option for anyone who is not traveling too much. On the other chance, if you're traveling a lot, then the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the MX Platinum is the ones that I would highly consider. All three of these cards are pretty interchangeable with this setup, so just apply for the one that you think fits your own spending needs the most. If you love lounge access and you want to access them all, maybe you get all three travel cards.

It really just depends on you, but this one is still flexible. If you only travel once or twice a year I think out of the three, the Capital One menure XC card is the best because it does have the lowest annual fee and I personally believe it's pretty easy to get back the ROI with this car too. With MX Platinum I mean you got to spend 10 different stores and like set calendar reminders and it's just a lot more work. I will say Chase Sapphire Reserve is very easy.

You can get $300 back like just by sneezing, but that annual fee is still a bit more significantly higher than the Capital One Venture X. Now we just need to round out the missing categor. So these are going to be random things like gas or online shopping. and generally this is just going to depend on how much money you want to earn back because there are going to be instances where I personally use my AMX gold card because I know AMX has Superior customer service rather than me getting 5% back with the Chase Freedom Flex card to complete our pie.

Though the Chase Freedom Flex is going to going to be a go-to card that you still can't go wrong with that 5% on PayPal is super good in being a catch-all card. Now your pie chart may look completely different from mine. mine could be a lot more delicious juicier, bigger, flavorful. Even though everyone's pie can come at different shapes and sizes and taste at the end of the day, we're all the same kind of pie.

Either way, you thought you came for a credit card video and right now you are crying tears because of just the beautiful lessons you learn in life. So to Summit all up that is going to be the cards that you need. And if you just calculate the welcome bonuses you get, you get over $1,750 in value. It's actually a good amount of money.

Now if you enjoyed this video like I mentioned, be sure to check out the links down below that directly supports this channel so we can continue to provide you high quality content. Just like this, whenever you use those links, you support us at no cost to you. Make sure those offers are best for you and anytime you guys are doing this, it's going right back into my team so we can continue to hire. Build out more content, build out the quality, and we want to be the go-to resource that you guys can count on reliably.

One last thing in April this is going to be pretty cool, but I'll be at the Travel Summit in Toronto Canada and if you would love to get together more about credit cards and talk travel points whatever it is I'd love to see yall there in person. The link for that will be down below in the description. And one last thing, don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram All right, I'll be on there occasionally now. Thank you all again for watching this video.

Stay blessed! Love yall and I'll see yall soon! Peace.