Many financial pundits will tell you to avoid credit cards. And for good reason. You can get yourself in a hole real quick. And with 25%+ interest rates in some instances if you carry a balance, it can be suffocating to say the least. And if you are the type to use credit cards to fund things you can’t afford, they can be financial suicide!

However, for those of us on a solid financial footing who keep close track of money in\money out a.k.a cash flows, credit cards are legitimately free money. BUT, there are rules. Well, really only two rules. Know your cash flow like it’s your child, and never carry a balance.

There are of course some secondary rules pertaining to how opening cards can affect your credit and how to mitigate this, or how many welcome offers you can accept in a time period etc etc. I’ll admit I’m no expert with these secondary rules. I just try my best and google if needed. Or speak to friends who are better skilled in regard to these secondary rules.

One thing I will mention. When selecting cards, try to make sure that the statement credits it offers are for things you use regularly so it’s an actual benefit to you. For example, if you don’t drink coffee but then get a card offering a statement credit for coffee, this is kind of a waste. Now you will be simply spending on something you don’t normally buy to get a credit. Not ideal. On the flip side if you are a coffee addict like me and buy coffee regularly anyway, this is value added in my opinion.

With all these necessary cautionary tales and warnings behind us, let’s get into some actual numbers from November 2024. I will also share two stories of some wicked welcome offers I utilized this year.

My credit card game is pretty complex. Different cards are used for different things. All with the goal to maximize offers, points/cash back and statement credits. Let’s distinguish for a second the differences between offers, statement credits and rewards.

• Offers: change periodically based on your spending habits and have to be added to card first. Usually there is some fine print you have to read to ensure you qualify.
• Statement Credits: typically you enroll in these offers once and whenever you use the card you have enrolled you get credited back.
• Rewards: these are either cash back or points usually. Point valued can vary depending on how you use them.

For the month of November I received a total of $123.47 of free money for using my American Express cards. I say cards with an s because I’m using multiple to maximize the rewards. This 123.47 in cash back offset expenses that would have happened regardless. I received cash back on a Broadway show, a hotel in NY, Dunkin’ coffee, Five guys, Grub-hub, Walmart Plus membership, Amex food credit and Home Chef. Just by using a little effort.

Keep in mind these are just the offers and statement credits. This $123.47 does not include the normal rewards for using the cards. This can range anywhere from $50-$125 a month. In fact, on average through November 2024 I’ve used $163 of offers and statement credits per month. That’s real money that has a real impact on my bottom line. As far as my rewards, I have accumulated roughly $5,045 in value for the year. (Some of this was welcome offers that I will get into later.)

Now for the holy grail of welcome offers. I had to make two rather large purchases this year. A new HVAC unit for my personal residence and a new PVC fence for a rental property. I searched around and researched the products, read reviews and carefully studied what I was buying. For the HVAC, because I was doing a size adjustment from what I had (going down half a tonnage) I was reading HVAC Reddit forums searching for information.

I said all that to highlight this: I put equally as much effort into financing the two purchases. Because that’s equally as important.

Looking online I found a Business Credit card through chase that had 0% for 12 months. Also, a welcome offer: spend $6,000 in 3 months and get the equivalent of $750 back in a statement credit. Well, since the cost of the AC was $6,284, this was a no brainer. As soon as I received the card I immediately requested a credit limit increase. It was granted. Then I ended up putting more than 6k on the card so my total credit back ended up at $840. So my new HVAC was $5,444.

Lastly, I had an email from American Express for a card where if you spend 15k in 3 months you would get 175k American Express member points. Plus 0% for 21 months! The fence I mentioned earlier was just over 9k. BUT, I also needed to pay for my property taxes and home insurance. So this opened an opportunity. Combined, this would get me pretty close to the 15k of required spend to get the massive welcome offer.! Considering the value of those Amex points of roughly 2 cents per point when transferred to travel partners, the net cost of my fence project will be $5,250. Pretty epic!

And now for the cherry on top. All the cash I need to pay all this recent credit card spend is currently sitting in a HYSA earning a recently decreased-to 4.45%. So, I set reminders on my phone of the dates where the 0% ends and I will transfer the balances in full upon the requisite due dates. 😎