I like turning real spend into points puzzles, so here’s one you can actually play along with. This isn’t “what’s the best card in theory,” it’s what do you do when $30k+ of boring luxury retail spend hits your life all at once.

Grab a pen. Don’t scroll past the tables. This is meant to be interactive.

The Scenario (Your Turn)

It’s 12/21/2025. These charges are happening no matter what:

Purchase Amount
High-end jewelry $7,800
High-end jewelry $20,000
Boots $1,000
Gift cards $500
Misc spend $2,000
Total $31,300

Luxury retail. No dining. No airfare. No easy multipliers.

Player 2 is willing to open one new card. Player 1 is not (unless you think it’s worth it).

Before reading further, ask yourself:

  • Where do you put the first $10k?
  • What spend is “wasted” if you don’t plan?
  • Do you chase multipliers… or thresholds?

Wallets on the Table

Player 1 – Current Cards

Card Status
Hilton Surpass $3.6k YTD spend
Amex Platinum Retail-unfriendly
Chase Sapphire Preferred No active thresholds
Hilton Aspire All FNRs already used
Capital One Venture X Flat earn

Player 2 – Current Cards

Card Status
Hilton Aspire $6k YTD spend
Amex Platinum Retail-unfriendly
Chase Sapphire Reserve Flat 3x fallback
Amex Gold Dining/grocery only

Stop here and think:

  • Which of these cards wants $20k of jewelry?
  • Which card gives you incremental value because of timing?

The Question Set (This Is the Exercise)

Before scrolling, answer these honestly:

  1. Do you open a new card, or spread spend across existing ones?
  2. Is hitting a calendar-year threshold worth more than 2–3x points?
  3. Would you rather earn one Free Night Reward or 30k random points?
  4. Is it better to overfund one card or partially fund several?

Most people get this wrong by optimizing the wrong thing.

What We Actually Did (One Possible Solution)

Step 1: New Card for Player 2

Player 2 opens a Capital One Venture X using Player 1’s referral.

Benefit Who Gets It
Signup Bonus Player 2 (100k miles)
Referral Bonus Player 1 (+10k miles)

Clean. No category stress. Jewelry is perfect for this.

Step 2: Force a Hilton Surpass Threshold (Player 1)

We deliberately stacked these charges:

Charges Amount
Jewelry $7,500
Boots $1,000
Gift cards $500
Misc $2,000
Total Added $11,000
Hilton Surpass Math Result
Prior YTD Spend $3,600
New Spend $11,000
Total YTD $15,000
Bonus Triggered 1 Free Night Reward
Points Earned ~27,600 Hilton points

This is a textbook calendar-year optimization. Boring. Correct. Effective.

Step 3: Kill the Venture X SUB in One Shot (Player 2)

Item Result
Spend Applied $10,000
Signup Bonus 100k Capital One miles
Stress Level Zero

At this point, over half the problem is solved cleanly.

Final Allocation Snapshot

Player Card Spend Used Why
Player 1 Hilton Surpass $11,000 Hit $15k FNR
Player 2 Venture X (new) $10,000 Trigger SUB
— Unassigned ~$10,300 Deliberately paused

Yes — we left money on the table intentionally.

Your Turn Again

Now that you see the mechanics, answer this:

What would you open for Player 1 to absorb the remaining ~$10k?

Constraints:

  • Retail spend
  • No forced category bonuses
  • Must justify the annual fee
  • Must beat “just put it on Venture X”

I have opinions, but this is where the discussion actually gets interesting.

The Meta Lesson

This exercise isn’t about jewelry. It’s about:

  • Thresholds beating multipliers
  • Timing beating card prestige
  • Not panicking when spend doesn’t fit categories

Most people would’ve spread this across “premium” cards and called it optimized. I’d rather be boring and extract real value.