Churning Isn't Worth it for Us

After talking with my wife, we're going to back off on the card churning/travel-hacking thing. When we spoke, she was totally in alignment with me and expressed similar concerns that I mention below.

Sometimes you have to just admit that something isn't worth it. We're trying to build a deep savings habit. Habits take time and effort, and credit card rewards disrupt the savings habit.

Encouraged Spending

I found myself looking for things to spend money on. If I'd ever had a thought floating in my mind soup about something I'd like to buy, I began telling myself that I'd planned buying it all along. Now was indeed the time to do it since we had the new card. That way I could get to the end of the process and say, "We only spent money we meant to," even though it probably wasn't true.

I want to think about ways of saving money rather than spending money, and I don't want to think that spending comes with big rewards. 

Expensive Thinking

I found myself angling for more expensive solutions than I'd otherwise accept in order to meet the minimum spend. Every purchase was anchored to the number $4000. I reserved a hotel for a lot more money than I would if I'd purchased it with my normal credit card. I looked at brand new high-end products when used or otherwise less expensive items would meet our needs.

Luxury Dependence

These high end credit cards are trying to get us used to the idea of luxury, and luxury is a weakness. Airport lounges, high-end hotels, first-class airplane tickets, speedy security checks, elite status, and metal cards are all nice, but they clearly want the card user to become accustomed and dependent on these niceties.

I don't want to feel like I'm entitled to that stuff. One day these cards might not be so generous with their perks, but the luxury dependance would likely remain. And then you're trapped. 

Points Aren't True Assets

Points are kind of like assets, but not really. The issuing company can change the rules whenever they want. The airlines can jack up their fuel surcharges. The points accumulate no income, and their value doesn't appreciate with time. As far as I can tell, there are no laws protecting you as a points holder.

If we spend a bunch of money now to get the bonus within the next month, we'd be spending today's money in order to save money potentially about a year from now. That's putting lot of faith that the points will be worth something then, and it's a lot of faith that the money that I could have saved today couldn't have been used in a better way. 

Stress

It was causing me stress, and that sucks. I don't want to resent my wife if she didn't put some spend on the card. I don't want my afternoon ruined if the card machine at the grocery store doesn't work. I don't want to call American banks more often than I usually have do, which for the past few years has been never. And I hated the buyer's remorse that came with buying expensive stuff.

I've always prided myself on avoiding unnecessary stress traps, and this project was becoming one. 

The moment where this really hit me is when I did our monthly net worth calculation, and I saw that it had dropped in a month where our stock performance beat the market. Additionally, I knew that it would continue to drop as we fulfilled the minimum spend over the next two months. Meanwhile, there were great deals in the stock market if only I could get some cash in to buy them. But no cash was coming. 

We got a couple awards from less ambitious cards, and maybe I'll do some of those in the future. But for the bigger cards, we just don't spend the kind of money that justifies trying to churn them. And to spend that money means forgoing buying real assets now that could be worth much more than the credit card points are next year. 

Anyway, that's my thinking. I'll write more about rewards and stuff, but for now, they're nice but not worth sacrificing real saving for.