Milenomics ² Podcast - No Annual Fee Edition

Milenomics² [No Annual Fee] Episode 78: A Heightened Sapphire Reserve Offer and UR Deep Dive


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0:25 Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Offer

  • Direct Link
  • $5,000 min spend in 3 months
  • $95 annual fee (not waived first year)
  • This is a higher than usual offer
  • 05:14 Chase Referrals

    • chase.com/referafriend
    • 10,000 points for each approval (capped at 100,000 per year)
    • 06:30 Sapphire Churning Restrictions

      • Eligible for welcome bonus if it has been >48 months since you last got a Sapphire welcome bonus (Preferred or Reserve)
      • 5/24 still applies: 5 credit card approvals in the past 24 months (from any bank)
      • Can’t be approved for a Sapphire Preferred if you currently have a Sapphire card (recommend downgrading to Freedom and waiting a month before applying)
      • 12:09 Two Player Mode

        • If neither person has a Sapphire card, apply “head on” or through a referral from a friend
        • Then refer P2
        • Being an authorized user on a card doesn’t prevent getting the welcome bonus
        • This will leave you with > 210,000 Ultimate Rewards
        • 13:50 Ultimate Rewards: Value and Utility

          • Easy 1 cpp cashout
            • Sapphire Preferred 1.25 of uplift for travel booked through Chase portal
            • Sapphire Reserve 1.5 cpp of uplift for travel booked through Chase portal (and a $300 per cardmember year travel credit)
            • Transfer partners: Hyatt, United, Southwest, and more
            • Points can be co-mingled between household
              • Inflation in the travel portal is very real. 
              • Prices for hotels and other activities get tough to compare
              • Flights sometimes are pricing at a premium due to issues with fare classes and airlines wanting direct booking. 
              • It pays to do the math, because a poor redemption can tank the value of your earning, and points are not free. 
              • Cancellation terms not the same with Travel portal bookings vs. booking with miles sometimes. 
              • Pay Yourself Back: erase charges in specific categories at >1cpp.
              • 23:31 CSP/CSR Earning Strategy

                • Sign up Bonus aside, these two cards are relatively weak in earning. 
                • This creates a bit of an irony–they’re great cards to hold, but better in union with other UR earning cards
                • Freedoms for 5x categories, some chase Business cards also earn 5x
                • Over time a stable of chase cards become important
                • Pooling of points means that the earning of 5x points can then be moved to your sapphire and redeemed for travel at >1cpp
                • 5x at 1.25 = 6.25 cpp, 5x at 1.5 = 7.5 cpp. 
                • 28:47 United/Southwest: Opportunity Cost

                  • For some people these cards are taking up slots and spend they want to use on Southwest or United Cards
                  • Might be best to get those cards first, holding them long term, then getting the CSP. 
                  • Changes to southwest might make you consider Southwest cards, but be rational, how many trips a year do you actually take? 
                  • The travel landscape changes fast, the flexibility of UR allow you to change with it. Southwest points do not. 
                  • 31:38 Q2 2025 “Point Offer”

                    • Targeted: Seeing increased uplift for United/Delta/Qatar premium cabin flights, and some (mostly nicer) hotels
                    • Sapphire Preferred 1.5-1.75 cpp
                    • Sapphire Reserve 1.75-2.25 cpp
                    • Upgrading from Preferred to Reserve seemed to retain the same “amount” of targeted uplift (ie, was getting 1.5 cpp on Preferred, then got 1.75 cpp on upgraded Reserve)
                    • Might someone be targeted for this shortly after approval? Hard to say. More datapoints needed.
                    • 37:10 Live Application.

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                      Milenomics ² Podcast - No Annual Fee EditionBy Sam Simon and Robert Dwyer

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