1/ Let's talk about credit card rewards. For many consumers, the best way to do this is by converting points in exchange for travel benefits. But as a father of 4, I find that travel perks don't go far for my family. Here's what I do instead... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/magazine/points-guy-travel-rewards.html

2/ What I've done is optimized my spending to get as much cash back as possible to be redeemed once a year in January to pay off my holiday spending from December. This works much better for me then trying to accumulate enough miles for my family to travel somewhere worthwhile.

3/ For starters, I like this b/c I have a harder time budgeting for big annual expenses. Saving a little every month in a checking acct or having separate mini-savings accts for each annualized expense (home projects, vacations, etc) doesn't work well for me.

4/ So here's how we spend to optimize for getting cash back:

Amex Blue Cash Preferred: $100 annual fee, but 6% cash back on groceries (our largest expense after our mortgage) and 3% cash back on gas. Does come w/ a cap of $6K for grocery spending.

5/ Chase Freedom: Chose this card for its rotating 5% cash back on different categories by quarter. While it changes a little each year, since we've had the card there has always been a quarter for redeeming 5% cash back in groceries, gas, restaurants, and other retailers.

6/ Amazon Prime Store Card: This card can only be used on Amazon's website and is only available to Prime members. This was an easy decision for us though, given how much we spend on Amazon. Gives 5% back for all purchases made on Amazon.

7/ Citi Double Cash: Earn 2% back on all purchases - 1% when you spend, 1% when you pay.

Painting the house, installing a new AC? Use this card to get 2% back. There are so many things you can start getting more money back for w/ this card, like kids' extracurricular activities.

8/ Anyway, every January, we cash in these rewards for statement credit and are left w/ no Christmas spending hangover. And obviously this strategy doesn't have to be used for Christmas. It could be used for any big annual expense, like a family vacation, home project, etc.

9/ I think it's worth it to sit down for a few minutes and consider what CC reward strategy might make most sense for you.

I know this is a little different than my investing beat, but this helped us and I thought it might be helpful for some of you too.