My grandparent’s chins are going to drop when they read this next sentence:

My credit card costs $450 a year.

It’s 100% worth it, and I’m going to tell you not only how it saves me money, but what card to get if you don’t travel the same way I do.

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What is the card?

In short, it’s the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

I’ll eventually do a ‘What’s In My Travel Wallet’ post, but for now, know that besides my passport, this is the most valuable thing I keep in my pocket.

How Does it ‘Save Money’?

To dig into that, you have to first understand the benefits of the card.

Benefits:

• $300 of travel credit per year
• Travel insurance included
• Lounge access via Priority Pass Membership
• One free year of LyftPink
• $60 of DoorDash credits/year
• DashPass Membership
• $100 every four years for Global Entry or TSA Precheck
• 50,000 point sign up bonus after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months
• No foreign transaction fees
• 3x points on travel and dining

How I have used them to save money:

• Anything travel-related up to $300 comes right off of the credit card statement before I ever get billed. In my mind, that brings the ‘cost’ of the card down to $150 because I spend at least $300 in travel most months. This leaves me to justify only the last $150.
• I could get a very expensive travel insurance package, but the benefits that my card comes with supplement my Allianz travel insurance so well that I save about $450/year on additional travel insurance. Chase refunded me all the additional expenses that I incurred by getting stuck in Hong Kong last year, thus justifying about $70 more of itself.
• I mean, DoorDash credits = $60 of free food. What’s not to love?
• My Global Entry was automatically credited back to my card – I didn’t have to seek reimbursements. This benefit (the ability to skip customs when entering the US) was $100 two years ago, but let’s call it $25 since it only is eligible every four years.
• I get lounge access in most airports. This means free food, drink, napping space, and sometimes even showers. Considering the amount of time I spend laying over in airports, this could pay for the full cost of the card. I took 33 flights last year. If I stopped for a $10 food or beer (probably a conservative estimate on what airport food costs) in only half of those, the benefit would be about $115.
• I’d have spent up to 3% of every single purchase I made abroad in transaction fees, but this card charges 0 transaction fees.
• And I got a boatload of points on travel and dining, thus contributing to free flights

By my math, using this card instead of any other has saved me at least $950, and subtracting the cost of the card itself, has saved me $500 this year.

But what if you don’t travel as often as I do? This leads me to…

Is There A ‘Lite Version’?

Yup. It’s called the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I had it for a few years and loved it. No lounge access, no travel credits back, no Global Entry credit, but it has a great sign-up bonus and accumulates a lot of points on travel and dining. It has a better sign up bonus than the Reserve (75,000 points after $4,000 spent). Very worth it, in my opinion.

Do you use Chase, or have another card you use to travel? Let me know below, I’m always excited to hear about other options!