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

Milenomics ² Podcast - No Annual Fee Edition

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28d ago 40:57

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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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