The Centurion clubs and priority pass clubs a very nice (especially int'l with priority pass access). The Centurion clubs really "club" any Sky Club I've been in, truthfully. I get it if you fly mostly domestic stuff, but international the AMEX Plat is hard to beat. I get what you're saying, but I've had nothing but good experiences with the AMEX Plat. One example of an upgrade I recevied.... My wife flew up to join me on a JFK long layover (we were transiting to west coast next day). I booked the Chatwall Hotel in Manhattan for us to stay at. I booked just the standard room. When my wife and I checked in the person at the desk told us they had upgraded us. Gave us our keys and off we went to the top floor. Well, it was the "directors suite" Spiral stair case up to a rooftop garden, an amazing room. A few minuntes after we checked in a person showed up to the room to light the fire place up for us (it was december). Needless to say it was pretty cool.

I get that upgrade stuff, but with the AMEX Plat it seems to work very well for us.

Well, anyway, as Forrest Gump says "that's all I have to say about that."

Capital One Savor. 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, groceries. No categories to sign up. I use it on the road as that’s what most of my expenses are and at the grocery store at home. No annual fee. I think it pays 1% on everything else, but I use the citi double cash card for everything else.

Where are you going to shop if you don’t go to Costco? I hate going there and they treat customers like crap but not a whole lot of other options. Hard to beat them for dairy, meat, fruit/vegetables, clothes and house goods.

It shows up on the Fidelity app as a contribution towards the $7000 cap for 2024.

It doesn’t have to go into an IRA, just any account at fidelity, such as a taxable brokerage account or even the basic savings account that was created if you did the emergency savings program for the $1000.

I have the World of Hyatt Visa and as a commuter pretty much never have to pay for a Hotel room. This is also becasue my wife and kids are very thoughtful and keep my points balance quite high. I also only need about 1 room every other month.

Scoop

Just a word of caution, if you are a WB or plan to go WB avoid the Amex, its not taken hardly anywhere in Europe or South America. It the big reason I switched to the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

you don’t use the Amex platinum as a credit card …. You just use the perks / benefits.

Get a good cash back visa for everyday use.

Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Its has a lower annual fee than the Reserve and the same valuable points. It does have less travel perks though.

https://johnnyjet.com/chase-sapphire...d-card-review/

Not exactly true, I've used it all over the world. Japan, Italy, France, England, Turkey, Russia (sort of problematic there), Ukraine, Israel, Portugal, Africa. Never had it turned down. Yes, some establishments won't take it due to fees AMEX charges the vendor so the vendor choses not to accept the card) But no never had issue overseas with it like you describe.

I do carry a Master Card backup just in case (sometimes AMEX will shut off my card becasue they see it's being used all over the world, simple phone call fix but can be awkward finding that out when the bill is delivered and they say your card is declined - BTW had same issues with Visa and Mater Card too). But have never had an issue in any of our Int'l destinations using it. I just used it a week ago to pay the dinner and drinks bill for the crew. No issues.