Hands down, the question I'm asked most frequently is "what card do you recommend for beginners?" Well, maybe I get asked how many cards I have more, but that's a much shorter answer. After answering many times, I've come up with a standard list of four options as the first travel rewards card to suggest for beginners.
Best overall travel cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve)
Best single-card setup: Citi Premier Card
Best building block for a multi-card setup: Amex Gold Card
Best way to learn how to get massive perk value: Amex Hilton Honors Aspire
Best overall travel cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve)
The best overall card is really a 1A or 1B choice for the two flavors of Chase Sapphire card. They are similar in many ways, but with different annual fees. I usually suggest that both are great overall and introduction cards depending on what you're willing to spend.
Both offer elevated earning on travel (broadly) and dining. While not as ubiquitous as the earning categories of the Citi Premier, these are categories that typically attract a lot of spending. Both also earn valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which are flexible points with a ton of use options. One unique redemption is that points are worth more when redeemed directly for travel costs in the Chase portal. They are worth 1.25 cents each with the Preferred, and 1.5 cents each with the Reserve. That's not value to write home about, but it's better than the base 1 cent per point of most cards. It can really allow you to ease into using points for travel in increasingly complex ways.
The cards differ in that the Preferred costs $95 per year, while the Reserve weighs in at $550 per year. The Reserve has many more perks, like Lyft Pink, [slightly] higher earning, DashPass, Priority Pass, and a $300 travel credit every year. You can easily get more value from the added perks of the Reserve, but it's completely understandable for a beginner to be hesitant with such an expensive proposition. For that reason, most people I suggest these two end up with the Preferred. I should add that it's also the most-often chosen card of this whole list.
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Best single-card setup: Citi Premier Card
The best card if you only want to have one card has got to be the Citi Premier card. This Mastercard earns 3x points on a variety of categories, including both everyday purchases and travel.
Citi ThankYou points are flexible and can be transferred to a number of parters to unlock greater value. The big advantage with this card is that, for only a $95 annual fee, you can earn decent rewards on most spending, and you don't need to juggle multiple cards. The downside, and the reason I personally don't have this card, is that it's challenging to fit into a larger system, where you have a card that's better in each individual category. The Premier isn't a particularly perk-heavy card, so the value comes from spending on it. If you're spending on other cards, this card makes less sense.
Best building block for a multi-card setup: Amex Gold Card
A departure from the previous option, the Gold card from American Express is more of a solid first step in a multi-card setup. The Gold card is what I still use for dining and groceries, no matter what else is in my wallet, due to its 4x points earned on both. These points are also Amex Membership Rewards points, which are just as valuable as Chase's flexible points.
The cost for this higher earning rate is an annual fee of $250. There are two monthly credits of $10 each for Uber and a select subset of dining (Grubhub, Shake Shack, etc) that reduce the effective annual fee, though. What also makes this a good starting card is that it's still useful all around, even if you don't have other cards in your system yet. While I don't use it for airfare any longer due to having a better option, it will earn 3x points on air travel. That gives the Amex Gold strong earnings all around in a valuable currency.
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Best way to learn how to get massive perk value: Amex Hilton Honors Aspire
Last up is a surprising one, but it served a special purpose to me when I first got it, and it's still my favorite card overall. The Hilton Honors Aspire card from American Express was really what flipped the switch in my mind to understand how to get value from cards with high annual fees.
The $450 fee certainly qualifies as high, but as I explain in my post about this card, I've gotten more than $1000 in value from the card each year of holding it. To me, the credits are usable enough that I could justify getting the card to myself in the first place, but also just challenging enough that I feel like I'm really optimizing my situation by holding it. This was the first high annual fee card I've ever had, and only the second "travel" card after the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It's really what kicked off my entire points and travel optimization strategy, and I've recommended it to others for the same reason. It doesn't have to be your very first card, but I will always recommend it as the card to learn and grow with.
Want this card? If it's competitive, using the link below is a great way to support us at no cost to you! You can navigate to any Amex card. Apply for an American Express Card with this link. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and your friend could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply. https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/MARCH7pCa?XLINK=MYCP
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