Someone wrote an article about not upgrading their credit card. That's the headline. A person decided against spending more money and somehow this qualifies as financial journalism.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred costs $95 a year. The Sapphire Reserve costs $550. Our hero did the math and realized that keeping the cheaper card meant not spending an additional $455 annually. Groundbreaking stuff. Next week he'll publish a follow-up on how he saved thousands by not buying a yacht.
The "new perks" that changed everything include airport lounge access and travel credits that you only benefit from if you actually travel. But here's the thing about credit card perks. They're designed to make you spend more money while feeling smart about it. It's a f*cking Wendy's rewards program with better branding.
This man sat down and calculated the exact dollar value of perks he might use once a year. He built a spreadsheet. He compared annual fees. He wrote seven hundred words about the optimization strategy for a piece of plastic that charges him interest if he forgets to pay on time.
The Sapphire Reserve costs $550 but gives you $300 in travel credits, which means it really costs $250, which is actually more than $95, which makes keeping the cheaper card a decision that requires exactly zero analysis. A fourth grader could solve this problem. But retail investors need content. They need to feel like every mundane choice is a strategic victory in their personal wealth-building journey.
Meanwhile the S&P goes up or down regardless of which rewards card you swipe at Starbucks.
Somewhere a Chase executive is thrilled that customers are writing free marketing content about the impossible calculus of choosing between two cards that both make the bank money.
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