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

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