Credit Cards for Incoming IB Analyst

Just get the Chase Sapphire Preferred like everybody else and use it for everything

Sapphire Preferred or bust.

1) You'll most likely get a corporate card so all the free spend will be through that. 2) The answer is, it depends.

Who do you fly with? Any specific hotels? What kind of spend do you have?

The Chase Reserve card is sick, 100,000 UR points and you get 3x on travel, 2x on food and 1x on everything else. It has a $450 fee, but you get $300 in travel credit which brings it down to $150 a year. Great benefits.

If you plan on taking vacation (which you probably wont be able to do) and stay anywhere for 4 days in a row, the Citi Prestige card is ridiculous. Unlimited 4th night free. You can combine this with a number of hotels that have a stay 2 get 3rd free or stay 4, get 5th free.

United Explorer card is good. Hotel rewards tend to suck, but Hilton and Marriott both have good cards right now.

Check out Reddit/Churning or Flyertalk. You can get really deep in the matrix with this shit.

I currently have and use the following - Citi Prestige, Amex Platinum, Chase Reserve and American Executive Card.

Sapphire Reserve. Don't bother with Preferred at this point, 100k point bonus as opposed to 50k.

I disagree with all the comments recommending the Reserve. It's a huge waste as an analyst since you'll probably be traveling maybe once during your two year stint and there's no way you'll be able to take advantage of all the perks that justify the annual fee. I think it's great once you're in PE or B-school but no reason to have one as an analyst.

I just got the Reserve, but agree with the above that I find it hard for an analyst to take advantage of it.

If I was an analyst I'd look more at a cash back card--provides lower return than travel rewards, but you actually can use it. They also tend to have lower annual fees. Citi has one that offers 2% back which is about as good as you're going to do.

That being said, if you travel the Reserve is pretty sweet. Beyond 3x points for travel and dining, it gives a 50% bonus when redeemed for travel (so effectively a 4.5% yield). Another perk for it beyond the $300 travel voucher is that they also pay for your global entry, which knocks out a $100 cost every four years. This lowers the per year cost to about $130 a year, which isn't much more than other cards with significantly lower returns. It also provides (non-brand) lounge access. As someone that traveled about 50,000 miles this year--enough to appreciate these perks--not enough to have the status to get them for free, this is a pretty big win.

@TNA" nailed it. Chase Reserve is probably your best bet to start out and then Amex for sure. find out if your firm let's you keep all the Amex miles (believe it or not some places don't let you keep them). but since you are starting out you wont be able to take much advantage of anything really as you won't be able to take time off. also, only get a card if you are disciplined enough to pay those balances off each month. if you do not prepare yourself because you are going over a barrel and very sorry to say there are no lubricants available.

none.

Forgot to mention your industry coverage if any. We need all the relevant info.

I stick with my Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite. I agree the Reserve is solid though, it just wasn't an option when I opened my Preferred.

Most interns at BB's have the standard 'three card spread' set up which is a cash card at 18.4%ARP, a balance transfer card at 17.5% APR and a Wet Platinum Amex at 20.75% ARP.

Now each time you go to a bar you can flash them to the barmaid and she will know you're a bulge bracket legend and usually sleep with you. Dependant on bars and how well you'll likely do in PE placement obviously.

Well I was going to suggest a card, but I have never worked at GS/JPM/MS, so I couldn't possibly have anything valuable to add.

Provided that you have a decent credit score get the Chase Sapphire Reserve, hit the minimum spend, then get the Chase Sapphire Preferred and hit the minimum spend.

You'll get like 160,000 Chase UR Points + 300 in travel credit + 100 in Global entry credit -450 CSR annual fee for $8,000 in actual spend. At 1.5cpp (assuming you redeem for travel) you get a 29.375% return on your $8,000 spend. Assuming you redeem at 1cpp for statement credit, you still get a 19.375% return on your credit card spend.

After you do that, you'll probably get hooked on churning cards so you should probably head over to reddit/r/churning to decide what do do next.

To anyone that says the reserve is not a good option for analysts, you must be smoking crack,

What do analysts spend 90% of their money on? Food, cabs, and bars. Those all get you triple points.

The $300 travel credit counts towards any expense categorized as travel, so Uber chips away at that credit as an example. I blew through mine pretty quickly so that's why the annual fee truly is $150, not $450. It's a no brainer.

To follow up, I'd additionally encourage you to get the Amex PRG/Plat if you'll get a corporate card, since it allows you to combine personal and corporate MR points. You should be able to find a 50k + waived first AF offer for the PRG and a 100k or 75k offer for the Plat. Basically you should be able to get at least a 15% return on all of your spend for at least a year, especially if you can put rent on a credit card.

Like everyone has said the Chase Sapphire Reserve is lit right now. I've already used the $300 travel credit and will get another $300 come January for 2017. The travel credits plus TSA pre-check rebate will already put me at ~$685 in benefits on $450 in annual fees. Not bad.

Having an airline card is also nice - I tend to fly American a ton and have saved a ton by having a free checked bag via one of American's co-branded cards.

ThePointsGuy and the subreddit /r/Churning are great resources. When you're ready to burn your points hit /r/awardtravel to make the most of them.

Have been running with the Marriott Premier card in part to achieve Lifetime Plat status at the Marriott.

Once the 15 nights for the card post next year, I should be there and am planning to switch to the Sapphire Reserve.

Contrarian play: if you really don't think you'll travel a lot and live close to the office (anywhere in the northeast, really), cash back options may be more suitable (at least for the first year).

For these, Discover it's 1st year is an absolute steal (2% everywhere, 10% (!) on categories [Amazon usually counts for ~half the year], no interest at sign-up). Chase Freedom will get you 5% on categories that are usually pretty good (groceries, food, travel) and has no interest and sign-up. Applying for the Citi Double Cash (2% everywhere) to slide into the rotation when the it's doubling expires is a pretty smart play.

Even if lifestyle inflation makes travel more of a priority in a year or two, I think cash back cards deserve attention in Y1.

Here's what I have:

AmEx Blue Cash Preferred - 6% on groceries, 3% fuel. You can also use the 6% at grocery stores to buy gift cards (Amazon, etc.) Chase Sapphire Reserve - 100K point bonus, 3% dining & travel. 1.5 point transfer when used for traveling and can transfer from other Chase cards, thus getting even more from those cards. Chase Freedom - 5% rotating categories, from gas, dining, box stores, groceries. Use when the 5% category is higher than my other cards. Then transfer points to Reserve. Chase Freedom Unlimited - 1.5% on everything else. When you transfer these points to the Chase Reserve you get it up to 2.25% (1.5*1.5=2.25). Best there is right now for general spending.

Credit cards aren't like a spouse- you can have more than one. I would get multiple cards. I am a big believer that cash back>miles/points. Here is what I have had for ~five years now (did banking for two years and have now been in corp dev for a few months):

-5% credit cards: the Chase Freedom, Citi Dividend, and Discover It cards all have no annual fees and give 5% cash back in rotating categories.

-Costco Anywhere Visa: no annual fee (you must be a Costco member, though), 4% cash back on gas year-round, and 3% cash back on restaurants.

-Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card: no annual fee, unlimited 2% cash back on everything.

-American Express Blue Cash Everyday: no annual fee, 3% cash back on groceries. Get the Preferred if you spend a lot at grocery stores.

I will also sign up for additional cards for their signup bonuses and then cancel them after getting the signup bonus.