Hey folks,
just saw this thread dominated by bankers, so here's a question for all of you - what's the best credit card for a (traveling) consultant? I've bounced back and forth between the almighty Starwood card and a Fidelity cash-back Amex, but has anyone found the "ideal" card? What about with Visa - any recommendations there? Trying to slim my wallet down to just one Amex, one Visa, and the corporate card, rather than the 2 of each I have right now (mileage, cash-back, et al).
Thoughts?
I'm not a consultant but you should look at the Amex Gold Rewards card. The annual fee is waved for the first year and they're offering a shit ton of points for stuff.
don't they give Applebee's gift cards to consultants?
Chili's you idiot!
Good call, Boutique Banking. Shouldn't you be back in your bullpen cranking on your models so that you can stay just ahead of Piper Jaffray in the league tables? Oh, my bad - you must not be on a live deal... sorry dude.
Any other bankers want to pull some side-splitting references from bankers vs consultants, or does anyone have a legit answer here?
cheers
Hahaha, sorry for the comment. I would have to agree with the above, get the rewards gold card. I use it and it earns 3x points on airfare, 2x on Groceries/Gas, 1x on everything else....plus it looks sweet, until you want to cough up $450 a year for platinum.
At the end of the day I would look at two factors: 1)What will you be doing the most of (flying and living in a hotel) 2)Which one do you value more from a points standpoint? If you like having points towards hotels, get the starwood, if everything else-get the gold or some variation of an airline card (delta skymiles, etc)
AMEX. No need to ramble on. Get the premier gold (not preferred) or the platinum. Platinum is nice bc you can have access to all of the airport lounges.
thanks guys.
bb - thanks for taking the joke in stride.
cheers
You will get the AmEx Corporate Card (Gold or Platinum) and shouldn't get another AmEx just for the heck of it. If you prefer pulling in some extra hotel points, you can either do the SPG AmEx or Marriott Visa depending on which chain you prefer more. From my experience, many Marriott promotion are actually tied to spending in the Marriott Visa, not the case with SPG. I believe for Hilton AmEx, you can actually get Gold status based on spend, so that's something to consider as well, depending on your frequency. Which hotel chain you should actually belong to is whole another story (and I'd recommend you look at FlyerTalk for that). But in general, SPG has best redemptions and resort properties, Marriott and Hilton has the largest footprint, Hilton has some nicer international properties, but not so good redemption availability, and Marriott's point saver can be useful if you have plans set long in advance. I'd also suggest trying to reach top tier in at least two chains instead of piling up all nights one so you get some flexibility in wherever you are stuck next time.
Most typically use SPG Amex. A lot travel is booked internally through travel dept, you don't see the travel costs on your own card (at least true for where I'm at, not sure about others). In any case, SPG points transfer well to airline miles and the card gives a decent boost to hotel. In any case, hotel expenses are the largest portion of an analyst-level consultant's expense and will be primary driver of rewards value.
Cash-back Visa/Mastercard is good for non-Amex purchases. Some places discourage you from using cash-back cards for business spending due to tax issues.
Just watched Up In The Air and it made me think of consulting. His religious maximization of his airline miles was simply amazing.
I use: 1. SPG AmEx for rooms and food/drink at the hotel. 2. Citi Forward card - for restaurants, 5 points per dollar (~5% back) 3. Schwab 2% card - for everything else.
dude this is not the website for CC advice, do your dd
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