(Bloomberg Opinion) -- If you are an average American, you’re walking around with 3.7 credit cards in your wallet. You’re probably using them all wrong, according to this week’s guest on Masters in Business, Brian Kelly, better known as the Points Guy.
At age 12, Kelly booked a family trip to the Grand Caymans using only the points his father had amassed through work-related travel. As a side gig when he was in human resources at Morgan Stanley, he charged friends $50 to book their points travel. He was running a modest website discussing his points strategies when a New York Times article vaulted the site into wide public view. That eventually led to the sale of the company for what Kelly said was a “life-changing amount of money” to BankRate.com (now owned by Red Ventures). Kelly still runs the site with 100 employees, serving 7 million unique monthly visitors.
The site was the launch partner for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card with JPMorgan Chase & Co., which might count as the most successful credit-card debut ever. The card not only sold out, but the manufacturer ran out of the metal used to make the card.
Kelly travels professionally, amassing millions of miles and holding the highest status levels at his favorite airlines. We discussed his preferred travel gear: He always has a laptop or similar device filed with movies, podcasts and TV shows because you cannot rely on the in-flight entertainment system, and if you get stuck somewhere for hours you could keep yourself entertained. He has a Dual Sim iPhone 11, which allows him to use the phone just about anywhere in the world. Google Fi is his carrier abroad. Also important for stressful travel these days: an InsightTimer meditation app.
We did an audit of my wallet and it turned out my cards are all pretty good (I admit that I read the Points Guy site). According to TPG ratings, my American Express Platinum card received its best business card rating and the Chase Sapphire Reserve was its pick for best personal card (triple points on travel and hotels). But I should change my basic Chase card for the no-fee Chase Freedom Unlimited card, because its offers 1.5 points on everything else.
Figuring this out is complex, so TPG later this year is launching an app that — based on the cards you use — will automatically direct you to the card that generates the most points for each purchase.
His favorite books can be seen here; a transcript of our conversation is available here.
You can stream/download the full conversation, including the podcast extras on Apple iTunes, Overcast, Spotify, Google, Bloomberg and Stitcher. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Barry Ritholtz is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.