{"id":168,"date":"2021-07-19T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-the-chase-sapphire-preferred-card-is-worthit-even-after-the-welcome-bonus\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T16:59:55","slug":"how-the-chase-sapphire-preferred-card-is-worthit-even-after-the-welcome-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-the-chase-sapphire-preferred-card-is-worthit-even-after-the-welcome-bonus\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is Worth the Annual Fee, Even After the Welcome Bonus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last updated Oct. 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

Disclosure<\/em><\/strong>: This content is <\/em>not <\/em><\/strong>sponsored or endorsed by any of the card brands described here and is accurate as of the posting date, but some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Money with Katie is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on my site, and this site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the most common questions I get any time I talk about travel rewards is, \u201cKatie, how are you so smart AND so beautiful?\u201d<\/p>\n

Just kidding. I wish.<\/p>\n

In reality, it goes like this: \u201cI see the sign-up bonus; that\u2019s awesome. But what about after that?\u201d<\/p>\n

And trust me, I get it \u2013 I was initially very skeptical, too. The massive points windfall was undoubtedly exciting, but I couldn\u2019t help but wonder: What the hell am I going to do with this credit card after I spend the initial bonus? I\u2019m not a consultant on an expense account \u2013 I\u2019m frugal as hell. How am I going to keep earning?<\/em><\/p>\n

While I wrote a post recently about my spend strategy across my different travel cards<\/a>, today I want to do some #sexymath that breaks down how and why the Sapphire Preferred card is worth the $95 fee on an ongoing basis despite not having any travel credits, certificates, etc. <\/p>\n

(Some cards, like the Platinum Card\u00ae from American Express, have exorbitant annual fees but equally impressive repetitive annual benefits that make the fee feel null<\/a>. Those cards are funny because people are always super resistant at first, despite the fact that \u2013 logically \u2013 the card\u2019s benefits far outweigh the cost, if you travel or shop at all.)<\/p>\n

I digress \u2013 back to our low annual fee friend, Sapphire Preferred.<\/p>\n

How to calculate the potential ongoing benefits of Sapphire Preferred based on your spending<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s do an exercise. As we all know by now, I\u2019m a scrub with Excel and a public relations degree \u2013 so while I\u2019d love to code some fancy calculator that could do this for you directly into this post, unfortunately, you\u2019re just going to have to Calculator App it up on the side and follow my methodology.<\/p>\n

How much do you spend every month? Every year?<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re anti-budget (don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll crack you eventually), this might be hard for you to figure out \u2013 but if you\u2019re a loyal Wealth Planner enthusiast<\/a>, this should be easily answered.<\/p>\n

The tricky thing here is that you\u2019re most likely<\/em> going to be removing rent\/mortgage (i.e., probably your largest expense) from the equation, because paying rent with a credit card typically triggers a pretty hefty fee (interestingly, you can use AmEx cards via Venmo without a fee \u2013 a nifty trick when trying to hit AmEx spend thresholds). <\/p>\n

While paying your rent with a credit card in order to hit a sign-up bonus threshold is worthwhile if you need to, it doesn\u2019t make sense on an ongoing basis. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n