This signals a shift in my spending patterns and way of thinking, for sure. I thought about this a lot and decided this would be a good decision, for now and for the future.
The Fidelity® Investment Rewards American Express® offers 2% cash back into an investment account on every purchase: no categories, no minimum spend, no signup bonus, but no annual fee. I thought about it. My average spend is about $5K a month. That’s 10,000 points or $100 in cash each month. But then that $100 will be invested and will turn around a further 6-20+% return, depending on where I invest it. In 20 years, that $100 could be worth a few thousand, which is pretty cool to think about and to behold the power of compound interest.
The reason I got this card now is because I have my travel (and all my vacation days) planned out for the next six months:
And that’s in addition to my courier work. I also have a healthy amount of Avios, AAdvantage miles, Skymiles, and Ultimate Rewards points in case I need/want to go anywhere in the months beyond January. So, I’m set with points and miles for now. But thinking further, much further, I’d like my spend to be working for me even more.
This card is quite a hybrid. It’s an Amex issued by a Bank of America subsidy and partners with Fidelity investments. Pretty cool. It gives me the benefits of Amex and the investment power at Fidelity, a company I really like. It didn’t count for or against my relationship with Chase or Barclays or Citi, which is a positve. And, I have investments at USAA, Betterment, and MetLife, and would like to diversify even more. So I took the plunge, opened a mutual fund account, and got approved for this card. With my travel set, I can set aside some free money for my future just for using this card. That kind of blows my mind. Literally – FREE money.
With some creative manufactured spend, it truly is free, and though I’m giving up points in favor of invested cash for a while, I feel good that I took some time to make a thoughtful decision.
Anyone else have or heard of this card? Do you like it?
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[…] have IRAs with two companies, Fidelity and USAA, and a brokerage account with Fidelity (the one my Fidelity Investment Rewards card plugs into). There’s about $4,000 among […]