Credit cards are a financital tool that, if used properly, can provide tangible values. My credit card spend is concentrated on three cards: Amazon Prime, United Club and Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite. Here is how I settled on this setup.

With Amazon Prime Card, like many others, I use it to maximize rewards on Amazon purchases and occasional trips to Whole Foods. If you don’t have a Prime membership or don’t shop on Amazon enough to think about becoming a member, there is no point considering this card.

I got the United Club card because I plan to travel a bit more for both work and personal this year. I plan to use rideshare and Instacart credits, the latter of which gives me Peacock and access to Premier League soccer games, organically, without pushing myself. Between the credits and the value of United Club lounges in the US, I figure it will be enough for me to at least break even.

BofA PRE is my daily driver card. As a Preferred Rewards member, I earn more rewards on daily purchases. But the main reason that I keep this card is because it allows me $450 in accidental credits per year and the most generous Priority Pass benefits. Priority Pass is a network of lounges, restaurants and experiences at global airports. In general, Priority Pass lounges are better outside the US. BofA is one of the few cards on the market to still give cardholders restaurant credits. It’s convenient when I only want foods & drinks without the crowded lounges.

I often see a line in front of Amex Centurion lounges and United Club lounges often decline to admit guests with the one-time passes. Our family took advantage of the restaurant credits at Priority Pass restaurants a few times. We got real value from it. Uniquely, I can set up a Priority Pass membership for my sister-in-law who lives in Vietnam. She already used it to travel to Taiwan. That’s why I am going to keep the card.

These are generally a few principles that I use whenever determining if I am going to get AND keep a card:

• Try not to overcomplicate your card setup. The incremental benefits may not justify the excessive time and efforts required for optimization.
• Have a card for day-to-day purchases and another for ORGANIC travel. Don’t just get a fancy card and push yourself to travel a lot more to justify getting AND keeping it.
• It requires a lot of credit card spend and travel expenditure to achieve airline status, unless you travel a lot for work. If you are not willing to spend at least $40,000 a year on an airline credit card or fly with one airline at least once a month, don’t even need to think about airline statuses.
• Where are you flying out? Which airline has the best network? Do you want to stick to one airline or just the best route? I have a colleague who insists on flying with Delta only, even though he doesn’t care about rewards status and he knows he is paying significantly more to fly with them.
• When you travel, is it mostly domestic or international? Do you care about lounges or do you just want the best possible route, considering prices, timing, duration and every other factor?
• If you care about lounges, Priority Pass works much better outside the US. Inside the US, it depends on where you are going.
• Are you a fan of coupon books or travel portals? Most Premium cards on the market have coupon books and require a certain level of use of their respective travel portals.
• Each card will have its pros and cons. We are often familiar with the former, but try to understand the latter and see if the cons outweigh the pros.

I prefer simplicity. I know folks can get a Robinhood card to get 3% catch-all cashback or USBank Smartly or PayPal Debit with 5% on certain things. I am not comfortable with Robinhood’s customer service and I don’t like to having to remember which cards I should use in certain situations. I leave rewards on the table, but I value the piece of mind and mental bandwidth more. That’s up to each person to decide. Hence, understand your mental makeup, your daily needs and what you are willing to trade off before making decisions on your card setup.