---
title: 'Is Credit Card Churning a Smart Financial Strategy?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=BAxGxOy0bPg'
video_id: 'BAxGxOy0bPg'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 436
---

# Is Credit Card Churning a Smart Financial Strategy?

> Source: [Is Credit Card Churning a Smart Financial Strategy?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=BAxGxOy0bPg)

## Summary

Brian Preston and Bo discuss a viewer question on whether credit card churning (signing up for multiple cards to earn bonuses) is a smart financial strategy. They caution that while it may seem like easy money, the effort, credit score impacts, and potential pitfalls often outweigh the benefits. They advocate for a simpler approach with a few core cards that offer consistent rewards without the complexity.

### Key Points

- **Don't get busy doing nothing** [1:22] — Brian warns against 'getting busy doing nothing' – spending too much effort on low‑value activities.
- **Hidden costs of churning** [2:14] — Closing credit card accounts quickly can harm your credit rating, and managing many cards increases the risk of missing fees or changes.
- **Opportunity cost of churning** [3:39] — Brian suggests focusing on a side hustle or career improvement to earn more money, rather than chasing small rewards.
- **Simple core-card strategy** [5:50] — Bo and Brian recommend a few core cards (e.g., a 2% back card, Costco card for gas, travel card) that are simple to manage and provide consistent rewards.
- **Credit card companies are smarter** [6:28] — The hosts emphasize that credit card companies are sophisticated and will likely outsmart churners, leading to unintended consequences.

## Transcript

it's brian preston the money guy
all right uh this next question is from
kevin
kevin says what are your thoughts on
credit card churning for sign up bonuses
if you're a responsible user seems like
an easy way to make a couple thousand
dollars a year with minimal effort
so i'm going to expand upon this
question because this is what kevin's
really asking hey i see this opportunity
and i can go do this credit card thing
where i sign up and change and sign up
and change and transfer and change and
transfer and change
should i do that am i if i'm
would a good financial mutant do that is
that a way i should think about it or is
there a different way i should approach
and think through that type of decision
making
kevin's a financial mutant because he
asked this question certainly this is
the mindset i love the mindset because
all of us it's kind of because i'm very
similar in the fact that i remember when
not coming from money
reading the wealthy barber and
millionaire next door right as i
graduated college and i was just on fire
to figure out how i could maximize every
dollar that came in my control and you
can see that in all the underpinnings of
what our teachings and and what we've
done
um and i commend kevin for thinking that
but i wanna as an older financial mutant
i wanna i wanna i have a saying that
immediately pops in my brain is don't
get busy doing nothing
because there are so many things that
you will exert calories for
to do and you're going to look back
later and go
what that was a lot of work for not much
incremental benefit and this is the
thing i think when you find out that
there's this opportunity of what's
perceived as free money
free money with from these credit card
companies if as long as you're keeping
up with it you can bounce around take
advantage of the sign up bonuses and
there are websites that will help you do
this treat this as a hobby um and and
that's fine but there's a part of me i
think of you you and i go back to the
calories that we're talking about
if you look at what your time is worth
and the calories exerted to make sure
you keep this up that you know that
you're managing because these accounts
as you're opening up all these accounts
you're not going to want to run around
and immediately start closing them
because if you do that you'll find very
quickly closing credit card accounts can
have a detrimental impact on your credit
rating so you need to be you need to
really think about the curation of your
credit record as well when you're
opening up all these credit cards and
you don't want to you're not trying to
set some guinness world record of having
all these accounts like there are people
that are doing that type of stuff
because i just think it's more you're
creating more opportunity for you to
screw something up because what if all
of a sudden you didn't pay attention to
all the disclosures they're sending that
credit card that you set up to get a few
thousand miles or rewards they start
charging you 95 a year
for annual fees
and they they charge you the annual fee
you're not running that credit card
because you use that four years ago so
you could go on this trip for free and
get a hotel
well you didn't you didn't have that on
auto pay
and they they charge you interest then
they ding your credit card because
there's just a lot of things that can
slip through the cracks even for a
financial mutant that i would tell you
to be careful of this siren song because
this is your your you've got your boat
headed towards the destination of
becoming a financial mutant and creating
incredible success but you hear this
awesome sound from these mermaids that
are you know trying to take you off
track and get you trapped in something
this is a siren song i would focus on
don't get busy doing nothing use your
financial mutant skills to figure out if
there's a side hustle or a way you can
better yourself
in your own career go make more money
invest more money in things that will
actually earn you eight to ten percent a
year and not just you know nibble around
the edges now
i'll leave a little bit because
i would focus on getting a core card
um i would focus on you know maybe if
there's something that fits into your
hobbies and other activities that
benefits you but i would not be chasing
having 26 cards in under my control yeah
it's you know it's interesting brian you
you just hit on something i was on the
phone with buddy yesterday we're about
to go on a trip and i was like oh i was
like hey i was gonna i was gonna go to
the atm because i needed cash for this
trip and but i got an email from costco
that said my you know you get your
annual rewards thing right yeah i got
mine and i was like i'm just gonna go to
costco and i'm gonna go ahead and redeem
this thing and that will save me a trip
day 18 was like he said costco just
gives you money it's like well yeah you
know i've got the car and he's like you
spend that much at colorado no i don't
spend that much at costco but i use this
for
eating out or filling the blank or
something like he's like wait what and
so i walked them through the three or
four cards that i use
and it was like very concise and very
well i use this one for when i travel
and i use this one on amazon and i use
this one for eating out and it was
simple that doesn't take me a whole lot
of energy or effort and those dollars
those rewards do just kind of build up
if i were trying to implement this
strategy where i'm like signing up for
all these new ones and
i just don't know that the
benefit would be worth it i don't i
don't know that you call it the cost to
fund ratio right yeah i don't know that
the the utility i would derive from that
would justify the additional time that
it would take to do that but you have to
make that assessment for yourself you
have to determine okay what is my time
actually worth and is doing this a good
use of my time or exactly i said could
that time be better deployed so towards
some other activity well realize these
credit card companies are brilliant i
mean the way they make you churn through
different categories by different
quarters does anybody really know what
what's going on i think the only thing i
remember is that the fourth quarter of
every year discover card is good for
amazon that's it i don't know any of the
other categories so i think bo just hit
on something that's very powerful
i like having a core card that gives you
two percent back on everything and then
he mentioned like the costco card is
great because it gives you four percent
back on like gas yep even if you're not
buying it at costco that's right um and
then you know they use it for travel and
there's three percent backgrounds
on restaurants and travel i think and
then two percent one it's it's a really
good card
in in some ca
respects and
like bo said it's consistent
you don't have to waste any calories
trying to figure out what's the best
category or card to use
focus on that because you're going to
figure out that you think you're so
smart and get cute with these credit
card companies by getting all these
initial rewards
they are smarter than us that's right
they have whole departments trying to
sell this stuff to you um and i just
don't want you to get trapped in
something of unintended consequences
when maybe you just need a few good core
cards that you by the way are paying off
monthly you guys know we give you access
to credit card
use credit card debt is no go
you can't if you can't if you're running
credit card debt you need to cut them up
get rid of them go t-total status on
them but if you are a responsible
financial mutant
use the benefits of some of the core
cards don't get cute with it because
they will it will catch up with you in
the long term