What's In My Wallet - Winter 2026 (Strategy Update)

[00:01] year and the first quarter in 2026, that means it's time for a quick update on jump right into things with the first credit card here where I'm going to one of three brand new credit cards that we'll officially be learning more about

[00:14] uploaded. And that, of course, is going to be one of the new Built 2.0 cards. So, right now, as I'm filming this on January 7th, Build hasn't publicly these three cards are going to be, even though there's now a ton of rumors and

[00:26] over on Reddit. But what we do know directly from what Bill has said is that one card's going to have no annual fee, one card's going to cost $95 per year, $495 per year. Now, like I said, there's a bunch of rumors and supposed leaks out

[00:40] unconfirmed information that we're seeing is kind of all over the place cards, different names, and different multipliers and benefits. So, it's these new cards are going to look like, and what all this stuff actually means

[00:53] Now, I'm not going to speculate on anything because my unpopular opinion is say about their new cards and how earning points on mortgages is going to bad or good. But what I will say here is that if any of these rumors are true,

[01:08] through some massive changes. However, as of now, I do expect that I'll be new build cards myself in some capacity once we have access to them. So, here's an upcoming build event that's happening in just a day or two after this current

[01:23] So, on January 14th, Built's hosting an event to finally reveal everything their new program. And then shortly after that event, I'm going to make a you need to know about all that stuff. So, if you haven't already, then make

[01:36] don't miss that. But then, starting on January 14th is when current build card to start selecting and then pre-ordering one of those three new cards for a Built 2.0 program. During that transition, for anyone who's curious,

[01:51] not be a new hard inquiry on your credit report if you select a new built card. be open for you with Cardless if you choose to transition over to Built 2.0 like I'll be doing because Cardless is now going to be the new serer of built

[02:05] transition, what's going to happen is that my old Wells Fargo built Mastercard 6th. and then I'm going to have the option to choose to either close that existing Wells Fargo account or I could just keep it open and it's going to be

[02:18] Fargo autograph card. Now, I did see a comment on a previous video where a going to choose to keep that autograph card during this whole transition. And for me, I do plan to keep that autograph account open because again, it has no

[02:31] that much downside for me to keep it open personally. For other people you do close that account during the built transition if you don't want that that you are going to lose the credit limit on that account, but the account

[02:43] itself is going to stay on your credit report for up to 10 years if it's closed a credit card account really isn't that big of a deal for most people who have a more mature credit profile. But in my opinion, I just don't like canceling a

[02:55] especially in a case like this where I already have several years of good I've accumulated while it was with built. Also, I've said this in another recent video about seven amazing credit cards that no one really uses, but the

[03:08] a highly underrated option for the average person because it gets 3x points per dollar on a bunch of categories like restaurants, travel, gas, transit, plans. For the hardcore credit card optimizers out there, you will not get a

[03:22] the autograph card like this. But to me, I'm okay with that because this card soon anyway. And also as someone who reviews a lot of credit cards here for keeping this card is going to be different than yours and that plays a

[03:36] would be good to sort of document my initial thoughts here on Built 2.0 prior expecting that I'm going to get one of those new Built 2.0 cards for my wallet setup here in Q1 of 2026. But I really do have to run the numbers once I know

[03:50] look like without just speculating. All right, next here. Let's move over to the no annual fee Discover it cashback card that'll also be in my wallet for Q1 of this alongside a points earning card from Build as well as a few other points

[04:04] year that is going to go along with my overall plan to have more of a hybrid cashback and travel setup this year in 2026. Now, the Discover it card of course is famous for earning 5% cash back on the first $1,500 of spending on

[04:17] change every 3 months. And for this quarter from January through March of 2026, those categories are going to include grocery stores, wholesale clubs, and select streaming services. So, out of those three categories, I'm really

[04:29] Discover card for wholesale clubs the most because I've got another card here later on. And recently, I actually got a membership to BJ's wholesale club that's quarter with Discover. Now, truth be told, I probably would have joined

[04:42] to me. But for anyone watching this who does have a Costco membership, you might a credit card inside of a physical Costco store, you're only going to be that this Discover category for wholesale clubs is not going to work at

[04:56] for being a BJ's member is that they American Express, and Discover. And to me, I'm fine with earning 5% cash back versus my other option of earning either 2x or 1.5x points or miles with either

[05:10] Freedom Unlimited, respectively. That's points from any one of the major transferable points currencies is that I each, which is going to be around the average that I know I'm able to get when

[05:23] I go around and transfer those points to book travel. So earning 2x miles per becomes worth 4% back in value at that cent point rate and 5% back at wholesale clubs with the Discover it card this quarter for Q1. Therefore, is going to

[05:36] beat 4% in value on the Venture X. Now, for streaming, I could put that on the this quarter. But the most expensive streaming service I pay for right now is Hulu Plus Live TV, and that just goes on my MX Platinum card because I get $25

[05:49] entertainment credit. So, I might move payments for things like Netflix and YouTube Premium over to the Discover it card if I can. But honestly, I'm not a rewards on such smaller automatic subscriptions like that because it

[06:03] then remember to move around which card is used for what for those things in the past is I've actually used my built masterard to pay for any automatic card had a requirement for five transactions per statement period in

[06:17] payments for subscriptions on that card really helped me to automate meeting of filming this, I don't know if that same requirement is going to be around to have a better update on this on next quarter's what's my wallet video. All

[06:31] got the Chase Freedom Flex in my wallet for Q1 of 2026, which is going to be another rotating category card. So, just like the Discover it, the Freedom Flex also earns 5% back on up to $1,500 in total combined purchases each quarter in

[06:45] months. Right now from January through March, those categories are going to be Norwegian Cruise Lines, dining and the American Heart Association. So those are in my opinion here, we have kind of been seeing them devalue the categories on

[06:58] one category that I'm going to be focusing on the most here that's super you'll see the Freedom Flex being advertised as earning 5% cash back on this quarter, you're actually going to be earning 5x Ultimate Rewards points

[07:12] here because if you hold one of the Chase Sapphire cards like I do, what you points earned from the Freedom Flex with one of those Sapphire cards. That allows the 5x points earned here with the Freedom Flex with the transfer partners

[07:27] known for having. So again, that means I'm able to get closer to around that 2 cent per point target redemption rate that I have. However, there's one really on dining with this card when it's one of the rotating categories. and that's

[07:40] earning 5x points per dollar, but instead you're actually earning 7x 3x dining multiplier on the Freedom Flex and the way these different multipliers way this works is that the Freedom Flex normally earns 5x points on rotating

[07:55] quarterly categories and then 3x points on dining. But the way Chase structures base 1x point per dollar on everything and then an additional 4x points on rotating categories to get a total of 5x or an additional 2x points on dining to

[08:08] get a total of 3x. But when dining is a rotating category itself and it overlaps with that existing dining category, you're able to get all those multipliers combined. So that's 1x base point, 2x additional points for the standard

[08:20] dining category, and then 4x additional points for the rotating dining category. And that is how you get a total of 7x points per dollar on dining for Q1, a no annual fee credit card to earn. Now, this 7x on dining is going to be

[08:33] quarter because we have a trip coming up to Hawaii very soon where we're going to because I have my own Freedom Flex and then my wife has her own Freedom Flex, that means we can get 7x back on up to $1,500 of dining spend this quarter on

[08:47] my card and then 7x back on up to another $1,500 of dining spend on her card as well. That's $3,000 of combined dining spend at that elevated for all that Hawaii trip and all the other dining spend that we normally do

[09:00] have a trip coming up to Dublin and Edinburgh later in Q1 where I do not dining. And that's because the one downside to this card is that it does have a 3% foreign transaction fee. I like to avoid foreign transaction fees

[09:13] at all costs, even though 7X points minus a 3% foreign transaction fee is choice for dining on that trip to Dublin and Edinburgh is also going to be my that, of course, is the American Express Gold card. So, the MX Gold earns 4x

[09:27] points at restaurants worldwide and 4x points on groceries at US supermarkets, groceries in my setup. However, I am really curious to see if groceries does three new bill cards because that could potentially shake things up in the

[09:40] earning Forex points at restaurants worldwide on the Gold Card with no foreign transaction fees is it can kind of be a hit or miss for places outside probably going to be times where I'll just use another Visa or Mastercard on

[09:54] to. All right, next up here is going to be my catch-all card. And for this, it's always been for the past few years, where my wife and I like to use either my Chase Freedom Unlimited or her Capital 1 Venture X. The Freedom

[10:07] while the Venture X earns 2x on everything. And the only real advantage to using the slightly lower Freedom Unlimited to us is that earning chase So that then we can take those chase points and use them for high transfers

[10:19] balance of Chase points right now though. So for the most part this up using the Venture X as our catchall card in most situations. The Venture X is also good because it has no foreign transaction fees and it's a Visa card.

[10:32] So that makes it a very good no-brainer default option to use outside the US on After that, another card that we've always got in my wallet is going to be which I think everyone out there should have, regardless of whether you're on

[10:45] team travel or team cashback. The custom cash earns 5% cash back on your top spending category each bailing cycle on up to $500 of spending. And those categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel,

[10:57] services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment. That 5% cash back is also earned as 5x city thank you points per the City Strata cards, like the Premiere or the Elite like I do, then what you

[11:11] earned with the custom cash and the Strata cards. And that's going to give 1:1 transfer partners, including American Airlines. Now, so in my wallet setup for this quarter, the custom cash is only being used as a gas credit card

[11:24] as our highest spend category by card as a grocery store card, which I think would be very smart as well. Cache with the City Double Cache that earns 2x on everything along with the

[11:36] City Strata Premiere which earns 3x on air travel, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas, and EV charging. That trifecta setup is becoming a lot more shifting over to that setup as the year progresses. That's because it's a super

[11:49] cheap setup at only $95 per year total across those cards. And because I'm where Philly is an American Airlines hub, I'm flying American Airlines like 80% of the time. And so having these city points to transfer over to American

[12:02] Next, for my business credit card, I'm just going to keep things super simple and use my Chase Inc. Business Unlimited for almost all of my business spend at fee and it earns a flat 1.5x points per

[12:14] easy when my business expenses are kind of all over the place. I may have some that could require a different card with ideas in mind for that. But for now, this card gets the job done and just

[12:26] keeps things very organized for me for tax purposes as well. For my debit card, Visa Platinum debit card that's linked to my Schwab Bank investor checking inside of this account, but it's a very good option for me to have for getting

[12:40] anywhere in the world. That's because this debit card allows me to have unlimited ATM fee rebates for cash withdrawals worldwide. And I've actually great option to have for those different occasions where I maybe do need some

[12:53] that, even when I'm out traveling in another country that uses a different currency. But let me know what's in your wallet as well this quarter because I'm subscribe and stay tuned later on this week for an upcoming video going over

[13:06] new Built 2.0 cards and program. And also, if you haven't already, then make video over here on the screen next that goes over my entire 2026 credit card strategy in more detail. But as always, thanks so much for watching and I'll see

[13:19] thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.