{"id":31964,"date":"2025-01-16T21:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T21:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/finance\/im-overwhelmed-with-credit-cards-and-bank-account-bonuses\/"},"modified":"2025-01-16T21:39:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T21:39:25","slug":"im-overwhelmed-with-credit-cards-and-bank-account-bonuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=31964","title":{"rendered":"I’m Overwhelmed With Credit Cards And Bank Account Bonuses"},"content":{"rendered":"


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For nearly a decade now, I\u2019ve been hitting up these credit card and bank account signup bonuses like it was a part-time job. In many ways, these bonuses were like a part-time job for me. Indeed, in most years, I was able to earn 5-figures worth of signup bonuses, as well as thousands of dollars worth of credit card points and miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earning these sign-up bonuses is often portrayed as easy \u2013 considered free money by a lot of people. However, the truth is that these points aren\u2019t really free. It takes work to find, organize, and meet all the requirements to qualify for these bonuses. That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s difficult work, but you still have to use your limited time and brain power to find and get these bonuses.<\/p>\n

For a long time, I had no trouble keeping up with all these bonuses. My typical morning involved heading over to a site like Doctor of Credit<\/a> and scanning all of the new bonuses and promotions. I\u2019d then sign up for some bank accounts or open some credit cards when I saw a good offer. In a typical year, I\u2019d usually open 30 or more bank accounts. I\u2019d also add 10 or more credit cards between me and my wife. These signup bonuses translated to thousands of dollars of additional income every year.<\/p>\n

The extra income I earned was helpful, but more importantly, it was satisfying for me and appealed to my desire to optimize all aspects of my life.<\/p>\n

Getting Overwhelmed\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Things have changed a lot now that I have two young children. Instead of enjoying a cup of coffee and sitting at my kitchen table in the morning, I\u2019m hustling to get two kids fed, dressed, and out the door (on our cargo bike<\/a>, of course). This is a far cry from the peaceful, \u201chow I start my morning\u201d type videos you see on YouTube and Tik Tok where these creators wake up, spend 2 hours journaling and meditating, have a nice cup of pour-over coffee, read a book, and do whatever other perfect thing they get to do each morning.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019ve felt a little bad now that I\u2019m so unorganized and can\u2019t keep up with all the bonuses. 2024 is going to be, without a doubt, the least I\u2019ve earned from bank bonuses in the last 10 years. I\u2019ve only opened four bank accounts this year, earning a total of $525. I have one bank account where I won\u2019t earn the bonus because I needed to go into the branch to fix an issue I was having and I didn\u2019t have time to do that. It\u2019s a far cry from where I\u2019d normally be, probably several thousand dollars worth of bonuses at this point.<\/p>\n

Credit card bonuses are still doing decently well, although I\u2019ve opened fewer cards this year compared to past years (I\u2019ve opened 7 total cards this year between me and my wife). The bad thing is I\u2019ve been messing up with some of my new cards because I\u2019ve been disorganized and have forgotten to pay some cards on time, getting hit with some late fees as a result. Most of the cards have refunded me, but one bank (Barclays) refuses to budge. Paying fees like this is a major no-no when you\u2019re doing credit card bonuses.<\/p>\n

So yes, I\u2019ve been overwhelmed this year with all of the other things I have going on in my life. That said, it\u2019s important to remind myself that it\u2019s okay not to be perfect with all of these bank and credit card bonuses. Like a lot of people in the financial independence community, I can often get obsessed with optimizing every aspect of my life.\u00a0 But optimizing everything isn\u2019t a necessity.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said before that with finances \u2013 and this rings true with points and miles too \u2013 you don\u2019t need to be perfect<\/a>. It\u2019s okay just to be good enough too.<\/p>\n

I Have Plenty Of Points and Miles<\/h2>\n

Perhaps a big reminder that I need to give myself is that I have more than enough points and miles to accomplish all of the things I want or need to do. It\u2019s an insane amount of points and miles I\u2019ve accumulated, much of it due to all of the optimizing I\u2019ve done in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider this \u2013 on the points front, my wife and I have over 3 million points and miles between our various credit card accounts. I\u2019m still regularly opening new cards too, so even as I spend points, I earn enough to replenish most of the points I use. I\u2019m a family of four, so when I do travel, I need to use a lot of points, but with a family of four, I can\u2019t travel as much as I\u2019d like. At this point, I have far more points and miles than I can reasonably use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is true on the financial side of my life too. I\u2019ve got plenty for what I need and optimizing for every aspect of my life simply isn\u2019t necessary. The extra income from bank account bonuses or side hustles is nice, but I don\u2019t need it to be where I need to be.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Okay To Slow Down<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019re probably the type who wants to optimize every aspect of your life. A lot of this has to do with the gamification aspect of bank account bonuses, points and miles, and financial independence. Like a video game, we all want to end up with the highest score.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not maximizing every aspect of my life. I\u2019m earning less from my side hustles these days. I\u2019m not doing very well with bank account bonuses and the credit card sign-up bonuses. My savings rate isn\u2019t as good as it could be these days given my increased expenses from paying for two kids in daycare, plus all the other things I\u2019m spending money on.<\/p>\n

But I think it\u2019s okay to slow down too. Sometimes, things get busy and it\u2019s okay to take a step back from the craziness of hyper-optimization. When things slow down in my life, maybe I can get back to optimizing everything.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not \u2013 and that\u2019s okay too.<\/p>\n

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This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author\u2019s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.<\/em><\/p>\n

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