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Improved 150k offer. The revamped Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is now offering a 150,000 Ultimate Rewards points bonus. This card stacks a high annual fee with a long list of perks. I don’t know about $6,000, but we are definitely talking an easy $1,000+ in net first year value for this card. Highlights:

• 150,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $6,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• $300 Annual Travel Credit. Every year, the card will automatically rebate you back up to $300 in travel purchases such as airfare and hotel nights charged on your card.
• NEW: $250 Chase Travel hotel credit for 2026. Get up to $250 in statement credits through December 31, 2026 on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings for stays with IHG® Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. Two night minimum required. If you are careful, you can stack this credit with the “Edit” credit below.
• $500 in annual credits for prepaid bookings at The Edit hotels. This is a specific list of higher-end hotels. Broken down into $250 from January to June and $250 from July to December. Two-night minimum required. You also get extra perks like $100 property credit, free breakfast for two, and room upgrades (if available).
• $300 StubHub credit. Get up to $150 in statement credits from January through June and again from July through December for a maximum of $300 annually for StubHub and viagogo purchases through 12/31/27. Activation required.
• Free Apple TV+ and Apple Music subscriptions through 6/22/27 — a value of $250 annually, as Apple TV+ runs $12.99/month and Apple Music is $10.99/month normally.
• $10 Lyft credit monthly, worth up to $120 annually, to use on rides through 9/30/27.
• $10 per month back on eligible Peloton memberships in statement credits through 12/31/27, for a maximum of $120 annually. Activation required.
• $300 in annual dining credits at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables. This is a specific list of restaurants. Broken down into $150 from January through June and $150 from July through December for a maximum of $300 annually for dining at restaurants that are part of Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables with reservations through OpenTable.
• 8X points on all purchases through Chase Travel, including The Edit hotels.
• 4X points on flights and hotels booked direct.
• 3X points on dining worldwide at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services.
• 1X points on all other purchases. (1 point per $1 spent.)
• Up to $120 statement credit towards Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck® every four years.
• Airport lounge access via Priority Pass Select membership. Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass Select. Plus, get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass.
• New: Access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, which are new airport lounges starting at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs.
• Annual fee is $795; $195 for each additional authorized user.

Note the following offer language:

This credit card is unavailable to you if you currently have one open. The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you currently have any other personal Sapphire cards open, previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. We may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed, as well as other factors in determining your bonus eligibility.

Ultimate Rewards points. This card also allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points into hotel and/or airline miles. Transfer to United Airlines, British Airways, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest, Hyatt Hotels, IHG Hotels, and Marriott Hotels at a ratio of 1 Ultimate Rewards point = 1 mile/hotel point. Miles redemption continue to offer great value for savvy travelers, especially for last-minute travel and business class seats.

Personally, my preferred redemption method is Hyatt points, where I can consistently get over 2 cents per points of value for my hotel bookings. Recently, I have also been using my Ultimate Rewards points on the new Air Canada option.

Cash redemptions are a simple and easy option, but the conversion is a straight 100 points = $1.

Booking on Chase Travel portal. Book flights, hotels, car rentals, and activities directly through Chase. Points are worth up to 2 cents each on select hotels, meaning 100,000 points = $2,000 in travel. However, I’d compare with the cash cost if you booked directly through the hotel.

Sharing points. Ultimate Rewards points are instantly transferable to other accounts like family members, as long as they have their own Chase card with Ultimate Rewards as an authorized user (free with Chase Freedom). This way, you can pool points together for transfers and redemptions if you like.

Additional card benefits:

• Dedicated customer service line with a live person that answers the phone 24/7. No waiting or complicated phone trees.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Auto Rental Coverage. Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. Most other cards only offer secondary coverage that kicks in only after the deductible of your individual insurance policy is used. (Specific limitations apply to New York residents: Auto Rental Coverage – inside the United States coverage is secondary to your personal automobile insurance.)
• Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance. If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.
• Trip Delay Reimbursement. If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 6 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement. – Up to $2,000 per bag and $10,000 for all covered travelers per trip.
• Enjoy special car rental privileges from National Car Rental, Avis, and Silvercar when you book with your card.

Bottom line. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card has a huge sign-up bonus, huge annual fee, and huge list of perks. It’s not for everyone, but there is definitely a lot of value for those that can take advantage of its annual credits.

Shopping cashback portal Rakuten is offering an additional bonus on select Bank of America credit cards. The values may fluctuate as with all their payout rates, but currently I am seeing the following:

• $250 cash back on the BofA Travel Rewards credit card.
• $150 cash back on the BofA Customized Card Rewards credit card.

This is on top of the existing sign-up bonus for each card, so it should be worth clicking through Rakuten before applying. I usually don’t experience 100% perfect tracking from shopping portals in general, but Rakuten has been pretty reliable for me. If you don’t have an account yet, you can open a new Rakuten account through my referral link for an extra $50 bonus after you spend your first $50 through the portal.

Historically, these are two of my favorite BofA rewards credit cards. They have no annual fee, but really work best on an ongoing basis if you can move over stocks/ETFs to Merrill Edge brokerage and hit the highest tiers on their Preferred Rewards program. Unfortunately, BofA recently raised the balance requirements. If you are an existing Preferred Rewards member, you may have an extra year before the change takes effect, depending on your anniversary month.

Still, even without the Preferred Rewards, the first-year value for both cards will get you in the $500 range when you add both bonuses together. Keep in mind that you can buy Costco gift cards after picking the “Online Shopping” category of the Customized Cash card (which can earn 6% cash back during first year, up to $2,500 per quarter).

Vanguard has a new article 50 years. 50 facts. Indexing since 1976. with some interesting bits for investing enthusiasts.

I feel like younger folks simply know index investing as the default for essentially every single 401k plan out there. Most own index funds without even thinking about it. However, 50 years ago, it was called “Bogle’s Folly” when a young Jack Bogle went against Wall Street and introduced his index fund to everyday people.

Even 25 years ago when I started out, you really had to make a conscious choice to buy a Vanguard index fund. If you didn’t open an account directly at Vanguard, you were looking at high commissions on every trade because Vanguard refused to pay kickbacks to brokers to keep them on “No Transaction Fee” lists. Vanguard may send me glossy brochures now, but back in the day, they were super-thrifty with zero ads.

I always find it amazing that Jack Bogle started thinking this up as an undergraduate in college! It took him another 25 years to create the retail index fund, which is also an impressive level of stubbornness. Fact #6:

6. In his 1951 undergraduate thesis for Princeton University, Mr. Bogle highlighted the crucial role of costs in the long-term returns earned by investors. He identified costs as a drag on the performance of the industry, which was then entirely actively managed.

I think it’s important to remember that index funds won despite being hated by Wall Street because well, they made people a lot of money. Their performance is excellent, and every year that record is cemented even further. Fact 32:

32. What if, at the fund’s inception in 1976, you’d put $10,000 into what are now called Investor Shares of Vanguard 500 Index Fund? The investment could have grown to nearly $2.2 million by February 28, 2026—illustrating the powers of discipline, low-cost investing, and compounding.

Index funds aren’t magic. They mostly win for the simple reason of low costs. This is important because Wall Street will keep continuing to spin out new products that offer you the possibility of higher returns while giving them the certainty of higher fees in their pocket.

YieldMAX ETFs. High costs. Buffer ETFs. High costs. Private equity. High costs. 2X Leverage ETFs. High costs.

Don’t let the allure of a successful gamble distract you from how badly high costs tilt the odds against you. Over time, the house is going to win.

I remain grateful for Jack Bogle and his unwavering message. Save your money and buy all the winning businesses (own the entire haystack). Enjoy maximizing your returns by keeping costs low. Buy low-cost index funds and ignore the rest of the advertising noise. It worked. It works.