The Chase Trifecta – the perfect introduction to travel hacking

I’m a huge fan of the Chase trifecta not only because of what it offers but I also like how easy it is for those people that are just starting out. It’s also a very low cost which is very helpful. Like a lot of things in life, starting something new often sounds good on paper but actually doing it and sticking to it is another thing. I’m sure there are a number of people that think about getting started with travel hacking and then just drop out because it’s too confusing or time consuming. I’d hate to see someone spend a lot of money on something like that. The Chase trifecta only costs $95 a year (for most) so it’s incredibly affordable for everything it offers.

While there are a few different versions of the Chase trifecta, the best one for beginners is to get the Chase Freedom Unlimited, the Chase Freedom Flex and one of the Chase Sapphire cards. It might sound strange to get three different cards from the same bank but this is what separates travel hackers from regular people. Remember, travel hackers focus on strategy and this is one of the best strategies out there. It not only focuses on sign up bonuses and earnings, but it increases your redemption as well.

Having multiple cards is foreign to a lot of people so it can be scary or just strange to some. I know because I’ve got some really weird reactions when I try to explain this to people in real life. You have to let all of that go because as long as you do everything the right way (which we’ll explain) this will be a great way to earn a ton of miles.

Deciding what card to start with is a personal decision and I don’t think the order really matters much on paper. Your personal situation may dictate the order. You see, each card has a different sign up bonus and different bonus categories. Before you make any decisions, finish the 201 level courses so you can learn about each card and then decide what order you’re gonna go in. However, we’ll still discuss some examples.

The Chase Sapphire cards have a high minimum spend than the Chase Freedom cards. If you think you might have trouble meeting the minimum spend now but it’ll be easier to meet that in a few months, you are better off with a Flex card first. Of course, if you have a bunch of spending to do now that you won’t have later, it might be better to get the Sapphire card now. The Chase Freedom card has rotating bonus categories so if you don’t think you can do much with that bonus category this quarter, it might be better to put that off for later. Again, it comes down to strategy.

Regardless of what order you do this in, you are going to wind up with three Chase credit cards: both of the Freedom cards and one of the Sapphire cards We’ll discuss which Sapphire card to choose and why that’s important in another post so read that before you apply for anything. Assuming you choose the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you’ll have two credits that are free and one that will cost $95 a year. So for $95, you’ll finish up with over 100,000 points (or possibly more!). You’ll then be able to transfer those points to a variety of partners for maximum value.

Besides meeting those sign up bonuses, you are going to use all 3 cards on a regular basis (until you get further into the hobby anyway). You’ll optimize your spending to squeeze every bonus point out of your regular spending and then pay off all of your cards on time so that you don’t incur any interest payments. Once you have mastered all of this, you can then decide how far into this hobby you want to get. Never feel pressured to do more than you are comfortable with as everyone has different circumstances. Let’s break this down into more detail by discussing each card.