You will hear this advert nauseam at TPG: In relation to the finest bank card, there is not one. And by that, I imply there isn’t any single card that magically suits each particular person’s particular wants.
For instance, one in every of my largest bills is groceries, so I’ve a card that earns a excessive reward price on this class.
Then again, one in every of my pal’s largest month-to-month bills is her lease, so she has the Bilt Mastercard®* in her pockets to web Bilt Factors (as much as 100,000 factors in a calendar 12 months; use the cardboard 5 occasions every assertion interval to earn factors) on each lease cost she makes with out incurring a transaction price (see charges and costs).
Although the Bilt card will be an asset for nonrenters, it isn’t in my pockets as a result of I do not lease and select to prioritize different merchandise that present me extra worth.
I might inform you that among the best playing cards you will get is the American Specific® Gold Card as a result of it earns glorious charges in two of my high bonus classes. My pal would say the identical concerning the Bilt card — and that is what I really like about bank card rewards. There’s an excellent product for each form of finances and spender.
For those who’re fascinated by your first — or subsequent — card, try the 4 that I really like and advocate essentially the most.
*TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.
Associated: Must you pay your lease with Bilt? We crunch the numbers
Evaluating my high picks for the perfect bank cards
My high 4 bank cards earn factors and money again, the reward currencies I at present discover most precious. Here is how they stack up.
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| Card title | Welcome provide | Incomes charges | Annual price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see charges and costs) | Earn 125,000 factors after spending $6,000 on purchases throughout the first three months from account opening. |
|
$795 |
| American Specific Gold Card | Discover out your provide and see in case you are eligible for as excessive as 100,000 Membership Rewards factors after spending $6,000 on purchases throughout the first six months of card membership. Welcome provides differ, and also you might not be eligible for a suggestion. |
|
$325 (see charges and costs) |
| Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card | Earn 175,000 factors after spending $6,000 throughout the first six months of card membership. |
|
$550 (see charges and costs) |
| Blue Money Most popular® Card from American Specific | Earn a $250 assertion credit score after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases throughout the first six months of account opening. |
Money again is acquired within the type of Reward {Dollars} that may be redeemed as a press release credit score and at amazon.com checkout. |
$0 introductory provide for the primary 12 months, then $95 (see charges and costs) |
Chase Sapphire Reserve
The Sapphire Reserve stays my all-time favourite card, even after the annual price elevated from $550 to $795.
First, this card earns my favourite reward foreign money: Chase Final Rewards factors. I really like that this foreign money is transferable, and I sometimes transfer factors from my Sapphire Reserve account to loyalty applications like Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership, United MileagePlus and World of Hyatt.
Actually, earlier this 12 months, I used 15,000 Chase Final Rewards factors to fly again dwelling to Pennsylvania after a fast jaunt to Oahu, Hawaii, saving me over $300. Although this redemption was kind of on par with TPG’s October 2025 valuation of Final Rewards factors at 2.05 cents apiece, I all the time want reserving a flight when there is a switch bonus since meaning I get to maintain extra of my factors for future travels.
Sadly, no bonuses had been accessible after I booked my flight, so I nonetheless used my factors to keep away from paying greater than $300 for a one-way ticket.
Apart from providing high-value factors, the Sapphire Reserve additionally options stable incomes charges in a few of my high spend classes (Lyft, flights, accommodations and eating) and is the right journey companion due to world-class insurance coverage and protections, together with major rental automotive insurance coverage and journey delay reimbursement. Plus, there are not any international transaction charges while you make purchases overseas.
Then there are the assertion credit, which, if used of their entirety, greater than offset the cardboard’s annual price.
Three of my favorites embody:
- A beneficiant $300 annual journey credit score (in case you’re saving this credit score for a selected buy, understand that it kicks in routinely for any buy that codes as journey)
- As much as $120 in annual in-app Lyft credit disbursed as as much as $10 every month (by Sept. 30, 2027; excludes Wait & Save, bike and scooter rides)
- As much as $120 for International Entry, TSA PreCheck or Nexus each 4 years.
Associated: 6 lesser-known Chase Sapphire Reserve advantages that repay huge
For extra info, try our evaluate of the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Apply right here: Chase Sapphire Reserve
American Specific Gold Card
Relying on the week, the Amex Gold fluctuates between being my most-used and second-most-used card.
My Sapphire Reserve is mostly my catchall card except I am looking for groceries or eating out, through which case my Amex Gold is the star of the present. I like to host and cook dinner for family and friends, and whether or not I am holding it easy with rooster, rice and beans or zhuzhing it up with a rib-eye steak and lobster, the Amex Gold earns me one other favourite reward foreign money every time I faucet to pay: American Specific Membership Rewards factors.
I’ve transferred Membership Rewards factors to airline companions, together with Delta SkyMiles and JetBlue TrueBlue (although I typically do not use this particular companion if I can keep away from doing so, for the reason that switch ratio is 250 Membership Rewards factors to 200 JetBlue TrueBlue factors).
I really used some Membership Rewards factors for my Oahu journey along with the Chase Final Rewards factors I beforehand talked about. The Amex factors received my mother from New York to Seattle, the place we rendezvoused earlier than flying all the way down to Honolulu collectively for a stunning mother-daughter weekend. With out transferable factors, I would not have been capable of share this expertise with my mother.
For extra info, try our evaluate of the Amex Gold.
Apply right here: American Specific Gold Card
Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card
For those who’re contemplating making use of for a cobranded resort card, let or not it’s the Hilton Aspire.
Along with glorious incomes charges on Hilton resort stays, this card is loaded with advantages that offset the $550 annual price and are simple to maximise.
For instance, this card provides one in every of my favourite perks: an as much as $200 annual flight credit score every calendar 12 months. This assertion credit score is disbursed as as much as $50 per quarter for flight purchases made instantly with an airline or by amextravel.com.
The Hilton Aspire can also be an important journey card as a result of, just like the Sapphire Reserve, it doesn’t cost international transaction charges (see charges and costs), and it comes with an as much as $209 Clear Plus assertion credit score annually while you join a membership and pay with this card (topic to auto-renewal; enrollment required).
The very best perk of being a Hilton Aspire cardholder, nonetheless, is the as much as $400 Hilton resort assertion credit you get every calendar 12 months (as much as $200 biannually) for eligible purchases at eligible properties.
As somebody who maximizes all three of those assertion credit — at properties like Las Vegas Hilton at Resorts World in August 2024 and Hilton Waikiki Seashore Resort & Spa in August 2025— the Hilton Aspire has confirmed its price and greater than earned its spot in my pockets.
I’ve totally maxed out the resort credit score at each properties, and it made an enormous distinction in each journey budgets since I used the credit score to cowl dinners, plus afternoon espresso pick-me-ups after busy morning excursions. Eating out is among the pricier points of touring, so anytime I can get a break due to a press release credit score, I make the most of it.
Associated: Easy methods to use the as much as $400 Hilton Aspire resort credit score annually
For extra info, try our evaluate of the Hilton Aspire card.
Apply right here: Hilton Honors American Specific Aspire Card
Blue Money Most popular Card from American Specific
For those who’re a fan of a multipurpose card, you may simply love the Amex Blue Money Most popular as a lot as I do.
Actually, this is among the playing cards I most frequently advocate to these seeking to get into bank card rewards in the event that they’re keen to pay an annual price. It helps that the Blue Money Most popular options an introductory $0 price for the primary 12 months, which provides you loads of time to determine if this card is an effective match for you earlier than you incur its $95 annual price in 12 months two.
In addition to incomes stable reward charges in widespread classes like U.S. streaming (6% money again), transit (3% money again) and U.S. fuel fill-ups (3% money again), this card earns a whopping 6% money again at U.S. supermarkets till you hit a $6,000 spend cap annually. If this occurs, you go from 6% to a 1% cash-back price for subsequent purchases.
This was one in every of my first playing cards and stays one in every of my oldest bank card accounts. I initially received it after I realized I may earn greater than a flat 1% cash-back price on grocery retailer runs.
I nonetheless use this card for smaller grocery store purchases, and yearly, due to the elevated reward charges talked about above, it nets me about $200 in money again. When this was my grocery retailer go-to (earlier than my Amex Gold), I simply earned a minimum of $400 in money again with this card.
Observe: Money again is acquired within the type of Reward {Dollars} that may be redeemed as a press release credit score and at amazon.com checkout.
Associated: 2 grocery playing cards, twice the rewards: Why I double up at supermarkets
And that is not even the perfect half. The cherry on high is the as much as $120 Disney Streaming assertion credit score every calendar 12 months (as much as $10 every month; legitimate for U.S. web sites solely; enrollment is required; topic to auto-renewal). This consists of Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu.
For those who max this credit score out, it fully offsets the cardboard’s annual price after which some. That is an enormous win in my ebook, particularly in case you already pay a subscription to stream content material on any of those platforms, like I do.
For extra info, try our evaluate of the Blue Money Most popular.
Apply right here: Blue Money Most popular Card from American Specific
How I selected my high playing cards
This checklist consists of the playing cards I exploit most frequently. I exploit my Sapphire Reserve and Amex Gold day by day, whereas I exploit my Hilton Aspire and Blue Money Most popular with barely much less frequency however nonetheless sufficient to earn me my most popular reward currencies.
These 4 playing cards present unimaginable worth for my kind of spending — particularly within the journey and eating classes. To be taught extra about how I compiled this checklist and the way TPG applies rigorous pointers to every card we evaluate and price, try our methodology.
Backside line
For me, the perfect bank cards work double-time, netting me transferable factors or money again, and provide perks similar to assertion credit I can simply use. I wish to diversify my bank card rewards to have numerous redemption choices after I’m able to ebook a visit (utilizing factors) or full a web based order (utilizing money again).
Whereas the 4 playing cards featured on this checklist are my present favorites as a result of they supply terrific worth, I do have extra playing cards — with zero annual charges — that see much less motion however nonetheless provide advantages I exploit usually sufficient to make them price holding. Whether or not you are beginning out in your bank card journey or are in your tenth utility, keep in mind that the perfect playing cards are all the time those that offer you perks that fit your spending and finances.
For charges and costs of the Bilt Mastercard, click on right here.
For rewards and advantages of the Bilt Mastercard, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Gold, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Hilton Aspire Card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Blue Money Most popular, click on right here.
Associated: The very best rewards bank cards so as to add to your pockets
