How I earned 1 million points in 2023

In 2023, our family earned 1 million points from credit card sign ups and family related referrals.

This was my 12th year as a family travel points nerd but only my first full year as a full-time entrepreneur teaching other people how to do the same.

Here’s the full breakdown of how we earned 1 million points in 2023, with a card by card breakdown.

For the people who like all the details — note that I really don’t track my points earning very methodically. I do use the Travel Freely website to track my credit card sign ups. I actually earned more points than what I’m reporting here because I’m not including other points we earned on spending.

I’m also including my husband and my cards altogether here and not necessarily delineating who earned which bonus.

If you’re just starting out, check out my First Five Cards post, which will provide a more well-rounded card path for beginners.

Chase Ink Cards – I earned 370,000 points

These points came from signing up for three different Chase Ink cards as well as referring each other back and forth. If you were to focus on one set of cards, focus on these.

Micah opened a Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card in late 2022 with a 100,000 point bonus and I also earned a 20,000 point referral bonus because I referred him to this card. Referrals have occasionally been as high as 40,000 points! We also earned 15,000 points while completing the spending on this card.

Note: As of October 7, 2025, referral rules for Chase Ink cards have changed. The new terms state that you will only receive a referral bonus for “a new Chase for business customer”. That means if the person you are referring already has a business card from Chase, you won’t earn a bonus for referring them.

In early 2023, we opened a Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card which had a 90,000 point welcome bonus. We earned another 20,000 point referral bonus for this card. Then we opened a Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card just two months later while it still offered the 90,000 point welcome bonus. During the spending for these cards, we earned another 15,000 points.

Chase Ink cards are some of my very favorite cards to earn points with! That’s because each person can earn bonuses on all of them. Even people with a small side hustle can qualify. And the points – Ultimate Rewards – are my favorite points because they transfer to Hyatt and lots of other partners.

Hilton Cards – I earned 320,000 points

Hilton points are not nearly as valuable as Chase Ultimate Rewards®, but these were easy to earn. Micah and I each opened Hilton Honors American Express Business Cards. We chose to open these primarily because we had some bills due and wanted to earn something from our spending! American Express cards often give an instant card number, which meant we could use them right away. Since American Express generally doesn’t pull your credit report if you are an existing customer, and because these also don’t report to our credit reports because they are business cards, these don’t affect our credit score or 5/24 score at all!

We earned bonuses of 135,000 points, 165,000 points, and a 20,000 point referral bonus.

American Express Membership Rewards® – I earned 221,000 points

These points came from three sources: new card sign ups, retention offers, and opening an American Express Business checking account. I opened a business checking account which earned me 30,000 bonus points. Micah opted to keep the American Express Platinum Card® one more year when he was offered a 40,000 point retention offer. I opened The Business Platinum Card® from American Express which earned me 151,000 points from the welcome bonus and spending throughout the year.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card – I earned 99,000 points

Since 48 months had passed since Micah had last earned a welcome bonus on a Chase Sapphire card, he was able to apply for a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card when it had a limited time bonus of 80,000 points. He also earned 4,000 points from spending and I earned 15,000 points because I referred him to the card.

Note: It used to be that you were eligible to receive a welcome offer once every 48 months, but application rules for this card have changed. Starting in Summer 2025, the terms now state “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.”

Some people are calling this a “once per lifetime rule” but these terms are actually vague and don’t state that. We have seen data points of people being approved for the same card again, and others being denied. The waiting period may vary per person. This applies to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

World of Hyatt Business Credit Card – I earned 90,000 points

In the fall, the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card had a limited time offer when you could earn up to 75,000 points. After spending, we had earned 90,000 points total. This card also helped us re-earn our Hyatt Globalist status.

How we completed spending requirements

A few years ago, we would not have been able to meet all the spending requirements to earn the bonuses on these cards. This year we had a lot of expenses. A lot of these have increased with being self-employed. This was my first full year of being full-time self-employed with this business. My husband is also self-employed this year as a contract nurse.

An example of some expenses we put on our credit cards:

• Monthly Expenses (gas, shopping, groceries)
• Kids Activities (Tae Kwon Do lessons, Swim Team, etc)
• Property Taxes ($10,000 for us between our home and rental property)
• Rental Property Expenses (Including a $4,000 special assessment for a new roof)
• Charitable Donations (we give 10% of our income to non-profits)
• Health Insurance ($1500 a month for our policy we buy on the exchange)
• Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments (I pay a fee to pay these with a credit card)
• Lots of expenses for setting up our new Airbnb

Previously, one of my favorite ways to “spend” money was to open a new bank account that allowed you to fund it with a credit card. You can find a full list here of options but be sure to read data points carefully to check what’s currently working.

What I’m opening in 2024

In 2024, we are already working on three credit card bonuses from cards we opened in late 2023. I did open another Ink card (this time with a 40,000 point referral!) for a different business and also opened an Aeroplan® Credit Card which I plan to use for travel expenses. Micah also opened a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®.

If you’re trying to calculate our 5/24 scores, you’ll noticed that in 2023, we each only opened one personal credit card and all the others were business credit cards. That means we just added one card to our 5/24 count.