SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026 -- I just booked my Thanksgiving travel and, boy, are my credit-card-maxing muscles tired.

My frequent flying wife and I will drive to New York's Finger Lakes and spend a few days at a newish Hilton-aligned resort/spa in Skaneateles, the charming town where we eloped almost 40 years ago.

Ka-ching! I will pay with my Hilton Honors Amex Aspire card. That means my $200 second-half-of-the-year resort statement credit will apply. So will a 15,000-point bonus for spending $400 at Hilton before the end of the year. I should get a good room upgrade too, since the $550 Aspire card is bundled with Diamond Status.

We will have Thanksgiving Dinner at The Krebs, a famed upstate New York restaurant that dates to 1899. It's a place we missed when we eloped and it's nice to know it's still around and still winning plaudits.

Ka-ching! My wife will pick up this check with her Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. That means a $150 second-half-of-the-year dining credit since we booked through OpenTable.

On the way home, we will surely stop in Troy and have a meal at DeFazio's 216. It has a Pistachio Pizza on the menu and I'm a sucker for pistachio anything.

Ka-ching! I will pay for that meal with my American Express Platinum Card and cash my $100 fourth-quarter Resy statement credit.

There'll be gas to buy, of course.

Ka-ching! I added "coupons" from regional chains on my credit cards and I'll get a not-insubstantial amount of statement credits.

But, damn, man, this stuff is exhausting. I-just-flew-in-from-Chicago tiring.

Like virtually everyone else with a premium priced credit card (or two or three), I'm thinking the thrill is gone. At a minimum. It's hard to keep track of all the benefits you need to use to make the premium cards work to your advantage.

At worst, you could forget to cash in on something. That's not only a financial faux pas, but you also feel like a dweeb for forgetting some bank was spiffing you to take its pricey plastic. I missed my September $15 Uber credit with Amex Platinum and I'm still kicking myself. Not because $15 matters in my life, but because, psychically, I justify this perk-chasing as financially sound behavior.

But what if it isn't? Even if you "win" the game and squeeze maximum value from these cards, is it worth the effort? Is it worth the time?

When does getting what you deserve become mindless and joyless and totally devoid of any emotional payoff? Just last week our friend Phil Baker decided he'd gift benefits rather than let them go unused.

When is enough enough? Even if you "win" the game, when does this all feel like being led around by our wallets?

I can't answer that question because only you know the answer. Some of you, I know, continue to love the game. And I understand the thrill-of-the hunt mentality.

But allow me to make a suggestion if you're tired of the increasingly expensive premium cards and their convoluted rebate/refund/credit schemes: Go cheap.

For reasons known only to the banks, the sub-$100-a-year credit card market suddenly looks like a real sweet spot. Look at some of what's out there right now. It's enough to make you rethink a commitment to platinum and sapphire and palladium and all sorts of other precious, pricy cards:

        Capital One is offering a wonderful smash-and-grab opportunity for its Venture Rewards card. It carries a $95 annual fee and you earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 in the first three months. But it also offers a one-time $300 statement credit when you book a hotel or vacation rental through its travel arm. When the card fee is due the second year, dump it.
        Chase has refreshed its United Airlines Explorer Card. A $150 annual fee is waived in the first year, which makes the smash-and-grab opportunity pretty sweet: 70,000 United MileagePlus miles if you spend $3,000 in the first three months. There are also a pair of United Club passes and a spread of travel statement credits. You'll get plenty of, um, mileage out of this card before you even have to worry about an annual fee.
        Citi, now exclusive issuer of American Airlines cards, also has a fine smash-and-grab option. The absurdly named Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard waives the first year annual fee of $99. But you'll now earn 80,000 AAdvantage miles for spending $3,500 in the first four months. Get it, grab the miles, cancel when the annual fee comes the second year.
        Citi also has an excellent value proposition for its Strata Premier card. The $95 annual fee is not waived and the acquisition bonus is lower (60,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 in the first three months), but the annual fee is offset by a $100 hotel statement credit when you book a $500 stay using Citi's travel arm. It's also a strong card for everyday spend: 10 points per dollar for hotels and car rents booked through Citi; and three points per dollar for air travel, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and gasoline and EV charging stations.

If none of these immediate opportunities suit, consider the two $95-a-year travel superstars: the well-known, underappreciated Chase Sapphire Preferred and the little-known, criminally underappreciated Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card. Both offer hefty acquisition bonuses and travel statement credits as well as exceptional earnings for everyday travel and dining spend. If you've really tired of the game, put one (or both) of these cards in your wallet, ignore the noise and go on your merry way.