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💳 Financial “Firewalls”
These are the cards I use to secure my spending and earn the “Discount on Life.”
Chase Sapphire Reserve® / Preferred®
Use case: My primary driver for travel and dining. The “Pay Yourself Back” feature and 3x points on travel are the backbone of my points strategy.
- Current Offers:
- Preferred: Earn 60k–75k points. (Best for solid travel/rental insurance and travel multipliers).
- Reserve: Earn 125k points. (My pick if you value luxury perks like airport lounges).
Referral: Chase Sapphire
Get Deal
Capital One Venture X
Use case: The “Catch-All” card. I use this for the 2x miles on everything else. It effectively pays for itself with the $300 travel credit and 10k anniversary miles.
- Current Offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months.
- Note: This link also works for excellent no-fee options like QuickSilver (Cash) or Venture One (Travel).
Referral: Capital One
Get Deal
🪙 Crypto On-Ramps
I don’t “invest” in crypto; I hedge with it. These are the only two exchanges I trust to move fiat into cold storage.
Coinbase
Use case: My primary on-ramp for recurring buys (DCA). It connects cleanly to my bank and allows for easy withdrawals to hardware wallets.
- Bonus: Sign up and we both get $10 in Bitcoin.
Referral: Coinbase
Get Deal
Binance.US
Use case: Lower fees for larger trades or alt-coins that Coinbase lists with higher spreads.
- Bonus: Get started with lower trading fees.
Referral: Binance.US
Get Deal
🛡️ Infrastructure (Coming Soon)
- Hosting: Microsoft Azure Static Web Apps
- Solar: Enphase IQ 5P (LFP Battery System)
- Workstation: Dell D6000 Dock (The key to single-cable swapping)
- OS: Linux Mint (Successfully migrated from Windows 10)