Amex platinum: the only post you need

Amex Plat is expensive and getting more expensive and it’s generating endless debate which is ultimately kind of pointless.

There’s a very simple way to answer the question if the card is “worth it” for you.

Would you, without benefitsmaxxxing or affecting your spending behavior, recoup most of (or more than) the annual fee?

If the answer is yes, then the card is worth it for you, or even saves you money. If it’s not, then it’s probably not.

Myself as an example:

I love the Disney+, Hulu and HBO max triple combo membership. $240 entertainment credit recouped.

I love the $50 twice a year SAKS gift card. It’s perfect for gifting to random birthdays or buying a new pair of loafers or whatever. $340 recouped.

I love the monthly uber credit, it invariably gets used. $580 recouped.

I do find walmart+ useful. $730 recouped.

Annual fee already recouped, and I haven’t even gotten into travel and insurance benefits yet.

I love clear. $930 recouped.

lounge access, hard to quantify but represents say $200 dollars per year even if you don’t travel very frequently. $1130 recouped.

Incidental airline fee for even more lounge access to non partner airlines. $1330 recouped.

Now let’s get into the more esoteric benefits.

Annual hotel credit I’m not going to count because the prices on their website is higher. $200 fake credit not counted.

Hilton and Marriott Gold status. If you book their basic tier properties you won’t get an upgrade, because there aren’t any. If you book a higher tier property that is fully booked, you won’t get an upgrade, because there aren’t any. But if you book a higher tier property that isn’t fully booked (this is EASY to check on the booking page) you will get an upgrade that could be worth thousands in room price + free breakfast + daily credit for room service, spa etc etc. Let’s call this a hypothetical $1000 on the low end so me personally I’m now at $1330 recouped, $2330 hypothetical recouped.

Car rental insurance, travel insurance, purchase protection from faulty goods and services provided is tricky to quantify, but for me represents a hypothetical $500 per year on the low end, so I’m now at $1330 recouped, $2830 hypothetical recouped.

In reality, the hypothetical recoup has been thousands of dollars more for me, especially room upgrades and all the insurances and purchase protections. So I’m getting closer to $4-5k recoup per year, maybe even more. But even not counting room upgrades, insurances and purchase protections, I’m still at least recouping the fee.

And I get the no brainer benefits like concierge, 5x points on travel etc etc.

I haven’t even counted Equinox, SoulCycle, Resy and some other stuff that’s inapplicable and useless to me.

Basically, for me, I would actively be losing money if I didn’t have this card. It makes no sense for me to cancel it, even if they raise the annual fee to $1500 or even $2000. This is not a flex, we’re not rich, I’m firmly normal middle class.