We Found The Best Credit Card (Spoiler: It's An AMEX) 👀

Happy June 1st! It’s Steph’s birthday month, so we’re big fans of June around here (not to mention that summer is officially coming our way in a few weeks!). 

Now, you guessed it, we’re back with a new issue of Money Convos with Steph & Den. We have a lot of updates to share this month, so let’s get into it. 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞

• The new credit card we signed up for 💳

• Did Steph order any UberEats this month? 🫣

• Media Feature: Top 24 Of 2024 🗞️

• We visited a stock exchange in NYC 🚕🗽

Money Convo Of The Month

Our New Credit Card (spoiler: it’s the AMEX Cobalt)

We recently added a new credit card to our line up, and we’re super excited for all the points that will be coming our way. 

Up until last year, we only had one credit card, because we simply didn’t spend a lot of money. For the past few years, especially as we started working for ourselves full time, we kept our expenses as limited as possible. We’re talking rent, internet, utilities, our phone bill, groceries, and then a small amount of ‘fun’ or 'unnecessary’ purchases. So, when we used a credit card to buy these things, we used a no fee cash back card, so we at least earned something as we spent.

The main cash back credit card we used throughout that time was the Neo Financial cash back credit card. It was a great option for us, because it focused on ‘everyday spending’, and it offered more cash back than the cash back credit card from our bank. The way it works is they have restaurant partners that allow you to earn up to 6% on restaurants, 4% on delivery apps and streaming, and more. 

Like we said, this was a great option, but as we started to spend more money over the past year (don’t worry - we’re still saving ~50% of our monthly income!), and have specifically started to travel more, we started looking for a credit card that would really reward us for those big ticket purchases, like flights and hotels. So, we signed up for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite credit card. At the time, they were offering 50,000 bonus points - we received 10,000 upon signing up, an additional 25,000 points after spending $5,000 in 180 days, and we’ll receive the final 15,000 points on the one year anniversary of signing up for the card. These points can be redeemed for free flights, along with any additional Aeroplan points that we earn separately from using the credit card. 

Now, with all of that being said, we’ve kind of done everything we can in order to get bonus points from this card - and, through our research, we’ve realized that there’s a card out there that offers higher rewards than our current cards. That brings us to the new card we’ve recently gotten… the AMEX Cobalt credit card. 

The AMEX Cobalt is currently offering 15,000 welcome bonus reward points, that you gain month to month in your first year as a card member, as long as you have $750 in net purchases posted to your account each month. They’ll give you 1,250 points per month as long as you hit that threshold. This amount shouldn’t be difficult to hit with our regular spending (which is the key!), as we spend approximately $600/month on groceries combined. On top of that, they have an amazing point structure, where you earn 5x points on eats and drinks (including participating grocery stores), 3x points on streaming subscriptions, 2x points on travel and transit, and 1x points on everything else. 

The AMEX Cobalt does have a monthly fee of $12.99/month, or $155.88/year. Keep in mind that every 1,000 points is equal to $10 in statement credits, and you earn 5x, 3x, 2x or 1x the points depending on the spending category, so, with just our regular monthly spending, we’ll be able to cover the fee and still earn many more points on top of that. Our plan, as of right now, is to use those points in conjunction with our Aeroplan points for free flights in the future. 

If you want to hear more about this topic, check out our recent YouTube video here.

$0 UberEats Challenge - Steph’s Monthly Update

I have a big announcement… drum roll please 🥁… I officially hit all of my food spending goals in May! 

As you know, I’ve been trying to spend $0 on any food delivery apps (including, but not limited to, UberEats) this year. On top of that, I’m trying to cook one new recipe per week at home, and stick to my budgeted amounts for groceries, restaurants and coffee shops. 

Overall, I’ve been doing a good job, other than my grocery spending. Well, this month, things are looking up! 

I spent a total of $201.20 on groceries in May, which is much lower than my budgeted amount of $300. Last month we finally stocked up on meat and cleaning supplies from Costco, which definitely helped keep this month’s grocery spending under budget. It’s also the first time I’ve spent under $300 in one month throughout 2024, so I’d say this is a big win! 

I also made a few new recipes in May, including Barbeque Chicken Skewers, and I remade one of my favourite ones, Chipotle Bowls. 

Aside from groceries, I spent a total of $151.25 on restaurants (okay, you caught me, I went $1.25 over budget… I’m still calling this a win!), and exactly $50.00 on coffee shops, meaning that all of my food spending was on, or under, budget. I ended up spending a grand total of $402.45 on all food expenses in May, which is my lowest month to date! 

I’m almost halfway done with this challenge, and knowing that I still haven’t ordered any takeout, and I’m now sticking to my budget, makes me feel so good. Only 7 more months to go - I need to keep this momentum up!

Top 24 Of 2024 ⭐️🗞️

We have some exciting news - we were in a physical newspaper for the very first time! 

We were included in a feature by the Toronto Star called ‘The Influencers: Top 24 In 2024’. The project highlighted a list of 24 creators across a variety of niches - we were the only personal finance creators included - and we had so much fun participating. 

We had the opportunity to visit and tour the Toronto Star office, do a photoshoot with their team, and then - once the project was live - we were invited to a party that celebrated us and the other creators on the list. 

On top of all of that (as if it wasn’t enough already!) the feature was included in print, in a weekend copy of the newspaper. We, of course, had to see it in person, and pick up a few copies. Somehow, in a world where everything is digital (and pretty much everything we personally do is online!), seeing our faces printed out in the paper was still really exciting. 

You can see the behind the scenes of our experience here!

We Toured The Nasdaq Headquarters In NYC! 👀

Another ‘pinch me’ moment that we had last month was being invited to New York City to tour the Nasdaq headquarters, and attend a bell ringing ceremony. 

NYC is one of our favourite cities - we went there together right after graduating from university - so, being invited to travel there for work was a lot of fun! 

On top of that, Nasdaq is one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world, and we had a great time learning more about how it operates, seeing the room where bell ringing ceremonies take place (bell ringing ceremonies sometimes happen when a company is going public with their IPO, and other times it’s more symbolic, to represent a milestone event), and participating in one ourselves. The day we were there, Churchill Downs - the company that runs the Kentucky Derby - was there to ring the bell in advance of their 150th event. 

We shared a behind the scenes look at our experience if you want to see more, and we shared a recap of what we got up to during our extra day in NYC.