Source: Getty Images
When it comes to beating long-term financial goals, every penny counts. Which is why some cardholders covet credit card sign-up bonuses that help them get more money for every dollar spent. We Fools believe it's all the better if that money is for routine purchases and rewards are funneled into the stock market as an investment in your future.
So tune in to the video segment below where The Motley Fool analysts Michael Douglass and Nathan Hamilton discuss how cardholders can rack up cash back worth $430 in just months without paying an annual fee. Then review our list of the best cash-back credit cards for a few options to help you earn more for each dollar spent.
5 Simple Tips to Skyrocket Your Credit Score Over 800!
Increasing your credit score above 800 will put you in rare company. So rare that only 1 in 9 Americans can claim they're members of this elite club. But contrary to popular belief, racking up a high credit score is a lot easier than you may have imagined following 5 simple, disciplined strategies. You'll find a full rundown of each inside our FREE credit score guide. It's time to put your financial future first and secure a lifetime of savings by increasing your credit score. Simply click here to claim a copy 5 Simple Tips to Skyrocket Your Credit Score over 800.
Michael Douglass: Nathan, you're our credit card guru here at The Motley Fool. You're an expert when it comes to this stuff and thinking through how best to make your credit cards work for you. I'm curious. You've told me that you figured out how to potentially, depending on the person, rack up $430 in cash credit card rewards in just six months. Let's talk that through.
Nathan Hamilton: Not a super complicated strategy or anything that's dangerous.
Douglass: Which is good. Simplicity makes things easier.
Hamilton: That's the point of getting this out there is if you are looking at maybe coming up short on rent or you need to pay down student loan debt and you want to use credit card rewards and you're good at keeping your budget, this is definitely something to look at. If you're not good at managing your budget and you're prone to get into credit card debt --
Douglass: Credit card may not be the best move right now.
Hamilton: May not be the best option, but looking at it, it's essentially within a six-month period, if you open two credit cards that are essentially paying you or you're earning a $200 cash reward bonus for spending $1,000 within three months, if you just work it out, you open one card first, use it for the three-month period, spend $1,000 whatever, you could even come in under that six-month time frame --
Douglass: Sure.
Hamilton: Of course, if you're matching your budget with those spending requirements. Then the other difference of there's $400 there in sign-up bonuses. The $30 difference is many of these cards include cash-back rewards, generally about 1 1/2% is what you're going to yield on the money you're spending. Add up the $2,000 spent to qualify for the sign-up bonuses, 1 1/2%, you've got an additional $30 cash back.
Douglass: Wow. That is assuming basically that you're spending $1,000 a month on these credit cards. It's not an enormous amount of money.
Hamilton: Here's the important thing. One thing to add into it is this is without paying any fee. These are zero-dollar annual fee credit cards. If you are paying off your balance each month before the due date and so forth, you're not incurring interest charges, you're not incurring an annual fee, if you're managing the credit card well, you're not paying a single fee.
Douglass: That's the dream right there and I think something a lot of people miss because they don't pay their credit cards on time and they also often get caught up in these gaudy, huge reward opportunities, but that come with a lot of fees. You can do this with really simple, really simple credit cards without annual fees, and that's an important point. We've got a lot more information about cards, including our picks for the best credit cards of 2017 at fool.com/creditcards. Hop on over there and we've got a lot more information about how to manage your debt wisely.
