He Sat On 745,575 Chase Points For Years, Waiting For The Perfect Trip. When His Second Kid Was Born He Decided To Do Something Totally Different
For years he sat on a massive Chase Ultimate Rewards balance, convinced the perfect trip was just around the corner. A new baby changed his entire calculation, and his next move surprised even the points community.
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A Reddit user spent years sitting on 745,575 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That’s the rewards currency on credit cards from JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM | JPM Price Prediction). He was waiting for the perfect trip. Then his second child was born, and he cashed out the whole balance.
He titled his r/CreditCards post “Cashed out 745,575 Chase UR points… and I feel oddly free.” I think he made the right call for his situation. What decided it was how his family actually travels.
Years of Analysis Paralysis
He said he’d held the points “forever with nonstop analysis paralysis.” He also admitted that “the whole ‘wait for the perfect redemption’ mindset had me in denial that I’d ever actually use them.”
Points don’t earn interest, and they don’t compound. Until you redeem them, all they do is sit there. A balance you keep planning to use but never do adds nothing to your finances.
Two Kids, Economy Seats and a 1.5-Cent Reality
Several things changed when his second child arrived. His first was 2 years old, which meant the family was losing its lap baby option. A lap baby is a young child who flies on a parent’s lap rather than in a paid seat. From then on, every trip would mean buying more seats.
The family also flies mostly economy. That affects cents per point, the number points enthusiasts use to judge what a point is worth when you redeem it. The eye-catching values usually come from premium cabins. Economy tickets give much smaller returns. In his words, “I was never consistently getting more than about 1.5 cpp, no matter how hard I tried.”
He also gave his view on timing: “I’m basically done with travel for a while, and inflation is only going to eat away at these points. Hoarding them started to feel worse than cashing them out.” That’s his opinion. Still, the logic holds up. The longer a reward goes unused, the more chance its value slips.
Turning Rewards Into a Roth IRA
He also knew where the money was going: “I’ll be using the cashback to max out my 2025 Roth IRA, so I really can’t complain.” He said it “feels borderline criminal not to mention it here.”
The IRS caps the general 2025 IRA contribution at $7,000. People age 50 or older can put in $8,000. You also can’t contribute more than your taxable compensation.
Single filers with modified adjusted gross income under $150,000 can make the full contribution, and those at $165,000 or more can’t contribute at all.
A Roth gives you no tax deduction now, as 26 U.S.C. § 408A(c)(1) spells out. In exchange, qualified withdrawals in retirement come out tax-free, and that includes the growth. Here’s a hypothetical example: $7,000 earning 7% a year for 30 years grows to about $53,000, and none of it is taxed when you take it out.
Clark Howard Has Argued Both Sides
Consumer advocate Clark Howard has long leaned toward simple cards. On his March 21, 2018 podcast, he said, “For ordinary earthlings, most people, what works best is either an independent travel rewards card or my favorite, a cash back card.” In a March 2017 episode, he warned that for people who carry a balance, “the whole value of the points is destroyed by the interest you’re paying.” The average credit card APR is now about 21%, so that warning matters more than ever.
On March 20, 2026, though, he told listeners that “those points that you’ve been hoarding should be used to book travel.” He pointed out that most programs let you book with points and redeposit them later for full credit. If you have trips coming up, that advice makes sense. If you’ve stopped traveling for now, as this dad has, it doesn’t fit.
Questions to Ask Before You Cash Out a Big Balance
- Will you really travel? Be realistic about the next year or two. If no trips are planned and your family’s needs keep changing, holding out for a dream redemption may just mean the points sit unused longer.
- Are you paying interest? If you carry a balance, the interest probably costs more than your rewards earn. Pay off the debt before you worry about redemption value.
- Which matters more to you, flexibility or maximum value? Getting the most out of travel redemptions takes time, research and flexible dates. Cash is simpler and works for anything.
- What would the cash do? Money with a clear job, like a Roth IRA or an emergency fund, is a good reason to redeem. Without a plan, the cash can get spent on nothing in particular.
Peace of Mind Was the Real Payoff
His advice to others: “If you’re sitting on a pile of points and deep down know you’re probably never going to redeem them the way you planned, consider this your sign to just cash them out.” He was also relieved: “The constant pressure of maximizing UR is gone.”
Worth watching: whether he keeps chasing points or switches to cash back.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
AJ spent 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
