Between 2019-2021 I've earned more than $1,000 in rewards on the American Express Gold due to it's amazing signup bonuses, benefits, and rewards categories.

Let's breakdown how I've used the card, what you can expect, and if it makes financial sense for you to get this card.

Key Info

• Main Rewards:
  • 4x Restaurants
  • 4x Supermarkets
  • 3x Flights
  • 1x Everything Else
• Core Perks:
  • $120 Annual Dining Credit
  • $120 Annual Uber Cash
  • $100 Hotel Credit
• Signup Bonus: Spend $4000 in the first 6 months to earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points
• Annual Fee: $250

For the TLDR on expected card value, skip here

Card Breakdown

The Amex Gold is a premium fee card made of metal (for some added flex!) with an annual fee of $250 which may seem daunting, but the card comes with a whole slew of benefits that can easily recoup this cost.

Membership Rewards

Instead of flat cash back, the rewards categories and signup bonuses center on getting you Amex Membership Rewards (MR), which can be redeemed in the form of flights, gift cards, and cash back.

Over at TPG, they actually value each point at 2 cents. This means that 60,000 MR signup bonus would be worth $1,200, but the true value is a bit variable.

Redeeming for:

• statement credits values the credits at .6 cents
• gift cards values the credits at 1 cent
• the Amex Travel portal values the credits at 1 cent
• Hotels values the points at .7 cents
• Airline partners values the points at 2 cents+

Note that TPG's valuation of 2 cents per MR was based on maximizing these points through transferring them to airline partners and taking long-haul flights in first or business class.

I tend to value these points at 1 cent each as not everyone will be interested in using their points on expensive flights, which means that 60,000 MR signup bonus on this card is worth $600 leaving plenty of room to squeeze extra mileage out of these points.

It's worth pointing out that redeeming the points for statement credits are the least efficient usage of points.

Main Perks

4x on restaurants: Get 4 points for every dollar spent on restaurants covering everything from fast casual like Chipotle, Shake Shack, and In-N-Out to beverage stores like Starbucks, Tiger Boba, and Gong Cha. It also covers takeout and delivery (looking at you Grubhub and Uber Eats).

At 1 cent per point, this is 4% back and an incredibly versatile way to save some money on all the takeout we've been getting!

4x on supermarkets: Think Whole Foods, Krogers, Trader Joe's, other big name grocers and many local supermarkets, though wholesale clubs like Costco and BJ's tend to be excluded (along with Target and Walmart)

This nicely complements the restaurant category above to cover all your dining needs, capped at $25,000 in spend per calendar year.

3x on flights: Needs to be booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, so no booking through Kayak or Expedia. For international travelers, the card also has no foreign transaction fees !

For all the traveling maybe we'll eventually be able to do at some point

1x on other eligible purchases: Any spending not covered by the rewards categories, will fall under here

Basically, everything else not covered above.

Perks

Instead of MR rewards from spending on certain categories, get a direct statement credit (pure cash back) for using your card a specific way.

Dining Credit: Get $10 a month to use on dining at Grubhub, Seamless, Boxed, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and participating Shake Shack locations. These do not rollover, so use it or lose it.

Get up to $120 annually for owning this card.

Uber Cash: Similarly to the dining credit, get $10 a month in Uber Cash which can be used on Uber Eats or Uber rides. These do not rollover, so use it or lose it.

Get an additional up to $120 annually for owning this card.

The Hotel Collection: When booking a prepaid stay of at least two consecutive nights at The Hotel Collection with American Express Travel, get a $100 onsite credit for qualifying activities like dining or spa treatments. Qualifying activities vary by property.

Pretty circumstantial and hotel bookings are not very hot right now, but a solid bonus for those who can take advantage.

Offers

The Amex Gold has an assorted variety of offers that take a small amount of effort to enhance this card's value even further.

Uber Eats pass: Through Dec. 31, 2021 cardholders can enroll for a complimentary Uber Eats Pass for up to 12 months which include unlimited free delivery and discounts on orders of $15 or more.

Worth $10 a month or $120 annually, though it's set to autobill so make sure to set a reminder to review if it's still worth holding for you.

Enhanced MR rewards: New offers will occasionally allow you to get even more MR points and will often stack on top of existing categories

For example, +1 MR point per dollar spent on Grubhub, which already qualifies for 4x restaurants, making this 5x points

Other: Often overlooked, there are customized deals with Amex partners that often consist of getting cash back after spending a certain amount.

Some of these are quite juicy with one in 2020 returning $50 for supporting local restaurants.

My Experience

When I first applied for this card back in 2019, the signup bonus was actually lower at 50,000 MR rewards and the Uber Cash credit had not come out yet.

Instead, there was a $100 airline incidentals credit that was quite difficult to use for bargain flyers, which I am, so I was never able to take advantage.

Over the next two years, my personal breakdown was:

• 60,000 MR in signup rewards
  • 50,000 initial signup rewards
  • 10,000 in pay over time signup
• 14,000 MR in category and offer rewards
• $285 or 28,500 in perks
  • in the form of immediate statement credit

It's obvious that a big chunk (58%) of earned rewards was through signup rewards, but what may be surprising is that taking advantage of all the perks (dining credit and random offers) actually netted more (29%) for me than the rewards categories themselves (13%).

However, there are two key areas where your mileage may vary from mine.

The main perks on this card now come with an additional $120 a year in Uber Cash, which should be easy to take advantage of with the amount of takeout America is now consuming.

I am also an avid credit card user with multiple credit cards and a specific use for each one. The spending I put on this card is exclusively through restaurants and delivery with some targeted spending to take advantage of certain offers.

Getting additional value: My company reimbursed lunch on Fridays and food delivered often came into the $20 range. This is $80 a month, which over a year comes out to $960 and $38+ in cashback with the 4x back on Grubhub. Even better, this would provide free value by triggering the $10 a month dining credit and was often paired with additional Amex Grubhub offers.

To get a better understanding of the expected value when using this as a primary card for the average person, let's take a look at more reasonable spending.

Expected Value

Signup Bonus

The card offers a 60,000 MR points if the signup bonus is met, which we're valuing at $600. This means that the first 2 years and some of the card will be immediately "paid" for. Any additional spending on this card over this time will be earned as pure cashback.

The key here is to ensure that the threshold of $4000 of spending over the first 6 months can be met. This may seem daunting, but if we break this down, this comes out to $667/month, which tends to be very reasonable especially if used as a primary card.

After the first 2 years, I would reevaluate this card on an annual basis to see if it's still worth holding, but even ignoring the impact of the signup bonus we see the card is incredible value.

Perks

As we saw above, we can get $120 annually in dining credits and an additional $120 in Uber Cash. This is at a minimum $240 a year without taking into account category rewards, offers, and additional benefits.

Remember that the card is $250 a year, which means that the adjusted cost of this card is $10 a year.

However, this is only true for those who can take advantage of these on a monthly basis. If you're someone who is unlikely to use these perks (maybe you don't do takeout, delivery, or ride Uber), I'd strongly reevaluate if the rest of this card will make up enough to make this card worthwhile.

Food Expenses

The combined 4x on restaurants, takeout, and delivery and 4x on supermarkets effectively turns into 4x on food.

The average household spends $314 a month in Atlanta to $516 a month in Seattle on groceries. The average, $415 a month, lines up well with other sources, so we'll use $4,980 a year.

A household is about 2.5 people according to the Census, which puts a single person at $1,996 a year. This comes out to 7984 MR points a year or $80 on groceries!

The average household spends $3,365 a year on eating out or $1,346 a year for individuals (though this has definitely changed due to 2020). This comes out to 5,384 MR points a year or $54 on restaurants!

Should You Get It?

As we saw above, the average person can expect cashback of:

• $240 a year in perks
• $80 a year in groceries
• $54 a year in transportation

This card has an annual expected cashback of $374 on just these areas.

Remember that I've handicapped the MR points valuation, did not include additional MR from generic spending, and did not include value from additional Amex Offers, which was able to add considerable value in my use.

As this card is a "premium" card, it's targeted to higher income individuals who tend to spend much more on food and eating out than the average American and you'll likely be able to get even more mileage out of it.

I do want to stress that these numbers will vary dramatically according to your individual circumstances, but for a $250 fee a year card, the benefits alone can easily cover this.

This value climbs even higher if you factor in the 60,000 MR points signup bonus.

The American Express Gold is a highly versatile "premium" card with great value for those who spend heavily on restaurants and groceries.

Applying

Before applying, I always recommend plugging in your own estimated spending to check if the card makes sense for you and to ensure that you can meet the signup bonus spend threshold.

For the American Express Gold, it's recommended that your credit is at least good to excellent enough to increase the chances of being approved.

This means your credit score should be at least 700.

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