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American Express Business Gold

American Express Business Gold has a really appealing new welcome offer: Earn 70k Membership Rewards after $10k spend in 3 months + $300 worth of statement credits on eligible US Advertising and US Shipping. While that is a very solid haul of points, the best aspect of the card is the ability to earn 4x points on 2 qualifying categories up to a combined $150k a year. It’s an absolute workhorse for your point balance. What’s even better?

You don’t have to select which categories you want to earn the 4x on. Amex does the work for you…whichever categories you spend most in a billing cycle will earn the 4x points. One month you wine and dine some clients and book a ton of airline tickets? BOOM! 4x.  Another month, you’re moving to the cloud and buying online ads ? Boom! 4x. The complete list of categories is listed below, but they include US Gas, US Dining, Airlines purchases straight from the airline and more. You will earn 4x points up to $150k a year. That’s an extra 450k Membership Rewards you could be earning. Let’s take a further look into the Amex Business Gold.

70k Membership Rewards after $10k in 3 months. 

Earn 70k Membership Rewards after spending $10k in 3 months. Get an additional $300 in statement credits on eligible US Advertising ( only eligible places, see terms ) and US Shipping. Annual fee is $295

Benefit Overview

• • Earn 70k Membership Rewards after spending $10k in 3 months
  • 4x on 2 of the following categories where you spend most in a month
    • Airfare purchased directly from airlines
    • U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
    • U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
    • U.S. purchases at gas stations
    • U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
    • U.S. purchases for shipping
  • $300 back in statement credit
    • $150 on select media advertising
    • $150 on select shipping
  • 25% points refunded back when you buy a flight on Amex Travel on
    • your airline of choice in any cabin
    • biz/first on any airline
    • capped at 250k refunded points per year.
  • $295 annual fee

4x on purchases direct with the airline!

Earning 4x points on 2 categories made simple

Look at the categories listed below. The two categories you spend the most money on in a billing cycle will earn 4x points on those purchases. No need to select or activate categories…you’ll just the get bonus points. The combined purchases in which you’ll earn 4x on are capped at $150k/year. That means there is whopping 450k bonus points on the table. It’s pretty awesome that restaurants is an included bonus category.

Personally, I would be strategic about how I spend to hit the bonus categories – if you also carry an Amex Gold personal version, you know you’re getting 4x dining guaranteed without limit. It could makes more sense to always put restaurant expenses on your personal Amex Gold. Same thing applies to the Amex Platinum which earns 5x on airfare purchased direct from airlines or Amex Travel. This would simply which purchases you want to put on your Amex Business Gold to optimize how you earn the most points.

• 4x on your choice of purchase at any 2 of the following categories
  • Airfare purchased directly from airlines
  • U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
  • U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
  • U.S. purchases at gas stations
  • U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
  • U.S. purchases for shipping

Etihad flights can be booked via Aeroplan and Etihad – both Amex transfer partners. This is a photo of the Etihad Apartment ( flown on the A380s which are currently grounded but we anticipate getting back in the air later this year )

Is this the best offer we’ve seen?

This is one of the best public offers we’ve ever seen. However, some people are receiving targeted offers of 90k with the same spend requirements and $300 statement credit. Keep an eye out for those!

But I don’t have a small business, Miles. You may, and not know it. Keep reading.

American Express is very friendly to entrepreneurs and small business owners alike. In fact, if you haven’t been in business for long, or you haven’t established yourself with an EIN, you can still apply as a Sole Proprietor ( fill in your SSN ). If you run a small side business (think bloggers, ebay sellers, tutors, consultants, Uber Drivers, DoorDash, etc – people who get 1099 income) and want a card to segregate your business income from your personal income at tax time…this is a great opportunity to earn a load of points and help yourself out. Please seek the advice of a tax professional, I’m simply explaining my personal experience.

Personally, I have two businesses that I run, one has an EIN, and one doesn’t. I still need to keep all of their records separate, and so I have cards for each business. And we love to fly like this: United Polaris from Brazil to Chicago and Newark to Tel Aviv.

American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners

This is the best part of holding Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards…the transfer partners. Amex has more than 20 transfer partners and these are the key to taking truly aspirational vacations.

What are some awesome uses of Amex points?

I’d highly recommend reading our list of best uses of Amex Points, but here are a few to whet your palate

Transfer to Aeroplan to fly United’s new Polaris

Or move miles to Avianca to fly Luftahnsa First Class

You could transfer to Emirates to fly in Suites

You could also transfer to Asia miles to fly Japan Airlines First Class

Recap

This card is crucial for business owners who spend a lot of money on the listed bonus categories. The ability to earn 450k bonus points in a calendar year where you’re already pushing a ton of spend is incredible and should be heavily considered. The $295 annual fee is something that should be considered, but if your business spends a lot on the listed bonus categories, you’ll quickly realize you’re earning a lot more value than you’re spending in the annual fee.