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EDITOR’S NOTE: Matt is on vacation until at or around January 1, 2026. Until then we have guest posts, today’s post is brought to today’s post is brought to you by Jerry, an avid MEAB Patreon member (his words, not mine). Special thanks for the post!

Listen up, recent and soon-to-be college graduates.

You’re about to enter what will hopefully be a long, happy career—assuming The Architects of AI and their shareholders invite you into the Thunderdome known as the American workforce. If you’re fortunate enough to be gainfully employed, your responsibilities— both professional and personal—will obviously increase dramatically.

Let’s assume you’re leaving school with very little financial literacy (which, unfortunately, may be a feature and not a bug of our education system and its corporate overlords). If you are organized, and if your income is reliably greater than your expenses, I believe churning can jump-start your financial literacy and your path to financial independence faster than anything else. As they say: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second-best time is now.

The Major Expenses

Of course everyone has their unique situation, but most of you will need money for the following:

1. Rent
2. Moving expenses
3. Wardrobe updates
4. Groceries
5. Student loans
6. Transportation
7. Bars and nightlife
8. Trips back to campus to see your sweetheart
9. Travel for weddings and bachelor/bachelorette parties

Churning will force you to view the opportunity cost of every expense, both in how you obtain the good or service as well as how you will ultimately pay for it. Churning pushes you to question the default behavior of the masses. It’s a “baptism by fire” into financial literacy because it requires calculated risks.

Sure, You Can Do Things the Normal Way… But Why?

Rent:
Yes, you can pay rent with a check. But there are other options.

Moving expenses:
Sure, you could pay the moving company with a debit card because Dave Ramsey said so. Or, you could open a credit card with a 0% intro APR promotion that also earns transferable points.

Clothing:
You could open a GAP store card because Betty behind the counter smiled nicely… or you could buy discounted GAP gift cards at Kroger while earning fuel points and a 4X multiplier on an American Express.

Student loans:
You absolutely can pay your monthly amount due via ACH. Alternatively, you could explore paying off the full balance with a 0% APR or rewards-earning credit card via a Fintech with historical ties to Silicon Valley Bank. Side note: discharging student loans in bankruptcy is nearly impossible, but discharging credit card balances is slightly easier (I’m definitely not a lawyer and this is definitely not advice).

Nightlife:
Sure, you can start the happy hour at 4:00 PM ET on Friday. Or, you can start it at 6:00 PM. For those in recovery, maybe you substitute boozing for floozing if your “AA” sponsor allows (IYKYK).

Travel rewards:
Sure, you can mirror your boss and get a Delta SkyPesos SkyMiles American Express card and put everything on it. But if the only flight available to Lubbock on homecoming weekend is on an expensive American Airlines flight, your lover at Texas Tech will wish you had a stash of Alaska Atmos Rewards instead.

The Moment of Truth
Let’s fast-forward a few months. You’ve maxed out your 0% APR opportunities, and those balances are coming due. Now what?

Start exploring personal lines of credit at local credit unions. These often offer more manageable minimum payments than credit cards or installment loans (e.g., student loans, auto loans). Do your own research and run your own numbers. If you spin up a line of credit, don’t just assume you must pay that line of credit from a bank account. Always be probing.

One Year Later…

If you stay organized and remain cash flow positive, within a year you may find yourself:

• “free” of student loans,
• sitting on sizable miles and points balances, and
• treating your lover in Lubbock to a shopping spree at lululemon (as long as their heart’s desire is $75 or less for this quarter).

– Jerry (a sophomoric student in the MEAB Slack channel, which may be harder to get into than Harvard)

A candid look into Jerry’s family tree.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to shredder05 for a compelling origin story. I’ll see you on January 1!  If you’re interested in writing a guest post, please reach out!

I stumbled into the world of credit card churning almost a decade ago while still in grad school. My partner and I were strapped for cash, but I wanted to travel. With minimal expenses, I had to quickly learn how to manufacture spend.

My first big play was getting two SPG cards at the same time, each with a $7,500 spend requirement. Back then, Visa gift cards easily loaded to Venmo, and my genius plan was to run all $15,000 through them in $500 increments. I was quickly banned. I wasted those points as a grad school graduation present to myself at Atlantis in the Bahamas. But those SPG points and a shutdown from Venmo marked the start of realizing the potential of credit card churning.

I finished the SPG spend requirements by grinding out one $500 money order at a time, when I probably should have been studying. I realized it was a viable way to generate cash. After graduating, I decided to focus on churning full-time. Over the years, I’ve managed to turn it into a respectable income. Throughout those 10 years, I have lost many “plays,” but I have continued to find new ones.

I moved on from money orders and figured out ways to mostly manufacture spend (MS) from home, even with shutdowns from multiple banks. RIP Chase, Barclays, SoFi, PNC, and Capital One. And I’ve survived the death of many plays, including buying money orders with credit cards, honeymoon funds, Plastiq, PPK, credit card debit codings, and countless others. Every time a play dies or I get shutdown, I think it’s the end. But after those few days of grief, I think I love the pressure and search of finding a new play the most. Those are the best days in this hobby. There is always something else.

Sometimes I get insecure about doing this full-time. It’s easy for people to question and judge, and it’s not a job my parents can brag to their friends about. I’m grateful for my partner who provides my health insurance and has always been my biggest supporter of doing this. And I’m grateful for the friends who have helped me along the way; there have been many. Through hitting milestone statuses and plays dying, I’ve learned that the key to success in credit card churning is resilience, creativity, and fostering relationships. There’s always a new opportunity around the corner, and the thrill of finding the next great play keeps me motivated. Most importantly, there is always someone who is willing to help you. I don’t recommend sharing plays with large groups of people, but message that person you occasionally talk to and brainstorm together. This might not be a conventional career path, but it’s one that brings me joy and has led me to have meaningful, lasting relationships. And ultimately, that’s what matters most.

– Shredder05

Screenshot of Shredder05’s phone, circa 2017.