Sam's Club Cash Back Stacking Strategy: Grocery Shopping Haul Approved

4/29/2020

If you are a member of a warehouse club, you know the major benefits of its membership and the savings you can receive by shopping in bulk. But did you also know you can save more, and get additional cash back by implementing a cash back stacking strategy? Well here's my favorite cash back stacking strategy for Sam's Club. Now this is a 5 level Cash Back Stacking Strategy with the potential to save more with coupons as well! With every cash back strategy it begins with a Cash Back Credit Card!

Level 1 - Credit Card

For Level One...The Cash Back Credit Card I typically use at Sam's Club, is my Citi Double Cash Card. With the Citi Double Cash card I receive 2% Cash Back no matter where I shop, and at all times! There are no special categories or times of the year you need to use the card in order to get 2% cash back. You get an automatic 1% cash back when you purchase, then an additional 1% cash back when you payoff your credit card bill, essentially giving 2% cash back! The other card that I use, which I am only able to maximize 3 months out of the year is the Discover IT credit card. With this card I receive 5% cash back when shopping at any Club/Warehouse stores that accept Discover. Unlike Costco which now only accepts VISA cards, Sam's club accepts Discover/VISA/Mastercard and I believe AMEX as well. So 3 month's out of the year with the Discover IT card, and also the Chase Freedom card has a similar quarterly option, you can receive 5% cash back at Sam's Club!

Level 2 - Dosh App

For level 2 I receive cash back using the Dosh App. With the Dosh App I receive 5% cash back instantly whenever I shop in-store at Sam's Club! All you have to do is link the credit card, or multiple cards that you use, and whenever you swipe your card at a merchant connected with the Dosh App you will receive Cash Back automatically! As far as I can tell, this works with all Sam's clubs, or at least all Sam's clubs in my area participate. Be sure to check within the offers section of the Dosh app and search your zip code to see what stores are available, and where the nearest Sam's club that offers cash back is for you. In addition to in-store cash back, you can receive 3% cash back if you shop online at Sams club, but you have to start your purchase from the Dosh App first in order to receive credit for online Sams club purchases. If you don't already have a Sam's club card, if you already have a card linked to Sam's club and you use it to pay for a new membership when you sign up for Sam's club, you will receive bonus cash back! At the time I paid for my Sams club membership I received $10 cash back from Dosh! Be sure to check the app for their current bonus offer for getting a Sam's club membership, which may be in addition to any bonus offer that Sam's club is offering directly.

Level 3 - Bits of Stock App

The 3rd level of cash back is with the Bits of Stock App! With Bits of Stock you receive .50% cash back which is then used to purchase shares of stock! Since Sam's club is owned by Walmart, you receive Walmart ($WMT) stock as your reward! Although the amount of cash back received is small, if you happen to shop at Sam's club on a regular basis for groceries in addition to almost any home items you may need, and their gas station as well, this can really add up over the long term. And because you are receiving the cash back as bits of Walmart stock, the value of those fractional shares will increase in value as the value of Walmart stock increases. So the true value of that .50% cash back is also the increase of Walmart's stock value over time! Over the past couple of months, even while the rest of the stock market is down substantially, Walmart stock actually increased in value. Sam's Club and Walmart received more business during the coronavirus pandemic due to many restaurants and other non-essential stores being closed. People rushed to stock up on toilet paper, food, and other essentials causing a shortage with certain items, and that shortage caused other shoppers to panic and want to go shopping as well. Over the course of a normal year, if you Sam's club is your main store for buying groceries, medicine, or even electronics, then you may end up spending thousands of dollars per year at Sam's club. For every $1000 you spend at Sam's club, that's $5 worth of stock of Walmart stock you will gain!

Level 4 - Bumped App

For the 4th level, you have another opportunity to receive $5 worth of stock for every $1000 you spend at Sam's club, and that's with the Bumped App. The Bumped app is another Stock Back app which provides .50% cash back which is used to purchase fractional shares of stock! However instead of receiving Walmart stock, you receive fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, ticker symbol VTI. VTI is one of my favorite total stock market ETFs, in fact it is one of the 4 ETFs I invest in via the Mobile Money Nation Roth IRA. Each month I deposit $100 into my M1 Finance pie, and 40% of that goes into the VTI ETF. Follow me on Instagram if you would like to keep up with the progress of that Roth IRA, and use the referral link below to start your own Roth IRA with M1 Finance!

Level 5 - iBotta App

Now for the 5th level of this cash back stacking strategy, this will take a little more planning and effort. With the first 4 levels everything was automatic. All you had to do was link your Credit Card to the 3 apps in levels 2, 3, and 4, and make sure you use that same credit card when you shop at Sam's Club. But with the iBotta app you will need to select specific items within the app that you will receive cash back for. Now this can be a good or bad thing when you think about it. The good thing is that when you do go shopping at Sam's club, you're a bit more strategic with your purchases in order to ensure you are getting additional Cash Back from iBotta, but you have to remember to select those offers before you actually go shopping. Also, maybe the offers available in the app are not products that you purchase on a regular basis if at all. For instance, I don't buy soda in bulk for personal usage, but there's always an offer for soda and other boxed items or typical foods in an American diet like hot dogs, pizza, beer, etc...And then take into account that you are buying in bulk at Sam's club, so you don't want to buy items that you aren't going to be able to fully consume before they expire. So if you're single, you may not buy a case of blueberries or a 36 pack of eggs, but for a larger family this may not be a problem.

Use the 5 options above to gain cash back on all of your purchases at Sam's Club, and this could add up to a nice chunk of change over the course of a year. This could be used to pay for groceries in the future, payoff debt, or to add more money to your investments.

If you use a platform like M1 Finance which offers free trading and the option to invest tin fractional shares, every time you get at least $10 total cash back you can add this money to your Investment Pie within M1 Finance. Use my referral link below to open your own M1 Finance Account and start investing today! I will also have links to the other apps I mentioned in this video for cash back, so check those out in the description.

What is your favorite Cash Back Stacking Strategy? Be sure to leave a comment below with your favorites, and any apps that you know or think will stack along with these.