|
Do you buy Gas at Shell? If so, you're going to want to watch the above video until the very end...or just keep reading down below! In this video I will show you how you can maximize the amount of cash back you receive whenever you buy Gas at Shell with my Cash Back Stacking Strategy.
Level 1: Credit Card: 2.5% to 6.5%
With every cash back strategy you need to start with a Cash Back Credit Card. My preferred credit card for buying gas is the Costco Visa Card, because you get 4% Cash Back at ALL gas stations...not just at Costco! This is a great all around credit card, but I'll spare you those details here. Checkout my review of their card at a later time.
There are many credit cards you could use at Shell, but none that Shell themselves would prefer for you to use other than their own Shell Fuel Rewards Credit Card. I don't personally have this card, but it does provide a few great benefits which may be worth having if you ONLY use Shell Gas. Shell has two versions of their credit card. The first is the Shell Rewards Fuel Card. This card can only be used at Shell, so it does not help with this stacking strategy, you would need to select the Shell Fuel Rewards Mastercard by Citi. The Mastercard version of their card allows you to use it wherever Mastercard is accepted, but also allows you to connect it with the Apps we will use later in this stacking strategy. So what are the benefits? As a Shell Fuel Rewards member you save 5 cents per gallon at the pump, but when you use the Shell Fuel Rewards Mastercard to pay for gas, this bumps up your savings to 10 cents per gallon. There is a limit of 20 gallons per fill up for this discount. When you first sign up for either of the cards, you get 30 cents off per gallon for your first 5 gas purchases. As of this post, gas in my area is just above $2 per gallon. When considering the first 5 purchases that's about a 15% discount per gallon on 5 fill ups. On an ongoing basis using the 10 cent discount, that's continuous 5% discount! Of course gas can increase or decrease as supply and demand changes, but as long as gas stays in the range of $1.50 to $4.00 you will get between 2.5% to 6.5% cash back every time you fill up your tank. If you tend to use different gas stations every now and then, then getting a credit card with another company, like Costco, Citi, AMEX or others would be a better deal since you would have the additional benefits that their card would provide in other categories like Restaurants, Travel, or just overall general cash back at a higher rate. The Mastercard version of Shell's credit card does provide additional rebates of 10% at Shell for non-fuel purchases, 2% on Dining and Groceries, and 1% on all other purchases. Those rebates are applied as statement credits on your credit card, and work essentially the same as any other cash back credit card. The only difference is you can't actually get the cash returned to your own bank account. This is why a regular cash back credit card would provide additional benefits in the flexibility of how you can use the cash back. Now that you know how to either earn a discount or receive cash back, let's go on to level 2! Level 2: Get Upside: .50% to 7.5% Cash Back
Depending on your selection in Level 1, you may or may not have the opportunity to earn cash back with GetUpside. If you use Shell Fuel Rewards to get a discount on your gas, whether you are using their credit card to get 10 cents off per gallon or just getting the 5 cents per gallon discount with a non-Shell credit card, then you can't use GetUpside. I repeat...GetUpside and Shell Rewards do not work together! So my suggestion would be to determine which option is best for you, but for me personally, using my Costco cash back credit card is the best option for allowing me to stack my rewards, including working with the GetUpside App!
With GetUpside you can earn cash back at Shell, as well as other gas stations, by linking your credit card to their app, selecting a participating gas station within their app, and earning cash back either automatically or by uploading your receipt shortly after your purchase. Cash back can range between 1 cent to as high as 15 cents or more on average from what I've seen. The main difference between Shell Fuel Rewards and GetUpside is that Shell provides a discount per gallon, while GetUpside gives you cash back. Some may prefer to get the discount because you pay less up front, vs paying 5 cents more to get maybe 15 cents per gallon back in cash. I would say choose which ever option works best for you! In most cases, depending on how much cash back is offered at your local Shell gas station, GetUpside ends up being the better deal in the long run. The only downside is you have to wait for your cash back to build up to at least $25 before you can withdraw it from GetUpside. So there's the immediate gratification of the Shell Rewards discount, or the delayed gratification of more cash back via GetUpside...choose wisely! On average in my area, GetUpside allows me to earn between .50% to 7.5% cash back on each fill up. In addition to this, anyone that joins GetUpside using my referral link will receive a 15 cent per gallon bonus on their first fill up.! Level 3: Bits of Stock App: .50%
The 3rd level is the Bits of Stock App, where you can earn cash back which is then used to purchase shares of stock. Essentially a Stock Back App! The Bits of Stock App allows you to select 15 companies in any category. So if you don't only buy gas from Shell, you could also select Exxon, Chevron, or BP to earn your stock back bonus! Each time you make a gas purchase using a linked Credit Card, you will earn .50% cash back on each purchase which is then used to purchase the stock of Shell. Let's say that the average gas tank size is 15 gallons, and gas is currently $2 per gallon. Your $30 fill up would earn you 15 cents worth of Shell stock. If you need to fill up every week for that same amount, this means that over the course of a year you could earn about $7.80 in Shell stock. That's about 1/4 of a share based on Shell's current stock price. Shell stock also pays a dividend, whose yield is around 4% paying $1.28 per share every quarter. So in addition to the immediate bonus of receiving Stock Back from Shell, Shell's stock will also pay you a dividend for owning their stock, and you have the potential upside of Shell's stock value increasing over time. All you needed to do was purchase gas as you normally would! If you would like to add Bits of Stock to your cash back stacking strategy, use my referral link!
Level 4: Bumped App - .50%
On the 4th level of this cash back stacking strategy is the Bumped App. Just like with the Bits of Stock App, with the Bumped app you receive cash back on all of your purchases which is used to purchase Stock. The main difference between the Bumped app and the Bits of Stock app is that the Bumped app only allows you to select 1 company per category, and Gas is one of the available categories. When you select Shell as your cash back option for gas, you can earn .50% stock back. With the Bumped app, instead of receiving Shell stock, the stock you receive is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF (VTI). If you've watched any of my investing videos in the past, then you know this is one of the ETF's I personally choose for passive stock investing. I have an IRA with M1 Finance which I post monthly updates on my Instagram page, check me out at AJMobileMoney on Instagram. So personally I do like being able to choose VTI as my stock back option, and there are other companies which give you this option as well within the Bumped App.
All together, once you consider the 4 levels of cash back you can earn buying gas at Shell, you're looking at a minimum of 4% up to as high as 15% back in combined cash/stock back using this strategy. Since I get an automatic 4% cash back with my Costco Credit card, I personally average around 8.5% total cash/stock back on every gas purchase at Shell.
If you like this strategy, be sure to checkout my Cash Back Stacking Strategy Playlist for more places you can earn significant cash back just like this! Also look out for more stores which I'll add to this list so you can maximize rewards on every purchase you make!
References:
Comments
|