The Amex Platinum annual fee is not only expensive at $695, but the card doesn’t make sense for many at that price point. But the Morgan Stanley Amex Platinum card has a way to get an American Express Platinum card with no annual fee. There are some hoops to jump through, but if you really want a Platinum card, then you should run the numbers and see if the MS Platinum card will benefit you.
00:00 – start
00:36 – Schwab Platinum Devaluation
00:52 – Morgan Stanley Platinum
1:37 – Annual Engagement Bonus
3:07 – Platinum CashPlus Account
4:44 – Bonus Posting
5:28 – Debit Card Option
5:46 – Potential Tax Implications
6:42 – Worth it?
Be sure to check out MaxRewards and receive receive 1 month of MaxRewards Gold for free:
💸 Wealthfront $5K Fee Free Money Management: bit.ly/Wealthfront-5k
🔥 Waller’s Wallet YouTube Channel Member:
📈 WeBull Free Stock:
💵 Easy Money Signing Up For Wealthfront Checking: bit.ly/Wealthfrontchecking
💵 Get Easy Money Signing Up For Sofi Money:
📰 Subscribe to my newsletter:
Support Waller’s Wallet when shopping at Amazon:
My Camera Equipment:
Canon M50:
Lighting:
Main Mic:
Shotgun Mic:
Switchpod Tripod:
Colored Background lights:
iPad Pro:
Magic Keyboard:
Airbnb – Get $40 off your first booking-
Rakuten – Get $10 when you sign up –
Social Media:
FaceBook Group:
Twitter:
Instagram:
Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the listings that appear on this website are from companies which we receive compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The site does not review or include all companies or all available products.
The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
39 comments
Time to beat Amex at their own game 😎👊
Oh man! I was digging the hair… Still looking good!
Hey Dustin – am I understanding this correctly? To make this work, we need:
1. $5K in brokerage account
2. $25K avg. bal. in Plat. CashPlus acct.
3. $5K/mo. deposit to Plat. CashPlus
4. Both accts. registered for online access
So all in it’s $30K in combined balances + $5K/mo. in deposits in order to waive the monthly Plat. CashPlus fees … right?
Lmao not a chance I’m doing all of this nonsense for that card 😂
Opportunity cost is high here. Even when considering $700 + $175 savings in AF. Not to mention the hassle of the continuous 5K direct deposits. Great info though.
Can I do the 25k THEN deposit an additional 5k at the beginning at the month & withdraw 5k at the end… and repeat the process to trigger the 5k a month deposit?
wait so, in the first year of having the MS plat, the $695 fee isn't waived? So if I don't meet the $25k minimum + 5k monthly deposits, I'm effectively paying $695 + $660 for the card in the first year?
moving $30k around to save $695 isn't smart. also with access investing you can't transfer money out. to get money out you have to close the account (the account doesn't really get closed though) which requires you to call your morgan stanley 'team'.
My original strategy was to get the Vanilla Plat then the CS Plat and hold onto the CS Plat and not retain the Van Plat. Now, the T&C has me thinking that I will just get the CS Plat for a year then not retain. The Morgan Stanley version isn’t bad but that is too many hoops to judge through to get that fee waived. I am hoping Amex will recognize that the “New Yorker” (what I call the Vanilla Plat now) doesn’t help out common folk like me when compared to the AF.
This is a lot of work for most of the people. Plus if a person can deposit 5k each month to this account they can definitely afford to pay $695 fee.
The Engagement Bonus isn't credited back to the Amex – it's a cash deposit straight into the CashPlus account. This is important because the IRS requires that any bonus above $600 MUST be reported on 1099-MISC box 3. Technically the way MS does the engagement bonus it was always taxable, but because it was below the mandatory reporting threshold there was no way for the IRS to know if you "forgot" to claim that income outside of an audit.
For just about everyone, $695 in post-tax annual fee + $695 in taxable bonus will not mean "free Amex Platinum." If you assume a 22% federal tax bracket and 6% state tax bracket, your take-home of that $695 bonus is $500.40. Even starting out under those conditions your "free" Amex is still costing you about $195/year, and you had to put up $30k to get it.
Yeahhhhhhh, sounds like a lot just to offset the fee. Great work tho.
Awesome video Dustin.
I have this card. It takes 2-3 months after applying for and being approved for the MS platinum card and meeting the monthly minimums to get the engagement bonus.
If I'm currently getting the Amex popup (not eligible for the welcome bonus) would this still occur with the MS/Charles Schwab Platinum? I wouldn't want to open a brokerage account only to get turned down once I applied for the card.
Or join the active duty US military. I have 7 AMEX cards, including the Platinum, and pay ZERO.
Hi great Video! Question, I don't want to pay the new Amex fee, bur before to cancel this card… what i can do if I have a Platinum, Gold Card and a Blue Preferred card?? Any recommendation? Because if I downgrade my Platinum need to be for a Gold Card or Green card and each one have annual fee…
Why did you say you’re not the customer they’re looking for?
Active service in the military will also waive the annual fee.
Thanks for doing this research. Soooooo many hoops though!!! Too much!!! 😂
Bring back #WallersHair
Why is it called “Vanilla version” I’m so lost haha
The current sign up bonus is 125,000 points (regular platinum)…at 0.6 cents/points, you can redeem back for $750. This is a terrible redemption but if you weren't initially going to get the card/points this is a way to try it out for free and try out all the benefits.
They have really great offers that randomly pop up, along with the recurring annual benefits…plus my favorite…Centurion Lounge Access
I thought you were going to suggest folks join active duty military. 😅
I’ll just join the army
I have MS Amex platinum. I have had it for over a year. I enjoy all the benefits like any vanilla card and I get the annual fee back. I did not receive 1099 last year for the $550 “engagement bonus”. I invest with Morgan Stanley in select UMA account abs have had excellent return in the market. Overall I am happy and satisfied.
The only difference is this year or next year, I will get 1099 when the “bonus” is $695. So the card is not totally free. It will be the taxes that you will pay on the bonus. Still totally worth it with free authorized user.
That sure is a lot of things to do and a lot of money to get the annual fee offset. I don't think it would be worth it unless you have a ton of extra cash just sitting in a savings/checking account. Either way, nice video and breakdown man. Take care and keep moving forward!
This is a lot of hoops to jump through just to waive an annual fee. Very informative video and its good to know that there are options out there. 👏🏼 Just won't be for me.
Love the haircut, D.
If you never want to pay an annual fee again, join the military. It's that simple. No need to drop 30k or pay $700 for the AMEX Platinum card. You keep all the benefits of the card and not pay an annual fee.
Anyone else skimped by Amex SOB even though way above sign on bonus? Happened to me and had to open case for bonus. Seems like having issues with the SOB
Glad Morgan Stanley is finally getting some attention. Morgan Stanley loyalist here.
Slightly attractive for people who don't have the platinum card yet, and a CashPlus account with Morgan Stanely would be attractive. If having CashPlus makes sense to you, then you're probably in the segment that already has the Platinum vanilla card anyways, and to switch to the MS version, you actually need to kill your vanilla platinum card, run a hard inquiry on your credit and open the new MS platinum card. You cannot just convert the vanilla to MS. Two different accounts.
This promo won't work to attract people who don't have platinum vanilla yet. It won't work to attract Platinum vanilla users to open a CashPlus then switch MS Platinum, it won't incentivize new MS Platinum accounts among CashPlus users since most of them already have the vanilla, and if anything, it might slightly succeed at converting them.
Nice try though
Hey just curious I have the regular platinum and if I was to apply to this version do you know if I’d be eligible for the welcome bonus points offer ?
Even If you don't meet the requirements, in the end you would be paying 55 dollars a month for you and and authorized user, with AF being spread out you can still invest the most of the AF as you pay the AF over time, plus have the ability to cash out a 1cent per point( better than 0.6).
May want to do this anyways bc no wire in/out fee and the same worldwide atm fee rebate when compared to schwab, and a better $.01 pp cashout option when compared to vanilla platinum.
If I keep Zelle 5K every month back and forth between my cashplus bank account to my wife's bank account would this cover the 5k minimum deposit?
I'm going to be doing this – I have some rental properties and am moving to europe. The cashplus account has no atm or foreign fees, and free wires. I need to collect rents and keep about 25k in cash for incidentals so this fits perfectly
I like this, i try to have every dime in my checking account at least getting some interest. I also have two kids and a free authorized user so we can all go in the centurion lounge would be awesome. The $25,000 is tough but its something worth striving toward! If you could do this with one checking account and an average balance of $25,000 all your money most likely would be getting at least 2% which is awesome.