This 34-year-old just hit over 10 million credit card points. Here’s how he does it

A 34-year-old San Francisco-based entrepreneur has a surprisingly high balance: 10,308,398. That’s not his checking account balance or the amount of debt he owes — it’s the total number of credit card reward points he currently has across over a dozen cards.

Chris Hutchins — a former Google employee and owner of Grove, a financial planning company — started playing the credit card points game in college, and more than a decade later, he’s finally reached his dream of having more than 10 million points.

“It’s been an evolving goal,” Hutchins tells CNBC Make It. “When I first started I wanted to get a million.” Hitting seven digits only spurred him on more. For the last five years, he’s been steadily working toward the next milestone, which he officially hit this month.

That’s not to say he never spends down the reward points he, along with his wife, Amy, have been carefully accumulating. His points total across all of their cards does fluctuate month to month, especially when the couple is planning their latest travel adventure.

Racking up credit card reward points is not just about hitting the big number, Hutchins says. The rewards allow him to indulge in the one thing he loves but would never otherwise splurge on: travel. Over the years, Hutchins and his wife have taken trips to Europe, India, Egypt, Japan, and even Bora Bora last year, all using credit card points.

“With credit card rewards, the magic is finding the thing that you care about that you can use them to maximize it,” he says.

And not all the points are used to jet to exotic locales. Hutchins says he cashed in points for a flight to Denver last month because it was a better deal. Yet despite spending his rewards, he still racks points up at a higher rate than he spends them, hence the current 10.3 million total.

Hutchins admits his credit card usage is “extreme.” The average person has about three credit cards. But Hutchins is not average. He has 16 credit cards and a credit score of 817, while Amy also has several cards in her name, too.