The One Number You Need To Know When Deciding If A Costco Executive Membership Is Right For You

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It’s actually pretty easy math.

Key Point

• A Costco Executive Membership costs twice as much as a regular membership.
• It can also put cash in your pocket and make that higher fee worth paying for.
• Spend $3,000 or more a year at Costco and get an Executive Membership.

When I started shopping at Costco, I had a basic membership that was perfect for me. At the time, I was married but had no children, so buying groceries in bulk didn’t make much sense.

But when I had kids and my grocery bill started to climb, I looked up the numbers and realized it made sense to upgrade to a Costco executive membership. If so, there’s just one simple question you need to ask yourself.

Spending over $3,000 a year at Costco?

Currently, a basic Costco membership is $60 a year and an executive membership is $120. You get cash back on your purchases, just like how.

2% cash back on purchases made at Costco through Executive Membership. Basically, to see if an executive membership makes sense, comb through your credit card statements over the past year to see how much you’ve spent at Costco.

If your total is $3,000, you can get $60 cash back through your Executive Membership by spending an additional $60. But if even $1 gets him over $3,000, executive membership pays off.

Admittedly, we don’t just want to look at previous Costco spending. Also, try to anticipate what your future spending will look like.

Let’s say you spent $4,500 at Costco last year. His $2,000 of that was for upgrading home electronics. It’s probably not something you do every year. So when evaluating your spending, it’s important to look at the specifics you’ve purchased, not just the total number.

Also, you may not want to upgrade to an Executive Membership if your living circumstances change in the following year. Our oldest child has just moved and no longer lives at home. This could significantly reduce your Costco spending, making your Executive Membership less cost-effective.

simple decision

For me, maintaining my executive membership is an easy decision. But I also know that I spend about $100 a week at Costco because I shop for groceries and household items on a regular basis.

If you’re unsure whether or not to get an Executive Membership, unless your funds are particularly tight, it’s a good idea to take a step back and find out. After all, upgrading a membership isn’t a big risk, he might spend $60 on an upgrade and get $45 back.

I am certainly not in favor of throwing money away. But in this example, we’re talking about losing $15, so it’s not a life-changing amount.

So if you tend to get an executive membership, you can pay for it, especially while the cost of living is rising due to inflation. And if it doesn’t work out, you’re not stuck. When it’s time to renew, you can always downgrade to a basic membership.