If I don't travel often, does it make sense for me to pay attention to hacking miles?

That is not how I would look at it.

The first questions you should ask are: "How much do I spend?" and then "How can I optimize my spending to get the most bang for my buck?" Everyone benefits from getting more value back from their expenditure. But if you spend a lot, optimizing the value you get is all the more important.

Mile hacking can still bring a lot of value even if you are an infrequent flyer. Redeeming your miles for a premium cabin ticket allows you to start your vacation from the ground in Singapore (think lounge access before the flight, and priority boarding at the gate). If you only take one overseas trip a year, such perks can help increase the enjoyment you get.

If work or family commitments prevent you from planning for trips in advance, redeeming miles can be a great way to build in more flexibility for your travel dates. It is generally much cheaper to change dates for a redemption ticket than it is to buy a flexible ticket in the first place.

Yes. You can still slowly accumulate miles on a card where the miles/points don't expire. It may take longer, but you will eventually have enough miles to redeem J/F.

Additionally, you won't want to miss out big sign up bonuses like SCB's X card 100K miles, which no cashback card can match in terms of the value of the reward.

If you don't travel often, then it doesn't make sense to focus on hacking miles. Just let nature takes its course and accumulate miles along the way.

On the other hand, you may consider cashback card too. There is no right or wrong to this, other than a pure personal preference.

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Hey Anonymous, since you don't travel often, all the more it could be worthy to have a one-off trip using the miles you accumulate! Such as to far-flung places like the US or Africa. To top it off, the experience (of flying for free maybe even on business class) is something that you could never forget.

Essentially, it beats making expenses with cash or NETS without earning any rewards out of it. Provided monthly bills are duly paid for, that is. So by the end of a period of time, you could be on your flight to a far away land that may just blow your mind away. Such experential trips are hard to come by, and I believe having miles will fulfill that.