yes-I do not want to read through multiple threads that have nothing to do with my original post sorry
Dan already answered your original post- you should probably listen to him
Low tier status is mostly junk.
Get as many miles as you can (UA Club, AMEX EDP) and enjoy.
Never lay out money before getting paid for it. Many people are messed over for life just for the sake of a few miles.
He was saying that any status you'll get will not be worth the benefits that other cards will give you. For example- you can many more miles per spend if you use the UA Club card or the Amex EDP instead of using a regular card.
For example, if you spend $50k on the SPG card, you'll get SPG Gold Status (not so great) and 50k SPG miles, but if you spend it on the UA Club Card, you'll have 75k UA miles (1.5 mile per dollar spent). The Amex EDP can get you even more than that, depending on what exactly you're buying. Read one of Dan's articles on it:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/53929