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What are the pros and cons of the ACCA vs CFA?
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Any advice from a soon to be landlord?
Woohoo someone created a bowl
Is it possible to live off 12k/year?
Mentor
Built up my stash through business travel.
I don’t travel for work, but I hear this is pretty bomb if your employer lets you keep the points. Good for you!
I think that the root of the problem is the fact your budget is too tight to accommodate an occasional travel expense.
Have you taken a look at your expenses before thinking about CC points to cover your expenses? Btw, most credit cards have a spending minimum before they issue points, so you’d have to have big expense to meet the minimum.
Thank you, it’s refreshing to hear this. My husband and I travel frequently by car to visit family in our home state (3 hours away) on weekends and holidays, but we don’t have a dedicated budget for leisure travel outside of that (flights to far away places, flights to other countries) but I am simultaneously realizing we are behind a bit on retirement goals (we both match our employer contributions but he started full time work later and makes a modest income as a teacher). So I feel our extra funds in our budget fully need to be redirected to retirement. CC points felt like a way we could travel more at the same time because it’s like bonus money on top of your income if you’re just using the CC for points - sign on bonus, referral bonus, etc. I think Im worried we’re losing our youthful years to travel but also don’t want to miss out on more aggressive retirement savings.
Mentor
There’s a whole “miles and points” community online that centers around generating what they call “manufactured spend” to generate more points. Lots of FB groups, blogs, and YouTube channels that are dedicated to this!
They do thinks like buy gift cards at grocery stores using a card that has a multiplier for grocery store purchases and then use those gift cards at other stores that they spend at normally. It’s all about maximizing those multipliers.
Thank you! I’ve heard of this but did not dig into it. I will look for these terms.
I play the CC points game. Just cleared $1,500 net of fees on Capital One Venture X. I pick a new card every 6-12 months for the sign up bonus.
Most of the cards with good perks have an annual fee, yes. You'll need to do an analysis of how you spend and also decide if you want to deal with the different categories of perks (Amex is notorious for this). Chase just announced bonus points on their main card (Preferred Sapphire Plus I think it is) and that one only has a $95 annual fee. I don't usually bother with the friends & family links, I share them on social media sometimes but I don't think anyone has ever used them.
Haha, this is how it starts…the majority of card holders don’t pay the balance in full each month…make good choices!
I appreciate the caution! I didn’t get a credit card until I was 24 because my parents put the fear of god in me. I am now 27 with the same credit card, and I’ve never incurred interest - always paid off on time and in full. Just wondering how people pull off the travel credit card game long term when it feels I’ve exhausted my card’s benefits (sign on and max referrals).