ATHLLC1070818396

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.760 | - Hello and welcome to another episode of All The Hacks,

00:00:05.620 | a show about upgrading your life, money and travel.

00:00:08.240 | I'm Chris Hutchins and I'm excited you're here today.

00:00:10.320 | So in the past, I've done a ton of mailbag episodes

00:00:12.920 | where I've answered questions from you all.

00:00:14.880 | And recently I did an episode where I just shared

00:00:16.800 | a few of my thoughts on things going on in my mind.

00:00:19.320 | Well, I was trying to think about this week

00:00:20.800 | whether I wanted to do another mailbag

00:00:22.560 | and I had all these things to share on my mind

00:00:24.380 | and I thought maybe I would just combine it all together.

00:00:26.920 | So there's a little bit of a mailbag,

00:00:28.320 | a little bit of some reactions and some thoughts,

00:00:30.480 | some wins, some hacks and a whole lot more.

00:00:33.120 | I am sure that you are going to find value in this episode

00:00:36.200 | because there's really a lot of content.

00:00:38.320 | It's mostly focused on travel and credit card points

00:00:41.260 | and miles and a little bit on kids and some deals.

00:00:43.660 | But before we jump in,

00:00:45.080 | I wanna talk a little bit about a few wins

00:00:47.440 | that I just felt like I needed to share

00:00:49.260 | because they were so awesome.

00:00:51.160 | The first comes from Austin

00:00:52.600 | who wrote this in an Apple podcast review,

00:00:54.560 | which by the way, I so, so much appreciate

00:00:56.960 | when you guys leave reviews on Spotify and Apple podcasts.

00:00:59.760 | I love reading them, I feature them on the website

00:01:02.120 | and maybe I'll start reading a few more of them on the air.

00:01:04.920 | So this one said, "Episode 104 saved me $15,854 a year.

00:01:09.920 | They said that it pointed them in a direction

00:01:11.880 | that cut their insurance policies in half

00:01:13.880 | and with better coverage and they used to sell insurance."

00:01:18.080 | So, I mean, this might take the top position

00:01:21.160 | for the most money saved from an episode,

00:01:23.080 | at least that I've heard about.

00:01:24.360 | If you've saved more than that, please let me know

00:01:26.640 | or even anywhere close.

00:01:28.200 | I'd love to collect more stories like this.

00:01:30.080 | And I actually think

00:01:30.920 | in the new version of the website I'm building,

00:01:33.080 | I'm gonna highlight some of these reviews

00:01:35.060 | and testimonials and stories.

00:01:36.920 | So please send a few and you might see yourself

00:01:39.240 | on the All The Hacks homepage.

00:01:40.760 | Next, I wanna share a story from Christopher

00:01:42.960 | that was just an amazing example

00:01:44.840 | of what can happen at a hotel.

00:01:46.860 | So he was excited to take a really special trip

00:01:49.160 | to Savannah, Georgia with his family to celebrate

00:01:52.080 | and thought they'd stay in a really nice place.

00:01:54.320 | So he was looking at the Palmetto Bluff

00:01:56.040 | where he said the standard king rooms

00:01:57.640 | were about $600 a night,

00:01:59.400 | but the double queen rooms were well over a thousand.

00:02:02.520 | We had two kids, so the king room wasn't an option.

00:02:05.480 | And so he wanted to figure out what to do.

00:02:07.900 | He was a little bit annoyed,

00:02:08.880 | but he filled out the contact us form on the website

00:02:11.680 | and said, "It's really hard for a family of four to stay

00:02:14.940 | when most of the other luxury resorts in the area

00:02:17.560 | only charge a little bit more

00:02:18.920 | for a double queen over a king."

00:02:20.720 | And they were charging such a significant premium.

00:02:23.760 | Well, a day later, the price for the two queen room

00:02:26.160 | was reset online to 700 a night

00:02:28.360 | and he made a reservation.

00:02:30.160 | Well, where it really gets exciting

00:02:32.000 | is that he found an email address for the GM of the hotel,

00:02:34.720 | explained that it was his daughter's eighth birthday

00:02:37.580 | and asked if they had any recommendations

00:02:39.440 | for activities or dinner to celebrate.

00:02:41.380 | And the GM passed them along to a guest relations manager

00:02:44.220 | who just asked a few questions

00:02:45.460 | and made some suggestions for activities.

00:02:47.560 | Well, fast forward to the actual stay,

00:02:49.120 | they ended up getting a free upgrade to a suite

00:02:51.320 | that would have cost over $1,700 a night.

00:02:54.160 | But when they opened the door,

00:02:55.720 | they were greeted to the soundtrack of "Matilda the Musical,"

00:02:58.480 | which is his daughter's favorite thing to listen to,

00:03:00.880 | a bunch of balloons, gifts for his daughter,

00:03:03.200 | and a bottle of wine for he and his wife.

00:03:05.240 | This might be the best story we've heard yet

00:03:07.360 | of an upgrade and an amazing experience

00:03:09.740 | just from sending an email to the GM or to the front desk

00:03:13.320 | or to the concierge of a hotel.

00:03:15.060 | So definitely keep doing that.

00:03:16.520 | If you have any trips coming up,

00:03:18.160 | just always make sure to book directly with the hotel

00:03:20.900 | or through a travel agent when you're doing it.

00:03:23.080 | Last, I wanna share a story from Michael

00:03:25.080 | who used the Card Optimizer spreadsheet I built

00:03:27.780 | to evaluate what the best card options were.

00:03:30.280 | He said that just 15 minutes with the spreadsheet

00:03:32.720 | added more than $500 in additional points per year

00:03:35.840 | versus the cards he already had in his wallet.

00:03:38.000 | And while the price for the spreadsheet

00:03:39.280 | is actually set at pay what you want,

00:03:41.600 | he found it so valuable

00:03:42.720 | that he offered to make a donation in my name

00:03:45.440 | for $175 based on the value provided.

00:03:49.120 | He made that to Charity Water,

00:03:50.500 | which is an awesome organization I'm a big fan of.

00:03:53.160 | So first off, I'm so excited

00:03:54.620 | that you got a ton of value from this spreadsheet.

00:03:56.460 | That makes me so happy.

00:03:57.700 | I wanna continue building tools like that.

00:03:59.980 | Second, thank you so much for the donation you made.

00:04:03.140 | It really means a lot to me and to all the people

00:04:06.380 | who are gonna have clean drinking water because of it.

00:04:08.620 | And finally, if you haven't checked out the spreadsheet

00:04:10.820 | and want to, you can go to allthehacks.com/cardvalue

00:04:14.220 | and take a look.

00:04:15.060 | You're also gonna get the update to V2 of the spreadsheet,

00:04:17.620 | which I'm working on now.

00:04:19.000 | Thanks to some awesome feedback from listeners.

00:04:21.540 | So those are a few awesome wins from the audience.

00:04:23.820 | Please share your wins, share your amazing stories.

00:04:27.180 | I'd love to hear them.

00:04:28.180 | I'd love to share them with others.

00:04:29.740 | And as you'll hear in the rest of this episode,

00:04:31.140 | there's gonna be a lot more.

00:04:32.380 | So let's jump in right after this.

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00:05:54.140 | (upbeat music)

00:05:55.760 | Okay, I wanna start talking about travel.

00:05:57.760 | Mostly because we just got back

00:05:59.400 | from an incredible trip to Bora Bora a few weeks ago.

00:06:02.660 | I am so fortunate that we've been able

00:06:04.440 | to go there a few times.

00:06:05.960 | It's crazy that from the West Coast,

00:06:07.620 | you can get to French Polynesia in just eight hours.

00:06:10.320 | And even if you're not trying

00:06:11.760 | to do an aspirational business class trip,

00:06:13.820 | you can find flights in coach on French Bee or United

00:06:17.600 | for less than $1,000.

00:06:20.140 | So the first two trips we took

00:06:21.800 | were planned a bit more in advance.

00:06:23.480 | And this one was really last minute.

00:06:25.320 | I talked about it a little bit

00:06:26.840 | on the last episode I did like this.

00:06:29.320 | And it came together because I asked my parents

00:06:31.320 | if there was any time in 2023,

00:06:32.960 | they might be able to help watch our girls.

00:06:34.880 | And it turned out that something sooner

00:06:36.840 | was actually the best for everyone.

00:06:38.840 | And so we started looking at where we were going.

00:06:41.400 | So if you wanna hear a little bit

00:06:42.360 | about how we decided where to go,

00:06:43.840 | go check out episode 124.

00:06:45.920 | We got an amazing deal on flights.

00:06:47.840 | We ended up doing round trip on United

00:06:50.440 | and it was only 55,000 AeroPlan points each way in business.

00:06:54.280 | I'll come back to that

00:06:55.240 | 'cause AeroPlan has been such a great option.

00:06:58.000 | But the hotels was the one

00:06:59.560 | where I really was trying to optimize

00:07:00.960 | and I'll share what ended up happening.

00:07:02.680 | So I had hoped that as the dates got closer and closer,

00:07:06.460 | that the availability for points would open up.

00:07:09.360 | And I actually gotten an email a few weeks ago

00:07:12.480 | from Jeremy who shared his experience with Hilton,

00:07:15.560 | which was very positive.

00:07:17.320 | So he said they normally stay at the Grand Wailea in Maui.

00:07:20.520 | Now, before I continue,

00:07:21.960 | I just wanna say I am so heartbroken

00:07:24.080 | about what's going on in Maui.

00:07:25.640 | We went last October and we spent the whole day in Lahaina

00:07:28.880 | and it's so sad to see what's happened

00:07:30.960 | and the destruction from all these fires.

00:07:33.080 | All of our thoughts and prayers from the whole family

00:07:35.200 | are out to the people in Maui and Lahaina

00:07:37.160 | and everywhere affected.

00:07:38.440 | It's been so sad to see what's happening.

00:07:40.520 | There are a lot of organizations you can contribute to

00:07:42.520 | if you wanna support the relief efforts,

00:07:44.080 | but I'll link to a few that we've made donations to

00:07:46.520 | from our Daffy account in the show notes.

00:07:49.000 | So when Jeremy last looked to book a trip there,

00:07:51.600 | the rooms were over 2 million Hilton points a night

00:07:54.360 | and he checked a week before the trip

00:07:55.960 | and rooms were down to 100,000 points per night.

00:07:58.920 | He ended up booking the room with points,

00:08:00.440 | used a free night certificate with the Aspire card

00:08:02.760 | and got incredible value.

00:08:04.440 | He stayed the second half of the trip at the Ritz-Carlton,

00:08:06.680 | which he said was a great property,

00:08:08.280 | had really reasonable Bonvoy rates outside of peak time

00:08:11.800 | and one of the best brunch buffets

00:08:13.880 | outside of Southeast Asia he's ever had.

00:08:16.080 | That was also a bummer to hear

00:08:17.360 | because we actually stayed at that same Ritz-Carlton

00:08:20.000 | and never tried out the brunch buffet,

00:08:22.160 | mostly because no amount of Bonvoy status

00:08:24.760 | gets you free breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton

00:08:26.840 | and I think I was just a little annoyed by that rule,

00:08:29.400 | but I have some regret.

00:08:30.880 | I wish I had lived a little bit more of a die with zero life

00:08:33.600 | because the best buffet brunch outside of Southeast Asia

00:08:36.120 | sounds like a really incredible meal to have.

00:08:38.720 | So hearing a story like that,

00:08:39.880 | we thought if we waited till the last minute,

00:08:41.480 | some availability would open up

00:08:43.280 | and unfortunately, that just wasn't the case.

00:08:46.000 | So for Bora Bora, we waited, we waited, nothing happened.

00:08:50.000 | We ended up just having to book the room with dollars.

00:08:53.240 | It was a little over $1,000 a night,

00:08:55.560 | but we did use the upgrade tactics.

00:08:57.520 | We emailed the hotel and were able to get upgraded

00:09:00.240 | to a deluxe overwater villa,

00:09:02.160 | which was absolutely incredible.

00:09:04.320 | In fact, if you go back to episode 49 on YouTube,

00:09:07.320 | you can see I recorded the entire episode

00:09:09.480 | from an overwater villa in Bora Bora.

00:09:12.040 | That time was at the St. Regis.

00:09:14.360 | Bora Bora's incredible.

00:09:15.640 | I've talked about it multiple times,

00:09:17.040 | so I won't spend much time here,

00:09:18.900 | but on the West Coast,

00:09:20.280 | getting to French Polynesia is so easy.

00:09:22.780 | Bora Bora, it's an amazing place to go.

00:09:25.400 | It's so beautiful.

00:09:26.800 | In fact, a lot of Tahiti is.

00:09:28.620 | I haven't gotten a chance to explore it as much.

00:09:30.360 | I think our next trip,

00:09:31.320 | we might spend some time in Morea or in Taha

00:09:34.440 | or another island to just get more of an experience.

00:09:37.440 | Unfortunately, we weren't able to use our points there,

00:09:40.340 | but we were fortunate that at the last minute,

00:09:42.560 | the Hilton Tahiti,

00:09:43.900 | which is a property we've never stayed at,

00:09:45.840 | it's really near the airport, it's gorgeous.

00:09:48.880 | The pool was amazing.

00:09:50.080 | The property was amazing.

00:09:51.360 | Breakfast was amazing.

00:09:52.320 | It was just such a great experience.

00:09:54.900 | And that did open up for points,

00:09:57.240 | which meant that I could use

00:09:58.380 | our Hilton Aspire free night certificate

00:10:00.460 | and get a free night,

00:10:01.360 | which saved us $400 on that hotel room.

00:10:04.200 | And similarly, we got a great upgrade there,

00:10:06.280 | thanks to Hilton Diamond status,

00:10:08.640 | which we also have from the Aspire card,

00:10:10.980 | which I think might be a good time

00:10:12.440 | to just briefly talk about the Aspire card,

00:10:15.260 | because I'd always thought it was a good deal.

00:10:17.160 | And then finally going on this trip

00:10:18.880 | made it all come together.

00:10:20.160 | So it does have a high annual fee at $450,

00:10:23.400 | but what you get,

00:10:24.400 | aside from a 150,000 point welcome bonus

00:10:27.880 | after spending $4,000 in the first three months,

00:10:30.900 | you get 14 X points on Hilton hotels just from the card.

00:10:35.060 | That's in addition to the 20 points per dollar

00:10:37.740 | you get staying at Hilton when you're a Diamond member,

00:10:40.820 | which Diamond status is another benefit of the card.

00:10:43.920 | You also get a $250 Hilton resort credit.

00:10:47.100 | So we instantly got that after our first night.

00:10:50.380 | There's also a $250 airline fee credit.

00:10:53.180 | We've been able to get that back with Southwest this year.

00:10:56.460 | You also get a priority pass select membership.

00:10:58.780 | We already have that through the Platinum card

00:11:01.060 | and the Chase Reserve.

00:11:02.020 | So that one wasn't a big benefit for us.

00:11:04.740 | And then finally you get a free night certificate.

00:11:07.060 | And so if you add up what we've gotten

00:11:09.220 | just from this trip from that card,

00:11:11.420 | we got $400 off a hotel room.

00:11:13.780 | We've been able to get $250 airline credit.

00:11:16.260 | We got a $250 resort credit.

00:11:18.540 | So we're already at $900,

00:11:20.300 | but that complimentary Diamond status

00:11:22.020 | also got us breakfast at the hotel for seven nights for two,

00:11:25.740 | which I don't actually remember the price,

00:11:27.820 | but I wanna say was in the ballpark of $40, $50 a person.

00:11:32.020 | So there's another $700.

00:11:34.180 | So almost $1,600 of value from this card,

00:11:37.880 | not including the welcome bonus

00:11:39.620 | and not including the 14 points per dollar.

00:11:42.220 | So all in all, incredible deal.

00:11:44.380 | And so now I'm actually thinking Amy has one now,

00:11:46.860 | maybe I should get a Hilton Inspire also.

00:11:48.960 | And then we'd have twice the perks,

00:11:51.140 | twice the credits, twice the free nights.

00:11:53.580 | So if you do spend $60,000 a year on the card,

00:11:56.060 | you earn another free night certificate.

00:11:58.300 | I'm not sure that that's the best deal for our circumstances

00:12:01.780 | but definitely something to consider.

00:12:03.780 | So if you're interested in the card,

00:12:05.420 | Amy's referral link for that card,

00:12:07.480 | which obviously we would both appreciate you using

00:12:09.660 | is allthehacks.com/hilton.

00:12:12.380 | I did wanna come back to service

00:12:14.200 | because I know one of the conversations I have with people

00:12:16.940 | who've never really stayed at a five-star resort

00:12:20.300 | is what's really the difference?

00:12:21.940 | Is it really worth that $1,000 a night?

00:12:24.520 | And what happens that is different from other properties?

00:12:27.540 | Fortunately, we heard a story from a friend of ours

00:12:30.880 | at the exact same time as a similar thing happened to us

00:12:33.820 | that I think really highlights

00:12:35.680 | both a total win for service and a total miss.

00:12:38.900 | And so it turns out that both me and my friend Liz

00:12:42.300 | got sunburned when we were traveling last month.

00:12:45.540 | And for me, I somehow forgot to put sunscreen on my neck.

00:12:48.580 | I have no idea how I managed to get my entire body

00:12:50.900 | except my neck, but I got a little burnt.

00:12:53.300 | And when I went,

00:12:55.060 | and fortunately at the Hilton properties

00:12:56.980 | in French Polynesia,

00:12:57.820 | there's free sunscreen and free aloe at the pool.

00:13:00.260 | So I noticed the sunburn around 5.30, six o'clock,

00:13:03.060 | went to the pool,

00:13:03.900 | and it turned out the pool stand was closed

00:13:06.240 | and they'd put away the sunscreen and the aloe.

00:13:08.420 | Because all the hotels are kind of secluded,

00:13:10.940 | there's no store I could have gone to at this time.

00:13:13.700 | So I went to the front desk and asked

00:13:14.980 | if there was any chance they could have opened up

00:13:16.780 | the little pool stand that was, I don't know,

00:13:18.740 | maybe a two-minute walk so I could get some aloe

00:13:22.180 | and put it on my neck.

00:13:23.540 | And the person at the front desk said,

00:13:24.860 | "Sure, no problem, I'll send someone over."

00:13:27.500 | So I went over to the desk, waited for 15 minutes,

00:13:29.500 | no one came.

00:13:30.820 | Amy, meanwhile, is sitting at dinner

00:13:32.380 | waiting for me to join her.

00:13:33.760 | So I give up, I walk to dinner.

00:13:35.740 | It turns out that right next to the restaurant

00:13:37.340 | we were going to was a concierge.

00:13:39.740 | So I tried that desk instead of the front desk and said,

00:13:42.040 | "Hey, I would love it if someone could get some aloe.

00:13:45.300 | You could bring it to me here at dinner,

00:13:46.900 | or maybe someone could send it to the room.

00:13:49.060 | Anything would be greatly appreciated."

00:13:51.280 | Well, an hour later, they came back

00:13:52.460 | and said they weren't able to do anything.

00:13:53.880 | Not the end of the world.

00:13:55.220 | I survived, of course.

00:13:56.980 | But the story Liz told me where she was staying

00:13:59.380 | at the Rosewood in Mayacoba in Mexico

00:14:02.240 | was that she also got sunburn

00:14:03.940 | and didn't tell anyone about it, didn't say anything.

00:14:07.020 | But when she got back to her room in the evening,

00:14:09.500 | there was a bottle of aloe and a note that said,

00:14:11.980 | "We noticed you might've gotten some sun

00:14:13.740 | and thought you'd appreciate this."

00:14:15.380 | And those little touches of service

00:14:17.540 | are what sets apart a good luxury hotel

00:14:19.500 | and a great luxury hotel.

00:14:21.100 | Similarly, I remember when we were in Bali,

00:14:23.500 | we were staying at the Four Seasons.

00:14:25.260 | And when I was speaking with a waiter at breakfast

00:14:27.740 | and mentioned that jackfruit was my favorite fruit,

00:14:30.260 | and I loved that they have it in Bali,

00:14:32.180 | but I hadn't seen it at this hotel.

00:14:34.060 | And he had relayed that message.

00:14:35.780 | And the next morning at breakfast,

00:14:37.200 | not only was there jackfruit,

00:14:39.060 | but a different waiter came up to me and said,

00:14:40.600 | "I heard you really like jackfruit.

00:14:42.100 | We got some and we brought it in."

00:14:43.900 | I can't necessarily put a price

00:14:45.560 | on what those experiences are worth,

00:14:47.160 | but they just make the whole experience

00:14:49.340 | at a hotel incredible.

00:14:50.700 | Similarly, a couple of last two anecdotes,

00:14:52.840 | Liz also told me that every night

00:14:54.340 | they parked bicycles at their room.

00:14:56.080 | And the next morning someone had gone by

00:14:58.100 | and turned the bikes around.

00:14:59.780 | So the bikes were facing the other direction.

00:15:01.860 | And then another one that I thought was so minor,

00:15:04.700 | but such an opportunity for a hotel to do a great job

00:15:07.720 | was at the Conrad.

00:15:09.220 | When we first got there and checked in,

00:15:11.140 | they asked us, "Do you have any food allergies?"

00:15:12.860 | And we told them we have no food allergies.

00:15:14.860 | And it could have been so easy

00:15:15.920 | for them to mark that somewhere

00:15:17.580 | because every time you go to any restaurant,

00:15:19.780 | there's a piece of paper with every guest

00:15:21.580 | and it has all these secret codes about the guests.

00:15:24.260 | And I was always looking at it,

00:15:25.320 | trying to figure them out and I couldn't.

00:15:27.620 | But every time we went to a restaurant,

00:15:29.300 | someone said, "Do you have any food allergies?

00:15:30.860 | Do you have any food allergies?"

00:15:32.220 | And I was almost wondering

00:15:33.100 | why they even asked us at check-in

00:15:34.780 | if they weren't gonna do anything with that information.

00:15:36.660 | And so if anyone has some fun examples,

00:15:38.940 | I'd love to hear them.

00:15:39.840 | I always love hearing about ways

00:15:42.140 | that hotels can set themselves apart

00:15:43.900 | and what makes for an amazing experience.

00:15:45.940 | My daughter is only three,

00:15:48.660 | but she starts preschool next week.

00:15:50.380 | So do you want a quick back to school tip?

00:15:52.420 | You can cross everything off your list

00:15:54.220 | before the big day with DoorDash,

00:15:56.060 | who I'm excited to partner with for this episode

00:15:58.020 | because they make it so easy to stock up on school supplies,

00:16:01.360 | lunchtime snacks, and a lot more all in one place.

00:16:05.060 | With DoorDash, you'll enjoy next level convenience

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00:16:16.400 | so you can shop for everything your family needs

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00:16:20.660 | and your pantry this back to school season.

00:16:23.140 | Be prepared before the big day arrives.

00:16:25.060 | Stock up with on-the-go breakfasts, lunchbox staples,

00:16:27.940 | and the brands they love.

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00:16:40.300 | up to $10 of value when you spend 15 or more

00:16:42.980 | at convenience, grocery, or retail stores on DoorDash.

00:16:46.220 | That's 50% off up to $10 of value

00:16:48.700 | when you spend 15 or more.

00:16:50.340 | Promo code ALLTHEHAX.

00:16:52.020 | Don't forget, that's code ALLTHEHAX

00:16:53.820 | for 50% off your next order, term supply.

00:16:56.620 | You all know I love credit card points,

00:17:00.500 | so I'm excited to be partnering with Card Pointers today,

00:17:03.420 | which is one of my favorite tools for travel hacking.

00:17:06.060 | It's a free app that helps you manage

00:17:07.820 | all of your credit cards in one place

00:17:09.980 | and makes it easy to find the right card

00:17:12.100 | to maximize your category bonuses on every purchase.

00:17:15.720 | You can also load it on your partner's phone

00:17:17.940 | so they always know the best cards to use.

00:17:20.920 | The app automatically tracks every category bonus

00:17:23.900 | and recurring credit from over 5,000 cards,

00:17:27.340 | and they also track and help you use your Amex, Chase,

00:17:31.180 | Bank of America, or Citibank offers

00:17:33.540 | to save even more money every day.

00:17:36.020 | And with their browser extension,

00:17:37.540 | you can actually activate every single Amex

00:17:40.340 | and Chase offer in just one click.

00:17:42.740 | And because of that massive credit card database,

00:17:45.220 | you can do all of this without having to give up

00:17:47.740 | any personal or banking details.

00:17:50.280 | The app is free to download,

00:17:52.060 | and many of the features are free as well,

00:17:54.480 | but if you wanna try out the pro version,

00:17:56.220 | there's a free trial.

00:17:57.540 | And if you decide you wanna sign up after the trial,

00:18:00.340 | which you probably will,

00:18:02.020 | you can go to allthehax.com/cardpointers

00:18:05.980 | to get 20% off.

00:18:07.660 | Again, that's allthehax.com/cardpointers.

00:18:12.660 | I have a few other things on the topic of travel.

00:18:15.460 | One, I was talking to a friend of mine named Trevor

00:18:17.300 | who was in Europe and had a flight home

00:18:19.440 | from Copenhagen to Los Angeles,

00:18:21.660 | but wanted to come home a week early

00:18:23.060 | because something had come up

00:18:24.300 | and he wanted to go visit his family.

00:18:25.980 | And so he actually tried to call SAS, the airline,

00:18:29.340 | to ask some questions about changing his flight

00:18:31.400 | and couldn't get anyone on the phone.

00:18:33.580 | So he thought, "I'm just gonna go to the airport."

00:18:35.820 | So he went to the airport

00:18:37.060 | and he asked his first agent at the desk

00:18:39.460 | if there was any way

00:18:40.300 | that not only could he leave a week early,

00:18:42.620 | but his flight was to LA

00:18:43.940 | and he really wanted to get to San Francisco.

00:18:46.180 | And it was part of a round trip

00:18:47.960 | that he was gonna use to come back to Europe,

00:18:49.820 | so he couldn't just cancel one leg

00:18:51.540 | 'cause it would mess everything up.

00:18:53.020 | And the first agent said, "There's no way, it's impossible.

00:18:55.540 | "I can't do this, I'm sorry.

00:18:57.100 | "Nothing can be done."

00:18:58.700 | So he sat down, he'd actually brought all his bags,

00:19:01.060 | so he wasn't quite sure what to do

00:19:02.820 | because he wanted to go home

00:19:03.780 | and he didn't have a place to stay.

00:19:05.480 | So he's looking on his phone for a few minutes,

00:19:07.140 | trying to see if there are any other options

00:19:08.540 | and he looked up and noticed that about 15 minutes later,

00:19:11.620 | the person he'd spoke to had left.

00:19:13.500 | Maybe they'd went on break

00:19:14.700 | and someone else was working at the SAS desk.

00:19:17.260 | So he went up to this next agent

00:19:19.540 | and explained his whole situation again,

00:19:22.100 | was very kind, very nice and very gracious.

00:19:25.340 | And that agent,

00:19:26.740 | despite that the other agent said it would be impossible,

00:19:29.860 | was able to move him to a flight to San Francisco

00:19:32.820 | for no extra cost to come home that day

00:19:35.560 | to a different airport.

00:19:37.040 | So I think the takeaway for me is there's this phrase

00:19:40.840 | that's often used in the points and miles world,

00:19:43.040 | which is hang up, call again.

00:19:44.480 | If you call a credit card company or an airline

00:19:47.120 | or a hotel group and you're trying to get something done

00:19:49.400 | and you're just not getting the answer you want,

00:19:52.080 | sometimes the best answer is to just hang up and try again.

00:19:54.920 | And if you see it mentioned online,

00:19:56.400 | it's usually abbreviated H-U-C-A, hang up, call again.

00:19:59.640 | And it was just cool to see that work in real life.

00:20:02.000 | It was wait till the agent's on break,

00:20:03.620 | find another agent and try again.

00:20:05.480 | And I'm so glad that he was able to get home

00:20:07.460 | because it would have been way more expensive

00:20:09.100 | to change and rebook his flight.

00:20:10.620 | So I'm glad that worked out.

00:20:11.800 | Continuing on the travel front,

00:20:13.800 | one was around rental cars.

00:20:15.400 | So it turns out for whatever reason,

00:20:16.840 | we went to rent a car

00:20:18.000 | and the cheapest rental cars in Minneapolis

00:20:19.520 | were all electric.

00:20:20.760 | It was either a Model 3 or it was an electric SUV

00:20:24.040 | that was either gonna be a Volvo or a Tesla Model Y.

00:20:27.040 | What I didn't think about in advance,

00:20:28.560 | but I did as we checked out,

00:20:30.480 | was that unlike a gas car

00:20:33.160 | that you have to bring back with a full tank

00:20:35.600 | or get penalized or pay a much higher rate for gas,

00:20:38.900 | when you return an electric car,

00:20:40.240 | there's no requirement to bring it back full.

00:20:42.360 | So not a huge savings,

00:20:44.220 | but I just thought a really great hack

00:20:45.840 | if you rent an electric car,

00:20:47.200 | you don't have to pay for that electricity

00:20:48.720 | and you can bring it back empty.

00:20:50.120 | On the topic of renting cars,

00:20:52.040 | I have two hacks that listeners sent in

00:20:54.580 | about renting cars in Europe.

00:20:56.220 | One is from Elliot,

00:20:57.440 | who said, "Take a look at Car to Europe,"

00:20:59.600 | which is a car leasing company in Europe.

00:21:01.560 | He said that it exploits a tax loophole

00:21:03.720 | that allows individuals in Europe

00:21:05.320 | to sell cars to non-Europeans without tax penalties.

00:21:08.920 | And so it makes it really affordable

00:21:11.080 | for a longer term lease of a new car in Europe.

00:21:13.880 | He had a great experience.

00:21:15.440 | And my friend Daniel also reached out to tell me

00:21:17.840 | that LIGU, L-I-I-G-U dot me,

00:21:21.600 | is a rental car company that he recently used in France.

00:21:25.080 | He used it because it was the cheapest option in Bordeaux,

00:21:28.240 | but after the experience,

00:21:29.840 | he's gonna use it as much as possible.

00:21:31.960 | He said the whole thing was done on mobile.

00:21:34.000 | It was similar to Zipcar if anyone ever used their service.

00:21:37.480 | At the airport, he was able to scan all his passport,

00:21:40.320 | his driver's license.

00:21:41.520 | He got to the car, he unlocked it from his phone,

00:21:44.520 | took off, didn't interact with anyone,

00:21:46.760 | and it was the most seamless experience

00:21:48.520 | he's ever had renting a car.

00:21:50.100 | So check out LIGU if you're anywhere in Europe

00:21:52.260 | and you can use that.

00:21:53.280 | And then a final reminder from Linda,

00:21:55.160 | just make sure you video the car inside and out

00:21:57.880 | on pickup and return.

00:21:59.840 | She rented a car in Slovenia and returned it back in Italy.

00:22:03.520 | And while she didn't actually notice

00:22:05.160 | that the roof had a lot of dents, likely from hail,

00:22:08.140 | they were on the video.

00:22:09.520 | And when she returned the car,

00:22:10.760 | she was able to show the video,

00:22:12.440 | prove that they were there during pickup

00:22:14.240 | and didn't get charged any extra.

00:22:15.880 | Also on our Minneapolis trip, a few things.

00:22:18.280 | Actually, technically we were staying in St. Paul

00:22:20.680 | and we stayed at a hotel called the St. Paul,

00:22:22.680 | which has that like really old school luxury feel.

00:22:26.880 | But when we checked in, I felt like such a rookie.

00:22:30.200 | They had a sign that said, you know,

00:22:32.360 | we're part of the I prefer hotel rewards program.

00:22:35.760 | And I was like, oh my gosh,

00:22:37.120 | I booked a hotel that had a rewards program

00:22:40.880 | and I didn't even know about it, sign up for it or use it.

00:22:43.720 | It just felt like such a rookie move for me.

00:22:46.560 | And so while we were there, I did join the program.

00:22:49.560 | Technically the terms say that you needed to be a member

00:22:52.520 | before the stay to get credit for it.

00:22:55.560 | But I'm hoping that maybe because I joined

00:22:57.520 | before checkout, it will work.

00:22:59.400 | The stay didn't post automatically.

00:23:01.320 | I sent an email to see if there was any way

00:23:03.080 | to add the points, but so far haven't heard back.

00:23:06.640 | But I will say if you're in St. Paul or Minneapolis,

00:23:09.880 | a few things we did that were amazing.

00:23:11.600 | One, the Minnesota Children's Museum is incredible.

00:23:14.520 | We could have spent the whole day there if we had time.

00:23:17.320 | The Como Zoo and Conservatory is amazing.

00:23:19.680 | It's actually free or donation based.

00:23:21.640 | Shout out to Eric for the recommendation.

00:23:23.960 | All the kids in the family loved it.

00:23:26.000 | And then food-wise, I'll just share one restaurant

00:23:28.280 | that was really awesome called Moscow on the Hill.

00:23:31.040 | We had a big family dinner

00:23:32.400 | at this amazing Russian restaurant.

00:23:34.200 | Good drinks, good food, good staff.

00:23:36.640 | It was just such a great experience.

00:23:38.040 | So that was that trip.

00:23:40.160 | One thing I noticed as I was walking through the airport,

00:23:42.440 | I saw one of those airport bookstores

00:23:44.560 | and it just reminded me of a hack that Carrie sent in,

00:23:48.800 | which I don't know if anyone knew because I didn't.

00:23:51.360 | A lot of the airport bookstores sell books

00:23:54.520 | and they allow you to buy it, read it,

00:23:56.360 | and return it for a 50% refund

00:23:58.920 | at any participating airport store.

00:24:01.280 | So she sent me a flyer

00:24:02.800 | and there's a ton of airports that participate.

00:24:05.000 | LAX, Phoenix, Kansas City.

00:24:07.720 | She only sent the top half of the thing

00:24:09.440 | so I can't read all of them.

00:24:11.520 | JFK, Kansas City, and probably a lot more

00:24:14.000 | based on how big I think this flyer is.

00:24:16.600 | So definitely a good option

00:24:18.200 | if you like reading physical books

00:24:20.040 | and you didn't know there's a read and return program.

00:24:23.520 | I'll put a link in the show notes

00:24:24.760 | if you want to look up a little bit more there.

00:24:26.680 | A few last quick travel things.

00:24:29.000 | One, Southwest just announced

00:24:31.000 | that they're going to start adding free standby

00:24:33.000 | for all passengers on all ticket types.

00:24:35.520 | It was more of a leak than an announcement

00:24:37.360 | so I don't think it's gone into place yet,

00:24:39.440 | but even for the cheapest Southwest fares,

00:24:41.480 | you'll be able to get to the airport

00:24:42.640 | standby on an earlier flight that day free.

00:24:45.240 | Jamie sent in that if you're not already linking

00:24:48.200 | your Delta and your Starbucks accounts,

00:24:49.920 | you should so that you can earn Delta miles

00:24:51.720 | anytime you're purchasing at Starbucks.

00:24:53.600 | Easy to find the instructions there,

00:24:55.040 | but I'll put them in the show notes.

00:24:56.520 | And then last, Uber and Marriott

00:24:58.920 | have a promo going on right now

00:25:00.720 | that if you link your Marriott and Uber accounts,

00:25:03.560 | you get 2,000 Marriott points.

00:25:05.680 | But then if you book an Uber Reserve,

00:25:07.680 | which is a pre-scheduled ride,

00:25:09.800 | you get 4,000 Marriott points for each ride up to four times.

00:25:14.120 | And if you do all four, you get another 2,000 points.

00:25:16.920 | So if you do all of that, that's 20,000 points in total.

00:25:20.360 | I wouldn't book Uber rides for 4,000 points you don't need,

00:25:23.560 | but if you already have a ride

00:25:25.040 | where you know you're gonna need it at a certain time,

00:25:27.080 | it might be a good deal.

00:25:28.200 | So I think that's everything travel

00:25:29.440 | except a couple quick ones related to kids,

00:25:32.120 | and then I'll get onto some credit card stuff.

00:25:34.560 | So first off, if you book with AAA,

00:25:37.280 | you can get a car seat for free

00:25:38.840 | when you use their rate with Hertz.

00:25:40.560 | Otherwise, I know a lot of rental car companies

00:25:42.520 | charge 10 to $20 a day for a car seat.

00:25:45.840 | We've actually started bringing the Ride Safer Travel Vest

00:25:49.200 | for our three-year-old.

00:25:50.320 | It's awesome.

00:25:51.160 | It takes up so much less space than a car seat.

00:25:54.280 | Think of it as a harness that reroutes the seatbelt

00:25:57.480 | so that it's safe for children.

00:25:58.960 | It doesn't work for a one-year-old,

00:26:00.320 | so we do actually bring a travel car seat there.

00:26:03.200 | It's the Costco Senra Next.

00:26:07.040 | Basically seems like everywhere you search online,

00:26:08.880 | it's the recommended car seat for traveling, so we use that.

00:26:11.960 | The other kid travel thing I wanna share

00:26:13.840 | is really an amazing story.

00:26:16.480 | So months ago, I shared a story about a listener named Adam

00:26:19.000 | who found $4,000 in unclaimed money.

00:26:22.320 | Everyone out there should be doing a quick search

00:26:24.120 | to see if you can find any unclaimed money

00:26:26.200 | because there's so many opportunities.

00:26:28.440 | But that $4,000 helped him cover the cost

00:26:31.600 | of the initial order for a company called 50/50 Gear,

00:26:35.280 | which launched backpacks designed specifically for parents

00:26:38.360 | to get out with their kids.

00:26:40.160 | He spent three years leading the baby registry at Amazon,

00:26:43.120 | and he was always annoyed that no company made gear,

00:26:46.080 | especially like a diaper bag,

00:26:47.960 | that he was actually excited to use as a dad.

00:26:50.600 | And he and his good buddy from college

00:26:52.760 | decided to get together and build it.

00:26:54.840 | So Adam was so grateful

00:26:56.760 | that he was able to fund part of this company

00:26:59.480 | with unclaimed money that he found from this show

00:27:02.360 | that he sent me a bag, and on our trip to Minneapolis,

00:27:05.120 | we got to use it for the first time, and it's so great.

00:27:08.880 | I'm really a fan of the bag.

00:27:10.240 | As far as storage and aesthetics,

00:27:12.120 | it just felt like I was carrying a backpack

00:27:14.280 | I would carry anyways,

00:27:15.800 | but it made it so easy to find all of the snacks

00:27:18.240 | and the diapers and the bottles and the waters

00:27:20.280 | and everything we were carrying for the kids.

00:27:22.280 | But I actually didn't bring a backpack for myself,

00:27:24.760 | so I also used it for my laptop, my AirPods, my wallet,

00:27:28.280 | my ID, my credit cards, my sunglasses, and everything else.

00:27:31.880 | So huge shout out to Adam for making an amazing bag.

00:27:35.840 | Thank you so much for sending it to me.

00:27:38.720 | And if anyone out there is looking for an awesome bag

00:27:41.720 | and you have kids, definitely check out 50/50 Gear.

00:27:45.440 | I'll ask Adam if he has any deals

00:27:47.400 | that he wants to offer the audience,

00:27:48.880 | and if so, I'll put them in the show notes

00:27:51.480 | and you can find them.

00:27:52.520 | Otherwise, I'd definitely check out this bag.

00:27:54.640 | I thought it was great, and I will be continuing to use it

00:27:57.160 | as our primary bag for our kids.

00:27:59.840 | Last few things on kids.

00:28:01.320 | One, this sounds so ridiculous to say out loud,

00:28:04.320 | but we've been going to the library a lot.

00:28:06.200 | Both of our girls love books,

00:28:07.800 | but our three-year-old churns through books.

00:28:10.160 | We probably read 20, 30, 40, 50 books a day,

00:28:13.040 | oftentimes the same book,

00:28:14.800 | and we just don't feel like we need to have

00:28:17.640 | thousands of books in our house that we've bought.

00:28:19.880 | And so regularly, we've been going to the library,

00:28:22.640 | which near us has an incredible children's section.

00:28:25.920 | We'll check out 10, 20 books at a time.

00:28:28.480 | Next week, we'll go return them and get 10, 20 more.

00:28:31.200 | So if you have kids that are young and love to read

00:28:33.640 | and you're not using the public library,

00:28:36.000 | maybe I just am late to this and we just started doing it,

00:28:38.960 | but it just seemed like something that prior to children,

00:28:41.520 | I wasn't using the library as much as I should.

00:28:44.080 | That said, reminder that if you're looking for books

00:28:46.720 | on Amazon and you use this cool browser extension,

00:28:49.640 | Library Extension, which I'll link to in the show notes,

00:28:52.200 | it'll actually tell you if you can get the ebook

00:28:54.480 | of any book you're looking at free from your local library.

00:28:57.840 | So another good option there.

00:28:59.680 | Two quick things.

00:29:00.560 | One, hack from Yelena, who in reference to episode 124,

00:29:06.160 | where I talked about recording kids' stories

00:29:08.720 | for our Tony box, she suggested checking out

00:29:11.720 | a cool app called Novel Effect,

00:29:14.040 | which basically provides a really cool soundtrack

00:29:18.200 | and sound effects to stories you're reading

00:29:20.840 | and recording for your kids.

00:29:22.040 | So check out Novel Effect if you're interested.

00:29:25.120 | And then last, I think anyone with kids knows

00:29:27.680 | that kids get sick all the time.

00:29:29.480 | There are two apps that we've recently tried

00:29:31.960 | that are kind of pediatrician telehealth on demand.

00:29:35.040 | One of them is called Summer Health.

00:29:36.440 | One of them is called Blueberry.

00:29:37.960 | I'll link to both in the show notes.

00:29:39.760 | And the premise is you pay about $20 a month

00:29:43.960 | and you get unlimited access to pediatricians

00:29:46.840 | for all of your children.

00:29:48.560 | It doesn't route anything through insurance.

00:29:50.720 | Summer Health is all text-based.

00:29:52.960 | So you can send lots of messages, pictures,

00:29:55.160 | ask questions, get responses, pretty quick response time.

00:29:59.040 | When we used Summer Health for a couple months,

00:30:01.280 | it was only 10, 15 minutes before someone would reply.

00:30:06.000 | And then a few days ago, our youngest daughter

00:30:09.120 | woke up with 103 degree fever,

00:30:11.240 | had thrown up what looked like a little bit of bile

00:30:13.840 | in her crib, and we just wanted to get a second check,

00:30:17.120 | but it was Saturday morning.

00:30:18.320 | And I knew if we messaged our pediatrician,

00:30:20.160 | we probably wouldn't hear back till Monday.

00:30:22.360 | So I paid the $20 to sign up for Blueberry.

00:30:25.400 | And while it was a little bit of a slower response time

00:30:29.360 | than Summer Health, it probably took an hour

00:30:31.200 | to hear back from someone.

00:30:32.840 | They also have the option to do phone calls

00:30:35.800 | and maybe even video calls, but I haven't tried that yet.

00:30:38.720 | So two great options for getting access to pediatrics

00:30:42.840 | and telehealth for a pretty reasonable cost.

00:30:46.120 | For Blueberry, if you actually need to do tests,

00:30:48.240 | they can send the orders over to Quest

00:30:51.240 | to be able to get results if you need to do any testing,

00:30:54.000 | but then also they can send prescriptions to your pharmacy

00:30:56.840 | where you can use your insurance, of course.

00:30:58.560 | And so, I don't know, I just thought I'd share those two

00:31:01.120 | for anyone out there looking for options.

00:31:03.680 | I'll put links in the show notes.

00:31:05.000 | If I can find a promo code or a referral code,

00:31:07.480 | I'll put those there as well.

00:31:08.920 | How do you feel about your finances right this second?

00:31:12.880 | Research shows that if you're like 90% of Americans,

00:31:15.680 | you most likely have money anxiety.

00:31:17.740 | In fact, that is one of the reasons

00:31:19.480 | I started a financial planning firm back in 2016.

00:31:22.720 | And when we shut the company down,

00:31:24.200 | we did extensive research on the financial service company

00:31:26.900 | we wanted to recommend to our clients,

00:31:28.880 | and we landed on Facet,

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00:32:39.340 | Getting the crew together isn't as easy as it used to be.

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00:33:54.020 | I just wanna thank you quick for listening to

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00:33:59.400 | Your support is what keeps this show going.

00:34:02.240 | To get all of the URLs, codes, deals,

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00:34:13.400 | All right, let's move on to credit cards.

00:34:15.400 | I'm gonna start by talking

00:34:16.480 | about the Credit Card Competition Act,

00:34:18.040 | which a few of you emailed asking my take on.

00:34:20.160 | So, for a little bit of history, back in 2010,

00:34:22.360 | there was something called the Durbin Amendment,

00:34:23.960 | which was part of the Dodd-Frank Act.

00:34:25.680 | And what it did was really drastically restrict

00:34:28.880 | the amount of interchange, which I'll get to,

00:34:31.760 | that banks could charge on debit card usage.

00:34:34.280 | Now, interchange is the fees that merchants and stores pay

00:34:38.160 | to accept credit card payments and debit card payments.

00:34:41.360 | And as much as the goal was to reduce costs for merchants

00:34:44.640 | and lower prices, it didn't have anywhere near the effect

00:34:48.240 | that they had originally intended.

00:34:49.840 | First off, only 1.2% of all merchants reduced prices,

00:34:54.000 | about 70-something percent of them stayed the same,

00:34:56.600 | and then close to 30% of them actually raised prices.

00:34:59.320 | So, if the end goal was to lower the cost for businesses

00:35:01.940 | so they would lower prices, totally failed there.

00:35:04.720 | But because banks no longer had any income from debit cards,

00:35:08.640 | one, they weren't able to offer any more rewards

00:35:10.760 | on debit cards, but the bigger impact

00:35:12.960 | was that average checking account fees went up

00:35:15.720 | from $4.34 to $7.34.

00:35:19.960 | Account minimums went up, maintenance fees went up,

00:35:22.440 | and there were just a ton less free checking accounts,

00:35:24.760 | which had a massive negative impact

00:35:26.520 | on lower-income Americans.

00:35:28.160 | So, from my perspective,

00:35:29.240 | that amendment was not helpful at all.

00:35:30.960 | But now that we have that context in place,

00:35:33.400 | I'll talk a little bit about

00:35:34.320 | the Credit Card Competition Act right now.

00:35:36.320 | Though, it does look like Senator Durbin

00:35:38.840 | was trying to get it included

00:35:39.960 | in the National Defense Authorization Act.

00:35:41.800 | It looks like it's not in there now.

00:35:43.760 | Though, Senator Durbin did say

00:35:45.080 | he's looking to find another way to get it back in.

00:35:47.360 | However, it's a little different

00:35:48.720 | from the original Durbin Amendment.

00:35:51.040 | So, in this new rule, it would only impact issuers

00:35:54.800 | with over $100 billion in assets,

00:35:56.800 | which is most of the major issuers we all know,

00:35:59.680 | Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Amex, Capital One.

00:36:03.120 | And what it does is limit those issuers

00:36:05.800 | to not having credit cards

00:36:07.380 | that only have access to one network.

00:36:09.360 | Now, by networks, I mean things like Visa, MasterCard,

00:36:12.600 | Amex, Discover.

00:36:14.400 | And so, cards are no longer allowed to have one network

00:36:17.520 | and need at least two networks.

00:36:19.440 | And those two networks can't be Visa and MasterCard.

00:36:22.720 | Now, technically,

00:36:23.560 | it's that they can't be the two largest networks,

00:36:25.400 | but Visa and MasterCard are so far ahead

00:36:27.840 | that it doesn't look like there's any chance

00:36:29.400 | that will change in the near or even distant future.

00:36:31.800 | Now, again, the goal was to give more competition

00:36:34.360 | to the networks that process transactions

00:36:36.520 | so that merchant fees can come down.

00:36:38.520 | But after listening to a few experts who have takes on this,

00:36:41.920 | it seems like a really easy solution

00:36:43.720 | would be for someone like Chase to have a card

00:36:46.640 | and issue it with Visa and Amex.

00:36:49.120 | So, kind of in the way that Amex has co-brand cards

00:36:52.100 | where they're not part of Amex's membership rewards,

00:36:54.260 | but they're the network,

00:36:55.380 | you could actually see Chase

00:36:56.620 | offering the Chase Sapphire Reserve

00:36:58.660 | as a Visa Infinite and Amex card.

00:37:01.560 | Obviously, that doesn't seem normal now,

00:37:03.280 | but it seems like a good business for Amex

00:37:05.400 | because Amex would charge for that ability.

00:37:07.760 | And they're probably in a pretty good negotiating place

00:37:10.000 | because they would be a requirement.

00:37:11.960 | But at the end of the day,

00:37:12.800 | given how unsuccessful the Durbin Amendment was

00:37:15.200 | at lowering prices,

00:37:16.320 | given the impact it had on people's accounts,

00:37:18.840 | and given the fact that it seems very few lawmakers

00:37:22.080 | want to take a stand on this

00:37:23.480 | because they don't wanna upset banks,

00:37:25.600 | but they also really don't wanna upset consumers.

00:37:27.920 | Consumers love credit card rewards.

00:37:29.760 | They're a part of society.

00:37:31.680 | And I just don't think at the end of the day

00:37:33.640 | this is gonna actually come to fruition.

00:37:35.920 | That said, if it does,

00:37:37.960 | it doesn't seem like it's nearly as limiting

00:37:40.200 | as the Durbin Amendment was

00:37:41.980 | because it's not restricting the rates people can charge.

00:37:44.840 | It's actually just requiring two networks.

00:37:46.920 | And so if another network comes in,

00:37:48.920 | then the question is just,

00:37:50.160 | will that network maybe reduce the amount of revenue

00:37:54.020 | that the issuer gets?

00:37:55.360 | Yes, but it's probably not gonna go

00:37:57.480 | from one and a half to three and a half percent

00:38:00.480 | like it is now down to 0.05,

00:38:03.200 | which is what happened as a result of the Durbin Amendment.

00:38:05.680 | So if this were to pass,

00:38:07.360 | do we start to see some credit cards

00:38:09.000 | that were offering two X points,

00:38:10.800 | maybe offer 1.5 X points,

00:38:13.080 | maybe something like that.

00:38:14.400 | But I don't think, like some people have said,

00:38:16.660 | this is going to be the end of credit card rewards

00:38:19.000 | if it happens.

00:38:19.920 | And personally, I actually don't think it's going to happen.

00:38:22.560 | And given that it was just taken out

00:38:23.760 | of the National Defense Authorization Act,

00:38:25.340 | I think it's even less likely,

00:38:26.800 | but in case it pops up again,

00:38:28.280 | I thought it'd be good to give it a little quick cover.

00:38:30.140 | Also on credit cards,

00:38:31.060 | you guys have sent in so many great questions

00:38:33.480 | that as I've been planning out the content for this show

00:38:36.400 | for the next six to 12 months,

00:38:38.960 | I've decided to do an entire,

00:38:41.200 | it's not really a series, maybe a set of episodes

00:38:43.680 | on a bunch of different topics

00:38:45.080 | related to credit card rewards.

00:38:46.780 | It'll probably start off with, you know,

00:38:48.760 | kind of a basic high level 101,

00:38:51.280 | but I'll include one on earning points,

00:38:53.360 | redeeming points, meeting minimum spend,

00:38:56.800 | tools for booking awards,

00:38:58.480 | specifically on flights and hotels,

00:39:01.080 | and how to work with player two.

00:39:02.760 | If there's any other big themes of topics

00:39:05.040 | you have on credit cards,

00:39:06.320 | let me know as I'm planning all of these out.

00:39:08.640 | But there were a few pointed questions

00:39:10.320 | that I don't think necessarily fit into those episodes.

00:39:13.520 | So I'm going to tackle them quickly here.

00:39:15.400 | So Nick wrote in because he got an email from Capital One

00:39:18.080 | asking if he wanted to switch his venture card

00:39:20.580 | from a credit card to a charge card.

00:39:23.200 | And the main difference between those two things

00:39:25.120 | is that a charge card doesn't let you carry a balance

00:39:27.720 | and pay interest,

00:39:28.560 | which I hope for anyone listening

00:39:30.500 | and trying to optimize the points game,

00:39:32.440 | you're not carrying a balance

00:39:33.560 | and you're not paying interest.

00:39:34.680 | If you are, then that is your priority.

00:39:36.960 | Don't worry about credit card rewards,

00:39:38.520 | pay off the credit card debt.

00:39:39.880 | However, with a charge card, there isn't always a limit,

00:39:42.440 | which means the limit isn't reported to credit bureaus.

00:39:44.600 | It actually means that there's a potential in the future

00:39:47.440 | that Capital One could decide that your limit is lower

00:39:50.080 | because it's not a specifically stated limit.

00:39:52.560 | For me, I wouldn't accept the change

00:39:54.640 | because I want Capital One to report a limit on that card.

00:39:58.660 | The Venture and Venture X cards

00:39:59.800 | are actually known for having higher limits.

00:40:01.640 | Having a higher limit would only increase

00:40:04.240 | the total amount of credit you have available to you.

00:40:06.760 | And so I think that would be helpful.

00:40:08.160 | The only argument I could make

00:40:09.740 | for potentially wanting to make this change

00:40:11.960 | is if you are using this card

00:40:14.160 | and constantly at a very high utilization rate on the card,

00:40:17.860 | let's say you have a $10,000 limit

00:40:19.560 | and you're always over eight or $9,000,

00:40:22.040 | that could have a negative impact on your credit score

00:40:24.600 | because you have such a high utilization

00:40:26.780 | that it might make sense to switch it to a charge card.

00:40:29.040 | Otherwise, I'm all in on staying as a credit card.

00:40:31.960 | I actually think I might've gotten this email

00:40:33.960 | and immediately dismissed it.

00:40:35.080 | Another question from Lauren was,

00:40:36.880 | "I transferred Amex points to United or Delta

00:40:39.000 | "and I had to pay sales tax on the transfer.

00:40:41.080 | "Is that normal?"

00:40:42.400 | And I had to think about it for a little bit

00:40:44.180 | and even do a little bit of homework

00:40:45.540 | because I don't remember this.

00:40:46.960 | And it turns out that when transferring to U.S. Airlines,

00:40:50.820 | not international airlines and not hotel programs,

00:40:53.960 | this does happen.

00:40:55.240 | So the easiest way to do that

00:40:56.640 | is to avoid transferring to U.S. Airlines,

00:40:58.520 | which is pretty easy.

00:40:59.760 | I think the best value from Amex comes from Air Canada,

00:41:02.800 | Air France, British Airways.

00:41:04.580 | So I actually don't think I've run across this issue,

00:41:08.000 | but yes, it's called an excise tax offset fee.

00:41:11.440 | It's currently 0.06 cents per point up to a maximum of $99.

00:41:16.440 | You can use your points to cover the fee

00:41:19.420 | or you can just pay it on your balance.

00:41:21.240 | Next, I wanna share a handful of deals

00:41:23.440 | that I think are worth taking a look at.

00:41:25.080 | First off, some of the transfer bonuses

00:41:26.880 | that are happening right now.

00:41:28.160 | There's three on Amex.

00:41:29.840 | If you're transferring to British Airways,

00:41:31.760 | you get an extra 30% until the end of August.

00:41:34.360 | If you're transferring to Avianca Life Miles,

00:41:36.400 | you get an extra 15%.

00:41:38.520 | Both of those are great options.

00:41:40.040 | I've used Avianca and British Airways in 2023

00:41:44.300 | for booking two different types of rewards.

00:41:46.560 | For British Airways, it was domestic flight on American

00:41:49.480 | in first to New York, which was amazing.

00:41:52.220 | And then I used some Life Miles

00:41:53.640 | just to book a flight from San Francisco down to San Diego

00:41:56.760 | because it was only, I think, 5,000 points

00:41:59.900 | and the flight was almost $300.

00:42:01.680 | So it was a great point value.

00:42:03.240 | And if I could have gotten an extra 15%,

00:42:05.000 | it would have been even better.

00:42:06.280 | There's also a 25% bonus transferring to Hilton from Amex

00:42:09.860 | and a 50% bonus transferring from Chase to Marriott.

00:42:13.080 | The Hilton one ends at the end of August.

00:42:14.760 | The Marriott one ends at the end of September.

00:42:16.960 | For all of these,

00:42:18.400 | I think the hotel ones are less exciting to me

00:42:20.880 | just because hotel points from Amex and Chase

00:42:23.680 | typically don't offer as much value as airlines,

00:42:26.280 | but for all of these, I think the same rule applies.

00:42:29.160 | None of these transfer bonuses are amazing enough

00:42:32.300 | that I would transfer anything speculatively.

00:42:34.600 | So I would wait until you have a flight you're ready to book

00:42:37.560 | that you can book with these programs.

00:42:39.280 | And if you found them and it's a good deal,

00:42:41.240 | then transfer the points.

00:42:42.440 | Second deal that I wanna highlight, which is really cool,

00:42:44.560 | is that it seems like Bilt has finally confirmed a promotion

00:42:48.640 | that they've been offering new cardholders.

00:42:50.800 | So for anyone who doesn't remember,

00:42:52.400 | Bilt is a credit card that offers you points on rent

00:42:55.460 | up to, I think, $100,000 of rent a year.

00:42:58.560 | That doesn't require you to use a specific portal.

00:43:01.080 | They will even mail a check to your landlord.

00:43:03.240 | So if you pay rent,

00:43:04.280 | I think the Bilt card is an absolute no-brainer.

00:43:06.920 | It's incredible.

00:43:08.200 | Also, even if you don't pay rent,

00:43:10.400 | the Bilt card offers three points on dining,

00:43:12.640 | two points on travel.

00:43:14.280 | They do have a requirement that you use the card

00:43:16.000 | five times each statement period,

00:43:18.120 | but I think for a primary card like that,

00:43:20.200 | it's pretty easy to do.

00:43:22.120 | Bilt points probably are my favorite points currency

00:43:25.260 | out there because you've got a lot of the mainstays

00:43:27.140 | like a lot of the other points programs have,

00:43:29.860 | Air France, British Airways, Air Canada Aeroplan, Virgin,

00:43:34.280 | but you also get United, American, Hyatt,

00:43:36.940 | and Turkish Airlines.

00:43:38.460 | So if I could get more Bilt points, I would.

00:43:41.340 | I wish they had 10 cards with amazing welcome bonuses,

00:43:44.240 | but they don't.

00:43:45.220 | However, you do get 5X points on all purchases

00:43:48.960 | in the first five days that does cap out at 50,000 points.

00:43:52.940 | But if you have a large purchase around $10,000

00:43:55.380 | and you can time it to use it within the first five days

00:43:57.880 | of getting your Bilt card,

00:43:59.340 | I think this is an awesome option.

00:44:01.460 | I'm actually so excited about Bilt points

00:44:03.300 | that I'm thinking about potentially getting a Bilt card

00:44:06.020 | just so that I can start earning more points.

00:44:08.100 | It'll probably be mostly focused on dining,

00:44:10.540 | especially whenever Amex isn't taken.

00:44:12.300 | I don't have another card that earns more

00:44:13.860 | than three points on dining.

00:44:15.700 | The card is also a World Elite Mastercard.

00:44:18.940 | So it comes with cell phone protection,

00:44:21.260 | purchase protection, and a bunch of other travel benefits

00:44:24.880 | when it comes to trip cancellation,

00:44:26.460 | delay reimbursement, and things like that.

00:44:28.740 | So I'm a big fan of the Bilt card.

00:44:30.740 | If I paid rent, I would have had it the day it came out.

00:44:33.560 | If they ever add points on mortgages,

00:44:35.380 | I will get it if I haven't already.

00:44:37.460 | One of the other great things about Bilt

00:44:38.820 | is that you can sign up for a Bilt rewards account

00:44:41.020 | even if you don't have a Bilt credit card.

00:44:43.660 | And you might think, why would I wanna do that?

00:44:45.700 | But Bilt has partnered with Point.me,

00:44:47.740 | which is one of my favorite award search tools

00:44:50.140 | for finding good flight deals on points.

00:44:52.380 | And you can use the Bilt search to search Point.me for free

00:44:56.540 | without having to sign up for a Point.me account

00:44:58.980 | with the only caveat that it only searches airlines

00:45:01.700 | in Bilt's program.

00:45:03.320 | But Bilt has a ton of overlap with Amex

00:45:05.860 | and Chase and Capital One.

00:45:07.660 | So if you wanna do some initial searches for free

00:45:10.300 | and see how Point.me works,

00:45:12.140 | you can create a free Bilt rewards account.

00:45:14.180 | They also have big promos every first of the month,

00:45:17.440 | which they call Rent Day, where you earn double points,

00:45:20.300 | 6X dining, 4X travel and 2X on everything else.

00:45:24.180 | And they sometimes have some really,

00:45:26.300 | really crazy transfer bonuses.

00:45:28.700 | August 1st, they were offering between a 75 and 150% bonus

00:45:33.700 | on transfers to Virgin Atlantic,

00:45:36.760 | meaning for every one point you transferred,

00:45:38.540 | you'd get 1.75 to 2.5 points.

00:45:42.160 | I didn't really have a redemption in mind,

00:45:44.060 | but transfer bonuses like that

00:45:45.820 | are probably among the only that I would say

00:45:47.740 | could make sense for a speculative transfer

00:45:50.060 | where you don't know what you need it for,

00:45:51.460 | but the deal's just so good.

00:45:53.260 | So as a Bilt Rewards member, even without the card,

00:45:56.580 | you also earn some points from referrals.

00:45:58.620 | So if you're gonna sign up,

00:45:59.980 | I would love it if you wanna use my referral link.

00:46:02.100 | It's just allthehacks.com/bilt, B-I-L-T.

00:46:05.180 | Or if you sign up and you wanna refer someone else,

00:46:07.820 | definitely earn yourself some points too.

00:46:09.620 | Last two cards I wanna mention.

00:46:11.280 | I talked earlier how I love the Aeroplan program,

00:46:13.620 | especially with United devaluing their miles.

00:46:16.220 | Aeroplan's a transfer partner of Chase,

00:46:18.100 | Amex, Cap One, and Bilt.

00:46:20.340 | They also have their own credit card with Chase,

00:46:22.500 | and it's a 100,000 point welcome bonus.

00:46:24.700 | The reason I bring it up is because I think

00:46:27.000 | I should probably bring up any welcome bonus,

00:46:28.720 | especially for airlines or credit card points

00:46:30.900 | that hits the six-figure mark.

00:46:32.440 | It's 75,000 points after you spend $4,000 in three months,

00:46:36.180 | and another 25,000 points

00:46:38.120 | if you spend $20,000 in 12 months.

00:46:41.680 | Like I mentioned, I was able to get round-trip tickets

00:46:44.320 | down to French Polynesia from San Francisco in business

00:46:46.840 | for 55,000 Aeroplan points in business class,

00:46:50.580 | where on United, that same flight,

00:46:52.480 | I think was about 80,000.

00:46:54.160 | So really great points.

00:46:55.360 | So that card is something to consider.

00:46:57.760 | And then last, the Spark Cash Plus card from Capital One.

00:47:01.620 | This card is my primary business card for all the hacks.

00:47:04.800 | Every expense that I have

00:47:06.340 | that isn't in a bonus category goes here.

00:47:09.100 | It earns two points per dollar,

00:47:11.020 | though technically it earns 2% cash back.

00:47:13.660 | But that cash back, if you have a Venture, Venture X,

00:47:17.640 | or Spark Miles card,

00:47:19.180 | you can use that cash back as miles and transfer it.

00:47:22.340 | And they have a big welcome bonus of 120,000 points.

00:47:25.680 | It does require $30,000 of spend in three months.

00:47:29.260 | So it's definitely a big spend,

00:47:31.540 | but you do get two points per dollar on everything

00:47:34.020 | or 2% cash back.

00:47:35.560 | So this is one of those rare cases

00:47:37.260 | where to hit that welcome bonus,

00:47:38.940 | it could make sense to pay your taxes.

00:47:41.180 | Pay a 1.87% fee,

00:47:45.160 | knowing that you're getting 2% cash back.

00:47:47.400 | So you're not losing money on the fee,

00:47:49.240 | but you're also gonna get 120,000 points.

00:47:52.040 | So not all of us, myself included,

00:47:54.460 | spend $30,000 in three months.

00:47:56.440 | I am gonna do an episode on meeting minimum spend later.

00:47:59.460 | So hopefully that'll be helpful.

00:48:01.020 | But Spark Cash Plus,

00:48:02.360 | it's my primary Capital One card for all business expenses.

00:48:06.460 | It does have $150 annual fee,

00:48:08.560 | but 120,000 Capital One points,

00:48:10.820 | I value it well over $2,000.

00:48:12.820 | So this is a really, really big offer if you have a business.

00:48:16.380 | And keep in mind, business doesn't mean

00:48:18.060 | you necessarily have to have a big company with employees,

00:48:21.260 | any type of income, or even aspirations of income

00:48:24.460 | from a side hustle, from driving for Lyft or Uber,

00:48:27.460 | from selling something online, from a blog.

00:48:30.120 | Maybe one day you aspire

00:48:31.740 | to have sponsored Instagram content, who knows?

00:48:34.660 | But the definition of business is very wide.

00:48:36.900 | And if you search around online,

00:48:38.340 | there's a lot of information

00:48:39.420 | about eligibility for business cards,

00:48:41.900 | and you can do it under your own social.

00:48:43.540 | So that's everything credit cards right now.

00:48:46.340 | Like I said, there is a lot more that I wanna cover,

00:48:48.700 | which is why I'm gonna do a whole series of episodes

00:48:51.100 | on credit cards in the near future.

00:48:53.600 | And if you wanna support me and the show,

00:48:55.620 | you can sign up for any of those cards,

00:48:56.820 | and really any card you're looking at,

00:48:58.300 | at allthehacks.com/cards.

00:49:00.960 | Notably, there are a few cards not on that list,

00:49:02.840 | like the Hilton Aspire and the Built card,

00:49:04.740 | which is why I sometimes share links

00:49:06.300 | like allthehacks.com/built and allthehacks.com/hilton.

00:49:09.380 | Those are just referral links,

00:49:10.560 | 'cause they're not a part of that program.

00:49:12.180 | But I really appreciate you guys using those links

00:49:14.260 | and helping support the show.

00:49:15.380 | Actually, one more credit card adjacent thing.

00:49:17.980 | If you log into Amex, and Chase and Capital One

00:49:20.380 | have this too, but I find that Amex's deals

00:49:22.520 | are a lot more compelling.

00:49:24.060 | There's a section of offers related

00:49:25.660 | to each one of your cards,

00:49:26.820 | where different merchants will offer deals

00:49:29.120 | for using your Amex card to make purchases.

00:49:31.140 | And when you log on, you'll usually only see 100 of them.

00:49:33.940 | But if you were using an app like Card Pointers,

00:49:36.140 | you can add all of them.

00:49:37.260 | Right now, I have 280 added to my account.

00:49:40.360 | Also remember, one of the other perks

00:49:42.260 | of using Card Pointers is not only

00:49:44.040 | that you can add more than 100 offers,

00:49:46.940 | it's that they add the offers at the exact same time.

00:49:50.260 | Every now and then,

00:49:51.100 | there's some really, really compelling offers

00:49:52.700 | that you might wanna use multiple times.

00:49:54.700 | Or if you are using a merchant that lets you split payment,

00:49:57.460 | you could use once, but split payment between two cards.

00:50:00.580 | Normally, when you click an offer,

00:50:02.300 | it immediately takes it out of all your other cards.

00:50:04.600 | But it turns out that if you were to click those buttons

00:50:06.500 | at the exact same time, which is how Card Pointers does it,

00:50:09.380 | you get to add them to both cards.

00:50:10.880 | And if you haven't used Card Pointers,

00:50:12.180 | you should definitely check it out.

00:50:13.340 | There's a trial of the pro version,

00:50:15.040 | but you can also get 30% off Card Pointers Pro

00:50:17.540 | as an AllTheHacks listener.

00:50:18.780 | You could just go to allthehacks.com/cardpointers.

00:50:21.180 | I use it all the time,

00:50:22.220 | every time I log into Chase and Amex

00:50:23.880 | to add all these offers.

00:50:25.340 | But two other things.

00:50:26.980 | One, I just played around with the beta version

00:50:29.460 | of Card Pointers 5.0 for the iPhone, and it's amazing.

00:50:33.060 | I'm so excited for this new version of the app.

00:50:35.660 | But also if you're an AllTheHacks member,

00:50:37.020 | you get 50% off Card Pointers Pro.

00:50:39.360 | So even better deal.

00:50:40.740 | Thanks to Emmanuel, the founder, for hooking everyone up.

00:50:43.660 | If you're not already a member,

00:50:44.660 | you can go to allthehacks.com/join

00:50:46.940 | and get all the other deals

00:50:48.300 | that we have exclusively for members.

00:50:50.540 | And you can join a really awesome community.

00:50:52.340 | We're actually starting to do a bunch of breakouts

00:50:54.540 | within the membership.

00:50:56.060 | So we're gonna do a session on both topics

00:50:59.080 | we've covered in recent episodes,

00:51:00.980 | but also other topics that are just generally interesting.

00:51:04.340 | Think small group discussions

00:51:06.140 | with people that have a common interest or question,

00:51:09.000 | really getting a little deeper

00:51:10.280 | than we get here on the podcast,

00:51:11.940 | 'cause it's really more focused on discussion.

00:51:14.580 | All that said, let's talk about some of these Amex offers,

00:51:17.020 | 'cause there were some really cool ones.

00:51:18.240 | So if you already pay for Google One,

00:51:20.920 | which is their cloud storage,

00:51:22.580 | there's an Amex offer for 20% off.

00:51:24.580 | The most interesting offers,

00:51:25.900 | I've never seen these offers before,

00:51:27.960 | are there was an offer for France, Italy, and the UK,

00:51:31.700 | which was spend $200 in France on any one purchase

00:51:36.460 | and get $40 back,

00:51:38.020 | spend $300 in Italy and get $50 back,

00:51:41.580 | or spend $100 in the UK and get $20 back.

00:51:44.600 | So 16 to 20% off any single transaction

00:51:48.400 | in those three countries.

00:51:49.820 | A nice restaurant could easily cover those,

00:51:51.740 | maybe two restaurants if you have both cards,

00:51:54.080 | maybe four if you're going to multiple countries.

00:51:56.140 | So I thought that was a really cool offer

00:51:57.460 | I'd never seen something like that.

00:51:59.460 | Also, if you're ever interested

00:52:01.180 | in trying out Athletic Greens,

00:52:03.240 | you've probably heard me talk about them.

00:52:04.660 | They're a sponsor of the show.

00:52:05.980 | I'm a really big fan.

00:52:07.220 | I had one this morning,

00:52:08.740 | but AG1, there's an offer for $25 off, $125 for AG1.

00:52:13.740 | So that's interesting.

00:52:14.700 | You can also stack it with the All The Hacks offer

00:52:17.220 | for five free travel packs

00:52:18.740 | and some free immune-supporting vitamin D.

00:52:21.140 | So that's allthehacks.com/ag1.

00:52:24.540 | If you're a fan of Blue Bottle Coffee,

00:52:25.900 | there was an offer for five off, $25.

00:52:28.380 | And then finally, there are a couple cool hotel ones

00:52:30.540 | if you have trips planned.

00:52:32.100 | If you're using Marriott Homes and Villas,

00:52:34.020 | there's a $250 off, $1,000.

00:52:36.820 | If you're staying at a Hilton in Canada,

00:52:38.540 | there's $100 off, $500.

00:52:40.740 | If you're staying at a Wyndham, there's $60 off, $300.

00:52:43.940 | And if you're staying at a Hyatt Centric,

00:52:45.680 | there's $75 off, $300.

00:52:47.860 | Now these offers actually vary

00:52:49.740 | based on your individual spending patterns and cards.

00:52:53.220 | So you might not have all of these

00:52:54.880 | and you might have some other ones that are even better.

00:52:57.240 | So if you ever notice a really awesome offer in there,

00:52:59.540 | definitely feel free to share it with me.

00:53:01.220 | I might not have it in my account,

00:53:02.740 | but I might love to tell everyone listening about it.

00:53:05.600 | Finally, I'm gonna start trying to get a newsletter out

00:53:08.780 | a bit more frequently than these mailbag episodes

00:53:11.700 | anytime I see some of these offers or deals

00:53:15.420 | that are really short-term.

00:53:16.860 | So if you go to allthehacks.com/email,

00:53:19.060 | you can sign up for the newsletter.

00:53:20.660 | It'll put you on the main newsletter

00:53:22.380 | and it'll put you on this latest deals newsletter,

00:53:25.220 | which I haven't sent yet.

00:53:26.540 | If you ever don't wanna be on the main newsletter,

00:53:28.200 | but you do wanna stay on the latest deals newsletter,

00:53:30.720 | whenever you go to unsubscribe,

00:53:32.260 | you can uncheck free newsletter

00:53:34.300 | and leave the latest deals on.

00:53:36.240 | And as soon as I start sending that one, you'll get it.

00:53:38.380 | And hopefully deals like the ones I just mentioned from Amex

00:53:41.340 | and other things will be in your inbox

00:53:43.360 | faster than they will be on the podcast.

00:53:45.220 | So that's everything cards.

00:53:47.000 | There are two big topics I wanted to cover today.

00:53:49.460 | One is money and one is life.

00:53:50.980 | And within each, I have a bunch of things to cover,

00:53:53.660 | but I'm looking at how long we've been going

00:53:55.580 | and I feel like it might be better to take a break

00:53:58.100 | and pick this back up in a week or two

00:54:00.140 | and continue with money and life.

00:54:02.460 | I'll tell you a little preview

00:54:03.700 | of what I'm thinking of doing in the episodes,

00:54:05.900 | but also if you have other things

00:54:07.880 | you'd like to hear me talk about in the money and life camps,

00:54:10.500 | please send them over so I can include them.

00:54:12.940 | On the money side,

00:54:14.060 | I wanna talk about when to sell IBONs.

00:54:15.820 | I know a lot of us pick them up

00:54:17.200 | when the interest rates were so high

00:54:18.780 | and now have to decide when we wanna close out,

00:54:20.900 | sell, and put that money to work somewhere else.

00:54:24.020 | When it comes to putting money to work somewhere else,

00:54:26.100 | I wanna talk about the options I'm thinking about

00:54:28.140 | for earning interest on non-investments.

00:54:30.580 | So that's T-bills, that's high-yield savings accounts,

00:54:33.960 | that's the new Wealthfront Bond Portfolio,

00:54:35.840 | which a few of you have asked me to give feedback on,

00:54:37.980 | and it's also how bank bonuses fit into this picture.

00:54:41.460 | I've been comparing a few of the options

00:54:43.140 | both for earning miles and bonuses,

00:54:45.580 | and I'm thinking that there are some cases

00:54:47.740 | where they actually might be more compelling

00:54:49.260 | in high-yield savings or anything else.

00:54:51.300 | On the life side,

00:54:52.500 | after the episode with David Chang on Cooking at Home,

00:54:54.820 | you guys sent in some really great cooking hacks.

00:54:57.100 | If you have more, please share them.

00:54:59.220 | I'll talk a little bit about data brokers online

00:55:01.500 | and how I'm seeing my personal information pop up

00:55:03.860 | and what I'm doing about it.

00:55:05.140 | I went really deep in the last few days on cell phone plans,

00:55:08.780 | and I've actually gotten three or four emails

00:55:10.540 | in the last month about them.

00:55:12.100 | So I'm gonna do a pretty deep dive

00:55:13.460 | in this next episode on cell phone plans

00:55:15.940 | and all the ones, at least in the states

00:55:17.960 | that I'm considering, how I'm thinking about them.

00:55:20.500 | The only change I've made so far

00:55:22.580 | is that we've moved Stefania, our au pair,

00:55:25.860 | off of Verizon and onto Mint Mobile

00:55:28.180 | because it's just such a better deal.

00:55:30.680 | And so far, she's had no concerns with the service.

00:55:33.540 | She said it's been just as good, if not better,

00:55:35.860 | and it's literally like less than 30% of the cost.

00:55:39.500 | Big fan of Mint Mobile.

00:55:40.820 | She's super happy.

00:55:42.100 | I'm happy to be saving money.

00:55:43.780 | So that was a good move.

00:55:44.980 | And by now, you've probably already heard an ad

00:55:47.020 | in this episode for Mint Mobile,

00:55:48.640 | because as you know from the past,

00:55:50.280 | when I find a brand I like,

00:55:52.400 | I really try to see if there's a way I can work with them,

00:55:54.880 | which I did in this case.

00:55:55.960 | So you can go to allthehacks.com/mintmobile

00:55:58.920 | if you wanna check them out and support the show.

00:56:01.160 | But beyond Mint Mobile,

00:56:02.160 | I actually went deep on all the other plans

00:56:04.160 | with all the other carriers,

00:56:05.360 | thinking about which plans make sense for me and Amy

00:56:07.760 | based on international travel and a few other requirements.

00:56:11.320 | So I'll go deep there.

00:56:13.040 | And then just a few other hacks that people have shared

00:56:15.440 | when it comes to shopping online.

00:56:16.920 | Storing photos and things like that.

00:56:19.080 | So if there's anything else you guys haven't heard

00:56:21.920 | that you love me to touch on in the money and life category,

00:56:25.320 | send it over quickly,

00:56:26.480 | because I'm gonna start recording that episode

00:56:28.080 | at the end of this week,

00:56:29.200 | and I wanna make sure I can include other things in it.

00:56:31.340 | (upbeat music)

00:56:32.760 | That wraps up this week.

00:56:34.200 | Thank you so much for listening.

00:56:35.560 | Thank you so much for sending in

00:56:37.100 | all these great questions, topics.

00:56:39.480 | Hope you liked this episode.

00:56:40.680 | It was a little bit of a hybrid.

00:56:42.520 | Thoughts, ideas, wins, hacks, questions.

00:56:45.800 | I'm probably gonna keep doing these.

00:56:47.200 | I might even include a little bit of reflection

00:56:50.320 | on some takeaways from episodes recently

00:56:52.520 | that I've been really thinking about.

00:56:54.200 | Think of it as like a stop along the way

00:56:56.160 | towards a best of 2023 episode

00:56:58.520 | that'll be coming out at the end of the year.

00:57:00.040 | Finally, if you're enjoying this show

00:57:01.740 | and you haven't left a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,

00:57:04.680 | I'd greatly appreciate it.

00:57:06.400 | It only takes a couple minutes

00:57:08.200 | and every one of them is so helpful.

00:57:10.360 | And like I said earlier,

00:57:11.360 | I'm gonna start featuring reviews on the homepage

00:57:13.800 | of the newly designed website.

00:57:15.320 | I'm really excited to share that with you.

00:57:17.360 | So there's a good chance that that review,

00:57:19.500 | especially if it has a really punchy, exciting title

00:57:22.240 | or first sentence, will make it on the website.

00:57:24.680 | So things like how much you've saved,

00:57:27.140 | how valuable it's been to your life would be great.

00:57:29.920 | All right, that's it for this week.

00:57:31.320 | See you next week.

00:57:32.160 | (upbeat music)

00:57:34.740 | (upbeat music)

00:57:37.320 | (upbeat music)

00:57:39.900 | (upbeat music)

00:57:42.480 | (upbeat music)

00:57:45.060 | (upbeat music)

00:57:47.640 | [BLANK_AUDIO]