ATHLLC1501839061
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.240 | - Hello, and welcome to another episode of "All The Hacks,"
00:00:05.080 | a show about upgrading your life, money, and travel.
00:00:07.760 | I'm your host, Chris Hutchins,
00:00:08.920 | and every year as we get closer to December 31st,
00:00:12.120 | I start to make sure I've done all the right moves
00:00:14.440 | for my money, taxes, points, miles, and more.
00:00:17.720 | So I thought I'd put together an episode
00:00:19.520 | to share with all of you what that actually means.
00:00:22.440 | There is a lot of good content
00:00:23.660 | that I hope can help you all be more optimized this year.
00:00:27.120 | And when it comes to all the tax topics,
00:00:28.840 | I wanna give a big shout out to Tal Binder,
00:00:31.040 | the founder and CEO of Gelt, a tax planning company,
00:00:34.280 | that I was so impressed with when I met Tal
00:00:36.780 | and heard all of his tax knowledge
00:00:39.060 | that I knew I had to invest a small amount in the company.
00:00:41.900 | And since then, I've become a paying customer
00:00:44.200 | of their services for my personal and business taxes.
00:00:47.400 | And Tal spent 90 minutes giving me feedback and advice
00:00:50.520 | for all the content in this episode, which was so helpful.
00:00:53.680 | However, full disclosure, I am not an accountant or a CPA,
00:00:57.640 | so you shouldn't take anything I'm about to share
00:00:59.720 | as tax advice.
00:01:01.040 | And if you do want tax advice, talk to your own accountant,
00:01:04.280 | or if you wanna check out Gelt,
00:01:05.760 | you can schedule a call with their team
00:01:07.360 | to learn more at allthehacks.com/G-E-L-T.
00:01:12.120 | Note that they are not a sponsor,
00:01:13.840 | that is not an affiliate link,
00:01:15.480 | but Tal did say that he'd let anyone that comes
00:01:18.000 | from All The Hacks skip their wait list.
00:01:20.700 | Okay, let's get into the episode right after this.
00:01:25.760 | All right, since so much of year-end financial planning
00:01:28.860 | is tax-related, I'm gonna start there,
00:01:31.200 | but I figured it would be good to set a tone
00:01:33.440 | for some of the principles of how I think about this.
00:01:35.960 | So my goal is not to break the rules or even bend the rules.
00:01:39.780 | I'm really trying to play as squarely
00:01:41.700 | in the rules as possible.
00:01:43.480 | But within those rules, I would love to avoid taxes
00:01:46.480 | if I could, and if not, I'd love to at least minimize
00:01:49.520 | the taxes I do owe, and finally, no matter what,
00:01:52.320 | I'd love to defer those taxes out
00:01:54.160 | as far as I can in the future.
00:01:56.000 | So that's kind of the overarching theme,
00:01:57.800 | but let's get into the tactics.
00:01:59.880 | Now, I realize some of you might have a small business
00:02:01.960 | or a side hustle, and there are so many great optimizations
00:02:04.600 | for business owners, but I'm gonna focus first
00:02:07.160 | on all the things that apply to everyone,
00:02:09.240 | including W-2 employees.
00:02:11.120 | So first, I think it makes sense to talk about
00:02:13.020 | one of the biggest decisions that you make
00:02:14.760 | on your tax return, which is whether you're gonna take
00:02:16.880 | the standard deduction or you're gonna itemize.
00:02:19.320 | So the way it kind of works is that the IRS gives you
00:02:22.300 | the ability to just say, I want to take this one deduction
00:02:25.280 | and reduce my income by it and not do any extra homework.
00:02:28.640 | If you're single, it's 12,950.
00:02:30.840 | If you're a joint filer, it's 25,900,
00:02:33.680 | and it's super straightforward.
00:02:35.400 | Now, if you wanna itemize, you're basically saying
00:02:37.680 | I'm going to take all of my individual deductions,
00:02:40.440 | add them up, and do that instead.
00:02:43.040 | Obviously, you wouldn't do those if they didn't exceed
00:02:45.040 | the amount of the standard deduction, but if they do,
00:02:47.400 | then obviously it'd be a better deal.
00:02:48.560 | And so you can itemize things like charitable contributions,
00:02:51.940 | state and local taxes up to a $10,000 limit,
00:02:55.600 | home mortgage interest, and then sometimes things
00:02:58.160 | like medical expenses, investment interests,
00:03:00.240 | gambling losses, casualty losses, and things like that.
00:03:03.680 | So if you're kind of on the line
00:03:04.960 | where you could go either way, one tactic you could do
00:03:08.120 | is bunch all of your itemized deductions
00:03:10.680 | by combining multiple years into one
00:03:13.180 | so that you can switch between the itemizing one year
00:03:16.640 | and the standard deduction the next year.
00:03:18.620 | So the way you could do that is you could donate
00:03:20.960 | all of the money you might wanna donate for two years
00:03:23.800 | to charity into one year, and you could either do that
00:03:26.400 | by donating to charities or using a donor-advised fund,
00:03:28.800 | which we'll talk about later.
00:03:30.200 | You could prepay your property tax a little early
00:03:33.360 | if you're not gonna be at that state and local tax limit.
00:03:35.980 | You could prepay your January mortgage payment
00:03:38.240 | to try to get a little extra
00:03:39.560 | mortgage interest contribution in the year.
00:03:42.260 | Or if you have any other qualifying expenses,
00:03:44.680 | you could do those in one year.
00:03:46.280 | And then the next year, you really try to limit
00:03:48.620 | all of those expenses so that you take
00:03:50.280 | the standard deduction, and then the following year
00:03:52.640 | in January, you could play catch up and do it again
00:03:55.160 | and try to itemize more that year.
00:03:56.960 | So that's one thing you can do if you're on the fence.
00:03:59.320 | So effectively, what you're doing is you're taking
00:04:01.080 | those expenses that you can itemize,
00:04:02.860 | and you're either deferring them out
00:04:03.920 | or accelerating them in.
00:04:05.240 | But you could do something similar with income.
00:04:07.340 | It's not always as easy if you don't own a business
00:04:09.820 | where you could just say, oh, I'm going to ask someone
00:04:12.240 | to pay me in January instead of now,
00:04:14.760 | or ask someone to prepay me.
00:04:16.400 | But I do have one example recently,
00:04:18.720 | which was someone I know was laid off from their job,
00:04:21.440 | and their employer told them,
00:04:22.720 | well, we would like to give you a severance
00:04:24.060 | as soon as you return this document to us.
00:04:26.320 | And it happened in December, and he asked
00:04:28.440 | how long he had to sign the document.
00:04:30.200 | And they actually told him he could sign it
00:04:32.200 | any time before the end of the year,
00:04:33.960 | and they would process that severance payment a week later.
00:04:37.400 | So he actually waited so that next year,
00:04:39.800 | he would get that severance payment
00:04:41.240 | and have it come in the following tax year,
00:04:43.240 | since he assumed he would likely be at a lower income
00:04:45.800 | 'cause he didn't have a job right now.
00:04:47.600 | So when you think about whether you're going to be making
00:04:49.640 | more or less income next year compared to this year,
00:04:52.160 | you can decide, does it make sense
00:04:53.880 | to try to defer some of that income or bring it in?
00:04:56.440 | So I mentioned charitable donations,
00:04:57.820 | but I want to cover a few components of it.
00:05:00.040 | So you probably know that if you donate money
00:05:02.000 | to a nonprofit, you can deduct that on your taxes.
00:05:04.680 | Great, but did you also know
00:05:06.520 | that any of the non-cash property you donate,
00:05:09.080 | whether it's clothes or electronics
00:05:10.660 | or anything you drop off at Goodwill, is also a deduction.
00:05:14.000 | And if you save the receipt they give you,
00:05:15.800 | which is usually blank, and you fill it out,
00:05:17.980 | you can actually get a tax donation up to $5,000.
00:05:21.400 | You just need to make sure you write down what you donated
00:05:24.280 | and you fill out a receipt
00:05:25.520 | so that you have something to have on hand
00:05:27.960 | in case you ever have questions down the road.
00:05:30.040 | And if you're not sure of the amount,
00:05:31.680 | definitely don't just put $5,000
00:05:34.000 | unless you want someone to ask questions.
00:05:35.760 | I would try to put a number that's more accurate.
00:05:37.620 | But one of the most effective things to donate
00:05:40.680 | is appreciated assets,
00:05:42.120 | because you can save even more when you give.
00:05:44.580 | So let's take a stock you bought a long time ago for $100,
00:05:48.400 | and let's say it's now worth $1,000.
00:05:50.240 | When you sell that stock,
00:05:51.560 | you're gonna have to pay taxes on the $900 of gains.
00:05:54.700 | Now, it's gonna be long-term cap gains,
00:05:56.400 | but you're also gonna need to pay state taxes
00:05:58.360 | depending on where you live.
00:05:59.400 | And in California, that could add up to like 33%.
00:06:02.940 | So you've got $900 gain,
00:06:05.020 | you have to pay taxes on a third of it,
00:06:07.000 | you're gonna end up owing about $300.
00:06:09.720 | Now, that means that at the end of the day,
00:06:11.560 | you're actually gonna take home $700.
00:06:13.880 | Now, you could go donate that $700 to a charity
00:06:16.180 | and get a $700 deduction.
00:06:18.180 | What you can also do
00:06:19.060 | is you can actually donate that $1,000 of stock.
00:06:22.540 | You'll give the charity $1,000,
00:06:24.320 | you'll get $1,000 deduction,
00:06:26.420 | they'll get $1,000,
00:06:28.180 | but you don't actually have to pay any capital gains tax.
00:06:31.400 | So you never pay capital gains tax
00:06:33.580 | on the appreciated assets you donate,
00:06:35.420 | and you get the full tax deduction.
00:06:37.380 | So that's a great option for giving to charity.
00:06:39.620 | And we'll talk about the wash sale rule later.
00:06:41.660 | But it turns out the best I understand it,
00:06:44.640 | you're not actually impacted by the wash sale rule
00:06:47.760 | when you donate to charity.
00:06:49.040 | So you could just buy that stock right away the next day
00:06:51.960 | and replace it if you really wanna hold it.
00:06:53.960 | So if you own any appreciated assets,
00:06:56.920 | you should probably not ever be donating to charity
00:06:59.760 | in any format other than those appreciated assets.
00:07:02.760 | Because if you wanted to donate $1,000,
00:07:05.200 | you're going to save money on taxes
00:07:07.400 | by donating $1,000 of appreciated securities
00:07:10.680 | versus donating $1,000 outright.
00:07:12.980 | And if you were gonna donate the $1,000 anyways,
00:07:14.820 | you could always just rebuy those securities.
00:07:17.060 | Now, one of the things that makes this whole thing
00:07:18.700 | a little tricky is that donating appreciated securities
00:07:21.500 | is not as simple and quick and straightforward
00:07:23.960 | as just putting a credit card number
00:07:25.620 | on the donation widget on some charities website.
00:07:28.720 | However, one thing I love doing,
00:07:30.460 | and I know you've heard me talk about it a lot,
00:07:32.540 | is setting up a donor advised fund.
00:07:34.740 | So it's a charitable giving vehicle,
00:07:36.860 | basically a fund that you create.
00:07:38.820 | And when you donate to that fund,
00:07:40.580 | you're donating to a nonprofit
00:07:42.320 | and you're getting the tax deduction right away.
00:07:44.800 | However, you're in control of where those funds go.
00:07:48.520 | And so you can choose to divvy them out at a later date
00:07:51.620 | to any number of different organizations.
00:07:53.720 | So you could donate $1,000 in 2022,
00:07:56.680 | and you could donate that from appreciated securities
00:07:58.960 | that would have actually only resulted in you having $700.
00:08:03.040 | And then later in the future,
00:08:05.040 | you could donate $100 to one organization,
00:08:07.400 | $500 to another.
00:08:08.840 | You can kind of decide whenever you want.
00:08:11.120 | And until you're ready to donate,
00:08:12.440 | you can actually invest the funds
00:08:14.320 | in your donor advised fund
00:08:16.160 | so that the money still grows with market appreciation.
00:08:19.620 | I think you've all heard me talk about Daffy before.
00:08:22.040 | Daffy's how I manage my donor advised fund.
00:08:24.200 | They're a partner of the show.
00:08:25.760 | You can get $25 for free when you use them
00:08:28.220 | at allthehacks.com/daffy.
00:08:30.540 | I was using it before they partnered with us
00:08:32.520 | and I'll be using it long after
00:08:34.120 | if they ever stop partnering with the show.
00:08:36.120 | So definitely check that out.
00:08:37.880 | It's a great product.
00:08:39.600 | Speaking of capital gains,
00:08:41.040 | let's talk a little bit about tax loss harvesting.
00:08:43.600 | You might have some stocks or index funds
00:08:45.800 | or other securities that you bought,
00:08:47.500 | maybe even crypto at a price higher
00:08:50.120 | than what they're at today,
00:08:51.380 | which means you have a loss.
00:08:52.640 | Now, when you sell that stock,
00:08:54.880 | you can actually capture that loss
00:08:56.560 | and use it to offset other gains
00:08:58.960 | or offset your income up to $3,000 a year.
00:09:02.560 | So if you're sitting on losses right now
00:09:04.760 | before the end of the year and you have any capital gains,
00:09:07.480 | it might be a really good opportunity
00:09:09.180 | to sell those securities so that you can use that loss
00:09:11.840 | to lower your tax liability for the year.
00:09:14.120 | Now, if you don't have any capital gains to use,
00:09:16.360 | you can still carry over that loss to future years
00:09:19.040 | and use it to offset future capital gains
00:09:21.160 | or even offset your income $3,000 a year at a time.
00:09:24.620 | However, the wash sale rule
00:09:26.100 | is a really important factor here.
00:09:28.240 | What it basically says is you can't sell a security,
00:09:30.880 | take a loss, and then rebuy that security for 30 days.
00:09:34.520 | So that means if you have a loss on something,
00:09:36.600 | but you actually wanna hold it as part of your portfolio,
00:09:39.480 | you can't just sell it and buy it back right away.
00:09:41.740 | Otherwise, the loss gets offset
00:09:43.320 | and you actually don't get any of the benefit.
00:09:45.560 | However, you can buy something that's very similar,
00:09:48.560 | but not substantially identical.
00:09:50.740 | So in the case of some common index fund pairing examples,
00:09:55.000 | you've got VTI,
00:09:56.240 | which is a total stock market index fund from Vanguard,
00:09:59.220 | but you also have ITOT,
00:10:01.860 | which is an iShares total stock market index fund,
00:10:05.240 | or you have Schwab's SCHB,
00:10:07.300 | which is another US broad market index fund.
00:10:09.880 | So obviously you could just sell something
00:10:11.760 | and not hold it for 30 days,
00:10:13.320 | and you'd be exposed to whatever price changes happen
00:10:15.880 | over those 30 days,
00:10:17.100 | but you also can buy something different.
00:10:19.520 | Now, products like Wealthfront and other robo-advisors
00:10:22.480 | will do this automatically for you,
00:10:23.960 | but if you're managing your investments
00:10:25.960 | in your own brokerage firm, you can do this yourself.
00:10:28.160 | You just have to sell things at a loss
00:10:30.000 | and not rebuy them for 30 days.
00:10:32.360 | Because all my long-term investments are at Wealthfront,
00:10:34.400 | I don't think about it, it happens automatically,
00:10:36.400 | so I don't have to worry about it.
00:10:37.720 | In fact, this year, it looks like I've harvested
00:10:39.800 | over 10% of the value of my portfolio
00:10:42.560 | as losses I can use to offset gains,
00:10:45.080 | both in the portfolio and outside of it.
00:10:47.040 | Now, I'm no longer a Wealthfront employee.
00:10:49.080 | Amy, my wife, still does work at Wealthfront,
00:10:51.280 | but if you wanna get $5,000 managed free,
00:10:53.680 | you can use my personal referral link.
00:10:55.320 | It's allthehacks.com/wealthfront.
00:10:57.760 | Now, when it comes to crypto,
00:10:58.760 | there's actually no wash sale rule
00:11:00.320 | because they're not securities.
00:11:01.920 | So if you're holding any crypto tokens and they're down,
00:11:04.760 | you can sell them and then buy them right back
00:11:07.360 | and book that loss and be able to use that
00:11:10.080 | to offset any gains you have or $3,000 of income.
00:11:13.480 | When it comes to crypto, if you're in a situation like me,
00:11:16.320 | where you have crypto that you have no ability to access
00:11:19.380 | because it was at Coinbase or FTX or any other projects
00:11:23.120 | that are kind of in the middle of either bankruptcy
00:11:25.080 | proceedings or you're trying to figure out what happens
00:11:27.000 | or withdrawals are paused, that's a different story.
00:11:29.860 | I think right now the best option
00:11:31.720 | and what I'm doing is just waiting.
00:11:33.240 | You do have the ability, if you're certain
00:11:35.000 | you're never getting anything back,
00:11:36.160 | to take an abandonment loss.
00:11:38.480 | That's something that I'm not familiar enough with
00:11:40.600 | to give you a lot of explanation.
00:11:42.360 | But fortunately, the team at Gelt has written
00:11:45.100 | an entire little tax guide all about tax tips
00:11:48.120 | for a recession that includes things like abandonment
00:11:51.360 | or even small business stock losses.
00:11:53.360 | So I'll include a link to the show notes to that guide
00:11:55.920 | where there's a lot more detail there,
00:11:57.640 | but that's just something to consider as well.
00:11:59.940 | I wanna tell you all about the most amazing way
00:12:03.160 | to buy a second home.
00:12:04.540 | And I know because we actually bought one
00:12:06.580 | for 1/8th the cost.
00:12:08.420 | And don't worry, I'm not talking timeshares,
00:12:10.500 | I'm talking about Picasso, and I'm excited to partner
00:12:13.380 | with them for this episode.
00:12:14.700 | So how does it work?
00:12:15.660 | Picasso buys amazing luxury homes
00:12:18.020 | in over 40 world-class destinations,
00:12:20.540 | creates an LLC for each home,
00:12:22.500 | and you can buy as little as 1/8th of the property.
00:12:25.560 | But it doesn't stop there.
00:12:26.900 | Picasso also professionally manages the home,
00:12:29.780 | handling design, cleaning, bills, repairs, taxes, and more.
00:12:34.780 | And the scheduling system makes it fair and equitable
00:12:37.740 | for everyone to enjoy their home.
00:12:40.000 | When we found Picasso, it felt like it was made just for us.
00:12:43.660 | That same week, we found the perfect place in Napa,
00:12:46.780 | we toured it, and the next week we were closing.
00:12:49.740 | Since then, it's truly become our second home
00:12:52.180 | and it's been so amazing.
00:12:53.900 | And it's true real estate ownership.
00:12:56.100 | Owners can sell at any time, set their own price,
00:12:59.460 | and tap into Picasso's active marketplace of buyers.
00:13:02.780 | In fact, on average, Picasso listings resell in 12 days
00:13:06.940 | with a 12% annualized gain.
00:13:09.300 | For a modern way to buy and own a second home,
00:13:12.540 | go to allthehacks.com/picasso,
00:13:15.620 | where our listeners will get a free Picasso access account,
00:13:19.160 | which means you can see new listings
00:13:20.820 | before they go on the website
00:13:22.620 | and get up to $10,000 in credit towards closing costs.
00:13:26.700 | Again, that's allthehacks.com/picasso, P-A-C-A-S-S-O.
00:13:31.700 | I wish I could say that I'm eating
00:13:36.100 | a fully balanced diet every day,
00:13:38.220 | but the reality is that I am definitely not.
00:13:40.820 | So I love having an easy way
00:13:42.700 | to get my daily nutritional insurance,
00:13:44.920 | which is why I kickstart my day with Athletic Greens,
00:13:47.780 | and I am excited to be partnering with them
00:13:49.660 | for this episode.
00:13:50.900 | I started taking it because I wanted to see
00:13:52.900 | what all the hype was about,
00:13:54.220 | and I've kept it in my daily routine for months.
00:13:57.340 | Every morning, I mix it up with some cold water,
00:13:59.700 | add a few ice cubes, it tastes so good when it's cold,
00:14:02.860 | and I head to my office feeling focused
00:14:05.060 | and energized for the day,
00:14:06.460 | which is a feeling I absolutely love.
00:14:09.180 | I also love that it's made from 75 high-quality vitamins,
00:14:12.580 | minerals, and superfoods,
00:14:14.020 | and contains less than one gram of sugar.
00:14:16.860 | It also has no GMOs, nasty chemicals,
00:14:19.320 | or artificial anything.
00:14:21.020 | To make giving it a try easy,
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00:14:26.320 | of immune-supporting vitamin D
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00:14:31.620 | All you have to do is visit
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00:14:36.820 | Again, that's allthehacks.com/athleticgreens
00:14:40.660 | to take ownership over your health
00:14:42.700 | and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance.
00:14:46.060 | Another opportunity, if you have some gains this year,
00:14:48.620 | but you don't have any losses to offset them,
00:14:50.860 | is to look into Opportunity Zone Investing.
00:14:54.300 | If you make an investment
00:14:55.500 | into a Qualified Opportunity Zone,
00:14:57.220 | and these are certain types of real estate investments,
00:14:59.260 | and I'm certainly not the expert here,
00:15:01.280 | I'm just sharing what I've learned,
00:15:02.820 | you actually can defer capital gains
00:15:05.460 | by reinvesting those gains
00:15:07.260 | into a Qualified Opportunity Zone,
00:15:08.880 | which is usually areas of a city that are lower income,
00:15:12.840 | and you're investing in real estate projects there.
00:15:14.940 | Obviously, that comes with significantly more risk
00:15:17.540 | than just harvesting losses from your securities,
00:15:20.100 | but it is one way to defer capital gains into the future.
00:15:23.980 | And then on the topic of investment,
00:15:25.500 | let's talk a little bit about a few other things
00:15:27.500 | you could do before the end of the year.
00:15:29.300 | One that I love is iBonds.
00:15:31.040 | They're Series I savings bonds issued by the US government,
00:15:34.500 | and they peg the interest rate to inflation.
00:15:37.020 | And so how it works is they lock an interest rate in
00:15:39.120 | for six months, and then it changes every six months.
00:15:41.980 | Currently, the interest rate is 6.89%.
00:15:45.260 | You do have to keep your money in there
00:15:46.700 | for at least one year,
00:15:48.020 | and if you take your money out in less than five years,
00:15:51.540 | you lose the last three months of your interest.
00:15:54.180 | But there are very few places you can go
00:15:56.260 | to earn 6% or more that I'm aware of,
00:15:59.660 | and so one option before the end of the year
00:16:01.720 | is to invest in iBonds.
00:16:03.700 | You can only invest $10,000 per person or entity,
00:16:08.060 | so you could put in 10,000 for you, your spouse,
00:16:10.520 | you could put it in for your kids,
00:16:11.660 | or you could even put it in for a trust.
00:16:13.540 | So that's something that, as long as you do it before April,
00:16:17.060 | you lock in the 6.89% for the first six months.
00:16:21.140 | I don't know what inflation will look like
00:16:22.940 | when it comes to reevaluating that interest rate in April,
00:16:25.780 | but whatever the new rate that comes out then will be,
00:16:28.520 | you'll be subject to that rate for the next six months,
00:16:30.980 | and then you can kind of wait and see
00:16:32.660 | what the rate is in the future
00:16:33.820 | and decide whether it makes sense to take anything out.
00:16:36.180 | To do that, you have to go to treasurydirect.gov.
00:16:39.100 | Unfortunately, it is a really terrible website
00:16:41.700 | built by the US government.
00:16:43.140 | It's messy and not great, but it works, it's functional,
00:16:46.900 | and I was able to use it pretty easily.
00:16:48.760 | It just looks like I was using something from 10 years ago.
00:16:51.940 | While we're still talking about investments,
00:16:53.580 | if you work at a company
00:16:54.620 | and you've been issued any stock options
00:16:56.580 | that are ISOs or incentive stock options,
00:16:59.220 | usually the problem with exercising them
00:17:01.180 | is it generates a certain amount of income,
00:17:04.260 | but not income the way your taxes are normally calculated,
00:17:07.140 | income that's only subject
00:17:08.820 | to what's called the alternative minimum tax,
00:17:11.180 | and I won't go into too much detail here,
00:17:12.820 | but basically the IRS says
00:17:15.100 | there's two ways to calculate your taxes,
00:17:16.780 | and if you owe more one way than you do the other way,
00:17:19.460 | we use that one.
00:17:20.820 | You can, if you're not already subject to AMT,
00:17:24.060 | with the help of an accountant,
00:17:25.380 | I wouldn't necessarily try to do this yourself,
00:17:27.560 | you could figure out the amount of ISOs you can exercise
00:17:31.040 | that won't put you into that limit,
00:17:33.300 | and it might allow you to exercise some of your stock
00:17:36.260 | without any tax implications a little earlier.
00:17:38.820 | Obviously, you have to pay to do the exercising,
00:17:40.740 | but you wouldn't have to pay the extra taxes that year.
00:17:43.500 | Finally, retirement accounts,
00:17:45.180 | you don't necessarily have to do
00:17:46.660 | all of the retirement contributions
00:17:48.300 | before the end of the year.
00:17:49.540 | Things like IRAs and solo 401ks,
00:17:51.900 | you actually have until April,
00:17:53.620 | or in some cases October if you file an extension,
00:17:56.820 | but if you haven't contributed to your 401k
00:17:58.780 | and you can use your last paycheck
00:18:00.160 | before the end of the year,
00:18:01.260 | by the time this comes out, that's an option.
00:18:03.580 | I always try to just do all of my contributing
00:18:05.980 | in the calendar tax year, not that it's necessary.
00:18:08.900 | So that's contributing to any retirement accounts
00:18:11.980 | outside of your 401k,
00:18:13.780 | or contributing to a backdoor Roth contribution,
00:18:16.700 | which is most people that have a W-2 job
00:18:19.180 | aren't eligible for contributing to a traditional
00:18:22.140 | or a Roth IRA, if you are, great.
00:18:24.420 | But if not, and I'll encourage you to Google around
00:18:27.020 | for backdoor Roth IRAs,
00:18:28.780 | but you can contribute to a traditional IRA,
00:18:32.180 | even if you're not eligible for the tax deductibility of it,
00:18:34.700 | you can make a non-deductible contribution,
00:18:37.020 | and then you can roll that non-deductible contribution
00:18:39.380 | over into a Roth IRA.
00:18:40.980 | Why the IRS has come out and said that this is okay,
00:18:44.020 | but not just made it easy to do directly is beyond me,
00:18:47.540 | so are many things in the tax code.
00:18:49.640 | One thing I will say is,
00:18:51.740 | if you already have traditional IRA investments,
00:18:55.420 | it can get really complicated
00:18:57.100 | because you can't just choose which funds you roll over.
00:19:00.100 | So definitely, if you're in that situation,
00:19:02.220 | talk to an accountant before thinking
00:19:03.820 | about doing any backdoor Roth IRAs.
00:19:05.820 | And depending on your tax situation this year
00:19:09.500 | relative to next year,
00:19:10.740 | you could consider doing a Roth conversion,
00:19:12.620 | which is taking any of your pre-tax retirement accounts
00:19:16.960 | and converting them to Roth accounts.
00:19:18.820 | Whether they're traditional 401ks or IRAs,
00:19:21.460 | you can roll them over into a Roth account,
00:19:23.660 | which then means you don't have to pay any taxes
00:19:26.460 | on the gains in those accounts
00:19:28.460 | as long as you take them out in retirement.
00:19:31.100 | So that's an option.
00:19:32.460 | It will result in you owing taxes for that conversion.
00:19:35.420 | So it wouldn't be a great idea
00:19:37.500 | if 2022 was a really high tax year for you.
00:19:40.620 | But if you weren't in that situation,
00:19:41.980 | it could be something worth considering
00:19:43.460 | before the end of the year.
00:19:44.380 | If you have kids and you wanna contribute to a 529
00:19:46.820 | for their educational expenses or say for their college,
00:19:49.260 | that's something you can do up to $16,000 a year per child.
00:19:53.140 | Technically, it's actually from each individual
00:19:55.220 | to another individual.
00:19:56.300 | So if a couple wanted to gift it to two kids,
00:19:58.820 | it would be each person giving to each kid.
00:20:01.060 | So you could actually gift 32,000 per person.
00:20:03.660 | So that's something you could do.
00:20:04.780 | If you wanted to super fund the 529,
00:20:07.260 | if you haven't done that,
00:20:08.260 | you can bulk give up to five years at once.
00:20:11.460 | So depending on your state,
00:20:12.980 | you may or may not get a little bit of tax break
00:20:14.860 | for putting money in,
00:20:15.860 | but the IRS doesn't give you any breaks.
00:20:17.700 | And I know in California, you don't.
00:20:19.340 | But that money does get to grow tax-free
00:20:21.900 | as long as you are using it
00:20:23.460 | for a qualified educational expense, which is college.
00:20:26.700 | And now it's actually expanded
00:20:28.180 | to even include things like private school
00:20:30.480 | and a few other things.
00:20:31.700 | And it's not tied to one person.
00:20:33.620 | So if you don't use it all up,
00:20:34.900 | you can pass it down to other children or grandchildren.
00:20:38.100 | And there's even some stipulations
00:20:39.660 | that if your child gets a scholarship,
00:20:41.580 | the fees to withdraw from it get waived.
00:20:43.620 | When it comes to some of your employer benefits,
00:20:45.620 | definitely make sure that you've used up any of the money
00:20:48.300 | in your FSA accounts or transit accounts
00:20:51.040 | before the end of the year.
00:20:52.300 | There's a few different types of accounts.
00:20:53.960 | The most common I've seen is FSAs for medical expenses.
00:20:57.220 | And while you can usually roll over
00:20:59.220 | a small amount of hundreds of dollars,
00:21:01.060 | depending on your employer's plan rules,
00:21:03.180 | you usually have to spend all of the money
00:21:05.140 | in those accounts before the end of the year.
00:21:06.860 | So if you have leftover funds, a few options,
00:21:10.560 | there are always things you could go buy
00:21:12.100 | before the end of the year.
00:21:13.360 | There are products and services like blood tests,
00:21:16.660 | genetic tests, new baby monitor, thermometers.
00:21:20.880 | Those kinds of things are all eligible expenses.
00:21:23.440 | So that's something I've done in the past.
00:21:25.900 | Or if there's really nothing you need,
00:21:27.800 | you can always reach out to a local shelter or charity,
00:21:30.620 | see if there's anything that they need
00:21:32.140 | and you could go buy it for them.
00:21:33.860 | If you have a dependent care FSA,
00:21:35.100 | just make sure you submit those expenses.
00:21:37.220 | And then with HSAs, it's actually not something
00:21:39.740 | that you have to use it or lose it.
00:21:40.860 | So I wouldn't feel any stress.
00:21:42.260 | In fact, HSAs are really cool
00:21:44.180 | because you put money in tax-free,
00:21:46.780 | the money grows tax-free and you take it out tax-free.
00:21:49.740 | So there's a pretty strong argument
00:21:51.380 | to not take your money out from your HSA now.
00:21:54.020 | But if you haven't maxed out the contributions
00:21:56.140 | and you want to, you can put up to $3,650
00:22:00.480 | in if you have individual coverage
00:22:02.520 | or $7,300 if you have family coverage.
00:22:05.280 | When I say coverage, that means covered
00:22:07.120 | by a high-deductible health plan.
00:22:08.920 | If you weren't covered
00:22:09.760 | by a high-deductible health plan in 2022,
00:22:11.800 | then you can't contribute to an HSA.
00:22:13.960 | But if you haven't maxed that out,
00:22:15.400 | that is something you could do before the end of the year.
00:22:17.480 | Okay, this one's not that big,
00:22:18.960 | but there are some tax benefits
00:22:20.640 | for energy efficiency upgrades that you can make
00:22:22.680 | before the end of the year.
00:22:23.960 | So any home improvements you've made
00:22:26.420 | might be eligible for a tax credit.
00:22:28.380 | The tax credit in 2022 is equal to 10%
00:22:30.940 | of the cost of those improvements.
00:22:33.200 | That means windows, doors, insulation, roofs,
00:22:36.300 | heat pumps, water heaters, furnaces.
00:22:39.100 | The only catch is that the total credit
00:22:41.540 | is up to $500 in your lifetime.
00:22:44.020 | And it's like 300 for building property,
00:22:46.420 | 200 for window components.
00:22:48.440 | So it's not a massive credit,
00:22:50.180 | but if you this year invested in any of those things,
00:22:52.940 | central air units,
00:22:54.140 | I know we put in a new hot water heater that broke
00:22:56.340 | and we put in air conditioning.
00:22:57.800 | So I think that might actually get us to that $500 maximum.
00:23:01.420 | Also, if you did invest in solar,
00:23:03.580 | you can usually get up to about 30% back
00:23:05.820 | in those investments.
00:23:07.100 | The only catch there is that that must be in service
00:23:09.340 | by the end of the year.
00:23:10.460 | So if you haven't done this,
00:23:11.900 | it's probably really unlikely
00:23:13.820 | that it's going to be something that you're able to do
00:23:16.420 | in the next couple of days.
00:23:18.380 | And then finally, if you purchased
00:23:20.260 | or if you somehow are able to purchase
00:23:22.460 | and take possession of an electric vehicle
00:23:24.500 | that was assembled in the US before the end of the year,
00:23:27.360 | you might be able to save up to $7,500
00:23:29.780 | of the cost in taxes for the EV tax credit in 2022.
00:23:33.940 | So one tax optimization I've heard a few people talk about
00:23:37.260 | is that businesses have so many more opportunities
00:23:40.340 | to be more tax efficient because of the rules
00:23:42.900 | and regulations we have in this country,
00:23:45.020 | that you could try to get your employer
00:23:46.700 | to hire you as a business instead of as a W2 employee.
00:23:50.240 | Actually talked a bit about this with Tal.
00:23:53.580 | And while it is possible,
00:23:56.640 | there are a few really important things to consider.
00:23:59.220 | One, you can't just take your job and convert it right away
00:24:02.380 | and expect the IRS to let that be okay,
00:24:05.420 | unless you really change something about the way you operate.
00:24:08.020 | If you're a designer and you convert from an employee
00:24:10.540 | to a contractor and you take on three or four other clients
00:24:13.960 | as a design agency, that might make sense.
00:24:16.560 | But if you just have one client
00:24:18.120 | and you're getting paid about the same amount
00:24:19.660 | and you just switch the type,
00:24:21.020 | it's unlikely that's gonna hold up.
00:24:23.180 | So if you are actually changing the style of business
00:24:25.680 | you operate, great.
00:24:26.840 | However, one really important thing to consider
00:24:29.100 | is that it is so much harder to get approved for loans,
00:24:32.500 | especially mortgages, when you're not a W2 employee.
00:24:36.140 | When I was talking to Tal, he's seen clients
00:24:38.540 | who even have over a million dollars of income a year
00:24:41.700 | struggle to get approved for a mortgage.
00:24:44.280 | I think I'd always heard that that was such
00:24:45.620 | an awesome opportunity, but kind of understanding
00:24:48.100 | that you really fundamentally need to change
00:24:49.860 | how you operate and some of the stresses
00:24:51.820 | it might put on you if you're trying to buy a home.
00:24:54.300 | I don't think it's really worth it
00:24:55.840 | for anyone who's not actually running a business.
00:24:58.340 | However, if you are running a business,
00:25:00.580 | there are a handful of tax optimizations to think about.
00:25:03.980 | One is doing an S-corp election,
00:25:06.100 | which makes it a little bit more efficient
00:25:08.100 | for some types of businesses.
00:25:09.540 | Obviously, for all of these,
00:25:10.740 | you should be talking to an accountant
00:25:12.060 | and not just taking anything I say as advice,
00:25:15.220 | but it will help you avoid some of the Social Security
00:25:17.780 | and Medicare taxes that you would pay
00:25:19.900 | on your individual income if you weren't an S-corp.
00:25:23.140 | There's the home office deduction.
00:25:25.020 | And one cool thing I learned recently
00:25:26.600 | is that you don't necessarily have to allocate your home
00:25:29.500 | by a percentage of square feet.
00:25:31.420 | You might be able to allocate it by a percentage of rooms.
00:25:35.340 | So if you have seven rooms in your house
00:25:37.080 | and your office is one of them,
00:25:38.080 | maybe you could use one seventh instead of square foot.
00:25:40.820 | The meal deduction, which actually for this year,
00:25:44.180 | you can deduct 100% of meals.
00:25:46.740 | And what is a business meeting in a pandemic world?
00:25:49.940 | If you're doing a virtual meeting over Zoom
00:25:52.080 | and having lunch over that meeting,
00:25:53.800 | I think there's an argument to be made
00:25:55.320 | that that's also a business meal.
00:25:57.060 | There's qualified business income,
00:25:59.020 | which is something you should talk to an accountant about.
00:26:01.300 | If you have kids and there's really any argument
00:26:03.620 | that those kids are doing work for the business,
00:26:06.200 | whether they're old enough to actually do work
00:26:08.100 | or whether they're young enough to maybe just be models
00:26:10.740 | in photos that you put on your company's website,
00:26:13.300 | you can hire your children.
00:26:14.740 | And one of the coolest things about doing this
00:26:16.700 | is that if your children have income,
00:26:18.840 | which also means, by the way, they have to file their taxes,
00:26:21.220 | but they can contribute to a Roth IRA.
00:26:23.660 | And so if you think about being able to put money
00:26:25.540 | into an account for your kids when they're very young
00:26:28.420 | and letting that compound for 60 plus years,
00:26:31.340 | it could be really, really impactful on their future.
00:26:33.940 | There's also bonus depreciation,
00:26:35.780 | which is if you buy something like a car
00:26:38.420 | that weighs over 6,000 pounds,
00:26:40.500 | then you can actually accelerate the depreciation
00:26:43.100 | all in one year.
00:26:44.020 | Obviously that car has to be for business purposes.
00:26:46.660 | There's a bunch of interesting optimizations
00:26:49.140 | when it comes to self-employed retirement plans,
00:26:51.740 | SEP IRAs, solo 401ks,
00:26:54.060 | where you can actually contribute more
00:26:56.180 | than the amount you could contribute to your 401k
00:26:59.180 | as an employee at a company.
00:27:01.140 | There's also countless different expenses
00:27:03.380 | that qualify as business expenses.
00:27:06.000 | So if you're taking a course,
00:27:07.500 | if you're paying an annual fee on your business credit card,
00:27:10.580 | if you're buying anything that you use for work.
00:27:13.100 | So there's really a lot of stuff here.
00:27:15.140 | I just use it to highlight some of the things
00:27:17.140 | you should use to go start a conversation
00:27:19.100 | with your accountant,
00:27:20.180 | not anything that you should take as advice.
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00:30:12.180 | Okay, that covers most of the year-end stuff
00:30:14.740 | related to taxes,
00:30:16.220 | but there are a few other year-end things
00:30:17.820 | that I wanna talk about
00:30:18.780 | that are mostly about points and miles.
00:30:21.060 | But before I get to them,
00:30:22.660 | I do also wanna make sure I cover
00:30:24.180 | a few of the interesting things that I learned
00:30:26.620 | that I'm actually gonna put into place next year
00:30:29.020 | because I think they're relevant.
00:30:30.780 | And just because you can't use them this year
00:30:32.460 | doesn't mean you might not wanna start thinking about them.
00:30:34.420 | So first off, when it comes to the HSA and FSA stuff,
00:30:39.020 | I'm actively thinking about things
00:30:40.780 | that I might wanna do next year
00:30:42.100 | so I can make those elections
00:30:43.460 | and decide how much to contribute.
00:30:45.380 | I'm definitely gonna wanna do some blood work
00:30:47.300 | that probably won't get covered.
00:30:48.860 | I'm considering whether I wanna do the GRAIL test,
00:30:51.460 | which is a early pre-screening test for cancer
00:30:54.340 | with blood work that's in the hundreds of dollars range.
00:30:57.420 | And because of the cancer in my family history,
00:31:00.300 | I just wanna start thinking about those kinds of things.
00:31:03.060 | The other one is the Augusta rule,
00:31:04.580 | which funny enough is actually created
00:31:06.140 | to protect the residents of Augusta, Georgia
00:31:08.300 | who rented out their homes
00:31:09.540 | to attendees of the Masters Golf Tournament.
00:31:11.700 | But it basically says that you can rent out your home
00:31:13.860 | for up to 14 nights a year
00:31:15.820 | without needing to report any of that rental income
00:31:18.540 | on your tax return.
00:31:20.020 | So if you've been considering renting out your place
00:31:22.100 | on Airbnb while you're traveling,
00:31:24.180 | while you're out of town,
00:31:25.580 | but really only for a couple weeks,
00:31:27.660 | this is a really great opportunity
00:31:29.140 | to bring in some extra income with no tax consequences.
00:31:32.420 | Obviously, it's maybe possible for you to do this
00:31:34.820 | before the end of the year,
00:31:36.220 | but it's probably unlikely given the time of year.
00:31:39.740 | But it is something that I might start thinking about
00:31:41.620 | for next year if we have one or two trips planned.
00:31:44.740 | One cool hack that I've been shared by a few people
00:31:47.260 | is if you have a business,
00:31:48.780 | you can actually have your business rent your home
00:31:51.060 | to use it for things.
00:31:52.020 | So if I were gonna do a film shoot in the house,
00:31:54.380 | the business could rent the home from me,
00:31:56.900 | and I would, in effect, be able to pay with company funds
00:32:01.500 | to my personal without having to pay taxes.
00:32:04.700 | So it makes it really efficient for transferring money
00:32:07.180 | from the business to yourself without any tax consequences.
00:32:10.580 | Obviously, this only works
00:32:12.340 | if you're actually using it for those purposes.
00:32:14.340 | So if you're actually making videos,
00:32:15.980 | there's a lot of good evidence that you're doing so
00:32:17.940 | because you have video evidence of that.
00:32:20.100 | But I don't think this is the kind of thing
00:32:21.380 | that I would test out if it wasn't actually true.
00:32:24.220 | Finally, the last thing I've been thinking about
00:32:25.900 | is whether I add more California muni bonds
00:32:28.700 | to my investment portfolio.
00:32:30.140 | Obviously, there are muni bonds in every state,
00:32:32.220 | but muni bonds happen to be triple-tax-free
00:32:35.380 | from federal, state, and local income.
00:32:37.140 | And with taxes in California where they are
00:32:39.020 | and interest rates where they are,
00:32:40.340 | it seems like something that I might increase
00:32:42.940 | the allocation to in my investment portfolio next year.
00:32:45.780 | That's a lot about taxes.
00:32:47.260 | I just wanna talk about some of the end-of-the-year things
00:32:49.780 | you should be thinking about when it comes to your points
00:32:51.780 | and your miles.
00:32:52.860 | So first off, I always try to make sure
00:32:55.900 | that at least once every year,
00:32:57.500 | I'm looking at all my accounts to figure out
00:32:59.900 | whether any of them have balances that are gonna expire.
00:33:02.740 | If you have points related to a credit card,
00:33:04.820 | then I wouldn't really need to worry about this
00:33:06.420 | because you're probably accumulating
00:33:08.020 | at least some number of points each month,
00:33:10.220 | and almost all mileage accounts,
00:33:12.820 | not all, but almost all, will not expire
00:33:15.700 | as long as there's some activity in the account.
00:33:18.060 | Hotel points seem to expire more frequently than airlines.
00:33:21.740 | There are a lot of airlines that have shifted
00:33:23.180 | to no expiration dates,
00:33:24.780 | but it's really easy to keep things from expiring,
00:33:27.020 | especially with hotels.
00:33:28.340 | Sometimes my wife and I just transfer points
00:33:30.660 | between each other because a lot of hotel chains
00:33:32.740 | allow that for free,
00:33:33.660 | and that extends the life of the points.
00:33:35.820 | On airlines, there are a lot of airlines
00:33:37.740 | that no longer have expiration dates,
00:33:39.940 | but if they do, there are some simple things you can do,
00:33:42.860 | whether it's using their shopping portal
00:33:44.540 | to make a small purchase,
00:33:46.020 | whether it's buying a nominal amount of points,
00:33:48.380 | or you could donate a nominal amount of points,
00:33:50.700 | or you can redeem a small number of points
00:33:52.340 | for a magazine subscription.
00:33:53.940 | Really, any activity in your account
00:33:55.980 | will keep those balances active.
00:33:57.780 | Okay, when it comes to status at the end of the year,
00:34:00.460 | yes, if you're chasing status,
00:34:02.140 | whether it's on an airline,
00:34:03.260 | or whether it's on a hotel chain,
00:34:05.180 | you can always consider whether you wanna make
00:34:06.940 | a mileage run or a mattress run.
00:34:08.820 | This is where, let's say,
00:34:09.700 | you just need an extra four flight segments
00:34:11.940 | before the end of the year to hit a certain level of status.
00:34:14.580 | You could actually just buy a ticket
00:34:16.300 | wherever the cheapest place to go is with one layover.
00:34:18.660 | It might be San Francisco to Los Angeles to Las Vegas,
00:34:22.580 | back to Los Angeles, back to San Francisco.
00:34:25.100 | I haven't really ever been too heavy on the mileage runs,
00:34:27.900 | but there was one year where I remember flying to San Diego,
00:34:31.520 | getting off and getting right back on the same plane
00:34:33.660 | to come back to San Francisco
00:34:34.940 | because I was just like 800 miles short
00:34:37.680 | of hitting that next level of United status.
00:34:40.200 | On hotels, you can do the same thing.
00:34:41.880 | You could book a night at a really cheap hotel,
00:34:44.340 | go stay there.
00:34:45.340 | You do need to show up,
00:34:46.780 | but you don't necessarily need to stay there the whole time.
00:34:49.300 | So if you're three nights away from status,
00:34:51.780 | you could book a really cheap Marriott property,
00:34:54.260 | go check in, ruffle up the bed sheets,
00:34:56.340 | put on the do not disturb, and then head back home.
00:34:59.380 | I haven't really in the most recent years
00:35:01.020 | found status to be that valuable
00:35:02.820 | that I really wanna go to those extents,
00:35:04.340 | but I totally 10 years ago was doing this.
00:35:06.780 | So another big thing to do before the end of the year
00:35:08.860 | is if you have Delta or Marriott status,
00:35:11.380 | you might have some choice benefits,
00:35:13.380 | which with Delta, I think if you hit platinum or diamond,
00:35:16.860 | and with Marriott, if you hit platinum or titanium,
00:35:19.620 | you basically get some benefits
00:35:20.860 | that you have to select before the end of the year.
00:35:23.020 | Things like suite upgrades or premier upgrades
00:35:26.500 | or free lounge access passes and things like that.
00:35:29.460 | So I would definitely go and make sure you do that
00:35:31.160 | before the end of the year.
00:35:32.320 | Also, there are some hotel chains
00:35:34.120 | that give you free night certificates.
00:35:35.980 | Not all of them are tied to the calendar year,
00:35:38.380 | but definitely go and make sure
00:35:39.520 | that if you have any free night certificates,
00:35:41.340 | you book them or even maybe use them
00:35:43.380 | before the end of the year if you need to.
00:35:45.260 | Then a lot of credit cards
00:35:46.660 | have a bunch of different types of credits.
00:35:48.900 | Some of them are tied to the calendar year
00:35:50.980 | and some of them are tied to the card member year.
00:35:53.260 | I'll run through all of them for the sake of comprehension,
00:35:56.400 | but the most important ones,
00:35:57.460 | 'cause it's December, are the annual ones.
00:35:59.660 | So on a bunch of Amex cards, platinum, gold,
00:36:02.340 | and the Hilton Aspire, you have an airline credit.
00:36:05.040 | Whether that's $100 or $200 or $250,
00:36:08.280 | basically the credit card is gonna reimburse you
00:36:10.400 | for purchases on airlines
00:36:12.100 | and you need to use that before the end of the year.
00:36:14.060 | You actually need to select your airline first
00:36:16.700 | and you can actually only have one airline selected.
00:36:19.220 | I have had some success in the past
00:36:21.140 | live chatting with Amex on their app or on the website
00:36:24.320 | and asking them to make a switch.
00:36:26.220 | They're unlikely to do it multiple times throughout the year
00:36:28.420 | but if you don't ask every year,
00:36:29.980 | they're usually willing to do it.
00:36:31.580 | And there are some really great threads on Flyer Talk
00:36:34.540 | if you want to learn about some of the creative ways
00:36:37.540 | to take advantage of those airline credits
00:36:39.460 | because they're intentionally not supposed to be
00:36:42.020 | for buying flights, but for certain airlines,
00:36:44.800 | there are ways for those credits to be used
00:36:46.880 | to maybe buy a travel bank credit or a small cheap ticket
00:36:51.260 | or you could pay for part of your ticket with a gift card
00:36:54.800 | and the incremental amount gets coded as an upsell
00:36:58.040 | instead of as a ticket.
00:36:59.080 | So that's something to go look at.
00:37:01.120 | There's also another few cards, the City Prestige,
00:37:03.520 | the Chase Ritz-Carlton, the Bank of America Premium Rewards
00:37:06.600 | that have annual credits
00:37:07.800 | that I think are a little easier to use
00:37:09.240 | but that expire at the end of the year.
00:37:11.260 | There are a few other credits.
00:37:12.420 | The Platinum Card has a $200 prepaid hotel credit.
00:37:15.260 | There's a $200 Dell credit that expires for a Platinum Card
00:37:18.900 | depending on whether you've used that before.
00:37:21.300 | The Platinum Card has a bunch of other credits
00:37:23.420 | that are worth making sure you've used.
00:37:25.180 | There's the $200 prepaid hotel credit
00:37:27.220 | that you use booking an Amex travel.
00:37:29.340 | There's a $200 Dell credit that I actually used
00:37:31.660 | to buy the original microphone to kick off this podcast.
00:37:34.400 | I've used it a long time ago
00:37:35.620 | but that's one that is on a calendar year schedule.
00:37:38.260 | There's your $50 every six month Saks credit
00:37:40.700 | if you haven't used.
00:37:41.740 | Two suggestions of how I've used it in the past.
00:37:44.620 | We don't really like to buy fancy soap
00:37:46.620 | but we've used our Saks credit to buy Aesop soap
00:37:49.220 | and it's just really great soap.
00:37:51.240 | I also just bought a couple pairs of Mack Weldon underwear
00:37:54.100 | which are maybe a little expensive but very comfortable
00:37:56.980 | and free if you use your Saks credit.
00:37:58.740 | There's also the Uber credit of $15 every month
00:38:01.260 | but it's actually $35 in December
00:38:03.340 | so definitely make sure you use that.
00:38:05.180 | We almost always use it for Uber Eats
00:38:07.380 | but you can use it for Uber as well.
00:38:09.460 | And then finally each month
00:38:10.460 | there's the digital entertainment credit on the platinum card
00:38:12.860 | which you can use for things like Sirius XM
00:38:14.980 | or New York Times and other streaming services.
00:38:18.420 | The Amex Gold has smaller credits.
00:38:20.140 | They've got $10 a month dining and $10 a month Uber.
00:38:23.620 | Those aren't really annual because they're monthly
00:38:25.260 | but just reminder if you're not using them.
00:38:27.580 | Similarly Chase has the DoorDash credit on the Chase Reserve
00:38:30.780 | and a GoPuff credit on literally every Chase card.
00:38:33.420 | Those are credits that are tied to the month
00:38:35.140 | that just reminders to use.
00:38:37.460 | On the card member year credits,
00:38:39.420 | those are things like on the Venture X
00:38:41.460 | you get a $300 a year travel credit.
00:38:43.380 | On the Chase Reserve you get a $300 a year travel credit.
00:38:46.220 | Those credits are on the cycle of cardholder year.
00:38:49.460 | So whenever you open the card you have a year to use them.
00:38:52.300 | The Chase credit's really easy to use.
00:38:53.820 | You just have to spend on travel
00:38:55.220 | and it automatically gets used.
00:38:56.860 | On the Venture X one you have to go into the portal
00:38:58.700 | and book something.
00:39:00.140 | The Chase Sapphire Preferred card
00:39:01.540 | also has a $50 hotel credit when you book in their portal.
00:39:04.980 | And then finally the Hilton Aspire card
00:39:07.180 | has a $250 resort credit at Hilton Properties.
00:39:10.940 | If you notice I mentioned
00:39:11.780 | the Hilton Aspire card a few times.
00:39:13.020 | It's only because I recently looked into this card
00:39:15.300 | and we actually signed up for it.
00:39:17.100 | The reason we looked at it was,
00:39:19.180 | is actually I think a pretty good deal
00:39:21.500 | for someone who's staying at Hilton's or traveling a lot.
00:39:24.460 | It does have a high annual fee of $450
00:39:27.140 | but you get complimentary diamond status
00:39:29.640 | which is their top tier status with free breakfast.
00:39:32.460 | You get a $250 airline credit
00:39:34.460 | that if you're able to use reduces that annual fee to $200.
00:39:37.780 | You get an annual free night
00:39:39.260 | at a Hilton property every single year.
00:39:41.540 | And there are a few hotels you can't use it at
00:39:43.660 | but it is very liberally used.
00:39:45.420 | I've seen multiple reports of people using it
00:39:47.220 | at the Conrad and Bora Bora
00:39:48.860 | at really nice Waldorf Astorias.
00:39:51.300 | And then you get another $250
00:39:53.300 | Hilton resort statement credit.
00:39:54.780 | So if you're staying at any Hilton resort
00:39:56.220 | you can charge $250 to your room.
00:39:58.420 | So if you add those up, it's like 250 airline credit,
00:40:01.420 | 250 resort credit, a free night anywhere and diamond status.
00:40:05.820 | It actually seemed like a pretty good deal
00:40:07.660 | for $450 a year, assuming you're gonna do that.
00:40:10.520 | Not to mention after you spend $4,000
00:40:12.780 | you get 150,000 Hilton points.
00:40:14.900 | So I don't have a link for that card.
00:40:16.600 | There's no way that signing up for it will help all the hacks
00:40:19.220 | but it's definitely a card
00:40:20.660 | that I thought was actually pretty interesting
00:40:22.700 | that I'd overlooked in the past.
00:40:24.500 | - Quick, small correction.
00:40:25.860 | Amy listened to this episode and reminded me
00:40:28.180 | that she has a personal referral link
00:40:29.880 | for the Hilton Aspire since we opened it in her name.
00:40:32.800 | So if you wanna sign up for that card
00:40:34.200 | and help her earn some Hilton points
00:40:36.220 | go to allthehacks.com/hilton.
00:40:39.080 | I know a lot of this is top of mind for all of you.
00:40:42.260 | So I really hope this episode was helpful.
00:40:44.260 | I'll put a link to the guide that Tal wrote up
00:40:46.420 | as well as a link to check out Gelt and the show notes.
00:40:49.300 | And as always, if you have any feedback, questions
00:40:51.540 | or just wanna say hi, I'm Chris at allthehacks.com.
00:40:55.100 | Finally, I just wanna say thanks to the 60 or so people
00:40:58.060 | that came out to the event in San Francisco.
00:41:00.320 | It was so great to meet some of the All The Hacks community.
00:41:02.880 | Special shout out to Scott, Ali, and Akechi
00:41:05.240 | for flying out to the event.
00:41:06.880 | That means the world to me.
00:41:08.400 | And I look forward to doing more events
00:41:09.920 | like that in the future.
00:41:11.340 | All right, see you next week.
00:41:12.860 | (upbeat music)
00:41:15.460 | (upbeat music)
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00:41:20.620 | [BLANK_AUDIO]