I watched some points go on sale this year, and I realized there are a lot of different ways that you can get points than just by earning them on a credit card. For one, many airlines and hotel groups constantly have sales on points. For example, of my 12 favorite transfer partners from my credit cards, points go on sale for as low as 1.15 to 1.2 cents, and that's on Life Miles or Aeroplan, and on average across all the partners that sell points, they go on sale for about 1.5 cents per point.

And depending on the partner, they go on sale as often as every one to three months. And then there's some points that I don't actually even like transferring to, though I do think they have good value, that go on sale for as little as half a cent a point, like Hilton or close to that for Choice Hotels and Marriott.