Use a shopping portal to earn extra rewards on your online purchases, not just going directly to the merchant’s site.
The Secret Tunnel to the Same Store
Imagine you’re about to shop at your favorite online store. Going directly to their website is like walking through their front door. But a bank or airline’s shopping portal is a secret VIP tunnel that leads to the exact same store. By taking two extra seconds to enter through this tunnel, the portal operator gives you a thank-you gift—an extra pile of points or cashback—for using their entrance. You’re buying the exact same products at the exact same prices; you’re just getting paid a bonus for starting your journey in a slightly different place.
Stop redeeming your points for gift cards. Do save them for high-value travel redemptions instead.
Trading Your Arcade Tickets for Candy vs. the Grand Prize
Think of your rewards points like the tickets you win at a video arcade. You can take those tickets to the prize counter and make a choice. Redeeming them for a $25 gift card is like trading 2,500 tickets for a small lollipop. It’s an instant treat, but a terrible value. Saving those same points for travel is like saving up your tickets for the giant, top-shelf prize, like the video game console. That flight to Hawaii or that luxury hotel stay is the grand prize that gives you exponentially more value for your hard-earned tickets.
Stop just earning 1x points on your non-bonus category spending. Do use a 2% cashback card for those purchases instead.
The All-Purpose Tool in Your Financial Toolbox
Imagine your wallet is a toolbox. You have a specialized “power saw” for 5% on groceries and a “power drill” for 3% on dining. But for every other random purchase, like at the pharmacy or hardware store, you’re using a weak, tiny screwdriver that only gives you 1% back. A flat 2% cashback card is like a high-quality, powerful multi-tool. It’s strong and effective for every single one of those miscellaneous jobs, ensuring that you’re always using a powerful tool and never settling for a weak return on your spending.
The #1 secret for maximizing your credit card rewards is to use a combination of different cards.
Building a Financial Superhero Team
Trying to earn the most rewards with just one credit card is like trying to save the world with only one superhero. Batman is amazing, but he can’t fly. The real secret is to assemble a small, specialized team. You have one card that’s a powerhouse for groceries, another that’s a speedster for travel, and a third that’s a strong all-rounder for everything else. By deploying the right hero for each specific purchase, your “financial Avengers” can capture far more rewards than any single hero could ever manage on their own.
I’m just going to say it: Your airline miles are constantly being devalued, so you should burn them, not hoard them.
Hoarding Ice Cream in a Leaky Freezer
Airline miles are like a delicious, gourmet ice cream that you’re storing in a freezer. The problem is, the freezer has a slow, constant leak. Over time, the ice cream melts and loses its value. This is called inflation, and airlines are constantly “warming up the freezer” by charging more miles for the same flights. Hoarding your miles for a dream trip ten years from now is a losing game. The best strategy is to “earn and burn”—enjoy that delicious ice cream while it’s still frozen solid and worth the most.
The reason you’re not earning enough points for a free flight is because you’re not focusing your spending on bonus categories.
Fishing in a Deserted Pond
You’re trying to catch enough fish for a feast (a free flight), but you’re spending all day casting your line into a nearly empty pond. This is what you’re doing when you use a card with no bonus categories for your biggest purchases. You might get a bite every now and then (1x points), but it’s slow going. The bonus categories—like 3x on dining or 5x on groceries—are the fully stocked, fish-filled lakes. By simply moving your fishing spot to where the fish are abundant, you’ll find you can catch that feast in no time.
If you’re still redeeming your points for merchandise, you’re getting a terrible value.
Buying a Toaster with a Pile of Gold Coins
Using your hard-earned credit card points to get a toaster or a new pair of headphones from the rewards catalog is like walking into a store and paying for a $50 item with a pile of gold coins worth $150. You’re using a highly valuable, flexible currency to buy something at a ridiculously inflated price. The “points price” for merchandise is almost always a terrible deal. You would be far better off using a simple cashback card, taking the cash, and buying that same toaster for a fraction of the cost.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about credit card rewards is that they are too complicated to understand.
It’s Checkers, Not 4D Chess
People talk about credit card rewards like it’s a game of four-dimensional chess that requires a PhD to play. It’s not. It’s checkers. The rules are surprisingly simple. Step 1: Find a card that gives you a bonus for what you buy most (like groceries or gas). Step 2: Use that card for those purchases. Step 3: Pay your bill in full every month. That’s it. That’s the whole game. By following those three simple rules, you’ve already mastered 90% of the strategy and will come out way ahead.
I wish I knew about the power of transfer partners to get outsized value from my points.
The Magic Key That Unlocks Secret Doors
For years, I used my bank points like a gift card, redeeming them for a flat 1 cent each through their travel portal. It was like having a key that only opened the front door. Then I discovered transfer partners. This was like finding out my key was actually a magic skeleton key. It could open a dozen secret, hidden doors to airline and hotel programs. Behind one of those doors, my 100,000 points weren’t worth a $1,000 flight anymore; they were worth a $4,000 business-class seat to Europe. It’s the single biggest secret to unlocking unbelievable value.
99% of people make this one mistake when redeeming rewards: they don’t check the cash price of the flight or hotel.
Never Order at a Restaurant Without Looking at the Menu Prices
Redeeming your points for a flight without first checking the cash price is like telling a waiter, “I’ll have the steak,” without ever looking at the menu to see if it costs $30 or $300. You would never do that. Before you “spend” your valuable points, you must take ten seconds to see what the cash price is. If a flight costs $100 or 10,000 points, that’s a decent deal. If it costs $100 or 25,000 points, you’re about to order a wildly overpriced meal, and you should put your points back in your pocket.
This one small habit of checking for transfer bonuses will supercharge your travel rewards.
The Surprise “Double Coupon” Day at the Points Supermarket
Imagine your bank’s flexible points are like grocery store coupons. A transfer bonus is when that store has a surprise “double coupon” event for a specific brand. For a limited time, your 1,000-point coupon for “Airline A” is suddenly worth 1,300 points. By simply checking rewards blogs for these promotions before you transfer, you can get a massive, free boost of 20-40% more miles. It’s like getting a huge discount on your award flight just for timing your “checkout” at the right moment.
Use a card that offers a “pay yourself back” feature for flexible redemptions, not just being limited to travel.
The Store Credit That Acts Like Cash
Traditional travel rewards are like a store credit that can only be used to buy more items from that same store. It’s valuable, but restrictive. A “Pay Yourself Back” feature transforms that store credit into something much closer to cash. You can go out and spend money on everyday things like groceries or a meal at a restaurant, and then use your points to retroactively erase those purchases from your statement. It gives you the high value of a travel point with the flexibility of a cashback card, offering the best of both worlds.
Stop using your debit card for everyday purchases. Do use a rewards credit card and pay it off in full.
Leaving the Tip on the Table vs. Putting It in Your Pocket
Every time you pay for something with your debit card, it’s like you’re paying the exact bill and walking away. When you use a rewards credit card, the bank gives you a 2% rebate on that same purchase. It’s like they’re handing you back the tip money. Using a debit card is the equivalent of leaving that money on the table every single time you pay for something. By using a credit card and paying it off, you are simply choosing to put that well-deserved tip back into your own pocket.
Stop letting your credit card rewards expire. Do set a reminder to use them.
The Milk in the Back of Your Fridge
Your credit card points are like a carton of fresh milk in your refrigerator. They are valuable and useful, but they have an expiration date. Forgetting about them is like leaving that milk in the back of the fridge until it’s spoiled and worthless. Some rewards programs have deadlines, and you don’t want to lose them because of simple neglect. Set a calendar reminder once a year to check on all your “milk cartons.” This ensures you get to enjoy them while they are still fresh and valuable.
The #1 hack for earning a sign-up bonus without overspending is to time your application with a large planned purchase.
Waiting for the Perfect Wave to Surf
Trying to meet the minimum spending for a sign-up bonus with just your normal, everyday purchases can feel like trying to surf on a lake with no waves. You have to paddle furiously and might not make it. The secret is to be patient and wait for the perfect wave. When you know you have a big, planned expense coming up—new tires for your car, a home repair, college tuition—that’s your giant wave. Apply for the card right before, and then ride that one big purchase to effortlessly cruise past the spending requirement and collect your bonus.
I’m just going to say it: Cashback is king for people who don’t want to deal with the hassle of travel rewards.
A Crisp $100 Bill vs. a Complicated Treasure Map
Travel rewards are a treasure map. With enough research, flexibility, and luck, you can use that map to turn your points into a chest of gold (a business-class flight). But some people don’t want to be treasure hunters. Cashback is a crisp $100 bill. It’s simple, straightforward, and valuable everywhere you go. There are no maps to read or puzzles to solve. For people who value simplicity and certainty over a potentially higher but more complicated reward, the crisp $100 bill will always be king.
The reason you have so many “orphan” points in different programs is that you’re not consolidating your rewards.
A Drawer Full of Foreign Coins
Having small, unusable piles of points in a dozen different airline and hotel programs is like having a drawer full of random foreign coins from past vacations. You have a few yen, a couple of pesos, and a lonely euro. None of them are enough to buy anything on their own, so they just sit there, forgotten and worthless. The solution is to consolidate. Focus on earning flexible, transferable points from a major bank. This creates one big, powerful pile of “universal currency” that you can convert to whatever you need, whenever you need it.
If you’re still not using a credit card that offers bonus rewards on dining, you’re leaving money on the table.
The Leaky Faucet in Your Social Life
For many people, their spending on restaurants, bars, and coffee shops is a constant, powerful stream of money. Not using a card that gives you 3x or 4x points on that spending is like having a major leak in that pipe. A significant portion of the money flowing out is just splashing onto the floor and being wasted. Getting a dining rewards card is like fixing that leak with a bucket that captures a huge percentage of that value, turning one of your biggest expenses into one of your most rewarding.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need to be a big spender to earn a lot of rewards.
The Tortoise and the Hare of Rewards Earning
People think you need to be a “hare,” spending tens of thousands of dollars a month, to win the rewards race. That’s not true. The “tortoise” who earns rewards strategically can easily win. The sign-up bonus is the tortoise’s secret weapon. By simply getting one or two new cards a year and meeting the modest spending requirements, the tortoise can earn massive, 60,000-point bonuses. This strategic, slow-and-steady approach will earn you far more rewards over time than a hare who is carelessly spending a lot on a low-earning card.
I wish I knew that pooling points with a spouse or partner could help us reach our travel goals faster.
Combining Two Half-Empty Buckets to Make a Full One
My wife and I were both collecting rewards points separately. It was like we each had a bucket that was slowly filling with rainwater. Neither of us ever seemed to have quite enough for the big trip we wanted. I wish I had known that many rewards programs let you combine your points for free. We could have poured her half-full bucket into my half-full bucket, creating one completely full bucket instantly. This simple action allows you to reach your shared travel goals in half the time.
99% of people don’t realize that they can earn rewards on their rent payments with certain services.
Getting a Reward for Paying Your Biggest Bill
For most of us, rent is a giant, black hole of an expense. It’s our single biggest payment of the month, and we get absolutely nothing back for it. It’s like dropping a huge check into a void. But now, services exist that let you pay that rent with a credit card for a small fee. If you’re working to meet a big sign-up bonus, that fee can be a small price to pay. It’s a way to finally attach a rope to that giant check, allowing you to pull back a huge chunk of valuable rewards.
This one small action of adding an authorized user to your account can help you earn rewards on their spending.
Giving Your Teammate a Jersey
Adding a trusted family member as an authorized user to your credit card is like giving them a jersey for your rewards “team.” You are still the team captain and are ultimately responsible for the bills. However, every time they go out and make a purchase, the points they earn are scored for your team, not theirs. It’s a simple and effective way to consolidate a family’s spending onto one supercharged account, helping you rack up points and reach your reward goals much, much faster.
Use a service like CardMatch to find targeted, high-value sign-up bonuses, not just the public offers.
The Secret Menu vs. the Public Menu
Applying for a card on a bank’s public website is like ordering from the standard menu at a restaurant. The offers are good, but they’re for everyone. Services like CardMatch are like being handed a secret, off-menu list of specials from the chef. Because these services have a relationship with the banks, they can often show you targeted, elevated sign-up bonuses that are much higher than the public offer. It’s a way to ensure you’re not just getting the good deal, but the absolute best deal available to you.
Stop redeeming your points for 1 cent per point. Do aim for at least 2 cents per point on travel redemptions.
Trading a Dollar for a Dollar vs. Trading a Dollar for Two
Redeeming your points for cash back or through a basic travel portal at a value of one cent per point is like trading a dollar for a dollar. It’s fair, but it’s not exciting. The whole point of the travel rewards game is to find the opportunities for arbitrage. By learning to use transfer partners, you can find situations where that same point can be redeemed for a business or first-class flight worth two, three, or even five cents. You are essentially trading your one dollar and getting back two, three, or five dollars in value.
Stop hoarding your points for a dream trip that may never happen. Do use them for smaller, more frequent getaways.
Don’t Save Your Fine China for a Royal Visit
Hoarding all your points for a ten-year, around-the-world dream vacation is like keeping your family’s beautiful fine china locked away in a cabinet, waiting for the Queen of England to visit for dinner. It will likely never happen, and in the meantime, you’re not enjoying it. The better approach is to use that fine china for special family birthdays and anniversaries. Use your points for a long weekend trip this year. Creating real, attainable memories now is always better than holding out for a fantasy that may never materialize.
The #1 secret for getting upgraded to business class with points is to book through an airline’s international transfer partner.
The Secret Backdoor to the VIP Lounge
Trying to book a business-class seat directly with a major U.S. airline’s miles is like trying to get into an exclusive nightclub through the main entrance with a huge line and an expensive cover charge. They charge an outrageous number of miles. The secret is to find the club’s unmarked back door. By transferring your bank points to an international partner airline (like Avianca LifeMiles or Air Canada Aeroplan), you can often book the exact same seat on the exact same plane for a fraction of the points. It’s the ultimate travel hack.
I’m just going to say it: The best use of your credit card points is to create memories, not to buy stuff.
A Souvenir vs. the Story of an Adventure
You can redeem 50,000 points for a new vacuum cleaner from the merchandise portal. It’s a “thing,” a souvenir. In a year, it will just be another appliance in your closet. Or, you can use those same 50,000 points to book a flight to a national park you’ve never seen. That trip will give you stories, photos, and memories that will last a lifetime. The vacuum will be forgotten. The sunset you saw over the canyon never will be. Points are a currency, and they are best spent on experiences, not objects.
The reason you’re not getting approved for a new card with a big bonus is that you’ve opened too many cards recently.
The Bouncer Who Thinks You’re Bar-Hopping
Imagine you’re trying to get into a cool new nightclub (a new credit card). The bouncer (the bank) looks you over. They see that you have a great reputation (credit score), but they also see that you’ve been to five other new clubs in the past year. They start to think you’re just a “bar-hopper” who is only there for the free welcome drink (the sign-up bonus) and won’t become a regular customer. Many banks have rules, like Chase’s 5/24, that are specifically designed to deny applicants who look like they’re just bonus-chasing.
If you’re still not using a credit card for your monthly bills, you’re missing out on easy rewards.
Getting Paid to Keep the Lights On
Your monthly bills—cell phone, internet, insurance, utilities—are like automatic, recurring chores you have to do every month. Paying them from your bank account is just doing the chore. Paying them with a rewards credit card is like finding a system where someone pays you a small commission every single time you take out the trash or wash the dishes. It’s free, effortless money. By automating these payments on a rewards card, you are turning your most boring expenses into a consistent, hands-off machine for earning points.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you should always be loyal to one airline or hotel brand.
Eating at the Same Chain Restaurant in Every City
Blind loyalty to one airline or hotel chain is like traveling the world but insisting on eating at a TGI Friday’s in every single city. You’re missing out on the amazing, unique, and often better-value local cuisine. By earning flexible, transferable points, you become a “free agent” traveler. You can stay at the Hilton one night, the Hyatt the next, and a boutique hotel the third, always choosing the option that offers the best quality, location, and price for that specific trip, rather than being locked into a single, mediocre menu.
I wish I knew to check for award availability before transferring my points to an airline or hotel program.
Checking if the Store Is Open Before You Drive There
Transferring your bank points to an airline is a one-way street. It’s like deciding you want to go to a specific store, getting in your car, and driving 30 minutes to get there. Once you’re there, you can’t turn back. I wish I knew you have to check if the store is open and has what you want before you start driving. You must go to the airline’s website first and confirm that the exact flight you want is available to book with miles. Only after you find the seat should you initiate the irreversible transfer.
99% of people with a premium travel card don’t use all of the statement credits it offers.
The Coupon Book You Leave in a Drawer
A premium travel card with a high annual fee is like being sold a big, valuable coupon book. It has coupons for free checked bags, a discount on hotels, and credit for airline fees. The problem is, most people take the book, throw it in a junk drawer, and forget it exists. They are paying for the full value of the coupons but not actually clipping and using them. To make a premium card worthwhile, you have to treat it like a mission: proactively go through that “coupon book” of benefits and use every last one.
This one small habit of paying your taxes with a credit card (when the fee is low enough) can help you meet a minimum spend.
The Turbo Boost Button for Your Sign-Up Bonus
You’re driving a car towards a finish line (a minimum spend requirement), but you’re worried you might not get there in time. Paying your income taxes is like finding a giant, one-time-use “Turbo Boost” button on your dashboard. The IRS payment processors charge a fee of around 2%, but if you need to spend a few thousand dollars to unlock a sign-up bonus worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars, paying that small fee is like paying a few dollars for a nitrous boost that launches you across the finish line instantly.
Use a dining rewards program that links to your credit card to double-dip on rewards, not just earning from the card itself.
The Piggyback Rider in Your Wallet
Imagine your credit card is a runner in a race, earning you 3 points for every “dining” mile it runs. A linked dining rewards program (like airline or hotel dining) is like a tiny, lightweight jockey who piggybacks on your main runner. Just for linking your card, this jockey earns their own separate pile of points for the exact same run. This is called “double-dipping.” You are getting two separate rewards from two different programs for the exact same purchase, effortlessly boosting your total earnings.
Stop thinking that earning miles is the same as earning redeemable miles; be aware of the different types.
Monopoly Money vs. Real Cash
Airlines have two types of miles. The miles you earn towards elite status are like Monopoly money. You can collect a lot of it, and it helps you win the game of “status” by getting you things like priority boarding and free upgrades. But you can’t go to the store and spend it. Redeemable miles are like real cash. They are the currency you actually use to buy award flights. It’s crucial to know the difference, as many activities will earn you one type but not the other.
Stop letting your flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) go unused. Do use a rewards card for eligible purchases and then reimburse yourself.
Getting a Rebate on Your Doctor’s Visit
Paying for a medical expense directly from your HSA or with an FSA debit card is a simple transaction. But there’s a better way. It’s a two-step trick. First, pay for your doctor’s visit, prescription, or new glasses with your favorite rewards credit card. This earns you points or cashback on the purchase. Second, submit the receipt to your FSA/HSA provider and have them send you a check or direct deposit for the amount you spent. You’ve now paid your bill and earned a free reward on top of it.
The #1 hack for maximizing rewards on Amazon is to buy gift cards at a grocery store with a credit card that has a grocery bonus category.
The Trojan Horse of Rewards Earning
Trying to earn a lot of rewards directly on Amazon.com is tough; they don’t have a good bonus category. So, you need a Trojan Horse. You take your credit card that earns a massive 5% or 6% back at U.S. supermarkets and go to your local grocery store. You’re not there for milk or eggs; you’re there to buy Amazon gift cards from the gift card rack. You then load those gift cards into your Amazon account. You’ve successfully snuck a huge grocery bonus into the walled city of Amazon, earning triple the rewards you would have otherwise.
I’m just going to say it: The “points and miles” hobby is not for everyone, and that’s okay.
A Hobby, Not a Homework Assignment
The world of travel rewards can be a fun and incredibly valuable hobby, like woodworking or gardening. If you enjoy the process of learning, strategizing, and building something amazing, it’s fantastic. But for some people, it can feel like a stressful, complicated homework assignment with too many rules to remember. If it doesn’t bring you joy, that’s perfectly fine. A simple, 2% cashback card is a beautiful, low-effort solution that will still put you way ahead of most people. Your financial tools should reduce your stress, not add to it.
The reason you’re struggling to use your miles is that you’re trying to book flights during peak season.
Trying to Find a Parking Spot on Black Friday
Trying to find an available award seat for a family of four to fly to Florida during Christmas week is like trying to find a front-row parking spot at the mall at noon on Black Friday. It’s a scene of chaos, with thousands of other people all fighting for the same handful of incredibly scarce spots. The airlines only release a tiny number of “saver” award seats during these peak times. To succeed, you need to be either incredibly lucky, willing to go to a less popular “mall,” or willing to do your shopping in the middle of July.
If you’re still not taking advantage of rotating quarterly bonus categories, you’re missing out on 5% back.
The Pop-Up Shop with a Massive Discount
Cards with rotating 5% categories, like the Chase Freedom Flex or Discover it, are like a special pop-up shop that opens in a new location every three months. For a limited time, this shop offers a massive 5% discount on a specific category, like gas or groceries. All you have to do is a single, one-click activation at the beginning of the quarter to get your invitation to the sale. Forgetting to activate this is like walking past the pop-up shop and choosing to pay full price at the store next door.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you can’t get good value from your points if you don’t travel internationally.
A Road Trip Can Be as Memorable as a Trip to Paris
The travel blogs are full of amazing stories about using points for first-class flights to Tokyo. This can make it seem like if you’re not a world traveler, your points are wasted. That’s not true. Using your points to book a simple domestic flight to visit your parents for the holidays, saving you $400 in cash, is an incredible value. Using them for a stay at a Hyatt hotel in a nearby city for a weekend getaway is an amazing value. Your points are a tool to make your travel more affordable, wherever that travel takes you.
I wish I knew about the “travel eraser” feature on some cards for easy redemption on any travel purchase.
The Magic Eraser for Your Bank Statement
I used to get so frustrated trying to find available flights or hotels in a specific rewards program. A “travel eraser” card, like the Capital One Venture, is like having a magic eraser for your bank statement. You don’t have to worry about portals or transfer partners. You just book any flight on any airline or any hotel on any website. Then, you go into your statement, find the charge, and “erase” it with your points. It’s the simplest, most stress-free way to redeem travel rewards.
99% of people don’t know that they can buy points to top off their account for a specific redemption.
The Last-Minute Gallon of Gas
Imagine you’re driving on a long road trip, and you’re just ten miles away from a fantastic destination. But your gas tank is empty, and you’re just short of making it. You’d gladly pay a slightly higher price for one gallon of gas to get you there. Buying points works the same way. If you have 48,000 miles but need 50,000 for a flight, airlines and hotels will sell you those last 2,000 miles. It’s usually not a good deal for a full “tank,” but it’s a fantastic tool for that last little bit you need to reach your destination.
This one small action of using a shopping portal aggregator will ensure you’re always getting the highest cash back or points.
The Kayak of Online Shopping
When you want to find the cheapest flight, you don’t search American, United, and Delta’s websites one by one. You use a tool like Google Flights or Kayak that searches them all at once. A shopping portal aggregator, like Cashback Monitor, is the Kayak for rewards. Instead of checking five different portals to see who is offering the best rate for Nike, you use one website that instantly compares them all. It’s a simple, ten-second check that guarantees you’re never leaving money on the table.
Use a service like AwardHacker to find the cheapest award flights, not searching manually on airline websites.
The Cheat Sheet for Your Final Exam
Trying to find the best airline program to use for a flight to Europe is like studying for a massive final exam with dozens of thick textbooks. It’s overwhelming. A tool like AwardHacker is the ultimate cheat sheet. You simply type in where you want to go (e.g., New York to Paris), and it instantly tells you the answers: which airline programs charge the fewest miles for that route. It does all the difficult research for you, allowing you to ace your “test” and find the absolute best deal in minutes.
Stop redeeming your points for a statement credit at a low value. Do use them for something more valuable.
Cashing in Your Casino Chips at a 20% Discount
Redeeming your flexible travel points for a simple statement credit is often like taking your $100 casino chip to a special cashier who will only give you $80 in cash for it. You’re voluntarily taking a 20% loss on the value of your asset. While it’s tempting to get the immediate cash, you’re leaving a significant amount of money on the table. By taking a few extra minutes to use those points for travel, either through a portal or a transfer partner, you can ensure you get the full $100 value—or even more—for your chips.
Stop being afraid to call your credit card company and ask for a retention offer to earn more points.
Asking Your Landlord Not to Raise the Rent
When the annual fee comes due on your credit card, you have three choices: pay it, cancel the card, or ask for a deal. Asking for a retention offer is like going to your landlord when your lease is up and saying, “I’ve been a great tenant. I’d love to stay, but I’m not sure I can afford the rent increase. Are there any incentives you can offer?” Often, the bank, like the landlord, would rather give you a small bonus (like extra points or a statement credit) than lose a good customer.
The #1 secret for earning rewards on large purchases is to use a service that lets you pay with a card for a small fee.
Building a Temporary On-Ramp to the Rewards Highway
Sometimes you have a huge expense, like a down payment on a car or a payment to a contractor, where they don’t accept credit cards. It’s like your giant truck of spending is stuck on a side street, unable to get onto the rewards highway. A service like Plastiq is a temporary on-ramp. For a small fee (usually under 3%), they will pay your bill with a check or transfer, and then charge your credit card. This is the perfect way to drive that huge purchase onto the highway and effortlessly cruise past a sign-up bonus spending requirement.
I’m just going to say it: Chasing elite status with an airline or hotel is often not worth the cost.
Paying $1,000 for a Year’s Supply of Free Coffee
Chasing elite status is like spending thousands of extra dollars you wouldn’t have otherwise spent just to get a “free” coffee every day for a year. You might feel like a VIP when you get your free coffee, but you’ve actually spent far more to earn that privilege than the coffee is actually worth. Unless your employer is paying for your travel, you’re often better off being a “free agent.” Use the money you would have spent on “status runs” to simply pay for the perks you want, like a better seat or lounge access.
The reason you’re not getting the same value from your points as the “gurus” is that you’re not being flexible with your travel dates.
Trying to Buy a Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve
The rewards “gurus” who get amazing deals are like savvy holiday shoppers. They buy their Christmas decorations in January when they’re 90% off. The reason most people can’t find good deals is that they are trying to buy their Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Being flexible with your travel dates—willing to fly on a Tuesday instead of a Friday, or in May instead of July—is the points-and-miles equivalent of shopping off-season. It’s the single biggest factor that separates the incredible deals from the frustrating “no availability” dead ends.
If you’re still not using a card that gives you a bonus on streaming services, you’re overpaying for Netflix.
The Coupon That Automatically Clips Itself
You pay for Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, and a dozen other streaming services every single month. Paying for them with a regular credit card is like paying full price. Using a card that offers a bonus category for streaming is like having a coupon that automatically clips itself and applies a discount to every single one of those bills. You don’t have to do anything different, but you end up getting a 3-5% rebate on a whole category of your monthly budget, month after month.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about sign-up bonuses is that they are a one-time thing.
The “Welcome Back” Party
Most people think a sign-up bonus is a strict, one-time-per-customer deal. In many cases, it’s not. It’s more like a “welcome back” party. Many banks have rules that state if you haven’t held a particular card and haven’t received a bonus for it in the past 24, 48, or more months, you are eligible to get it again. You can cancel a card, wait for the required time to pass, and then re-apply to get the same fantastic welcome bonus all over again.
I wish I knew to look for “sweet spots” in airline award charts to get amazing value for my miles.
The Hidden Gem on the Restaurant Menu
An airline’s award chart is like a giant restaurant menu. Most of the items are priced normally. But hidden in the corners of the menu are a few “sweet spots”—dishes that are incredibly high-quality but are priced way too low. It might be a short-haul flight that costs very few miles, or a flight to a specific region that the airline hasn’t repriced yet. The key to getting amazing value is to study that menu and find those hidden gems where your miles can buy you a gourmet meal for the price of an appetizer.
99% of people forget to activate their quarterly bonus categories and miss out on the extra rewards.
Forgetting to RSVP to the Party
Your credit card company sends you an exclusive invitation to a party where you can earn 5% back on gas for the next three months. The invitation says, “All you have to do is click here to RSVP.” Forgetting to activate your bonus category is like forgetting to RSVP. You show up to the party, but your name isn’t on the list, so you don’t get any of the special party favors. It’s a simple, one-click action that takes five seconds, but failing to do it means you’re missing out on the entire event.
This one small habit of paying for a friend’s dinner and having them Venmo you can help you earn more rewards.
Being the “Team Captain” of the Dinner Bill
When you go out to dinner with friends and everyone throws their own card down, the restaurant is the only winner. The better way is to become the “team captain.” You put the entire bill on your credit card that earns 3x or 4x on dining, capturing all the rewards for the entire table’s spending. Your friends then immediately Venmo you their share. You’ve earned a huge bonus of points at no extra cost, simply by being the organized one who collects the money.
Use referral bonuses to earn tens of thousands of extra points, not just relying on your own spending.
The Easiest Commission You’ll Ever Make
Once you have a credit card you love, the bank will give you a unique “referral link.” This is like becoming a freelance salesperson for a product you already use and believe in. When a friend or family member is looking for a new card, you can send them your link. If they are approved, the bank pays you a huge commission—often 10,000 to 20,000 points—as a thank you. It’s one of the easiest and fastest ways to earn a massive amount of points without spending any extra money yourself.
Stop thinking you need to fly to earn airline miles. Do focus on credit card spending instead.
The Side Door to Earning Miles Is Wider Than the Front Door
Most people think the only way to earn a lot of airline miles is through the “front door”—by flying constantly. They are wrong. The “side door” is actually a massive, wide-open garage door, and it’s credit card spending. Through a single sign-up bonus on a travel card, you can earn more miles than you would from a dozen coast-to-coast flights. The fastest way to get on a plane for free is not by flying, but by strategically using the right credit card on the ground.
Stop letting your rewards points dictate your travel plans. Do find a destination first and then figure out how to use your points.
The Tail Wagging the Dog
When you have a big pile of points with one specific airline, you can fall into a trap. You start by looking at where they can take you cheaply, and you end up planning a trip to Cleveland just because it was a good deal. This is the tail wagging the dog. The better approach is to let the dog lead. Decide where you want to go first: “I want to go to Italy.” Then, use your flexible, transferable points and the various tools available to figure out the smartest way to get your “dog” to that destination.
The #1 tip for a couple trying to maximize rewards is to have a strategy for which card to use for each purchase.
The Two-Person Saw
A two-person saw is an incredibly efficient tool, but only if both people are working together, pulling and pushing in a coordinated rhythm. If they are both just randomly sawing, it doesn’t work. For a couple, your shared wallet is that saw. To maximize rewards, you need a simple strategy. “Okay, we’ll use the Blue card for all groceries and gas, and the Silver card for all restaurants and travel. For everything else, we use the Green card.” This simple rhythm ensures you are always working together and cutting through your expenses with maximum efficiency.
I’m just going to say it: Most hotel loyalty programs offer terrible value for their points.
The Company Scrip of the Travel World
Hotel points are often like “company scrip”—a special currency that can only be used at that one company’s store, and where the prices are highly inflated. You might need 50,000 points for a room that costs only $150, a terrible value. With a few exceptions (like Hyatt), you are often far better off ignoring hotel points. Instead, use a simple cashback card, get the cash, and then use a website like Hotels.com or Expedia to book whatever hotel is the best and cheapest, regardless of its brand.
The reason you can’t find award availability is that you’re looking too late. You need to book far in advance.
Trying to Buy Concert Tickets the Day of the Show
If your favorite band is coming to town, you don’t wait until the day of the concert to try and buy a ticket at the box office. They will be sold out. You buy your tickets the moment they go on sale, months in advance. Airline award seats work the same way. The best, most valuable “saver” level seats are released in a very small batch, often 11-12 months before the flight. To get the best seats for the show, you need to be online and ready to book when the box office first opens.
If you’re still not using a card with a high earning rate on groceries, you’re missing out on one of your biggest spending categories.
The Giant Hole in Your Rewards Bucket
For most families, the weekly trip to the grocery store is a massive, gushing fire hose of spending. If you’re using a credit card that only earns 1% on that spending, it’s like you’re trying to collect that massive flow of water with a bucket that has a giant hole in the bottom. Most of the value is just leaking away. Plugging that hole with a card that earns 3%, 4%, or even 6% back on groceries is the single most effective way to capture a huge amount of rewards from the spending you’re already doing every week.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that credit card rewards are a scam.
A Rebate Program, Not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
Thinking credit card rewards are a scam is a misunderstanding of what they are. They are not a “get-rich-quick” scheme; they are a simple rebate program funded by merchants. Every time you swipe a card, the store pays a fee to the bank. The bank then gives you a small piece of that fee back as a “reward” to incentivize you to use their card. As long as you play by the one simple rule—pay your bill in full to avoid interest—it’s not a scam. It’s just you claiming a rebate that you are entitled to.
I wish I knew that I could transfer points between different hotel programs in some cases.
The Secret Back-Alley Trading Post
I used to think all my hotel points were stuck in their own separate silos, unable to mix. I wish I had known about the secret trading alleys. For example, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt, which is a fantastic deal. But you can also sometimes transfer points from a program like Marriott to an airline, and then from that airline to a different hotel. It’s a complex world of back-alley trades, but knowing these hidden pathways can help you move your points from a low-value program to a high-value one.
99% of people don’t take into account the taxes and fees on award tickets when planning a trip.
The “Free” Prize That Isn’t Actually Free
You win a prize on a game show: a “free” car! You’re ecstatic. Then they hand you a bill for the taxes, title, and license fees, which can be thousands of dollars. An award ticket is the same. The “fare” is free, but you are still responsible for paying the government taxes and airport fees. On a domestic flight, this might only be $5.60. But on an international flight, especially to a place like London, these fees can be hundreds of dollars. You have to budget for this “tax on free” to avoid a nasty surprise.
This one small action of linking your credit card to airline and hotel dining programs will earn you effortless miles.
Turning on the Autopilot for Earning Points
Airline and hotel dining programs are the ultimate “set it and forget it” tool for earning extra rewards. You take five minutes, one time, to link your credit cards to the program. That’s it. From that moment on, anytime you eat at a participating restaurant, bar, or coffee shop, you will automatically earn a bonus pile of miles on top of the rewards your credit card already gives you. It’s like turning on an autopilot system that silently collects extra points for you in the background of your life.
Use a card with a “fourth night free” benefit on award stays to significantly stretch your points, not just booking three nights.
The “Buy Three, Get One Free” Sale on Hotel Nights
Some hotel programs have an incredible, built-in sale: when you book a stay using points, you get the fourth or fifth night for free. This is a massive discount. If you were planning a three-night getaway, you’re like a shopper who is leaving the store just before the big sale starts. By simply extending your trip by one more night, you can often get a 25% discount on the entire stay. It’s a powerful sweet spot that allows you to get a much longer vacation for the exact same number of points.
Stop redeeming your points for experiences that you could easily pay for with cash.
Using a Golden Ticket to Buy a Candy Bar
Your rewards points are like a “golden ticket” that can get you access to incredible, otherwise unaffordable experiences, like a lie-flat seat on a 15-hour flight. The rewards portal might also offer you the chance to use that same golden ticket to buy a regular candy bar—like a gift card or a domestic flight that only costs $100. Don’t waste the magic of your golden ticket on something you could have easily bought with the change in your pocket. Save it for the once-in-a-lifetime trip to the chocolate factory.
Stop being intimidated by the idea of transferring points. It’s usually a simple, instant process.
Sending an Email, Not Mailing a Package
People hear “transfer points” and imagine a slow, complicated process like packing up a fragile box, taking it to the post office, and waiting a week for it to arrive. It’s not like that at all. In most cases, transferring points from a bank like Chase or Amex to an airline or hotel partner is as simple and fast as sending an email. You log in, choose how many you want to send, and click “submit.” The points often appear in your other account instantly. It’s a digital, seamless process.
The #1 secret for maximizing cashback is to use a combination of cards with different bonus categories.
Building a Team of Specialists
To maximize cashback, you need to think like a general manager building a sports team. You don’t want a team full of decent all-around players. You want a team of specialists. You get one player who is an absolute superstar at “groceries” (a card that earns 6% back). You get another who is the best in the league at “dining out” (4% back). Then you get a reliable utility player for everything else (a 2% card). By putting the right specialist on the field for every purchase, your team will score far more points than any single card could.
I’m just going to say it: It’s okay to redeem your points for a statement credit if you really need the money.
It’s Your Money, and You Can Spend It How You Want
The points-and-miles gurus will tell you that redeeming for cash back is a cardinal sin. They’re not always right. Your points are your money. If you’re in a tight spot and a $200 statement credit would help you pay your bills and avoid debt, that is an excellent use of your points. A “mathematically optimal” redemption that you can’t actually use is worthless. A “suboptimal” redemption that helps you sleep better at night is priceless. Don’t let anyone shame you for using your rewards in the way that best serves your life.
The reason you’re not earning as many rewards as you could be is that you’re using the wrong card for the wrong purchase.
Using a Wrench to Hammer a Nail
You have a toolbox with a great hammer and a great wrench. But for some reason, every time you need to hammer in a nail, you keep using the wrench. And when you need to tighten a bolt, you use the hammer. You’re making the job much harder and less effective. This is what you’re doing when you use your travel card at the grocery store and your grocery card for your flights. You have the right tools, but you’re not matching them to the right job, leaving a huge amount of value on the table.
If you’re still not using a mobile wallet to pay, you might be missing out on exclusive bonus offers.
The Secret Handshake for Extra Discounts
Mobile wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay are more than just a convenient way to pay. They are increasingly becoming a secret handshake for exclusive bonus offers. Banks and merchants will often run promotions like “Get 10% back on your next three purchases when you use Google Pay.” These offers are only available to people using that specific payment method. By not having it set up, you’re missing out on a whole category of targeted discounts that are invisible to the traditional card-swipers.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you should always use the same credit card for everything.
The “One-Size-Fits-All” Shirt That Doesn’t Actually Fit
The idea that you should have one credit card for everything is like believing in a magical “one-size-fits-all” shirt. It sounds simple and convenient, but in reality, it doesn’t fit anyone particularly well. A single card will be too tight in some situations (giving you a low rewards rate on groceries) and too loose in others (lacking travel benefits). A small, curated wardrobe of 2-3 specialized cards will always fit your financial life better, ensuring you’re always comfortable and looking sharp.
I wish I knew about the value of companion passes offered by some airline credit cards.
The Ultimate “Buy One, Get One Free” Coupon
For years, my wife and I paid for two separate plane tickets every time we flew. I wish I had known about the airline companion pass. It’s the most powerful “buy one, get one free” coupon in the travel world. With a pass like the one from Southwest Airlines, every single time you buy a ticket with cash or points, your designated companion gets to fly with you for just the cost of taxes. It’s a benefit that can literally save you thousands of dollars a year, effectively cutting your family’s flight budget in half.
99% of people who earn a sign-up bonus don’t have a plan for how they’re going to use the points.
Winning the Lottery and Leaving the Ticket in Your Pocket
Earning a big, 60,000-point sign-up bonus is like winning a small lottery. It feels amazing. The mistake most people make is they take that winning ticket, shove it in a drawer, and forget about it. Points are a currency that loses value over time. Before you even apply for the card, you should have a goal in mind: “This bonus is going to be my flight to my friend’s wedding,” or “This will cover our hotel for our anniversary trip.” Having a plan ensures that your winnings get cashed in, not lost.
This one small habit of checking for Amex Offers or Chase Offers before you shop will save you hundreds of dollars.
Clipping Digital Coupons Before You Go to the Store
Before you go to the grocery store, you might flip through the weekly circular to see what’s on sale. Amex Offers and Chase Offers are the digital version of that circular, but for dozens of stores you already shop at. Before you buy something online or go out to dinner, take 30 seconds to scroll through the offers in your banking app. You can often find a deal like “Get $20 back when you spend $50 at this restaurant.” It’s like finding a high-value coupon you didn’t know existed, saving you significant money with just a single click.
Use a business credit card to earn rewards on your business expenses, not your personal card.
Don’t Mix Your Work Lunch with Your Family Dinner
Using your personal credit card for your business expenses is like throwing your business receipts into the same shoebox as your family’s grocery receipts. Come tax time, it’s a nightmare to sort out. A dedicated business credit card is a separate, clean shoebox. It keeps all your business spending neatly organized in one place, making accounting and tax deductions incredibly simple. Plus, it helps you build your business’s credit history, which is crucial for future growth.
Stop thinking that you need to be an expert to get great value from your rewards.
You Don’t Need to Be a Mechanic to Drive a Car
You don’t need to know how to rebuild an engine to get great value from driving a car. You just need to know how to put gas in it, check the oil, and follow the speed limit. The same is true for credit card rewards. You don’t need to be a “guru” who understands complex award charts. You just need to learn the basics: use a card with a grocery bonus at the grocery store and pay your bill on time. Mastering those simple actions will get you 90% of the possible value.
Stop hoarding your Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Do learn about their valuable transfer partners.
The Most Powerful Key in Your Wallet
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are like a skeleton key. Hoarding them and only using them in Chase’s travel portal is like using that powerful key to only open your own front door. It works, but you’re wasting its magic. The real power comes when you learn that this key can also open the doors to partners like Hyatt hotels and United Airlines. By transferring your points behind these doors, you can unlock a world of value—like luxury hotel rooms and international business-class flights—that is far more valuable than your own front porch.
The #1 tip for getting the most out of your hotel points is to book “Points + Cash” stays.
The Co-Pay for Your Hotel Room
Sometimes you find the perfect hotel, but you don’t have quite enough points to book it. A “Points + Cash” option is like the co-pay at a doctor’s office. It allows you to use the points you do have to cover the majority of the cost, and then pay a small, manageable cash portion to cover the rest. This is a fantastic way to stretch your points further and book stays you wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, giving you the best of both worlds.
I’m just going to say it: Sometimes, paying cash for a flight and earning miles is a better deal than redeeming miles.
Knowing When to Fold ‘Em in a Poker Game
Knowing when to use your points is like playing poker. Sometimes, the smart move is to go all-in. But other times, the smart move is to fold and save your chips for a better hand. If a flight is really cheap—say, a $150 round-trip ticket—spending 25,000 miles on it is a terrible deal. That’s a “bad hand.” In that case, the savvy player pays the cash, earns miles on the flight, and saves their valuable point “chips” for a future hand where they can get a much better return, like on an expensive international trip.
The reason you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the different rewards programs is that you’re trying to do too much at once.
Learning to Cook One Dish at a Time
Trying to master five different airline programs and three hotel programs all at once is like a brand-new cook trying to prepare a seven-course gourmet meal on their first day. You’re going to get overwhelmed and burn the kitchen down. The key is to start simple. Pick one flexible, easy-to-use program, like Chase Ultimate Rewards. Learn how it works. Master that one “dish.” Once you’re comfortable, you can slowly start to add another program to your “cookbook.”
If you’re still not using a card that rewards you for your transit spending, you’re missing out on your daily commute.
Getting Paid to Go to Work
Your daily commute—whether it’s by subway, train, bus, or Uber—is a necessary and repetitive expense. Paying for it with a regular card is just part of the grind. Using a card with a transit bonus category is like your boss giving you a small bonus every single day just for showing up. It turns one of the most mundane parts of your budget into a consistent and effortless rewards-earning machine, giving you a little something back for all those hours spent getting to and from work.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need to travel to get value from a travel rewards card.
The Cookbook That Comes with a Free Vacation
Many of the best “travel” cards are also the best cards for everyday spending. A card might offer 3x points on dining and groceries, which you use all year long. Think of it like buying an amazing cookbook that helps you make delicious meals every single night. As a free bonus, just for buying the cookbook, the author also gives you a voucher for a free vacation. You get immense daily value from the “recipes” (the bonus categories), and the travel perks are just the incredible bonus.
I wish I knew that some credit cards offer a “refer-a-friend” bonus that can be very lucrative.
The Easiest Side Hustle You’ll Ever Have
I used to think the only way to earn points was by spending money. I wish I had known about referral bonuses sooner. Once you have a card, the bank gives you a special link. If you share that link with a friend and they get approved, the bank pays you a finder’s fee, often 10,000 points or more. It’s like being a freelance recruiter for a product you already use. It requires almost no effort and can be one of the single fastest ways to earn a huge pile of points.
99% of people don’t know that they can sometimes get a better deal by booking travel through their credit card’s portal.
The “Members Only” Discount Rack
Most people think a credit card travel portal is just a simple booking tool. But sometimes, it’s like a members-only outlet store. Because the banks have special relationships with hotels and airlines, they can sometimes offer discounted, “insider” pricing that isn’t available to the general public on Google Flights. It doesn’t happen every time, but before you book any trip, it’s always worth taking 30 seconds to check the price in your card’s portal. You might discover a secret sale you didn’t know existed.
This one small action of reading one “points and miles” blog a week will dramatically increase your rewards knowledge.
The 15-Minute Weekly Workout for Your Brain
You don’t need to spend hours a day studying to become a rewards expert. It’s like fitness; you don’t need to train for the Olympics. Just one 15-minute “workout” a week is enough to get you in great shape. Pick one good, easy-to-read blog about credit card rewards. Read one article while you drink your coffee. This small, consistent habit will keep you up to date on the best new offers and strategies, and over a few months, you’ll be amazed at how much your knowledge and your point balances have grown.
Use a tool like TPG’s valuation to understand what your points and miles are worth, not just guessing.
The Zillow of Your Points Portfolio
You wouldn’t sell your house without first checking Zillow or getting an appraisal to see what it’s worth. Your points and miles are a financial asset, just like your house. You shouldn’t spend them without knowing their value. Websites like The Points Guy (TPG) publish monthly valuations that act as the “Zillow estimate” for your rewards. It tells you that a Chase point is worth about 2 cents while a Hilton point is worth about 0.6 cents. This simple check helps you understand your portfolio and make smarter “selling” decisions.
Stop letting the fear of an annual fee prevent you from getting a card with amazing benefits.
The Cover Charge for the All-Inclusive Party
A credit card with an annual fee is like a party with a cover charge at the door. Your first instinct is to avoid it because the party next door is free. But what if the “free” party has a cash bar, while the party with the cover charge has an open bar, a gourmet buffet, and live music? You have to do the math. Often, the value of the “free drinks and food” (the card’s benefits and credits) is worth far more than the price of admission, making it a much better deal than the “free” party.
Stop thinking that your rewards are safe; credit card companies can devalue them at any time.
Your Points Are a Currency, Not a Savings Account
Your rewards points are not like money in a government-insured savings account. They are more like a foreign currency, and the “government” that controls it is the airline or bank. At any moment, with no warning, they can decide to devalue their currency by printing more of it or by charging more points for the same flight. This means the 100,000 points you’re hoarding today might only buy half of what they do now in two years. This is why the smartest players follow an “earn and burn” strategy.
The #1 secret for earning rewards on rent is to use a service that charges a low enough fee to make it worthwhile.
Building a Toll Road to a Pot of Gold
Paying rent is like having a giant pot of potential rewards that’s completely disconnected from the highway. A rent payment service is a toll road that connects you to it. The secret is that the toll has to be less than the value of the gold. If you’re trying to earn a
750sign−upbonus,payinga3750 sign-up bonus, paying a 3% fee (750sign−upbonus,payinga3
60 on a $2,000 rent payment) to use that toll road is an incredible deal. You are paying a small, calculated price to access a much larger reward.
I’m just going to say it: The best reward you can get from a credit card is a good credit score.
The Key That Unlocks the Entire Financial Castle
People get so focused on earning points and miles, which are like the beautiful furniture and art inside a castle. But they forget that none of it matters if you can’t get inside the castle in the first place. A good credit score is the master key. It’s the ultimate reward because it unlocks everything else: low-interest mortgages, affordable car loans, and access to the very best rewards cards. The cashback and free flights are wonderful, but they are secondary to the main prize: a lifetime of financial opportunities.
The reason you’re not getting targeted for retention offers is that you’re not spending enough on the card.
The Restaurant That Doesn’t Know You’re a Regular
A retention offer is a special treat a business gives to its best, most loyal customers to keep them from leaving. If you only use your credit card once or twice a year, you’re not a regular. You’re like a customer who only comes in for a free glass of water. When you threaten to leave, the restaurant owner will just shrug. To get the “Please don’t go, here’s a free dessert!” treatment, you need to show the bank that you are a valuable, consistent customer who they would be sad to lose.
If you’re still redeeming your points for merchandise, you’re essentially getting a 50% discount on a highly inflated price.
The Carnival Game That’s Rigged Against You
Redeeming points for merchandise is like playing a carnival game. The giant teddy bear prize looks amazing. What you don’t realize is that the carnival bought that bear for $20, but they’ve priced it at a value of $200 in game tickets. So when you “win” and trade in your hard-earned tickets, you feel like you got a $200 prize, but you really just got a $20 stuffed animal. You’re always better off taking the cash value of your tickets and buying the same bear at a regular store.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you should cancel a card after you get the sign-up bonus.
Demolishing the First Floor of a Skyscraper After You Build It
Your oldest credit cards are the foundation of your credit score’s history. Getting a new card for a bonus is like building the first floor of a new skyscraper. It’s great. But if you then cancel that card a year later, it’s like demolishing that floor. You got a short-term benefit, but you’ve damaged the long-term structure of your credit age. It’s often better to “downgrade” the card to a no-annual-fee version. This preserves the “floor” and its history, letting you continue to build your skyscraper taller.
I wish I knew that I could use my points to book travel for my family and friends, not just myself.
Your Points Are a Gift Card, Not a Personal ID
I used to think my airline miles were like a driver’s license—they had my name on them and could only be used by me. That’s not true at all. Your points are like a gift card. You are the owner of the gift card, but you can walk into the store and use it to buy a gift for anyone you want. You can log in to your airline account and book a ticket for your parents, your sibling, or your best friend. It’s a wonderful way to share the rewards you’ve earned.
99% of people with a cashback card don’t realize they could be earning more with a travel rewards card.
The Good Path vs. The Great Path
A simple cashback card is a good, straight, paved path. It will reliably get you 2% of the way to your destination. It’s easy and safe. A travel rewards card is a slightly more challenging hiking trail that goes up a mountain. It requires a little more effort and knowledge to navigate. But if you’re willing to learn the trail, the view from the top is spectacular. You can often achieve a value of 4% or 5% back, reaching a destination that is twice as beautiful as the one at the end of the simple paved path.
This one small habit of setting a goal for your rewards will keep you motivated to earn more.
The Finish Line in a Marathon
Earning rewards without a goal is like running a marathon with no finish line in sight. You just keep running, but you don’t know why, and you quickly get tired and lose motivation. But if you have a clear goal—a picture of the finish line—it changes everything. “I am saving up 50,000 points to fly to my sister’s wedding in September.” This specific, tangible goal gives every purchase a purpose. You’re not just buying groceries; you’re taking another step closer to that finish line.
Use a combination of credit card rewards and loyalty program status to unlock amazing travel experiences, not just one or the other.
The Lock and the Key
Credit card points are the key. They can unlock the door to a free flight or a free hotel room. Hotel or airline elite status is the secret password you whisper after you open the door. It’s what gets you the upgrade to the suite with the ocean view, the free breakfast, or the early check-in. The true masters of travel hacking know that you need both. You use the powerful “key” of your points to open the door, and the special “password” of your status to get the full VIP experience.