Whats in your wallet?
Lets kick off this Blog with a discussion about (What’s in
your wallet?)…….Credit Card rewards are incredibly important to low cost travel
and we need to make sure you are getting everything you can out of the cards in
your wallet! I will discuss with you what I have learned from watching and
reading about the various cards and what I carry. Nothing we discuss is meant
to be an absolute, take the information and mold it for your own use.
First, Lets discuss my weapons of choice. I carry the
Capital One Venture X and the Non-Branded American Express Gold Card. There are
very specific reasons for each of these cards.
The Capital One Venture X card awards 2 points for
every dollar spent. It has bonus earnings if you book through their portal of
10 points per dollar on Hotels and Rental Cars and 5 points per dollar on
flights. There is no additional cost for authorized users and the sign-up bonus
averages 75,000 miles. What this means
is that by simply adding this card to your wallet and achieving the initial
spend which is typically about $4000 in three months. You will have 87,000
miles three months from now or at minimum rewards value {Face Value} we will
discuss increasing the value later, a free $870 dollar flight anywhere at
anytime with no restrictions.
I no longer use cash for anything. My wife and I learned
that we spend about $100,000 a year on living expenses which equates to 200,000
miles per year or basically at face value $2000 in airfare. We use the card to
pay everything from electric bill to groceries to gas and snacks. If they take
a card, they get a card. By doing this I am guaranteed free flights on my
annual big vacation. Occasionally when I pay something large like property
taxes, there is a fee attached. I accept the fee as a cost of doing business
and consider it an investment in my next trip.
The Capital One Venture X carries an annual fee of $395
dollars. Some may feel this is a steep fee. If you love to travel the card pays
for itself a couple time over. For this $395 annual fee you receive 10,000
bonus miles every year on your anniversary date, a $300 travel portal credit
every year on your anniversary date. A Priority Pass airport lounge membership card
$99. Access to all Capital One airport lounges and one Global Entry or TSA Pre
Check per year a value of $100. You also receive all other Visa Infinite
benefits like rental car insurance, product warranties, cell phone coverage……etc.
These alone have already exceeded the annual fee.
The Capital One Venture X is a traveler’s card and if you do
not intend to travel, you can survive with a lesser product.
If you want a Capital One Venture X, please follow this link……
My second wallet weapon, relatively recently acquired is the
American Express Gold Card. This card carries and annual fee of $250. If
you are not familiar with Amex programs, they have monthly rewards you can opt
into to make up for the annual fee. For example, most recently I received and
offer for $35 off of my FUBO TV streaming bill if I paid it with my Amex and this
was a three month offer totaling a saving for me of $105 in just one offer. The
Gold card also offers a monthly $10 Uber credit and some dining credits. I have
already received $270 in discounts completely offsetting my annual fee.
I never felt like I needed an Amex until I learned about the
incredible things, I can do with it in the area of travel rewards.
I will not lay claim to any of these but I will certainly
share them. The Amex Gold card receives 4X rewards points on all groceries and
dining out. Guess what my two largest monthly expenses are? I have also figured
out that while shopping at Kroger, I can buy my gift cards for other non
grocery items and receive 4x rewards for example I purchased $2000 in Airbnb
gift cards and received 8000 rewards points for an expense I was already going
to have on my most recent trip. Pretty incredible huh??????
I also quickly learned that I could sign up for a Rakuten
account and attach my Amex Gold. I could then choose to receive membership
rewards point instead of cash back and the rewards just started rolling in!!!!
I don’t even have to pay with the Amex! I pay with the Capital One Venture X
receiving 2 miles per dollar and then get rewarded with Amex membership rewards
points !!!! Its crazy.
Rakuten often offers large rewards for targeted offers and I
take advantage of as many as I can. Recently, there was an offer from Alliant
Credit union to open a 12 month CD at 5.35 APR for $1000 and receive $100 in Membership
reward points on Rakuten. I did it immediately, and earned 10,000 points at
zero cost to me.
I opened my Amex Gold in December of 2023 with a
90,000 point sign up bonus, I currently have 190,000 miles on the card and
75,000 on the Capital One Venture X because I just used it for tickets
to Europe. I just got home and the miles for my next trip are already
available.
One of the pitfalls to avoid is branded Amex cards and by that,
I mean don’t get the Delta Amex, or the Hilton Amex. Stick to the Non-Branded
Amex Gold or Platinum. The rewards earned on a branded card are not as valuable
outside of the brand you chose. The non-branded rewards points can still be
transferred at a higher value to any of those partners.
The Amex Platinum is a good card but if you’re like me at
all, the value is not nearly as high. The annual fee for Amex Platinum is $795
plus $195 for any additional authorized users. It does not ear the multipliers
on groceries and dining that the Gold card does. It does however get you access
to the Delta Lounges and the American Express lounges in most major airports. I
have been satisfied with the Priority Pass access I get with my Capital One
Venture X and cannot justify that annual fee in my budget.
If you would like to acquire and Amex Gold [please
use the link below…..
Apply for an American Express Card with this link. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and your friend could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply.
If you would like to take advantage of the Rakuten rewards
please use this link…..
www.rakuten.com/r/DNLCOR10?eeid=28187
In this article we have started the discussion on how to
travel low cost, I have to admit I learned a lot of this in a group called
JGOOT or Just Get Out of Town. If you want to continue learning these tricks stay
tuned to the blog but in the meantime, I highly recommend you read this book and
follow at least the free groups on Facebook. It’s a great community of traveling
people and they help you learn what works and what doesn’t.
Book:
https://www.jgoot.com/tr/2/3961435/7593048574/23570411/1664080977e6e3032e2adaddfb79d2a8312092a38
Free Videos:
https://www.jgoot.com/tr/2/3961435/7593048574/23570412/1664080977e6e3032e2adaddfb79d2a8312092a38
I think its only fair to warn you, this system is addicting
and once you read the book and take a 14 day European vacation you never
thought possible……you are addicted!!!!!!
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