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Hotels.com exemplifies the importance of redeemable intervals
Affiliate bloggers (and Secretaries of Transportation) love assigning a dollar value to miles and points, which makes it easy for them to compare the value of signup bonuses acro..
Hilarious, humiliating admission by Bilt Rewards
I woke up this morning and, compulsively reaching for my phone, saw a tweet so embarrassing I had to read it 3 times to make sure I understood it correctly.
Free and discounted “micromobility” services
Become a Patron!One of the most bizarre things to emerge from the era of free money were the so-called “micromobility” companies, which have littered the streets and sidewalks of..
Quick hits: what's on my mind in June 2022
It’s been a pretty slow month in the travel hacking world, and nothing’s jumped out at me so far in terms of killer deals that needed to be passed along
How to think about stockpiling Series I savings bonds
Become a Patron!A reader whose financial savvy I highly value surprised me the other day by saying that he’d been maximizing his Series I Savings Bond purchases for many years.
Preserving your eligibility for paid family and medical leave
Become a Patron!I’ve covered extensively my experience using the District of Columbia’s paid family and medical leave program to take time off to care for a family member. Since I
Double booking into the same Delta award space
So-called “fare buckets” are a curious feature of the airline ecosystem. For the overwhelming majority of flyers, even frequent travelers, the wide-ranging alphabet of letters, u..
More point transfer hijinx and England trip finally booked
Last month I wrote about my experience combining Chase Ultimate Rewards points between my partner’s non-flexible Freedom account and my own flexible Ink Plus account. In order to..
PSA: Solution to eClaimsLine “Unable to upload document” error
eClaimsLine.com, aka Card Benefit Services, is used by several credit cards from Chase, Capital One, and others, to service insurance claims, including Trip Delay. When you file..
Uruguay, Argentina and Tahiti w/Lillian: Checking In Episode 14
Milenomics community member Lillian joins me to talk about her trip to Uruguay, Argentina, Tahiti and beyond. I’d recommend taking a look at Google…
Schwab’s forthcoming direct indexing platform might be worth a look for the merely affluent
Become a Patron!All the way back in 2020 I offered some speculative predictions about the future of so-called “direct indexing.” This is the logical end point of the proposition,..
Episode 60: Jetblue News, Marriott Goes Dynamic and a New Wells Fargo Mastercard
Too much news for our Patreon Podcast this week, so we broke the following out into this No Annual Fee Episode. Enjoy! 0:26 JetBlue…
Monitoring prices and rebooking can be one of the highest-return plays
For experienced travel hackers, the game can sometimes feel a bit mechanical: you earn the most valuable points you can at the lowest cost you can, and periodically re-evaluate w..
If supply and the rate of profit were fixed, then all wage increases would be inflationary (they’re not)
Become a Patron!The other day I listened to a podcast with Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and “Just Asking Questions About The Biological Basis Of Female Intelligence” ..
Is this is the best way to get to England?
Like a lot of people, I’ve been missing international travel for the past few years, but without any actual need to travel abroad I haven’t been terribly anxious about it,
Combining Ultimate Rewards points, transferring Hyatt points, and Hyatt booking follies
Today’s post is a bit of an information dump, but it combines a number of issues I’ve been working through to get my trips booked for this spring and summer
My successful Economic Injury Disaster Loan modification
Become a Patron!Economic Injury Disaster Loans, first introduced by the 2020 CARES Act, are a special program of the Small Business Administration designed to reach the smallest ..
Inflation-proofing your life
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Life is lived in nominal dollarsI wrote last year about the fuzzy thinking I saw surrounding the topic of inflation. Inflation, properly understood, is an econom..
The even newer broadband discount
Become a Patron!Today’s topic is a little bit of a weird one, but it’s valuable and widely-available enough that I wanted to make sure readers were aware of it.A lot
On the Justice of Squeaking Wheels: made whole by filling out an automated survey
Anybody who knows me knows, the only thing I hate more than driving is renting cars. It combines all the worst features of the travel experience: you’re charged a constantly
When did content creators get to be such big whiny babies?
I have a very boring origin story as a blogger: when I was in grad school, I got into travel hacking. After travel hacking for a few months, I realized
What you need to know about the Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond food and beverage credits
Back in December Hilton Honors announced an extension and increase of the daily food and beverage credit Gold and Diamond elites receive at their “full service” and “lifestyle” b..
My paid family leave journey: my leave, payments, and surprise redetermination
This is the third and final (for now) entry in my series about navigating the District of Columbia’s universal paid family and medical leave program. You can find the first