Featured
CategoryIt’s all about the memories
When I was in college, I had the chance to take a road trip with my buddies across the United States. We made the grave mistake of stopping by Jamba
Brandon Asks: How Can I Pay Bills with a Credit Card?
We’re back with a Brandon asks post today on a topic that I’m sure many of you can relate to. Today’s Brandon Asks question comes from reader Phil, who writes:
Index construction is the most important, least understood part of the indexing revolution
Modestly improved investor education and extensive marketing have made investors today more conscious of the costs of their investment decisions, and helped promote the use of in..
More digging under the hood of Choice Privileges
The difficult thing about writing about Choice Privileges is that they have so many properties it can be tough to know precisely where to focus: the 6,000-point Quality Inn in
Complete Map of Club Carlson Hotels
Updated: Aug 23, 2018
This is every Club Carlson hotel viewable by category. Enjoy.
(Click in the top right corner for full screen)
Category 1 = 9,000 points
Category 2 = 15,0..
A positive change to Choice Privileges
A few years back I went on a bit of a kick about Choice Privileges, the loyalty program of Choice Hotels International. My conclusion was that while the program wasn’t
Vanguard commission-free ETF trading is here
I wrote last month about Vanguard’s announcement of commission-free ETF trading coming “in August.” Well, it’s August, and commission-free ETF trading is here!
Which ETF’s are co..
The stock buyback “controversy” is everything wrong with the finance sector in a nutshell
In the wake of the Republican smash-and-grab tax heist of 2017, many American corporations have had to decide what to do with their freshly repatriated profits and newly distende..
Chase IHG Free night – WAY more availability than Reward nights
I always assumed room availability for the Chase free night certificate and IHG’s Reward/points are the same. Turns out they aren’t. In fact, there can be WAY more availability f..
So-called “personal finance education” is a distraction
About a year or so ago I noticed a cliche spreading among a certain set of prominent investors and money managers: that a key obstacle to success among young people
Did Barclaycard drop Arrival Plus travel statement credit redemptions back down to $25?
Back in November, 2015, Barclaycard devalued their Arrival Plus card in two ways:they lowered the rebate on points redeemed for travel statement credits from 10% to 5%;and they r..
More great Atlantic City status match promotions (up to 6 free nights?)
All the way back in November, 2016, I took advantage of an Atlantic City Borgata promotion for free slot play and made a few hundred dollars during a weekend trip
How family friendly is Southwest, really?
So I finally tried out Southwest (my impressions here). Ironically, although Southwest gets labeled by many as one of the most “family friendly” airlines, I traveled without mine..
Learning when to let go of free
One of the hardest lessons to learn in travel hacking is knowing when to let go of a trip, particularly when it is ‘free’.Recently, we took another gamble on Vegas.
Marco Rubio wants to end retirement security for you and everyone you know and love
It’s often pointed out that Americans are the only people in the developed world who don’t have access to guaranteed paid leave from their jobs to care for themselves and
Why I like tax-free internal compounding, and why you might (and might not)
Last month I wrote about a range of available non-retirement investment accounts and broke down some advantages and disadvantages of each. When it came to 529 college savings acc..
If I were starting a travel hacking blog today
I started this blog (and wrote my always-soon-to-be-bestselling e-book) because I was frustrated at the state of the travel hacking blogosphere. A tiny amount of actual informati..
Accepting Defeat – ResellingDO for Beginners cancelled
It is with great sadness that I am accepting defeat for ResellingDO for Beginners.
What goes into hosting a ResellingDO
There is a lot of time that goes into selecting venues, w..
Stupid or liar: why does Ben Schlappig keep telling his readers things that aren't true?
I’d like to briefly enter five pieces of evidence into the record.On April 2, 2018, Ben Schlappig wrote for the first time about about Hyatt’s “Hyatt Prive” travel agent partners..
Six things families need to know about Disney’s Toy Story Land
Disney invited the Traveling Mom and Traveling Dad crew down to Toy Story Land’s grand opening at the end of June, so I got to check out the latest addition
Getting car rental rates at Autoslash prices without giving up the benefits of booking direct
If you’ve been around miles and points travel at all, you are probably familiar with Autoslash. It’s an awesome tool for finding the best publicly available car rental rates, and
How looking at reservations in isolation makes me overpay for travel
There is a mistake I consistently make in my travel hacking practice: I compare every travel purchase I make to its lowest-cost alternative in isolation. For example, take an air..
Using Hotel Points for Europe in September? Book Early
For the 2nd year in a row, I’m going to Europe the 1st week in September. The crowd is a bit smaller and temperature has gotten a bit cooler. However, also for the 2nd year in ..