I’ve happily moved away from almost all manufactured spend, but recently found myself with a somewhat pressing need to meet some hefty minimums. I learned some good lessons here, that perhaps will help. One thing I’ll suggest is that if you’re currently happy with doing giftcards/money orders or have some other gigs running, it might […]
Income is Income
Following up on my troublesome predicament regarding the $5,200 upgrade, I’ve been reflecting on ‘how’ I could pay for this, if I were to…. I particularly enjoy the way that my brain wants me to believe something, and the effect that has on decision making.After writing the original post, I wandered to the mailbox, pondering […]
A guide to pre purchasing credit at discount rates
There’s an offer about to end for the 10x Ultimate Rewards on the Chase Freedom card, which includes Amazon this quarter. Until 12/31 spend up to $1500 should earn 10x ultimate rewards you’ll need a premium card like the CSP or Ink to make them transferable. Load up on credit here (I believe this link […]
The Golden Rule of Points and Miles
If there is one thing I could share with anyone interested in points and miles, from novice to ‘expert’ it is this: valuation is subjective.The moment you buy into other people’s BS about value you lose all sense of reality, and this will snowball into making more and more bad decisions where points and miles are […]
0% Balance Transfers, Saving vs Refinance
We’ve been having some great discussions on The Forum recently. One that came up was ‘What to do with the cash from a 0% Balance Transfer’. I thought it was post worthy as a concept. Firstly we need a quick caveat that the topics in this post contain a lot of inherent risk, and many people […]
Going from a Ten Dollar Gig to a Thousand Dollar Gig
Last night I had the audacity to scoff at the people on twitter who were all excited about this ticketmaster deal out there. The deal: $10 rebate when you buy something at Ticketmaster. The angle: $0.50 tickets, the scale, lots of cards. I thought it was a waste of time, but others are out there […]
My first ever Travel (self) Insurance claim
Unlike many codswallop’s out there, I don’t think you should take out travel insurance. Travel insurance is for your granny, who books her coach trips on Greyhound, via fax machines. I self insure, and if you can do the same, I highly recommend it. People who tell you otherwise are either selling the stuff and […]
Currency Arbitrage Thoughts
I’ve been watching the rise of the USD against a number of currencies recently, and it has got me wondering about how to game it. My initial thoughts were that currency arbitrage must happen swiftly. And I think to an extent there is truth in that.Currency arbitrage, like all forms of arbitrage seeks to take […]
On Master Lists
I was reading a guest post on Doctor of Credit this morning regarding Master Lists of Gas Station rewards, written by Josh over at Frugal Hack Me. Both are very good sites, but I’ve been thinking about something to write today, and this one irked me. Before I go on, there’s a ton of work here, […]
Gift Card Economics – Everyone’s a winner!
A common question among the masses is, how can American Express pay you to buy gift cards? There are rebates that vary between 1-2.25% currently, and 4% or so have been seen in the recent past. That’s on top of Credit Card rebates. Let’s dive into some economics and see why they would do it, […]