👋 Hi Reader, Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here's a quick snapshot of what's included in today's newsletter:
As always, I hope you enjoy reading and please feel free to forward this to anyone who might enjoy it (if that's you, you can subscribe here). Thanks in advance :) -Chris 🛫 Travel, Points & Miles💳 The American Express® Gold Card RefreshAmex just updated the Gold Card, and in addition to changing some benefits, they've increased the annual fee from $250 to $325 (rates & fees). The main other changes are two new credits: a $7 monthly Dunkin’ Donuts credit and a $50 semi-annual credit at Resy restaurants (enrollment required). It retains the $10 monthly Uber and Dining credits, though they've swapped Shake Shack out for Five Guys on the dining credit. They've also capped the 4x points on purchases at restaurants to $50k a year. While I haven't been to a Dunkin' in years, we'll easily get the full $100 value at Resy restaurants and don't spend more than $50k/year on dining, so overall it's a net positive for us. Reminder that I keep all my favorite cards and the best bonuses on my Top Credit Cards and Offers page. 🛋️ New Airport Lounges + Free Olympics LoungeOne of the best perks of premium cards is lounge access, so I wanted to share some recent and upcoming lounge openings:
Also, if you're heading to Paris for the Olympics, a popular Blue Bank travel card* will get you access to the Visa lounge, which offers free food, drink and some meet-and-greet events with Olympic athletes! *For compliance reasons, we can’t include names of all cards/banks. 💺 Big Southwest Change: No More Open SeatingFor 50 years, Southwest has been known for it's open seating, but that's finally coming to an end. They're moving to assigned seating on all flights and will also be adding premium seating with extra legroom. These efforts are likely aimed at staying competitive in an industry where multiple airlines, including American Airlines, are experiencing plummeting profits. 🛫 ITA Airways Volare Elite Status Match OfferITA Airways is offering a status match for elite members of 19 frequent flyer programs until 8/19/24, with status valid through 12/31/2025. What’s interesting is that ITA is part of SkyTeam, so the higher elite tiers will get SkyTeam Elite Plus status (which gets you perks like priority access, extra bags and lounge access on Delta). And with ITA's future move to Star Alliance, you could end up with Star Alliance Gold status next year as well, and get similar perks flying United. 🛳️ How to Get Free CruisesThis super detailed step-by-step guide by Frequent Miler breaks down all the different ways you can get free cruises by gaming casino status matches through credit cards like the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card. It also includes a list of other matching benefits you can redeem like free hotel stays and $100 dinners. FoundersCard is another way to get free Caesar's Diamond status. 🤑 Latest Deals💸 New Bank BonusesOn last week’s episode, I shared how you can leverage bank bonuses (among other things) to maximize your savings and here are 2 new bonuses to help you do that:
💳 Best Card-Linked OffersHere are some interesting card-linked offers I found the past few weeks with expiration dates in parentheses. Amex
Blue Bank
Note: not all cardmembers will have all offers in their account but if you want to automate these offers, check out Cardpointers Pro with 30% off for subscribers! 🕵️ Great Finds⏰ 12 Tactics To Make Time EVERY DAYTime is a limited resource that we all want more of, so I was really excited to chat with my friends Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky about their 4-step framework (and a bunch of tactics) designed to help you actually create more time in your day for the things you care about.
🤯 Lifestyle Creep: A Myth?!Lifestyle creep, the phenomenon of increasing spending with rising income, is a buzzword we hear (and fear) a lot when it comes to personal finance. Nick Maggiulli recently analyzed Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data from 1999-2021 and found that there’s only a small percentage of households exhibiting significant lifestyle creep. So maybe it's not really as much of a concern as we all thought. 🎶 I Wanna Go Home by Eric D'AlessandroI came across this hilarious song on Instagram that is all too relatable for me. I hope it gives you a good laugh going into the weekend! ❗ Parting Reminder🏨 My Amazing Hilton Redemption + Offer Expiring 7/31I had previously shared that many SLH properties are now bookable with Hilton points and free nights, but until I did it myself last week, I didn't realize how incredible the opportunity is. From the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card we recently got and spent $15k on, we ended up with >130k points and 2 free night certificates, which we just used to book 3 nights in a suite at Cap Rocat that was selling for $2,900/night. So we made that welcome bonus worth almost $9k! I'm very excited to stay there and am seriously considering getting a second Hilton card before these free night offers expire on 7/31:
💬 Parting ThoughtsAs always, thanks so much for reading - I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to reply to this email with any thoughts, feedback or even if you just want to say hi! :) Chris |
Discover the latest and greatest hacks, deals and recommendations to upgrade and optimize your life, money and travel – all while spending less and saving more.
👋 Hi Reader, Happy Saturday! Here’s a preview of today’s newsletter: 💸 A simple 3-step approach to wealth and FU money 💳 New 100k point welcome offer 🌎 World's best points-bookable hotels 💳 Lots of great new card-linked offers 🏨 20% off Marriott hotels and resorts 🥤 My new favorite kitchen gadget and more! As always, I hope you enjoy reading and please forward this to someone who might enjoy it too! (And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here so you don't miss out on amazing deals in the...
👋 Hi Reader, Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here’s a quick sneak peek of what’s included in today’s newsletter: 💳 18 increased credit card offers 🏨 End of year IHG promos 💰 Latest brokerage & bank bonuses 💸 Q4 rotating credit card bonus categories 🥶 Up to $795 off a cold plunge 🔁 Current transfer bonuses and more! If you enjoyed reading, please feel free to forward this to someone who might too (and if that's you, make sure to subscribe here). Thanks so much! -Chris 🛫 Travel,...
👋 Hi Reader, Happy Saturday! Here's a sneak peek of today's newsletter: 💰 How we save $20k on a luxury Europe trip 🚨 Last call: Companion Pass for 2 years + 120k points 📱 Best iPhone 16 trade-in deal 🎉 Million mile giveaway! 🛒 Sam’s Club membership for just $15 🎁 Huge savings on gift cards! 🩺 Highest ROI $100 health test and more! As always, I hope you enjoy reading and please forward this to someone who might enjoy it too! And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here so you don't miss out...