GO SOMEWHERE - Colin Stroud

GO SOMEWHERE - Colin Stroud – Travel expert and advisor on how to best use your credit card points and airline miles Colin Stroud joins the AMR Team for a highly informative and entertaining travel related episode. In this episode you will learn...
GO SOMEWHERE - Colin Stroud – Travel expert and advisor on how to best use your
credit card points and airline miles Colin Stroud joins the AMR Team for a highly
informative and entertaining travel related episode. In this episode you will learn more
about why flexible bank cards are a favorite, should you use one credit card or many
cards to earn the most benefits, should you “buy points,” and what are arbitrage
opportunities? Chris and Kristen Boyd dig into these issues and more. You won’t want
to miss this episode if you are looking for money-saving tactics using your miles and
points!
To learn more about Colin Stroud, please visit his website:
https://www.gosomewhere.world/
For more information or to reach TEAM AMR, click the following link:
https://www.wealthenhancement.com/s/advisor-teams/amr
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Welcome to Something More with Chris Boyd.
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Chris Boyd is a certified financial planner, practitioner,
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and senior vice president and financial advisor at
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Wealth Enhancement Group, one of the nation's largest
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registered investment advisors.
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We call it Something More because we'd like
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to talk not only about those important dollar
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and cents issues, but also the quality of
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life issues that make the money matters matter.
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Here he is, your fulfillment facilitator, your partner
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in prosperity, advising clients on Cape Cod and
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across the country.
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Here's your host, Jay Christopher Boyd.
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Welcome, everybody.
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I'm Chris Boyd.
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I'm here with a full team of people.
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We're all excited for our next guest.
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I'm joined, of course, with Jeff Perry, our
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regular co-host here, as well as Ross
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Ball is with us, and Kristen Boyd, all
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of us from Wealth Enhancement, the AMR team.
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Thanks all of you for being here.
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Kristen is a rarity on our show, but
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she loves to travel, and who doesn't love
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to travel?
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And that's what our topic is about, go
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somewhere, as our guest has coined the phrase.
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And so our guest is Colin Strout.
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Colin, thank you so much for being with
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us.
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Yeah, thanks for having me.
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I'm super excited to talk travel, everyone's favorite
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subject.
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Everyone's favorite.
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Well, Kristen's especially, which is why I asked
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her to join us.
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Kristen, start us off talking about why is
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this the topic of choice?
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Hi, Colin.
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Really excited to hear what you have to
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say.
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When I turned 50, I declared it my
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decade of travel.
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I am very much interested in going somewhere,
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quote your website, so I would love to
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hear any tricks and tips that you could
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offer to get me to all the places.
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And who doesn't love to go?
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You're all about Europe.
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I do believe Europe is magical for sure,
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but I am certainly open.
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My life goal is to hit the seven
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continents.
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So any guidance to get me there at
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a lesser cost would be fabulous.
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Yeah, let's do it.
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So Colin, tell us a little bit about
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your services, your website, your tips and tricks.
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Yeah, all the tips and tricks.
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Yeah, for sure.
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Well, just to start, kind of general, I
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mean, I got into credit card points the
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same way that a lot of people do,
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which is like, travel just feels kind of
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expensive.
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I don't quite know how to afford that.
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And I was recently graduated from college, didn't
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have much money, new baby.
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I was like, oh, this, I don't know
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how I'm going to go anywhere.
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And so it just kind of went down
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that rabbit hole.
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And then I realized as I kind of
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started optimizing myself, so many people don't get
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this at all, or think they get it.
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And there's a whole nother level.
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There's a whole deeper layer of how this
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credit card points and travel rewards stuff works.
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And so I just kind of started sharing
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about it online on LinkedIn.
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And some people liked it.
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And, and then I was like, I wonder,
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you know, I'm helping people save so much
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money here, maybe I could charge them to
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help.
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And that's kind of how my business GoSomeWhere
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started.
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And so it's really just an education business.
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It's a consulting business.
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So people pay my consulting fee to get
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on a call with me and for me
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to talk to them for me to teach
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them how this stuff works, help them build
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a credit card strategy.
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And then I also do trip planning.
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So someone might come to me with 500
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,000 American Express points, you'd be shocked how
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many people have way more than that.
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Just this morning, I had three people message
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me with over a million points.
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So that may not be any of our
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listeners.
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But there are people all over the place,
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who are just sitting on these points.
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They might be business owners, or what I
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see a lot there.
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They're literally just points hoarders.
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They've been had they had the card since
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2005.
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And they haven't touched it.
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And it's kind of funny that people just
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don't use them because they don't understand them.
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So that's my goal is like, hey, let
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me help people understand how this point stuff
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works.
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It's confusing.
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Intentionally, you know, these banks do not do
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not make it easy to figure this stuff
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out.
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But I think for most people, just in
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a little bit of time, I can, I
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can, I can really make it easy for
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them.
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And like I said, I do the trip
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planning.
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So I'll just kind of do all the
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work for someone and I'll, they'll get on
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a call and I'll say, click this, click
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this, click this and, and help them book
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something get real easy.
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There's a million things we could talk about.
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But that's kind of like the general, how
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I'm here, why I'm here, how I got
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started in this.
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And I really, really enjoy I've got some
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really unlocked some crazy trips for people, which
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is super gratifying for me.
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Well, we're financial planners.
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And of course, people love to travel as
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one of their big life objectives.
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So this is I think, right on plan,
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you wanted to say something.
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I was going to ask, do you recommend
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having being dedicated to one particular card, spreading
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it around?
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Like, for example, we have, you know, our
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Amex, which is connected to Delta, we have
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a JetBlue card, we have a Hilton card.
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And when we go to pay for something,
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we go, well, which one should we use?
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Well, we haven't used the Hilton in a
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while.
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And you got that other one.
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The Chase one, the Sapphire one.
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So do you recommend being loyal to one
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card or, or spreading it out?
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You know?
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Yeah, that's, it's so case by case, that
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can be really hard.
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Like, what I think I've realized that some
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of these programs or cards are just really
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not that good.
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You kind of have to look into it
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and study it to see which ones are.
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But what I've noticed is that if you're
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trying to hyper optimize any of these programs,
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whether it's Hilton, JetBlue, fill in the blank,
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you can like, you know, there's, there's an
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opportunity with Hilton, for example, when you get
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their Aspire card, that really expensive one they
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have, you can earn, you can be earning
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34 points per dollar at Hilton properties, because
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you get this diamond status bonus plus the
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14 points per dollar you get, you just
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having the card.
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So there's all kinds of ways like that's
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just a fun example of like, 34 points
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per dollar spent is very good for someone
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who travels at Hilton a lot.
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But for some people like me, I'm not
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traveling for business.
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So having that card focusing on Hilton is
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pretty irrelevant, because I don't have a good
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way of earning.
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For most people.
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And I think this is a, I get
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this is a, this is like one of
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my biggest messages.
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For most people, I think these flexible currency
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cards make the most sense.
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When I say that, I mean, like you
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guys mentioned that Chase Sapphire preferred, you're not
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earning Hilton points with that card, you're not
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earning JetBlue miles or whatever they call them,
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you're earning Chase ultimate rewards points.
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Or for example, the Amex gold card, you're
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earning Amex membership rewards points or Capital One,
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you're earning Capital One venture miles.
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These are the proprietary currencies of the banks.
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And it sounds like why would I want?
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Like, what do I do with the Chase
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points that's not tied to the airline or
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hotel I want?
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Well, there's two ways to use them.
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One, there's a travel portal that looks just
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like Expedia or hotels.com or any kind
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of these any one of these third party
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agencies.
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And you can book travel through there, the
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value is okay.
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But where things get really crazy, and if
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anyone's, you know, dove into some points and
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miles blogs and YouTube videos, and you know,
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you see stuff on Instagram or whatever, or
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people like me talking about this stuff, the
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really crazy unlock is going to be having
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a bunch of bank points, like again, flexible
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bank points like that Chase card you guys
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have, or lots of people have that car
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Chase points, and then transferring them to one
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of maybe 15 to 18 different airline or
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hotel programs they have.
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And what happens sometimes not every time is
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there's this, there's this arbitrage opportunity, where the
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cash price of the product, a flight or
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hotel could be, let's say $1,000.
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But for whatever reason, the points price could
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be 20 or 30,000 points.
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So when you hear those numbers, think 200
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or 300 bucks worth of points for a
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$1,000 product.
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I'll just say this, like, there's a lot
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of that can get complicated to understand.
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But like, all you all people should know
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is that is possible.
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And people like me and my clients are
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getting deals like that every single day.
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So that's possible, then we really would not
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want to settle for, let's say, Delta SkyMiles,
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where you'll never get something like that with
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Delta SkyMiles, unless there's kind of a, I
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guess you shouldn't say never there's there's chances,
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but very rarely, with Delta, for example, you'll
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get that.
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Why?
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Because the points, Delta SkyMiles are dynamically priced.
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So as the cash price goes up, the
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points price goes up.
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We want to try and find opportunities, programs,
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things where the cash price can go all
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over the place up down, but the points
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price might stay the same.
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For example, programs that price based on distance,
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not on the cash price.
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So if we if we find stuff like
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that, there's these arbitrage opportunities where the points
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priced, I mean, the cash price can be
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way, way crazy high, like $5,000 for
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a business class flight.
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But the points price, I'm not kidding, could
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be 70,000.700 bucks worth of points
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00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:53,480
for a $5,000 flight.
263
00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:55,580
That is 100% a real thing that
264
00:08:55,580 --> 00:08:56,120
people get.
265
00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:57,600
And I think when I realized I was
266
00:08:57,600 --> 00:08:59,060
like, Oh my gosh, this is crazy.
267
00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,740
So the easiest way to unlock all that
268
00:09:01,740 --> 00:09:03,760
is going to be is going to be
269
00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,060
to start building up flexible bank points.
270
00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:08,200
It works great.
271
00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,180
Amex, Capital One, Chase would probably be my
272
00:09:10,180 --> 00:09:10,480
favorite.
273
00:09:10,900 --> 00:09:12,860
Citi and Wells Fargo also have programs.
274
00:09:13,220 --> 00:09:14,880
I just don't find them as compelling.
275
00:09:16,260 --> 00:09:18,320
But yeah, I mean, you can, you know,
276
00:09:18,340 --> 00:09:20,340
you can go spend hours talking about like,
277
00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:22,260
okay, which car, you know, Amex has these,
278
00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:23,840
Chase has these, which one makes more sense
279
00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:25,540
for me, you'd have to kind of, you
280
00:09:25,540 --> 00:09:28,540
know, assess what are your travel interests?
281
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:29,840
How do you spend your money?
282
00:09:29,900 --> 00:09:31,220
Do you spend a bunch of money on
283
00:09:31,220 --> 00:09:31,860
dining?
284
00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:33,220
No, you don't spend any money on dining.
285
00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:34,920
Do you have seven kids and spend a
286
00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:36,600
bunch of money on groceries, other cards might,
287
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,480
you know, make sense for different things.
288
00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:39,660
That's something to look into.
289
00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:41,280
And I can share with you guys to
290
00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:41,880
put in the show notes.
291
00:09:41,980 --> 00:09:44,280
I do have a choosing a travel credit
292
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,860
card free guide that I kind of have
293
00:09:46,860 --> 00:09:49,540
seven questions to ask before choosing your next
294
00:09:49,540 --> 00:09:50,280
travel credit card.
295
00:09:50,380 --> 00:09:51,240
So hopefully that can help.
296
00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:53,140
Hopefully that answers the question there.
297
00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,780
It's a, there's a lot there, but it's,
298
00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,060
it's really hard to go wrong earning these
299
00:09:58,060 --> 00:09:59,180
flexible points.
300
00:09:59,260 --> 00:10:02,680
Cause if you're stuck with JetBlue and JetBlue
301
00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:04,840
is awesome, but like, that's all you have.
302
00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:05,920
That's not ideal.
303
00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,940
Chase transfers at a one-to-one ratio
304
00:10:08,940 --> 00:10:09,860
to JetBlue.
305
00:10:10,340 --> 00:10:12,640
So why would I only get JetBlue miles?
306
00:10:12,980 --> 00:10:15,400
If I could earn chase points, maybe I
307
00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,400
could literally be earning more points per dollar
308
00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,020
spent with my chase car than with JetBlue.
309
00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:20,840
And if I want to fly JetBlue, I'll
310
00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:22,620
just send it over to JetBlue, but I
311
00:10:22,620 --> 00:10:24,220
can also send those points to United.
312
00:10:24,500 --> 00:10:26,000
I can also send them to Southwest.
313
00:10:26,180 --> 00:10:27,460
I can also send them to Marriott and
314
00:10:27,460 --> 00:10:30,140
IHG and Hyatt and all these different brands.
315
00:10:30,660 --> 00:10:32,440
It's really, really nice to have those flexible
316
00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:32,840
currency.
317
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:35,020
Very interesting.
318
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,420
How do you suggest maxing?
319
00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:39,140
You talk about people having million, a million
320
00:10:39,140 --> 00:10:39,680
points.
321
00:10:39,860 --> 00:10:41,460
How do you suggest maximizing?
322
00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:43,200
I mean, I, I, I pay my credit
323
00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,140
cards every month, but I do, I have
324
00:10:45,140 --> 00:10:48,020
started just charging everything, you know, putting everything
325
00:10:48,020 --> 00:10:52,440
through my chase card, my groceries, my clothing,
326
00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:53,460
whatever I buy.
327
00:10:54,220 --> 00:10:57,140
So how else could I maximize my points?
328
00:10:58,280 --> 00:10:59,300
On the earning side, you're saying?
329
00:11:00,060 --> 00:11:00,480
Yes.
330
00:11:01,180 --> 00:11:01,380
Yeah.
331
00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,260
So there's, well, I guess I could say
332
00:11:03,260 --> 00:11:03,740
two things.
333
00:11:03,860 --> 00:11:05,860
There's the maximizing on the earning side and
334
00:11:05,860 --> 00:11:06,960
on the redemption side.
335
00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,980
For normal people, I'll say normal, all normal
336
00:11:10,980 --> 00:11:13,700
people, but I'd say non-normal people are
337
00:11:13,700 --> 00:11:16,060
people who spend $200,000 a month on
338
00:11:16,060 --> 00:11:17,080
their business credit card.
339
00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:18,860
I'm now trying to talk to those people.
340
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:20,320
That's part of my business model is kind
341
00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,800
of going after those people, but also part
342
00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,580
of my business model is just helping the
343
00:11:24,580 --> 00:11:25,340
masses learn.
344
00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,080
And so that's, so I won't talk to
345
00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:28,640
the people who spend $200,000 a month.
346
00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:30,380
If that's you, we should talk individually.
347
00:11:31,140 --> 00:11:33,020
You're in a whole different category and world
348
00:11:33,020 --> 00:11:33,320
there.
349
00:11:34,020 --> 00:11:36,040
For a normal person, let's say you have
350
00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,020
a monthly credit card budget and you spend
351
00:11:38,020 --> 00:11:39,400
on the credit card, maybe four to 8
352
00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:39,940
,000 a month.
353
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:41,640
You're just kind of a normal middle-class
354
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:42,060
person.
355
00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,140
So with, with that, there's going to be
356
00:11:45,140 --> 00:11:46,680
a bunch of things you can do.
357
00:11:47,460 --> 00:11:50,720
So one, if you want to get, to
358
00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:52,300
get a little complicated, you can get a
359
00:11:52,300 --> 00:11:54,140
bunch of different credit cards for different things.
360
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,880
For example, your Chase card earns three points
361
00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:57,780
per dollar on dining.
362
00:11:58,080 --> 00:11:58,300
Awesome.
363
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:00,480
But it earns one point per dollar on
364
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:01,600
pretty much everything else.
365
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:03,880
So if you picked up, for example, the
366
00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,380
Amex gold card, that earns 4X on groceries.
367
00:12:07,980 --> 00:12:10,440
So you just seriously, you know, four times
368
00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,040
how much you're earning on groceries, because if
369
00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:13,840
you're spending that Chase card, you're getting one
370
00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:14,520
point per dollar.
371
00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:16,800
So you can do that game and have
372
00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,040
like five credit cards for the different categories
373
00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:19,600
you're spending.
374
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:21,720
I'll say for a lot of people, that
375
00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:23,740
just becomes too much in their head and
376
00:12:23,740 --> 00:12:24,500
they don't like it.
377
00:12:24,620 --> 00:12:27,540
But if you want to hyper optimize, then
378
00:12:27,540 --> 00:12:28,700
yes, that would be a way to do
379
00:12:28,700 --> 00:12:28,860
it.
380
00:12:29,180 --> 00:12:31,100
There's other things that a lot of people
381
00:12:31,100 --> 00:12:33,400
aren't aware of inside of your bank.
382
00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:34,880
So if you log into Chase right now
383
00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,080
and look at your bank, there's these different
384
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:39,020
offers in their shopping portals.
385
00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,100
So sometimes you'll see stuff like, excuse me,
386
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,180
earn 7X points per dollar at Home Depot.
387
00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,260
And it just shows up in the shopping
388
00:12:49,260 --> 00:12:49,560
portal.
389
00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:50,760
And you guys are about to go buy
390
00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:52,480
a new fridge and dishwasher for your kitchen.
391
00:12:52,860 --> 00:12:54,560
So instead of earning one point per dollar,
392
00:12:54,660 --> 00:12:58,600
because you activated the shopping portal code or
393
00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:01,120
whatever it is, you might earn seven points
394
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,840
per dollar on those $2,000 or maybe
395
00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:04,120
more.
396
00:13:04,260 --> 00:13:05,640
I don't even know how much fridge and
397
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,200
dishwasher costs, but you might earn more, like
398
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,360
seven times more points by using those shopping
399
00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:11,720
portals.
400
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:12,800
So that's really popular.
401
00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,460
Rakuten is a very, very popular shopping portal
402
00:13:16,460 --> 00:13:19,480
that actually allows you to earn Amex points
403
00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:20,900
instead of cash back.
404
00:13:21,060 --> 00:13:22,080
It doesn't work with Chase or any of
405
00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,280
the other banks, but Rakuten, if you want
406
00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,960
to Google something, look up earning Amex points
407
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:27,600
with Rakuten.
408
00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:29,340
There's a whole world there that you can
409
00:13:29,340 --> 00:13:32,580
earn a ton of points because you basically
410
00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:35,160
just get these spending multipliers on stuff you're
411
00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,040
already buying, like your new dishwasher or whatever.
412
00:13:38,780 --> 00:13:39,780
So there's a lot there.
413
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,400
Another great thing to earn more points would
414
00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:43,260
be referrals.
415
00:13:43,820 --> 00:13:46,440
So Chase lets you earn about, I think
416
00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:48,960
100,000 points per year in referral bonuses
417
00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:50,060
to your friends and family.
418
00:13:50,180 --> 00:13:51,760
So if you are taking cool trips, it's
419
00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:53,020
really easy to say, hey, you guys, you
420
00:13:53,020 --> 00:13:55,380
should get this card like me and do
421
00:13:55,380 --> 00:13:55,580
this.
422
00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:57,660
And so I've earned a lot of points
423
00:13:57,660 --> 00:13:58,220
that way.
424
00:13:58,220 --> 00:14:00,020
But I'll say for a lot of people,
425
00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:02,700
if you're just a normal person spending, I'll
426
00:14:02,700 --> 00:14:07,060
just say $70,000 a year, there is
427
00:14:07,060 --> 00:14:07,420
a limit.
428
00:14:07,540 --> 00:14:08,320
It's not you can earn.
429
00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:10,080
You can't earn a million points a year
430
00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:10,540
doing that.
431
00:14:10,780 --> 00:14:12,640
I'm not going to sugar coat it and
432
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:13,140
say you can.
433
00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,880
So where the real magic comes is on
434
00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,100
the redemption side, not the earning side.
435
00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:21,280
By redemption side, I mean, how do I
436
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:22,000
use these points?
437
00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:23,720
Most of the time, your points have a
438
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,000
fixed value of one penny, one cent per
439
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:26,240
point.
440
00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,760
So if you earn 100,000 points a
441
00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:29,860
year, awesome.
442
00:14:30,060 --> 00:14:31,340
That's $1,000 in travel.
443
00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:31,840
Great.
444
00:14:32,180 --> 00:14:35,040
There are ways, though, to get $5,000
445
00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,340
in travel from those 100,000 points.
446
00:14:37,980 --> 00:14:39,440
Most people are not getting that.
447
00:14:39,860 --> 00:14:42,800
So that's really the gap between you doing
448
00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:44,700
that is simply a little bit of education.
449
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:46,700
And that's really what I try to help
450
00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:47,140
people with.
451
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,660
And so what it is, is understanding how
452
00:14:49,660 --> 00:14:52,560
to transfer points to partners and finding these
453
00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,040
deals where you might get $5,000 worth
454
00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:58,360
of travel from 100,000 points.
455
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,640
Again, most people are getting $1,000 of
456
00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,260
travel from 100,000 points.
457
00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:04,520
That's the potential.
458
00:15:05,060 --> 00:15:06,260
And it's out there.
459
00:15:06,420 --> 00:15:08,220
So just to give you one practical example,
460
00:15:08,380 --> 00:15:10,260
so people's heads aren't spending too much.
461
00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,700
I just went to the Hyatt Regency Coconut
462
00:15:13,700 --> 00:15:14,160
Point.
463
00:15:14,340 --> 00:15:17,140
It's a really beautiful hotel right outside of
464
00:15:17,140 --> 00:15:18,360
in Bonita Springs, Florida.
465
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:19,960
It's not on the beach, but they've got
466
00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:21,380
a little private boat that takes you there,
467
00:15:21,460 --> 00:15:22,280
which is kind of awesome.
468
00:15:23,460 --> 00:15:25,840
So that hotel, because it was spring break,
469
00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:27,120
I just got back like two weeks ago,
470
00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,740
was priced at $1,200 per night.
471
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:32,560
Very expensive.
472
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,120
Is that actually worth that much money?
473
00:15:34,220 --> 00:15:34,540
I don't know.
474
00:15:34,620 --> 00:15:35,840
People were paying it because it was sold
475
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:36,080
out.
476
00:15:36,580 --> 00:15:37,800
So it's priced really high.
477
00:15:37,980 --> 00:15:40,160
I think typically it's priced more like $700,
478
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:41,040
$900, $600.
479
00:15:41,940 --> 00:15:44,360
Anyway, but whatever the case, very nice hotel.
480
00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:46,620
I can't afford $700 a night anyway.
481
00:15:47,020 --> 00:15:47,740
A lot of people cannot.
482
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,800
The points price with World of Hyatt for
483
00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,480
that $1,200 a night hotel was 21
484
00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:56,920
,000 points per night.
485
00:15:57,260 --> 00:15:57,360
Okay?
486
00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,580
So when you hear that number, think $210
487
00:15:59,580 --> 00:16:02,300
worth of points for a $1,200 night
488
00:16:02,300 --> 00:16:02,680
hotel.
489
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,440
So if you stay five nights there, the
490
00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:06,740
math is really, really good.
491
00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:07,940
That's the spread.
492
00:16:08,060 --> 00:16:09,560
That's the arbitrage we're looking for.
493
00:16:09,900 --> 00:16:11,660
That was a little bit of an outlandish
494
00:16:11,660 --> 00:16:13,360
example, but it's one I've booked.
495
00:16:13,460 --> 00:16:14,140
I've got receipts.
496
00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:16,540
I've posted multiple things, like showing my exact
497
00:16:16,540 --> 00:16:17,200
receipts of this.
498
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:18,140
It's a hundred percent real.
499
00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:20,020
I know people doing stuff like this and
500
00:16:20,020 --> 00:16:21,880
more every day.
501
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:23,900
And so that's what we want.
502
00:16:24,060 --> 00:16:24,300
Okay.
503
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:25,520
The question to a lot of people is,
504
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:26,920
well, how did you earn World of Hyatt
505
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:27,280
points?
506
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:28,320
Do I have to have the World of
507
00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:28,960
Hyatt credit card?
508
00:16:29,420 --> 00:16:30,240
No, no, no, no.
509
00:16:30,620 --> 00:16:33,580
I have Chase points and Chase transfers in
510
00:16:33,580 --> 00:16:35,680
a one-to-one ratio to World of
511
00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:35,920
Hyatt.
512
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:37,500
So had I tried to book that to
513
00:16:37,500 --> 00:16:41,060
the Chase travel portal, because it's $1,200
514
00:16:41,060 --> 00:16:43,220
a night, it would be a hundred thousand
515
00:16:43,220 --> 00:16:44,000
points per night.
516
00:16:44,500 --> 00:16:46,720
But I transferred the points over to World
517
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:47,160
of Hyatt.
518
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:49,460
And World of Hyatt just has a really,
519
00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:50,540
really good program.
520
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:52,440
There are many good programs.
521
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:53,640
World of Hyatt's one of my favorite.
522
00:16:54,180 --> 00:16:56,120
And they just happened for that night to
523
00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,520
be charging 21,000 points per night.
524
00:16:58,780 --> 00:17:00,440
So that's what the potential is.
525
00:17:00,540 --> 00:17:03,900
And that's where for the normal people, the
526
00:17:03,900 --> 00:17:05,359
money's going to be made on the redemption.
527
00:17:06,339 --> 00:17:09,480
The earning has diminishing returns because it takes
528
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:10,780
a lot of time and it's confusing and
529
00:17:10,780 --> 00:17:11,200
it's annoying.
530
00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:14,960
You can optimize, but for most people, they're
531
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:19,359
going to win easier on the redemption side.
532
00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:20,119
Hope that makes sense.
533
00:17:20,740 --> 00:17:20,840
Yeah.
534
00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:21,220
Yeah.
535
00:17:21,220 --> 00:17:21,760
Very interesting.
536
00:17:22,300 --> 00:17:24,460
So for my Hilton card, every once in
537
00:17:24,460 --> 00:17:26,500
a while, I get an offer to buy
538
00:17:26,500 --> 00:17:27,140
points.
539
00:17:27,380 --> 00:17:27,800
Oh yeah.
540
00:17:28,260 --> 00:17:29,540
Is that worth doing?
541
00:17:30,260 --> 00:17:31,280
That's a great question.
542
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:32,200
That's super common.
543
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:33,600
Yeah.
544
00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:35,460
The thing I tell, always tell people is
545
00:17:35,460 --> 00:17:38,640
you would only want to buy points when
546
00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,260
you have a redemption in mind and you
547
00:17:41,260 --> 00:17:42,300
can make a spread.
548
00:17:43,060 --> 00:17:44,180
So it's all about the math.
549
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:45,760
So I mentioned cents per point.
550
00:17:45,980 --> 00:17:47,740
If anyone is confused about that, go ahead
551
00:17:47,740 --> 00:17:49,940
and Google right now as you're listening, cents
552
00:17:49,940 --> 00:17:51,120
per point calculator.
553
00:17:51,460 --> 00:17:53,780
What that is, there's all these online calculators.
554
00:17:54,060 --> 00:17:55,540
It's a way to measure the value of
555
00:17:55,540 --> 00:17:55,820
your points.
556
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:59,580
So if I spend a hundred thousand points
557
00:17:59,580 --> 00:18:03,160
on a $1,000 flight, I'm getting one
558
00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:03,840
cent per point.
559
00:18:03,940 --> 00:18:04,880
Hopefully that makes sense.
560
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,960
If I spend 50,000 points on a
561
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,480
$1,000 flight, I'm getting two cents per
562
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:10,960
point.
563
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:12,820
That's what we want is two cents or
564
00:18:12,820 --> 00:18:13,560
better or something like that.
565
00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:15,920
So let's say for Hilton, Hilton is running
566
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:17,160
a promotion right now.
567
00:18:17,780 --> 00:18:21,060
You can buy points for about 0.5
568
00:18:21,060 --> 00:18:22,040
cents per point.
569
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:24,000
It's not exactly that.
570
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:24,760
I think it's about that.
571
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:25,920
So that's awesome.
572
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,500
So you're buying at 0.5 cents per
573
00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:27,700
point.
574
00:18:28,060 --> 00:18:29,520
So the question is, is you get that
575
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:30,700
email, should I buy points?
576
00:18:31,220 --> 00:18:34,260
Well, can I redeem my points for more
577
00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:34,640
than that?
578
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:36,800
If I can't, then it would be crazy
579
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,540
to buy points because I could just pay
580
00:18:38,540 --> 00:18:40,640
cash and get a better deal.
581
00:18:41,260 --> 00:18:43,120
But here's an example, Los Cabos.
582
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,080
So the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos, they say
583
00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:47,440
it's one of the best resorts in Mexico.
584
00:18:47,620 --> 00:18:48,680
I haven't personally been.
585
00:18:49,060 --> 00:18:50,160
I know a ton of people who have.
586
00:18:50,780 --> 00:18:52,340
A cool thing about that resort is every
587
00:18:52,340 --> 00:18:54,720
single room, even the standard rooms have like
588
00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,240
a plunge pool, like one of those little
589
00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:57,340
private pools in your room.
590
00:18:57,880 --> 00:18:59,340
So this is a very expensive place.
591
00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:03,680
You can easily though get about 1.5
592
00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:05,940
cents per point from your Hilton points at
593
00:19:05,940 --> 00:19:06,440
that hotel.
594
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:09,540
So if that's the case and I got
595
00:19:09,540 --> 00:19:11,800
one tab that has buy points for 0
596
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:13,820
.5 cents per point on my computer, the
597
00:19:13,820 --> 00:19:15,980
other tab, it's the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos
598
00:19:15,980 --> 00:19:18,240
where I can do the math and clearly
599
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,080
see I'd be getting 1.5 cents per
600
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:21,420
point.
601
00:19:21,540 --> 00:19:22,560
It's a no brainer.
602
00:19:22,700 --> 00:19:24,780
Of course, you should buy points and then
603
00:19:24,780 --> 00:19:28,460
use them at that hotel because that math
604
00:19:28,460 --> 00:19:29,480
is really, really good.
605
00:19:29,700 --> 00:19:30,900
There's a huge gap there.
606
00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:33,480
Other times though, you might buy points at
607
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,160
0.5 cents per point and then redeem
608
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,200
them for, I don't know, the Hilton Garden
609
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,260
Inn in Boston or whatever for 0.6
610
00:19:41,260 --> 00:19:41,900
cents per point.
611
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,340
That's not that good.
612
00:19:44,460 --> 00:19:45,740
You're not getting a spread.
613
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,640
So it's not really worth you spending that
614
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:48,900
money.
615
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:50,320
And I'd probably just pay cash for the
616
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:50,660
hotel.
617
00:19:51,460 --> 00:19:51,820
So yeah.
618
00:19:52,020 --> 00:19:54,500
So the key there is only buy points
619
00:19:54,500 --> 00:19:55,700
with a redemption in mind.
620
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:57,740
You should have the redemption pulled up on
621
00:19:57,740 --> 00:19:59,400
a tab, like looking at it, doing the
622
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,520
math, making sure the math all works because
623
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,560
otherwise you're probably making a mistake buying points
624
00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:05,020
and you're just giving them too much money.
625
00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:07,380
And that's probably more common.
626
00:20:07,740 --> 00:20:09,360
When they send that offer along, it's like,
627
00:20:09,460 --> 00:20:10,220
should I be doing that?
628
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:10,900
Yeah.
629
00:20:11,180 --> 00:20:11,340
Yeah.
630
00:20:11,380 --> 00:20:12,780
And I think there is a limit on
631
00:20:12,780 --> 00:20:13,720
how many you can buy a year.
632
00:20:13,780 --> 00:20:14,920
I actually can't remember off the top of
633
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:16,480
my head, but that's something else to keep
634
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:16,780
in mind.
635
00:20:16,860 --> 00:20:18,700
You can't just buy 10 million points or
636
00:20:18,700 --> 00:20:20,960
something if you have the money for that.
637
00:20:21,460 --> 00:20:22,700
So there are limits.
638
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,060
What about, I have a quick question.
639
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,660
What about tracking the different points that you
640
00:20:28,660 --> 00:20:28,820
get?
641
00:20:28,940 --> 00:20:30,480
I don't get a lot of points from
642
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,640
all the different airlines I have memberships with
643
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,840
or even hotels, but do you, like, I
644
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:37,720
assume if you have multiple credit cards, it's
645
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:39,420
like a lot to track everything and what
646
00:20:39,420 --> 00:20:40,080
do I exchange?
647
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,260
How do I manage that?
648
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,320
Do you have any tools that you use
649
00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:45,720
to keep track or you kind of keep
650
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,000
it streamlined on one or two credit cards?
651
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,520
Yeah, I try and keep my stuff pretty
652
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:51,920
simple.
653
00:20:52,260 --> 00:20:53,620
But yeah, I know there are people out
654
00:20:53,620 --> 00:20:55,220
there, other people kind of like me who
655
00:20:55,220 --> 00:20:58,720
sell and or share like free tracking, like
656
00:20:58,720 --> 00:20:59,340
Excel sheets.
657
00:21:00,260 --> 00:21:02,200
Honestly, for me, I've just kept it kind
658
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:03,400
of on in my head and in my
659
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:04,060
different accounts.
660
00:21:04,420 --> 00:21:05,400
I keep things pretty simple.
661
00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:08,360
I focus on Chase Points, Capital One Miles
662
00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:09,500
and American Airlines.
663
00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:10,860
I could explain that more if you guys
664
00:21:10,860 --> 00:21:13,220
wanted to, but I always know exactly how
665
00:21:13,220 --> 00:21:14,540
many I have because I also think about
666
00:21:14,540 --> 00:21:15,120
this every day.
667
00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:16,500
So I know I have it all in
668
00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:17,760
my head and I don't have that many
669
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:18,360
credit cards.
670
00:21:18,940 --> 00:21:20,340
But for a lot of people, it would
671
00:21:20,340 --> 00:21:21,040
make a lot of sense.
672
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,400
If you're above maybe four credit cards and
673
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,480
you're starting to make this your hobby, get
674
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:26,380
more complex here.
675
00:21:26,660 --> 00:21:28,100
Yes, you should have a spreadsheet.
676
00:21:28,300 --> 00:21:29,480
In fact, I should really do this.
677
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:31,860
You should have a spreadsheet, you know, Google
678
00:21:31,860 --> 00:21:32,880
Sheets, keep it simple.
679
00:21:32,980 --> 00:21:35,240
It's just like what card, how many points,
680
00:21:35,460 --> 00:21:37,140
you know, when is the monthly payment due?
681
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,080
You should have it on auto pay, but
682
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:39,860
just to make sure.
683
00:21:39,860 --> 00:21:41,460
What's the annual fee?
684
00:21:41,540 --> 00:21:42,020
All of that.
685
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:43,200
There are services.
686
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,800
There's a website called Award Wallet, and it
687
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:48,600
actually tracks all of that for you.
688
00:21:49,260 --> 00:21:50,520
But I have to say I'm a little
689
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:51,540
disappointed with software.
690
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,000
It doesn't work with every card super well,
691
00:21:54,020 --> 00:21:55,200
and I saw some glitches.
692
00:21:55,940 --> 00:21:58,660
So I actually stopped using that, but there
693
00:21:58,660 --> 00:22:02,080
are services out there or different websites that
694
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:03,420
kind of track it for you.
695
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,920
And then remembering kind of, maybe this is
696
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:08,540
a separate question.
697
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,300
I thought you asked this, but like how
698
00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:11,320
do you use those points?
699
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:13,400
What are the best deals with them?
700
00:22:13,860 --> 00:22:15,560
There's really not a great way to necessarily
701
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:17,040
write that down or track, and it's more
702
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,340
just the knowledge and education of, okay, chase
703
00:22:19,340 --> 00:22:20,760
points go to Hyatt.
704
00:22:20,940 --> 00:22:21,860
That's a really good deal.
705
00:22:21,940 --> 00:22:23,020
I should look at Hyatt stuff.
706
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:25,820
American Airlines has great deals to get to
707
00:22:25,820 --> 00:22:26,220
the Caribbean.
708
00:22:27,100 --> 00:22:28,280
You know, I can remember that.
709
00:22:28,940 --> 00:22:31,720
You know, there's not necessarily a resource that
710
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:33,180
has all of that written down in one
711
00:22:33,180 --> 00:22:35,620
place because there's just so much information.
712
00:22:36,340 --> 00:22:38,520
But really, you know, if you Google just
713
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,240
best uses of chase points or best uses
714
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,080
of American Airlines miles, there are a ton
715
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:43,580
of blogs.
716
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,060
There's so many things right there that can
717
00:22:45,060 --> 00:22:47,400
jumpstart you on, okay, here's the points I
718
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:47,640
have.
719
00:22:47,780 --> 00:22:49,560
What are even good uses of them?
720
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,560
So I hope that kind of answers your
721
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:51,920
question.
722
00:22:52,540 --> 00:22:53,120
Yeah, definitely.
723
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:53,580
Thank you.
724
00:22:53,860 --> 00:22:55,820
And I think it kind of speaks to
725
00:22:55,820 --> 00:22:57,760
one of the concerns that as a financial
726
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,060
planner I have is that we don't necessarily
727
00:23:00,060 --> 00:23:02,400
want to encourage people to have all these
728
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:07,820
multitude of credit cards that sometimes can create
729
00:23:07,820 --> 00:23:10,440
debt, you know, create a challenge.
730
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:12,240
And as you were talking about that, the
731
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,500
difficulties of, you know, keep a track of
732
00:23:14,500 --> 00:23:16,820
when ones do, and then if you don't
733
00:23:16,820 --> 00:23:18,980
pay it on time, your interest rate changes,
734
00:23:18,980 --> 00:23:20,980
and it can really create some challenges.
735
00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:23,260
So would you elaborate on why you picked
736
00:23:23,260 --> 00:23:25,320
those cards that you mentioned?
737
00:23:25,420 --> 00:23:28,100
You said we wanted to elaborate on why
738
00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:30,180
American Airlines or whatever it was, I'd be
739
00:23:30,180 --> 00:23:30,660
interested to hear.
740
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,720
Yeah, I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which
741
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,140
is kind of a, I wish I lived
742
00:23:35,140 --> 00:23:36,520
in like New York City and had access
743
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:37,900
to those airports, but I also don't want
744
00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:38,600
to live in New York City.
745
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:41,080
It's a give and take.
746
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:42,760
But so I'm kind of, you know, I
747
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:44,600
can drive to Chicago, I can drive to
748
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:44,980
Detroit.
749
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,120
But as I looked at my travel, so
750
00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:47,720
this is what I did.
751
00:23:47,740 --> 00:23:48,920
And this is what I help clients do.
752
00:23:49,100 --> 00:23:50,580
I looked at my travel interests.
753
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,000
And I look at my spending and I
754
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:53,820
see what makes sense.
755
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,260
So my travel interests are Europe and the
756
00:23:56,260 --> 00:23:58,820
Caribbean, and maybe some cool domestic stuff.
757
00:23:59,140 --> 00:24:00,520
I'm not trying to be fancy, I've got
758
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,280
two little kids, I just I'm not going
759
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:03,600
to go to Asia, it's too far.
760
00:24:03,980 --> 00:24:05,940
South America, I just don't know very much
761
00:24:05,940 --> 00:24:08,000
about and don't I know it's not super
762
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,280
comfortable, because I just don't know much about
763
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:10,540
it.
764
00:24:10,580 --> 00:24:11,420
So like, those are my things.
765
00:24:11,420 --> 00:24:12,340
I want to go to the Caribbean, I
766
00:24:12,340 --> 00:24:12,940
want to go to Europe.
767
00:24:13,100 --> 00:24:14,860
So I optimize for that completely.
768
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,880
Specifically, I want to take premium cabin flights,
769
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,320
so either premium economy or business class to
770
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:21,440
Europe, because it's a long way.
771
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,720
So when I look at that, and I
772
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:25,660
say, Okay, what do I want the best?
773
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,540
You know, how can I earn as many
774
00:24:28,540 --> 00:24:30,160
points as possible, it's going to get me
775
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:30,900
to those places.
776
00:24:31,980 --> 00:24:34,240
So I've got three strategies.
777
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,060
Capital One is what I put all my
778
00:24:36,060 --> 00:24:37,220
personal spending on.
779
00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:37,540
Why?
780
00:24:37,900 --> 00:24:39,920
Because it's the only points and miles card
781
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:41,680
out there that earns two points per dollar
782
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:42,760
on every single purchase.
783
00:24:43,140 --> 00:24:45,700
It's got all the transfer partners I need
784
00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:47,600
to get really good deals to Europe.
785
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,060
Specifically, I'm not that far from Detroit, there's
786
00:24:51,060 --> 00:24:54,360
a direct flight on Air France from Detroit
787
00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:56,060
to Paris that you can connect anywhere else
788
00:24:56,060 --> 00:24:58,320
in Europe, you can get that for about
789
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,800
80,000 points round trip, excuse me, yeah,
790
00:25:01,900 --> 00:25:03,820
80 to 90,000 points round trip and
791
00:25:03,820 --> 00:25:06,160
premium economy, that can easily be, you know,
792
00:25:06,180 --> 00:25:07,340
a $3,000 flight.
793
00:25:07,780 --> 00:25:09,920
So that's a good deal for premium economy,
794
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,860
which is like larger recliner seats, not first
795
00:25:12,860 --> 00:25:13,520
class beds.
796
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:15,720
And so that's what I'm optimizing, I'm spending
797
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:17,840
capital one mile just I just just to
798
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:19,260
get premium cabin flights to Europe.
799
00:25:19,540 --> 00:25:23,340
Then I'm earning chase points to for Hyatt
800
00:25:23,340 --> 00:25:24,920
hotels, I can use chase points for other
801
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:25,240
stuff.
802
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,280
But I find Hyatt so compelling, that that's
803
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,740
really all I use chase points for.
804
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,100
I'm not spending any money though, on chase
805
00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:32,400
cards.
806
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:32,880
Oh, go ahead.
807
00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:33,940
Yeah, I was gonna say, what do you
808
00:25:33,940 --> 00:25:34,640
spend on that?
809
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:36,880
Because you said you put everything personal expenses
810
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:37,420
to the other.
811
00:25:37,540 --> 00:25:39,880
So with chase, my example is not the
812
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,140
most relatable to people.
813
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,180
But I've got 17,000 followers on LinkedIn,
814
00:25:44,260 --> 00:25:45,540
and I have a lot of people reach
815
00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:45,840
out.
816
00:25:46,140 --> 00:25:48,380
So I send people my referral links.
817
00:25:48,660 --> 00:25:50,900
So I've got a chase business card for
818
00:25:50,900 --> 00:25:53,140
me, a personal card for me, a chase
819
00:25:53,140 --> 00:25:54,480
business card for my wife.
820
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:56,980
So with those I have the potential to
821
00:25:56,980 --> 00:26:00,680
earn three to 400,000 referral bonuses, and
822
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,320
referral points per year.
823
00:26:02,580 --> 00:26:04,620
And I certainly have already like I earned
824
00:26:04,620 --> 00:26:06,520
200,000 points in the last two months
825
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:08,460
doing that because again, I have an audience.
826
00:26:08,740 --> 00:26:10,260
Does everyone else have an audience on LinkedIn
827
00:26:10,260 --> 00:26:11,660
that they can get a bunch of referral
828
00:26:11,660 --> 00:26:12,080
links to?
829
00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:12,460
No.
830
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:14,000
So that's an unrelatable thing.
831
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,500
But I would say another thing people can
832
00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:19,000
do, and I would never, I would never
833
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,000
publicly super advocate for credit card churning.
834
00:26:22,420 --> 00:26:24,260
But there is a healthy level of kind
835
00:26:24,260 --> 00:26:25,820
of, if you want to do this, if
836
00:26:25,820 --> 00:26:27,040
you want to make it your hobby, if
837
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:28,240
you're going to be responsible, if you're going
838
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:29,960
to pay it off weekly, if you're going
839
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,580
to track it well, you can very easily
840
00:26:32,580 --> 00:26:35,720
get one, you know, one new chase business
841
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,060
or personal card a year and earn a
842
00:26:38,060 --> 00:26:40,020
lot of points, like 90,000 points from
843
00:26:40,020 --> 00:26:41,280
an intro bonus doing that.
844
00:26:41,820 --> 00:26:43,360
Again, that's not for most people.
845
00:26:43,780 --> 00:26:44,840
If you want to make it your hobby,
846
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:46,380
if you want to be responsible, there are
847
00:26:46,380 --> 00:26:47,900
lots of people who do that.
848
00:26:48,260 --> 00:26:49,900
I would call it maybe light credit card
849
00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:52,960
churning, which is totally allowed, totally good with
850
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,080
the banks, because again, one new credit card
851
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:56,260
a year is good with the banks.
852
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,400
Getting nine credit cards a year, which certain
853
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,500
people do, is not cool with the banks,
854
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,900
and people are finding ways to go around
855
00:27:02,900 --> 00:27:04,160
them and be savvy.
856
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:05,340
I do not recommend it.
857
00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:06,680
Now there's got to be some consequence on
858
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:07,160
your credit.
859
00:27:07,380 --> 00:27:09,900
You probably have some annual fees to be
860
00:27:09,900 --> 00:27:10,380
thinking about.
861
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,140
There's some things to figure out.
862
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:13,300
It gets very wild.
863
00:27:13,460 --> 00:27:14,760
So if you just do about one per
864
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:16,760
year, I find that to be very manageable,
865
00:27:16,940 --> 00:27:19,660
very reasonable, and it's not a big deal.
866
00:27:19,740 --> 00:27:21,980
Again, for me, this is something I've spent
867
00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:22,500
time on.
868
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,080
But yes, that's my strategy though, is earn
869
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,300
chase points any way I can for Hyatt
870
00:27:27,300 --> 00:27:29,660
Hotels, earn Capital One miles to get these
871
00:27:29,660 --> 00:27:32,260
great deals, premium cabin flights to Europe, and
872
00:27:32,260 --> 00:27:34,840
then earn American Airlines miles, because they have
873
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,540
by far the best pricing to get from
874
00:27:38,540 --> 00:27:41,260
specifically the Midwest, but really anywhere in America
875
00:27:41,260 --> 00:27:42,620
to the Caribbean.
876
00:27:43,740 --> 00:27:45,180
Actually, the Northeast has some good deals to
877
00:27:45,180 --> 00:27:46,980
the Caribbean, so if you're there, but for
878
00:27:46,980 --> 00:27:48,880
someone in the Midwest, the best way to
879
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:50,620
get to the Caribbean, no question, is going
880
00:27:50,620 --> 00:27:51,840
to be American Airlines miles.
881
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,700
I can get to St. Kitts, which is
882
00:27:54,700 --> 00:27:56,180
like a very small island that just went
883
00:27:56,180 --> 00:28:00,560
there in January or February, 20,000 American
884
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:02,240
Airlines miles round trip.
885
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:03,480
Awesome.
886
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:05,240
Now, if you remember from the beginning of
887
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,980
the episode, I said, focus on flexible points.
888
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:10,700
Why would I be earning JetBlue miles from
889
00:28:10,700 --> 00:28:12,000
my JetBlue credit card when I can just
890
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:12,760
transfer from chase?
891
00:28:12,820 --> 00:28:13,620
That's what I said, right?
892
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,400
So if you think I'm contradicting myself here,
893
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,200
American Airlines happens to be the big asterisk
894
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,640
in all this, is no bank transfers to
895
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:23,300
American Airlines.
896
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:25,420
So the only way to earn American Airlines
897
00:28:25,420 --> 00:28:28,240
miles is with either flying, on American, obviously,
898
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,320
or American Airlines credit cards.
899
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:32,700
So that's been a premium for me, is
900
00:28:32,700 --> 00:28:34,760
trying to find ways to earn American miles,
901
00:28:34,860 --> 00:28:37,360
because they're so valuable, especially to get from
902
00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:39,600
the Midwest to the Caribbean.
903
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,280
And that would extend to the South, like
904
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:43,880
most of America, the South.
905
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:45,660
West Coast, it gets a little different, because
906
00:28:45,660 --> 00:28:47,600
the times, the itineraries of the Caribbean are
907
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:49,920
so bad from like California, because it is
908
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:50,100
a long way.
909
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,100
Well, it sounds like to your point, it's
910
00:28:52,100 --> 00:28:56,700
tailored to your preferences and interests, where you
911
00:28:56,700 --> 00:28:57,660
want to go and so forth.
912
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,400
So tell a little bit more about some
913
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:01,040
of your services.
914
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,660
I know you have a Substack articles you
915
00:29:04,660 --> 00:29:09,600
post, you have your website, gosomewhere.world, interesting
916
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,600
dot there, dot world.
917
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,240
They didn't have dot com available, and I
918
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:16,400
saw that, and I was like, that's actually
919
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:17,160
kind of topical.
920
00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:17,980
I like that, yes.
921
00:29:18,140 --> 00:29:19,040
I'm going to do that.
922
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:20,140
It fits, yeah.
923
00:29:20,260 --> 00:29:21,660
And so, you know, and some of these
924
00:29:21,660 --> 00:29:23,780
things, and you're, some of the items you
925
00:29:23,780 --> 00:29:25,120
were mentioning, you have some resources.
926
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,040
So maybe just share a little bit, and
927
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,720
then perhaps how you work with people when
928
00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:30,760
you do a one-on-one.
929
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:32,420
Sure, yeah, thanks.
930
00:29:32,620 --> 00:29:34,520
I love, yeah, I can happily share that.
931
00:29:34,820 --> 00:29:36,400
So yeah, and for any listeners, you know,
932
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,880
I think this stuff can sound a little
933
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,220
complicated, can give you a little bit of
934
00:29:40,220 --> 00:29:40,560
a headache.
935
00:29:40,900 --> 00:29:42,480
I think the one thing to take away
936
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,320
from what I'm saying here is, there are
937
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,600
ways to probably get two to 10x more
938
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,160
value from your points than you're currently getting.
939
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,080
The gap between you doing that is, where
940
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:56,280
you are now and you're doing that, is
941
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:57,420
a little bit of education.
942
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,340
All that information is available for free online
943
00:30:01,340 --> 00:30:02,000
somewhere.
944
00:30:02,900 --> 00:30:05,160
You can certainly find it, I certainly did.
945
00:30:05,220 --> 00:30:07,740
I did not pay anyone to learn the
946
00:30:07,740 --> 00:30:09,140
amount of things I know about points and
947
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:09,260
miles.
948
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:11,380
So I'll be the first to say, it's
949
00:30:11,380 --> 00:30:13,620
all free, it's all out there, but it's
950
00:30:13,620 --> 00:30:14,320
a lot of information.
951
00:30:16,100 --> 00:30:16,980
Yeah, exactly.
952
00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:19,660
So that's why I started this business though,
953
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,700
really, is that I like to take it
954
00:30:22,700 --> 00:30:25,560
from 30 hours of random research on deep
955
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,300
Reddit threads to a 60-minute call with
956
00:30:28,300 --> 00:30:29,840
me, where I can tell you not how
957
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,080
to get to Sri Lanka in first class.
958
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,340
That's probably not relevant to most people listening,
959
00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:36,260
but to do exactly what you want to
960
00:30:36,260 --> 00:30:36,360
do.
961
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:37,900
Most people, they have like three places.
962
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,540
For me, Europe, Caribbean, cool hotels in America.
963
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:41,960
Great, we can talk about that.
964
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:43,520
Maybe your thing, I just talked to a
965
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,020
guy, he's got family in Norway.
966
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:46,340
That's the only place they want to go.
967
00:30:46,460 --> 00:30:47,760
They live in Atlanta, they want to go
968
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:48,120
to Norway.
969
00:30:48,860 --> 00:30:49,180
Awesome.
970
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,160
So let's figure out a strategy all about
971
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:51,460
Norway.
972
00:30:51,980 --> 00:30:53,180
What are the airlines to go there?
973
00:30:53,300 --> 00:30:54,820
So that's what I'll do in my calls.
974
00:30:55,020 --> 00:30:57,540
So my two main products, if anyone's interested,
975
00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,680
would be my one-on-one consultations.
976
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:01,080
What we do is we get on, so
977
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:02,780
like you guys, we might get on and
978
00:31:02,780 --> 00:31:04,660
say, okay, you got Hilton, you got JetBlue,
979
00:31:04,740 --> 00:31:05,240
you got Chase.
980
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:06,180
Why do you have these?
981
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:07,400
How can we optimize?
982
00:31:07,700 --> 00:31:08,780
Should we switch credit cards?
983
00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:11,300
How can we get higher Hilton status?
984
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,820
How can we get status with JetBlue if
985
00:31:12,820 --> 00:31:14,060
that's an airline that's important to you?
986
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:15,460
Okay.
987
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:17,540
We've found a strategy that makes sense.
988
00:31:17,820 --> 00:31:18,360
That's simple.
989
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:19,620
That's repeatable.
990
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:21,880
Now we've earned a bunch of points.
991
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,500
Let's talk about ways we can optimize the
992
00:31:24,500 --> 00:31:25,740
redemption of those points.
993
00:31:26,340 --> 00:31:27,580
Where do you guys want to go?
994
00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:28,900
You want to go to Florida.
995
00:31:29,060 --> 00:31:29,220
Okay.
996
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,400
Here's the best times to go.
997
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:32,400
Here's the best hotels.
998
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:33,700
We'll get you the best deals in Florida,
999
00:31:33,780 --> 00:31:34,120
all that.
1000
00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:36,280
So we talk through all that specific to
1001
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:36,500
you.
1002
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,200
On the trip planning side, it's very simple.
1003
00:31:39,460 --> 00:31:42,320
If you have about 250 to 300,000
1004
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,040
points or more, you're probably a fit.
1005
00:31:44,780 --> 00:31:46,960
And what I do is you just reach
1006
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:48,060
out via a form.
1007
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,200
You pay a $40 deposit to me.
1008
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,900
And you say, okay, I've got 500,000
1009
00:31:53,900 --> 00:31:54,260
points.
1010
00:31:54,300 --> 00:31:55,020
I want to go to Hawaii.
1011
00:31:55,220 --> 00:31:57,320
I've got four people in my family.
1012
00:31:57,580 --> 00:31:58,600
I don't want to figure this out.
1013
00:31:58,640 --> 00:31:59,900
So you give me all your information in
1014
00:31:59,900 --> 00:32:00,280
the form.
1015
00:32:00,820 --> 00:32:02,340
And then if I can help, which I
1016
00:32:02,340 --> 00:32:04,180
can't always help, I can help probably 80
1017
00:32:04,180 --> 00:32:05,940
% of the time, but sometimes stuff comes
1018
00:32:05,940 --> 00:32:07,640
up where there's just no deals and it's
1019
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:08,420
just not possible.
1020
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,560
Then I'll tell you how I can help.
1021
00:32:13,660 --> 00:32:14,900
And then you pay the rest of my
1022
00:32:14,900 --> 00:32:16,480
fee, which right now is $310.
1023
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,040
So it's a $350 total fee for the
1024
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:19,500
trip planning.
1025
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:20,900
And the goal would be I would save
1026
00:32:20,900 --> 00:32:23,260
you minimum $1,000, but it's typically a
1027
00:32:23,260 --> 00:32:23,760
lot more.
1028
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,980
Just yesterday, me and my, I've got a
1029
00:32:26,980 --> 00:32:28,220
guy working for me that helps me with
1030
00:32:28,220 --> 00:32:28,420
this.
1031
00:32:28,820 --> 00:32:31,640
We just helped someone book like a $25
1032
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,380
,000 trip to the Maldives to one of
1033
00:32:34,380 --> 00:32:35,720
those overwater bungalows.
1034
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:37,580
So he didn't do any work.
1035
00:32:37,660 --> 00:32:39,100
He filled out our form.
1036
00:32:39,700 --> 00:32:40,740
We used a bunch of points.
1037
00:32:41,580 --> 00:32:43,660
It was like 800,000 points he had,
1038
00:32:43,820 --> 00:32:46,000
but we got him this ridiculous trip.
1039
00:32:46,020 --> 00:32:48,560
He's flying Qatar business class there.
1040
00:32:49,340 --> 00:32:52,220
He's staying in the Hilton Conrad overwater bungalows.
1041
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:53,720
So whether that's the kind of trip you
1042
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:55,440
want to do or something simpler, I just
1043
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,160
helped a family of three, you know, get
1044
00:32:58,160 --> 00:32:59,520
a nice Caribbean vacation.
1045
00:32:59,700 --> 00:33:02,620
They only did about 250,000 points out
1046
00:33:02,620 --> 00:33:04,640
of pocket, you know, $0 out of pocket
1047
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:06,120
for cash, which is awesome.
1048
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:07,620
And they're staying at this nice hotel in
1049
00:33:07,620 --> 00:33:10,740
St. Kitts, flying there direct from Florida.
1050
00:33:10,980 --> 00:33:13,220
So it doesn't have to be something crazy.
1051
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,300
And both of these people, they're saving, you
1052
00:33:16,300 --> 00:33:18,940
know, it was over $3,000 for one
1053
00:33:18,940 --> 00:33:20,200
guy was like 20 plus.
1054
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,040
So those are my two offerings there, the
1055
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:23,760
trip planning services, and then the one-on
1056
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:24,700
-one consultations.
1057
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:26,580
That's really how I can help people.
1058
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,940
I also do have an online course that's
1059
00:33:29,940 --> 00:33:30,820
helpful that I sell.
1060
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,860
Again, that's on my website, gosomewhere.world. And
1061
00:33:34,860 --> 00:33:37,080
then I would have some free resources that
1062
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:38,200
I can share in the show notes.
1063
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:40,880
The one is called how to 2-10x
1064
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:41,660
the value per point.
1065
00:33:41,740 --> 00:33:44,020
So it's really a much deeper breakdown of
1066
00:33:44,020 --> 00:33:44,840
what I've shared here.
1067
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,700
I've shared, you can get 2-10x more
1068
00:33:47,700 --> 00:33:48,460
value for your points.
1069
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000
That guide would be, here's some ways to
1070
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:51,280
do it.
1071
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,080
Again, there's hundreds of ways to do it.
1072
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,060
So you can't, everything can't be covered, but
1073
00:33:57,060 --> 00:33:58,260
that guide shows you some of that.
1074
00:33:58,340 --> 00:33:59,680
And then I also have one about choosing
1075
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:00,960
a travel credit card.
1076
00:34:01,900 --> 00:34:02,860
So yeah, those are all the ways I
1077
00:34:02,860 --> 00:34:03,200
can help.
1078
00:34:03,220 --> 00:34:04,680
And again, if you never want to talk
1079
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:06,160
to me or pay me a dollar, there
1080
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,659
really is so many great resources out there.
1081
00:34:08,860 --> 00:34:11,440
I can't recommend enough the Daily Drop.
1082
00:34:12,100 --> 00:34:14,360
They're a really large company.
1083
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:16,260
They've got a newsletter, they've got a YouTube
1084
00:34:16,260 --> 00:34:16,719
channel.
1085
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:18,260
Everything is free.
1086
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:19,659
You will never pay them for anything.
1087
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:21,280
I love their stuff.
1088
00:34:21,380 --> 00:34:22,300
I've learned so much from them.
1089
00:34:22,340 --> 00:34:23,420
So again, the Daily Drop.
1090
00:34:24,340 --> 00:34:26,940
Highly recommend you subscribe to them and support
1091
00:34:26,940 --> 00:34:27,440
their stuff.
1092
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,080
I've met a few people from there and
1093
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:29,620
they're really good.
1094
00:34:29,739 --> 00:34:32,239
So that's probably everything I can think to
1095
00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:32,340
share.
1096
00:34:32,460 --> 00:34:32,620
That is great.
1097
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:34,980
That is chock full of great information for
1098
00:34:34,980 --> 00:34:35,320
everybody.
1099
00:34:35,540 --> 00:34:36,820
Were you going to say something, Kristen?
1100
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:37,940
No, I was just going to say, before
1101
00:34:37,940 --> 00:34:39,739
you go, what favorite trip that you've been
1102
00:34:39,739 --> 00:34:40,040
on?
1103
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:42,219
That's a good question.
1104
00:34:43,300 --> 00:34:48,600
I think just in February, I went to
1105
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:50,940
the Park Hyatt and St. Kitts.
1106
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,739
St. Kitts is, I didn't even know it
1107
00:34:54,739 --> 00:34:55,860
was an island two years ago.
1108
00:34:56,340 --> 00:34:57,520
It's this beautiful island in the Caribbean.
1109
00:34:58,180 --> 00:34:59,880
Actually, it's St. Kitts and Nevis.
1110
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,320
And Nevis is actually where Alexander Hamilton was
1111
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:02,640
born.
1112
00:35:02,980 --> 00:35:04,760
So any fans of the musical, the line
1113
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,780
is like, dropped in the middle of forgotten
1114
00:35:06,780 --> 00:35:07,720
spot in the Caribbean.
1115
00:35:08,060 --> 00:35:09,480
Well, we were on a beach looking at
1116
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,360
that forgotten spot in the Caribbean, his little
1117
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:12,620
island.
1118
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:14,660
And they have tours of his family's house
1119
00:35:14,660 --> 00:35:15,460
and stuff like that.
1120
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,640
So that's for any musical nerds out there,
1121
00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:19,500
people like the show.
1122
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,200
That trip was amazing because the hotel was
1123
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,520
$1,500 a night for the base room
1124
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:25,500
and we even got upgraded.
1125
00:35:26,020 --> 00:35:27,440
And so I was sitting there just like,
1126
00:35:27,580 --> 00:35:28,960
it really was so mind blowing because I'm
1127
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:30,880
like, I in a million years would have
1128
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:32,680
not been able to afford this and would
1129
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:33,700
never have paid for this.
1130
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,580
And because I figured out how this point
1131
00:35:35,580 --> 00:35:38,020
stuff works, I got my flights covered to
1132
00:35:38,020 --> 00:35:38,460
the Caribbean.
1133
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:40,000
This again, this is my two little kids
1134
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,100
as well and my wife.
1135
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:43,180
I've got my flights covered.
1136
00:35:43,500 --> 00:35:45,160
I'm at this ridiculous resort that I have
1137
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:46,300
no business being here.
1138
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:47,740
I'm 25 years old.
1139
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,140
Everyone else there was at least 55 years
1140
00:35:50,140 --> 00:35:50,340
old.
1141
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,300
Like there was no young people, probably because
1142
00:35:53,300 --> 00:35:54,540
no one could afford it.
1143
00:35:54,620 --> 00:35:55,140
You know what I mean?
1144
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:56,780
And people didn't know about the points thing.
1145
00:35:57,300 --> 00:35:59,520
And so I just was felt so blessed
1146
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,420
and so like amazed that this stuff is
1147
00:36:01,420 --> 00:36:01,880
possible.
1148
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:03,460
So yeah, that was a fun trip.
1149
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:05,000
Now I've been other places that are maybe
1150
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,480
more adventurous or cool, but I think it
1151
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,380
was like the level of luxury that I
1152
00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:10,180
experienced there.
1153
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:11,600
I was just so mind blown.
1154
00:36:11,700 --> 00:36:14,100
Like this stuff is possible when you understand
1155
00:36:14,100 --> 00:36:14,840
points.
1156
00:36:15,380 --> 00:36:16,700
So I just felt I'm still kind of
1157
00:36:16,700 --> 00:36:17,100
in shock.
1158
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:18,820
That was possible.
1159
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,020
So that was an awesome trip and many
1160
00:36:21,020 --> 00:36:21,500
more to come.
1161
00:36:21,940 --> 00:36:24,160
I went crazy and I was able to
1162
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,580
find business class flights to Switzerland for the
1163
00:36:26,580 --> 00:36:27,540
summer for me.
1164
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:28,620
And I'm going to have a three-year
1165
00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:30,680
-old and a six-month-old in a
1166
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:31,560
business class seat.
1167
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,000
So that'll be some funny pictures that hopefully
1168
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:34,580
go viral.
1169
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:36,060
So I'll have to share this with you
1170
00:36:36,060 --> 00:36:39,000
guys and that's coming up here in August.
1171
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,500
So that might become the favorite trip once
1172
00:36:41,500 --> 00:36:42,000
we get there.
1173
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,740
Well, I love that you're sharing all this
1174
00:36:44,740 --> 00:36:48,560
great insight for our listeners and thank you
1175
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,220
so much for being with us today and
1176
00:36:50,220 --> 00:36:51,180
all the great tips.
1177
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,640
We're going to add some great content from
1178
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:56,320
you in the show notes.
1179
00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:02,460
Check out gosomewhere.world. In addition, share our
1180
00:37:02,460 --> 00:37:05,600
episode with people you care about who you'll
1181
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,620
want to be able to travel with you
1182
00:37:08,620 --> 00:37:10,180
perhaps along the way.
1183
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,540
So Colin, thanks for being with us today.
1184
00:37:14,020 --> 00:37:14,140
Sure.
1185
00:37:14,220 --> 00:37:15,100
Thank you so much for having me.
1186
00:37:15,180 --> 00:37:16,000
I really appreciated it.
1187
00:37:16,540 --> 00:37:17,260
All right, everybody.
1188
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:19,760
Until next time, keep striving for something more.
1189
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,400
Thank you for listening to Something More with
1190
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:24,120
Chris Boyd.
1191
00:37:24,420 --> 00:37:26,580
Call us for help, whether it's for financial
1192
00:37:26,580 --> 00:37:30,480
planning or portfolio management, insurance concerns, or those
1193
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:32,540
quality of life issues that make the money
1194
00:37:32,540 --> 00:37:33,640
matters matter.
1195
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,260
Whatever's on your mind, visit us at somethingmorewithchrisboyd
1196
00:37:37,260 --> 00:37:40,460
.com or call us toll free at 866
1197
00:37:40,460 --> 00:37:45,980
-771-8901 or send us your questions to
1198
00:37:45,980 --> 00:37:49,960
amr-info at wealthenhancement.com.
1199
00:37:50,100 --> 00:37:52,080
You're listening to Something More with Chris Boyd
1200
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:52,920
Financial Talk Show.
1201
00:37:53,100 --> 00:37:55,520
Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services and Jay Christopher Boyd
1202
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:57,840
provide investment advice on an individual basis to
1203
00:37:57,840 --> 00:37:58,400
clients only.
1204
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,540
Proper advice depends on a complete analysis of
1205
00:38:00,540 --> 00:38:01,740
all facts and circumstances.
1206
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:03,820
The information given on this program is general
1207
00:38:03,820 --> 00:38:05,840
financial comments and cannot be relied upon as
1208
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:07,420
pertaining to your specific situation.
1209
00:38:07,620 --> 00:38:09,600
Wealth Enhancement Group cannot guarantee that using the
1210
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,620
information from this show will generate profits or
1211
00:38:11,620 --> 00:38:12,720
ensure freedom from loss.
1212
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,080
Listeners should consult their own financial advisors or
1213
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,180
conduct their own due diligence before making any
1214
00:38:17,180 --> 00:38:17,960
financial decisions.