December 16, 2024 • 25 mins
Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family.
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Click here to apply for the Chase Sapphire Cards we refer to in this episode. And if you've already got one of the Chase Sapphire cards, you'll want to apply for these business cards, linked here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In today's episode, we're sharing our 2024 recap,
along with some tips on how tomake the most of your credit
card benefits before the yearends, so make sure to listen in.
Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five
podcast, where we share how wetravel as a family of five
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip.
Hello friends.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Welcome back.
Welcome back, hello friends,welcome back welcome back thank
you for being here thanks fortuning in this is travel party
five podcast, and we are veryclose to the end of the year,
and so we thought we would do arecap of how many cards we've
(01:19):
opened, points we've earned,trips we've taken really quickly
.
And then also I have some liketips and strategies to make sure
that you are utilizing yourcredit card benefits, because a
lot of them are either on aquarterly, a monthly or an
annual basis, and so, with theyear and the quarter ending,
(01:40):
it's important to make sure thatyou're getting the most value
that you can out of the cards tomake the annual fees worth it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So yeah, so hopefully this year has been good for you
.
It's been pretty good for us.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's been a really good year, so okay.
So between the two of us, howmany credit cards have we opened
this year?
lot 15 cards 15 cards yep, sevenfor duane and eight for me, and
the most.
Let's really quickly talk aboutthe most recent ones, because
(02:17):
one of them I wasn't expectingto open um, and this is I just
opened this like a week or twoago and that is the Barclays
America.
No, yes, barclays, americanAirlines MasterCard, and so,
because you probably don't knowthis, but Barclays and city up
(02:38):
until now we're both issuers ofAmerican Airlines credit cards,
so you could get a Barclays card, which you already have, and
earn AA miles, and then youcould.
There's a few city cards youcan get, um that are also earn
AA miles, and they've announcedjust in the last week or so that
(02:58):
Barclays will no longer be abank issuer of American Airlines
credit cards, so they're movingjust to city and so the
Barclays card is going to goaway sometime in the next year.
So you already have that card,but I applied for that card for
myself because it's a fantasticcard and you only have to spend,
(03:20):
make one purchase on the cardand pay the annual fee and then
you get the miles, and there wasan elevated offer when I signed
up.
So we're gonna get 70 000 aamiles once I buy a pack of gum
or something on the card yeah,it's the easiest way to get
miles.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Do a lot of cards, no that way?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
no right, no, that's pretty, pretty rare, and so the
the downside is it does take upa 524 spot.
So I am now currently at 524,which is a bummer, but I have
another card that's going todrop off next month, so I'll be
under shortly.
So that's why I decided it wasworth it, and if you didn't
(04:01):
already have it, I probablywould have applied for you too,
but you already have it andwe've already used those miles.
Okay, so 15 cards opened thisyear.
In my opinion, that is a lot ofcredit cards.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
In a way I'm sorry and you can do that every year
to get those miles.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, not anymore, because the card is going away.
I think generally, yes, youwant to keep the card open for a
year.
Then you could cancel it andI'm sure there's some kind of
language around when you wouldbe eligible again.
I don't know what it is forthat specific card anymore, but
since it's going to be goingaway in a year probably not Well
, I mean, maybe we'll try to seeif I can cancel yours and then
(04:40):
wait a month and reapply youbefore it goes away.
I mean, I wouldn't be opposedto that, but we'll just have to
see, because the card isprobably going to go away well
before the year is over, if Ihad to guess.
Okay, so 15 cards opened Again,that's a lot, I think.
If you're not opening 15 cardsa year, I wouldn't stress out
(05:03):
about that.
I wouldn't feel like you'rebehind.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
We just went really hard thisyear because we have some big
trips planned for next year, andso I think if you're only
opening a few cards a year, likethat's still totally fine.
As a side note also, our creditscores are still the same
(05:24):
pretty much as they were at thebeginning of this year, so
that's also great.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Do you want to tell everyone how many points we've
earned this year?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So far this year, we earned 1,370,000 points, which
is a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yep, and there's a few of those cards that we've
recently opened we haven't hitthe minimum spend for.
So we have actually two thatwe're working on right now, plus
the American Airlines card,which I don't really count that
because you just have to makeone purchase and there's no
minimum spend really.
So two of those cards thatwe've opened we haven't earned
(06:08):
the points for yet and we one wewill for sure by the end of the
year.
The other one probably notduane just got approved for the
amex gold personal card and sothat means I'm rich do you want
to tell the story about the card?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I just, you know, growing up, whenever I saw
someone pull out the AmericanExpress gold card, I just for
some reason just thought theywere rich.
And now that I got one, I know,I know, yeah, I feel rich, but
not rich.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
We have a rich life.
It's not necessarily money richalways but yes.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I can agree with that .
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, so 1.3, almost 1.4 million points, with some
more to come, and that is so.
I want to add, that is onlywelcome offers, so that does not
include referral uh bonuses orpoints from when we each refer
(07:14):
each other to cards.
That's really the only place weget referral points from Um and
it also doesn't include um likeRakuten or any kind of stacking
points options like that.
So that is only welcome offersand I think that's pretty
(07:36):
exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I mean for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
As for trips taken, I mean we've done podcast
episodes on every single tripwe've taken.
So I'll just quickly recap.
Tell me if I'm missing one,because when I was making the
list I felt like the list waskind of short.
I don't know um we went.
So, as a family, we did costarica.
We bent in march.
That was in march um, we didn'tgo anywhere.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
January, february, we didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
January February.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
No.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Oh, I did forget the Grand Cayman.
Okay, yeah, so we did CostaRica in March.
We went to California twice, Ithink, we did Huntington Beach
and we also did a week in SanDiego Yep, and this is as a
family and then we went to Kauai.
Yep For fall break D duane andI went to the grand caymans yep
(08:30):
just the two of us.
We also took two short weekendgetaways one to new mexico,
albuquerque, yep, and the othertwo san diego, that was Yep.
And then I went to Europe on agirl's trip with my mom and my
sister.
So, plus a few other work tripsfor me, I went to Portland, I
(08:54):
went to Orlando, I went toChicago all for work.
So busy year of travel.
Next year is going to be thesame.
I yeah, I already have a coupleof work trips.
I have to go to Montreal inJanuary.
Montreal, it's going to befreezing, it's going to be
freezing.
I'm going to, like I'm I mean,I'm cold when it's 70 degrees
(09:20):
outside, so I don't know how I'mgoing to do have to bundle up.
Yeah, like, how do people packwinter coats?
Like?
I need to figure that out.
I need to see if there's like athinner winter coat that I can
get, because the one I have isvery poofy.
If you live in a cold climateand you or and or you travel off
into a cold climate, pleasetell me like a good coat to buy
(09:42):
that doesn't take up half mysuitcase?
Okay, please, and thank you.
Oh, and the other family trip wedid is we did go to Flagstaff a
couple weeks ago and we aregoing.
That's going to be our nextpodcast episode.
It won't be very long, butit'll be about that trip.
Okay, so what?
I don't know what is that.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9trips total, not all as a family
(10:09):
, but 9 trips which is prettygood it's pretty good.
And then trips booked for thisyear.
For next year we have three anda half trips booked and they're
all pretty big trips.
So we have two weeks in europeparis and spain.
We have two weeks in japan, wehave a week in yosemite slash
(10:30):
lake tahoe, lake Tahoe, and thenthe half trip is we likely have
another trip to Paris andsomewhere else in Europe next
year, but it's not fully bookedyet because the airline
availability is not open yet forour return flight got the
(10:53):
flight there, yep there, yep.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Which we booked with points.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
We booked with points , yep and waiting on the return
flights to pop up and make surethat they are the point price
that I want to pay In order toknow if we can make the trip
happen.
And from there we'll bookhotels, because there's two
different airports we couldpotentially fly out of and
(11:19):
they're kind of they're notsuper close to each other.
So the airport that we fly outof will determine the hotels
that we book, if that makessense.
So, anyways, okay.
So yeah, that's our year 15cards, one point I'm going to
call it 1.4 million points,because we have some more coming
and again, we're just tworegular humans with full-time
(11:42):
jobs that still manage thishobby and have gotten a lot of
travel.
Oh, I'm sorry, I totally forgot.
I buried the lead here.
I also calculated how muchmoney we saved in travel this
year by using points.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Which is pretty shocking.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
It was a lot of money .
So the way I did this is Ibasically just like when I book
a trip, I look at what the cashprice was and I put it in a
little document and then I addup like what did we actually pay
?
Like you know, because when youdo flights, you pay taxes and
fees.
Right, if you were to pay cash,you would pay those same taxes
and fees.
So I basically added up what wepaid versus the what the cash
(12:26):
price would have been, and thensubtracted Okay, the total
amount of travel that we got forfree in 2024.
And I'm like I'm'm when I sayfree, it's in quotation marks
because we used points uh was41,201 dollars and 68 cents
(12:46):
41,000 dollars it's a lot ofmoney that we didn't pay.
Now that doesn't include, likefood costs or activity costs or
anything, because we don't usepoints for that.
But this is like all flights,all lodging that we used points
for and now the I will say theone thing that it doesn't
include is credit card annualfees, and so I do want to be
(13:09):
super transparent and I'm goingto share what we paid in a
credit card annual fees as wellfor the year.
This is between the two of usand this is again.
Remember that we opened 15cards, because the number is
pretty high, so we paid $4,254for credit card annual fees.
(13:29):
However, I need to like if thatnumber freaks you out, I need to
like pause and take a minute,because that is what the annual
fees cost, assuming you are notutilizing any of your credits on
any of those cards, and we usealmost all of the credits on our
(13:52):
cards.
So like, for example, the ChaseSapphire reserve card has a
$550 annual fee, but $300 ofthat is an annual travel credit
that we use every single year.
So, yes, we're paying it, butwe're also getting the money
back, if that makes sense, whenwe book anything that codes us
(14:15):
travel on that card.
Same thing with the Capital One.
It's a $395 annual fee for theVenture X, but it comes with a
$300 travel credit and that'susually where we would book a
rental car or something.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And those two cards come with club access at
airports Lounge access yes likeclub access at airports, lounge
access.
Yeah, yes, which is, you know,every time you go there, you,
you spend at least save, atleast save, I mean at least 100
bucks especially if it's allfive of us.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
yeah, and even if, even if it's just duane and I I
mean in whiskey alone, duwayneis getting our money's worth,
don't you agree?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Oh yeah, I agree, but you know, got to use it up.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
So don't.
And a lot of those cards wewill not pay the annual fee a
second time.
Some of them we will, but someof them we won't.
And so if someone said, like,would you pay $4,000 to get
$40,000 in free travel, like Iwould say yes, yeah, of course,
who wouldn't?
So if the $4,200 number freaksyou out, like I wouldn't let it
(15:26):
there's we're not actuallypaying that much money.
So, um, and on that note, Ithink let's talk about making
sure you're getting the most ofyour credit card benefits before
the end of the year, because alot of your credits are going to
expire.
And like, do not do this onDecember 29th or December 30th,
(15:48):
because the charge needs to postto your account.
And then, like, the creditneeds to be applied for most of
these and that can sometimestake a week or two.
So, like today, when thisepisode airs, it is Monday,
december 16th.
Like, do this today and expectthat it's going to take you a
little more time than you'reprobably thinking, if you've
(16:10):
never really sat down andthought about your credits
before, because when I sat downthis morning to try to figure it
out and come up with a plan, Iwas a little bit overwhelmed,
which is probably not a surprise, because we opened 15 cards.
A lot of them have credits thatwe can use, and they're all new
to us.
So I think, like probably weshould talk about a couple of
(16:36):
the more like the bigger onesthat we're going to be focusing
on and then also give a coupleof tips on how you can find what
your credits are.
Ok, so, for us, our big one isthe American Express Business
Platinum card, which I have inmy name has a $200 airline
credit that I need to use beforethe end of the year.
(16:58):
It's an annual credit, and sothe way that this credit works
is you have to first enroll inthe credit and you have to
choose an airline.
So one way to do this is tojust choose an airline that you
have an upcoming flight with, ifyou're planning to pay for bags
, or you know if you need to payfor bags or whatever.
(17:20):
Or what I'm going to do becausewe don't have anything that we
can use it for right now is I'mgoing to buy $200 worth of
United Travel Bank credits.
So I'm going to first go andenroll in the credit and I'm
going to choose United as myairline I've already done this
(17:43):
actually, and then I'm probablygonna wait 24 hours and then I'm
going to go into my Unitedaccount.
I'm going to go under like mylike log into your United
account and there's a spot thatsays travel bank and I'm going
to use that card to pay for $200of United travel bank credit
and then next summer, when I goto book our flights for our
(18:08):
Yellowstone trip which I thinkis summer of 2026, we are likely
going to fly United at leastone way, and so I'm going to use
those credits for that.
That's my plan currently,anyways.
That could change, but we alsoget from we have one of the IHG
cards.
We also get $25 United TravelBank credit every twice a year,
(18:30):
so every first half and secondhalf of the year.
Those do expire within sixmonths, I think, so we can't use
all those, but it'll be anextra little boost when I go to
use it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So um, okay, so how do the credits work for you know
other cards?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
So for the, I think the the super important thing to
know is you have to firstenroll in the credit.
If that makes sense, so like,and that's goes for both chase
or Amex.
Um, those are really the onlylike cards we have at this point
.
So you need to go into youreither Chase or Amex account and
(19:12):
, like, you basically need toclick like add to card or enroll
in this benefit or whatever,before you're going to use the
card, and then you just go anduse the card for whatever it is
that you're buying, and then youshould get a statement credit
of you know, for example, theAmex.
It'll be $200 statement creditonce the charge posts, and so
(19:35):
it's super easy to use.
But you have to make sure youenroll, because if you don't
enroll, you're not, you're notgoing to get the statement
credit, and so I think theeasiest way to make sure you're
getting all your credits is thecard pointers app, and they also
have, like, a Chrome extension,and the Chrome extension is
(19:57):
free.
They try to get you to sign upfor an account.
You actually don't have to that.
You can do a free account, butyou don't have to, but you can
download the Chrome extension orwhatever browser you use, I'm
sure they have it and then yousign into your Amex accounts and
it will automatically add allthe available offers in like a
(20:19):
few clicks.
So it'll ask you like do youwant to do this?
And you can just select all andclick Add to card, and so then
you can like easily look through, like do you want to do this?
And you can just select all andclick add to card, and so then
you can like easily look through, like okay, I need to, you know
, buy from Nike.
Like is there a Nike offer onthis card or whatever it might
(20:41):
be?
Yeah, and so I think that'ssuper, has been super helpful
for me.
And then I also, in the appitself, the card pointers app,
you add in the credit cards thatyou have and then it will tell
you like you have your $5DoorDash monthly credit
available, and then you justhave to manually like slide the
bar to say like, yes, I've usedthis credit.
(21:02):
Or, you know, obviously don'tslide it if you haven't, and
it's a good reminder.
So, like we have a bunch ofcredits that we have to use and
once I use them, I'm going to gothrough and swipe that we did
it and it's probably worthnoting that the credits
available to us, based on thecards we have, is $4,113.
(21:28):
And remember what we paid inannual fees?
What did I say?
$4,113 in potential credits.
And so now can we use all ofthese credits?
(21:51):
No, like, there's an Indeedcredit on the MXBiz Platinum
that I just have no use for andso we won't use it.
But will we use most of them?
Yes, 100%, um, but will?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
we use most of them.
Yes, A hundred percent.
How would someone use money onindeed Well?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
it's a business card.
So it's like if you have tomake a job posting or something
like that for your business, butwe don't, we don't have that
for our business.
So, um, yeah, and so I highlyrecommend the card pointers app.
It is completely free to use.
They do have like a premiumthing.
I don't pay for it, Although Icould see there's value in it,
(22:32):
Because I think if you pay forthe premium, you can type in
like let me use my Nike example.
So I want to.
I need to buy something fromNike and it will tell you like
which cards have the Nike offer.
Okay, without the premiumpremium, you have to go through
each card and check.
So it's.
I can see that it where itwould save you time if you have
a lot of cards like like we do,like we do now sounds very
(22:54):
helpful, but yeah, so when Ihave, when you have someone like
you on on our team.
We don't need that no, no, I, Ido need that.
I use that.
Yes, I use that because it'sit's just a lot.
It's a good way to make sure,like, okay, I'm, I'm making sure
(23:15):
to use these credits.
Like people joke that amex is,like they call it, a coupon
booklet and it really is kind oflike that and it's a little bit
annoying, honestly, to have tojump through these hoops, but
the alternative is to pay $4,200in annual fees and not get
(23:35):
anything back, which is not myjam.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Do you know the difference between jam and jelly
?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Oh my gosh, we're not telling that.
Yeah, we're not telling that.
Joke on this podcast for adifferent show.
Um, I feel like that's it.
I feel like that's that's ourrecap, yep, um, so a couple
things.
If you've you've made it thisfar.
Uh, we have one more week leftof our review contest, so next
(24:05):
week we will be choosing awinner.
The way that you can win thisraffle to win a $50 gift card to
the store of your choosing isto leave us a review on iTunes
or Spotify or wherever youlisten, and email us a
screenshot of that review, andthen you will be entered into a
raffle to win a $50 gift card.
We've had a few entries alreadya good amount actually and I,
(24:31):
that being said, I still thinkthere's a.
If you do a review and send usa screenshot, you have a really
solid chance of winning, and sothe email that you would send
that to istravelpartyof5atgmailcom, the
number five not spelled out, sotravelpartyof5atgmailcom.
And again, leave us a reviewwherever you listen.
(24:53):
We super appreciate it.
It helps more people find ourpodcast.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, we would appreciate it and thanks for
listening.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yes, thank you very much.
We hope everyone has had agreat year.
We have one more episode to gobefore the end of the year and
then we are likely taking a oneto two week break before we are
back in 2025.
And I already know our first2025 episode is going to be like
our strategy for the upcomingyear, when we don't have any
(25:22):
points left because we have usedalmost all of them.
So, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Okay, thank you all forlistening.
Don't forget to leave a review,send us a screenshot so we can
get you entered into the raffleand we'll catch you on the next
one.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yes, thanks again.
Have a good one.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Bye, thank you.
In today's episode, we're sharing our 2024 recap,
along with some tips on how tomake the most of your credit
card benefits before the yearends, so make sure to listen in.
Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five
podcast, where we share how wetravel as a family of five
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip.
Hello friends.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Welcome back.
Welcome back, hello friends,welcome back welcome back thank
you for being here thanks fortuning in this is travel party
five podcast, and we are veryclose to the end of the year,
and so we thought we would do arecap of how many cards we've
(01:19):
opened, points we've earned,trips we've taken really quickly
.
And then also I have some liketips and strategies to make sure
that you are utilizing yourcredit card benefits, because a
lot of them are either on aquarterly, a monthly or an
annual basis, and so, with theyear and the quarter ending,
(01:40):
it's important to make sure thatyou're getting the most value
that you can out of the cards tomake the annual fees worth it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So yeah, so hopefully this year has been good for you
.
It's been pretty good for us.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's been a really good year, so okay.
So between the two of us, howmany credit cards have we opened
this year?
lot 15 cards 15 cards yep, sevenfor duane and eight for me, and
the most.
Let's really quickly talk aboutthe most recent ones, because
(02:17):
one of them I wasn't expectingto open um, and this is I just
opened this like a week or twoago and that is the Barclays
America.
No, yes, barclays, americanAirlines MasterCard, and so,
because you probably don't knowthis, but Barclays and city up
(02:38):
until now we're both issuers ofAmerican Airlines credit cards,
so you could get a Barclays card, which you already have, and
earn AA miles, and then youcould.
There's a few city cards youcan get, um that are also earn
AA miles, and they've announcedjust in the last week or so that
(02:58):
Barclays will no longer be abank issuer of American Airlines
credit cards, so they're movingjust to city and so the
Barclays card is going to goaway sometime in the next year.
So you already have that card,but I applied for that card for
myself because it's a fantasticcard and you only have to spend,
(03:20):
make one purchase on the cardand pay the annual fee and then
you get the miles, and there wasan elevated offer when I signed
up.
So we're gonna get 70 000 aamiles once I buy a pack of gum
or something on the card yeah,it's the easiest way to get
miles.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Do a lot of cards, no that way?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
no right, no, that's pretty, pretty rare, and so the
the downside is it does take upa 524 spot.
So I am now currently at 524,which is a bummer, but I have
another card that's going todrop off next month, so I'll be
under shortly.
So that's why I decided it wasworth it, and if you didn't
(04:01):
already have it, I probablywould have applied for you too,
but you already have it andwe've already used those miles.
Okay, so 15 cards opened thisyear.
In my opinion, that is a lot ofcredit cards.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
In a way I'm sorry and you can do that every year
to get those miles.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, not anymore, because the card is going away.
I think generally, yes, youwant to keep the card open for a
year.
Then you could cancel it andI'm sure there's some kind of
language around when you wouldbe eligible again.
I don't know what it is forthat specific card anymore, but
since it's going to be goingaway in a year probably not Well
, I mean, maybe we'll try to seeif I can cancel yours and then
(04:40):
wait a month and reapply youbefore it goes away.
I mean, I wouldn't be opposedto that, but we'll just have to
see, because the card isprobably going to go away well
before the year is over, if Ihad to guess.
Okay, so 15 cards opened Again,that's a lot, I think.
If you're not opening 15 cardsa year, I wouldn't stress out
(05:03):
about that.
I wouldn't feel like you'rebehind.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
We just went really hard thisyear because we have some big
trips planned for next year, andso I think if you're only
opening a few cards a year, likethat's still totally fine.
As a side note also, our creditscores are still the same
(05:24):
pretty much as they were at thebeginning of this year, so
that's also great.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Do you want to tell everyone how many points we've
earned this year?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So far this year, we earned 1,370,000 points, which
is a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yep, and there's a few of those cards that we've
recently opened we haven't hitthe minimum spend for.
So we have actually two thatwe're working on right now, plus
the American Airlines card,which I don't really count that
because you just have to makeone purchase and there's no
minimum spend really.
So two of those cards thatwe've opened we haven't earned
(06:08):
the points for yet and we one wewill for sure by the end of the
year.
The other one probably notduane just got approved for the
amex gold personal card and sothat means I'm rich do you want
to tell the story about the card?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I just, you know, growing up, whenever I saw
someone pull out the AmericanExpress gold card, I just for
some reason just thought theywere rich.
And now that I got one, I know,I know, yeah, I feel rich, but
not rich.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
We have a rich life.
It's not necessarily money richalways but yes.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I can agree with that .
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, so 1.3, almost 1.4 million points, with some
more to come, and that is so.
I want to add, that is onlywelcome offers, so that does not
include referral uh bonuses orpoints from when we each refer
(07:14):
each other to cards.
That's really the only place weget referral points from Um and
it also doesn't include um likeRakuten or any kind of stacking
points options like that.
So that is only welcome offersand I think that's pretty
(07:36):
exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I mean for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
As for trips taken, I mean we've done podcast
episodes on every single tripwe've taken.
So I'll just quickly recap.
Tell me if I'm missing one,because when I was making the
list I felt like the list waskind of short.
I don't know um we went.
So, as a family, we did costarica.
We bent in march.
That was in march um, we didn'tgo anywhere.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
January, february, we didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
January February.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
No.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Oh, I did forget the Grand Cayman.
Okay, yeah, so we did CostaRica in March.
We went to California twice, Ithink, we did Huntington Beach
and we also did a week in SanDiego Yep, and this is as a
family and then we went to Kauai.
Yep For fall break D duane andI went to the grand caymans yep
(08:30):
just the two of us.
We also took two short weekendgetaways one to new mexico,
albuquerque, yep, and the othertwo san diego, that was Yep.
And then I went to Europe on agirl's trip with my mom and my
sister.
So, plus a few other work tripsfor me, I went to Portland, I
(08:54):
went to Orlando, I went toChicago all for work.
So busy year of travel.
Next year is going to be thesame.
I yeah, I already have a coupleof work trips.
I have to go to Montreal inJanuary.
Montreal, it's going to befreezing, it's going to be
freezing.
I'm going to, like I'm I mean,I'm cold when it's 70 degrees
(09:20):
outside, so I don't know how I'mgoing to do have to bundle up.
Yeah, like, how do people packwinter coats?
Like?
I need to figure that out.
I need to see if there's like athinner winter coat that I can
get, because the one I have isvery poofy.
If you live in a cold climateand you or and or you travel off
into a cold climate, pleasetell me like a good coat to buy
(09:42):
that doesn't take up half mysuitcase?
Okay, please, and thank you.
Oh, and the other family trip wedid is we did go to Flagstaff a
couple weeks ago and we aregoing.
That's going to be our nextpodcast episode.
It won't be very long, butit'll be about that trip.
Okay, so what?
I don't know what is that.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9trips total, not all as a family
(10:09):
, but 9 trips which is prettygood it's pretty good.
And then trips booked for thisyear.
For next year we have three anda half trips booked and they're
all pretty big trips.
So we have two weeks in europeparis and spain.
We have two weeks in japan, wehave a week in yosemite slash
(10:30):
lake tahoe, lake Tahoe, and thenthe half trip is we likely have
another trip to Paris andsomewhere else in Europe next
year, but it's not fully bookedyet because the airline
availability is not open yet forour return flight got the
(10:53):
flight there, yep there, yep.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Which we booked with points.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
We booked with points , yep and waiting on the return
flights to pop up and make surethat they are the point price
that I want to pay In order toknow if we can make the trip
happen.
And from there we'll bookhotels, because there's two
different airports we couldpotentially fly out of and
(11:19):
they're kind of they're notsuper close to each other.
So the airport that we fly outof will determine the hotels
that we book, if that makessense.
So, anyways, okay.
So yeah, that's our year 15cards, one point I'm going to
call it 1.4 million points,because we have some more coming
and again, we're just tworegular humans with full-time
(11:42):
jobs that still manage thishobby and have gotten a lot of
travel.
Oh, I'm sorry, I totally forgot.
I buried the lead here.
I also calculated how muchmoney we saved in travel this
year by using points.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Which is pretty shocking.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
It was a lot of money .
So the way I did this is Ibasically just like when I book
a trip, I look at what the cashprice was and I put it in a
little document and then I addup like what did we actually pay
?
Like you know, because when youdo flights, you pay taxes and
fees.
Right, if you were to pay cash,you would pay those same taxes
and fees.
So I basically added up what wepaid versus the what the cash
(12:26):
price would have been, and thensubtracted Okay, the total
amount of travel that we got forfree in 2024.
And I'm like I'm'm when I sayfree, it's in quotation marks
because we used points uh was41,201 dollars and 68 cents
(12:46):
41,000 dollars it's a lot ofmoney that we didn't pay.
Now that doesn't include, likefood costs or activity costs or
anything, because we don't usepoints for that.
But this is like all flights,all lodging that we used points
for and now the I will say theone thing that it doesn't
include is credit card annualfees, and so I do want to be
(13:09):
super transparent and I'm goingto share what we paid in a
credit card annual fees as wellfor the year.
This is between the two of usand this is again.
Remember that we opened 15cards, because the number is
pretty high, so we paid $4,254for credit card annual fees.
(13:29):
However, I need to like if thatnumber freaks you out, I need to
like pause and take a minute,because that is what the annual
fees cost, assuming you are notutilizing any of your credits on
any of those cards, and we usealmost all of the credits on our
(13:52):
cards.
So like, for example, the ChaseSapphire reserve card has a
$550 annual fee, but $300 ofthat is an annual travel credit
that we use every single year.
So, yes, we're paying it, butwe're also getting the money
back, if that makes sense, whenwe book anything that codes us
(14:15):
travel on that card.
Same thing with the Capital One.
It's a $395 annual fee for theVenture X, but it comes with a
$300 travel credit and that'susually where we would book a
rental car or something.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And those two cards come with club access at
airports Lounge access yes likeclub access at airports, lounge
access.
Yeah, yes, which is, you know,every time you go there, you,
you spend at least save, atleast save, I mean at least 100
bucks especially if it's allfive of us.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
yeah, and even if, even if it's just duane and I I
mean in whiskey alone, duwayneis getting our money's worth,
don't you agree?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Oh yeah, I agree, but you know, got to use it up.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
So don't.
And a lot of those cards wewill not pay the annual fee a
second time.
Some of them we will, but someof them we won't.
And so if someone said, like,would you pay $4,000 to get
$40,000 in free travel, like Iwould say yes, yeah, of course,
who wouldn't?
So if the $4,200 number freaksyou out, like I wouldn't let it
(15:26):
there's we're not actuallypaying that much money.
So, um, and on that note, Ithink let's talk about making
sure you're getting the most ofyour credit card benefits before
the end of the year, because alot of your credits are going to
expire.
And like, do not do this onDecember 29th or December 30th,
(15:48):
because the charge needs to postto your account.
And then, like, the creditneeds to be applied for most of
these and that can sometimestake a week or two.
So, like today, when thisepisode airs, it is Monday,
december 16th.
Like, do this today and expectthat it's going to take you a
little more time than you'reprobably thinking, if you've
(16:10):
never really sat down andthought about your credits
before, because when I sat downthis morning to try to figure it
out and come up with a plan, Iwas a little bit overwhelmed,
which is probably not a surprise, because we opened 15 cards.
A lot of them have credits thatwe can use, and they're all new
to us.
So I think, like probably weshould talk about a couple of
(16:36):
the more like the bigger onesthat we're going to be focusing
on and then also give a coupleof tips on how you can find what
your credits are.
Ok, so, for us, our big one isthe American Express Business
Platinum card, which I have inmy name has a $200 airline
credit that I need to use beforethe end of the year.
(16:58):
It's an annual credit, and sothe way that this credit works
is you have to first enroll inthe credit and you have to
choose an airline.
So one way to do this is tojust choose an airline that you
have an upcoming flight with, ifyou're planning to pay for bags
, or you know if you need to payfor bags or whatever.
(17:20):
Or what I'm going to do becausewe don't have anything that we
can use it for right now is I'mgoing to buy $200 worth of
United Travel Bank credits.
So I'm going to first go andenroll in the credit and I'm
going to choose United as myairline I've already done this
(17:43):
actually, and then I'm probablygonna wait 24 hours and then I'm
going to go into my Unitedaccount.
I'm going to go under like mylike log into your United
account and there's a spot thatsays travel bank and I'm going
to use that card to pay for $200of United travel bank credit
and then next summer, when I goto book our flights for our
(18:08):
Yellowstone trip which I thinkis summer of 2026, we are likely
going to fly United at leastone way, and so I'm going to use
those credits for that.
That's my plan currently,anyways.
That could change, but we alsoget from we have one of the IHG
cards.
We also get $25 United TravelBank credit every twice a year,
(18:30):
so every first half and secondhalf of the year.
Those do expire within sixmonths, I think, so we can't use
all those, but it'll be anextra little boost when I go to
use it.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So um, okay, so how do the credits work for you know
other cards?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
So for the, I think the the super important thing to
know is you have to firstenroll in the credit.
If that makes sense, so like,and that's goes for both chase
or Amex.
Um, those are really the onlylike cards we have at this point
.
So you need to go into youreither Chase or Amex account and
(19:12):
, like, you basically need toclick like add to card or enroll
in this benefit or whatever,before you're going to use the
card, and then you just go anduse the card for whatever it is
that you're buying, and then youshould get a statement credit
of you know, for example, theAmex.
It'll be $200 statement creditonce the charge posts, and so
(19:35):
it's super easy to use.
But you have to make sure youenroll, because if you don't
enroll, you're not, you're notgoing to get the statement
credit, and so I think theeasiest way to make sure you're
getting all your credits is thecard pointers app, and they also
have, like, a Chrome extension,and the Chrome extension is
(19:57):
free.
They try to get you to sign upfor an account.
You actually don't have to that.
You can do a free account, butyou don't have to, but you can
download the Chrome extension orwhatever browser you use, I'm
sure they have it and then yousign into your Amex accounts and
it will automatically add allthe available offers in like a
(20:19):
few clicks.
So it'll ask you like do youwant to do this?
And you can just select all andclick Add to card, and so then
you can like easily look through, like do you want to do this?
And you can just select all andclick add to card, and so then
you can like easily look through, like okay, I need to, you know
, buy from Nike.
Like is there a Nike offer onthis card or whatever it might
(20:41):
be?
Yeah, and so I think that'ssuper, has been super helpful
for me.
And then I also, in the appitself, the card pointers app,
you add in the credit cards thatyou have and then it will tell
you like you have your $5DoorDash monthly credit
available, and then you justhave to manually like slide the
bar to say like, yes, I've usedthis credit.
(21:02):
Or, you know, obviously don'tslide it if you haven't, and
it's a good reminder.
So, like we have a bunch ofcredits that we have to use and
once I use them, I'm going to gothrough and swipe that we did
it and it's probably worthnoting that the credits
available to us, based on thecards we have, is $4,113.
(21:28):
And remember what we paid inannual fees?
What did I say?
$4,113 in potential credits.
And so now can we use all ofthese credits?
(21:51):
No, like, there's an Indeedcredit on the MXBiz Platinum
that I just have no use for andso we won't use it.
But will we use most of them?
Yes, 100%, um, but will?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
we use most of them.
Yes, A hundred percent.
How would someone use money onindeed Well?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
it's a business card.
So it's like if you have tomake a job posting or something
like that for your business, butwe don't, we don't have that
for our business.
So, um, yeah, and so I highlyrecommend the card pointers app.
It is completely free to use.
They do have like a premiumthing.
I don't pay for it, Although Icould see there's value in it,
(22:32):
Because I think if you pay forthe premium, you can type in
like let me use my Nike example.
So I want to.
I need to buy something fromNike and it will tell you like
which cards have the Nike offer.
Okay, without the premiumpremium, you have to go through
each card and check.
So it's.
I can see that it where itwould save you time if you have
a lot of cards like like we do,like we do now sounds very
(22:54):
helpful, but yeah, so when Ihave, when you have someone like
you on on our team.
We don't need that no, no, I, Ido need that.
I use that.
Yes, I use that because it'sit's just a lot.
It's a good way to make sure,like, okay, I'm, I'm making sure
(23:15):
to use these credits.
Like people joke that amex is,like they call it, a coupon
booklet and it really is kind oflike that and it's a little bit
annoying, honestly, to have tojump through these hoops, but
the alternative is to pay $4,200in annual fees and not get
(23:35):
anything back, which is not myjam.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Do you know the difference between jam and jelly
?
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Oh my gosh, we're not telling that.
Yeah, we're not telling that.
Joke on this podcast for adifferent show.
Um, I feel like that's it.
I feel like that's that's ourrecap, yep, um, so a couple
things.
If you've you've made it thisfar.
Uh, we have one more week leftof our review contest, so next
(24:05):
week we will be choosing awinner.
The way that you can win thisraffle to win a $50 gift card to
the store of your choosing isto leave us a review on iTunes
or Spotify or wherever youlisten, and email us a
screenshot of that review, andthen you will be entered into a
raffle to win a $50 gift card.
We've had a few entries alreadya good amount actually and I,
(24:31):
that being said, I still thinkthere's a.
If you do a review and send usa screenshot, you have a really
solid chance of winning, and sothe email that you would send
that to istravelpartyof5atgmailcom, the
number five not spelled out, sotravelpartyof5atgmailcom.
And again, leave us a reviewwherever you listen.
(24:53):
We super appreciate it.
It helps more people find ourpodcast.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, we would appreciate it and thanks for
listening.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yes, thank you very much.
We hope everyone has had agreat year.
We have one more episode to gobefore the end of the year and
then we are likely taking a oneto two week break before we are
back in 2025.
And I already know our first2025 episode is going to be like
our strategy for the upcomingyear, when we don't have any
(25:22):
points left because we have usedalmost all of them.
So, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Okay, thank you all forlistening.
Don't forget to leave a review,send us a screenshot so we can
get you entered into the raffleand we'll catch you on the next
one.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yes, thanks again.
Have a good one.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Bye, thank you.
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