Playing "the points" game

[jules815]

Hi everyone, haven't posted here in a while but always lurking. Also, I had knee replacement surgery 3 weeks ago and am doing really well, but am bored out of my mind. 

 

My husband recently took early retirement after over 30 years in a high level, extremely stressful, IT position at a major bank. Best thing he's ever done!  Early in June we had the "what do you want to do in your retirement" meeting with our financial guy. Of course travel came up, and he told us about how his retired parents travel all the time using their accrued credit card points. We used to do something similar with our Marriott card rewards back when our daughters were in college and we'd travel to see them. For years we rarely paid for hotels. Anyway, we recently started using a credit card instead of our debit card for all of our purchases, including all the online recurring payments we have set up. Went on the Chase Ultimate Rewards website yesterday and blown away with how many points we already have with only one billing cycle. So now I understand how his retired parents are able to do all the travel. This is a very good thing! Cash back is also an option with this card.

 

In addition to flights, hotels, rental cars, etc., you can purchase cruises. (I also really like that you can use your points plus cash.) Several Royal Caribbean itineraries, including one to Bermuda from Baltimore on Enchantment that caught my eye.

 

Just curious if any other retirees play the points game and if this is how you afford to travel as much as you do. Have you ever booked a RC cruise using points?

 

[cruiselvr04]

We have enough points for one of our December cruises in a balcony.  We get a free one every couple of years by putting EVERYTHING on our card.  Of course we pay it off each month.  Since we plan to travel even more in the next 5 years we’ll get more points and more travel back.  
 

People comment here about the best card and you can read more from The Points Guy.  We choose one that is very easy to redeem.  We also got TSA pre check free with our card and will do Global entry next time.  
 

You can bet some of the World cruisers will be getting some free travel from their trip.  
 

For us it’s not going to pay for a lot of travel but is a nice extra perk.  

[firefly333]

OP you are obviously in a higher spending bracket than me. I just use my rcl card to pay down balance or obc to spend in planner. I also had a sw card, but dont like flying from love field or I'd have kept it. I used to fly a lot more pre covid and sw card is good., 

 

My issue with using it to completely pay for a cruise, what if the price drops. Hard to get price drops when you used pts. ..or seemed to me.

[Biker19]

25 minutes ago, jules815 said:

Of course travel came up, and he told us about how his retired parents travel all the time using their accrued credit card points.

You might want to look for another financial guy.

[barb in ga]

I've enjoyed redeeming points for travel since 1996. As Atlanta residents, almost all our flights are on Delta, so we use the Delta Skymiles American Express for most of our spending, including most of our direct billed monthly expenses. We've redeemed miles for multiple trips, including Europe and Asia.

 

We  also have a Mastercard and 2 Visa cards for times that we can't use Amex. Chase does co-branding with Hotel companies--we have Marriott and IHG which offers a lot of choices for using points.

 

The Points guy is a great source for points travel ideas, so is One Mile At a Time, and Flyer Talk.

I'm now retired and have more time for following these daily blogs, We've become good at traveling using miles and points. Have fun and check out the websites mentioned.

Barb

[jsf]

A friend told me she has a RCCL credit card and builds up points, how does this work and can you apply to cruises or purchase onboard items?

[aubreyc1988]

I am not retired but I have a CC that has 2 points per dollar spend for any category. I usually save those up for EONS it seems until I have a decent amount ($1,000+) and then book a spendy vacation and wipe off some or all of the expense with points 😄 

[alexgtp]

Yes.

 

I use point's for airfare. I have a CC that gives me pretty good point values. So I literally put everything on that card and pay it off immediately.

 

 

(Chase Southwest)

2x for Hotel/Car
2x local transit/rideshare ( I take train to work so I use this everyday)

2x internet/cable/phone and select streaming (have too many streaming services..LOL)

1x for all other purchases

And I use their shopping portal (southwest shopping) to accrue points on normal things I would be buying.

 

(example I wanted to buy a grill and found one of their affiliates Ace hardware was selling it and they were offering 4X point per dollar spent, so if you spent 1K you would accrue 4K worth of points) Great way of getting points for purchases you would normally be making.

 

Lot's of brand name stores ..Ace, Target, Walmart, Dicks, Bass Pro Shop, Kroger, etc etc!

 

Plus the card  offers additional perks for anniversary , some upgrades per year you can use.

As someone stated TPG (the points guy) is a great resource to learn how to HACK the system and earn points to travel.

 

 

[mom4mom]

We have 4 airline branded cards and play the game to build up enough points on one to get one way tickets overseas so we can take transatlantic. We put one or two recurring bills on each and then use one card to put all the rest until we have accumulated at least 60k and then move to a different card and start over. We’ve been able to do transatlantic for many years sometimes only paying as Lotte as $11 for 2 tickets. We are doing an Arctic Circle TA and  TA from Rome this fall using 2 of our credit card mileage points. Love playing the game!

[robmtx]

We have several points building strategies.

Gotta have an Amex card for when a Royal offer hits.

Gotta have a 2% cash card for "all other purchases"

Gotta have rotating cards for 5% categories. Chase Rewards & Discover

Gotta have a restaurant card with 3% (or more) cashback.

 

We redeem for cashback most of the time, but my GF is migrating toward redeeming for travel with a new Amex Gold strategy that I haven't figured out yet.

 

I have a RC card, but it's only 2% with Royal, good for OBC mostly. Because it's 1% everywhere else I haven't found value in it. I can redeem my Citi 2% cashback for cash and use that to pay for an onboard account.

 

SW Card - now this is a nice one to put in the rotation if you live near a SW hub. Look for the promos to get enough points for a companion pass! I get the pass (and the pts) fly a lot for free, cancel, wait the obligatory 18 months or whatever the cool-down is, and sign back up! While my offer is on cool down my GF can get the card, rinse and repeat.

 

The way that miles are redeemed now a days is more like a monetary value, so I haven't seen value in "miles" cards like others have (we don't fly enough). I did have an AA Aviator card for a year and that was nice for the free checked bags.

 

 

[hal2008]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

You might want to look for another financial guy.

Second that.

[poocher]

We haven’t paid for a flight on SWA in years.  Everything goes on the card every month & then it’s gets paid in full.  Re had a new driveway & walkway installed.  Put it all on the card & paid it off from the bank account, got 10,000 points that month.  Repairs to water damage in the family room, on the card then paid from the insurance payout, that’s another 5000.  Every dime possible goes through a card!

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, jules815 said:

Hi everyone, haven't posted here in a while but always lurking. Also, I had knee replacement surgery 3 weeks ago and am doing really well, but am bored out of my mind. 

 

 

Just curious if any other retirees play the points game and if this is how you afford to travel as much as you do. Have you ever booked a RC cruise using points?

 

 

 

Welcome to the club. I had my knee replaced this past February. So I'm at 5 months and I'm doing good but wish my healing would progress a little faster. Still numb and swollen on one side. Still have some pain at times but not bad. I am exercising the heck out of it so that could be some of it. Stick to your rehab religiously.

 

We just retired last November too. We love it. We pretty much try to live on our social security and pensions and use our 401K's for emergencies and our cruise habit. We have 4 scheduled in the next year but will probably average about two a year.

 

We use a Southwest/Chase card for all our travel and hotel. We got points right out of the gate and we have traveled so much that all of our airline tickets are paid for this next cruise in September. We also have signed up at various hotel loyalty programs too. Mainly Hilton and Embassy Suites but the points are not that much. The Southwest Card makes a huge difference for us.

 

Welcome to retirement. I've never looked back.

[Ozark_Kid]

8 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

 

Welcome to the club. I had my knee replaced this past February. So I'm at 5 months and I'm doing good but wish my healing would progress a little faster. Still numb and swollen on one side. Still have some pain at times but not bad. I am exercising the heck out of it so that could be some of it. Stick to your rehab religiously.

 

We just retired last November too. We love it. We pretty much try to live on our social security and pensions and use our 401K's for emergencies and our cruise habit. We have 4 scheduled in the next year but will probably average about two a year.

 

We use a Southwest/Chase card for all our travel and hotel. We got points right out of the gate and we have traveled so much that all of our airline tickets are paid for this next cruise in September. We also have signed up at various hotel loyalty programs too. Mainly Hilton and Embassy Suites but the points are not that much. The Southwest Card makes a huge difference for us.

 

Welcome to retirement. I've never looked back.

I need to look at the Southwest card.  Our card is a cash back.  Since we fly Southwest often it might be more beneficial to use their card.

With markets the way they are, It will probably be awhile before pulling from our 401k's.

Well I am off to see what the Points Guy says about Southwest. 

[smokeybandit]

2 hours ago, jsf said:

A friend told me she has a RCCL credit card and builds up points, how does this work and can you apply to cruises or purchase onboard items?

I wouldn't recommend the RC card. It's way too difficult to accumulate points.

[Sea Dog]

21 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I need to look at the Southwest card.  Our card is a cash back.  Since we fly Southwest often it might be more beneficial to use their card.

With markets the way they are, It will probably be awhile before pulling from our 401k's.

Well I am off to see what the Points Guy says about Southwest. 

 

Out of KC Southwest is really our best option. We always book the earliest flight we can to avoid any cancellations..

 

I think you would like The SW Card. It's paying most of flights off of points for our next cruise. And our last cruise in November points paid for Linda's flight. We've saved hundreds of dollars.

 

I know what you mean on your 401K's. We've taken a beating this past year. Our financial advisor keeps saying stay the course we will be ok. It helped yesterday as we made over 10K.

[firefly333]

21 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I need to look at the Southwest card.  Our card is a cash back.  Since we fly Southwest often it might be more beneficial to use their card.

With markets the way they are, It will probably be awhile before pulling from our 401k's.

Well I am off to see what the Points Guy says about Southwest. 

When I had the card, sw had 2 cards. One cost $75 and one cost $100. I had the $100 card. Every year on the anniversary I got a big bunch of pts that covered a really nice flight or 2 flights. I could have flown to costa Rica or wherever on the pts. The $75 not as many pts. But yes i paid yearly and also accrued more pts and could fly many times a year., 

 

I finally couldnt use the pts during covid. You can get gift cards instead, but not cash back. I bought a bunch of home depot cards for my bil and some cards for myself. Same as cash. Also restaurant cards.

[jules815]

30 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Welcome to the club. I had my knee replaced this past February. So I'm at 5 months and I'm doing good but wish my healing would progress a little faster. Still numb and swollen on one side. Still have some pain at times but not bad. I am exercising the heck out of it so that could be some of it. Stick to your rehab religiously.

 

Thanks! Only at 3 weeks, and just recently started out patient PT. Still very numb on one side, but starting to have some sharp little jolts of pain, mostly at night of course, and therapist said that's my knee starting to wake up. I've been pretty good about doing my home stretches and exercises. Yesterday they put me on a bike, and I couldn't do an entire rotation without it being super painful (still feels raw in there), so she had me do halves, not going all the way around. She assured me that the stiffness I'm feeling is normal and that could take a long time to go away. Last night was probably the best night's sleep I've had since having it done. Really hard to get comfortable, but last night I was finally able to sleep for a while on my side with a pillow between my legs. 

 

They actually asked my husband to come back as a consultant for a 6 month project they wanted him to manage, and he said no.  Not worth the stress.  Retiring was a good decision for him.

 

We've never flown with Southwest, but they're out of O'Hare now, so finally they're an option for us. 

 

I'm starting to look at cruises for early April 2023. Hopefully in 9 months I'll be back to normal. 

 

 

[rimmit]

I am a Capital One Venture X Guy myself.  2x miles on all purchases and the miles transfer to a fair amount of travel partners.  I am not a huge fan of using the travel eraser where every mile/point can has a value of 1 cent as you can get much better redemptions by transferring points/miles to partners.  
 

The best value for redemptions is on biz class seats by far but You can find some good redemption for economy as well.  Just not the same level of value on your hard earned points.

[AlohaLivin]

We really like our Chase Sapphire Preferred and use it for as many expenses as possible. I wish we had more expenses we could use the card for, but utilities, pre-paid taxes and mortgage vendors either don’t allow us to use a Cc or charge a large enough fee for using one that it is not useful. One of my patients used to fly regularly to New Zealand in first class lie-down seats using credit card points - but he had a construction-related business where he bought large amounts of building materials on his credit card that were later covered by his customers. Lucky duck 😂 We also use the Delta Amex for a few extra flight-related benefits.
 

We have considered getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve which offers even more benefits but a $550/yr fee. Maybe after retirement we will try that when we travel much more. If you were able to accumulate that many points that quickly, you’re clearly able to put more on the card than we have been able to manage. But for now our reward points are more than covering our pre-cruise hotel stays with extra banked for later.

 

* If anyone has any great ideas about how the rewards cards can be used to maximize rewards ( other than for food/groceries, gas, and travel that we now use it for), please let me know!

[DrivesLikeMario]

If you don't mind flying coach, SW has really good perks with their credit card.  Son uses it for work travel and has really racked up the points fast.  TPG is a good resource.  Congrats to your DH for early retirement!  Mine just did the same thing!  🙂

[poocher]

24 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

We really like our Chase Sapphire Preferred and use it for as many expenses as possible. I wish we had more expenses we could use the card for, but utilities, pre-paid taxes and mortgage vendors either don’t allow us to use a Cc or charge a large enough fee for using one that it is not useful. One of my patients used to fly regularly to New Zealand in first class lie-down seats using credit card points - but he had a construction-related business where he bought large amounts of building materials on his credit card that were later covered by his customers. Lucky duck 😂 We also use the Delta Amex for a few extra flight-related benefits.
 

We have considered getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve which offers even more benefits but a $550/yr fee. Maybe after retirement we will try that when we travel much more. If you were able to accumulate that many points that quickly, you’re clearly able to put more on the card than we have been able to manage. But for now our reward points are more than covering our pre-cruise hotel stays with extra banked for later.

 

* If anyone has any great ideas about how the rewards cards can be used to maximize rewards ( other than for food/groceries, gas, and travel that we now use it for), please let me know!

I put my insurance pmts, cable, internet, cell phone bills, oil bills,  

[SummerBeee]

If you are a Costco member, the Costco CC gives great cash back for travel. Paying for the WC with this card

[Bluemymind]

Welcome to travel hacking. If your good with credit and pay your bill in full every month then Yes your can get a lot of free travel if you play the system. We haven't paid for a cruise with points but it can be done. We use our points for flights and hotels before and after cruises. Our main card that we use is the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I got a pretty good point bonus when I signed up for it. The next card I use is Chase Hyatt card. I received 70,000 points when I signed up 4 years ago. The annual fee is $95 and you get 1 free night a year. With the Chase Sapphire care you can transfer those points to United airlines, Hyatt, Southwest Airlines and a couple of other company's at a value of 1 to 1. 

 

There are a ton of people online offering advice but the one I found the most useful is 10Xtravel.com they have a free online course you can read that is very helpful plus they have a Facebook group too. 

 

 

[nelblu]

I use primarily 2 cards--Fidelity Visa that earns 2% on everything and moneys are transferred to my brokerage account.  The other is a Chase Visa Sapphire.  It has a $95 annual fee.  You earn 3/2/1 respectively on restaurants, travel and everything else.  The best part is that if you use the points for travel and book thru Chase, the points are worth 1.25 cents.  Therefore, 50,000 points are worth $625 vs standard $500.