Chase 100,000 Bonus Offer Ends July 30th

"We Don't Travel Enough for a Card With an Annual Fee" — Let's Do the Math

I caught up with a friend last week, and naturally, the conversation turned to travel. He'd just gotten back from a trip through Europe, but he mentioned he'd be feeling it in his wallet for a while. ✈️ The silver lining: his flight had a mechanical delay, so he filed an EU261 claim and is set to get $700 back per ticket.

That's when I asked the obvious question: "Are you using points and miles?"

His answer was one I hear all the time: "We don't travel enough for a card with a $95 annual fee to be worth it."

So let's actually run the numbers on that. 👇

The Math on a $95 Annual Fee

Right now, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® has a welcome offer of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points — but only through July 30th.

Here's what that's actually worth:

• Cashed in at 1:1: at minimum, $1,000
• Transferred and maxed out strategically: up to $2,000

And the $95 fee practically pays for itself. The card currently comes with:

• A $100 hotel credit (that alone covers the fee)
• A year of Apple TV+, on us
• A DoorDash membership plus $10/month in credits
• A $120 Global Entry credit

Add it all up, and you're not just breaking even on the fee — you're coming out ahead before you've booked a single flight.

"But I Barely Travel"

Here's the thing: my friend travels to Hawaii every few years and heads to Colorado every so often. That's plenty. He doesn't need to be a road warrior to make 100,000 points work for him — a single trip to Hawaii, or even a weekend away with his wife at a local hotel, easily puts those points to use.

You don't need to travel constantly for points and miles to be worth it. You just need one or two trips a year — and most people already take that many.

Want to See If You Qualify?

If you're on the fence like my friend was, it's worth a few minutes to check. Read the full offer details and apply here →

If this all gives you a headache, and you want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

Speed Up Your Points Earning with This Staples Hack 🏃

Speed Up Your Points Earning with This Staples Hack 🏃

Earning points can feel slow sometimes, but here's one way to speed things up: buy Visa gift cards when they go on sale at Staples.com with your Chase Ink credit card.

If you have the Chase Ink Business Cash card, you earn 5x points at Staples and Staples.com — and beyond office equipment, supplies, and furniture, Staples also sells gift cards to plenty of your favorite brands, including:

• Target
• Door Dash
• Airbnb
• Southwest
• Uber
• Panera
• Domino's

Once in a while, Staples puts its Visa gift cards on sale, which means no activation fee. 🎉 A couple of things to know before you stock up: the store limits how many gift cards you can buy per purchase, and we've heard some reports of compromised cards, so it's worth being cautious. These sales also move fast, so don't wait around if you see one.

Still, 5x points on gift card purchases is a serious win. What can you do with a Visa gift card? Obviously, you can use it to pay for stuff, but you can also load it onto certain utility bill accounts, insurance and more. 

If you don't have this card yet, right now the Ink Business Cash is offering $1,000 cash back or 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after $8,000 spend. Curious if you qualify for a business credit card? Read here to find out. And if you want ideas on what to do with 100,000 points, check out this post.

Want a strategy session to see if this offer is right for you? I offer 30-minute credit card audits for just $100. Book your session here.

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

Bonus Points Alert: Shop Through These Portals Before the Deadline 🛍️

Bonus Points Alert: Shop Through These Portals Before the Deadline 🛍️

If you've been following along, you know we love stacking points on online purchases — and right now, both United and Southwest are sweetening the deal with bonus points when you hit certain spending thresholds. Here's what's available and how long you have to take advantage.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal ✈️

• Spend $100 → earn 500 bonus Rapid Rewards points
• Spend $250 → earn 1,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points
• Spend $500 → earn 2,500 bonus Rapid Rewards points

⏰ Expires August 10, 2026

United MileagePlus Shopping Portal ✈️

• Spend $150 → earn 500 bonus MileagePlus miles
• Spend $350 → earn 1,000 bonus MileagePlus miles
• Spend $600 → earn 2,500 bonus MileagePlus miles

⏰ Expires August 9, 2026

The offers look similar at first glance, but the spending thresholds are different at each portal — so read the fine print before you start filling your cart 🛒

And don't forget: pair your portal purchase with the right credit card to layer even more points on top. That's how double and triple stacking works its magic 💳✨

If this all gives you a headache, and you want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

100,000-Point Bonus Just Posted — Here's What That's Actually Worth 🎉

100,000-Point Bonus Just Posted — Here's What That's Actually Worth 🎉

Look what showed up in my Chase account today: a 100,000-point bonus from the Chase Sapphire Preferred! This offer won't be around much longer, so if you've been thinking about applying, now's the time.

Here's the deal: you'll earn 100,000 points for a $95 annual fee (offset by a $100 hotel credit), after spending $5,000 within the first few months. It's one of the strongest offers out there right now. You can read more here about why I'm such a fan of this card and Chase Ultimate Rewards points in general.

So, what can you actually do with 100,000 points? A lot, it turns out. 👇

• Transfer to Flying Blue (KLM's loyalty program) and fly Los Angeles to Amsterdam nonstop — up to four times over
• Transfer to one of a dozen+ airline and hotel partners, including Hyatt
• Book straight through the Chase Travel Portal — think 4 nights in Hawaii covered by points alone 🌺

That's the beauty of Chase Ultimate Rewards points — they flex to fit however you want to travel. If you've been on the fence about this card, or aren't sure if you're eligible, let's talk it through.

Want a strategy session like this one? I offer 30-minute credit card audits for just $100. Book your session here.

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

A 30-Minute Credit Card Audit That Changed Everything

A 30-Minute Credit Card Audit That Changed Everything

A friend sat down with me last week feeling overwhelmed — too many credit cards, no clear strategy, and a nagging sense that he was leaving points on the table. Thirty minutes later, we had a streamlined plan. Here's exactly what we did, so you can run the same audit on your own wallet.

The Starting Lineup 💳

My friend's current cards:

1. Discover
2. Marriott Bonvoy
3. United Airlines
4. American Express Gold
5. Citi Costco Visa

How He Was Actually Using Them

• His United card was doing all the heavy lifting as his everyday card — which made sense on the surface since he frequently flies United out of his home airport and gets a free checked bag and lounge access. But his travel patterns told a different story: every other year, the family heads to Mexico or another destination entirely, which means United miles aren't always the most useful currency.
• His Marriott Bonvoy card comes with a free annual night certificate (worth up to 25,000 points) for just $95 a year — which sounds great. The problem? The certificate kept expiring unused. That's $95 out the door for nothing.
• His Citi Costco card generates around $1,700 in annual cash back 💰, which he loves — and honestly, that's hard to argue with. I did flag that the Amex Gold might outperform it on certain spending categories, but cash back in hand is a real thing and I respect it.
• His Amex Gold card? Sitting in a drawer, completely unused. That's where we saw the biggest opportunity.

The New Strategy 🎯

Switch the primary card to the Amex Gold. This is the biggest move. The Amex Gold earns 4x points at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets — two of the highest everyday spending categories for most people. More importantly, those are Amex Membership Rewards points: flexible points that transfer to dozens of airlines like Delta, British Airways, Air France, and more. Though United is not a transfer partner, he could book United through the American Express Travel portal. The earning potential on the Amex Gold far outpaces a co-branded United card for non-flight spending.

Cancel the Marriott Bonvoy card. If the free night certificate expires most years and Marriott points have continued to lose value, this card is costing $95 annually for essentially nothing. Time to let it go ✂️

Keep the Discover card. This is his oldest account, and the age of that credit line matters for his credit score. It stays.

Apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred — now. 🌟 The current 100,000-point welcome bonus for a $95 annual fee (offset by a $100 hotel credit) is one of the strongest offers on the market right now. Chase Ultimate Rewards points are also flexible, transfer to United Airlines directly, and open up a whole world of redemption options beyond just one airline. This card becomes a natural complement to the Amex Gold.

The Result

With two simple changes — activating the Amex Gold as the everyday card and adding the Chase Sapphire Preferred — my friend goes from a single-airline points collector to someone building flexible points across two of the most powerful currencies in travel. Same spending, dramatically better earning power.

---

💬 Want a strategy session like this one? I offer 30-minute credit card audits for just $100. Book your session here.

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

I Already Have the Chase Sapphire Reserve — So Why Did I Just Apply for the Preferred

A 100,000-point Chase Ultimate Rewards bonus is hard to walk away from 👀 — so I didn't. Even though I already carry the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I went ahead and applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. And yes, my clients immediately started asking why on earth I'd want both. Here's the full breakdown.

The Preferred Earns in Ways the Reserve Doesn't 💳

The Chase Sapphire Preferred carries a $95 annual fee, which is effectively offset by a $100 hotel credit — so the card is essentially paying for itself before you even swipe it once.

But where it really shines is the earning structure. The Preferred earns 3x points on vacation home rentals — Airbnb, VRBO, the works. I have several Airbnb stays already on the books, so this one category alone is going to add up fast 💰 It also earns 3x on dining and gas (including EV charging), and 5x points when booking through the Chase Travel Portal.

Where the Reserve Still Wins 🏆

For flights and hotels booked directly, the Reserve pulls ahead with 4x points — and if you book through the Chase Travel Portal, it jumps to an impressive 8x points. The Reserve also offers better redemption rates for World of Hyatt transfers, a points boost on redemptions, plus lounge access and a stack of travel, hotel, and dining credits.

The catch? A $795 annual fee and a fair amount of mental energy to track and use all those credits each year. You can read here about how I used the credits for a whirlwind weekend in Las Vegas. 

Now that I have the Preferred in my wallet, I'm genuinely reconsidering whether I'll renew the Reserve when the annual fee hits again.

The Good News: You Can Combine Them 🔄

One of the best features of holding both cards is that you can transfer points from the Preferred directly to the Reserve — which means you earn on the Preferred's strong bonus categories and redeem at the Reserve's better rates. Best of both worlds, at least for now.

Oh, and a few more perks worth mentioning: the Preferred comes with one free year of Apple TV+ , $120 Global Entry credit, a complimentary Dashpass membership and a $10 monthly credit for groceries and great travel protections. 

Bottom Line

If you already have the Reserve and you're eligible for the Preferred's 100,000-point welcome bonus — apply. The math makes sense and the card earns its keep on its own. If you have the Preferred and are eyeing the Reserve, take your time. The higher annual fee requires a real commitment to maximizing the credits to justify the cost.

If this all gives you a headache, and you want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

  

Stop the FOMO: Here's How to Use Points & Miles to Book Europe Next Year

Stop the FOMO: Here's How to Use Points & Miles to Book Europe Next Year

Deep into summer, the travel envy is real 😅 Your feed is flooded with friends sipping wine in Santorini and wandering cobblestone streets in Rome. If that's you, here's the good news: now is the perfect time to start planning your own European adventure for next year — using points and miles.

So where do you start? Let's break it down.

The 4 Types of Points & Miles You Need to Know

Not all points are created equal. Here's a quick rundown:

1. Airline Miles ✈️
The most familiar of the bunch. Fly with an airline, earn loyalty miles. Many airlines belong to alliances or partnerships, meaning you can fly one carrier and credit the miles to another. You can also rack up miles faster by opening an airline-branded credit card that earns miles on everyday purchases. Once you hit the threshold, redeem them for a free flight or cabin upgrade directly through the airline. Simple enough.

2. Hotel Points 🏨
Same concept, different category. Stay at a hotel, earn loyalty points. Add a hotel-branded credit card to the mix and you'll earn even faster. Stack up enough and you're looking at free nights.

3. Flexible Points 💳
Here's where it gets interesting. These are earned through bank-branded credit cards — think Chase, Capital One, Amex, and Citi — and they're not locked into one airline or hotel. Instead, they can be transferred to more than a dozen different travel partners, giving you serious options. You can also spend them directly in the bank's travel portal on flights, hotels, car rentals, activities, and even cruises. One important note: use them before you cancel the card or they disappear.

4. The Others: Bilt, Rove & Rakuten 🛍️
Bilt functions like flexible bank points, but you earn them by paying rent — yes, really. Rove and Rakuten are shopping portals that layer bonus points on top of your regular credit card earnings when you shop online. Think of them as a rewards multiplier for purchases you're already making. Use my Rove referral link and get 500 points when you sign up. Use my Rakuten referral link and get $50 when you spend $50. 

Why Flexible Points Win

Here's a real example that says it all. A client came to me with nearly two million American Airlines miles — which sounds incredible, and we did manage to book business class flights for her whole family. But when it came to hotels? She had to pay cash 💸

If those had been flexible points instead, we could have covered both the flights and luxury hotels entirely on points.

That's the power of flexibility.

Our Favorite Card Right Now 👑

Now that you understand the difference, you'll have a whole new appreciation for the Chase Sapphire Preferred's current 100,000-point welcome bonus. Those are Chase Ultimate Rewards — flexible points that transfer to dozens of airlines and hotels, including the best sweet spots like Avios, Flying Blue, and World of Hyatt.

The card runs just $95 a year, and a new $100 hotel credit effectively knocks that down to $5 back into your pocket. For what you get in return, that's a no-brainer.

👉 Ready to start earning? Read more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred here — and if you decide to apply, we'd love it if you use our referral link!

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can pay a travel planning fee and we will find all the best points and miles deals for your trip! 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.