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Creating a Cycle of Saving with Credit Card Reward Points - The Perks of Being Financially Responsible

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In my opinion one of the best perks of being able to responsibly manage your credit cards are all the points that you can earn through sign-up bonuses and normal everyday spending.  Instead of paying cash for items you need and getting nothing in return, putting that spend on a credit card can most likely earn you at least 1% back and many times more in point value.  Contrary to what many people think about credit cards, this actually creates a cycle of saving because you can then use the points you earned through your normal spending, instead of cash, to purchase that flight or hotel night you always wanted and keep your earned income in the bank.   The most important aspect of using credit cards is you have to be able to pay off your credit card balance in full every month.  When you do this, you pay no interest on your credit card spend, and you get to reap the rewards of all the points that you earned... it's free money! The way I thought about credit cards befo...
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Transferring Citi ThankYou Points to Leaders Club Points for a stay at the Hotel Kämp, Helsinki

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My family has been wanting to visit Finland to try to see the aurora borealis for a while.  The plan is to spend some time in Rovaniemi, a city within the Arctic Circle to try to catch the aurora borealis, and then spend some time in Helsinki to see the city sites.  I've always been curious about the Citi partnership with The Leading Hotels of World since it looks like they have many luxurious hotels in their portfolio.  The Leading Hotels of the World loyalty program is named Leaders Club.  The Hotel Kämp in Helsinki looked like a great opportunity to try to experience this hotel program. When you transfer Citi ThankYou Points to Leaders Club Points the transfer rate is 1,000 ThankYou Points to 200 Leaders Club points.  The stay at the Hotel Kämp required 13,074 Leaders Club points for a 3 night stay in a Deluxe Twin room.  Since the transfer rate is 1,000 to 200, you can multiply the required Leaders Club points by 5 to get the amount of Citi ThankY...
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Redeeming a Hilton Free Night Reward for the Roku Kyoto, LXR Hotels & Resorts

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I recently made a redemption at the Roku Kyoto, LXR Hotel & Resort using a Hilton Free Night Reward.  A standard room redemption using Hilton Honors points would have been 110,000 points per night or the cash rate for this booking would have been JPY 118,680, approximately $800 at the time of writing.  I received the Annual Free Night Reward, which could be redeemed at any Hilton hotel, since I have the American Express Hilton Aspire card.  This card has a high annual fee of $550, but it comes with a bunch of benefits, such as an Annual Free Night Reward, a $400 Hilton Resort Credit which can be used in $200 increments semi-annually (only at resorts classified by Hilton per this website  https://www.hilton.com/en/locations/resorts/ ), a $200 Flight Credit which can be used in $50 increments each quarter, a $189 annual Clear credit, and Hilton’s top-tier Diamond Status which grants upgrades to preferred rooms and a food & beverage credit at US hotels or compli...
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Redeeming a Marriott 85K Free Night Certificate for The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

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I just redeemed an 85K Marriott Free Night Award (FNA) Certificate for a night at The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto.  In my opinion this is a great use of this certificate.  Cash rates for this property are over $1,000 per night.  I received the 85K FNA Certificate since I hold the Chase Ritz-Carlton credit card.  Each year on your account anniversary you receive an 85K FNA Certificate.  Other notable benefits you receive with this credit card are automatic Marriott Gold status, 15 elite night credits, Priority Pass membership and a $300 annual travel credit that can be used for airline incidental purchases such as lounge passes, seat upgrades, baggage fees, in-flight entertainment and in-flight meals.  The annual fee for this credit card is steep at $450, but I believe the benefits plus the FNA Certificate you receive in return make the fee well worth it. In order to use the FNA Certificate I had the choice between a Deluxe Guest Room, 1 King, with either a City Vie...
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Redeeming for Travel VS Redeeming for a New iPhone

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Since the new iPhone 15 was recently released, I thought it would be a good time to compare the value you could get with your points by redeeming for Flights or redeeming for a new iPhone.  They both sound like great ideas right?  It would be nice to not have to spend any cash on either of these pricey items, but in this post I will illustrate why it could be a better idea to use your points on flights instead of a brand new iPhone as tempting as that may be. The lowest cost option for a new iPhone 15 Pro is $999.00 through the Apple website or any mobile carrier.   Chase is charging 99,000 Ultimate Rewards points to buy a new iPhone 15 Pro.  This is a redemption value of $0.01 per point.  Not bad, but you could probably do better. American Express is charging a whopping 164,003 Membership Rewards points for the same new iPhone 15 Pro.  This is a redemption value of $0.006 per point, which is obviously worse than redeeming through Chase. So, if you were to ...
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Using Wyndham Rewards for Vacasa Vacation Rentals

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  A great use for Wyndham Rewards points is to redeem them for stays on Vacasa Vacation Rentals .  Vacasa Vacation Rentals is a site similar to Airbnb or Vrbo.  These sites are basically management companies that condo or home owners use to rent their properties.   Wyndham rewards charges 15,000 points per night per bedroom.  So if you were looking at a 1-bedroom property it would cost 15,000 points per night, a 2-bedroom property would cost 30,000 points per night, and so on.  The only limitation it seems is that the average cost per night after taxes and fees has to be less than $500 per bedroom (this has been changed to $250 per bedroom for 15,000 points or between $250-$500 for 30,000 points) in order to use Wyndham Rewards points.  If the average cost per bedroom is more, you won't be able to use your points.  It also seems like there could be blackout dates for certain properties.   This is important to note since you ca...
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Citi ThankYou Points Handbook

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EARNING CITI THANKYOU POINTS You can earn Citi ThankYou points with any of the following credit cards. PERSONAL CARDS No Annual Fee Credit Cards Citi Rewards+ -  2 points at supermarkets and gas stations, up to $6K per calendar year -  1 point everywhere else - Round up to the nearest 10 points in every purchase Citi Custom Cash -  5 points per $1 in your top eligible category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 -  1 point everywhere else Citi Double Cash -  2 points on purchases, 1 point when you buy, plus an additional 1 point when you pay Annual Fee Credit Cards Citi Premier ($95/year) -  3 points on restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel, and hotels -  1 point everywhere else USING YOUR POINTS You can use your points for cash back, redeeming for gift cards, shopping, and booking travel through the Citi Travel portal for a maximum of 1 cent per point and sometimes less depending on how you choose to redeem them.  The best use ...
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