This is just a shameless advert because the referral bonus has doubled for three days only, starting today. But, in all seriousness, if you haven’t checked out Rocketmiles, they offer a truly great service.
I find myself in the dilemma of whether or not to keep the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card or not now that I have the EveryDay Preferred card.
VS
This one is strong for big spenders, as spending over $30K triggers a bonus 15K Membership Rewards points. The earning structure for this one is:
And the annual fee is $175.
This one is good for smaller spenders or those that make a lot of “everyday” transactions. I’m definitely in this category. Living in NYC, it’s easy to acquire the 30 transactions a month needed to trigger the 50% bonus this card gives. The earning structure on this one is:
And the annual fee is $95.
Also see:
This was my first Amex experience where I was NOT instantly approved. In fact, I was straight up DENIED for the Amex EveryDay Preferred card.
I didn’t take a screen shot of the “denied” decision page because I was kind of shocked and didn’t think to do it. But yes, it said I would receive a letter in the mail… and all that yada yada.
This was to be my sixth Amex card, and the fourth issued directly from Amex (I have the Platinum Card, the Premier Rewards Gold, and Delta Platinum SkyMiles cards). Recently, I’ve been thinking of closing the PRG and/or Delta card because I really don’t use them all that much. I’d need to spend at least $30K on the PRG to make it worthwhile, and you all know how I feel about Delta by now.
Yes, another one (following the recent Kohl’s card).
The Amex EveryDay cards weren’t supposed to be live until April 2nd, but for whatever reason, they went ahead and released them early. I’ve been considering dumping one (or two) of my Amex cards after getting screwed out of Membership Rewards bonuses multiple times which caused me to wish Amex to DIAF.
I’ve decided to give them another chance due to this long overdue and solid entry into the premium card market, which pits them directly against my beloved Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Barclaycard Arrival Plus, which I just decided to keep for another year.
This card is truly set up to be an “everyday” card for daily spend. Their marketing people are geniuses. The card earns full Membership Rewards point which are fully transferable to 17 air and hotel partners. The signup bonus is a modest 15,000 Amex Membership points at the time of writing, which, who knows, maybe I’ll actually get this time.
I’m not using the Premier Rewards Gold card as much as I thought I would. Yes, it earns 3 points/dollar for airfare, but the other categories really aren’t much to write home about. The card is truly only worth keeping if you spend $30K in a year, which earns you a bonus 15,000 points.
So I’m glad they’ve put out a new card with a new new points earning structure:
That’s all fine and good. The kicker is that you get 50% more points if you use the card 30 times or more in a month. And you can track your progress on the mobile app and website. This forces you to constantly interact with the product to make sure you get the bonus each month. How smart is that?! I know I will be checking to make sure I get that bonus. It brings the spend categories to:
That is a wonderful earning structure.
By following our axiom of getting 2 cents of value out of every point or mile, we will effectively get this rate of return:
That gives this card the best rate of return for travel in the industry. And yet, I don’t see it, personally, as a competitor to the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The CSP’s big categories are 2x points (4% cash back) at restaurants and on travel purchases, which makes these two cards unlikely complements of each other. Between the new Amex EveryDay Preferred and the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I’ve got a solid earning strategy for daily spend. But, the Barclay Arrival card is STILL valid thanks to its ease of earning, great shopping portal, free TripIt Pro, and really cool online community.
Overall, this is a very, very good thing and a welcome addition to the credit card market. The more, the merrier in this case.
I will be sure to post more thoughts as I begin to use and interact with the card and the app. But for now, very glad I got this one. It holds a lot of potential.
Today was my tenth day of oil pulling. I’ve tried it a couple of different ways and have found the way I like to do it best (that’s what she said!). I also explored the benefits of coconut oil and have decided I might just turn into a coconut any minute now.
A+
I’ve written at length about the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express card.
Two choice quotes (yes, I am quoting myself):
“The unsung hero of cashback cards.”
“The best cashback card on the market.”
I have this card and find myself using it quite a lot. I keep it in my wallet and use it when I’m somewhere that is not in a bonus spend category (hardware stores, big box stores, random services) which happens more than I thought it would. It’s a nice way to “give myself” a bonus since I like to earn 2 points on every dollar I spend.
I also LOVE their shopping portal. It regularly offers larger payouts than other portals, including the already generous Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal. Except these points go right into your brokerage/IRA/college savings account for you to invest however you want, which is pretty cool. I always check this portal and am sometimes blown away by how large their payouts are. They also have more online stores than the other portals.
This card is quite the anomaly in the points and miles world: it’s an American Express card issued by a Bank of America subsidy that plugs directly into your account at Fidelity… what? How did those partnerships produce this card?
Also see:
Be the elephant
Evernote, for me, was one of those services that my friends highly praised, but that took me a while to get into for myself. Maybe it will be like that for you, or maybe you’ll instantly fall in love with it.
I have a new brain. And that brain is Evernote. Their tagline is “Remember everything.”
(Please note you need a Chase Ink card and a Kohl’s charge card to replicate this.)
Just a quick follow up to my recent obsession with the points bonanza that is Kohl’s.
Points are starting to post. Here’s a rundown of everything I got for a $257 purchase.
2,573 Ultimate Rewards points, which I value at ~$50!
Axiom time.
It is very hard to assign a monetary value to points and miles. Specifically, points issued by banks (Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, Thank You points, Arrival “miles”) and airline mileage programs (AAdvantage, MileagePlus, SkyMiles, Easy Returns, Avios, etc., etc. etc.)
Valuations vary wildly depending on who you ask. But if you ask me, it’s simple. You want to get at LEAST two cents of value out of each point or mile.
And that’s the smoking gun right there. Don’t waste time trying to assign some sort of arbitrary value out of your points and miles. You want to shoot for a minimum value of $.02 each.
I kicked off day two properly. As soon as I woke up, I went and stuck a spoonful of coconut oil into my mouth, set a timer, and started swishing. Normal, right? You’re supposed to do it first thing in the morning to start with a “fresh palette,” and it’s more effective because you haven’t eaten in 8 or so hours. Also – just a good way to start the day.
There were some dishes in the sink and a few things around the house that needed to get done, so I set about cleaning up, which helped A LOT to get my mind off the fact that I was swishing. I resumed the same pattern as the first day and the twenty minutes flew by.
Very happy to report I just got in on my first round of 30% off at Kohl’s combined with Kohl’s Cash, Ultimate Rewards, and the Kohl’s Card (which I picked up a couple of weeks ago).
I spent ~$257. But I’m getting $100+ of it back. Whaaaa?
All this good good
If you’re thinking “WTF is oil pulling?“, that was also me two days ago. Those were the exact words in my thoughts. Luckily, if was also the title of this blog post that explains what it is in detail. (I borrowed the image above from that post.)
Then I went to the Google monster and found a few other choice links:
http://www.designmom.com/2014/01/oil-pulling/
http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/oil-pulling-the-habit-that-can-transform-your-health
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/oil-pulling-benefits_n_3940361.html
So now, I thought I’d document my experience along the way in case anyone else is interested. Feel free to skip this little mini-series if this is like, totally not your thing. I totally understand. 🙂
Hello and welcome to Out and Out! My name is Harlan – I’m a points and miles enthusiast who loves to travel. I am interested in personal finance, the power of positive thinking, and the extraordinary journeys that make life worth living.