6 ms·

Any recommendations on how to get started?

saryant 11y ago
I'm not quite sure these days. This hobby has gotten far more complicated than it was when I started. Ben's blog and The Points Guy are probably the best intros. I'm not a fan of TPG but he writes a lot of articles on the basics. I've been active on FlyerTalk for about five years—after being in that deep for so long, it's hard to step back and figure out where to guide a beginner. Plus, lots of it is based on your own financial situation. Available funds, credit score, travel profile. I would argue that the vast majority of people are best served getting 1-2 cards with bonuses they spend in (I use the Amex Everyday Preferred and Chase Sapphire Preferred) and focusing on those. Especially if you have multiple people to bring along, you're better off with one of the flexible points currencies from Chase or Amex (or Citi, theirs is improving) rather than chasing airline-specific miles. The exception to the multiple-people advice is hotels, as those redemptions are obviously per-room and not per-person. Hyatt offers the best value IMO but Hilton points are stupid easy to earn. Depends on where you want to go as they have very different footprints.
- ngoel36 11y ago
  reddit.com/r/churning has a great guide
  - saryant 11y ago
    There's a LOT of downright wrong information. There are some bad seeds there spreading FUD to keep newbies away or lead them down a dangerous path, especially around manufactured spend. The outright lies I saw people posting during the Redbird heyday were astounding. Avoid.
- fweespeech 11y ago
  Honestly, I'd argue you are better off rotating through credit cards every 3 months for the sign up bonuses. 4 cards a year is few enough not to draw any real scrutiny, at least so far for me. I'm not sure how you'd get 25,000-50,000 points every 3 months unless your lifestyle is pretty expensive compared to mine. For example: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferred-card.aspx https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferre... -> http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/ http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/ -> https://creditcards.chase.com/6000356?CELL=6WKP https://creditcards.chase.com/6000356?CELL=6WKP -> https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/southwest-premier-business-credit-card.aspx https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/southwest-premier... 180,000 points for $198 [the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those] iirc, 180k points is ~$1800 Just realize this tears up your credit score so don't go getting large 5-6 figure loans for cars/houses while doing this.
  - ethbro 11y ago
    > the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those Given that the primary difference between a credit card application and a business card application is possession of an EIN, I refer you to the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-Individuals/Frequently-Asked-Tax-Questions-&-Answers/Small-Business,-Self-Employed,-Other-Business/Form-SS-4-&-Employer-Identification-Number-%28EIN%29/Form-SS-4-&-Employer-Identification-Number-%28EIN%29-1 http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-In...), Question: Does a small company that operates as a sole proprietorship need a tax ID number? Answer: A sole proprietor who does not have any employees and who does not file any excise or pension plan tax returns does not need an employer identification number (EIN) (but can get one if they choose). In this instance, the sole proprietor uses his or her Social Security number as the taxpayer identification number. However, at any time the employer hires an employee or has to file an excise tax return, they will need a new, separate EIN. In other words, in the absence of a more formal business structure requirement by the credit card issuer, you can be considered to be your own business. EDIT: tldr, use your SSN
    - fweespeech 11y ago
      Yeah, but I'm not sure its worth the paperwork hassle of doing that when you can get another 30k bonus from a different card. 150k v. 180k +EIN cost is likely similar value for $.
      - saryant 11y ago
        EINs are free.
  - Nicholas_C 11y ago
    >Just realize this tears up your credit score so don't go getting large 5-6 figure loans for cars/houses while doing this. What part of this tears up your credit score? The hard inquiries or the opening of new accounts? I may be buying a car in the next few months and now I'm a little concerned about opening up a new account or two for points.
ethbro 11y ago
If you have steady business spending (eg you travel and are reimbursed for your expenses) with flexibility to make some of your own decisions (hotel, flight, etc etc), then I think that's the lowest barrier of entry. Play by the same rules as the stock market: it's not about picking winners a low percent of the time but rather avoiding losing anything and running a reasonable risk profile. If you've got a bit of business spend you can allocate, then you get to play without risking anything. At worst (if some bonus doesn't come through because you missed fine print), you're right where you started (not earning extra rewards). Disclaimer: Assume it's implied, but no points are worth souring a business relation over. Don't chase points too far. If you need to play solely with your own money, it gets a little dicier. For example, that $450 annual fee (not waived) card that results in $1,500 worth of travel points w/ $5k spend in 3 months? You'd better be sure you know all the rules. I'd recommend (as someone else did), trying a few of the smaller card offers. Chase Freedom is a good small starter. They run decent cash bonuses with low spend, no annual fee, and it can ultimately pair with CSP. Basically, approach it the same way you'd approach a casino. They're trying to attract your business. You're trying to game the system. They're constantly tweaking their rules to mitigate the impact of incentives on their bottom line. Learn the basics and then decide how far you want to go.
- ghaff 11y ago
  And frankly, if you're in the situation posited at the top of your comment, you may be better off just taking 1% Amazon points or whatever. (Or even a higher % for travel-related expenses on some credit cards.) It's often a lower exchange in theory but it's a lot more fungible and easier to spend than miles.
  - saryant 11y ago
    If you're in that situation, you're probably best off earning one of the flexible currencies like Chase's Ultimate Rewards or Amex's Membership Rewards. You can redeem for a statement balance or transfer to one of their partners. If you do just want cashback, Fidelity has a straight-up 2% cashback card.
    - 11y ago

I'm not quite sure these days. This hobby has gotten far more complicated than it was when I started. Ben's blog and The Points Guy are probably the best intros. I'm not a fan of TPG but he writes a lot of articles on the basics. I've been active on FlyerTalk for about five years—after being in that deep for so long, it's hard to step back and figure out where to guide a beginner. Plus, lots of it is based on your own financial situation. Available funds, credit score, travel profile. I would argue that the vast majority of people are best served getting 1-2 cards with bonuses they spend in (I use the Amex Everyday Preferred and Chase Sapphire Preferred) and focusing on those. Especially if you have multiple people to bring along, you're better off with one of the flexible points currencies from Chase or Amex (or Citi, theirs is improving) rather than chasing airline-specific miles. The exception to the multiple-people advice is hotels, as those redemptions are obviously per-room and not per-person. Hyatt offers the best value IMO but Hilton points are stupid easy to earn. Depends on where you want to go as they have very different footprints.

ngoel36 11y ago
reddit.com/r/churning has a great guide
- saryant 11y ago
  There's a LOT of downright wrong information. There are some bad seeds there spreading FUD to keep newbies away or lead them down a dangerous path, especially around manufactured spend. The outright lies I saw people posting during the Redbird heyday were astounding. Avoid.
fweespeech 11y ago
Honestly, I'd argue you are better off rotating through credit cards every 3 months for the sign up bonuses. 4 cards a year is few enough not to draw any real scrutiny, at least so far for me. I'm not sure how you'd get 25,000-50,000 points every 3 months unless your lifestyle is pretty expensive compared to mine. For example: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferred-card.aspx https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/sapphire-preferre... -> http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/ http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/ -> https://creditcards.chase.com/6000356?CELL=6WKP https://creditcards.chase.com/6000356?CELL=6WKP -> https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/southwest-premier-business-credit-card.aspx https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/southwest-premier... 180,000 points for $198 [the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those] iirc, 180k points is ~$1800 Just realize this tears up your credit score so don't go getting large 5-6 figure loans for cars/houses while doing this.
- ethbro 11y ago
  > the last one is a business card but this is HN so I suspect a bunch of people have ways of getting one of those Given that the primary difference between a credit card application and a business card application is possession of an EIN, I refer you to the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-Individuals/Frequently-Asked-Tax-Questions-&-Answers/Small-Business,-Self-Employed,-Other-Business/Form-SS-4-&-Employer-Identification-Number-%28EIN%29/Form-SS-4-&-Employer-Identification-Number-%28EIN%29-1 http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-In...), Question: Does a small company that operates as a sole proprietorship need a tax ID number? Answer: A sole proprietor who does not have any employees and who does not file any excise or pension plan tax returns does not need an employer identification number (EIN) (but can get one if they choose). In this instance, the sole proprietor uses his or her Social Security number as the taxpayer identification number. However, at any time the employer hires an employee or has to file an excise tax return, they will need a new, separate EIN. In other words, in the absence of a more formal business structure requirement by the credit card issuer, you can be considered to be your own business. EDIT: tldr, use your SSN
  - fweespeech 11y ago
    Yeah, but I'm not sure its worth the paperwork hassle of doing that when you can get another 30k bonus from a different card. 150k v. 180k +EIN cost is likely similar value for $.
    - saryant 11y ago
      EINs are free.
- Nicholas_C 11y ago
  >Just realize this tears up your credit score so don't go getting large 5-6 figure loans for cars/houses while doing this. What part of this tears up your credit score? The hard inquiries or the opening of new accounts? I may be buying a car in the next few months and now I'm a little concerned about opening up a new account or two for points.

ethbro 11y ago

If you have steady business spending (eg you travel and are reimbursed for your expenses) with flexibility to make some of your own decisions (hotel, flight, etc etc), then I think that's the lowest barrier of entry. Play by the same rules as the stock market: it's not about picking winners a low percent of the time but rather avoiding losing anything and running a reasonable risk profile. If you've got a bit of business spend you can allocate, then you get to play without risking anything. At worst (if some bonus doesn't come through because you missed fine print), you're right where you started (not earning extra rewards). Disclaimer: Assume it's implied, but no points are worth souring a business relation over. Don't chase points too far. If you need to play solely with your own money, it gets a little dicier. For example, that $450 annual fee (not waived) card that results in $1,500 worth of travel points w/ $5k spend in 3 months? You'd better be sure you know all the rules. I'd recommend (as someone else did), trying a few of the smaller card offers. Chase Freedom is a good small starter. They run decent cash bonuses with low spend, no annual fee, and it can ultimately pair with CSP. Basically, approach it the same way you'd approach a casino. They're trying to attract your business. You're trying to game the system. They're constantly tweaking their rules to mitigate the impact of incentives on their bottom line. Learn the basics and then decide how far you want to go.

ghaff 11y ago
And frankly, if you're in the situation posited at the top of your comment, you may be better off just taking 1% Amazon points or whatever. (Or even a higher % for travel-related expenses on some credit cards.) It's often a lower exchange in theory but it's a lot more fungible and easier to spend than miles.
- saryant 11y ago
  If you're in that situation, you're probably best off earning one of the flexible currencies like Chase's Ultimate Rewards or Amex's Membership Rewards. You can redeem for a statement balance or transfer to one of their partners. If you do just want cashback, Fidelity has a straight-up 2% cashback card.
  - 11y ago