On today's No Annual Fee show we discuss: 0:30 Q3 2021 5x Categories Chase Freedom Grocery Stores Select Streaming Services Discover Restaurants PayPal Citi Dividend Gas Stations Home Improvement 3:50 New Citi Custom Cash Card (HT DoC ) Direct Link 20,000 TYP for spending $750 in first 3 months No AF 5x TYP on up to $500 spend each month in biggest category, 1x after that Don’t have to activate (that’s nice) Low cap, but that’s the same as Freedom/Discover/Dividend 5x cards Would be a great card...
Jun 16, 2021•15 min•Ep. 56
A Hot news week has us sitting down to discuss the following: 0:29 Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Direct Link Subject to 5/24 $95 AF (not waived first year) Try generating a referral if you/your spouse have one (chase.com/referafriend) “Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.* That's $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. This product is available to you if you do not have any Sapphire card and have ...
Jun 05, 2021•20 min•Ep. 55
0:30 JetBlue New York - London Now Bookable Direct Link Website was down when they released these (classic JetBlue) Starts August 12, 2021 Economy “from” $595 roundtrip Mint “from” $1,979 roundtrip 4:55 New Airlines: Avelo and Breeze Avelo is a new West coast airline that has set up from BUR ( Link for more details ) Routes are somewhat unique, to about a dozen western destinations. In most cases using much more off the beaten path airports than mainline carriers. Ogden Utah, Pasco WA, Grand Jun...
May 21, 2021•19 min•Ep. 54
0:23 Earn Singapore Status Through Bank Point Transfer ( link ) Get 1 elite qualifying mile for every 5 bank points transferred Transfer 250,000 bank points between April 7, 2021 and February 28, 2022 Get Star Alliance Gold for 12 months Gets you UA lounge access when travelling domestically and other Star Alliance Gold benefits Singapore miles expire 3 years after they’re earned even with activity I do like the potential of status through spend, hope to see other airlines/hotels follow this 06:...
Apr 08, 2021•28 min•Ep. 53
Many of you reading this might not even know there is a podcast called The Milenomics Second Podcast (MSP). We're celebrating on the blog today the ending of season 1 of the Milenomics Second Podcast, hosted by our very own Garth Grawburg. Feats of Strength On the Saverocity Observation deck Festivus Episodes Joe and Trevor often cover of feats of strength. Garth's first season on MSP is, in fact, a true feat of strength. Garth is well known to many Milenomics slack members, and has always added...
Apr 06, 2021•52 min
We've got a full show today. Let's get right into it... 0:25 Q2 2021 5x Categories Chase Freedom Gas Stations Home Improvement Stores Discover Gas Stations Wholesale Clubs Select Streaming Services Citi Dividend Supermarkets Drugstores 3:15 Amex 40% Transfer Bonuses to Hilton/Marriott 1,000 MRs become 2,800 Hilton 1,000 MRs become 1,400 Marriott One use model: Marriott to “high value” foreign carrier programs More on that in the paid show 7:10 Amex Bonvoy Heightened Offers Amex Bonvoy Business 1...
Mar 23, 2021•21 min•Ep. 52
Last year year we launched a podcast network, adding the Manifesto hosted by Gideon the Free-quent Flyer to the Patreon Feed. In this episode Gideon sits down with Kelly de Schaun, Chief Executive Officer of the Galveston Park Board. Enjoy this special episode, and if you're interested in even more great podcast content, check us out on Patreon. Hello, and welcome to The Manifesto with Gideon, the Free-quent Flyer , on the Milenomics Podcast Network. I’m Gideon, the Free-quent Flyer, and I’m joi...
Mar 17, 2021•49 min
Robert: Amex has been ratcheting up the complexity on their offers and benefits. Partially due to covid, wanting to retain customers, and wanting to maintain and build engagement. The gamification of Amex is in full swing. Sam: These credits are not free money, and they’re definitely not always easy as we’ll discuss today... For each of these let’s discuss: The Promise The Problems Possible solutions 1:39 Amex Offers: Slow Posting Early February credits, across the board/on a number of fronts, w...
Mar 08, 2021•28 min•Ep. 51
Robert chats with Robin Hutson from Luxe Recess about luxury family travel trends, blending points & miles with a trip booked through a full-service travel agency, and where families are going in Florida in addition to Disney. 0:30 Travel Planning Picking Up 1:15 Luxe Recess LuxeRecess.com Origin story What Luxe Recess is/isn't Robert's articles on Luxe Recess What are the defining characteristics of “Luxe” to you? And how does that play out in travel as we [hopefully] emerge from Covid? See...
Jan 26, 2021•47 min•Ep. 50
I received an offer via email the other day for a wine-focused rewards credit card I've been monitoring for a while, the Grand Reserve World Mastercard. They've temporarily bumped the welcome bonus on the card to 75,000 points (worth around $450 towards wine and accesories) so I reached out to Grand Reserve Founder and CEO Matthew Goldman for a chat on the podcast. Besides the points & miles stuff we talk about here on Milenomics, I've written a wine blog since 2008 . So it feels like this p...
Jan 20, 2021•37 min•Ep. 49
We're back today with a show we've talked about recording for some time now. The topic of booking travel in 2021 is a unique one because this is a very unique time in travel, miles and points. Spurred on by cancellations last year by both of us, large travel bank balances, and plenty of want for travel we talk about our best practices for booking in 2021. Feel free to comment below with your best practices, and thanks for listening. For more great podcast content check our Patreon page out. 0:28...
Jan 16, 2021•32 min•Ep. 48
We're back with a packed No Annual Fee episode of the podcast. Let's get right into it... 0:22 2021 Amex Perks/Offers ( Summary from Amex ) Personal $30 PayPal Credit Per Month (no activation required) [Targeted] $50 back on $50 at Best Buy (use twice, activation required) [Targeted] $50 back on $50 at Home Depot (use twice, activation required) Business Additional 4x on Gas, Office Supply, Wireless, Advertising, Shipping (capped at $20,000 in spend through 6/31/2021, activation required) Other ...
Jan 06, 2021•32 min•Ep. 47
On today's podcast I chat with Bram Berkowitz to discuss investing in mutual savings banks. I first became familiar with the topic from an excellent article he wrote: See: How The Average Person Can Make A Lot Of Money Investing In Mutual Savings Banks 0:00 Background and intro 2:10 The basic pattern of mutual banks offering pre-IPO shares to account holders, a potential run up and second bump 3 years later Recent example: $EBC 10:10 How to identify future candidate banks? 12:45 Is this opportun...
Nov 17, 2020•17 min•Ep. 46
On this week's "No Annual Fee" podcast we discuss... 0:25 Amex Personal Gold/Platinum Offers through Resy (HT DDG ) Direct Link to offers Personal Gold has standard characteristics (60k welcome bonus, $4k min spend, $250 fee) plus 20% back at restaurants first year up to $250 back Personal Platinum has standard characteristics (75k welcome bonus, $5k min spend, $550 fee) plus 20% back at restaurants first year up to $300 back 10x on Gas and Supermarkets up to $15,000 spend for 6 months Offers do...
Nov 12, 2020•14 min•Ep. 45
Earlier this year we launched a podcast network, adding the Manifesto hosted by Gideon the Free-quent Flyer to the Patreon Feed. In this episode Gideon sits down with Kelly de Schaun, Chief Executive Officer of the Galveston Park Board. Enjoy this special episode, and if you're interested in even more great podcast content, check us out on Patreon. -- [0:00] Intro Original Galveston post: https://freequentflyerbook.com/blog/2015/6/14/galveston-tx-is-a-weird-place-to-take-a-vacation Galveston Par...
Oct 23, 2020•56 min
Today we're doing 10 minutes on the podcast All About Amex. This post is a companion piece to that audio. The goal here is to describe the "quirks and features" (as Doug DeMuro would say) of American Express credit cards and their Membership Rewards program. Amex may not be as straightforward to interact with as Chase but if you take time to familiarize yourself with Amex it can prove to be a very valuable relationship. Card Limits Amex limits the number of active cards we can have with them. Th...
Oct 09, 2020•12 min•Ep. 44
0:25 Stop & Shop Rewards can now be used for Groceries ( Milenomics Slack ) 1 point per dollar earned Redeem 100 points for $1 (1 cpp value) 2,000 max per transaction (ie, max $20 off) Fuel Rewards is 100 points for $0.10/gallon up to 20 gallons (Up to 2 cpp of value if you can fill a 20 gallon tank) But how much gas can you realistically use? You need to log in to your account (on desktop or app) and opt in to GO Rewards . You can’t opt to go back into the old program, but the new program s...
Aug 07, 2020•21 min•Ep. 43
Today we're back with a standard No Annual Fee episode. We do the news, and then talk Personal Finance and Amex Small Business Credits. 0:30 GiftCards.com joins giftcardmall with $2k monthly portal cap Rakuten lasted until 7/7 at $60k/mo Showing $2k cap as of 7/8 1:50 [Targeted?] Chase Marriott/Ritz cards: 10x on Gas + Dining ( DoC ) 7/15-9/15 $3,500 cap Must register: Link 3:15 Discover 20% off Amazon when Using 1 point ( DoC ) Just wanted to mention it’s smart to keep some Discover rewards cla...
Jul 10, 2020•19 min•Ep. 42
A couple months ago we launched the Milenomics Podcast Network which now includes three shows: Milenomics² Podcast with Sam Simon and Robert Dwyer Milenomics Second Podcast hosted by Garth Grawburg The Manifesto with Gideon The Free-quent Flyer Subscribers gain access to these shows as well as a thriving Slack community, the ability to attend meetups, and more. Today we're releasing a free preview of recent episode of the Milenomics Second Podcast where Garth and I talk about wine . Pursuing poi...
Jun 30, 2020•42 min•Ep. 41
We're back with a bit of a stretch for our 'short cut' topic. Robert and I sat down to have a quick chat about our upcoming summer travel plans, both of which revolve around vacation rentals. Along the way, as we tend to do, we took a bit of a deep dive into price variances between booking channels, how does the current Chase 1.5 cpp cash out method play into paying for vacation rentals, and the importance of flexible cancellation policies. 0:15 Summer Travel Plans: Robert: Newport, RI road trip...
Jun 26, 2020•36 min•Ep. 40
Update: Here's link to the Instagram Live video Last week Emirates greatly reduced taxes + fees on awards on their metal using their Skywards miles . That's great for those who want to fly Emirates metal, especially since we can transfer bank points to Skywards 1:1 across so many programs. But the place a lot of us immediately went with this was to wonder... Did Emirates also reduce fuel surcharges on partner awards? That curiosity led to more questions... Can partner awards (like Japan Airlines...
Jun 02, 2020•8 min•Ep. 39
Check your Business Platinum and Personal Gold cards for 20,000 referrals We’ve been seeing [targeted] heightened 20,000 Membership Reward “Blue Star” referrals come and go on Amex Business Platinum and Personal Gold cards. Right now they seem to be “in season” with a high percentage of these cards showing heightened referral bonuses. Update: Others are reporting seeing this one Personal Platinum and Business Gold as well. In this write-up and Milenomics Short Cut podcast episode, we’ll cover ho...
Apr 16, 2020•13 min•Ep. 38
This episode was originally released last July 4th for our Patreon members. We’re releasing it here for all readers and listeners of the Podcast. Maybe you’ll find it a nice 38 minute distraction from everything going on right now. Original Show notes are as follows: Today we’re taking a break from the regular show format to have a little fun. Both of us have a bit of a guilty pleasure: reading 1 star TripAdvisor reviews of hotels. Robert came up with the idea for today’s show, where we read an ...
Apr 07, 2020•39 min•Ep. 15
Welcome to another episode of Short Cuts on our No Annual Fee Podcast. I recently applied for a Home Equity Line of Credit and noticed that my FICO score was a bit lower than I expected. It got me wondering whether it is still important to monitor my credit report and check my credit score, and if so – how? In this episode we mention these services: Credit Karma Credit Sesame Experian.com See also: The Monetization Of Your Credit Score; Or: How Travel Is Not Free Want more? Check out Episode 70 ...
Mar 30, 2020•8 min•Ep. 36
Welcome to another episode of Short Cuts on our No Annual Fee Podcast. Today we talk about where the points & miles game fits in the context of a pandemic like we’re currently experiencing. We discuss the importance of demand schedules. Check this link for more on that topic. Want more? Become a Patron to Unlock 1+ Hour Weekly Shows Support Milenomics on Patreon where you’ll get: A weekly podcast episode for subscibers only Access to a robust Slack community And more… Subscribe to the No Ann...
Mar 13, 2020•8 min•Ep. 35
Welcome to another episode of Short Cuts on our No Annual Fee Podcast. Today we’re talking about opportunities for travel deals surrounding Coronavirus. Not necessarily for travel in the near term, but where we see angles to book award travel further out with flexible cancellation terms. Want more? Become a Patron to Unlock 1+ Hour Weekly Shows Check out Episode 67 of our Paid Show where we discuss: Converting bad bank points into airline travel bank credits A low fee way to pay certain mortgage...
Mar 11, 2020•8 min•Ep. 34
We’re trying something different on our No Annual Fee Podcast this week with a format called Short Cuts . In Short Cuts we’ll cover the latest points & miles news, and our take on recent developments, in short digestible shows with a singular topic. This week we’re talking Coronavirus change waivers, and how to navigate them for upcoming travel. In life almost everything is negotiable, including change waivers. Want more? Become a Patron to Unlock 1+ Hour Weekly Shows Check out Episode 67 of...
Mar 10, 2020•6 min•Ep. 33
We’ve not put out a free episode of the Milenomics² podcast since last year–The success of the paid show led us to focus on the thriving community of Patreon subscribers. Over on the Patreon page , and on the heels of the Shop Talk post we did about AA Account Shutdown issues , we’ve recorded a few paid shows on the topic of AA shutdowns as well. I’m biased, but I do believe the paid podcast has hit a stride–a mix of long-form interviews between Robert and I, discussions of what we’re up to, hil...
Feb 18, 2020•49 min•Ep. 32
0:42 Bank of America $300 Personal Checking Bonus (HT DoC ) Requires $4,000 Direct Deposit in 3 months You need to have a checking account with BofA to quality for their Preferred Rewards program (which provides up to 75% uplift for spending on certain personal BofA credit cards) 1:30 Banco Popular Avianca Vuela Visa 60,000 Offer (HT US Credit Card Guide ) $149 AF not waived the first year 40,000 first use +20,000 with $1,000 spend in first 3 months with code SB4060 Deal or not a deal? 3:53 Cath...
Aug 02, 2019•42 min•Ep. 31
Today we're back with what turns out to be a meaty review of core Milenomics philosophies, but first the news... 0:30 Citi Double Cash to Earn TYP? (HT DoC ) Coming later this year Unclear what the conversion ratio will be 1:10 Citi Going to 48-Month Waiting Period on AA Cards ( link ) 2:10 BofA Alaska Personal 40,000 + $100 Statement Credit (HT DoC ) Direct link Can’t get the card if you’ve had it in the preceeding 24 months 2:55 3x Fuel Rewards on VGCs at Stop & Shop/Giant 7/12-7/18 3:20 5...
Jul 13, 2019•27 min•Ep. 30
