Frequent Miler - Common Cents

How to win
the points & miles game
thefrequentmiler.com/go/
commoncents
theFrequentMiler.com
The Game
● Earn miles & points
without traveling
● Travel free
(and in luxury)
The key to winning:

Be smart,
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informed, and organized
Why Frequent Miler is different
● Our audience comes first
● Deep analyses and exciting
discoveries
● Fun: challenges, videos &
podcasts, meetups
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Today’s Talk
Greg: How to
earn miles
without flying
Nick: How to get

incredible value
from your miles
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Please save questions to
the end of each section
Clarification
questions are fine
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Current Topic
Greg: How to ● Credit Card Offers
earn miles (+ Business Cards)
● Credit Card Spend
without flying and Bonus Categories
● Shopping Portals
● Manufacture Spend
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Credit card signup offers
● Easiest way to amass a
points fortune
● Approx 6 million points
available
● Positive credit impact
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This is real
● “Informed Newbie” pulled
in over 700,000 miles in one
year.
● Since December my 20
year old son has pulled in
275,000 miles from signup
bonuses.
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How to Find the Best
Offers
● Shortcut: http://FM.credit
● Best public offers
● Application tips
● Unbiased rankings based
on “Estimated First Year
Value”
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Estimated First Year Value
● Estimated First Year Value =
○ Estimated Travel Value
(Points, Perks)
○ minus
○ Estimated 1st Year Costs
(Annual Fee, Spend Reqs)
● Point Value = RRV
(Reasonable Redemption Value)
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Business credit cards
● Better opportunities
● Smaller credit impact
● Do you have a business?
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Do you have a business?
● Do you own rental property or host via
Airbnb?
● Are you an aspiring author? Artist?
Musician? Poet?
● Do you drive Uber or Lyft?
● Do you ever sell stuff at yard sales,
Ebay, or Etsy?
● Do you mow lawns, clean houses,
shovel driveways, … ?
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Applying for business credit cards
No formal business required:
● Select “sole proprietor” as Type of

Business
● Use your name as the business name
● Use your SSN as your business Tax ID
● Estimate annual revenue
No tax implications
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Current Topic
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Credit card spend
Real Double Miles:
● Citi Double Cash

● Amex Blue Business Plus
2X Capital One Miles = 1.5X airline miles
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Credit card bonus categories
● 5X Flights
● 5X Dining
● 3X Gas
● 4X Grocery
● 3X Apple or Samsung Pay
● 5X Office supply
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More points via bonus categories
● Earn 3X to 5X buying gift
cards
● Use gift cards to buy what
you need
● Staples and Office Depot
often have Visa/MC gift
card deals
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Current Topic
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Shopping Portals
Start your shopping in online
portal to earn extra rewards
for stuff you would have
bought anyway
● Use Cashback Monitor to

find best portal
● Stack portal rewards and
category bonuses
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Current Topic
(Increase Credit Card
Spend)
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Increase credit card spend wisely
● Organize events
● Pay bills via credit card
● Pay student loans or save for
college
● Pay federal taxes
● Buy Visa gift cards and use
(indirectly) to pay credit card
thefrequentmiler.com/ms bill
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Pay student loans or save for college...
Buy Gift of College gift cards with credit card in-store.
● Buy $500 at a time

● $500 gift card with $5.95 fee = 1.19% in fees
● Load $500 to 529 or student loan account
Available at:
● Cumberland Farms
● Stores in southeast, Texas, and California
● More options coming (we hope)
Read more: milesforcollege.com
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Questions for Greg?
Greg:
How to
earn
miles
without
flying
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● The key principles of award Today’s Talk
travel:
○ Luxury Beyond Reason Nick: How to get
○ Travel farther & better incredible value
● Why learn about transfer from your miles
partners?
● How much travel can you get
from one credit card signup
bonus?
● Gaming the system for elite
status
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Question:
● Earned the Virgin
February
Atlantic airline miles 2017
Why Wharton? Why are you here?
necessary to spend a 1. Earn a salary that far exceeds the

week on Richard financial investment you're
Branson’s private island making here.
2. Access an alumni network that
● 1.2 million miles
makes it possible for you to reach
● Took him 6 months
higher or do more good in
● He didn’t fly on Virgin whatever corner of the world you
Atlantic at all intend to inhabit than you would
● Not easy to do this be able to if you didn't invest the
today, but this is why we time, money, and effort here.
play 3.
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October 2016
travel: Nick: How to get
○ Luxury Beyond Reason incredible value
○ Travel farther & better
● Why learn about transfer
from your miles
partners?
bonus?
status
●
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Key principles: use miles for outsized value
● Most airline awards are determined by
region or distance, not cash price
● Most hotel awards are determined by
category, not cash price
● This creates 2 distinct opportunities to
leverage points over dollars:
○ Luxury beyond reason
○ Travel to far-flung places
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○ Luxury Beyond Reason
○ Travel farther & better incredible value
partners?
bonus?
status
●
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The pitch
● You know the one: “If you

50K
miles! sign up today, you can get
enough miles for two round
trip tickets within the
continental USA!”
● You could do that. Or…..
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With the miles from one AA credit card bonus:
● Fly Etihad First Class Apartments

● Abu Dhabi to London
● Cash price: $7,680
● Cost: 62,500 miles + ~$50
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United
● Chase Ink Business Preferred

● Welcome bonus is usually 80K Chase Ultimate
Rewards points
● Points transfer 1:1 to United (80K miles!)
● Points also transfer to many other partners, so
you can . . .
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Luxury beyond reason: Stay 4 nights at the Park Hyatt
Mallorca
Top-tier Hyatt elite status gives you 4 suite
upgrades per year (upgrade a stay up to 7
nights to a suite)
● 2,000 sq ft suite
● Cash price: $2,000 per night
● Cost: 20K Hyatt points per night
● 1:1 from Chase Ultimate Rewards
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incredible value
partners?
bonus?
status
●
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Bank currencies
Amex Membership Rewards points (transferable)
• 17 Airline partners: AeroMexico, Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, ANA,
Avianca, British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, Delta, El al,
Emirates, Etihad, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Qantas, Singapore, Virgin Atlantic
Chase Ultimate Rewards points
• 8 Airline partners: Air France / KLM, British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus,
Emirates, JetBlue, Singapore, Southwest, United, Virgin Atlantic
• 3 hotel partners: Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Citi Thank You points
• 10 airline partners: Avianca, Etihad, Turkish, Air France/KLM, Cathay
Pacific, EVA, JetBlue, Qantas, Singapore, Virgin Atlantic, AeroMexico,
Malaysia, Qatar, Thai
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Why learn about transfer partners?
Let’s say you want to go from here to Hawaii on United.
• United (transfer partners with Chase) will charge you:
• 22.5K miles in economy class
• 40K miles in business/first class
• Singapore (transfer partners with Amex, Chase, and Citi) is
partners with United. For the same flights, they charge:
• 34.5K miles in business/first class
• Turkish Airlines (transfer partners with Citi) charges:
• 12.5K miles in business/first class 60K = RT
thefrequentmiler.com/go/ 4x!
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incredible value
partners?
bonus?
status
●
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One signup bonus Chase Ink
Business Preferred 80K
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper (www.gcmap.com) - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
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One signup bonus: Fly to Europe
Delta One
A350 biz class
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Delta charges 80K miles: Delta One to Europe nonstop
But
Virgin Atlantic
Air France (xfer partners w/ Amex, Chase, charges 50K:
Citi, Cap One) charges 66K miles:
Same flight
Better price
Then use 6K miles to fly to Frankfurt...

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And still have enough left to spend a night in a castle
● Schlosshotel Kronberg ● 20,000 Hyatt points per night

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● The Key principles of award Today’s Talk
incredible value
partners?
bonus?
status
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Most airline programs have region-based award charts
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Travel Better & Farther For “Free”
40K points +
$400
d g e t B usted
Bu
650
40K + $
Greg visited: WV, Spain, Senegal, Nick visited: Hawaii, Japan, Stephen visited: Spain, France,
South Africa & The Seychelles Australia, New Zealand, Niue UK, Belgium, Switzerland,
Denmark & several US cities
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● The Key principles of award Today’s Talk
incredible value
partners?
bonus?
status
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Gaming the system for easy elite status
• Loyalty programs offer elite status for those who spend $
• Status comes with benefits:

• Hotels:
• Free breakfast
• Free club lounge access (food & drinks)
• Late checkout
• Free parking (big in cities like NYC or SFO)
• Airlines
• Upgrades
• Free or discounted change fees (great for flexibility)
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Gaming the system for elite status
• Paths to free or easy status:
• Hilton Gold (free breakfast) via Hilton Honors Surpass from Amex ($95
AF)
• Hilton Diamond (lounge access) via Hilton Honors Aspire from Amex
($450 AF)
• Hyatt Guest of Honor: Globalist guest books for you and you get their
benefits:
• Free breakfast / lounge access
• Free parking
• Late checkout
• Top-tier Hyatt Globalist status with credit card spend
• Need 60 nights. Credit card offers 2 nights per $5K spend
• Card has other benefits (free night after $15K spend)
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Status matching Gaming the system for elite status
• Can often ride a status match-go-round like this:
1. Get the Hilton Honors Surpass from Amex
2. Status match to Wyndham Diamond status (temporary / lasts 90
days)
3. Status match from Wyndham Diamond to Caesars Diamond for 1
year
• Get $100 “celebration dinner)
• Two free show tickets per month
4. Because elite programs sometimes have different calendars, you
can sometimes do this infinitely…..or at lest until they catch up
• I status matched Hilton to Wyndham in 2019 (ended June 2019)
• I matched Wyndham to Caesars in 2019 (ended January 31,
2020)
• I matched Caesars Diamond to Wydnham Diamond in January
2020
• February 1st, 2020 I matched Wyndham Diamond to Caesars
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Places miles have taken us
St. Regis Bora Bora: paid 48K Marriott
points
Hyattper
Si ng night
Ziva Los
apor e Su ites Fi20K
Cabos: lass per night
rst Cpoints
Snow monkeys in
all-inclusive, USA Rented this entire Emirates
Lake Mckenzie
9-bedroom
First Classestate
a n a ra
undF
Saip e s o f E lo s e r
and Is
D o m lan d, Australia
Nagano, Japan in England
Crete,nearBathroom
G reecSandringham
e shower
for
15,000 points per night
Using manufactured spending Niue Deep Blue
techniques, it can cost as littlePacific
as Island
$168.30 per night to stay here.2 flights / week
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To learn more:
• Subscribe to our email newsletter (Instant / Daily /
Weekly)
• THEfrequentmiler.com/subscribe/
• Follow us on Facebook (Frequent Miler)
• Follow us on Twitter (@FrequentMiler)
• Join our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook Group
• Subscribe to Frequent Miler on the Air on your favorite
podcast platform or YouTube
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Frequent Miler - Common Cents

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How to win

the points & miles game

The key to winning:

Nick: How to get

● Select “sole proprietor” as Type of

Real Double Miles:

● Citi Double Cash

2X Capital One Miles = 1.5X airline miles

● Use Cashback Monitor to

● Buy $500 at a time

Read more: milesforcollege.com

necessary to spend a 1. Earn a salary that far exceeds the

● You know the one: “If you

● Fly Etihad First Class Apartments

● Cost: 62,500 miles + ~$50

● Chase Ink Business Preferred

Then use 6K miles to fly to Frankfurt...

● Schlosshotel Kronberg ● 20,000 Hyatt points per night

• Status comes with benefits:

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