Agreed. But to get United to treat you nicely is priceless (mixing metaphors). 
Just kidding, for any United fans out there.
It’s perhaps somewhat analogous to people living on cruise ships in retirement, then you don’t need to pay for anywhere else to live. Presumably his points are used to pay for a hotel when he isn’t sleeping on an overnight flight or visiting friends.
I once tried this approach while interrailing in Europe, getting on a different overnight train each night so I didn’t need to pay for a hotel. I was young back then and I only managed to last a week. But if I was traveling in first class with a flat bed then I might last longer! I would definitely want to go to Latin America a lot though, because the jet lag going to Europe or Asia would really mess you up and coast to coast flights are just too short.
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I agree.
I’ve sat next to folks doing “mileage runs” to rack up points if they are running low or if there is a special deal ongoing.
My favorite was a wonderful man flying from ATL to SFO. We sat together, and he regaled me with stories about how much flying he done. I was getting off at SFO, but he had a wheelchair when we deplaned to catch a flight from SFO back to ATL, leaving in 10 minutes, literally just after we arrived.
Wonderful guy, and we kept in touch for a few years thereafter. But that’s a bit too extreme for me.
Being in a plane like the United passholder did for effectively days on end is probably not the healthiest experience. But, I am sure he has had a ball.
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Wouldn’t that mainly be based on your frequent flyer ranking / level?
If it were, it wouldn’t be United, or, as some of us affectionately used to refer to it “Untied.”
A word of warning, to those who churn credit cards for award bonuses, as I do.
We have tons of cards, my husband got irritated with keeping track of them all, so he asked me to cancel what I could. I cancelled his Delta Amex Platinum card. A week later, he got an email saying that since he hadn’t kept his card for a year, he was not eligible for the new cardholder bonus (that he’d already received months ago). It hasn’t been quite a year since he got it, and I’d lost track. The agent hadn’t said anything when he cancelled, and when he contacted them to try to reinstate the card, when the agent attempted to, the system wouldn’t allow it. So great, now I’m waiting for them to deduct 90K miles from his Delta account.
Point being, when you cancel a card, make sure you’ve had it for at least a year, or they may take away your welcome bonus. Sigh.
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Ready to dip a toe into the ‘travel points card(s)’ waters - after several years of stringently paying off debt and economizing via Dave Ramsey’s method (debit cards only! never use credit cards!). But this thread has been inspiring (plus a bunch of travel-hacking podcasts!).
Looking at a few upcoming ‘retirement locale scouting’ trips & have two kids a 4 hr plane flight away - so am grudgingly letting go of my Ramsey-cash/debit-only philosophy.
Two questions if i might ask the experts here?
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Is Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee) better than Bilt (no annual fee + includes points for American Airlines)? 5 Things to Know About the Bilt Rewards Card - NerdWallet
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If I’m trying to economize generally (travel AND other categories) - is a cash back card like Citi Custom Cash actually better than a travel points card? Citi Custom Cash Card Review - NerdWallet
One of my frugal friends is exhorting me to get the no-fee, cash back card, rather than:
- Tying my rewards in travel alone and/or
- Paying out an annual fee
So appreciate any thoughts!
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We USED to be fans of the Capital One Quicksilver card, no foreign fees. Then when COVID hit, the idea that Cap One would give anyone a card bit them in the butt----many couldn’t pay their CC bills. So what did they do? They lowered my credit limit BY TWO-THIRDS! We used the card quite a bit, and always paid our total balance every month. I called them and pleaded my case, and they politely said ‘too bad’.
SO—we wanted to just cancel the card but did not–credit score would have taken a hit. So it sits, unused. If that’s how good paying customers are treated, no thank you.
We have 2 other cards with five-figure credit limits, that did NOT try to dump their self-inflicted problems on paying customers.
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We have both the Chase Freedom and Sapphire. The disadvantage to Sapphire is that it’s $95/year. The advantage is that you get a miles bonus at signup. Right now it’s 60,000. That’s substantial.
We’re going to Japan to ski in January. I was able to get business class tickets back to Seattle for 55,000 miles per person.
As for Dave Ramsey, he has some sound ideas, but he can be dogmatic. There’s nothing wrong with credit cards per se. What’s bad is high interest credit card debt. Just pay them off monthly, or better yet twice a month, and you’ll be fine.
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I think Dave Ramsey is good for those who don’t spent responsibly. Taking away the convenience of credit cards, takes away impulse buying.
If you are a responsible spender, then take advantage of the rewards.
No sign up bonus but we have the Costco visa and it works well for us.
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We’ve had the Chase/United card for more than 20 years. I think it is $95/year now, but United is where hubby stacked up frequent flier miles with work travel (26 trips to Japan), so it makes sense for us. We also get annual passes for United lounge.
@Jolynne_Smyth - Here is a point where you could think about strategy. Possible options:
- ALL charges/rewards accumulating same place, for maximum reward benefit, easy perusal on annual report. (that is what we do, since we like flying United)
OR - Have one credit card for Needs (groceries, gas, car repairs, necessary autopays like cellphone) and another for Wants (restaurants, travel, most shopping/Amazon, streaming services, etc). This could give you a quick budget split to help with retirement planning. It might be a pain though to carry two cards, decide each time whether the charge is for a Need vs Want.
OR - Other plan - there could be lots of variables due to family circumstances. For example, we have an extra card tied to some money husband inherited - he uses that for travel/vrbo with extended family, this weekend a funeral trip, extra Wants for his photo and biking hobby etc.
I don’t think it really matters how you do it. Just worthy of some contemplation of how to best deal with the new card, perhaps gain some advantage on your “budget” process.
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We have 3 reward cards. The Chase Sapphire is one we have had for many years. It served us well for several trips via miles on Air France/KLM and I’ve been able to gift my three kids mileage trips for each of them to take a big trip. In more recent years I’ve not had as much luck getting mileage tickets and I’ve used points for hotel rooms which isn’t the best use of points. I like that it has no foreign transaction fees plus gives me car rental protection and travel insurance. We used the car rental protection once and while it took a bit of work on my part they covered us. We used to use it for everything but my husband prefers me to use the Costco business visa.
The Costco card gets us cash back and is tied to Costco membership. We have the understanding that any cash back we stash away for vacations.
We also have an Alaska airline card that we should cancel as we don’t fly them much anymore.
I’ve been told to never use my debit card for anything but getting cash from an ATM. Your credit cards have more protections from scammers. My son had his debit card scammed and he had to wait to get his money back.
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Thank you all for these thoughtful and nuanced replies! A few things helping me feel a bit better about moving to a credit card:
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Like you said, Colorado_mom, using it could still be part of a careful tracking/planning budget process (I’ll likely get one card so I can see easily where all the $$ has gone!), (for tracking purposes).
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As several have mentioned - I’d pay off right away and ensure I never spent more than I had in my bank account (nervously visualizing paying off the day after I run the cc charge!).
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Sounds like it makes sense for you to only get one credit card. You already have a debit card.
I pay our Visa monthly, via the the handy Chase web page. With that convenience (and the extra time in retirement), I do pay it right away. Ha, I just leave it next to my ipad/keyboard on the kitchen breakfast bar until I have reviewdd the charges are paid the bill. The interest and fees for a missed payment, which happened once years ago due to vacation distractions, are quite painful.
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Oh 100% agree - I reviewed the interest rates - incredibly high! I’d have to go into it with the commitment that I never, ever miss a payment and don’t use as an ‘emergency fund’ in any way…
I got a Fidelity 529 Rewards card back in the day when I was saving for college and put the 2% bonus $ into Fidelity 529 plans for my kids. Began using the card for most spending except for anything that had a usage fee, and paid the bill in full every month. Once paying for college was done, I switched the bonus to our Roth IRA plans with Fidelity. My Fidelity Roth had been set up to pay for the last year of college for the kids, so the assets wouldn’t be counted in the FAFSA. In retirement, bonus is now in a Fidelity investment account, but am now using another rewards card for regular spending.
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Miles_Pererra - if you don’t mind sharing - were you able to accrue substantial sums this way? I always felt like the benefit was so tiny vs the risk of using a credit card (overspending!) so I’ve steered away. Can’t really wrap my head around how much a cash back type of card would even accrue…!
Obviously, it depends on how much one spends per month. Spending 3k per month earns $60 bonus, and over a year, $720. With the occasional large ticket item like a major appliance, home repair, or vacation, you can add a lot more. I used this cc for about 7-10 years before paying for college. This is not a huge amount of $, but it added to the 529 plans without thinking too much. Of course, an additional 1k/yr was a bigger deal when college costs were 40k/yr instead of 80 or 90k now. Also, one has to avoid unnecessary spending just for the bonus, and one must pay the bill each month.
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Thanks for sharing, Miles. Trying to decide between the cash-back and travel cards, so good to hear first-hand!
I’m overwhelmed by all the podcasts, online classes (5 hours?), websites, etc. re: the ‘travel hacking’ with points.
Might be lazy (probably) but thinking I can just get the #1 recommended card and be done with it…? If I can spend the required min for sign on bonus? I keep delaying doing this - paralyzed by info overload, guilt that I should take that five hour training course, set up spreadsheets, blah, blah 
.
Also any credit card is a big departure after years of debit/cash only (b/c Dave Ramsey) so I think I’m resisting LOL
Sorry for the basic nature of this question!
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