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Andrew Chen and I recently talked ins and outs of the miles and points world on his podcast, Hack Your Wealth. The recording was published today. Listen to it on his site, linked above, or directly from MileValue via Spotify, below. The Hack Your Wealth podcast can also be accessed on most major podcast platforms, like Apple, Google, Stitcher, Pocketcast, etc.
We had a great time discussing how the industry has evolved, the direction it’s heading, & how that should affect your strategy earning miles and points, as well as spending them.
What’s Hack Your Wealth?
Hack Your Wealth is a blog that explains, in language everyone can understand, the most important financial, tax, retirement, investing, and estate planning concepts that founder Andrew Chen taught/teaches himself.
In Andrew’s words, Hack Your Wealth provides a “framework for methodically and strategically building our wealth, managing our portfolio (tax efficiently), and legally protecting our assets.“
He interviews experts on his podcast that lend insight and advice speaking to the same subject matters.
How does this relate to the world of travel rewards?
Andrew Chen treats his miles and points as a tax-free asset class in his portfolio, because:
“they literally translate into thousands of bucks in savings. For every trip. It’s one of the highest impact ways to boost your nest egg because those dollars stay compounding in your portfolio rather than getting spent. That’s why for this week’s podcast, I invited Sarah Page Maxwell, a miles and points expert, to share strategies on how to maximize point redemptions specifically for free flights – especially international flights, since those have the biggest arbitrage opportunities for outsized redemption value.”
What you’ll learn in the podcast:
- How the miles and points landscape has changed over the years and where the opportunities still are (HINT: FOREIGN LOYALTY PROGRAMS)
- Strategies for maximizing your point redemptions
- What is considered a “good” redemption value (and why you shouldn’t just use the sticker price of a flight)
- How to pick the flexible point program that best matches your travel goals
- Tradeoffs for redeeming from an issuer’s own travel portal vs. transferring out to partners
- Tools for getting the latest scuttlebutt on redemption arbitrage opportunities/inefficiencies
Tools I mentioned in the podcast to help your miles and points game:
- Milez.biz
- PointsBuzz
- Credit card churning subreddit
- FlyerTalk
- Where to credit
- MileValue’s Award Booking Service
- MileValue’s Credit Card Consultation Service
Big thanks to Andrew Chen at Hack Your Wealth for the opportunity!
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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