We bring you the sad news of how AMEX devalues Business Platinum, greet the Altitude Reserve card launch, visit Minsk, kill bed bugs, bring you travel jobs, talk about college dropouts, check out the photography, go on an Air Koryo helicopter tour, unleash furor against blogs that never stop selling credit cards in every post & more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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TBB writes some awesome eclectic stuff over the weekend. In case you missed them:
Saturday: Ryan Leaf Letter, Renting Experiences, Change Is Not Easy
Sunday: Hard Work New Status Symbol, Crab Blood, First Sex Robot
Well, it should not have been a surprise at all. But what was surprising was how quickly Amex killed the 50% Amex Business Platinum 50% rebate feature. And replaced it with a 35% rebate and an upper 500,000 Membership Rewards points ceiling. The 50% points rebate was the most valuable feature of this card…by far! Which now makes this card a really blah card and not a standout. At all. What the hell is wrong inside Amex, are these guys in total panic and disarray or what? The different versions of the Platinum card, the different fees, the different benefits…it has become confusing as hell! But make no mistake!
The US Bank Altitude Reserve card launches today, here is a recap of it. Let me know how your experience is in the comments…
My blog is slowly turning into a curating type blog of amazing content around the internet. Not just the ever diminishing and devaluing miles and points blog space. I just wanted to throw that out there, welcome Oprah Show readers!
Midwinter Minsk: Socialist Modernism in the ‘Soviet Florida’. The blogger at The Bohemian Blog keeps producing some amazing content. He does small tours too, maybe one day I can manage to go to one of them.
Highest-paying jobs for people who love to travel. Wow, glad I did not go into this out of college by following my passion 🙂 Anyway, I do not see miles and points/credit card sales representative like these guys in there!
The myth of the successful college dropout. If you needed yet another reminder that education is so worth it…And this excerpt made me laugh:
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was asked to give this year’s commencement address at Harvard, he asked for advice from Bill Gates.
Zuckerberg said, “They know we didn’t actually graduate, right?”
To which Gates replied, “Oh, that is the best part! They actually give you a degree!”
This year’s best photography from around the world. Exactly what it says. I think the photos of the kids practicing gymnastics in China are shocking<——–apparently, this word works better in a headline…to attract clicks.
Your personal finance read of the day: Playing favorites. Love this as I can confirm it is true 🙂
Markets.If you retired in 2000, you would have struggled through a decade of lousy stock market returns, even as your own need for spending money drained your portfolio. By the time the current eight-year bull market kicked in, your savings might have been sadly depleted, thus limiting your dollar gains. None of this was your fault: It was just bad luck.
By contrast, if you had entered the workforce in 2000 and started investing regularly, you would have spent the next decade buying stocks at all kinds of prices, some high, some painfully low. But if you had stuck with it, you would have got your reward: When stocks took off in early 2009, you’d have had a healthy sum invested—and your money would have more than tripled over the next eight years, with any additional savings further padding your portfolio. None of this was due to your brilliance: It was just a lucky sequence of investment returns.
Pyongyang Air Koryo Helicopter Tour: I don’t think I have seen these pictures of the city from above…
How to check your hotel room for bed bugs in 5 easy steps:
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced level hobbyists and veteran blog readers & personal rants & stuff
I had a great time in Fort Lauderdale at the Westin Beach Resort. My review: Excellent location, right across the marvelous beach, view from my room was great, two great restaurants with amazing to awesome service, the almost $40 daily resort fee just sucks. Bonus: There was a “Women in HVAC” conference going on, not my type but hey…my luck I guess LOL. I also suck in selfies!
I got a great lesson in reselling at the TBB reader meetup. If I did not have a professional and blogger life, I would be all-in!
These were my third and fourth flights on Spirit. They have all been totally fine. I always had an exit row seat. And no travel interruptions. I had a shot at a bump but they were only giving out a RT ticket for a 3 hour delay and a connection. No $ vouchers. I took my chance to be DrDao’ed but I knew I had no shot at it. And oh man….they were selling their own credit card hard. Spirit’s operations in Fort Lauderdale are pretty big.
For some reason I really like this picture I took from the skywalk to the beach in the Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale.
A selected sample of credit card pumping and other posts that make you shake your head and scream WTF!
Amazing how this card is still sold like…nothing happened:
Mommy Points: Not too late to get a year of 50% points return with AMEX Business Platinum
Points, Miles & Martinis: New Amex Business Platinum Card Members to Get 50% Benefit for 1 Year!
And there is always the constant credit card pumping from this outfit…smh
Stop clicking to buy miles & points from these bloggers, they make a nice commission every single time! Stop buying and making them rich, fly and stay for freeeeeee!
Oh, it is May 1st. Shout out to BestOffersPatrol! How about another credit card summary amigo, thanks!
And I leave you with this…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
First.
Slow Monday.
Silverrrrrrr
TBBManagement: Thinking of starting a kickstarter for medals as Amazon has now dwindled to $27 per month. Phucking JetBlue!
Bronze from poorman’s business–an economy row all to myself.
Person joining the workforce in 2000 will hardly retire in 2020, so his great gain in 2000-20 will go poof in 2030. Person retiring in 2000 would have had only 30-35% of his savings in stocks, rest would have been high interest bonds. So no harm done.
All depends on your expenses. Most should be able to retire when they have assets of $1M. If you make six figures, reaching that goal shouldn’t take more than 20 years. But that’s only IF you can control your spending.
If you don’t focus on saving you may be scraping by on $500,000 a year.
http://www.financialsamurai.com/scraping-by-on-500000-a-year-high-income-earners-struggling/
Tell Mr. Money Mustache that!
That FS dude knows how to attract clicks. With mostly good material. But way too into real estate and private equity stuff for me…
Oh, the Moustache guy….Pretty nice to retire early when your blog brings in $400k and up every year 🙂
I was shocked to see that number. And he’s not selling CCs anymore.
With that kind of traffic…he doesn’t have to. Plus, he could not get the TPG direct aff links anyway….
retire on a million? No way.
How many do you need?
So, the guy right in front of the guy in yellow, how can he miss the pool? Puzzled
That wasn’t me either lol.
Best Offers Patrol, help out brother. Lets piss off the trolls lol.
VFTW is now a tabloid, WTF!
>>>>>>>>Turbulence Last Night: Broken Spines, Babies Thrown From Mothers’ Arms
DoC links to me and not VFTW or TPG or OMAAT…
Definitely going to snow today in Ann Arbor…
Actually, it may happen! I miss Fort Lauderdale.
Yep, I love The Bohemian Blog and always said don’t sleep on Minsk. A wonderful walking city with good food, clean, good architecture and Crowne Plaza is an excellent central hotel.
Noted
Southwest may not overbook anymore, but apparently they overfuel. 45 minute delay today so they could “remove fuel” all the while asking for volunteers to take a later flight.
Have an article on this (overbooking) thingie tomorrow…
“I got a great lesson in reselling at the TBB reader meetup.”
Most brick-and-mortar stores won’t be around in 3-5 years. Sourcing will be much harder. Amazon is killing the market.
You are probably right…
Applied and got Altitude card. It’s a Happy Monday!
Are you already a US Bank customer? If yes, what exactly? (checking, ClubCarslon personal lVisa, other?)
Club Carlson (both business and personal)—hey, aren’t all of us?!?!
Froze my ARS and Sagestream a couple of years ago too…can’t remember why…
And then, for a little extra insurance, I opened a savings account with $1K and transferred $100 from my checking (it counted as a direct deposit) and that got me a couple of hundred bonus, plus the brownie points with US Bank.
Immediate approval with a pretty high (for me) credit line. SHAZAM!
I kept the Business visa only, wife closed her personal Visa.
I am in burning mode…
This bank is weird…and I would not be shocked if they kill it if numbers justify it
Some of those blogs have no shame. “Get 50% for a year!” Seriously?! Sure but who would trust Amex enough to not welch on their other benefits too? I just don’t get Amex – they’re trying to nickel-and-dime their way to success I guess? Multiple personality disorder?
Well, I’ve decided to get a new job as a stagehand!
Agree about the Bohemian Blog – very interesting and well-done stuff there. Minsk was sure an adventure!
They could care less about Amex being trusted It is ALL about CONVERSIONS! Sales baby, that’s what matters with these pumping machines!
Stagehand?
AMEX management is in disarray imho.
25 year stagehand. Perhaps longer but I just don’t care to count. Hope you’re stocked up on black t-shirts, the desire to drink 3 cocktails with lunch and the ability to complain endlessly about how bad the free lunch and craft services are on the show. Word up – take your credentials off when leaving the building and never look a famous entertainer in the eyes. There can turn you to stone.
I only have black Tshirts.
Because I am cool.
Or just pretend to be lol.
Trump’s talk about Andrew Jackson and the civil war made me think about the show “Drunk History”. Surprisingly Donald doesn’t drink.
I am starting to ignore him. And many others are too…
We are dealing with an uneducated vindictive moron…
and narcissist!
Has been obvious he has a personality disorder for decades. Scary that millions of people couldn’t look beyond political party to see this man is not well.
i think you have a mental disorder, watch this video for the meaning of life. Viva La Trump
http://nypost.com/2017/05/01/why-this-professional-pimple-poppers-gross-work-is-so-addictive/
right on cue theres ramsey. speaking of crazy.
Colbert on Trump last night:
“Mr. President, you’re not the POTUS, you’re the ‘gloat-us.’ You’re the glutton with the button. You’re a regular ‘Gorge Washington.’ You’re the ‘presi-dunce,’ but you’re turning into a real ‘prick-tator,” Colbert said.’
He continued:
“Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign-language gorilla that got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c–k holster.”
Ramsey will repent one day, we all make mistakes 🙂
He doesn’t drink? Maybe it would actually improve things if he did?!? Like Bizarro World
Q. What’s dumber than a POTUS who doesn’t understand the Civil War or how a bill becomes law?
A. His loyal voting base that doesn’t care.
I sure hope pilots in the UK make more than 35,000 GBP, at today’s paltry exchange rate that is barely $45,000. You have Southwest and Delta guys making that a quarter here.
Maybe they were starting salaries?
But still..
If they could only pick up blogging to tell family and friends how to travel for free and pump credit card affiliate links in every post 🙂
I know Wizzair (the European LCC) was offering jobs out of Poland a couple of years ago with a starting salary of under €20,000 per year, so the £35,000 quoted above would be double Wizzair money. This is for short-haul Airbus pilots.
I’m not totally up on it anymore but I recall not long ago US regional carrier pilots could often start in the low $20K neighborhood. Of course top end salaries for those who progress upward can be very nice. Not sure how the “average” would work out if you lump the newbie regionals with the senior Captains at the majors though.