We bring you the best credit card, all the Amex Platinum card flavors, check out the best new hotels, TPG Expands to UK, all the new Mastercard benefits nobody really cares about, watch the biggest plane go on its first flight, meet the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners, show you more Google search tricks, an amazing running video, a ridiculous son sues his parents for a shocking reason, stay alive in investing, some awesome photography as always and Happy Easter everyone!
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In case you missed my last post: TBB’s Three Most Favorite Blog Posts.
I dread the question: What is the Best Credit Card? As much as I hate the question “Where is the market heading?”…like anyone has a crystal ball to answer that! As far as the obvious reason that the more posts you do mentioning credit cards it will lead to more sales of them (maybe this is why I can’t even sell more than ten a month these days huh!)…the true answer is: It depends. Or the weird guy at my gym who keeps asking me “what stock to buy?”….Everyone is different, different goals, different situations, different constraints (schedules, airports, airlines, etc.). Okay, after that long intro, it was a post with good information š
Most of these flavors will not last long imho: Different Flavors of The American Express Platinum Card.
Well, these are weird. Better than nothing…I guess: Mastercard Partners with Lyft, Adds Additional New Benefits.
I guess this baby flew! Watch The first test flight of the worldās biggest plane. Paul Allen is smiling up above.
Not the enemy of the people. Definitely not fake news. Ladies and gents: The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners. RESPECT!
I learned some new tricks! 23 Google Search Tips You’ll Want to Learn.
AllĀ right, lets have some laughs next…
Adios to inheritance, LOL. Man sues parents over trashed porn collection. How about some moral support to the parents!
Wow, amazing video: Running Ridges With Kilian Jornet.
For your personal finance fix, this one was great: The Will To Survive.
…the key to being a successful investor was not in winning, but in not losing.Ā By avoiding the big mistakes that befall most investors, you can come out ahead in the long run.Ā This means avoiding leverage, short-term thinking, and a host of other behavioral biases that have plagued investors since the dawn of capital markets.Ā So, donāt try to win.Ā Just survive.
TheĀ best! Eye-Opening Entries From the 2019 National Geographic Travel Photo Contest
Some interesting looking ones in this AFAR list: The Best New Hotels in the World.
Wonderful photography here: Streets of La Havane. If you are into pure beautiful decay that is š
And now we are entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veteran miles and points blog readers.
Looks like I am blogging away the decay/demolition/destruction of what it once was an amazingly productive hobby…as in monster deals that just spoiled us all. With AA appearing to be underway going down the road to dynamic award pricing…there is no bottom…
Unless you are The Points Guy Inc where they keep blowing money hiring full timers and interns and now moving into the UK market. I can see me soon linking to: “Head For Points Sells Out to TPG”. Or maybe they tried and his price was too high so they are now going to take a whack to beat HFP….get your popcorn!
I did not watch this European Champions League game but after watching the highlights…Unbelievable drama WOW! Manchester City vs Tottenham.
And I leave you with this…Teamwork!
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.
Now that is a gif!
Good morning.
Hereās the problem in the blog space – if you rely chiefly on SEO/outside referral traffic, your days are numbered. That is because companies like TPG have low engagement and reader loyalty but very high SEO performance. So, if a blog has a high reader loyalty rate, they will continue to do well. But, it is very, very few blogs that have better than a 30-40% direct readership so we shall see!
Sounds like MMS will be in trouble. And of course Ingy’s baby FTG.
I am shocked FTG is still alive actually…
MMS is on its way to becoming FTG too lately…
I should have a contest which blog folds first…
Maybe it is mine, sad!
Or I can retire like Rene did lol.
Seems your blog is the only one whining and begging for clicks on a daily basis???
Almost 7 years whining and you still read it? You must like it the, thanks 4 the support…smh
then
Bronze! Currently from Kansas City, heading west! ROAD TRIP!
Great stuff today as always, George! Never stop, man!
@ DML: Yeah, had to post it here!
@ Charlie: I have a high reader loyalty rate. But so tiny in blog land. And my conversion clicks are now just abysmal…or missing in action. No time to learn SEO…maybe that is my problem? I can not see how TPG can just continue to hire…so my guess is they just keep drawing on fresh meat good for a few cards and then on to fresh meat…while blanketing their site with posts that are now outnumbering Boarding Area in volume…or close enough…or soon! I would LOVE to see their actual financials though…which will never happen. I am sensing they are priming the whole TPG stuff for sale to some suckers, so many outthere with lots of money these days. It will be very interesting to see what happens. I am shocked we have not seen many other blogs give up yet…
Carl: Thanks man. “Never stop, man!” – so easy to say/type, so hard to keep going man! Especially when I see no clicks at all….just a few to keep me going to see someone cares enough to go out of their way to go support a small blog…ooops, here I go whining again…Getting tiring for you and me…
No Sunday Best of Web post—–>Easter holiday
Need to evolve…
Live by the SEO, die by the SEO, though. One thing to watch is The NYT’s Wirecutter has entered the credit card salesman space, and that seems like the type of new entrant that could be a real threat to TPG’s wider audience of people searching for “best credit card for X”.
In the back of my head, I keep wondering: if TPG’s empire is built on buying new customers — the spread between acquisition cost and referral bonus — why would the credit card companies tolerate this long term? It’s in their interest for their to be competition in this space.
I did see the Wirecutter article! Was busy to look at it more carefully and check the cc links…but I thought I saw something like ‘ cards provided by TPG network’ or something similar…like they do over at Business Insider.
Yeah, I don’t get it either…banks are not that sharp you know…sad reality is that their profits are built on the backs of the less fortunate and people who are just not good with their money…
In the last paragraph you sound like Pocahontas.
You are right! š
It’s just that I dont like what she thinks the solutions are š
Love the GIF!!
I receive shit like this all the time…
Littered with credit card links of course by ccdotbomb site…
Meanwhile, TPG posting “A Young Adultās Guide to Getting Started With Credit Cards”
This is like a MACHINE…
meanwhile…no clicks here lol
I need to move on…
Here is the email:
Email headline: GLAMOUR: HOW TO HACK YOUR CREDIT CARD POINTS
Culture Editor Samantha Leach speaks with financial experts for Glamour about how to get the most out of credit card points and reward programs.
Read the full feature HERE
The release is below.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks,
Alex
MAKING THE MOST OF CREDIT CARD POINTS
A Guide to Get the Best Deals
New York, NYāApril 19, 2019āNot all credit cards are created equal. For Financial Literacy Month, Assistant Culture Editor Samantha Leach speaks with experts for Glamour about tips to select the best credit card and hacks to get the most out of credit card points.
Experts agree lifestyle and habits should dictate which card to select and what rewards to target. “For example, if you live alone in New York City, you’re not filling up a gas tank or going grocery shopping as much as someone who lives in a suburb,ā Jennn Monahan, a trainer at The Financial Gym, a financial planning company that takes a fitness-inspired approach to money management, says. āSo programs that offer cash back on gas and groceries won’t make as much sense for you.” Brian Kelly, the founder of the Points Guy, says to have a credit card in your wallet that rewards you for the purchases that you make most often.
more…
My take is the banks love the wide-net action like TPG, Reddit and the Facebook pages, with tens of thousands of newbies jumping in. The banks never made any money on me or the rest of the āfirst respondersā, but these new applicants will likely represent the general population. Thatās to say they will incur interest charges, pay late fees and be well worth the commissions paid to the ācredit card advisorsā.
And what a gift for the airlines, at least for a while. They can set availability to fill empty seats a lot more than they have. The players who will continue to do well will those willing to sit down about 6 weeks ahead and ask āwhere can I go?ā. Everyone else who needs to travel to a place certain will find their miles are worth about a penny, maybe a little more. And a lot less than the 2-2.5 cents cash back
they could have had. But, gosh darn it, I used miles to fly to London free. Yeah, 300,000 miles. As Mencken said, nobody ever went broke….
I posted on Twitter last week that Brian Kelly is more Ray Kroc than Randy Petersen. Someone retweeted that that was a really deep cut. Thanks for the hurrah, but keep this in mind: Randy has done well but Ray Kroc made a lot more money.
So no Easter post on TBB? See what I mean?
Ray Kroc was a very smart business man.
I think equating Ray with Brian is ludicrous…Ray kept all control. Brian sold out in 2012…we dont know the details of the deal…but I will bet he is not the biggest beneficiary of it…So, no Ray Croc.
In the meantime…TBB is nobody and has the (lack of) clicks to show for it lol.
To each his own opinion.
I think Randy Petersen created a gathering place for hobbyists, set it up to be extremely useful for that purpose, and directed it well through changes, mergers, etc. He also got unpaid people to run it by giving them a nice title (āmoderatorsā) and a couple of big dinners a year. Straight out of Tom Sawyer-Pay me to paint my fence. FT is a mess of attitudes now but still has more useful info each day than all the Tweets and Facebook pages added together.
Kelly is grilling hamburgers for the masses, who, like McDonaldsā customers, think itās just swell. Iād be very surprised if heās not still in with the equity there. But my comparison was on the building side, and not whether he sold for cash.
Creating something special and unique, and cashing in are two different matters. Just ask Ingy. Or Buzz.
I see now where you are coming from…I was speaking strictly from the equity side. I would be shocked if he has more than 10%!
Randy has done well for himself it appears….and in the process helped many people and lived a nice life. There is a lot of value in enjoying the process š
It will be very interesting to see how the whole TPG mass marketing thingie evolves…If over in the UK you see banks going into bed with TPG AND increasing the sales commissions on the credit cards…that would be a game changer and the final coffin of whatever this hobby is all about….or whatever is left of it, sad lol.
At Feedly TPG just posted: TPG Readers Reveal Their Favorite Shopping Portals —yeah, littered with you know what $$$$
If I was doing this full time I think I could make something out of it, i sure learned a whole lot about the online world TBBing. Then again, why would I when I look at the revenue this blog brought in the past week and I see, please sit down, $5.30 , another sad lol.
So no posting today….It is a holiday after all and I am sticking to no posting on holidays policy….Actually thinking to go down to 3 times a week and sprinkle the Best of Web posts on Wednesdays…the next evolution…or the slow extinction…to eventual death….Yeah, $5.30 per week should be good for a post every six months bwahahahaha.
Weather improving today, need to go run outside later, my passport has been printed finally State Dept emailed me, Pistons just can’t compete with the Bucks this year, maybe I get the grill out this week, post coming tomorrow, enjoy this baby of mine while it lasts…
Happy Easter to Sam and to everyone!
Happy Easter to you and your family, Buzz.
So is TPG. Maybe he can talk Chase into putting a dob of ketchup and a small pickle on top of each new cc they send out.
thank you for not getting political
Gary Leff with his 164th blog post from his bitch throne chastising airlines how wrong they are for going all in revenue based all around. And they keep ignoring him while his readers think he gives a shit about them….or he is scared how many less credit cards he can sell to them showing how he flies for free in luxury…
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Of course mini me Live and Let’s Fly had to copy his idol Gary…
Pervert EVA Passenger Found Dead In Thai Resort Known For Prostitution – Live and Let’s Fly
so much originality over at Boarding Area…
So, I went to run at 10.15 am today Easter day. It is now 3.45 pm and…
TPG has postwed nine articles in this time span…yeah NINE mostly non sense…like…did u know about the Sri Lanka bombs?
VFTW tries to keep up…last 3 posts were selling credit cards for all kinds of spending and reviews of airplane food, including a hamburger. Maybe he should consider cutting down on this junk!
I ran 13 miles today…just 1.34 mins off my personal best time!
My hometown AEL Larisa FC won an important game and was saved from relegation!!
Good day all around…could have been better with a conversion…oh well.