Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as stock market all time highs, Big Tech billions, the year of Ozempic, rules of flying, charlatan doomers to be beware of, how to spend your FSA money, John Oliver rips Elon Musk, Ukraine victory and democracy stuff, amazing story in the glaciers in Argentina, revisit the last hermit, best things to do in 2024, we travel to some remote Siberian land to meet mammoth pirates and to parks to watch dark skies and we always finish with the links to the most important miles and points related posts over the past week. You all enjoy the holidays and I will see you on Tuesday next week!
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Welcome to my quirky original authentic blog. It all started back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of frequent flyer miles along with hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to a curated weekly post of the best web content I find along with my commentary. Here to Educate primarily, sometimes Entertain and if I get to Inspire you, well, that is a bonus.
This blog publishes on Fridays. This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it white it lasts. I may post on another day too. Update: Come back on Tuesdays when I will be posting a collection of 2023 Annual Best of lists, something I have been doing over the years around Christmas/New Year’s holidays.
PERSONAL FINANCE
At the end of the day, we are at All Time Highs. I have been here blogging about how you should stay the course and how market timing is detrimental to your financial new worth and health all around.
Market-timers will often find themselves momentarily better off for having actively traded their portfolio based on illogical whims. But at some point the music stops, and stocks never look back again. On expectation, of course markets will cool off at some point. Nothing goes up forever. But no one knows when this rally will lose steam, and it is certainly possible, much like March 9, 2009, that we never turn back again.
Investors cannot just be given free returns for owning risky assets. Those returns will always be earned, and only by implemening the right portfolio consistently — every single day, every single six-week period, every single year — do investors have the highest probability of achieving the long-term returns that risky assets have historically delivered. [Added the bold font for emphasis.]
I was going to do a special post ripping this Kiyosaki dude. But I let others do it and I just link to them, which is the next best thing. Rich Author, Poor Readers.
The doomer, pessimistic, cynical mindset was like a virus. Social media and the Internet spread that virus like wildfire.
Real financial advice doesn’t try to scare you. Real financial advice turns complex topics into simple explanations. Real financial advice doesn’t offer predictions; it offers perspective. It shows you the pros and the cons, the costs and the benefits.
William Bernstein once wrote, “The reason that ‘guru’ is such a popular word is because ‘charlatan’ is so hard to spell.”
Rich charlatan, poor readers.
This Wall Street Journal article is very relevant as we near the end of the year: How to Make the Most of Your FSA Money Before it Disappears. Many workers take advantage of the tax-free flexible-spending account to help pay for medical expenses, but time is running out. There was great confusion in the comments between HSAs and FSAs which is common. My comment to clear some things up is pasted below:
A few things wearing my CFP and CPA hat:
Not all are eligible for an HSA. Even if you are, it may still not make sense to your own unique situation.
If you do go for an HSA, it is an amazing deal, triple tax free! Hopefully it offers good investment choices to invest in. You should aim for the maximum contributions allowed, pay everything out of pocket (using a travel rewards credit card that never ever carries a balance), keep track of all receipts and never spend a dime out of your HSA until you retire. Then, sit down and write yourself a big check for all those expenses you paid out of pocket over the years and, I don’t know, buy a new car or luxury cruise or something, you earned it 🙂
This is what I plan to do after contributing the max for 10 years and no distributions from it, it is nearing $200k!
With an HSA, the FSA works differently. It is called a limited FSA only allowing dental and vision expenses. Kids’ braces were paid this way over the years and saved on taxes. Also, we can fairly estimate contact/glasses and with the carryover benefit the fear of losing any FSA funds is greatly diminished now.
If you plan to stick it to your employer and have secured another better job…sign up for FSA and go all in for an expense you will incur early in the calendar year, get the full reimbursement and leave and…win!
TECH/ELON
Very educational Infograph: Visualizing How Big Tech Companies Make Their Billions.
This is pure gold lol zone: Elon Musk: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).
GEOPOLITICS
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba lays out the case to not give up on them: There is a Path to Victory in Ukraine. Keep up the pressure, Putin will break and his rotten system will collapse. Just my personal take on this, I am no thought leader on anything!
However prevalent a false narrative of attrition becomes, we should not allow it to set policymaking and our shared strategy on a disastrous course. Nor should we be duped into believing that Moscow is ready for a fair negotiated solution. Opting to accept Putin’s territorial demands and reward his aggression would be an admission of failure, which would be costly for Ukraine, for the United States and its allies, and for the entire global security architecture. Staying the course is a difficult task. But we know how to win, and we will.
I am going to stick this article from The Atlantic here in this section. It is something I have been wondering about for a very long time. It is bizarre what is happening in the US with the economy doing so well and so many bitching. Yes, this one will get into politics and if this triggers you, well, you don’t have to read it ok? Feelings and Vibes Can’t Sustain a Democracy. It is like we are just disconnected from reality…
For too many voters, nothing seems to matter. And I mean nothing. Donald Trump approvingly quotes Russian President Vladimir Putin and evokes the language of Adolf Hitler, and yet Americans are so accustomed to Trump’s rhetoric at this point that the story gets relegated to page A10 of the Sunday Washington Post. Joe Biden presides over an economic “soft landing” that almost no one thought could happen, and his approval rating drops to 33 percent—below Jimmy Carter’s in the summer of 1980, when American hostages were being held in Iran, and inflation, at more than 14 percent, was well into a second year of double digits. (Inflation is currently 3.1 percent—and likely will go lower.)
Even in casual conversations, I find myself flummoxed by people who argue, with much conviction, that America is in fact worse off, even if their own situation is better. When I respond by noting that inflation is not going up, say, or that America is at full employment, or that wages are outpacing prices, or that pay is increasing fastest for the lowest-paid workers, none of it matters. Instead, I get a response that is so common I can now see it coming every time: a head shake, a sigh, and then a comment about how everything is just such a mess. [So true!]
ODDZ & ENDZ
Has anyone not heard about Ozempic yet? The Year of Ozempic. Someone said that these anti obesity drugs will impact our world more than AI. I guess we’ll find out at some point…
For me as a doctor, the arrival of these medications this past year has felt like a similar kind of tipping point—the moment when a leading threat to human health may finally have started to recede. We may look back on these drugs as some of the greatest advances in the annals of chronic disease. They are not a cure for obesity, or the stigma associated with it; some people will struggle with side effects, and others will struggle to pay for them. But, for many millions of people, our post-Ozempic world will be better than the one we lived in before. For the first time in years, I’m reading from a new script. This one has a more hopeful ending.
I had never heard of this before, wow! Ghosts On The Glacier. Fifty years ago, eight Americans set off for South America to climb Aconcagua, one of the world’s mightiest mountains. Things quickly went wrong. Two climbers died. Their bodies were left behind. Now, a camera belonging to one of the deceased climbers has emerged from a receding glacier near the summit …and one of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries has been given air and light. Destined for a Netflix special for sure.
I remember posting this link years ago. About that hermit living alone for decades in Central Maine who survived by committing over 1,000 burglaries of cabins in the area. And then he was captured and you won’t believe what happened next. The Strange & Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit.
TRAVEL
Amazing ideas mentioned in this great article: 24 Best Things to Do in the World in 2024. Which one will you do? Hmm, this one sounds fun: “Hop on a cable car to Europe’s highest disco”!
I had no idea this is going on in that part of Russia almost all of us will never visit. The Mammoth Pirates. In Russia’s Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush is under way. Ivory is the new gold over there, sad.
Good reference if you are into meteor showers: The top dark sky parks in all 50 states with the clearest nights to enjoy mesmerizing meteor showers.
Nothing we don’t know but still, a good reference: The 52 Definitive Rules of Flying.
BUZZING
A section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life and anything else that just does not fit in another section above
We are in Brooklyn, New York as of posting time. Heading to New Jersey for Christmas. Why bagels here are so delicious? And why is everything so expensive?
What? This “Extremely Rare” Bird is Half Female, Half Male. Mother nature, nothing is black and white…
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And I find this kind of surreal…
This blog started with a focus on miles and points and travel. It has evolved since then. Everything below deals with the hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and points and maximizing your travel experiences. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
MILES & POINTS NEWS/PROMOS/MY ACTION
I am going to try separating this Section this way:
GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/ETC.
Good reference links:
How Loyalty Program Expiration Policies Work, and How You Can Avoid Your Miles Expiring
When Do Airlines Release Award Space.
Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements. What still works?
I have added all three links to the TBB Miles & Points Resource Guide.
Guide to Hyatt Free Night Certificates. I think I have four in my account right now, first world problem lol.
NEWBIES
Here are all the 5% category promotions for all these no annual fee cards: Q1 2024 Quarterly Bonus Categories for Chase, Discover, US Bank & Citi Dividend. You will not get rich here charging up to $1,500 per quarter in specific rotating categories to earn 5x on this spend ok? But if you wanted to maximize your current spending and the bang you get for it…why not? It will certainly make you feel good for sticking it to the banks. But if you really wanted to stick it to them you certainly could step it up and try to get that bigly travel rewards credit card Signup Bonus from them. Assuming you won’t become a marketing victim ending up in debt and paying steep interest charges that end up paying for my travel rewards. 🙂
Always check my TOP THREE TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARD OFFERS RIGHT NOW below. At this point, the two no brainer cards are still the two 90,000 NO Annual Fee Chase Business Ink cards, by far! Available HERE. Chase will give you around $1,000 for free, come on! And also available with my REFERRAL link.
MY ACTION
I have officially requalified as World of Hyatt Globalist elite. Another free night cert is now in my account, this one for Category 1-7 hotels. I just wished it expired after one year instead of just six months. Two more confirmed suite upgrades also nicely appeared in my Awards section of my account. Globalist also gives you access to a World of Hyatt Concierge. I do like mine and I hope there is no change in this. Does the program usually retain them or they get a new one assigned to us Globalists every year?
My daughter made her first award redemption herself because it was time to let her figure it out. She blew about 21k Chase points for a direct Delta flight from Detroit to San Juan, Puerto Rico at her preferred date. Other flights had connections and not ideal flight time/layovers. I gave her the green light after confirming not much available burning airline miles with Delta, United, AA and Southwest. Because, you know, I just needed to make sure lol.
ADVANCED
Yeah, these can be confusing! Navigating Travel Credits on United. We have a bump voucher we must use to book a ticket by December 31, the pressure is real you guys.
Fascinating podcast with Matt of Miles Earn & Burn. These are really advanced Manufactured Spend techniques. We are all different and some in the hobby out there will scale deals to, well, many zeroes. Be careful out there!
When the Air France business class to Europe amazing “deal” came out and all the big blogs businesses screamed out loud for you to hurry up and book them, there was never any doubt in my mind that Air France will be canceling them. Of course these blogs businesses made money from ads on page views though and are laughing all the way to the bank while people who spent time to find and book them are sweating buckets refreshing their screens and now trying to salvage their points relying on the world famous Air France “customer service”.
Meanwhile, Amex continues to surgically take it out on us adding restricting lifetime language and the infamous family card rule to its Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card too, is there anything left that has been left unaffected?
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 90k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 90k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 150k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60K CITI Premier, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 140K CHASE IHG Rewards Premier (with $100 Statement Credit), 60k CHASE Sapphire, 60K CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 60k US BANK Business Altitude and many more including many AmericanExpress cards such as Delta Airlines, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors cards! Please check out my Affiliate links. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you?
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! SKIP if you are not into it!
As of today, I have burned 1,148,286 miles/points year to date in 2023 and have 4,343,113 miles/points in the bank. Some do drugs, I do miles lol!
Thanks to US banks, very lucrative travel rewards credit card offers come and go all the time. This section will act as a reference point on the best CURRENT offers. I will designate new material preceded by NEW.
TOP THREE TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARD OFFERS RIGHT NOW
Ok, the amazing 90k Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited card offers are back! These are NO ANNUAL fee cards. The Ink Business Cash earns 5% on office supply stores and internet/cable/phone services and 2% on gas and restaurants. Why don’t you go to Office Depot and buy gift cards of the stores you usually buy from, hello 5% Amazon! The Ink Business Unlimited works differently, it just earns 1.5% on everything…so if you were going to use a card to earn 1% why don’t you pull this one out instead? Bottom line, I think these are the BEST business travel rewards cards out there right now! The 90k Signup Bonus can be earned after $6k of spend on the cards in the first three months. you can apply HERE to support this blog, thank you (they can be found under Category/Business).
Everything You Need to Know About the Chase Ink Business Cards
Chase Freedom Unlimited Card Review: A Great Option for Everyday Spending
The Capital One Venture X card offers a 75,000 point Signup Bonus after a minimum spend of $4k in the first three months. If you like simplicity and looking for one (premium) card, I highly recommend this card (and yes, I have it myself!). It has an annual fee of $395 but it comes with an easy $300 statement credit for travel booked on its excellent travel portal, essentially turning it into a $95 annual fee card. But wait…there is more! On each card anniversary you earn 10,000 points essentially making it FREE! Every dollar of spend earns 2 points and flights booked on the travel portal earn 5 points per dollar. You get access to Capital One and Plaza Premium airport lounges and a Priority Pass Select lounge membership and, this is important, you can add FOUR authorized users FOR FREE who can also have their own Priority Pass Select airline lounge membership. You can transfer your Capital One points to up to 18 Transfer Partners. No foreign transaction fees. Free Hertz President’s Circle rental car top elite status. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more. Available with my Credit Card Links, thank you for your support!
Why We Think the Capital One Venture X is Best for Traveling Families
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance if you ever get a credit card here!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please pass it on to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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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.
Hey Buzz,
Half male, half female… Can you say that in Florida?
Say it ain’t so, another gold for rainy southern AZ?
Will miracles never cease?
I learned a new word! Permabear. Thank you for the link. Very helpful.
Merry Christmas!
Enjoy New Jersey and have a wondrous and exciting and very Merry Christmas! Best wishes to you and all your family!
Thanks for a great list of links and reading. It looks to last me through the weekend!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Just reacquainted myself with the Green Honeycreeper in Ecuador, unfortunately, this extremely cool individual was in Colombia so I haven’t seen it. That must have been an exciting find.
Nice to see the Chiricahua mountain range get a mention, it’s a special, majestic place.
Thanks for some fascinating links, great for this weekend.
My best to you and your family George, enjoy the holidays and Merry Christmas!
I’m pretty sure we can still say that in Florida and Huntington Beach
Merry Christmas George and to all others who comment here. Hmm the Air France debacle completely went beyond my awareness. Must admit I rarely read the other blogs these days so am totally out of the loop.
Wow, thanks for so many comments today!
Welcome to Santos and nice to see beachfront back.
Will respond when I have more time. Enjoying Brooklyn and we are going to a comedy club tonight in Manhattan. Tomorrow dim sun and the feasts never stop around here, need me some Ozempic fast, sad lol.
Will add a few more links to the Tuesday Best of post, maybe up to 15!
Thanks a lot to Alex for the 5 coffees!
TBB on!
In my experience, Hyatt concierges remain constant rather than changing annually. I think it would be pretty silly to make a new one learn all about you from scratch every year. I hear you on the category 1-7 certificate being annoying by only being valid for 180 days. I have yet to use one for close to top value as a result.
Been busy with the holidays and stuff…
Loved watching the Detroit Lions win the NFC Division Championship…it only took 30 years. Looks like we finally restored the roar lol.
Best Christmas present for so many beaten Detroit Lions fans…this is all so weird to us!
Great advice re hsa! It was unclear to me whether to keep money in or spend as you go. But it makes sense I guess! I am saving my receipts! Only have a couple thou.