Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as how to step away from CNBC, avoid annuities, the best underwater hotels, hilarious Florida Man games, more Hyatt changes, Mexican drug cartels get into timeshare scams, Warren Buffett pays tribute to Charlie Munger in his annual letter to shareholders, Jon Stewart solves the Israel Palestinian conflict, the best airline lounges and the best pizzerias, always the best photography, climate change in Michigan and of course always all of the important developments in the crazy world of miles and points and a lot more. Enjoy the weekend and get started on your taxes now!
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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, 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. Sometimes it is a Thursday if I am traveling. This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts. I may post on a Tuesday too going forward if I get to it.
BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT
I have a new travel rewards Credit Card provider, please see the details HERE. It is much easier to navigate than the last one. Let’s see what happens with this one, hoping to avoid the same fate with the last one. Thanks for any support, running an independent blog matters…I think.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Please, for your sake: Step Away from CNBC.
CNBC makes viewers nervous in a very specific way. Nervous that they’re about to lose money in a market downturn. Nervous that they might miss a hot trend or stock. Or uncertain that they’re in the right sectors. Then an “expert” comes on and says, “Hey, you’re in the wrong sectors—it’s time to leave tech for industrials, financials, and health care.” In its sober, rational way, the network creates a sense of urgency. Although its tone is never like that of an infomercial, sometimes the message is similar. Act now.
This is what I mean when I say that one of CNBC’s fatal flaws is that the channel encourages trading, and most people, both professionals and amateurs, stink at trading. [Always nod when others go on and on about their awesome profitable trades, especially online! Because you won’t hear about their losers. And if they go on…slip and stay away from them lol.]
And you knew this was coming, we get to Jim Cramer:
Despite his history as a successful hedge fund manager, his picks at TheStreet.com and the CNBC Investing Club have underperformed the market by about 1.7 percent a year for 23 years, not even counting the $400 fee he charges. This calculation is based on Cramer’s performance from 2000 to 2017 and 2019 to 2023. I asked CNBC media relations for data on his 2018 performance but received no response…What bothers me about his entertaining schtick is that he suggests he can turn viewers into excellent, market-beating investors when he can’t beat the market himself. Saying this, after a 23-year performance drought, is grotesque.
Then the writer paid the $400 fee to Cramer to enter his investing club. And it gets worse. So many delusional suckers out there wow.
I’m 73 and my financial adviser told me to buy $1.5 million in annuities — should I do this? No! Not at least before a financial adviser gets a better picture about your situation and what you are trying to accomplish. If the first words out of their mouth is to buy annuities, let me put this straight to you, it’s due to the fat commissions they will earn.
“A financial planner suggested that I purchase $1.5 million in annuities and invest the other $1 million in stocks and bonds.” This is not a financial planner, it is a financial products salesperson. Maybe ask them to put this recommendation on company letterhead stating that they are fiduciaries at all times with you. See what excuses they come up to avoid it. Because they will never sign this on company letterhead:
I shall:
- Always act in good faith and with candor.
- Be proactive in disclosing any conflicts of interest that may impact a client.
- Not accept any referral fees or compensation contingent upon the purchase or sale of a financial product.
I could have made a lot of money selling this shit in my career and made an obscene amount of money. But I just could not inflict this level of pain with products I would not wish to my enemies even. Be careful out there, there are a lot of wolves looking to pounce on widows and people retiring with fat 401k accounts ready for rollovers, you are a high valued target of salespeople out there masquerading as financial advisers. There is nothing wrong with a fixed annuity in some circumstances for the very risk averse person to supplement other sources of income. The problem with this is that the commissions selling fixed annuities are tiny. So, all the wolves out there almost never sell them and instead target the “fancier” annuities with the fat commissions.
Warren Buffett wrote another annual letter to his shareholders paying a special tribute to Charlie Munger. Always unique and humble wisdom on display. It’s long but not as long as it used to be. He is 93 years old, give him a break. I have always enjoyed reading his letters.
It is true that most of the consumer debt is fixed rate. Which of course is way better to have than variable rate. Which is mostly credit card debt, the absolute worst kind of debt to have. The best thing you can do for your personal finances is to eliminate the credit card debt. You don’t need a debt settlement company for that most likely, you just need to completely change your lifestyle. Which is easier said than done of course. Don’t be Stanley Johnson, anyone remember this Lending Tree TV ad?
SCAMS
We’ll be back soon with crypto scams I am sure.
I feel so sorry about some of these people falling for this. Then again, I wonder there has to be something really wrong with them, how can you part with $1.8 Million, come on! ‘Like an addiction’: Thousands of Americans fall prey to Mexican cartel timeshare scam.
By late last year, Stephen had paid Mexican telemarketing scammers just shy of $1.8 million, according to the records.
If growing up your own dad had Jordan Belfort (Wolf of Wall Street felon) as his idol and mentor, well, don’t be shocked by what happened with his own son. You know what they say about the apple falling near the tree or something: He Grew Up in the Shadow of the ‘Wolf of Wall Street.’ Then He Got Into Debt Settlement. Ryan Sasson built a business that reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for helping people negotiate down their debts. But former clients — and prosecutors — say it was exploitative. Best way to avoid this is to avoid credit card debt! At all costs.
GEOPOLITICS
Jon Stewart, in only his third show back from retirement, attempts to solve the Israel – Palestinian conflict in his own unique way. Both showing the utter madness and hopelessness of what is occurring on the ground and proposing the only real solution to make the madness stop which, of course, appears like a fantasy as each day goes by.
We go Inside North Korea’s Forced Labor Program. Just horrific as expected.
ODDZ & ENDZ
When I saw this story, I was not that interested. Mainly because I was just never a sriracha sauce fan. But something made me reconsider. And it is wild what happened between these two guys, so sad. What really caused the sriracha shortage? 2 friends and the epic breakup that left millions without their favorite hot sauce. Looks like money and power became too much? Was it a simple misunderstanding and pure stubbornness or what? It is very difficult to not let money and power get into your head and not change you #warning.
Both businesses lost millions. The two men became bitter enemies—and they offer sharply contrasting accounts of what went wrong.
I am on a yet another weight loss binge. Almost two months in to the new year and I still have not had pizza! The 50 Best Pizzerias in America. According to Yelp, which is an important disclosure. Not seeing a single one in Michigan, maybe I can make it three months?
This was one of the best descriptions of a near death experience I have ever come across, wow! Ice Climber Freezes to Death: Shown the Purpose of Life. Also, I am never going ice climbing after this!
Amazing photography: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 winners.
TRAVEL
This company comes up in the media once in a while: Meet the company that sells your lost airplane luggage. Love entrepreneurial stories like this founder who started it from scratch 50 years ago.
I never had that urge to stay in one of these hotels. Because the thought of something catastrophic happening would not let me relax! 6 Incredible Underwater Hotels Around the World. Maybe I can burn a Hilton Free Night cert in the Conrad at the Rangali Island in the Maldives…one day.
I have been to several of these: The Best Airport Lounges in the World. Actually, five out of eight is not bad hey?
Only in Dubai: NIKKEN SEKKEI bridges dubai’s new landmark with the world’s longest cantilever.
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
Tonight I am going to finally see Blonde Redhead live in a small club in Detroit. Since it will be way past my bedtime I am going to spend the night down the street at Hotel Indigo using IHG Rewards points of course. Because this is how I roll. If you want to roll like me, please read past this section.
Only in Florida lol: At the Florida Man Games, big crowds cheer competitors evading police and wrestling over beer. Laughing yet? How about this?
One event had contenders dueling in muddy water in an inflatable pool, pummeling each other with weapons made from pool noodles and duct tape. Another was a theft-simulation relay in which competitors raced while toting a pair of bicycles, copper pipes and catalytic converters.
A pure magical moment in the NBA: Cavaliers G Max Strus hits halfcourt buzzer-beater to shock Mavericks.
I keep trying to tell our kids that Michigan is one of the best positioned places for climate change. Tough winters, excuse me? I am typing this while sitting outside with temps at 71 degrees. In late February, wow! Climate change is erasing Michigan winters, taking our heritage with them. And this was shocking: Motorsports giant Yamaha will stop making snowmobiles next year, saying it’s no longer a sustainable business.
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
It was another week with more devaluation hits coming, this time from Hyatt and ANA. Expect more…
GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/ETC.
Hyatt does this every year. Hyatt 2024 Award Changes: 137 Increasing In Price, 46 Decreasing In Price. You know it is bad out there when we say in this hobby: “Well, it could have been worse”.
This still hurts when you zero in and find out that most of the decreases were in China, I guess it is not that much in demand these days. And then you realize that more excellent properties move up to Cat 8 and Cat 5 making them out of reach with them Hyatt Free Night certs. And the all inclusive award prices have gone up so much in just a few years that most are just not a good value for our cherished points any longer. And then, personally speaking, seeing the awesome Bangkok Hyatt Regency (stayed in November 2023 and would have loved to return at the dirt cheap award price I paid) and the Danang Hyatt Regency in Vietnam (that I was targeting in the future) go up one Category, well, not good! To make me feel better to take advantage of the lower award prices before they become effective on March 26, 2024…I took some action, see below MY ACTION section.
Another post about the Hyatt changes: Hyatt All-Inclusives Hit Hardest (Again) in Latest Round of Award Chart Changes.
After American Airlines and Jetblue increased bag fees last week, it only took about a day for United to join them.
Here is a Roundup of Domestic Checked Bag Fees. I expect Delta any day now to join them or price them $1 lower and come out with yet another ridiculous press release praising itself how consumer friendly this airline is lol.
Well, it is what it is I guess: American Express Transfer Bonus: 15% To Avianca LifeMiles (1:1.15). Only do so when you are ready to book something pronto. Because, you know, Lifemiles is known for pulling the rug…
In case you have accumulated a sizeable balance: Best Uses for Capital One Venture Miles.
NEWBIES
This post will keep you busy, there is so much to learn in this space. And it is always changing #exciting: 14 Different Ways to Book Domestic Flights with Miles & Points.
MY ACTION
Thanks for encouraging me to burn some of my miles/points. So, I have been monitoring round trip flights to Dallas to combine attending a concert of my favorite band along with burning a few expiring Free Night certs and finally visiting the DFW Capital One Lounge. Airfare tracking was done with Google Flights and the return flight was always very expensive, there must be some event at that time in Dallas I am assuming.
Airfare: I have plenty of British Airways Avios miles and partner American Airlines flies direct to Dallas from Detroit. But no economy seats appearing. So, when a First Class seat opened up for 20,500 Avios I booked it. Now the return was a lot more challenging. Nothing on Avios. And crazy high with American Airlines miles. And even Spirit wanted a lot of $ with crazy routings. So, the best I could do was United Miles at a crazy one way economy seat for 30,700 United miles. I am still checking to see if I can snag it using way lower British Airways (again flying on partner American Airlines) Avios miles. Hopefully I can do so and then I can easily cancel my United award booking.
Hotels: I have one Hyatt Cat 1-4 and one Hilton Free Night cert expiring. My preferred Hilton was the cool looking Dallas Curio HALL Arts Hotel but no standard room was available. So, I ended up booking the second best choice: The Statler, another Curio property. Which definitely looks like a regular bigly convention type hotel. I will keep an eye to see if a standard room opens up at the HALL Arts property so I can switch my reservation. Let me know if there is a better choice downtown Dallas, thank you. Update: Saw a standard room available this morning at the HALL Arts property, I called Hilton and after almost 20 minutes on the phone with a very new agent, I managed to successfully switch my reservation. Be very careful the Free Night Cert is attached to the reservation before you hang up. One day Hilton will make this easier. No doubt breakage is a way to lower its costs smh.
Lounge: I have been looking forward to visit the Capital One lounge in the DFW Airport for a very long time. Are they really strict with the “3 hour” limit?
This is how I roll…
Wait, I burned more!
I decided to attend the 2024 Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago in late June. Because, it is always nice to be in Chicago that time of the year and I need the Continuing Education Credits and it was a great opportunity to burn another two Hyatt Cat 1-4 Free Night Certs. I was going to book the Hyatt Centric at Magnificent Mile but then when I saw that the Chicago Thompson was moving up to Category 5 (and therefore unreachable by the Cat 1-4 Free Night certs going forward) I burned my last two certs there. So, at this time, I only have one Hyatt Cat 1-7 Free Night cert in my account and aiming to earn another Cat 1-4 Free Night cert a bit later in the year.
I was shocked to find out that I have never stayed in a Thompson branded Hyatt property yet, therefore that earns me one more brand in the Hyatt Brand Explorer promotion. Actually it will be brand #11, leaving me another four brands to go to earn another Hyatt Free Night cert. And this is how I continue to roll lol. I love this Hyatt Brand Explorer promo, you know, it is designed to explore the company’s brands. More hotel loyalty programs should do this!
We’ll probably take Amtrak or burn some Southwest points to fly into Chicago Midway airport, we have some time to figure this out. Or we could still drive about four hours each way as we do not pay for parking as a Hyatt Globalist elite.
ADVANCED
It was fun watching the bloggers trying to find anything positive to say about the March Rent Day Bilt promo. This company rivals the gimmicky Delta press releases and promos smh. If only the company had invited me to be wined and dined at Mosquito Island like the other bloggers with commercially successful blogs I would have tried to find something positive to say as well. But I just can’t.
Some interesting things in Hyatt’s Annual Report: 5 Things We Learned. Like how much Hyatt paid for the acquisitions of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (is this the most boring company name ever?) and Dream Hotels. And of course, like so many public companies, they just had to slip in a reference to, what else, AI.
When it rains, you know: Beware: Massive ANA Mileage Club Award Chart Devaluation Effective April 18, 2024.
MILES & POINTS
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 121,029 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,654,456 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.
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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This site may receive compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. Travel Blogger Buzz and Your Best Credit Cards may receive a commission from card issuers. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not necessarily include all financial companies or all available financial offers. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone.
Glad you have new, and less clunky, credit card links.
The time share world seems to get worse and worse. Around here there are almost as many ads for time share exit as male impotence drugs.
Congrats on the new CC links! Been shot down my last two apps but am working on a couple AU cards. Once I get squared away I’ll head in there and see if I can manage to score another card!
Thursday posting!!! What a surprise! Lots of good stuff here and a couple articles I have seen already but a lot I haven’t. Thanks as always for this blog!
Good work on the weight loss but two *months* without pizza? That’s cruel!
Oh, yeah…. Silver! For the Pacific Northwest!
Thanks DML and Carl, I will respond most likely tomorrow Friday, I am off to Detroit so I can take a nap for a few hours before staying way past my bed time tonight at the concert.
Thanks to David for the big Coffee purchase!
And you may have seen the brand new Amex Marriott offers for the Bevy and Brilliant cards. Bevy now at 155k Marriott Bonvoy points (up from 85k) and Brilliant now at 185k points (up from 95k). Of course Bevy is at $250 AF and Brilliant at “only” $650 AF. And, you know, Bonvoy. They are at the Credit Card page in case you are a big Marriott fan and have slots.
Gotta run, well, no…drive 🙂
I realized yesterday that every single Hyatt I’ve stayed at in the past six months is going up in price. I’m not sure if that means that I have good taste (unlikely) or that Hyatt is just bumping desirable hotels.
@George – What do you think about Motley Fool for individual stock picks?
Personally I am more hopeful for the Mr & Mrs Smith purchase being of use to earn nights than SLH ever was as always seemed to not have availability or at outrageous redemption levels. A few properties on our list went up in the category changes, but as usual can’t worry about something we have no control over. BTW well done on hitting so many Hyatt brands. We haven’t hit beyond 6 brands in our household which shows how faithful we are to the brands we love as regularly hit the 60 nights. Can’t believe it’s already March, won’t be long and we will all be agonising over are we going to requalify for the final time.
One bit of good news from Hyatt: the Mt Pleasant HP/HH both went from Category 3 to Category 2. They’re pretty close to both downtown Charleston as well as the Sullivan’s Island beaches.
Booked my first non-Hyatt stay in a while: the Niagara Falls Holiday inn for a family trip this summer. I lived in the area as a kid and haven’t been back in decades so I’m curious to see how the area compares with my memory. Btw we booked seven roundtrip tickets CLT-BUF direct for about 100k. Cash value would be around $2,000. There’s solid value to be found in AA domestic economy if you’re patient and flexible.
Anybody know if you can convert an existing WF card to a Bilt? I think I need to get in on earning 2x Hyatt points once per month.
All right, let’s get to some answers to your comments. I am a little behind because I stayed up last night after coming back to my Indigo hotel room in downtown Detroit at almost midnight. Blonde Redhead band’s concert was absolutely amazing. You do not become a true fan until you see a band live imho. I love small club intimate settings instead of huge arenas you need binoculars to see the artists. Being there was bliss, I LOVE live music. And also now ear plugs LOL.I am so glad I made it as I think the Japanese singer cryptically announced the band is breaking up.
Ok, to some answers:
@ DML: Yes, the new cc links are much easier to navigate for sure. Still looking for the first sale! I can’t believe timeshare scams are still a thing in 2024.
@ Carl: Two months without pizza is shocking to me! Last night I did have a pastry from a Mexican bakery next to the concert venue because I did get hungry and there was nothing healthy. And it was delicious 🙂 We’ll se what happens, hoping for my complete change in nutrition sticks this time. Been doing this all my life.Yeah, I hope I get a cc sale before new provider kicks me out due to low “sales volume”…oh man, that would be so embarrassing I would withdraw to a hole in a remote place on planet Earth…or Mars lol.
@ Christian: On the Hyatts, it has to be your excellent taste me thinks 🙂
Motley Fool is a company I would not want anyone associated with. It has elevated spamming to a cult status, you will not be able to escape. I have no idea about their stock pics but being around the block for a while I am pretty sure they suck. I don’t think anyone should be paying anything for a service that provides stock picks. Markets are just way too dynamic to work out…You know what they say, indexing and staying away from looking at it usually works. Easier said than done of course.
@ Vicky: Yeah we will find out about Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I agree on SLH. At this time I don’t think there is a path for me to hit Globalist again…unless Hyatt comes out with a mega promo!
@ Nick: We do have a Mount Pleasant town in Michigan as well. Stayed years ago at a nice Hilton in Niagara Falls over at the Canadian side and we really enjoyed it. Yeah, on them AA domestic economy awards but monitoring for them is not so easy because I get distracted by things like reading material for the blog and tax returns these days 🙂
Oh it is Rent Day over at Bilt. Nope, I am not giving them another card for 1,000 points. Maybe I can link a dead one? 🙂 They never credited me for a blog reader’s referral by the way and I do hate that. Also, never got invited in Moskito Island to be wined and dined. I would refuse to go but, you know, it is the principle of it lol.
Hotel Indigo Downtown Detroit is to be avoided. Room next to elevator was way too noisy. And carpeting could use some cleaning. Parking is valet only unless you park yourself in nearby lots for almost as much. Restaurant had good service thought and the Fatoosh salad was great. And I hope they replace the coffee machine in the room and fix that tiny toilet leak dripping non stop…Good riddance to my IHG points, next!
Wow, I had no idea that my home city of San Diego has two of the nations top Pizzeria’s. I’ve been to both and they are great, but I didn’t realize they were that great! We also have the nation’s second best ice cream shop https://www.10news.com/lifestyle/exploring-san-diego/ans-dry-cleaning-wins-2nd-best-ice-cream-shop-in-america.
Definitely some places for you to check out next time you visit!
I am also ice cream free for 2 months, what is happening with me? 🙂
Good to know for next weight phase I guess.
Son needs to visit San Diego as he explores next place to move to. He does have a knack for staying in very popular and very expensive cities! Taking a look at San Diego Zillow is kind of traumatic, sad!
Cool Greek history map for those who don’t realize how wide-ranging Greeks were back in the day:
https://twitter.com/Varangian_Tagma/status/1763579445590294893?t=eXhi8XMNOQk_PnFsFk_g-w&s=19
Yeah, those soldiers Alexander the Great brought along so far…stayed behind and…this is why you see blue eyed people in Afghanistan, they are descendants of them at places shown in the map 🙂
Thanks!
This is the first prez election campaign I will completely ignore. No need to pay ANY attention to the debates etc. I don’t need to know anything more about Biden or Trump. I just need to know who’s alive or not completely senile on Nov 5th.
I’m surprised Apple shut down the car business. Maybe not the scale ($10B) of Metaverse, but where will Apple’s future growth come from? Just order pizza from Dominos, the other places are much slower and yes, it’s half price compared to the local competition.
Doing the 2020 election all over again is awful.
I will vote for a corpse to avoid Trump, for the record.
When the news came out Apple is out of the car business, Ford stock went up. By a penny LOL.
Meanwhile, META stock price is over $500. It’s just crazy…
I’m voting for whichever third party candidate is polling highest in my state in November. I don’t even care what their political views are.
Did you see that boring ol’ predictable Dell went up 32% today? Because AI? That’s at least as crazy as NVDA behaving the way it has.
>>>>>third party candidates
Please, do not make the same mistake. I did this way back because I did not like Gore. And I still regret to this day! It is a wasted vote.
The system is rigged here. So, to keep democracy alive, we must vote for the less worst candidate. So, it is not even close.
I read somewhere Dell went up. I did not know it was 32%. AI sure appears bubbly. Then again, when it comes to individual stocks, the VAST majority who invest in them just plain suck at it. I have less than 5% of my stock portfolio in some stocks and, in retrospect, I should have stayed in my trusty Vanguard ETFs at 100% lol. But, maybe I am early woohoo.
Must win game rn of my hometown AEL FC of Larissa, Greece. If we don’t win today, the dream of returning to the First Division of Greek soccer will become extremely difficult.
Love the internet 🙂
https://www.aelole.gr/2024/03/live-streaming.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR0SoJKFQjPfWlh_9ng3mfoqYxXn2t9ziSQgiVjc2OlGFt_scD0NMbWg0Gs