Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as taxes and the top 1%, vile financial influencers, the plot against Sealand, we are empty nesters for real now, Cathie Wood’s ARK ETF horrific performance, when financial advisors splurge on yachts and Louis Vuitton, China’s real economic crisis, Morocco building the largest soccer stadium, and much more and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of miles and points. See you Friday!
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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to a curated at least weekly post of the best web content along with my commentary. Here to Educate primarily, sometimes Entertain and if I get to Inspire you, well, that is a bonus.
This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Maybe instead of criticizing the 1%, should we be thanking them instead for paying so much in taxes? Just saying: What the Top 1% Pay in Taxes in Each State – 2024 Study. Very interesting study, discuss in the comments. And be gentle please.
Nationwide, the top 1% of earners pay a 25.95% effective tax rate. This yielded a total of $993.7 billion dollars in income taxes paid by the top 1% over one year, or 45% of all individual income tax collected. The total adjusted gross income for this group over the same time was $3.8 trillion.
The top 1% earns more than 33% of income in four states. In Wyoming, the top 1% brings in 40.6% of all adjusted gross income (AGI), which adds up to $13.25 trillion. The top 1% in Nevada (34.3%), Florida (34.0%) and New York (33.5%) also have particularly outsized earnings when compared with the local 99%.
Connecticut’s top 1% pays the highest effective tax rate. The top 1% in Connecticut pay 27.69% on each dollar of income, while the average Connecticut taxpayer pays a rate of 17.7%. Meanwhile, the top 1% of earners in Arkansas saw the lowest effective tax rate for that cohort at 21.41%.
Remember when back in 2020 the ARK Innovation ETF and its manager Cathie Wood were on fire beating everything? It has been decimated ever since but somehow someway the media love to give Cathie a platform to share her “wisdom” while continuing to rake in fees smh. Chasing Star Fund Manager Performance. I knew it was bad but when it is laid out this way below I am beginning to develop anger feelings and I need to do better.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
Cathie Wood is a saint when you compare her to this Robert Kiyosaki dude: The Most Vile Financial Influencer. For the love of God, stay away from this guy! If you are a fan please leave, there is no hope for you. Come back after you realize you are wrong. If you have not realized this yet, I mean, really, good luck to you.
You know, when your financial advisor owns a yacht it is probably not a good sign: A finance CEO’s $300 million Ponzi scheme funded a ‘lavish’ lifestyle, authorities say. Drive Planning CEO Todd Burkhalter used investors’ cash to buy a yacht and real estate, regulators say.
Wait, add Louis Vuitton to the yachts, dead giveaway!
Drive Planning also spent almost $320,000 on clothing, jewelry, and beauty treatments, including $75,785 at Louis Vuitton, and $4.6 million to charter private jets and luxury cars.
ODDZ & ENDZ
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This is a really good article about China’s Real Economic Crisis. Why Beijing Won’t Give Up on a Failing Model. It explains what is going on and also raises the alarm about the dangers of isolating China. We’ll see what happens:
To craft a better approach, Western leaders and policymakers would do well to understand the deeper forces driving China’s overcapacity and make sure that their own policies are not making it worse. Rather than seeking to further isolate China, the West should take steps to keep Beijing firmly within the global trading system, using the incentives of the global market to steer China toward more balanced growth and less heavy-handed industrial policies. In the absence of such a strategy, the West could face a China that is increasingly unrestrained by international economic ties and prepared to double down on its state-led production strategy, even at the risk of harming the global economy and stunting its own prosperity.
Amazing photography from The 2024 iPhone Photography Awards.
TRAVEL
We all know about the weird tiny “country” of Sealand. But this article goes deep about its history and a lot more. As it how got involved into mega frauds and stuff like that. Way deep actually! The Plot Against the Principality of Sealand. How the world’s quirkiest micro-nation got pulled into one of history’s most epic intercontinental frauds. And how there was a coup and how they fought back to eject the coup plotters. Who now have a Sealand in exile operation lol.
It looks amazing! Morocco reveals a look at the world’s biggest football stadium.
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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/CREDIT CARD CORNER/MY ACTION
On Tuesdays I do without the usual separate Sections and I just lay out some note worthy items. Maybe I try to limit myself to no more than 10 entries? On Fridays we go back to the usual Sections, so here we go:
The 120k Chase Ink Business Preferred card, ends on September 4, 2024! You can read more about it below and you know what to do HERE. We got three of these babies in my household.
So, this happened: (Now Live In Branch) Chase INK Unlimited Signup Bonus Increases To 90,000 on August 25th. Hopefully this bonus moves on from going into branch and comes to us online as well. Soon? I would probably wait for this if you were thinking to go for this card Signup Bonus that is 75k now. Which is already one of the Top Four I am recommending. When this goes to 90k it is going to be THE #1 offer when the 120k Chase Ink Business Preferred card above rolls off on September 2, 2024.
Stop it Chase Bank #notreally. And this is why Chase is my favorite bank you guys.
9 Great Ways to Use a Big Chase Ultimate Rewards Bonus
Oh oh, are we about to see a major devaluation wave from hotels too? The Loyalty Reward Downgrade Has Come for Hotel Guests. Increased competition and a surge in signups means that hotel points are often not going as far as they used to. Well, if you have not been paying attention, hotels have been doing this for a while. And we Hyatt fans hope they don’t go the dynamic way as well, as saying goodbye to the valuable award charts I mean.
This used to be harder. But it is easier now. How to Easily Combine Chase Account Logins. I still keep them separate. I have my system down, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it they say and I agree.
We all know that the bank transferable point credit cards are superior to pure airline and hotel cards. Mostly because of their inherent flexibility. So, I just looked to see what pure airline and hotel cards we do have in my household and as I suspected I am down to just two: the Hyatt personal Visa and the United Gateway card (no annual fee card only held to have more award availability show up online). And yes I was surprised I am down to just two! Hmmm, maybe it is time to add more but with bonuses like the targeted Amex Business Platinum I just got for 250k Amex Membership Rewards points and three 120k Chase Ink Business Preferrred cards in my household…I need some time to digest first.
Trying to burn some miles for our return from Kuala Lumpur in early December and also for our daughter to join us in Thailand over Thanksgiving. It is not going well.
But I managed to at least burn enough to secure hotel for son plus one to be with us in Hua Hin, Thailand over Thanksgiving. By burning 36,000 of his World of Hyatt miles at the Hua Hin Hyatt Regency for three nights (and I also used my last Globalist Guest of Honor cert because, families that eat free breakfast together stay together, just made this up lol) and 40,000 Hilton Honors points for one night at the Hua Hin Hilton (after transferring 20k Amex points to son’s Hilton Honors account). We have work to do do to book daughter’s RT Seattle -Bangkok, our own flights back to the US from Kuala Lumpur and son plus one RT flights as well #developing. Nearing 1.5 million miles/points year to date, muy bien.
I can’t wait to see Megalopolis.
I just saw Strange Darling. And I am still stunned. Best movie of the year. Give the Oscar for Best Actor now to Willa Fitzgerald. You heard it here first you guys.
Family pic the night before our daughter moved to Seattle to start her first real job at Microsoft. I am growing a beard for the first time in my life. Santa Claus or George Clooney? Please keep it gentle in the comments lol.
This offer ENDS 9/9/2024! 75k Capital One Venture Rewards card PLUS a $250 Travel Credit. The annual fee is $95 and the minimum spend required is $4,000 in three months. Capital One cards usually earn a simple flat 2 points on every dollar. This card earns 5x on hotels and car rentals booked on its own travel portal, which is no big deal. No foreign transaction fees. Get $100 credit towards Global Entry or TSA Precheck. Most importantly, you can transfer the 75,000 points out to airline and hotel partners. Or just erase travel charged on the card for $750. And then of course you get the $250 travel credit. Basically, $1,000 of travel for $95. No Priority Pass lounge membership, just 2 visits allowed to Capital One or Plaza Premium airline lounges. Capital One can be, well, finicky in approvals. If you are denied, you can not call to ask them to reconsider, it is all done by algorithms so, good luck! Finally, YES, you can have both the Venture X and the Venture Rewards cards.
This offer ENDS on 9/4/2024: Still the #1 BEST OFFER out there right now, we got three of these babies in my household: 120k Chase Ink Business Preferred card. It is its highest ever signup bonus. The annual fee is $95. Requires $8k minimum spend in the first three months (used to be crazy high at $15k!). It earns 3x on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines and 1x on everything else. No foreign transaction fees and primary rental car insurance on business trips. Points are worth 1.25 cents each if used in the bank’s travel portal. So, if you do the math: 120k plus 8k MINIMUM (if all spend was at unbonused 1x ) is 128k points times 1.25 cents gives us free travel worth $1,600. For an annual fee of $95. Ok, I did the math for you, come on! And of course you can transfer the points instead to airline/hotel partners (I prefer Hyatt, Air Canada Aeroplan and sometimes Southwest, in that order) for even higher value. Very solid cell phone insurance coverage along with strong travel and purchase protections.
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Best credit card offers STILL remain the same, see below my TOP FOUR travel rewards credit cards right now. For a DETAILED explanation of the features of these cards below, please click HERE and read about them at the bottom of that page.
Temporarily, the 120k CHASE Ink Business Preferred card goes right to the top. Offer ends on 9/4/2024!
The next offer NOW is the 75k Capital One Venture X card. It is amazing what you get for free with this card!
Next we have the 75k CHASE Ink Business Cash and 75k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited cards.
Learn how to apply HERE to support the blog.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 120k CHASE Ink Business Preferred (ENDS 9/4/24), 75k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 75k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 75k CHASE United Business, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards AND $250 Travel Credit (ENDS 9/9/24), 150k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, two 120k CHASE Southwest Business cards, 150k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
Learn how to apply HERE to support the blog. Or email me if you have any questions about any cards, I’m happy to help, thank you!
As of today, I have burned 1,446,957 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,154,413 miles/points in the bank. Some do drugs, I do miles lol!
WELCOME OFFERS & TRANSFER BONUS NOTIFICATIONS
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All you have to do to receive these free notifications is:
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Let me leave you with this:
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Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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Definitely Santa Claus.
Typing this from my yacht.
Interesting how ‘travel for free’ and ‘get rich without effort’ have the same structure.
Interesting how YouTube credit card salespeople have multiple AMEX platinum cards so they can pile up referrals. Cute.
Thanks for the links.
Definitely Santa Claus.
Cathie Wood is one of the great destroyers of wealth in recent years. I remember being appalled a few years back when a certain points and miles blogger gushed about how awesome she was. Hopefully nobody followed him on that one.
I think I remembered that blog post…it was the dude who specializes on getting shut down, right? I think.
I bet you are thinking of Vinh at Miles per day. He is always getting the banhammer from somebody.
We had one of the hottest days of the year here, almost reached 100 F degrees. And then a major storm passed through, lost power for less than an hour, phew.
There are SO many YouTubers out there “in the game” who would not be doing this if banks stopped paying them to sell credit cards. It is like a whole different planet…I am stunned actually. They are mostly oblivious of the blogging world. Maybe I am a dinosaur blogging away here.
Thanks to reader D for the 3 coffees, much appreciated. Either I do bigly cc posts or tiny ones like today…nobody has clicked on any of them for the past 2 weeks!
Been waiting on standby for daughter to send me info on her new job benefits, 401k Plan and Company stock…waiting.
Cathie Wood – One of the great wealth destroyers…Bingo!
Hope Carl is OK. Lots of viruses floating out there. Even Dr. Fauci was knocked out by the West Nile virus!
Carl is doing ok. Still with a cough and much gooey stuff, but slowly getting my energy back and hopefully another week and I will be OK. No idea what this was. Flunked the Covid tests but now I hear they are not always right either.
Anyhow, finally settling down to start looking at some travel plans. Getting older makes it harder, I will say this is a fact. 67 now and the enthusiasm for some of the adventuring just ain’t there anymore.
But there are still places I want to see and go to so with adjustments for being older, I shall do so!
I just checked and saw two seats in business class on Turkish on Dec 6 at 23:45 KUL to ATL with 9 hours in IST. Price is 87,500 Aeroplan points per person. It’s 15 minutes away from December 7 but December 7th is a day that will live in infamy anyway so thought I’d mention it in case you have a little flexibility.
Thank you. Started playing with it. Will require overnight in ATL most likely and then separate flight to DTW. Tried adding multicity option on to Detroit but nada. Interestingly, we can get to Detroit in Economy for 60k with the same TK flight and long layover in IST. But I don’t think we can get into the magnificent TK Business Lounge with Priority Pass. Hopefully this is a sign availablity is starting to get looser. I have about 160k Aeroplan miles, so I am going to transfer some more from Chase to be ready. Thanks again. If you have that alert somewhere please keep it 🙂
At this point, if someone is still following Cathie Wood, might as well light up the money on fire or throw it out of the window which is more entertaining.
I wonder if people have thought about plucking some FU/play money into an inverse ARKK funds. I bet that would yield big returns. If not, hey, its play money anyways
What gets me is that media still feature her so often…I guess that’s what media does but come on!