Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the US stock market relentless rise, sad tax shelters for dentists, the most famous quotes of all time, awesome ocean photography, the 12 best Priority Pass airline lounges, the Capital One Venture X is the best travel rewards credit card and a few selected 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 curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.
This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
This is a really short Tuesday post. See you Friday for the usual longer post.
PERSONAL FINANCE
We are witnessing the most hated and a truly legendary bull market in history imho: The “relentless” rise of the US stock market. Some facts that stand out:
…the S&P 500’s rise has been unusually consistent. In 35 of the past 52 weeks, the benchmark US index has gained. This is rarefied air: going back to March 1957, only 5% of the time has the S&P 500 posted more weekly wins over a one-year span.
…the S&P 500 has posted 33 weekly advances in the last 47, which is the joint highest since 2004.
Everyone hates stock market volatility. But not if the volatility is on the up direction lol. Having said that, it is not a one way train. Diversifying is even more important at times like this. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
This chart proves that staying invested pays off:
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
In my wealth management career I have seen some crazy shit. Maybe one day I am going to write that book. Not happening as long as this blog stays up though. Anyway, high earning medical professionals have a high target on their backs from advisors salesmen in my industry. I have seen some of the craziest shit from dentists though, not sure why that is. This article went viral in the Wall Street Journal: A Tax-Shelter Crackdown Uncovers a Dentist’s ‘Smile High Trust’. The six criminal counts are a cautionary tale for anyone tempted by far-fetched tax-reduction schemes. My contribution in the comments is pasted below:
Wearing my CFP and CPA hat, some observations:
1) If your CPA says something is wacky you should take a few steps back and reevaluate your decisions, especially about tax matters, come on!
2) As many commenters have mentioned, I never understood how dentists in particular fall for schemes like this. Or other crazy “proprietary” trading techniques (some involving wacky commodities and complex options, etc.). Maybe an academic should choose to research this area. As in, what occupations tend to get into trouble when it comes to financial choices.
3) If someone proposes something to you, please ask them to sign on their letterhead that they guarantee that it won’t be challenged by the IRS.
4) Very first boss in a CPA firm told me that we walk away if a client insists on something that is likely to end up in Tax Court.
5) You can complain all you want about the IRS. We in the profession are fully aware the agency is way understaffed and technologically behind. And deterrence by going after schemes like this pays for itself.
This article should be seen by every dentist. Because every day they are approached by shady characters with inane schemes like this.
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ODDZ & ENDZ
Bookmarked for reference, love quotes! The 365 Most Famous Quotes of All Time. I am picking the top 10 from great businessmen and women below, enjoy:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” — Steve Jobs
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” — Bill Gates
“I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.” — John D. Rockefeller
“A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind, like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine.” ― Andrew Carnegie
“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” — Henry Ford
“The first thing is character […] before money or anything else. Money cannot buy it. A man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom.” — J. P. Morgan
“There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” — Sam Walton
“I was an overnight success all right, but thirty years is a long, long night.” — Ray Kroc
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett
Amazing photography: One Whale of a Meal Wins The 2024 Ocean Photographer of the Year Competition.
TRAVEL
We love to maximize our travel experience around here. And visiting airline lounges is a part of it. Especially when you enter them for free with a credit card that is probably not free but bloggers will do their best to make you think it is free. Well, the one featured below is not only free but Capital One Bank pays you $5 to have it every year (until it raises the annual fee that is, hurry!). So, carrying the Capital One Venture X card gives you a Priority Pass lounge membership and these are the 12 Best Priority Pass Lounges in the World, see you there! For a more detailed review of this travel rewards credit card please see the next section below.
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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.
Again, this is a short Tuesday post. No sections, just a few noteworthy items to share with you:
More miles/points burning, I am up to 1,859,617 miles/points redeemed year to date. I will have the details on the long Friday post. And I still have about 4.2 Million miles/points in the bank. Just imagine how many more I could have if I was not spending so much time bringing this blog to you. For a few coffees per month. Still trying to sell a single credit card since September 4 smh.
BREAKING: I actually paid $ for a flight. Joining my wife and friends at the end of the month running the 2024 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. I tried to use American Airlines or Alaska Airlines miles but I could not get the right times on non stops. And my patience is shortened lately. So I paid about $300 to fly on a direct American Airlines flight RT with the exact times I needed. Not going to sweat it anymore trying to maximize everything in this hobby, life is too short. Especially when you are in your late 50’s lol. I had forgotten that I enrolled in an elite status trial period with American Airlines (due to my World of Hyatt Globalist elite status) that runs until early January 2025. Got me all the benefits, including being able to book exit row seats both ways #winning. And of course we are staying at the Hyatt Centric Arlington on World of Hyatt points, hoping to score an upgrade but not willing to burn a confirmed suite upgrade cert in a Hyatt Centric for just three nights.
Play daily this game this week to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points. Up to 10 Million points to be given away.
Register for the Choice Privileges Fall promotion to earn 8k points for 2+ night stays.
This hobby years ago lurked in the shadows and the bang we used to get from it was unbelievable. Well, everything changed when banks started paying bloggers a lot of money to sell plastic. And it has now become mainstream with thousands of “content creators” pumping the benefits of being a “travel hacker” to the masses. Anyway, back in the day there were no media mentions about this. We now get articles in the Wall Street Journal about it frequently. And they are poorly written: The Buying Power of Your Credit Card Points is Tanking. Which of course is true and you don’t need to ask The Points Guy staffers about it. Friends don’t let friends read The Points Guy.
Another airline program goes with dynamic pricing, RIP Virgin Atlantic. You get 30 days to burn your miles: Uh oh: Virgin Atlantic makes sweeping changes to Flying Club, including dynamic pricing. What is so insulting is that the press release is so full of shit making it sound like they are doing it all to help their members, have these guys been working at Delta previously? This is next level in your face bullshitt-ery speak wow! “Straight” talk from the CEO LOL:
“Our customers mean the world to us. We are flying because of them and for forty years we have existed to make their journeys safe and special. Our aim is always to do right by them and to make them smile. In our special Ruby anniversary year, we are making every single seat available for purchase with points, becoming even more rewarding for our millions of loyal Flying Club members.”
I am often asked if I had to pick just one travel rewards personal credit card, which one would it be? The answer is easy, this card pays for itself and shockingly its annual fee (compared to the competition) is still absurdly low and it is definitely going up in the future:
75k Capital One Venture X
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 decent 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 and, this is BIG, they can bring in unlimited guests with their FREE Priority Pass card! 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.
And this offer is live for a few more weeks:
AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business card: Oh, it is back! Up to FIVE free nights again. I am no fan of Marriott Bonvoy but hey, five free nights is five free nights you guys. Each Free Night Award certificate has a redemption level up of to 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, expire after one year and can be topped off with points for up to 15,000 additional points per night. The annual fee is $125. The minimum spend is $8k in the first six months. Earning structure is 6x on Marriott purchases, 4x on gas stations, cell phone bills, restaurants and shipping and 2x on everything else. You get 15 elite night credits, Gold elite status AND a Free Night Award cert at each card anniversary. Having Gold elite status earns an additional 25% bonus points on Marriott stays, 2 pm late check out and if the planets align with the moon a shocking room upgrade. No foreign transaction fees. 7% discount on rooms and premium internet access. Offer ends 10/16/2024.
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!
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
Would you like to be automatically notified every time a card comes out with (or is about to remove) an elevated welcome offer? If yes, I highly encourage you to sign up if you haven’t yet. And when you apply for a credit card from a link in these emails you help support the blog (and you don’t have to hunt down the link in my Credit Cards page!)
Elevated Card Offer Notifications
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Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
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Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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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.
Smh, you could be saving millions of dollars if you funneled your blogging profits through the TBB foundation.
I think the most important travel news was the mayor of NYC getting indicted for bribes that took the form of upgrades to business class seats on Turkish air. And there were hotel upgrades too.
Maybe there is room for a YouTube channel advising elected officials what travel bribes are worth it!
Hey Buzz-
I don’t see what’s wrong with that dentist’s scheme. I mean he must have read it on the internet so it must be ok, right?
Any of those 500 quotes from Ingy? Oh yeah: “It’s all about the conversions.”
Dentists, wonder if it is tied in with their massive egos and belief they are the smartest people in the room at all times. They are used to being in a position of power so doubt they would think for a minute that someone could put something over them. NYC mayor story is sad, imagine risking it all for upgrades on Turkish. Dude needed to dream big. Good job on letting the moths out of your wallet and actually purchasing the flight that makes sense.
Hey Buzz,
Coming to you live from the Hyatt Huntington Beach. I must say, for a conference this place is great. For a quiet vacation, perhaps not. Feels like a resort in Vegas…haha. And the Air Force has been blitzing the neighborhood for the last 15 minutes directly over the beach, incredible.
The staff is great as always and the upgrade to a gigantic suite was nice.
Ate at Nardo’s twice, great recommendation, as close to authentic as it gets out west. Definitely will need a dentist after eating the pistachio dessert, delicious!
Tried to make a coffee donation, but it would not run the card, I will try again tomorrow.
Thank you again Buzz and have a great week!
I used your link for a Cap One Spark Cash Plus but surprisingly got turned down. Sorry, I tried. I’m not used to denied applications anymore since I have the income, legit business spend, and very high 700’s credit score. The periodic denial keeps you humble, I suppose.
@ NickPFD: That made me laugh, thank you, needed it today.
@DML: I am going to take the other side on this one. Because when you compare it to what some Supreme Court justices got..it makes it look kind of petty? I guess we will find out and I won’t be shocked if he gets acquitted before…he likely settles it with him resigning.
@Sam: Yeah, what a miss to not include that quote, lol. Thank you, may not be selling any plastic at all here for almost a month but your jokes sure make up for it.
@Vicky: Thank you for the encouragement to change my stingy ways! I am listening more and changing. Because I sure can…it’s just a mental adjustment. And, you know, change is hard!
@Christian: Thanks for trying! About to hit a month without a conversion here and talk about embarrassing! Just wondering how many CO cards do you currently have? And when did u get the last one? Thinking to take a shot for my wife to finally get her own CO Venture X card…yeah, don’t have it yet because I end up managing it and I want to keep it sane around here not harming the content quality.
@David: Glad you like it. Yeah, it can get a little busy. I missed that dessert lol. Stayed there for 3 years in a row without the Air Force buzzing us, sorry! Christian with a cc denial, you with a Coffee denial…I am just not cut out for this online business thingie it appears. It is what it is, thank you for thinking of me.
Busy with quarter end work. Great quarter, thank God the main job is paying the bills unlike TBBing!
It is 10 am and OneMileAtaTime has already posted five times this morning, wow!
And I can’t sell a card since September 4 here.
What am I doing? Remember that VP debate many years ago, I think he was the guy running with Ross Perot, who said “Who am I, what am I doing here?”.
This is how I feel…
Very late to comment. Thanks for another great post! I applied for a Hawaiian card about a week and a half ago and surprisingly (to me) that even though a personal card they want a 4506T IRS form filled out and *mailed* in. Maybe I mentioned it before, now I can’t remember. but I think I am not going to even bother and let it go. 3 rejections for cards now in a row. Might be time to change the way I do things, but I think I give up on Barclay from now on.
Love the quotes! Thanx!
You are already dancing with Barclay so maybe stick with it since you are already invested some effort into this. Yeah, everything takes longer with this bank, so frustrating. Which is why I am not going to bother even though it does make great sense to for a Hawaiian card or two right now. If I could get it with my links I certainly would! But with the long Thailand trip coming up, staying away from it. For now.
Got my X business card year before last. Closed my only other card (Spark biz IIRC) a few weeks ago. Never had a personal card. I’m 4/24 but was willing to hit 5/24 for 200k C1 points. Maybe I’ll try again next year.
Thanks for the DP. It has been less than a month since we closed one of wife’s Chase cards. I think I am going to let a month pass before trying to get her the personal Capital One Venture X card. Which is going to be after Thailand. Hopefully the SUB is more than 75k at that time. If this blog is still around at that time.
No card sales here since September 4. It is sobering.
Good post coming tomorrow, enjoy this blog while it is up everyone.