I bring you the most eclectic content I find online such as an article about the Health Savings Account HSA triple tax break, the frequent flier miles piling up, investing powers, ghost countries that do not exist, travel to Estonia and Australia, the best Covid-19 coverage, a list of unusual deaths, free stock trading is not good for you, deep dive into the music industry, laugh with SNL and lots more.
TBB Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!
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TRAVEL
You know, I feel bad for all the people living in these countries…hassles traveling internationally and, wait for it, no national team soccer games, sad! This Is What It’s Like to Live in a Country ‘That Doesn’t Exist’. 6.5 million people across Europe are trying to live normal lives in countries mostly unrecognized by the rest of the world. Not that any of us will be visiting them any time soon…
The following two links were sent in by sharp TBB readers, thank you!
Warning: If you have a thing against mice…do NOT click this link! ‘Worst mice plague I’ve ever seen’: Millions of rodents descend on eastern Australia.“They’re all around the house. Every time you open a drawer, you’re potentially going to find one,” a man told NBC News. Oh man, I had trouble sleeping the night I read this…
I had never heard of this! Country with a “fifth season”! Every year Estonia’s Soomaa National Park disappears underwater, ushering in an unlikely season that creates an extraordinary sense of belonging among locals. Mind blowing stuff!
PERSONAL FINANCE
Short must read article: Five Investing Powers. They are:
Low Susceptibility to FOMO [I excel in this one!]
Knowing what game you’re playing [Playing the long investing game here, I speculate buying lottery tickets once a year lol]
Recognizing the difference between patience and stubbornness [I tend to be very stubborn and not patient…but not in investing, phew!]
Comfortable being miserable [Every time I look at my blog’s conversions this occurs lol]
Aligning your peak-wealth years with a generational collapse in interest rates, the Fed becoming comfortable with quantitative easing, and falling marginal tax rates. [Nailed it!]
There is some real wisdom in this piece: Bernstein: Free trading is like giving chainsaws to toddlers. Yeah, love this headline, sure beats a “shocking” clickbait headline about some stupid incident only posted to attract clicks! I agree with pretty much everything, just could not pick out anything to excerpt without feeling bad for leaving some parts out so read the whole thing. You are welcome.
Love these accounts! The Triple Tax Break You May Be Missing: A Health Savings Account. Always contributed the maximum and never spent a dime out of it (paid cash for health care expenses, actually paid with a travel rewards credit card lol). You won’t believe what happened next! Archived link.
COVID-19
This was written in the Wall Street Journal by Dr. Larry Brilliant and several other prominent scientists. It lays out what will save us! Herd Immunity Won’t Save Us—but We Can Still Beat Covid-19. Innovative contact tracing and just-in-time vaccination can get the pandemic under control—and prepare us for the next one. Sometimes I want to just rewind to our pre Covid life…Oh, article says we are at 43% and we need to reach 80% for herd immunity. Must read imho, another link to it.
I have cut lots of crap out of my life and now this blog just focuses on truly eclectic content that I share with you. And here is another one: COVID-19 Is Different Now. The coronavirus is changing. So is the disease it causes. Link. The article ends this way:
Last year’s sense of terror and panic belongs behind us. This is the phase of the pandemic when we can move from haphazard emergency plans to concerted measures to eradicate a life-threatening illness. Despite lingering unknowns about exactly how long immunity will last and how many cases we’ll continue to see, we now have the knowledge and resources to become much more certain very quickly. If we beat COVID-21, the numbering could end there.
My right ear has been buzzing for several years now so everything I see about tinnitus I tend to read and this was soooo interesting to me, especially the comments: When the Noise Never Stops: Coping With the Challenges of Tinnitus. Tell your kids to stop listening to music so loud, trust me! Another link.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Wow, I had no idea! Actually, dying from too much laughing is probably slightly worse dying during an orgasm? Discuss 🙂 List of Unusual Deaths. Which one is your favorite? 🙂
If you are interested to learn more about the music industry, I have the best read for you: Islands in the Stream. Musicians are in peril, at the mercy of giant monopolies that profit off their work. It’s rough out there…
Amazing architecture pics here, wow! 50 Times Architects Really Outdid Themselves And People Celebrated Their Works Online. I had a really hard time picking one!
MILES & POINTS
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If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you? Contact me!
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! Feel free to skip this section and parts of the next one if this is not for you.
Newbies: Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a 2% cash back card that you use exclusively. And skip this section to keep your life simple! You won’t hear advice like this from credit card salesmen posing as bloggers because there is no money for them NOT selling you plastic.
What would you like to appear here? There is SO much unimportant drivel in the miles & points world these days…
Read the WSJ article in the next section below…
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
This WSJ article lays it all out how the airlines and hotels are milking these programs and you won’t believe what will happen next! Frequent-Flier Miles Are Piling Up. Fliers Won’t Benefit Like Airlines Will. Frequent fliers have accumulated more miles without using them because of the pandemic, and carriers will likely employ a range of tricks to devalue them. You have been warned! Read here too. Well, the writing is on the wall…I need to get rid of some cards and lighten my wallet…if only Citi would stop giving me statement credits for the AA Citi card annual fees…
Yeah, we all hate this too! Come on Hilton, step up your tech, it is 2021, come on! Hilton Free Night Certs Are Customer Unfriendly At Best & Shady At Worst.
Looks like the long ordeal to get a Visa free Hyatt night from Chase for a December 2020 spending promo may be finally over…as latest email said they will credit the account 15,000 Hyatt points “in the next one to two billing cycles”…We shall see.
Question: Do Southwest Visa referral points count for the Companion Pass?
Question: Any advice on how to get my Amazon Affiliates account reinstated?
The University of Michigan men’s basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, nice! Bring on UCLA next to make it to the Final Four.
The qualifying has started for the next World Cup in Qatar in 2022…I am a huge World Cup fan, love it!
And let’s leave you with some big time entertainment, from last night’s SNL: Boomers Got The Vax. Bwahahahahaha!
And I leave you with this…Amex used to have the absolute BEST customer service. And it has all gone to hell. You get responses by Amex customer service chat agents like this smh. (HT: Milenomics)
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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.
DML says
Reading the unusual death article resulted in a surge of relief that I never bought a lava lamp!
I will be grateful all day!
TBBTheDude says
I started to laugh but held back…because I remembered what appeared on the list too 🙂
Sexy_kitten7 says
Ok i’ll bite. What happens to your HSA? Inheritance? lol
TBBTheDude says
What happened next was….it grew to six figures because of my investing skills…I mean, because of the bull market 🙂
What will happen after that is…use it for health care expenses to enjoy that third final tax break.
ABC says
As Dr Birx spends time on various networks, let’s remind ourselves about her comforting comment a year ago.
[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data. I think his ability to analyze & integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit”
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1243556939369496576
Bill says
Oh my, thank you for this. It reminds me of when Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin about which newspapers she reads to inform her world view. All the best ones!
TBBTheDude says
Just sad…And dotard Trump’s response today is another proof of his insanity…of which, for the record, I called and never wavered from while so many bloggers never said a word because, well, you do not want to alienate half of your readers that way.
I forgive Trump, he was born this way, in his mind he is a true legend…but all the ass kissing enablers? NO!
#NeverForget
Carl Pietrantonio says
Been starting to taper back on cards myself. Also holding off to get back under 5/24 as there are a couple cards I would like to have. I will say though a lot of the “fun” has gone out of this hobby for me over the last year and a half. Plus a serious lack of MS capability where I live.
I retired because I didn’t want to work full time so spending 20+ hours a week and running around to get points is a bit too much like work. I was also doing, and quite enjoying, the eBay hustle on odds and ends and collectibles but they have managed to screw that up so bad that I have quit that too.
Finally starting to plan a road trip domestically and praying to see Italy again before the end of the year without enormous hassle. Fingers crossed.
As far as the Amazon affiliate thing, I looked around on Google and seems this is a common problem and should ought to be doable to get your deal back. I do vaguely remember a FB friend lost his deal with them and was able to get it back. Just takes some time and maybe a bit of luck, who knows.
TBBTheDude says
I think we are just all bored!
Any more responses to my two questions, anyone? In the meantime I have deleted the tweets that were in violation…thing is, I have been tweeting them daily since 2014, they suddenly became a no no??
The CDC director today was screaming WTF is wrong with you guys, don’t mess it up now! But the bloggers are posting about airfare deals, mileage runs and…ah phuck it. Of course if we get another wave they will keep posting this shit!
I am about a week away from dose #2 actually, very exciting!
DaveS says
New reader, love the content already!
I spend way too much on Reddit so here is my contribution to Entertain:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mbccca/dude_explaining_how_he_made_his_first_10_million/
Dude explaining how he made his first $10 million:
Get up at 5:00AM every day
90 minutes of cardio
Take a cold shower
Journal
Schedule out your day
Dad owns Fortune 500 company
Meditate
Nick @ PFD says
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/7-habits-of-highly-successful-people
TBBTheDude says
U guys are trying to kill me by…laughter or what?
Good ones!
DML says
Beats the lava lamp.
Nick @ PFD says
Okay George, you’ve convinced me to give the HSA plan a long, hard look this fall during health care enrollment.
TBBTheDude says
First, you need an eligible plan. Second, regular health care expenses must not be on the higher side. Third, hopefully it has some decent low cost investment fund choices.
If yes, go to the max and pray you won’t need to pay all of the deductible! If you can afford, pay out of pocket using your favorite travel rewards credit card (inserted imaginary affiliate link) and…save all the receipts! When you turn 65, add up the receipts (in an Excel spreadsheet preferably) and make a tax-free distribution to…pay for a Ferrari or a Ford Mach-E at least. 🙂
I should start my own TikTok channel dishing financial advice woohoo.
TBBTheDude says
Thanks to reader D for the third cc conversion…I don’t know about you all…but I FEEL the momentum changing, TPG should be worried!
Ok, I woke up…The UofM game is at 10 PM EST…past my bedtime!
ABC says
Wow, At this point I was expecting this from AZ, not J&J
“ 15 million J&J COVID vaccines thrown away after ingredient mix-up”
Those doses would have saved many lives.