Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as HSAs as medical IRAs, global losses from scams, top IRS red flags, Citi Strata travel reward cards, meme stocks are back, background noises collection, always amazing photography, going on pilgrimages, tracking the ISS flying above us and much more and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of miles and points. Enjoy the weekend!
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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 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 blog publishes on Fridays. This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts. I may post on another day when I find the time. More clicks, more posts.
PERSONAL FINANCE
I have blogged here several times in the past how awesome Health Savings Accounts can be. If you are eligible for them and the accounts have decent investment options. Of course, you must make sure the health plan you choose through your employer covers you adequately; there is no point in picking a high deductible HSA eligible plan if it does not fully cover your ailment, does not include your preferred doctor or health institution and, of course, this assumes that you can indeed cover all medical costs preferably out of pocket. HSAs As ‘Medical IRAs’: A Great But Neglected Strategy.
The medical IRA strategy involves contributing to a health savings account, preferably maxing out the annual contribution limit, which is currently $4,150. HSAs must be paired with high-deductible health plans, of course. The funds are invested with a multi-decade time horizon, with allocations similar to those in retirement accounts. Before retirement, medical expenses are paid out of pocket, allowing the HSA balance to compound tax-free, and you keep your receipts. When you tap your HSA in retirement, you repay yourself.
And since we are talking about HSAs, here are the HSA inflation-adjusted maximum contribution amounts for 2025.
US taxpayers are terrified of getting audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Actual audit rates are ridiculously low however. That should not give you a green pass to mess around with it. As long as you do not violate the law and have records to back up every number on your filed income tax return there is absolutely nothing to fear. Anyway, this is helpful: 19 IRS Red Flags: What Are Your Chances of Being Audited.
Oh dear God, here we go again smh: GameStop stock soars over 70% as ‘Roaring Kitty’ revival reignites meme-stock bonanza. So many bored gamblers with way too much time on their hands. Crazy week, so crazy in fact that this was the lead article in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday: Is Roaring Kitty the Internet’s Warren Buffett? And then just like that it appears that The Meme Stock is Over Already. Until it happens again? Who knows, this is NOT investing. If you want to gamble with your money maybe consider having a small play account? Or just sit it out and focus on more important things?
SCAMS/CRYPTO
I have seen a lot in the crypto world. But I don’t think anything tops 12 seconds to steal $25 Million yet: Two former MIT students charged with stealing $25 million of crypto in 12 seconds. Hope their daddy can hire a good lawyer.
What, check fraud is still a thing, who still uses checks Visualizing Global Losses from Financial Scams.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Amazing collection of Background Noises.
Discover a world of immersive and customizable soundscapes that can enhance focus, relaxation, and sleep. Choose from noise generators, nature sounds and ambient music to create your perfect audio environment. Explore our vast library of interactive sound generators and find your audio haven!
Another amazing speech advising the younger generation: Last Lecture Series: “How to Live an Asymmetric Life,” Graham Weaver. Certainly doing my own thing blogging here…
1. Do hard things
2. Do your thing
3. Do it for decades
4. Write your story
Amazing photography: 30 Captivating Photos From The 2024 All About Photo Award Winners.
The more I look at this the more I appreciate its brilliance…
TRAVEL
SAVE $100 FOR 2024 THE EXTRAORDINARY TRAVEL FESTIVAL
Lucy Hsu will be a speaker at the ETF Festival: California second-grade teacher Lucy Hsu becomes rare traveler to visit every country in the world.
These are fun: 50 Times People Spotted Such Creative Solutions At Their Hotels, They Just Had To Share.
Do you know where the International Space Station is right now? Track it here: 3D ISS Tracker. Very cool.
These are great: 8 Famous Pilgrimages Around the World That You Can Walk or Cycle.
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
I watched the latest edition of the Planet of the Apes movie series. I found it way too long and too confusing. And as I walked out I said to myself “I am done watching this series”.
This made me laugh. And when you see the pics of these guys competing you will too! German men with the strongest fingers compete in Bavaria’s ‘Fingerhakeln’ wrestling championship.
I miss running so much. I am going to start physical therapy to try to fix my back issue that has been causing my foot problems. But maybe it was time to move on to save me further damage? I was a running addict – but pushing myself to the limit led to two knee replacements.
I am back on my concert going days, just always loved seeing eclectic acts in small venues. “Eclectic” means different things to different people, respect others’ tastes, we are all different. Anyway, I took the opportunity in my business trip to Philadelphia to attend a concert of a band I was going to see in 1996 but that show was canceled, so here we go 28 years later. The band shall remain nameless at this point because I need to preserve my stellar reputation lol. I just want to say I LOVED the show!
Who needs Iceland when you can see the Northern Lights in Michigan! The two pics below are from Ann Arbor. If you want to see more pics of them from around the world, this is an amazing collection of real time images, enjoy!
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 a lot happening but no event jumps out to define the week. Unless you consider Citi getting back seriously into the travel reward cards space that is.
GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/NEWBIES/ETC.
Yes, I agree with this, make sure you enter your number in the airline accounts you have: Getting Global Entry or TSA PreCheck? Don’t Skip This Step.
I have been using British Airways Avios miles to fly on partner American Airlines for years. I still do but my British Airways Avios stash is getting lower and the award prices have been going higher. I guess it is time to start accumulating more or at least start burning some Alaska Airlines miles to fly out of Detroit to New York LGA, Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas and Washington DCA for just 4,500 Alaska miles in the future before these too get devalued? 768 AA routes you can book for 4,500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles. Any particular route that looks good to you? Let us know in the comments.
CREDIT CARD CORNER
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your credit card clicks below, thank you!
It looks like Citi is waking up from a long absence being a serious competitor in the travel rewards game. And if you had a Citi Premier card this just happened: Premier cards auto-upgraded to Strata Premier. And it looks like Citi kind of botched its big reentry in the travel rewards credit card space again by leaking the news and the features of its new card which is really a Premier clone adding 3x on EV charging, 10x on travel booked on its crappy travel portal and finally all the travel protections that it mysteriously killed some time ago. The Premier Strata Premier has always had a great earning structure 3x on airfare, hotels, groceries, restaurants and gas stations. For an annual fee of $95. So, for some it could be a good card to get and keep going forward.
Then again, you enter the Citi ecosphere which takes away slots from the much better Chase and Amex ecospheres. But you earn flexible bank points AND (this is important) you DIVERSIFY! Anyway, I do have an affiliate link but it is only for 70k Citi Thank you points. You should look for links that offer 75k points to sign up. Unless you really want to help my blog survive; if you do, please email me.
If you see a blogger trying to sell you a 70k Citi Strata Premier link without informing you of the 75k offer, maybe you should run away?
Let’s move on and welcome back Citi! Now lets revamp the premium Prestige card. Let me guess, it would be Citi Strata Prestige? 🙂
This is a decent Comparison of Premium Travel Rewards Credit Cards. For most here, the Capital One Venture X card is a no brainer. Let me type a few more notes from my long experience in this space. The article does not include any Business card versions, such as the Amex Business Platinum card which now has a 150k signing bonus available to all. But there are always higher Amex Platinum links out there. For crying out loud, do not click on the 80k personal Amex Platinum offer in the article!
So, in general, if you can swing the high Amex Platinum annual fee and can use all or most of the benefits that come with it, it could work for you but realize that the earning structure sucks. Amex Platinum cards you get and keep instead of use. If you only fly a certain airline and using its own premium card, I guess it is okay to have one if it works for you.
Some in the Chase ecosphere do like what they get with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, for us it was one and done for the signing bonus. I guess we’ll see how the new Citi Strata premium card will work since its Prestige card has been closed to new applications for a long time.
MY ACTION
I am posting today from the Hyatt Centric Center hotel in Philadelphia, here for two nights for 30,000 World of Hyatt points. Sadly, I did not get upgraded to a suite. The room is fine but it is not a suite and feels so small. This is what happens when you become so used to Hyatt suites. The hotel had a major problem with its door keys as they did not work for almost a full day. Guests had to be escorted by staff to open their room doors, kind of annoying but I guess it happens. Breakfast was underwhelming and with a $30 Globalist credit it covered the buffet, which was underwhelming. No lounge and I am going to try to visit the gym today. Great location though but definitely not thrilled at all by this property.
Son needed two hotel nights in Camarillo, CA and was confronted with a few choices and high prices. Dad to the rescue with 100,000 Hilton Honors points for 2 nights at a Hampton Inn very near to the wedding he is attending.
Right around the corner where I am staying in Philadelphia there is a Capital One Cafe. Using my Capital One Venture X card saves 50%, yes! Nice place to hang out if only the wifi stayed up all the time.
I haven’t pulled the trigger on tickets to Greece yet. I am going to try the last minute thingie this time, wish me luck.
I clicked on one YouTube video about travel rewards credit cards and now I am being served a lot more of them. There are so many credit card salesmen on YouTube too, I had no idea. I look at how many subscribers they have and they are in the thousands! For crappy self serving advice and here I am wondering wtf I am doing selling one coffee and two credit cards this month to date. It kind of shows you how small independent blogs are doomed. And the latest Google search “enhancements” are contributing to their death. With Google announcing that search results will now all be served with AI and no links, I mean, expect more small blogs to give up. It is up to you the readers to preserve the voice of independent blogs, don’t just stand there, help fight back to save them before they too get buried by loud, “shocking”, moronic content that is mostly designed to clickbait you and sell you bank products. Ok, off my soap box.
ADVANCED
At the end of the day, we can’t stop the descent smh: United continues Devaluing Award Tickets.
I mean, it is not only United lately: Airlines Keep Throttling Biz & First Class Award Space for US Travelers.
Remember Hilton’s weird hookup with a company renting out Airstreams? Well, the first one is open, AutoCamp Cape Cod. And it looks interesting. At 70,000 Hilton Honors points per night it may be one of those unique experiences if you need a night in the area. If you visit, please report back. You Can Now Book an AutoCamp Property With Hilton Points — And It’s a Great Deal.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 75k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 75k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 75k CHASE United Business, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 150k AMEX Business Platinum, 80k CHASE Southwest Performance Business, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 75k Citi Strata Premier, 75k CITIBusiness AA Platinum Select, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
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 698,036 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,330,339 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!
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 forward it to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com and tell me what you like and don’t like about my blog and, more importantly, what you would like to see changed and/or what you would add or delete. All feedback is very appreciated.
George
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I guess no surprise that programs based outside the US are throttling awards for US based FFP because let’s face it they sprinkle points via credit cards like it’s candy. Being Europe based have had no problems past month acquiring business class flights on both Qatar and Lufthansa – 2 seats – for Europe originating flights.
Your report of your Hyatt stay makes me glad I don’t have to put up with the BS games these US properties get away with. We recently concluded a 30+ night stay at Andaz Munich, the suite was massive, the breakfast spread is outstanding. No games played as even without TSU’s they upgrade. Over past 2 years we have had 60+ nights at this property and never seen the inside of room, every stay has been a suite whether it’s on point or cash.
Lots of credit card news to think about!
I made Delta diamond this week. Doubtless the last time but why not. The move to the new skymiles program benefited those who were optimizing under the old program. Delta just opened a direct flight to Naples so that’s on the table next year when the global upgrades kick in.
Hope you take care of your body!
Thanks for the new posting, George! Hey, for years now I have been signed up with :HQ-spotthestation@mail.nasa.gov.
They send me an email about 12-24 hours before the Space Station will pass by within visual range. Clear nights this is awesome as it will be the brightest object in the sky other than the moon. Fun to watch it go as it zips along.
Hope the PT on the back helps. My friend that also used to run is now a walker but enjoying walking neighborhoods and takes a small camera (not the phone) and photographs interesting things she sees on her walks.
Glad you got to see your music group after so many years, too!
Re the band–was it Big Bad Voodoo Daddy? String Cheese Incident? Feel free to delete my comment if I’m hitting too close to home.
@ Vicky: Wow, you must really love Andaz. My stays so far in Maui and San Diego just did not meet my entitled expectations 🙂 Yeah, my stay at the Hyatt Centric in Philadelphia was underwhelming for sure, definitely not coming back if I don’t find anything else nearby. The location is great though, client stays a few blocks down the street from it. I did make sure no standard suite was listed as available on the website. Looking for business class tickets to Greece and oh my, how things have changed with United!
@DML: You are deeply invested in Delta. As long as it works for you, that’s great. But the trend…
@ Carl: Thanks a lot, 3 coffees now sold in May and this site is about to take off. Lol. Yeah, I think my running days are over, will attack the PT in the summer and see what happens.
@ Nick: Those two bands you listed definitely not it. Hint: the word “Acid” is in the band’s name. So much fun, they are coming to Michigan on Tuesday night and would love to go see them again but I should not because my body can’t take it staying up so late so soon lol.
Fascinating read of the day:
https://www.stoneageherbalist.com/p/how-diclofenac-is-killing-zoroastrianism
And to tie this back to music: did you know Freddie Mercury was a Parsi?
Wow! On both counts.
In my Iran trip we went to some places with them. They are kind of looked down upon and persecuted over the years. I have some pics…oh that Iran trip report I finished. Like so many things around here. I do what I can 🙂
Thank you.