Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as international stocks diversification, planning vacations for billionaires, the NFL Draft in Detroit, we have the highest ever 300k credit card signup bonus, the five futures of Russia, reversals in the markets happen all the time, slang and donkeys, how Hyatt bungled the Mr and Mrs Smith acquisition, Hyatt vs Hilton and much more and of course always all of the 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 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. This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts. I may post on a Tuesday too…or it could be some other day. Or only Friday. It is what it is, changes are coming.
SAVE UP TO $120 FOR 2024 THE EXTRAORDINARY TRAVEL FESTIVAL
PERSONAL FINANCE
I always recommend not to look at what happens in the stock market daily. Anything can happen. And if you think you can predict what will happen in the short term, well, you are kidding yourself. As this Humble Dollar article Surprised Again shows:
When it comes to financial markets, the track record of those making forecasts is not good.
That’s why a rational approach to decision making is to avoid predictions, and instead base choices only on an assessment of where things currently stand. But even that approach can be fraught: Financial trends have a habit of reversing when least expected.
Oh yes, we had reversals recently in interest rates and electric vehicles. Everyone was beating up on Toyota for not getting it; now everyone is praising it for sticking with hybrids. Will AI also be relevant here down the road by reversing its recent bubbly trends? Time always tells. The author also brings up international markets. But let me get back to that below after singling out this point by the author:
Since reversals are a fact of life for investors—and are completely unpredictable in their timing and impact—the key, I think, is to structure your portfolio so you don’t need to make changes, no matter what the market does. You can do that by building enough diversification and enough margin for error into your portfolio so that a reversal in any one corner of the market can’t materially affect you—and, just as important, won’t cause you to lose any sleep.
We have been blessed here in the US leading the stock markets around the world for a very long time. But to be truly diversified we must have international exposure. But what is “international” really? The way we determine international allocation is by the country each company is headquartered in. Is this really the proper way to do it? I was wondering recently how much of US companies’ sales are outside the US. Well, we have an answer here: You don’t have to look outside U.S. stocks for international exposure.
The U.S. stock market includes many multinational corporations that conduct a lot of business abroad. According to FactSet, 41% of revenue generated by S&P 500 companies comes from international markets.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/ELON
Another super arrogant asshole is going to prison for seven years: Instagram influencer Jay Mazini sentenced to seven years in prison for crypto fraud. When you read what this pos did you would realize seven years are not enough.
I can not believe people still fall for Elon Musk’s shit. Anyway, here is a severe beating of the Cyberturck monstrosity. If you bought one of these please leave now. If you were thinking to buy one of them…what the hell is wrong with you?
Two years ago Elon Musk bought Twitter. And destroyed our favorite online platform. And the former Twitter Director of Civic Integrity posts his final Twitter thread and takes Elon to the shed, must read imho.
GEOPOLITICS
This is excellent: The Five Futures of Russia. We’ll see how it unfolds.
This tweet by Illia Ponomarenko right after the House passed the bill for aid to Ukraine is perfect.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Fantastic resource: Green’s Dictionary of Slang. I remember when I came to the US and was learning English, the slang “when shit hit the fan” always me threw me off!
I had never heard of this. We all know how poachers kill elephants for their ivory tusks. But donkeys for their hide? How China’s demand for donkey hide is devastating African communities. The article describes how donkeys are killed. And it will make you angry, so cruel!
Amazing photography: Breaking ice, and helicopter drops: winning photos of working scientists.
TRAVEL
Interesting list of the 15 Favorite City Hotels in the US. I always wanted to stay in the Peninsula Chicago hotel. But my “problem” is swimming in Hyatt points, cough.
This was fun to read. We are talking a whole different world you guys. What It’s Like to Plan Vacations for Billionaires.
Can you give me some examples of what a client might ask you to do?
I just did a call with a client who’s a tech billionaire. They told me they want to go to Europe in August for nine days, just the couple, no kids. And that’s all they said. This is pretty common. Most of my clients have unlimited money, and they want to spend it, and they have a vision for what they want, but they can’t Google for it. They’re not sure how to find it. They want the guy that’ll open doors for them in Bordeaux so they can taste old wines. They want to go to the most incredible clifftop restaurant in Italy… We’ve closed down Versailles for a private candlelit dinner. We’ve closed down monuments in Turkey. We’ve done really cool parties at the pyramids.
I always get a kick out of the list of what Uber passengers leave behind: The 2024 Uber Lost & Found Index.
- Frontal hair toupee
- Hot sauce and a breathalyzer
- I left a leaf in your car that’s much needed
- Two containers with spiders in them
- A Beyoncé fold up fan
- A tray of meat pie
- Ceramic cat
- Jar of oysters
- A personalized blanket with a picture of me and my dog
- Small rat skeleton prop
Greece looked surreal earlier this week: Sahara dust haze descends over Athens. And this video from Athens wow.
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
So, I have an answer on what is wrong with my foot. The EMG (neurological) test revealed: “There is electrodiagnostic evidence suggestive of a chronic, left, L4 and S1 radiculopathy with evidence of ongoing denervation in the left S1 myotome. Clinical and radiologic correlation is recommended“. Amazing how it all…just manifested only at the ball of my left foot! At least I know what is the issue. I have a follow up appointment later today with the doc’s physician assistant (because of course the doc’s first opening was on May 30th!). Oh, I entered the lottery for the 2025 London Marathon for giggles.
It is 2024 NFL Draft weekend in Detroit, welcome to Detroit Lions land! Update: Detroit sets all-time NFL draft record with 275,000 fans in attendance on first night. This city is so hungry for big time events, bring them!
I have not watched a single NBA Playoffs game yet.
You are probably aware of the US Post Office Informed Delivery service. You get an email every morning with scans of what the mailman will deliver in your mailbox later that day. For a long time I resisted signing up for this because, you know, yet another email and there could be hacking issues and stuff like that. I finally signed up for it and I love it. Sometimes I receive no mail at all or maybe there is only a junk mail piece so it saves me a trip to the mailbox, yes!
All right, time to laugh. Remember when President Ronald Reagan replied to a kid who wrote to him “My mother declared my bedroom a disaster area“. You are welcome. Other blogs try to trick you with clickbait shit and useless info. I stick to the blog mission, show this blog some love will ya?
May 11, 1984
Dear Andy:
I’m sorry to be so late in answering your letter but, as you know, I’ve been in China and found your letter here upon my return.
Your application for disaster relief has been duly noted but I must point out one technical problem: the authority declaring the disaster is supposed to make the request. In this case, your mother.
However, setting that aside, I’ll have to point out the larger problem of available funds. This has been a year of disasters: 539 hurricanes as of May 4th and several more since, numerous floods, forest fires, drought in Texas and a number of earthquakes. What I’m getting at is that funds are dangerously low.
May I make a suggestion? This Administration, believing that government has done many things that could better be done by volunteers at the local level, has sponsored a Private Sector Initiative Program, calling upon people to practice voluntarism in the solving of a number of local problems.
Your situation appears to be a natural. I’m sure your mother was fully justified in proclaiming your room a disaster. Therefore, you are in an excellent position to launch another volunteer program to go along with the more than 3000 already underway in our nation. Congratulations.
Give my best regards to your mother.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan
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. Wait! We have the unfortunate development of Hyatt surgically “enhancing” its Mr & Mrs Smith acquisition so let’s start out with that, shall we?
There was a universal judgment in the blogosphere that cried out in pain with Hyatt’s announcement. A few blog posts I am linking to below. But first my commentary on it.
Hyatt lost a lot of properties after letting go all the SLH hotels go to Hilton. The footprint of Mr & Mrs Smith does not come close and we were all waiting to see what we could do with our World of Hyatt points. Well, not much. No award charts will apply to these expensive properties. The words we absolutely hate in this hobby, “dynamic pricing”, will apply and the best value we could get is at best 1.4 cents per point. And usually way less, even less than 1 cent per mile. Which is just horrible. What other hits apply? Wait, there is a long list outlined HERE, I pick the big ones:
You cannot use various free-night awards.
Points + Cash awards are not available at Mr & Mrs Smith, and you cannot use suite upgrade certs.
There are no in-hotel benefits for World of Hyatt members for Mr & Mrs Smith stays, except Globalists are eligible for space-available upgrades at the time of checking in. [ No breakfast for Globalists, seriously?]
Mr & Mrs Smith properties won’t count as Hyatt for credit card swiping purposes. [This is ridiculous imho. I hope Chase intervenes, come on!]
You only earn points for the room rate if booked directly with Hyatt. Stays booked on Mr & Mrs Smith’s website are not eligible under World of Hyatt. [I am so glad I did not buy any Mr & Mrs Smith gift cards in the recent promo #winning]
I guess we can celebrate that we can at least earn qualifying nights and elite bonus points smh.
When you get Hyatt fan boys mad you know this was bad: Frequent Miler: Hyatt’s Mr & Mrs Smith now live (details broke my heart).
GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/NEWBIES/ETC.
Great consumer friendly move: Airlines required to refund passengers for canceled, delayed flights.
Good transfer bonus: American Express Transfer Bonus: 30% To Virgin Atlantic. Have an award target ready to book, I would never ever transfer any miles to an airline to book awards later. Because the airline can and will devalue its own miles currency.
Pretty good comprehensive guide: Complete Guide to American Express Membership Rewards Transfer Partners.
This is a good comparison of Hyatt vs Hilton. Which happen to be the two hotel points currencies I am concentrating on these days as a veteran hobbyist who is aging and aiming to simplify my life.
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!
Amex is on a tear raising annual fees and minimum required spend and of course adding more coupon book benefits while taking away valuable benefits. It is also increasing signup bonuses. Recently a 250k SUB appeared on a Business Platinum card. And now 300k wow! Move Over 250k, Amex Has a New 300k Offer!! Good luck finding it though.
Leave it to Delta to come up with the most cringe worthy press releases offering nothing burger “benefits”. The latest one is promoting its Amex Delta Reserve cards with, please sit down, all made up with supposedly retired Boeing 747s. Like you would actually know this is true smh. Pushing a credit card with an annual fee of $650 offering only a 65,000 Skymiles signup bonus. Only Delta does this. I expect United and Bilt to compete soon again. Anyway, knock yourself out if you are in love with Delta and signup with the link in this blog post: It’s Back! Delta Reserve Cards Made From Retired 747s.
MY ACTION
No more Barclay American Airlines Aviator card for my wife. She had to call and, you know, I feel offended when bankers don’t even try to keep us as customers with any retention offer whatsoever lol. One less credit card, one less bank to deal with. Simplifying my miles/points life continues.
I knocked out a United Airlines Mileage Plus Mile Play promotion that had three requirements: Enroll in emails for 300 miles, buy something in Mileage Plus shopping for 700 miles (bought paper towels at CVS.com and earned 460 miles for the purchase) and then buy any gift card in the MileagePlus X app (bought a $25 Starbucks egift card which earned 62 miles) for 700 miles. When you did all three requirements, another 1,700 United miles were earned. Everything tracked beautifully, no hassles in tracking anything to fight for missing miles, nice job. And easy.
The quarterly purchase of $50 Hilton gift cards using the Amex Hilton Surpass to get the statement credit works beautifully so far.
I transferred another 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to World of Hyatt. I am getting ready to seriously look booking some stays in Thailand in November #developing.
ADVANCED
United is becoming like Delta, just doing things like this because they can smh: Massive United MileagePlus Devaluation for First Class Partner Awards.
Lufthansa First: From 121,000 miles to 140,000-154,000 miles
ANA First: From 121,000 miles to 242,000 miles [Mega WTF!]
Also, speaking of companies doing things because they can, brace for more coming at us from Amex CEO: More Card ‘Refreshes’ (& Fee Hikes) Are Coming Soon. I have a feeling the Amex Gold refresh will take it to la la land territory.
I have a feeling Mark will not be invited to the next bigly wine and dine offered to bloggers by the Bilt marketing execs lol FYI: Bilt Rewards Has A Refer A Friend Problem. Maybe this explains why I never got any credit for a blog reader who applied and got the Bilt card with my links smh.
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 346,808 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,589,087 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.
At least you know the root of the problems with your foot. That’s progress.
The letter from President Reagan was just great! Of course the idea of asking for disaster relief to pick up the bedroom is just fabulous. A comic writer in the making?
The Hyatt – Hilton comparison is very helpful. Hilton’s acquisition of the Graduate chain is most intriguing for those who visit universities.
Thanks for all the work!
Man, seems like all the banks are increasing fees, airlines and hotels devaluating, etc. A retired guy who is getting older and lazier has a tough time catching up!
I had to use the Google on your foot thing but glad it is getting diagnosed and hopefully a fix is available!
Some good reading ahead and am gonna put that 5 futures of Russia at the top of the list. That country worries me a lot more than China does!
Hope the Dr has good news! Take care of yourself!
…and the countdown start until “Twitter Director of Civic Integrity” (LOL) a.k.a @eddie1perez returns to the platform like so many others with similar announcement.
I am a bit disappointed, but not surprised, that you labelled this a “must read”.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with your foot but I hope it gets better.
Taking some time off to regroup and make some big blog decisions. Hopefully I get to reply to the comments over the weekend.
In the meantime, from the WSJ:
“Cathie Wood’s Popular ARK Funds Are Sinking Fast”
I guess bitcoin is not going to hit $1,000,000 soon? Lol
@ DML: Thanks for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it. Sadly, less than 10 people do something constructive to show their support for the creator (that would be me, no staff or interns!) who spends many hours and now paying out my pocket to bring you these posts, sad.
@ Carl: Same applies what I said to DML.
@ ucipass: Well, thanks for the support for coming here to complain. Must read is the equivalent of “shocking” the big blogs unleash to your eyes several times a day, I guess the disease spreads. I stand by what I blog here. We do not disagree and that is fine.
@ Nick: Yeah, I am getting an education. So, more on what is going on.
Visit with PA revealed that yeah, it is all the nerves from the back and the spine. The thing is the neurologist said it is L4 and S1 but the PA showed me where I have been feeling the weird numbing sensations is all due to L5. They are sending me to do an MRI of my back to see what is going on and how much everything deteriorated since last MRI in 2021. Yeah, maybe all the running since then took its toll it appears. Its’ been the same, even with much less weight on me (32 lbs less!), stronger overall due to weights and 3 miles walk daily. I miss running but it looks like my body still needs the rest. The highly recommended PT gal is booked until late June lol. Will see what the MRI shows on May 8.
I saw one YouTube video from a guy selling credit cards and now the platform keeps serving me similar videos. There are SO MANY “experts” there selling credit cards. With the attention span issues plaguing the online world there is probably no wonder so many newbies get hooked with them fancy salesmen. And it explains how traffic and support clicks in my blog have gone down the tubes.
Anyone thinking into starting a blog, DON’T. You can’t compete against the big businesses blanketing you with several clickbaity posts every day. And Google search updates sure have contributed to small blogs going to oblivion.
My blog was never meant to be a money maker. Because I despise clickbait shit. And no ads and sponsors. This does not leave much else you guys. A few coffees and a few credit cards is just not enough to cover the costs. Let alone make minimum wage, sad lol. My blog has turned into public service I guess. I guess I could deduct the losses as charity. Oh wait, I can deduct them from my blog business taxes. This was never expected nearing blog year 13. It is obvious that only less than 10 people give a shit.
Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts, been like this for so many years I don’t know how to quit ya all.
Hey Buzz,
Thank you sir for another great post. I’m looking forward to catching up…never, slow reader.
But sincerely appreciate all the effort you put into your blog. Maybe it is time, so you can focus on your health. Whatever you decide, I’m sure it will serve you well.
Glad to be focusing on the cash back cards as it looks like the best way forward, especially after the latest Hyatt “enhancements”. I’ll try to remember to thank the banks on the way out the door.
Good luck with your healing process Buzz and enjoy your weekend!
Thanks for the support David, you are one of the 10.
Talking about cash back cards, trying to find a decent award to BKK this November only turns up ridiculous options. Looks like I have to pay. I can afford it of course but damn…4.5 million miles and can’t get anything smh.
One way flight to Bangkok is done. Details at next post…whenever it appears.
And 21 nights booked at the Hyatt Place Sukhumvit for 105,000 World of Hyatt points. Or as abt 1.25 Chase Ink cards lol.
Looks like I will requalify as Globalist.
Great news that you found a deal decent enough! Never been to Bangkok but have been ruminating on that trip you have mentioned here. Sound interesting and a good excuse to finally get to Thailand! Might start looking into it more.
This am I booked wife’s ticket…for 37,500 AA miles!
Flying JFK-HND-BKK on JAL #winning
Told you that you would make it happen somehow. One less thing to stress about as the year comes to a close. Time to start planning how you will make it in 2025. Oh and as you say no matter the balance, can be impossible to get the flights you want.
Cocoa dropped by 15%!! Housing prices are next! The recession is here.
If I had a dollar every time I saw someone predicting a recession…
If you are watching cocoa prices…you are too emotionally connected in the investing world. This is not healthy, including mental health and the health of your portfolio. Maybe every time you look at cocoa prices…do 10 squats instead.
You are welcome.
It started, the new CSP and CSR 75k offers are out online. Available here too:
https://yourbestcreditcards.com/card-explorer/?_issuer=191&ccid=1085
Hi Buzz. Been a reader for many years. When I’m on vacation your posts go into the read later bin; there’s always something great in them.
As a former 10 and 15k runner, I’m observing your foot journey and hoping you take a step back and think long term about your body like you do about finances.
I am also an aging veteran miles and points hunter gatherer. Like to simplify but can’t give up the IHG and former SPG FNAs. So have points in multiple hotel currencies making it difficult some years to use the FNAs, particularly when serious health issues hit our household. I’m also having a difficult time keeping track of all the nuances of each program. (And I’m angry about United. Used to be able to get some good flights through them.) But still can’t give it up. A challenge!
All this to say I enjoy your posts. Your reading selections are mind opening. Know that your efforts are not in vain. This household has been approved for multiple cc’s using your links throughout the years.
Thank you.