Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the investing holy grail, how Bitboy lost his Lamborghini, Putin’s genocidal myth, college consultants, get 5 free Marriott nights, thoughts on spending money, avoid Tony Robbins, yet another update on the crypto pastor, TimeGuessr is a great game, amazing runs, train rides, beaches and photography, all the Superbowl ads, all of the important developments in the crazy world of miles and points and a lot more. Enjoy the weekend and get started on your taxes now!
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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 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 white it lasts. I may post on a Tuesday going forward if I get to it.
PERSONAL FINANCE
In case you missed it, we are at another market high. With Japan and the UK slipping into a recession. Be grateful and remember not to fall in love with the highest number of your investment portfolio. Brace for fluctuation, it is not a one way street.
Must read: A Few Thoughts on Spending Money. It was very hard to pick a few to excerpt here, read the whole thing:
There are two ways to use money. One is as a tool to live a better life. The other is as a yardstick of status to measure yourself against others. Many people aspire for the former but get caught up chasing the latter.
Money is a tool you can use. But if you’re not careful, it will use you. Sometimes the stuff you spend money on has so much influence over your autonomy and sanity that it’s not clear whether you own things or the things own you.
Unspent money buys something intangible but valuable: freedom, independence, autonomy, and control over your time. Every dollar of savings buys a claim check on the future.
Tony Robbins has a new book out you guys. And please stay the hell away from it! The Holy Sale of Investing. It is amazing to me how these influential people just can’t stop selling and…hurting their readers. For the record, I never liked Tony Robbins. You don’t need to invest in sports teams and private credit, wtf!
Long story short, the book is a 330 page glorified sales pitch for CAZ investments, a firm founded by the book’s co-author, Christopher Zook, where Robbins is also a minority shareholder. I don’t think I’ve read a book in my life that was less about the content of the book and more about trying to promote the author’s products.
Okay, so let me get this straight. According to Robbins, I need to own a set of uncorrelated investments like private credit, sports teams, etc. However, these uncorrelated investments are only found in private markets, which I, as a retail investor, don’t have access to. So what do I do?
This is where Robbins, being as charitable as he is, provides a solution—CAZ investments, a firm where he is a minority shareholder and that also happens to provide access to all of these exclusive asset classes. Are you kidding me? Robbins is basically saying that if you want to be financially successful, you have to go through him. He is the gatekeeper to the Holy Grail of investing.
It gets worse after this, a lot worse. Don’t fall for this crap!
Here is another post titled the same way as Tony’s book above. I guess the writer will now need to publish his own book with a different title. Anyway, it is about the same thing and maybe wait for this and totally shun Tony’s book. Please, for your own sake. The Holy Grail of Investing. And I agree with these two statements:
In general, the Holy Grail portfolio should be:
- Low cost
- Diversified
- Consistent with your financial needs
- Behaviorally robust
A theme around here is that it is a complete waste of time to listen to market predictions. Sandpiles and Market Unpredictability.
Market predictions are almost always wrong — spectacularly so. It’s no different from the pundits that pop up every year with their failed claims of impending market doom. Sure, they may get it right eventually, but when the same prediction is made every year it’s no more expert than a broken clock.
Market fluctuations are the norm, not the exception. They are unpredictable. A market decline or rally can be triggered at any moment, without a catalyst, with no way to know when or how long it will last. Markets will shift between moments of calm and wildness.
Build your portfolio to survive the moments of market instability that are bound to pop up. Then tune everything else out.
Cut out the noise. Cut out the pundits, prognosticators, and doomsayers. Ignore it all. You don’t need to hear any of it to successfully invest in the market.
CRYPTO & SCAMS
You know, they go together…
And just we all thought that the crypto pastor, you know the one God told him to get into crypto and also renovate his house (lol), would just vanish, well, nope. 12 more people added as defendants in Denver church cryptocurrency scam. They were all selling this shit for the sales commissions, most affiliated with various religious organizations, such as Blacktribe and Eternal Realities. I mean, I can’t help but continue bursting in laughter just typing this woohoo.Ok, one more, can’t resist:
In YouTube post titled “INDXcoin is launching!!!!” Regalado told his followers that God was getting ready to explode. “The Lord said it. The Lord did it. Question is, who wants to be a part of it?,” said Regalado on the video.
Can we send him to keep Sam Bankman-Fried company in his cell? I am sure Sam will find religion #badGeorge.
An update on BitBoy, only in crypto you find such “outstanding” people. He’s Lost His Marriage, His Followers and His Lamborghini. Ben Armstrong, better known as BitBoy, was once the most popular cryptocurrency YouTuber in the world. Now his empire has collapsed.
With crypto hype back in full force, maybe you should think hard before you join it. Because it can happen again:
That era has ended. The dramatic collapse of Mr. Armstrong’s empire mirrors the arc of the industry — a once-high-flying sector now tarred by scandal and teetering on the edge of mainstream relevance. As crypto crashed over the last two years, millions of people lost savings, their digital riches erased practically overnight. Most of that wealth, they learned, was never real to begin with.
And now for a regular scammer, this one dealing with oil. Military Medals and a Famous Last Name: How a Con Man Made Off With Millions in Texas. Shocking story about the audacity of this guy. How can people do this? Is it a scam gene they are born with or something? Oh, this one drove a Bentley by the way. Amazingly and true to character, from his jail cell he is still at it, wow.
GEOPOLITICS
The Putin interview with Tucker Carlson decoded: Putin’s genocidal myth. If you support Putin…what is wrong with you?
In a talk with Tucker Carlson, Putin uttered sentences about the past. I will explain how Putin is wrong about everything, but first I have to make a point about why he is wrong about everything. By how I mean his errors about past events. By why I mean the horror inherent in the kind of story he is telling. It brings war, genocide, and fascism.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Love this game: TimeGuessr. You are shown a pic and you try to place it on the map and guess the year. It is kind of addictive, you have been warned.
This guy charges $120,000 a year to get your kid accepted in an Ivy school. Inventing the Perfect College Applicant. Not the best profile imho. But still, you know, marketing smh.
Location, location: Visualizing the Rise of the U.S. as Top Crude Oil Producer. US is now producing more oil than Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Amazing photography: Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award winner.
TRAVEL
One day when I get back to running: The Globetrotting Guidebook: Our Most Memorable Runs Across the Planet.
Noted: 20 of the world’s best beaches.
Hilarious. And so true, beware! Timeshares: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
This may be a repeat, I don’t remember. The Most Scenic Train Rides Across the US. Brings back memories of the family trip we took riding in Amtrak cabins across the US from Michigan to California and up the coast to Seattle. And then took a detour to Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires woohoo.
SPORTS
What a tragedy! I had the honor running the 2023 Chicago Marathon when he set the world record. Out of nowhere. Kenyan marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum dies in road accident.
I didn’t care who won the Superbowl this year. So, again, it was about the ads: Best 2024 Super Bowl commercials: All 59 ranked according to USA TODAY Ad Meter. Which one was your favorite?
Players like her come only once in a generation: Hawkeyes: Caitlin Clark scores career-high 49 points in breaking NCAA career-scoring record. And she did it against University of Michigan, I am not sure how I feel about that.
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
It was a very sad day earlier this week in my Greek hometown Larissa. One of the players from the legendary run in the late 70s and 80s team passed away. He was universally liked and super active in the local soccer scene and was instrumental in keeping the friendships and team spirit of all those players from the area who played together for years and managed to win two titles, including the Greek national league soccer championship in 1988. The first time a team from the country side won it. And it will likely never happen again, it was one of those legendary feats that shaped lives, including mine. Anyway, they are starting to die now. And it is sad you know. What was also sad and refreshing also was to see former teammates come back to say goodbye at his funeral. Including the coach of the team today and of course present team management. Listening to some interviews of former teammates talk about their fallen mate brought tears to my eyes. Rest In Peace!
Speaking of Greece, the country is changing for the better, little by little. This was very welcome for inclusion and equality, universal human rights. It is surprising to see it become reality with a conservative government. Greece legalizes same-sex marriage. From the Prime Minister:
“People who have been invisible will finally be made visible around us, and with them, many children will finally find their rightful place. The reform makes the lives of several of our fellow citizens better, without taking away anything from the lives of the many.”
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 the Amex folks continuing to take it out on us…
GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/ETC.
Excellent hack, I still learn every day in this hobby. Which makes it addictive you know. How to Easily Find Southwest Non Stop Routes.
Latest Choice Privileges hotel promo is pretty good, register HERE.
Looks big, good addition: American Express Opens Largest Centurion Lounge at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL).
NEWBIES
Please sit down, I am going to recommend a Marriott Bonvoy card. I am no fan of this program as you may have noticed. But I recognize a great deal when it hits you in the face. And since it is the biggest hotel program by far, this card could be a keeper if you can’t avoid staying in a Marriott property. Just a little while ago, Amex came out with a Marriott Bonvoy offer offering three free night certs. And I commented here that I am going to wait to see if the five free night offer comes back. Well, here we go:
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Five Free Night Signup Bonus (50k Each)
Yes, it is a business card, the minimum spend is $8k in six months and the annual fee is $125. The offer translates to 250k points and, well, it is hugely attractive. Especially if you have a specific property in mind!
You also get a free night cert (up to 35k points) at every card anniversary. Gold elite status comes with it (late checkout, additional points and even complimentary room upgrades if you get lucky). You also get 15 free elite night credits which can stack with the elite night credits from a personal Marriott Bonvoy card which should get you to at least 30 elite night credits, just 20 away from Platinum status.
Earning structure in this card is ok, with 6x on Marriott spend, 4x on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone/shipping and 2x on everything else. If you have Marriott Bonvoy points laying around, you can top off all these free night certs with another 15k points per night to get you in to a really high end property costing 65k points per night #winning. You also get a 7% discount on eligible cash bookings.
MY ACTION
I am busy with tax work for clients these days, it happens every year at this time of the year.
I am thinking to book a weekend trip to go somewhere for a concert and blow a Hyatt free night expiring April 2 and a Hilton free night expiring on April 16, hopefully with a visit in a Capital One lounge. I tried to make Dallas work but not getting much luck. And I don’t want to fly Spirit. I wish AI could do this for me lol.
I am pondering going for the Amex Marriott Bonvoy business card above. I did have the SPG Business Platinum way back, I wonder if that disqualifies me. Well, I can try applying and see if I get the dreaded popup, it has been a long time since I applied for a card from this company.
I almost went for a 200k AmexPlatinum offer earlier this week when it surfaced briefly. Because, you know, 200k Amex Membership Rewards points more than pays for its fat annual fee. But then I look at how many miles/points I have in the bank and I wonder to myself if I should add more. When you are addicted it is hard to quit you guys lol.
ADVANCED
Good reference post: How to Use American Airlines AAdvantage Miles to Fly to fly to Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
The cancer spreads. As expected: American Express Adds Family Language To Morgan Stanley Platinum Card.
If you are interested in Amex personal cards, you definitely need to read this: Amex Decoder Ring: Navigating Every Amex Family Rule. Post lists the preferred application path for each family of cards. Or, you can stick with business cards you guys.
I am starting to feel sorry for the Manufactured Spend guys who continue to get hit, it is rough out there, PayPal becoming no PayNoPal?
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 27,829 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,741,617 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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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.
“the app that rhymes with booze”
Flooz? I have no idea what’s going on.
Oo=u
Good morning!
Thanks for the timeshare link. Wow! I knew things were bad but not that bad!
I like reading MEAB but at times the guy is overly cryptic. I guess if I was in his Slack group I’d learn more but to be honest, I have the time but lack that extra bit of interest. I am dealing with a growing loss of interest in travel planning and chasing points, etc, lately.
I suspect it is temporary but I either need to burn a lot more points and miles or change the set-up here as well as some of my thoughts, desires, and attitudes about travel. I am even starting to think about taking a tour, even though I have always shunned them in favor of going by myself.
Good stuff here and I am continually baffled by crypto and how some folks that “know better” allow themselves to be scammed and swindled. I worry some about that as I get older since I know seniors are often targeted. I know I have been before and am always trying to be careful on stuff.
Thanks for the hard work putting this together! I truly appreciate it! Also thanks for that link to Osterman’s blog as I did not know he had started doing one of his own away from Coomer’s way-too-focused on Vegas blog(s).
Have a good weekend and don’t drown in tax-prep paperwork. Took all my stuff in to my guy this week and waiting to see what is the what. Hopefully a small refund like last year, plus his fee will put me over the top on a SUB on an AU card. Small wins are better than none at all!
Have a marvelous weekend!
Have to say I’m happy to be out of the loop on the manufactured spend. Think 2024 is shaping up as the year of cancelling cards and running it lean going forward. Like Carl says, time to burn. We are living in temporary accommodation for first 4 months this year – a mix of AirBnb (as rubbish as usual), Hyatt – I love being able to use a confirmed suite and perhaps a bit of Hilton thrown in. Even though hubby is Hilton Diamond and has been for year through stays, the realisation is in all those stays we are yet to see the inside of a suite. LT Gold with Marriott and haven’t stayed with them for years, too much disrespect to the customer. I also realise now that I am only flying carriers I enjoy and will pay $s for Emirates or Singapore vs being put on a substandard carrier that requires detours just to redeem points. I do wonder if we will die before redeeming our stash of 2 million and I am burning them as fast as I can, spent 1.7 million in 2023.
Interesting thread about Russia with pics:
https://twitter.com/CJHandmer/status/1758537437691998605
@ DML: I always get surprised when I see what links readers pick to mention. The part that was shocking in the Timeshares video is the asshole speaker getting his sales team all fired up “you are saving lives” and doing it while knowing he was being filmed, just amazing.
@ Nick and Carl: Yeah, the cryptic stuff in MEAB is getting a little too much and increasingly annoying. Good link on Russia. Regarding Navalny, let’s face it. What was surprising always was this guy survived this long. With my job and the blog I find way less time to look to burn…and this is not good. Yeah, Osterman left MIles to Memories a while ago, I guess Travel On Points paid him more. I am not sure how long he will last if he keeps writing content that is not as cc click affiliate friendly 🙂
@ Vicky: I hear you. I have been on a very long path to simplifying my life. Mostly because in case I get hit by the bus I don’t want my wife to freak out lol. A few days ago I saw a great RT Business Class ticket fare on the Saudi airline to Bangkok and, you know, I said “hey, wait a minute, at this stage of my life I would not mind paying that at all. Because I can” Lol…that would have been anathema in the past. Because, you know, what are the miles for?
I need to find time to burn. If I didn’t have this blog I would. Ok, let’s not go there…
Thanks to Carl’s sock drawer cards and the one reader who got a credit card month to date. Shockingly, I also realized I had two Rakuten referrals in 2024 which will earn me 6k Amex Membership Rewards points. So, month to date, I am still trying to pay the Mailchimp invoice alone. Please everyone laugh. It is what it is.
More Chinese New Year festivities this weekend. I am trying really really hard to not overeat. And hitting the gym regularly. Taxes are going well, about halfway done which is amazing, it is only February 17.
Gotta run, well, walk/bike that is.
At this time, I have no intention to do a Tuesday post. Because it just doesn’t pay you guys. I am committed to a Friday mega post. Thank you for understanding.
Enjoy the weekend!
Jon Stewart is back on TDS and lefties are upset he’s pointing out the obvious, Biden is old and not as energetic and sharp as 5 years ago. Maybe Democrats need a backup plan?
I stopped chasing status a long time ago. MS a lot less. Why not buy that Business class ticket with Amex or UR points. Nothing wrong to “cash” out at 1.25c/p against a cheap ticket.
You make good points ABC.
Everyone, there will be a post early Friday morning. It is coming along nicely. Going to be very long.
I was informed my AmexDirect links were taken away due to low sales. I had no idea I had them in the first place LOL.
It is February 22 and this blog has not covered its costs month to date. So don’t expect two posts in a week. Fading into obscurity and lining up time spend here to…reality, sigh.
Breaking News:
Now all my Credit Card links have been taken down!
It was bound to happen…years ago.
Still sucks.
Open to ideas for credit card links. Because without them, the few coffees from Carl’s sock drawer cards is just not gonna do it you guys.
I need to edit my site now bigly…while doing the Friday post.
Anyway, feel kind of liberated actually. Justifies me spending less time here now easily.