We bring you the details of the new stimulus package just passed, the awesome Chase Freedom cards 5x on groceries, learn about extreme travel, the new Covid strain, a comprehensive state retirement guide, travel to Russia and Singapore, do two weeks in South Korea quarantine, the best Covid-19 coverage, we laugh at Wall Street forecasters, learn about Mormons and lots of great stuff as always!
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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING: I will be publishing posts here at least twice weekly, possibly more through the holidays as I do every year bringing you annual lists and more. So, the tradition will continue, keep clicking! And my daughter has agreed to write a post, coming some time in the near future.
This goes out to subscribers via email the day it is posted at 8 am. After that I may add something new in the body of the post and I indicate it like this: Update.
If you are not into the frequent flyer miles/points game please feel free to skip the MILES & POINTS and most of the BLOG BUZZ section.
Stay positive, test negative!
TOP PICKS
Top picks are not excerpted at all. I recommend you find time to read every word!
This totally shocked me, wtf is wrong with people with so many dying smh. I feel so defeated sometimes with so much buffoonery surrounding us all…
Texas Wedding Photographers Have Seen Some S#!+
This passed last night so here are the main highlights…
New coronavirus relief bill includes $600 stimulus checks, $300 in enhanced unemployment benefits
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 75k Chase Ink Cash, 75k Chase Ink Unlimited, 70k Chase United Explorer, 100k Chase Ink Business Preferred, 60k Chase Sapphire Preferred, up to 80k for all three personal Southwest cards, 60k Citi Premier, 65k AA CitiBusiness Platinum Select, 50k AA Citi Platinum Select, 20k Chase Freedom Flex & Chase Freedom Unlimited, 60k AMEX Gold, 50k Chase World of Hyatt, 130k AMEX Hilton Business & Hilton Surpass, $300 AMEX Blue Cash Preferred, $300 AMEX Blue Cash Everyday, 140k IHG Rewards Club Premier, 100k IHG Rewards Club Traveler, 100k AMEX Marriott Business, 125k AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. Please use my Affiliate links.
If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you? Contact me please, thank you!
Offers that stand out are the 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for the no annual fee Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited business cards, the 70k Chase United Explorer card and all three personal Southwest credit cards now offer up to 80k Rapid Rewards points to sign up.
Must click: Credit Card Recommendation Flowchart. Click on any of the two links on the top to bring it up. Updated due to the pandemic. Amazing work. For newbies: MUST read the section titled “Notes for Newbies”. Chase Bank is being extremely stingy in approving business cards lately, fyi.
Newbies: There are three main bank proprietary points currency systems. Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Points and Citibank Thank You Network points. The clear leader is Chase Ultimate Rewards. By far imho. A huge factor is that Chase offers many valuable travel rewards credit cards with good to great signup bonuses. And only limits you from getting another card after you have applied for five credit cards from any bank in the past 24 months. While Amex usually limits you to only one signup bonus per lifetime, boo! When you combine a no annual fee card earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points with either the Chase Sapphire Preferred (REFERRAL) or the premium Chase Sapphire Reserve card you get the opportunity to transfer your points out to several airline and hotel partners. My preferred partners to transfer out are United, Hyatt and Southwest, in that order. I do it only when I am ready to book an award though to avoid any devaluations from the airline/hotel programs. And praying Chase does not devalue lol! Anyway, right now Chase is offering two excellent No Annual Fee credit cards in its Freedom line, the Freedom Flex and the Freedom Unlimited with good signup bonuses and the extra Covid related feature: 5 points per dollar on groceries up to $12,000 for the first 12 months! Click HERE for an extended explanation on the features of the cards.
There will be a new Radisson Blu property in Santorini opening…sometime in 2021, God willing. 5-Star Radisson Blu Zaffron Resort. Looks nice…I have been trying to burn my Radisson points for years now!
Bankrupt Hertz canceled the transfer of Hertz Rewards points to airlines so I had to do something with my expiring points so I burned them for a rental of an elite class car, hope I get the V4 Ford Mustang GT.
TRAVEL
If you plan to travel abroad and want to get a sense of what it is like to be quarantining in Asia, this is for you: Two weeks in Korean government quarantine. If we only started doing this a year ago we would not have lost 300,000+ people… Freedom my ass! The food looks horrible, the coffee is horrible and omg it is a strong NO for me!
Jetblue is about to expand, good to see the competition while we lose over 3,000 people a day to Covid smh: JetBlue joins the new-flights frenzy, adding four cities, including Miami, Key West, Cabo.
If your travel plans at some point include Singapore and you only have two days, bookmark this: 2 Days in Singapore Itinerary: The Perfect Weekend Trip (+ Map).
I do not recommend this type of extreme travel! We are all different: The Woman Who Walked 10,000 Miles (No Exaggeration) in Three Years. I must say I was in a continuous state of being stunned while reading this…
You know I like obscure places…where there are no Hyatts lol. I loved this: Crossing the North Caucasus: A Journey from the Black Sea to the Caspian Coast. Look at this place below, wow!
COVID-19
Second vaccine approved by the FDA, this one by Moderna. Let’s vaccine on!
First thought that comes to mind after you see “On November 1, the seven-day average for new daily cases in California was 4,183. On Thursday, it was 38,774” is: If we can only survive this phucking wave!
European countries going back on strict lockdowns…looks like we have a virus mutation that spreads A LOT faster, damn! The U.K. has identified a new Covid-19 strain that spreads more quickly. Here’s what they know. And sadly the travel bans started coming faster than the growth of the virus in the US! New Covid Strain in UK Prompts Travel Bans Across Europe.
I live in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan. The university always has research studies going on and me and my kids participated in some over the years. My son still talks about how he was strapped into a car seat, watched cartoon movies and was paid cash as a toddler to research car seat belts! And I once got me a brand new Mercedes car to drive for six months for free to research some safety things. And now I am getting messages they desperately need volunteers for two more Covid vaccines. With two vaccines approved…I really want to help advance science but what if I get the placebo instead? Will they let me know to get the vaccine that actually works to protect me and my family? Probably not because both studies take two years! I am thinking…they will have trouble finding enough volunteers and we may soon have no more vaccines coming out? Any feedback on this from readers who are in the medical field?
Please please wait until March to get together with loved ones…I know, I know, it sucks! Maybe this will help you change your mind: Is It Safe To Hold a Holiday Party?
Remember when many were praising Sweden how it handled the pandemic without any lockdowns? Well, so much for that shit. COVID-19 and the Failure of Swedish Exceptionalism.
We must return to our roots, this is a nation of immigrants! If COVID-19 Vaccines Bring An End To The Pandemic, America Has Immigrants To Thank. This excerpt just jumped out to me, so true!
…there’s a link between the immigrant experience and innovation. “I think of innovation as a form of intellectual immigration,” Afeyan said. “You leave your comforts behind you. You face unrecognizable challenges. You take nothing for granted. You don’t feel like in your new country people owe you anything.”
Well, this may be obsolete shortly but you do get an idea How Many Covid-19 Vaccines Has Each Country Bought.
Stay the phuck at home to help the medical staff for crying out loud! 10 Pics That Show The Reality Of COVID-19 At Hospitals, Captured By This Photographer.
PERSONAL FINANCE
To get even more detail on the stimulus package that just passed, this page by the New York Times is a really good one that is regularly updated as we find out more what is buried in the pages of the law: The Stimulus Deal: What’s In It For You.
This is a very helpful guide: State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees. You can get the details on each state and even compare up to five states at a time.
It is that time of the year you see so much bullshit with finance experts giving their predictions for the new year. None of course predicted at the end of 2019 that the world would be paralyzed by a global pandemic, the US market will take a 34% dive only to recover and reach new heights in just months and on and on. I encourage you not to spend any of your valuable time wasting away reading this crap, you have been warned! Clueless About 2020, Wall Street Forecasters Are at It Again for 2021.
Yeah, can’t keep up with all the new services out there. Or maybe I lost interest after I learned they used debit cards lol. Why Is There Financing for Everything Now? Are the new online services that allow you to buy jeans or shampoo in installments—interest-free—too good to be true? I say just don’t buy shit you can’t afford! And try to earn 5x points for it lol.
That come-what-may desire for instant gratification is what point-of-sale loans hope to inspire in us, after all. By decoupling the act of buying from the act of spending, they remove the psychological friction that can force people to stop, consider their choices, and decide whether they can really afford to buy that one fabulous thing. They obliterate the moment in which you might ask yourself if you are a mark.
Posted this on Twitter:
CURRENT EVENTS/POLITICS
I must admit I am surprised we have not seen more crazy and violent shit to come down after the election. But we have about a month left…I hope I am wrong! And then you watch creepy stuff like this and you wonder: Supercut of Republicans changing what needs to happen for presidential election win.
This from a conservative writer who worked in three past Republican administrations: Trump Is Losing His Mind. Thirty days left, God help us all!
ODDZ & ENDZ
One of my goals with my blog is to save a reader’s life. Hey, we all have aspirational goals! So, if you fall through thin ice, watch THIS video to know what to do. And good luck! Watching this dude do this was chilling, do NOT practice this okay!
This may interest some readers: Where Amazon Returns Go to Be Resold by Hustlers. Welcome to the abyss of the “reverse supply chain,” where hope springs eternal. Definitely not for me!
This is a long article about the Mormon religion. From a Mormon writer. I learned a lot from it: The Most American Religion. Perpetual outsiders, Mormons spent 200 years assimilating to a certain national ideal—only to find their country in an identity crisis. What will the third century of the faith look like?
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.
Another one leaving Saverocity, bye Joe!
2021 is around the corner, it can’t come soon enough!
I am getting more questions from newbies, mostly from colleagues who recently were educated by me that The Points Guy is the complete opposite of being a fiduciary! So, I am going to write more to help them but I do not want to turn my blog into a newbie target, there are SO many out there! So, I will write more in the comments and link to them in the body of my post. Let’s see how this goes…Going to do one in the next post about the Hyatt card and how I plan to make Globalist in early 2021. But I am kind of having second thoughts with all the crazy virus mutation and renewed strict lockdown news…
I have three posts ready to go over the holidays. 2020 annual lists like I do ever year, mostly just links. When all other bloggers go on vacation the staff at TBB just keep blogging. Lol. Actually I have almost four, just need two more links to make it four!
Here we go again, some Singapore Airlines miles are expiring. I want to burn them booking a trip back to Greece to hopefully participate in the 2021 Athens Marathon, the one that was of course canceled this year. But the date has not been set. I should just book something around the same dates and run with it and pray things are resolved by that time…
I like the new look NBA Detroit Pistons. Everyone writes them off but I think we will make the playoffs! I hope this line ages well 🙂
Love UB40 and this song Folitician, love the lyrics too!
And I leave you with this…
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Both of these cards can be applied with my Credit Card links. If you can not find them please ask!
Or if you prefer, here is my personal REFERRAL link:https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18f/7UBJA553Q8
Chase has two No Annual Fee Freedom cards earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points: The new Chase Freedom Flex card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited. They are deemed cash back cards but if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred CSP card or a Chase Sapphire Reserve CSR card you can use the points earned with the two Freedom cards in more advantageous ways than just pure cash back (transferring to airline and hotel partners, paying yourself back for any expenses for 1.25 cents per dollar with the CSP card or 1.5 cents per dollar with the CSR card).
The key time-limited benefit with these two cards right now that expires January 13, 2021 is that both cards can earn 5% on groceries for the first year up to $12,000 (excludes WalMart and Target). This is BIG…that could easily mean 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points right there!
But wait, there is more:
The benefits of the Chase Freedom Flex (in addition to the 5% grocery above):
-You spend $500 on the card in the first three months and you get $200 cash back (which is really 20,000 Ultimate Rewards Points)
-Every quarter there is a new rotating list of categories of spending that earns 5%.
-Earn 3% on dining and drugstores.
-Earn 5% on travel booked on the Chase travel portal
-Earn 5% on Lyft through March 2022
-Earn 1% everywhere else
The benefits of the Chase Freedom Unlimited (in addition to the 5% grocery above):
-You spend $500 on the card in the first three months and you get $200 cash back (which is really 20,000 Ultimate Rewards Points)
-Earn 3% on dining and drugstores.
-Earn 5% on travel booked on the Chase travel portal
-Earn 5% on Lyft through March 2022
-Earn 1.5% everywhere else
Both cards are subject to the 5/24 Chase rule. If you have opened more than five cards from any bank in the past 24 months you will likely not be approved for these cards.
My son has the Flex card and I use it for our groceries. My wife has the Unlimited card as her primary go to card, I need to make it simple for her even after all these years!
Both of these cards were recently improved. But the icing on the cake is the 5% for grocery spend for the first year. But it goes away after January 13, 2021.
Good morning Buzz, thank you for another great post!
After all these years do I finally get to say it?…Gold for Arizona!
I am on a roll lately, thanks a lot!
Gooding!
One wild possibility with the vaccines is stretch the supply by giving people only one shot. The early results I read were something about 70% effectiveness. There is a nice egalitarian argument to be made here.
Then of course you could get fancy with high risk folks — front line medical workers — getting both shots and the rest of us getting one. And when the supply catches up, getting the second one.
We do live in interesting times.
>>>>>>>>Then of course you could get fancy with high risk folks — front line medical workers — getting both shots and the rest of us getting one. And when the supply catches up, getting the second one.
But if the 2nd dose is longer than 3 to 4 weeks out…I am not sure the vaccine benefits will last.
Again…who in their right mind would volunteer for a vaccine right now? Oh, one of the two vaccines UofM is looking for volunteers is from AstraZeneca…if THAT one is not getting enough volunteers NOW…is that one even in danger? The other one was from a company I never heard off. Strangely, for the AstraZeneca trial the placebo has a 1/3 chance while the other one is 1/2.
And I just got email from my Greek Christian Orthodox church outlining the Holy Week mass schedules…and yes, they are going to hold them WTF!
Other than Panera to pick up my coffee and nearby Whole Foods I am not going anywhere these days….and the park to walk/jog too. I am scared going for my physical therapy sessions, got another one tomorrow. My hair is so long I look like a head banger from Metallica!
Stay safe everyone.
And thanks to Pavel, you are #5 conversion this month. Wednesday post coming for sure. Friday is Christmas day…should I post? When this happens whining goes down, anyone notice?
We are down to less than a month to put the psycho Trump era behind us…
“Again…who in their right mind would volunteer for a vaccine right now? Oh, one of the two vaccines UofM is looking for volunteers is from AstraZeneca…Strangely, for the AstraZeneca trial the placebo has a 1/3 chance….”
Who in their right mind would NOT volunteer for a vaccine right now? AstraZenica vols have a 67% chance of getting the real thing RIGHT NOW. And they can’t prohibit you from getting the vaccine elsewhere when your demographic qualifies.
I am a Pfizer volunteer since ~September. I had absolutely no reaction to either injection…not even a pink area at the injection site…so I’m confident that I’m a placebo person. Pfizer and Dr. Fauci are lobbying for my placebo group to get the real thing after our 4th visit, which in my case is Feb. 10. If my demographic qualifies earlier, my agreement specifically lets me drop out of the study.
Plus, they have paid me $120 for each of the 3 visits I’ve done 🙂
Good to know they do not prohibit you from getting the vaccine elsewhere when you qualify. But doesn’t that kind of ruin the whole trial thingie?
Volunteering in September vs end of December are completely different imho.
If they paid $120 for each visit then…I am holding out for $500 just kidding. Only 3 visits? The two trials I saw were for 7 visits over TWO years.
I now see Moderna’s protection does not last more than three months to people over age 60…interesting.
I suggest calling about the vaccine (I did for Pfizer’s phase III). There’s a prescreen call to check if you qualify.And then you can ask exactly that question. There was no other FDA approved vaccine back in August so I never thought about that question. There’s been a debate about unblinding the data and letting participants know if they got the placebo. In clinical trials, they normally switch you over to the active drug if it work much better than the placebo. In that spirit, I suggest getting vaccinated in summer (I’m an optimist!) no matter what. Many drop out of clinical trials. Compliance is an major issue.
I was very surprised to see one of the two UofM vaccine trials asking for volunteers is the one from AstraZeneca! I thought this one was in its very last phases…even this one is hurting for volunteers? The other company I had never ever heard from.
Another reader on Twitter said what stops you from getting an antibody test after you receive the vaccine shot to see if you got the real one or placebo? Hmmm…very interesting.
I think we may start seeing some of these vaccine trials getting dropped soon….and lack of volunteers may one of the main causes. Or maybe they start paying volunteers some BIG time cash to enroll…
Fascinating developments…
Maybe I should volunteer to see what happens and go through all the disclosures/terms&conditions fine print…so at the very least get me a better understanding how these things work. Obviously, if have the placebo…they better not let me get the real vaccine! But then that kind of ruins the trial goals in a way, doesn’t it. Do I go down for science? Lol.
Never in a million years we all thought we would be pondering such things in 2020-21…wow!
Ok, I expressed an interest to volunteer for the AstraZeneca vaccine. I am going to wait to hear back from the University of Michigan researchers. I just want to learn more about this issue. Not sure I am willing to donate my body to science you guys 🙂
Are you getting a Mercedes?
Maybe I hold out for a Mercedes to volunteer LOL.
No, that was a one time deal, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Easily the best volunteer perk I ever had in my life. I doubt it will happen again.
Nothing received yet from the university…maybe AstraZeneca already gave it up or not needing anymore #developing
AZ had to rerun their phase III trial for FDA approval because different dosing (mistake) gives different efficacy (60-90%). In short, a subset of patients in the UK trial got a half dose of vaccine first, followed by a full dose as booster.
In short, the vaccine seems to be working well, but the optimal dosing regiment has not been properly demonstrated.
This type of vaccine is extremely important to reach global protection. The vaccine is stable at ambient temp and MUCH cheaper.
https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/12/09/the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-efficacy-data
Oh yes the dosage issue…
Still strange they are still looking for volunteers in late December 2020…
I have not been contacted yet. I specifically applied for AZ, not the other company I never heard of.
AZ’s clinical trial won’t take long. The virus is spreading more rapidly now than in the summer/early fall so it won’t take long to show that the placebo group gets COVID much quicker than the vaccinated group.
This plot should be in the science hall of fame:
https://twitter.com/deniswirtz/status/1336368646768259082
Takes about 10 days to develop immunity with the Pfizer/Moderna mRNA version.
Wow, what a chart!
I think I am heavily leaning towards waiting for the Pfizer vaccine after seeing it 🙂
George, what’s the name of that other company “you’ve never heard of”?
Janssen
Janssen is owned by Johnson and Johnson, has produced many meds, and is still working on a Covid vaccine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janssen_Pharmaceutica
I really enjoyed being pointed to “The Woman Who Walked 10,000 Miles (No Exaggeration) in Three Years.” She has some amazing stories! I really admire people who can make that much of a commitment. Merry Christmas!
Yeah, I am still stunned by what she has been doing. At some point you start wondering if she is all right 🙂 I am surprised she is still alive, I know I would not be!
I am thinking to do something like that, walk/hike a long stretch…only to have Hyatts at points along the way to rest in upgraded suites and huge breakfasts 🙂
I am in holiday mode already, if you can tell.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and Merry Christmas to you.
To Ramsey:
Stop it with the ALLCAPS comments!
Re read “Trump is losing his mind”
and repost without the all caps.
Thanks.
The new stimulus bill has, please sit down, 5,593 pages!
ZERO coming in for TBB yesterday. I see a few Amazon orders but nothing shipped out yesterday so it was a full ZERO day. I thought we were past those days damn it. Easily, BY FAR, the worst aspect of blogging regularly.
At least I got an HT from Head for Points across the pond, that is a win.
There will be a post tomorrow, not sure if it will be usual TBB post or I unleash a 2020 Annual list link fest just yet.
Developing…
I find it amazing how travel bloggers pivot to providing personal finance advice telling us what is in the new stimulus bill LOL…
Just like clickbait king Gary at VFTW advising readers how to wear an N95 mask…
WTF!!!!
Hey Buzz, thanks for the state by state retirement link. Perfect timing as I now have to plot a new strategy due to the current situation we find ourselves in. That and a plummeting dollar give me pause. I hate to think that travel may be out of the question for another year or two, but contributing to the problem will only exacerbate this mess. Hard to understand the thought process of foregoing a 10 week shutdown in exchange for a couple miserable years.
Grueling article on the 10,000 mile woman, but a great read.
On a brighter note, the holidays are here along with great desert hiking. My best to you and your family, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
We all hope you are wrong on that “travel may be out of the question for another year or two”! But, you know, anything is possible, 2020 is the year that sealed that for us all!
Grueling is the best metaphor on that 10,000 mile lady, yes.
Thank you, best holiday wishes for you and fam as well!
New career opportunity at TPG
https://twitter.com/zachhonig/status/1341466380672090112?s=21
Guess they are not hiring back that JT dude…who keeps whining on Twitter 🙂
Lost for words on this one:
httpXs://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2020/12/22/rene-just-bought-the-best-belt-ever
I edited the link so TBB readers will not add to the views of that blog. I have been at a loss for words for that blog for YEARS! I still have Rene’s emails threatening to sue me years ago for, please sit down, for stealing his content bwhahahahahahaha.
The guy who bought it from him…can not make this stuff up.
Now down to selling belts…smh.
Will be on top of the TBB Blogs to Ignore as long as I am blogging!
Oh….Johnson & Johnson, I heard of them 🙂
Still have not heard back. Looks like they are not in a rush…maybe they are giving it up to Pfizer and Moderna 🙂
Congratulations on getting a pardon today!
Thank you, it is so nice to have a clean criminal record again!
Free at last, free at last.
Thank God almighty I am free at last.
Now those state charges………
Please donate to my gofundme to help me pay my lawyers, thanks Sam!
You know, a pardon is nice and all.
But the Buzz will never get those 14 days back, Never.
I have always thought George had a rather shifty eye, but now that he’s received that pardon, WATCH OUT. No telling what evil lurks in the heart of bloggers. Stay tuned.
I almost unleashed a massive post titled “6969 ways I love all Chase cards” on Christmas Day but my mother did not approve. Got to listen to my mother you know 🙂
I could write about bonergates on Christmas Day too but I will spare you the pain…