Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as personal finance wisdom, new higher 401k limits, AI reset, Texans move to Russia, new Hilton Diamond Reserve status, to quit your job or not, crypto is a cult, the crazy economics of expert witnessing, global sinking fertility rates, Helsinki bomb shelters, mind blowing geography facts, the best photography links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. Have a great weekend!
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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.
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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
Hello from Bangkok, Thailand. I am posting frequent trip updates in Instagram. And YouTube when I get around to it.
Heading to Koh Samui next week, I may take a pass posting new content here and may throw in a few repeats, we shall see.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Grief is the price we pay for love” – Queen Elizabeth II
MUST READ GEMS
One article this week: Essential Wisdom from Twenty Personal Investing Classes. If interested in personal finance and investing, this masterpiece of a post captures the essence of it all.
And this absolutely epic photo of a skydiver in front of the sun:
PERSONAL FINANCE
To all readers (especially in their 20s and 30s), do this: Max Out Your 401k.
Investing is important but saving has to come first. If you don’t have the ability to earn, save and retain money to invest it doesn’t matter if you’re the next Warren Buffett. You can’t build wealth without some savings.
Let’s say you had the ability to max out your 401k contributions every year starting in 2000. By the end of this year that amounts to a little less than $440k in total savings or around $16,800 a year in annual savings on average. If you put that money to work dutifully over the course of this century into the S&P 500 on a monthly basis, you’d be sitting on around $2.2 million by the end of October. In a global stock market allocation (MSCI ACWI), it would be more like $1.7 million. That’s pretty good for 26 years of savings.
The antidote to every market risk is saving more money. You can’t invest if you don’t save.
We have new higher contribution amounts for 2026 from the IRS:
401(k), 403(b), and Most 457 Plans:
Defined Contribution Plans, §415(c):
Standard deduction:
Married filing jointly: $32,200 (from $31,500)
Single: $16,100 (from $15,750)
Heads of households: $24,150
Estate tax exclusion:
The estate tax exclusion is increasing from $13,990,000 in 2025 to $15,000,000 in 2026 due to OBBBA changes.
HSA:
In 2026, you can contribute up to $4,400 if you are covered by a high-deductible health plan just for yourself, or $8,750 if you have coverage for your family to HSA.
Tax Brackets:
All tax bracket limits are increasing by ~4%. Here are the 2026 brackets:
- 12% for incomes over $12,400 (over $24,800 for married couples filing jointly)
- 22% for incomes over $50,400 (over $100,800 for married couples filing jointly)
- 24% for incomes over $105,700 (over $211,400 for married couples filing jointly)
- 32% for incomes over $201,775 (over $403,550 for married couples filing jointly)
- 35% for incomes over $256,225 (over $512,450 for married couples filing jointly)
- 37% for incomes over $640,600 (over $768,700 for married couples)
I started my own business (not this blog lol) about 25 years ago. And I went through the same issues as the author of this article: On Work and Wealth, or Why I Quit. If you did the same or contemplating about making the leap I think you will really enjoy reading this.
Maybe “follow your passion” is bad advice. But starving your life of meaning for money isn’t much better. If you make every decision a financial decision, you might end up poorer in other ways.
This stat is crazy:
There have been 2,440 ETF launches globally this year, that’s over 10 new ETFs a day. Basically every 45 minutes a new ETF is born somewhere in the world.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
I am so close to starting a separate AI section. Because there is so much happening. We had Nvidia come up with yet another banger quarterly report. We are talking sales were up 62% Year over Year with Q4 revenue expected to hit $65Billion. And net income was $32Billion. Wait, there is more. How about 73.4% gross margin expected to hit 75% next quarter.
In the meantime, new AI models keep coming out and it appears Google is back in the game taking the lead with its latest Gemini release. Oh, in the meantime as well, we have all these stocks adjusting downwards. If you are making market timing predictions, be aware that you are not investing, you are speculating.
This back and forth between Hasan Minhaj and Paul Krugman is great imho. Because you know where I stand.
PK: There is essentially no legitimate use for crypto and nobody is using it for anything legitimate. Fewer than 2% of Americans have ever come made a payment in crypto. It’s purely a speculative asset or a vehicle for crime.
HM: So, you’re saying that Al-Qaida and Venezuelan gangs are just in their crypto wallets exchanging BTC?
PK: Well, actually, they’re mostly using Tether. They’re mostly using stablecoins these days.
HM: Well, if it’s so bad, why will the comments of this video be filled with people screaming at us calling us idiots?
PK: Oh, because it’s a cult.
If you can’t keep up with all what is going on with giant tech companies investing in AI companies and all doing deals with each other, here is a short breakdown: Collect Them All (AI Edition).
Some excellent charts in this article about AI that captures what is going on these days…
ODDZ & ENDZ
I added this site in my bookmark arsenal: VERT.sh.
The file converter you’ll love. All image, audio, and document processing is done on your device. Videos are converted on our lightning-fast servers. No file size limit, no ads, and completely open source.
I blogged about this a few years ago. It is a good reminder: The lucrative economics of expert witnesses. A mainstay of high-profile court battles, expert witnesses have spawned a gainful microeconomy. So how does one get the gig, and how much are they paid? Ok, prepare to be shocked by how much money they make, wow!
And now to change the pace and laugh a little bit. This headline LOL: Human Trials Bring Us Closer to Breathing Through Our Butts. Don’t want to contemplate what conspiracy theorists could do with this one.
Yikes! Sinking Fertility Rates in the World’s 10 Largest Countries.
TRAVEL
Growing up, my favorite subject in school was geography. These are great: 11 Geography Facts That Will Absolutely Blow Your Mind.
Australia is wider than the moon.
In the Philippines, there’s an island that’s within a lake, on an island that’s within a lake, on an island.
Russia spans 11 time zones.
If Putin was not wasting away all resources for the Russian people in his stupid brutal wars, this article would not have been possible. Meanwhile, I am glad we all get to see these: Deep Beneath Helsinki, the Playgrounds Are Really Bomb Shelters.
Sometimes I lose all hope of some fellow humans in this country. And wtf they are thinking: Two Texas families moved to Russia. They’re learning it kind of sucks. Sad fact is they subjected their own kids to this lunacy. When I read stuff like the excerpt below…I can’t even smh.
The Hares moved to Russia last year, motivated both by his wife, Chantelle, who said she “heard the Lord talking to me” about moving to the country, and Leo’s consumption of news from far-right conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones. “The Lord had said to me ‘I want you to go to Russia, you guys are to go to Russia,'” Chantelle Hare said. “I said ‘Really, Lord?’ and he said ‘Yeah.'”
There are over 800 hotels in Phuket, Thailand.
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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
Here we go again. The big news is the refreshed Hilton Honors program with a new higher elite status coming with steep requirements.
The best read on the subject was this one: Hilton Diamond Reserve status coming in 2026: Here are the details. With status coming free from credit cards in the US, this was coming due. But I must say it is a bit underwhelming and may not move the needle at all in making this program competitive again. I don’t have time to add my take on it right now as I am in Bangkok trying to keep this ship blog afloat. I just want to say not much will change for most of us as this new Diamond Reserve elite status level will require 80 nights AND $18,000 spend. The few upgrades we could get as now lowly Golds and Diamonds are likely going to be even fewer now. And we will continue to hold either the Amex Aspire that comes with regular Diamond status or the Amex Surpass and Amex Platinum cards that come with Gold status. I think. Now if only the program would stop devaluing so often that would be great.
Good resource: Award Changes & Cancellation Policies For Each Major Airline.
This is appropriate for me as I just did it: Want to Fly Biz Class to Asia Using Points & Miles? Here are Your Best Bets.
Read in the Greek press that Hilton is on a giant tear in the country with 18 new properties coming online in the years ahead. Reservations have opened at the Conrad Athens The Ilisian (the former Hilton I have stayed in several times). Also coming in 2026 are the new Hilton Chania Old Town & Resort in Crete and a Conrad in Corfu. Then in 2029 the Waldorf Astoria Scarlet Bay opens in southern Greece.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
Always a good reminder to do this near the end of the year: Year-End Credit Card Checklist for 2025: Travel Credits, Spend Reset, Application Strategy & More.
Another newbie article in the Wall Street Journal: Do These Five Things Now to Get the Most Out of Your Premium Credit Card. And it is so basic is unreal. And the quotes smh:
“I hate to say it, it does require a little bit of math to make sure that you are getting the best redemption value,” said Nick Ewen, a senior editorial director at The Points Guy, a site focused on card rewards. [Do NOT trust any math coming from this site, ever!]
Remember that pumpy press release by Bilt about that oh so exciting partnership with Rakuten. Well, it would not be 1:1 and you should not be surprised. More crap coming for sure from Cardless, and you can bank on that.
Interesting development: Amex Now Requires SSN to Add Authorized Users.
It appears this was not all hot air and it is starting. And, imho, it is devastating for our species: Chase INK Business Cards Now Giving ‘Popup’ Signup Bonus Eligibility Message (Lifetime Limit). One of these days I will realize the writing is on the wall and move on from blogging. Thank God I am not relying on the diminishing $ revenue from this site to take care of my family! Maybe I turn it into a non profit which it now is, sad lol.
Just added the new CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus offer and let everything else stay the same.
NEW OFFERS:
NEW: CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus: Earn a $2,000 cash bonus when you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months. Earn an additional $2,000 bonus for every $500,000 spent in the first year. To learn more about the card read this.
100k CAPITAL ONE Venture X: 100,000 points after $10k minimum spend in first six months. $395 annual fee less $300 travel credit less $100 (for 10,000 points on each anniversary). The card that still pays you $5 to carry it in your wallet. It was the #1 card offer at 75,000 so now it is offered for 100,000. Of course the minimum spend is $6,000 higher than the 75k offer, you can’t have everything in life. See detailed description below. Click on the link, it takes you straight to the application, the only bank I am allowed to link directly to my affiliate links, thanks for your support.
200k/400k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business: Almost identical as the personal Venture X. But higher signup bonuses and higher minimum spend requirements. 200k points for $30k spend in first three months and a whopping 400k points for an equally whopping $150k spend in the first six months. Click on the link, it takes you straight to the application, the only bank I am allowed to link directly to my affiliate links, thanks for your support.
$250k Chase Amazon Prime Visa: At $250 gift card, it is the highest signup bonus. No minimum spend. No annual fee. Requires Amazon Prime membership. Earns 5% on Amazon, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods. Even earns 5% on travel purchases at the Chase travel portal. 2% on gas, restaurants and local transit and commuting. 1% on everything else. Earns 10% Prime bonus on rotating Amazon products and categories. No foreign transaction fees. It appears the Chase 5/24 restriction does not apply to this card. But getting it will add to your 5/24 count, so beware. This is for people who just spend a lot on Amazon and Whole Foods, I should get it myself but these Chase 5/24 slots are oh so precious…
EXPIRING OFFERS:
We now have the refreshed AMERICAN EXPRESS Platinum & Business Platinum Cards ($895 Fee, 175k/200k Bonus, Many New Credits).
The Signup Bonus offers remain the dreaded “Up to 175,000 points” for the personal card. And a solid 200,000 points for the Business card.
125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve/200k CHASE Sapphire Reserve for Business
Chase raised the Signup Bonus to 125,000 from 100,000 points. The minimum spend is $5k in the first three months. As with all cards, you know what to do to help the blog, thank you. You can read a lot more about the Sapphire Reserve cards HERE.
Southwest always has new offers it appears, here we go again: Chase Southwest Personal Cards: 85,000 Points Signup Bonus. For $3k minimum spend in three months.
New card: CITI AAdvantage Globe Card Launches With 90,000 Points Bonus ($350 Fee). The minimum spend to earn the 90,000 AA miles is $5,000 within the first 4 months of account opening. The card earns 6x on AAdvantage Hotel bookings, 3x on AA purchases, 2x on restaurants, 2x on rides and rails and 1x on everything else. First checked bag free and preferred boarding. AA companion certificate (after the first year) for $99 plus fees and taxes. $240 credit on Turo at $30 per quarter, $100 credit on inflight purchases, $100 credit on Splurge (up to two merchants from 1st Dibs, eligible AAdvantage Hotels, Future Personal Training, or Live Nation). 4 Admirals Club lounge passes every year. $120 Global Entry/TSAPreCheck every four years. No foreign transaction fees. If you are looking for a link please email me.
Citi now offers the 100k CITI Strata Elite card after $6,000 minimum spend. This is Citi’s premium card at a $595 annual fee. $300 annual hotel credit, $200 annual Splurge credits, $200 annual Blacklane credit, 4 annual American Airlines Admirals Club lounge passes, Priority Pass Select membership and $120 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit. Earning structure is: 12x points per dollar spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com, 6x points per dollar spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com, 6x points per dollar spent at restaurants on Citi Nights purchases, Friday and Saturday from 6 PM – 6 AM EST, 3x points per dollar spent at Restaurants any other time, 1.5x points per dollar spent on All Other Purchases. Points can now be transferred out to American Airlines. This card is a Mastercard. There is a $145 discount off the annual fee if you are a Citigold customer or have a Private Client relationship (requires over $200k with Citi). Citi Private Clients get the first annual fee waived. Citi is not an easy bank to deal with so beware. If you are looking for a link please email me.
American Express just came in with elevated offers on all four Hilton Honors cards, they all END 1/14/2026:
– Honors: 100,000 points after $2,000 spend in six months
– Surpass: 155,000 points after $3,000 spend in six months
– Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
– Business: 175,000 points after $8,000 spend in six months
And Chase just elevated this offer:
Chase Marriott Boundless 125,000 Points + Free Night Certificate (up to 50,000 points) after $3,000 in six months
30k CHASE United Gateway
One of my favorite no annual fee keeper cards. Just $1k minimum spend in the first three months. Earns 2x on United purchases, gas stations, local transit and commuting, 1x on everything else. You get expanded award availability and 2 free checked bags after $10k spend in a calendar year. 25% off in in-flight purchases. No foreign transaction fees. Many spend based promos with this card from personal experience, there is always a spend based promo going on, they never stop, love it.
CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Business Card $1,000 Signup Bonus With $10,000 Spend
The card has its annual $95 fee WAIVED for the first year. No annoying credits to deal with, it just earns 2 points everywhere. And you can earn 5x on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal too. And when you have a Capital One Venture X or the Venture card above, the $1,000 can be turned into 100,000 miles.
CITI Strata No Annual Fee 30,000 Thank You points
CHASE Aeroplan 100k Bonus Points. $95 annual fee. 75k points for $4k spend in 3 months. Additional 25k points for $20k total spend in 12 months.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
THIS CARD STILL PAYS FOR ITSELF:
The 100K CAPITAL ONE Venture X card has a minimum spend of $6k in the first six months. If you like simplicity and looking for one (premium) card, I highly recommend this card (and yes, I have it myself!). It has an annual fee of $395 but it comes with an easy $300 statement credit for travel booked on its own travel portal, essentially turning it into a $95 annual fee card. But wait, there is more! On each card anniversary you earn 10,000 points essentially making it FREE! Every dollar of spend earns 2 points and flights booked on the travel portal earn 5 points per dollar. And hotels and car rentals booked on the travel portal earn 10 points per dollar. You get access to Capital One and Plaza Premium airport lounges and a Priority Pass Select lounge membership and, this is important, you can add four authorized users FOR FREE who can also have their own Priority Pass Select airline lounge membership and, this is BIG, they can bring in unlimited guests with their FREE Priority Pass card! You can transfer your Capital One points to up to 18 Transfer Partners. No foreign transaction fees. Free Hertz President’s Circle rental car top elite status. Up to $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSAPre every four years. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more.
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
Would you like to be automatically notified every time a card comes out with (or is about to remove) an elevated welcome offer? If yes, I highly encourage you to sign up if you haven’t yet. And when you apply for a credit card from a link in these emails you help support the blog.
Elevated Card Offer Notifications
All you have to do to receive these free notifications is:
1. Click on the link above
2. Create an account
3. Subscribe
MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I am slowly sharing some pics from my trip, still in Bangkok. It is on Instagram, you can still get an IG account and not post anything. Anyway, here is the review of my stay at the Hyatt Place on Soi 1 next to Bumrungrad Hospital.
While here I attended two travel related events: the 2025 No Vacancy Hotel+Accommodation Industry Expo and a Travel Massive meetup. Where I got this AI generated pic of myself which screams AI slop. Because that six pack I can assure you it has not been a part of my body for a very long time LOL.
One of the presenters I was impressed with at the conference was the guy from Nobu Hotels. Which is now up to 25 hotel locations and looking to double that number. Listening to him I really want to visit one Nobu hotel and eat at one of the restaurants. The average Nobu chef tenure is 21 years. Which is a crazy stat. Have you been? Over rated or worth the hype?
Wait, I have more, I uploaded not one, not two but three videos in my YouTube channel, click Like and Subscribe you guys, get me to 100 subscribers at last after 13 years lol.
Bangkok Hyatt Place Sukhumvit Soi 1 Deluxe King Room with Sofa Bed
Bangkok Hyatt Place Sukhumvit Soi 1 Breakfast at 1947 Kitchen Restaurant
Bangkok Dusit Central Park Skypark
In the expanded field for the 2026 World Cup, all the Greeks can’t get over it that we are going to sit home and watch the games on TV again. Still can’t believe we did not make it in one of the weakest groups ever playing against Denmark, Scotland and Belarus. And, shockingly, Scotland won the group which means automatic qualification in the very last game literally going to the last few minutes beating Denmark. Crazy group, especially when you consider that Greece dominated Scotland at the last game. Congrats to Scotland but I mean, come on. Always fun to watch the fan celebrations. I remember Scotland in the World Cup almost 30 years ago. They usually go down fighting but this time they didn’t.
You think that was crazy? The absolute madness was Ireland, at the very last play of the game, managed to beat Hungary away 3-2 and qualify for a playoff spot to win one of the last remaining spots for the World Cup. Ireland came of out nowhere to beat Portugal (clear winners and automatic qualifiers of the group) in the previous game and then went to Hungary needing only a win (which meant the hosts were staying home). And one dude named Parrot played the game of his life and he has become a national hero now. He scored all three goals and the last one is now called The Moment (in slow motion in Instagram, wow). Wait, he also scored the two goals to beat Portugal as well. The Irish fan celebrations are also epic. Congrats to Ireland and good luck to the upcoming playoffs, I hope we see you next year.
After seeing Scotland and Uzbekistan make it, why stop there? We also are going to watch Haiti, Cape Verde and Panama next year: Curaçao to Cape Verde: Small nations make big World Cup history. The World Cup is, imho, the greatest sports show on Earth.
I don’t think I am going to burn over 2 million miles/points for a second year in a row…
I DO have a separate page listing my affiliate links HERE for: Rakuten and Top Cash Back and more.
I am giving myself a challenge to average 5 credit card sales and 15 Buy Me a Coffee sales per month.
September:
Credit card sales: 3 Buy me a Coffee sales: 18
October:
Credit card sales: 7 Buy me a Coffee sales: 12
November to date:
Credit card sales: 3 Buy me a Coffee sales: 8
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
200k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 100k CITI Strata Elite, 175k AMEX Platinum, 100k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 100k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash, 200k/400k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business, 200k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 75k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Air Canada Aeroplan, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 1,827,748 miles/points year to date (2,027,816 in 2024) and have 3,846,730 miles/points in the bank.
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, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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Good evening Buzz,
Just great, trials for eating through our butts coming soon.
Gold for the desert rats perhaps.
Fascinating group of qualifiers for the WC.
Thanks for the great reading and have an awesome time overseas.
Man, I am impressed that you still post such a great amount of info each week despite being way over there! Thanks! I’ll be dipping in over the weekend as per usual and much appreciate all the good stuff. Have a wonderful time there and enjoy!
Thanks for the wonderful links. Good to keep up with Krugman on crypto!
The food at the Hyatt place certainly looks better that at the Hyatt places I stay! Wow.