Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as warnings about private funds in 401k plans, top breakthrough technologies, RFK declared honorary virus, Bilt 2.0 credit card sucks, Michael Saylor genius vs fraudster, Claude takes the AI lead, top travel adventure ideas, 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. And much more.
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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.
This blog stays in business with clicks ONLY from readers for credit cards and coffees. You can always get to my credit card links by clicking on “CREDIT CARDS’ at the menu on the top of the homepage or the “We make finding a new credit card simple” banner on the right sidebar. Or, preferably, you can receive new offers in your email inbox by signing up to receive alerts HERE . Or just email me.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts. Based on current click trends, this blog has entered its final descent…
GIVEAWAY: A blog reader has kindly offered TWO World of Hyatt Globalist GOH Guest Honor Certificates expiring 2/28/2026. Priority will be given to blog readers who have supported my blog in the past. And if you can not use them by end of February do not contact me.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd” – Voltaire
MUST READ GEMS
A colleague passed along this quick reference guide resource that some of you may find it helpful. Even if you are not a financial planning or tax professional.
Crunching Number$
Crunching Number$ is a tool designed for financial planning and tax professionals to use as a quick reference when locating important numbers relevant to our work. The guide is available in both PDF and Excel formats, so you can choose the version that best suits your needs.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Be careful, the alternative investments salesmen are coming for your wallet, the push is just starting. And this time they managed to buy the politicians so please be aware. It’s bullshit when you look deeper: Alternatives Face Mounting Scrutiny, Skepticism.
State Street’s private equity index, which tracks returns from private equity, private debt and venture capital funds, recorded a 7.08 per cent return last year, compared with a 25 per cent total return for the S&P 500 index, which also outperformed private funds on a three, five and 10-year basis.
Per Morningstar:
…private markets “come with higher fees, less transparency, less liquidity and more complexity,”
“[Private funds] promise greater access and returns, but also bring steep fees, heavy use of leverage and liquidity limits that investors must carefully evaluate.”
Fees for private market funds can be up to three times higher than those for public markets… The average annual expense ratio for semi-liquid funds is 3.16 per cent, while the comparable figure for active mutual and exchange-traded funds is 0.79 per cent. In addition, commissions for selling alternative funds, often 2 to 5 per cent, can sometimes exceed 10 per cent.
At least we have Jason Zweig at the Wall Street Journal who is trying to stop the hurt: Why This CEO Won’t Let Private Funds Near His Company’s 401(k). I am dealing with the aftermath of the death of a few clients these days and it is always stressful dealing with Inherited IRAs. I could not imagine having to untangle alternative investments while grieving like the CEO interviewed in this article. Keep things simple folks #youhavebeenwarned.
Frank Sullivan, chief executive of RPM International, is one of these frustrated heirs. Untangling his late father’s private funds, he says, has made him determined not to allow such assets in RPM’s 401(k).
Private-fund managers and politicians pushing for wider use of nontraded assets in 401(k)s say it’s unfair that big institutions have long invested in nontraded assets while small investors haven’t been able to. Why shouldn’t the little guy have equal access to the potentially higher returns on private assets? “That sounds like ‘mom and apple pie,’ but it’s a bulls— argument,” fumes Sullivan, the RPM CEO. “The reality is, now they’re having a hard time raising money and returns are reverting to the mean…I see this as a move [by private-fund managers] to get their fingers on trillions of dollars in 401(k) assets and put them into investments that are totally inappropriate. The vast majority of people who own 401(k)s shouldn’t be investing in illiquid, expensive, hard-to-value assets”…“You sense my anger at a money grab that will not serve this group of hardworking Americans very well. The people driving this don’t give a damn about the average investor. They’re saying, ‘This is the biggest pot of money that we don’t have our fingers in yet, so let’s go get it’ ”.
Some good visuals found in THIS article:
CRYPTO/TECH/SCAMS
So many loud arrogant assholes out there these days. And so many in the crypto space. And then there is the Michael Saylor dude: Is This Billionaire a Financial Genius or a Fraudster? Michael Saylor’s financial alchemy thrust an ordinary software company, Strategy, into the center of the crypto frenzy. It all worked spectacularly, until now. You know where I stand by the way. His “strategy” (pun intended) is sure showing some cracks finally and, like with so many others, we just can not believe his dangerous shtick still finds suckers to fool.
What is it like inside one of these scam centers in Myanmar? Worse than you can ever imagine, wow: At This Office Park, Scamming the World Was the Business. Times journalists got a rare look inside one of the compounds where the online fraud industry makes its billions. Inspirational slogans (“Keep going”) were just the start.
AI
Adding this link here since it has some AI thingies: 10 Breakthrough Technologies.
It appears that every other week we have another AI leader, now it is Claude: Claude Is Taking the AI World by Storm, and Even Non-Nerds Are Blown Away. Developers and hobbyists are comparing the viral moment for Anthropic’s Claude Code to the launch of generative AI.
ODDZ & ENDZ
You have never seen a website like this: Library of Time. Hard to describe what it is. Click a calendar or clock for more info. You may input a date and time above using numerals and commas.
Fascinating account of the author Growing up in “404 Not Found”（Part I）: Life in a Secret Chinese Nuclear City That Was Never on the Map.
Time for some brilliant humor before this guy kills us all: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Be Declared Honorary Virus. The ceremony will feature roadkill hors d’oeuvres, goblets of beef tallow, and a sewage plunge.
“For offering a gracious home to a parasitic brain worm, even for a time, and for his indefatigable efforts to reintroduce the noble measle back into the wild, we here at the Childhood Diseases Consortium (CDC) are proud to claim Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as one of our own,” a plaque reads. “For his work making the lives of those scientists still trying to do their jobs at the Other CDC a living nightmare, and for the many ways, large and small, that he advances the cause of viral disease, we offer this small tribute to our most ferocious advocate and strongest defender. Whether he is repeating the words gold-standard science until they lose all meaning, traveling the world with a personal holster of sauerkraut, or doing something we think is intended to be a pull-up, the secretary will always know that we’re honored to have him in our corner. Wherever we go, whomever we touch, we feel we’re carrying on his legacy.”
The evening was to feature a performance by a children’s choir, but too many of them are reportedly under the weather.
Interesting visual: All of the World’s Births in 2025:
TRAVEL
Some good ideas here: 25 Adventure Travel Ideas We’re Excited About, According to T+L Travel Advisors.
Interesting link: The Oldest Restaurant in Every State.
Another one: The Best Weekend Getaways in Every State. We here in Michigan were shocked to see Mackinac Island on this list #notreally.
This looks very cool: Norway’s New Panoramic Night Train Turns the Northern Lights Into a Moving Light Show.
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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.
You know this hobby is way past its golden days when you see an editorial like this in the Wall Street Journal of all places smh, do ya hear that over there at the Bilt HQ mansion? Life Is Too Short for Frequent-Flyer Miles. The complexity of trying to ‘optimize’ everything has a cost.
My credit-card company recently notified me that my annual fee would be raised to $795, but I shouldn’t fret because I’d get thousands of dollars back in benefits. A quick study revealed that managing the benefits would be a part-time job. I shut my account and moved to a card with a reward system that doesn’t require a spreadsheet to track..There’s a cost to complexity. The game’s payout has to be worth the time and effort of playing. Instead of prying a bit more from a rewards program, for example, I’d rather put my time into my family and business, each of which has a much higher return on investment.
Some interesting categories and entries here: Announcing the 2026 Cranky Network Award Nominations.
Does anyone really use The Edit hotels? Well, if you do, here is a site just like that one we use for Amex FHR hotels: EditMaxxer.
For the Hyatt lovers out there: Shortcuts to Hyatt elite status and Milestone Rewards and Best Hyatt Category 4 Hotels & Resorts.
Southwest has become like another legacy airline now and their financial results and stock price have improved substantially by the way: Southwest Fare Classes Explained: What Changes in January 2026.
Good to know what is coming: Hilton Hotel Openings Report December 2025.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
This section will have developments and news and will keep my own commentary reserved for the MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING section below.
And see separate section at the very end of this post on Bilt, now at version 3.1a and counting.
A fascinating account what happened in the two years of negotiations between Goldman and Apple for the Apple card: Behind the Unraveling of Apple’s Credit-Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs. What was most surprising was this, omg can you imagine?
Synchrony was convinced it was getting the deal and started exploring how to make the card turnover as low-cost as it could.
Chase continues its retreat by now allowing us to carry both the Sapphire cards. Good for us no doubt but still, free Hyatt stays are going to be missed: [Memo] Chase Changing Rules Around Signup Bonus Eligibility For Sapphire Reserve & Sapphire Preferred.
Nobody is clicking my credit card links so I am going to reduce this section substantially and only feature some new offers along with some expiring worthy ones.
NEW OFFERS:
Three Avios cards (British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus) now offer 90,000 Avios Signup Bonus for $5,000 minimum spend in three months. They are all $95 annual fee cards.
New interesting offer for the personal Hyatt Visa offering 5 Free Night Certificates (Category 1-4) after a total $15,000 in the first six months (three of the five FNCs after $5k spend in first three months). I prefer World of Hyatt points offers but this could be relevant for some of you. Why? Because you can get the following night credits: 5 for having the card, 6 for spending $15k (card earns 2 night credits every $5k) and another FNC after hitting $15k. With me so far? You now have 11. If you do burn all your now 6 FNCs you are at 17! Just three away from hitting the first 20k Milestone Reward and 13 away from the next more valuable 30 Night Milestone Reward and Explorist status (where another FNC awaits you, among other goodies).
Due to credit card vendor restrictions, the only affiliate links I can place in the body of my posts are for Capital One cards. For the rest, you know what to do. You can always email me at
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com with ANY questions.
EXPIRING OFFERS:
First, I am going to list the expiring offers based on expiration dates order, so here we go:
125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve/150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve for Business
After January 22, the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business Signup Bonus becomes 150,000 points for a minimum spend of $20,000.
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.
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. Email me with ANY questions.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
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
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I found the latest film of the 28 Days series disappointing 🙁 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
Amazing mayhem and turn of events at the 2026 African Cup Final between host Morocco and Senegal. Morocco imploded, wow.
Construction in my house starts tomorrow. It was a workout clearing everything from our kitchen. Which was a wonderful opportunity to purge so much stuff. I love purging and decluttering. Less stuff, more freedom. Please tell my wife lol.
Interesting blog about Manufactured Spending and other related activities: Chasing Cetaceans.
Not much here you guys, saved it for the Bilt section below!
Oh, finding award availability is absolute shit!
I DO have a separate page listing my affiliate links HERE including 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.
November:
Credit card sales: 4 Buy me a Coffee sales: 19
December:
Credit card sales: 2 Buy me a Coffee sales: 19
January to date:
Credit card sales: 0 Buy me a Coffee sales: 14
Looks like the lowly credit card sales goal is not going to be reached. I will wait for the Capital One Venture X card sales to post (they are always 1 to 2 months late to show up) and then make one of those tough decisions I have been dreading. 🙁
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 100k CITI Strata Elite, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 175k AMEX Platinum, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 100k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash, 200k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 75k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 47,515 miles/points year to date (after burning 1,893,248 miles/points in 2025 and 2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,118,714 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
SPECIAL SECTION ON BILT 2.0
This company burst into our lives about 5 years ago. They had a great story, I mean, get points on your rent for FREE! The sales hook was we’ll get masses to sign up (they did) and overtime build that base to make it a sustainable business. You know, like Amazon. Of course, it never made any business sense but wait. Never underestimate the power of story and the ability to sell by people who are really well versed in, well, sales!
So, this company managed to fool many backers and, most importantly, fooled Wells Fargo to pick up the losses covering the cardholders FREE rent payments/points! And managed to corner all the bloggers by spending some of the huge marketing budget (free money from backers) flying them to private islands and parties and wining and dining them. And oh boy, did they respond? The blogosphere was bombarded with numerous mentions of this company. Every little “announcement” was covered like it was breaking news (it was not). When it was quiet for a few days, boom, here is another “rumor” mysteriously someone “discovered”.
Can you tell I was never invited to a private island and party sponsored by Bilt?
Let me make something clear the TBB Legal Department urged me to post: All content here is my OWN PERSONAL OPINION. First Amendment MFers!
So, it was all happy times while Bilt was burning cash left and right. Until someone at Wells Fargo noticed “hey, we are losing our ass here, this can’t go on, WTF!”
And then, the scramble began to find a new sucker. Of course you are not going to find another major bank to do this shit. So, I guess they found, please sit down, Cardless. I mean, a tiny fintech widely known for the stupidest rule to restrict customers into having just one credit card (now “generously” allows two lol). And with a well known hate for all normal people like us who like to maximize our rewards. Anyway, my point is that how is this company going to absorb so many cardholders at once? Well, the ones who will decide to go for the new Bilt card that is.
Which brings us to the long promised and so expertly marketed and anticipated Bilt 2.0. I mean, all these bloggers/vloggers feasted on the never ending rumors and, you know, page views and video views means MONEY! Except my site, sad. Anyway, so January 14, 2026 was going to be this HUGE launch of Bilt 2. 0 baby. I mean, these guys had done their homework supposedly and they know flash. Just like The Points Guy and Delta Skymiles execs woohoo. Right? And then it came:
First, the card: Three Brand New Bilt Cards 2.0: Blue, Obsidian, Palladium (Full Review)
And then the internet responded, brace yourselves:
First, at reddit they created its own megathread aptly titled: Bilt 2.0: The Biltening.
And then, you know, when you get the New York Times to come up with this:
It is the most complicated rewards system we’ve ever seen
maybe, just maybe, you f*cked up? Do not forget that Bilt was valued at over $10 Billion as recently as July 2025. Can’t wait to see what the next valuation round comes at. If the company gets there that is. But no worries, the Bilt execs have no doubt raked it in. I am sure they have lined up more “celebrities” to pay to show up on one day of the month to play a stupid game with the CEO. Because it’s all marketing baby.
And of course the best coverage comes from tiny obscure blogs like mine: That One where MEAB Gets Grumpy About the Bilt Hype Machine. Read the warnings about Cardless!
At first, bloggers/vloggers who were wined and dined of course toed the line because, you know, you can’t say no to the hand that feeds you. But there was such a universal negative response that, to save face, they just could not completely avoid mentioning the negatives. And oh boy, the negatives, grab a cup of coffee:
Bilt 2.0 transition not “seamless” for all cardholders – Imagine that, shocking! #notreally
New Bilt cards exclude tax payments, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and more – Cardless will go out of its way to stop the bleeding, it ain’t no Wells Fargo, lol.
I am not going to get into the details of the cards. My brain hurts. The changes make couponization feel like kindergarten. Not going to pull out my calculator to do math, life is too short for that. And I would rather keep my spending on other cards and move on with my life. Even if I had rent or mortgage (I don’t, I highly recommend it if you can get to that place). Bilt is clearly looking for another customer who spends a lot and want to capture all of it. Will there be some that move on to its cards? Yes. Will there be anywhere near the number of cardholders they had before? I don’t see it. And I am certain Cardless will do its best to cut down the ranks even more.
And for crying out loud, the one completely 100% useless card must be the Blue no annual fee one. Before you ask, no I am not getting any Bilt cards. I do have affiliate links for them if you decide to go for them. Then again, after this beating, is there any doubt why my blog can’t sell one freaking credit card around here? Roll sad lols woohoo!
And the rent/mortgage payment is handled via ACH. By Cardless. And good luck with that!
Like I said, the switch in bloggers’ sentiment got stronger over the next few days:
Bilt Rent & Mortgage Payments For Points May Be A Bad Deal
And then, just two days later, the CEO announced ridiculous changes. Which were insanely complicated and completely laughable. I mean, imagine already winning the title of the most complicated rewards system BEFORE the announced changes, wow!
Bilt Is Already Making Changes For The Uninformed – Don’t Take The Bait.
Actually the best post on Bilt.2.1(a)b was by Stephen over at The Frequent Miler, which probably led to a complete ban of the site from any party invites lol: Bilt 2.D’Oh. Why you should be cautious of their new cards setup. At least read the Final Thoughts section, which I agree with.
If you want a video, this kid gets it: Bilt 2.0: Is It Good? No! Let’s Have a Real Talk – Here’s The Truth. While other vloggers are doing mental gymnastics to sell the card (yes, they were invited to the launch party of course). One of them even had the audacity to make a video how he canceled the Capital One Venture X card to increase simplicity and reduce credit card annual fees and applied for the Palladium card instead LOL.
Update: Losing hobby veterans left and right: BILT: So Long, Farewell . . . it Was Nice While it Lasted.
The promises being made regarding the new Bilt cards are rather grandiose, especially the Palladium Bilt (which comes with a $495 pricetag), but the features of these cards are only lukewarm and confusing. Moreover, the promoters have been unable or unwilling to answer many basic questions about the use and limitation of use of the Bilt Cash, the currency of the new model. I have no idea whether this lack of clarity is due to disorganization or to lack of honesty, but either way, I should not be left to guess. This is not an escape room or a mirrored maze, guys.
And don’t get me started on “one of our own”. The guy learned a lot about marketing over at The Points Guy and apparently has earned so much that, you know, you lose touch with the common people and hubris takes over. Ok, that’s understandable to an extent I guess. But the contempt shown towards us, really dude? Kerr posted this on Instagram. The level of respect he has for this community is obvious… Oh, it was a joke? Why take it down then? Come on!
Update: And they came out with “over $4,500 in credits” for Bilt Cash LOL: Bilt Unveils Bilt Cash Redemption Options.
I honestly find a lot of the caps to be too small to really use, especially when it’s not really a straight credit like other cards (you have to first earn the Bilt cash) and the fact they are tiered based on status…It could just be my ADHD brain talking but I’m a little bit overwhelmed right now.
And at Reddit: “They saw the coupon book and came up with the yellow pages” – LOL
Going to finish the post with a few funny pics, like this one found HERE.
Let’s end this with one more. For the record, I am done blogging about Bilt, need to move on. If you continue with them, remember Mesa.
Message to Bilt from TBB Management: You can take your rumors and bananas and stick them up you know where. This is what happens when you don’t invite me at your private island and parties, woohoo!
The End.
Some selected comments on YouTube videos from vloggers who were flown out to the Bilt launch party, the ones that were not deleted yet that is, enjoy:
___ have some integrity you are just as bad as politicians. They fly you out and waive a check in your face and you start drooling and say whatever you say daddy bilt.
Damn brother, you are an absolute sell out. Talk about lack of free thought and integrity.
If I have to do mental gymnastics to earn points it’s not worth it. These YouTubers always preach “points shouldn’t be complicated” but as soon as they get paid sponsorship all that goes out the window…These are paid infomercials.
None of these influencers who were flown out will say that the card sucks lmfao.
Update: BEST video: Bilt 2.0 Cards Arenn’t What They Seem | The Real Math
Starts out with “Bilt just launched what might be the most catastrophic credit card program in history” and does not let up, this guy never got an invite from Bilt just like me woohoo.
Time to move on…
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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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.
Oh wow, a LOT of good reading here. Thanks, George! That Bilt stuff looks nuts to me, no way I would deal with that. As it is slowly trying to simplify what I do. Just getting to old and tired of it all to try and scramble for every extra point. Hope the remodel goes well and as fast as possible. That kind of stuff is always a mess.
Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
Wow! Lots of variations on that theme today.
It would be wonderful to know which banks do not pay influencers as a guild as to what card to get.
On the other hand I might have stumbled into a case where the sapphire reserve card is useful. We shall see.
Thanks for all your work!
So much good stuff it’s tough to say what’s best. Maybe the RFK Jr. award, then the cornucopia of Bilt. Thanks.
One Year of Trump. The Time to Act Is Now, While We Still Can
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/opinion/trump-one-year-later.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GFA.mD_t.fFdf1dqG0wgI&smid=url-share
Hello from Chiang Mai. Burning season hasnt yet hit so weather in the mid 80s during the day and mid-low 60s at night. Usually leave my patio door open until the sun starts shooting in around 10am, or the guy in the apartment below me lights up a cigarette. =[
Yes, the AFCON final was nuts. Even had fighting amongst the Moroccans trying to steal a towel from the Senegal keeper. Yet they somehow won the sportsmanship award for the tourney. Yikes! Plus the penalty was a dive for my money. Glad Senegal won. Video never showed Senegal walking off the field after the penalty was awarded.
It was its own video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nigLwQyMCRQ
Ball don’t like, they say.
Also the weekend getaway article might be the laziest attempt i’ve ever seen.
bob
Drew has entered the chat
Welp,
I guess I just can’t get any more cards. Got shot down today again on a Cap One Venture. Tried through your site but it was a no go. I will try the reconsider after I get the letter, but the last 3-4 tries on different cards is always a no. I think I finally have to cancel a few more cards that are sock drawered. I tried to help!
I have updated the post with some more Bilt related items, see ones shown with bold/underlined font labeled “Update”.
This blog has hit a wall, no credit card sales credited since December 11. Just yesterday I got notified I lost another 2 email subscribers. Over 90% of blog’s revenues comes from cc sales. At this current rate, I am paying from my own pocket to educate/entertain/inspire you. Not even mentioning the hours I spend to produce a quality blog and fight back rampant enshittification. After 13 years of doing this! And realizing that Frequent Miler sells so many credit cards to pay salaries and benefits for 5 full time staffers when I can’t make a freaking cc sale in more than a month, well, it is sobering and incredibly demoralizing.
Focusing on my own health (second night I get 8 hours of sleep, feels amazing!) and professional challenges in my main job due to client deaths, beneficiary of dead clients’ deaths, aging parent issues, client retirements and of course tax season about to start. Oh, just paid the first installment of house renovation work, “only” $35,000 (with a lot more to come). Just can’t be doing this anymore and paying out of my own pocket, I hit my limit you guys.
I will post again…whenever I find time and feel like it. No idea when. Thank you to all (you know who you are, all 8 of you) who have taken the time and effort to support this blog for so many years.
I do have material for the final edition of 2025 Best of Lists and will try to post it when I find time…
Completely understandable way to look at things. Post whatever, whenever and I know if you do, it will be good stuff. Maybe drop the whole credit card thing and start a new thing with just people who enjoy the kinds of stuff you do like to read about and see. You’ve made friends out of this though and that has no price. You ever get out this way, food and drinks are on me.
Hey! Nice shout-out for you in MEAB’s post today! Hope something comes of it.
Yeah, I saw that. Huge respect to MEAB. Every other blogger I have linked to in the past has never linked back to me and they can’t stop kissing Gary Leff’s ass. But hey, it’s business. For some of us this is still a hobby and a way to give back. All we asked for is to cover the costs 🙂
Still no credited cc sale since December 11, the mother of all dry streaks, wow.
Anyway, it is so phucking cold here, we are talking -20 with wind chills. BRRRRRRRRRR.
Updated the post with the best video on Bilt cc yet, starts out with:
“Bilt just launched what might be the most catastrophic credit card program in history” LOL