Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the 7 hidden retirement traps, memecoins insanity, free city tours at airports, several AMEX Hilton offers ending, 2025 retirement changes, hedge fund guy admits he sucks, crypto bros entering government, a disturbing dive into frontotemporal dementia FTD, the best train rides and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of miles and points at the lower half of the post. Enjoy the weekend and go Detroit Lions!
TBB Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!
Support TBB by applying for CREDIT CARDS or Buy Me a Coffee or click on LINKS
You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!
No clickbait. No sponsored posts. Also, no AI!
Follow me on Instagram and Subscribe to my YouTube channel
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 is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
I am very busy with my day job with quarter and year end happening together. This blog should suffer quality wise. But, as I have preached to my kids to always be proud of their work, this is not happening yet around here.
And you all make this year the best one ever ok?
PERSONAL FINANCE
As we are ending yet another year, this seems appropriate now: What’s Changing for Retirement in 2025. How Secure 2.0 and inflation adjustments will affect retirement savers and spenders.
I have been around the wealth management industry for a very long time. My practice has matured as my clients are reaching the retirement zone. So a lot of my focus has turned towards this delicate phase of life. And trying to improve going from an accumulator mindset to, well, spending. This is one of the greatest challenges my industry is facing. It is a good problem to have, don’t get me wrong. It is so weird finding myself encouraging my clients to spend indeed! Anyway, back to retirement, it is different for everyone, we are all different. Having said that, this was a really good article about the subject: 7 Hidden Traps of Retirement. The author lists them:
1. Focusing on who you are, instead of who you want to become.
2. Focusing on too many options.
3. Not building relationships outside of work.
4. Waiting to figure out retirement until after you retire.
5. Trying to apply your work behavior to life in retirement.
6. Not focusing on creative endeavors to maximize your fulfillment.
7. Not being proactive in making your retirement dreams happen.
Well, I at least appreciate the honesty from this hedge fund guy lol: He Lost 35% Ignoring 2024’s Biggest Trades: ‘I Am Not Good at What I Am Doing’. Richard Toh’s raw mea culpa details how he ignored Nvidia and bitcoin and misread tariffs.
“I have come to the realization that I am not good at what I am doing but I guess some of you may have sensed that already. I am sorry I have let you down. I pretty much missed all the major themes in the last two years,” Toh wrote. “I was hopelessly out of sync with the market, buying when I should be selling and selling when I should be buying. We got whipsawed several times this year even as we got some facts correct.” After distributing the remainder of the capital, Toh said he planned to take a year to rest and “change the way I look at things.” [And then you wonder why most investors are embracing passive investment management and indexing?]
And also this which describes me at times lately:
“I learned from that episode that sometimes the best investments are precisely the ones you cannot explain and probably made no sense. It also told me I am getting too old,” he wrote.
Stop clicking on experts’ market predictions please. Because: “Nobody Knows Anything”, Wall Street Strategist Edition”.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
For the best updates in the crypto bro world, here is the latest by Molly White: Issue 72 – A Seat at the Table. The SEC is still busy even though it may soon be undermined, crypto industry capture of government continues to worsen, and several media outlets botch their crypto reporting at a time it’s needed most.
Finally, one of the most obnoxious and arrogant people in the crypto space is finally coming to the US to face justice: Do Kwon’s U.S. Extradition Gets Okay From Montenegro’s Justice Minister.
Kids these days, smh: A Kid Made $50,000 Dumping Crypto He’d Created. Then Came the Backlash. In less than 10 minutes, a US teen made a small fortune selling off a memecoin he’d made on a lark. Traders, feeling swindled, sought revenge. Articles like this makes me wonder sometimes if we are all living in a parallel universe or something…
This blog is not going to blog itself. I rely on my readers helping it grow as I don’t have time to do any promotion/marketing. Which leaves the content clean of intrusive sponsoring posts and stupid ads and stuff like that.
You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Heartbreaking article: Fighting to Avoid Her Mother’s Fate, for Her Daughters’ Sake. A mutant gene is coming to steal Linde Jacobs’s mind. Can she find a way to stop it? I can not imagine. This is what actor Bruce Willis has, it is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare and debilitating brain disorder that affects personality, speech, and social skills.
The above article was way too heavy. So, let’s have some fun next. Did you know there is an annual prize for this? Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year. Here are some of the winners, enjoy!
2024: The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire
2021: Is Superman Circumcised?
2010: Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way
2003: The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories
1989: How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art
1985: Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Mind Power: How to Use the Other 90% of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts
If at least one did not make you smile, I am not sure you are a good fit for my blog.
Let’s swing back to more serious stuff. Bookmark this site and take some steps to guard yourself online: Surveillance Self-Defense. Tips, Tools and How-tos for Safer Online Communications.
THIS: Magnificent Close-Up Photograph Of A Whale’s Eye Hides Much Sadder Story.
TRAVEL
I like trains: 10 Best Train Rides in the USA.
I still have not tried one of these free tours yet, I always say next time. Or I am just too comfortable in a nice airport lounge perhaps lol: These Airports Offer Free City Tours During Long Layovers.
Free at last, no more Daily Goaways “deals”, thank you Lord!: Daily Getaways Program Discontinued.
Maybe one day in our lifetimes we can blow some miles traveling here? #lifegoals An Enormous Photo of the Moon Zooms in on the Cratered Lunar Topography in Incredible Detail.
Follow me on Instagram please. Subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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
We have a lot to cover, fasten your seat belts!
Interesting article: Coming to a Tiny Airport Near You: New Airlines. Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways have found success and loyal customers by serving airports in smaller cities, like New Haven, Conn., that were neglected by national carriers. I still have not flown either. Actually, Avelo will start flying seasonally out of my local airport in Detroit to New Haven, Connecticut in April 2025. And just realized that Breeze flies out of Lansing airport to Orlando and seasonally to Fort Myers. Anyway, these airlines have avoided the bankrupt ways of the big low cost airlines (looking at you Spirit Airlines) nicely…so far.
In a move foreseen by nobody everybody, British Airways ended the year with a move towards revenue based earning: BIG NEWS: BA moves to revenue-based tier status for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold Guest List. In an industry move predicted by yours truly years ago and forestalled by the pandemic, airlines are getting it together and going where the money is. Mainly bigly business travelers paying the big bucks for expensive tickets. And of course, bending over the banks pumping them money for allowing their members to be pumped by the exclusive airline travel rewards credit card deals. The huge difference is that using plastic may not even get you the lowest new BA elite tier when using plastic with AA could get you up front, every time. Anyway, it looks like the new name of the BA scheme will no longer have the word “Executive” in it and will now be called “British Airways Club”, zzzzzz.
World of Hyatt is getting really exclusive with all inclusive properties lately, I am not sure I like this trend: Hyatt & Grupo Piñero Finalize Strategic Joint Venture For Bahia Principe Resorts.
Loved seeing Delta Skymiles being called this: How Delta Has Turned SkyMiles into the Clearance Meat of Airline Miles.
Heads up on this: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Changes Starting 2025. Very weird that both my kids are Alaska Airlines elite flyers (son is MVP Gold through 2025 and daughter is MVP until June 28). Kind of intriguing award flight mileage will count as elite qualifying.
The “enhancements” started, we are going to miss the reciprocal earnings indeed: Big Changes for American Airlines and Hyatt Partnership. I have no idea how this new “status for a day” thingie will work. But judging about the incredible IT talent (being sarcastic here of course) in both companies I would not be surprised if they can this “benefit” soon.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
In case you have not registered yet: Q1 2025 5% Quarterly Categories: Activate, Offers & Suggestions (Freedom/Flex, Discover, Dividend, Cash+ & More).
Well, bloggers and vloggers killed another deal, so sad: Chase Aeroplan: Pay Yourself Back On Travel 1.25 Cents Now Limited To 200k Per Year.
No inflation at all in making tax payments to the IRS, the fee keeps dropping, hooray: Pay1040 Now Charges 1.75% Fee on Tax Payments. Update: There seems to be a glitch with Pay1040 charging 2.89% and NOT 1.75%, watch out! For more details and updates on this please read this post.
This is great: Amex Decoder Ring: Navigating Every Amex Family Rule. It shows you how to go about getting Amex cards, the proper sequence you should follow to maximize your bang. As we all await for the final shoe to drop, I mean, the introduction of the family rule in Amex Hilton Honors cards. Which has surprisingly not happened yet; I doubt this will stand in 2025. I added this post to the amazing TBB Points & Miles Resources page.
BREAKING: The offers for four Amex Hilton Honors cards END on January 8, 2025! You can find them on my Top Credit Card Offers Page, where you can read a review of each one: I mainly list them below along with the affiliate link if I have one, thank you in advance for choosing to help this blog continue to exist.
175k AMEX Hilton Business Card
If you are sick of the devaluations and playing the game and you want to keep things simple and have some travel benefits, I still recommend the Capital One Venture X card, read more about it below. But if you want to take it to a higher level and really maximize your earnings, you may want to consider adding the Capital One Savor Cash card to it. Supercharge Your Miles: Pair the Capital One Venture X With the Capital One Savor Cash. It is hard to beat adding a no annual fee card that earns 3x on dining and groceries (among others). We love signup bonuses around here of course and the one item stopping us to apply for the card is the crappy signup bonus of only $200—>20,000 miles for spending $500 in the first three months. And of course you must consider the hurt for Capital One running your credit at all three credit bureaus and always being a challenge getting an approval with them. Get me a standard signup bonus and I am ready to go for it now 🙂
I get into my action items below after this from your sponsor, just kidding! Don’t give up reading now, there is more below.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
The 75K CAPITAL ONE Venture X card has a minimum spend of $4k in the first three 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. 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. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more.
Click on my TOP CREDIT CARD OFFERS to see a DETAILED explanation of the features of these cards.
Here are my three TOP CREDIT CARD OFFERS as of today:
The #1 Top Offer is the 75k Capital One Venture X card. It is amazing what you get for FREE with this card!
The #2 Top Offer right now is the 75k Chase Ink Business Unlimited card.
The #3 Top Offer right now is 75k CHASE Ink Business Cash card.
Learn more about these offers HERE.
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 (and you don’t have to hunt down the link in my Credit Cards page!)
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 WHATEVER
I ignore all blog posts involving bloggers writing about their predictions for the new year and how they did with their predictions last year. Come on, what a waste of time and bandwidth, focus on what matters. Most of their predictions were awful but that does not discourage them for making more. Hey, the pressure of easy content smh. I don’t do this here, I only bug you when I have something to say/contribute. Anyway, let’s move on, shall we?
Earlier this year I got the Amex Business Platinum card when I was targeted to earn 250,000 Amex Membership Rewards points. The annual fee was $695 and I managed to extract $600 in statement credits in 2024. More credits coming in early 2024 so very pleased with my bang with this card in less than a year. Also, for the Amex Hilton Surpass card I have had for a while I managed to extract $200 in statement credits in 2024 for its annual fee of $150, not bad at all. The thing is…I need to use these darn gift cards at some point, which is not easy!
I could not help myself letting Barclay bank go without sending me 140,000 Hawaiian Airline miles for its personal 70k HA Visa cards. Easy online approval, one purchase needed to get the full 70k miles at a $99 annual fee. I used the direct link found in this post, no affiliate/referral links on this one. Our former online Barclay credentials still worked, last time I used them were back when this bank had the Arrival card. I really liked that card and of course Barclay killed it. Looking forward to add all these miles eventually to our Alaska Airlines accounts. I briefly entertained the thought of applying for the 50k Hawaiian Airlines business card the same day but after seeing reports how the bank may ask to send identifying and tax documents by regular mail I changed my mind. If that offer was for at least 70k I may have taken the abuse; at just 50k I decided not to bother.
Other than the two Barclay cards above, I am laying low and hoping for some new amazing no brainer travel rewards credit card offers to come around. I was hoping to get one and meet the minimum spend for my fourth quarter estimated tax payment due January 15, 2025. But I may use it to hit the $15k spend on either the personal Hyatt Visa or Amex Hilton Surpass for another free night cert. Or split it between the two so I can postpone hitting the $15k spend on each and extend the free night cert expiration date. We’ll see…
I posted a video from my NYC La Guardia Chase Sapphire Lounge visit in my YouTube channel, enjoy. I thought posting videos less than 2 minutes long appear as Reels and videos over 2 minutes long appear as, well, videos. Wrong. I still have not figured out how what I upload will show up under, any insights? I have so much to learn, I guess becoming an influencer with just 55 YouTube subscribers will not happen in my lifetime lol. But I hit 200 followers on Instagram so maybe there is hope woohoo.
I am a Patreon supporter of Milenomics. I support creators I want to stick around #hint. I don’t have time to get into the community chats but I do listen to the podcasts when I can. And one of the podcast features is the geeky Travel Stories podcast. In the latest episode the hosts interviewed Ryan Smith who I am sure you have seen his name on articles all over the miles and points world, that guy has written for almost every outfit out there. I did not realize the extent of the damage in the miles and points world and the freelancer writers that the latest Google Search update has done. The first eight minutes is all about this and I feel sorry for everyone hurt. There will be a lot more of these people looking for writing gigs in the future and a lot less plastic affiliate links online. Maybe this will help blogs like mine? Hope never dies. Even after selling only one credit card in November and December, I mean, there is only one way up to go from here.
I really enjoyed watching “The Complete Unknown” movie about Bod Dylan. I aspire to do things my own way like Bob. And doing this blogging here for over 12 years non stop is approaching Bob Dylan longevity levels? Only thing is missing is the commercial success lol. Also, the movie theater was packed. It was the first time I thought “Wow, this looks just like it was pre Covid”.
In the Detroit area we are all on the Detroit Lions bandwagon. It has been a magical season standing at 14-2 with one more game. And what a game against the 14-2 Minnesota Vikings is going to be with SO much on the line! A Division title, a bye playoff game and home court advantage throughout the playoffs when the loser travels to play an away game with no rest whatsoever. If the Lions defense had not been decimated by injuries we would win easily. Going to be a great game, may the best team win. I so must take a nap that day so I can stay up for the 8.20 pm start time!
The other team I follow closely (since birth) is my Larissa, Greece hometown soccer team AEL. Ever since the shameful relegation to the Greek second division in 2021 we have been trying to win promotion back to the first division. For the past three seasons we finished second missing the boat barely! But this is our year it appears with 12 wins and 2 ties, undefeated so far. With 12 games left we are looking good and beating up on everyone, here are all the 30 goals from this magical season so far. The team draws the most fans in every game than what most other teams in the Greek first division draw…combined! I used to be in the fan stands when I was a kid at every game, I have some amazing memories that stay with you.
Rest In Peace to Jimmy Carter, here is a recap of his interviews at 60 Minutes if you are interested.
So sad to see the horrific event in New Orleans and then the guy taking himself out in a Tesla Cybertruck in front of Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Just some thoughts: The dude in New Orleans worked for two firms I used to work at, Deloitte and Ernst & Young. And it appears he had huge financial problems even though he had a job earning six figures. I guess two failed marriages along with alimony and child support and losing custody of his kids did not help. Having financial difficulties is driving many to desperation and I bet spending above your means contributed to this. Also, the guy in Las Vegas appeared very normal up to the day before he decided to go out with a bang, at least he did not take other innocent souls with him. Both had military connections with the Las Vegas guy actually being active in Special Forces. I am sure seeing war face to face does not help your mental health. Finally, with connecting the dots to the travel space we are dealing with here, has anyone noticed how both of these guys rented their vehicles using Turo? Just had to share these thoughts, honor the innocent victims and hope we all do better this year.
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
75k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 75k CHASE United Business, 75k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 150k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 150k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 90k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60k Chase Sapphire Preferred, 80k CHASE Southwest Performance Business, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
Learn How To Apply HERE to support the blog. Or email me if you have any questions about any cards, I’m happy to help, thank you!
As of today, I burned 2,027,816 miles/points in 2024 (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,285,111 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
You can receive each blog post by entering your email address below and then clicking on SUBSCRIBE below, no spam ever!:
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.
Hello from San Francisco bay area. Off to SF later today for a conference. The conference hotel are too cheap to use points. SF and tourism!
Thanks for all the terrific links.
Daily Getaways, there’s a blast from the past, can’t recall the last time I even thought about them. However, I did wonder how the illustrious thought leader managed to snaffle Hyatt packages every year though they were as rare as hen’s teeth.
Stayed at the new HP in Bkk. My thoughts are probably biased as I’m not a HP type of girl which I had not realised. Rooms are ok. There is external noise from other rooms, ie if someone showers upstairs I heard it, if they scrape their chair on the floor I heard it, walk by the room it’s as loud as. However, that said I was not disturbed during sleep hours by any of those noises. No street noise. Street is interesting if a bit grotty, nothing like the smell of fresh urine on the side walks which are not in good condition. I opted not to have any massages locally as thought the choices looked a bit dodgy in the cleanliness stakes. I’ve managed to remain well fed by the local vendors. Gym is small. 2 treadmills, 1 bike and think 1 elliptical with a few free weights and another weight station. Small pool on the rooftop in the same location as the gym. If I had another appt at the Bumrungrad I would stay here again, if not as we all know there are so many good properties in Bangkok at reasonable prices I would be elsewhere.
Much good stuff here and no time to read it today, gonna have to be over the weekend. For a retired guy I am too busy! Thanks as always for putting the blog together for us all to read.
Interesting comments about Google Search update. Red ventures also owns the points guy and these changes must be hurting TPG as well. Another example of how one dominant player (google) can complete change the landscape overnight. Break them up (google/facebookAmazon)!
Lost another two email list subscribers. I don’t understand it, I think I am posting my best posts lately and yet…I keep losing subscribers. Which only means that they don’t like my blog posts, it is so infuriating and demoralizing you guys.
Thanks to the reader who got an Inky card with my links, you are first and only one in January and you tied the haul in December and November.
I will respond when I come up for air after deep into the day job quarter/year end work. Thank God for the day job, if I had not turned away so many prospective clients so I can blog for peanuts here I would be rich 🙂
I updated the post to add a warning about how Pay1040 may not be correctly charging 1.75% for tax payments with a link to a blog post about it.
2024 Best of Annual Lists edition #3 post with another 10 links is ready and will appear here on Monday morning. I so far have 5 links for edition #4. I have not started pulling together the annual “I burned 2+ Million Miles/Points in 2024” post yet.
Phucking freeeeeezing here in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Saturday morning, 19 F!
Going to respond to the comments this morning, thanks for taking the time to comment. It helps a lot to know someone reads and cares about what I blog about here.
@ DML: Enjoy the conference and SF.
@ Carl: This post got away from me, which likely contributed to losing 2 subscribers. Never sent a spam email ever, not sure why they felt it was too much to get another email. I am probably the only blogger who is not growing its email subscriber list. It is what it is.
@ Vicky: So, your review of the new Bangkok HP is pretty much what I expected. The other on Soi 24 appears to be way better in a much better neighborhood. I will check this out one day but no rush. May be good to play off one against the other to be able to make award reservations. I should probably book 20 to 30 nights now in both of them to get going on that Globalist thingie. But so much up in the air as far as travel commitments/plans are concerned. Maybe it is time to get off that free breakfast bandwagon to break my eating habit and not gain weight 🙂 It looks like it is the ideal place for the hospital nearby though. And the gym is way too tiny compared to the gym at the other HP! Daily Getaways was one of those freebie content bloggers used to pump affiliate links…they got so ridiculous with some having only a few packages you had to develop carpet tunnel syndrome to get one smh, good riddance.
@ ABC: Yeah, that discussion was so interesting indeed. I don’t blame Google prioritizing voiced in /reddit before all these sites that came online that would not be around if affiliate links were not available, I mean, you can only sell so much, right? Wall Street Journal gave up on its own “affiliate channel” thingie, I almost asked the editor there to allow me to write there, so glad I didn’t. This explains why so many of these freelance writers went back and revived their own blogs, like Dia Adams, Pointchaser and soon to be more it appears. I agree with your comment about breaking them up but it may be too late by now? And with the incoming administration I would certainly not take this bet as many of these billionaires have elevated their asskissing to much higher levels.