Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as more tariffs mayhem, warnings about tax identity theft, the Carbon Nation cult, the top 100 coffee shops, another 100k United miles, dividend investing, the global retirement boom, the top tax scams, growing up in the Murdoch family, Freeble is for all things free online, virtual vacations, the best photography links 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 file your tax returns now.
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
This blog continues someway somehow posting on Fridays…
PERSONAL FINANCE
If I had a dollar for every time I saw people preaching how investing focused on dividends is super amazing. And some on YouTube keep saying “click like and subscribe while you look at me cherry pick what I say while I live off my dividends and you can too!”, etc. Well, maybe not: Dividends Decoded: The Price Investors Pay for Chasing Income. I agree with the conclusions by the way:
Despite the allure of steady income, dividend-based mutual funds and ETFs have consistently underperformed the broader market – raising tough questions about the true cost of chasing yield.
Dividend-based products underperformed the market (based on the ETF SPY) by 199 basis points over the last 20 years with slightly more risk (as measured by volatility or standard deviation). The degree of underperformance was greater in the more recent 10 years (385 basis points) than in the first 10 years (23 basis points).
Dividend-based investing has been riskier than the market and has produced lower returns. Moreover, these results could be even bleaker if additional data – especially accounting for survivorship bias – were available. On an after-tax basis, the results were even worse.
The most obvious reason for this underperformance is the high fees (0.73% versus a few basis points for a cap-weighted index fund).
File your tax returns early, it is the best protection to fight back against hackers filing on your behalf by hijacking your Social Security Number. You do NOT want to get caught in this mess, trust me on this one. Especially in an era of IRS turmoil with recent layoffs plaguing it: Protect Yourself From Tax Identity Theft. Here’s How I Did. The author shows how she managed to register for her own personal account with the IRS. The procedure may be a little too involved, especially for older folks. But it is not really that bad for most who do it right and no tech glitches pop up along the way. When you have it, there are some benefits that are explained, along with being able to generate your own six digit IP PIN which you use when you file your tax returns online (or give it to your tax preparer). If you do this, you must remember to do it every year when the time comes to file your annual income tax return so beware of that. And these accounts are getting better: IRS adds W-2 and 1099-A forms to taxpayer online accounts.
As the owner of a small boutique wealth management firm, I am biased towards us. Then again, I tell clients what we do is not rocket science. It can be done if someone has the time AND interest to take care a lot of things revolving around personal finance. For many years when I told my wife that maybe we should hire a colleague to take a look at my magnificent financial plan to see if I missed anything, she always replied with “What, we save the money for that, isn’t this what you do?”. Well, yeah. But it is good to put myself in my clients’ shoes to see how this feels and also have everything checked by another set of eyes. Ok, I know my plan is still magnificent but I did have other motives, as in what will happen if I get hit by the bus. Good to have her get familiar with a local colleague in case of my early demise you know. Anyway, it was money well spent and I did learn a few things. Ok, long intro. I really liked this post by another colleague that focuses on the investment piece of what we do (which is only one part of the engagement by the way): Why You Might Want A Professional To Manage Your Investments.
Update: I prepare the draft of this post during the week and I was all ready to go with it. Until all hell broke loose in the last few days in the markets with the stupid tariff shenanigans. So, I am adding a couple of reads that I found were the best to educate us all about what is currently happening:
It’s An Uncertain, Uncertain, Uncertain, Uncertain World The one certainty? Uncertainty is bad for the economy. This graph below is stunning!
And one more: An Orchestrated Recession? Trump’s Tariffs, AI, and the Future of US Power. I am not buying this is all orchestrated…yet. This is a very well written post that lays it all out and at the end adds a zinger tying all the mayhem to AI, enjoy it.
It won’t be long before yours truly contributes to the Global Retirement Boom so make every day count 🙂
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
Scammers always attack when something is happening, as in filing taxes; be careful out there: IRS identifies most dangerous tax scams that can delay your refund. Here are 5 to avoid.
And here we go with the February 2025 Ponzi Scheme Roundup. There were at least 7 new Ponzi schemes revealed this month, 10 guilty pleas, 1 conviction, and the average age of the fraudsters was about 48 years old. I picked a few to excerpt below:
He defrauded elderly church parishioners into his two companies, Wild Rabbit Technologies LLC and BAI Intelligence LLC. He claimed he had an artificial intelligence technology that could predict the future and detect a COVID-19 infection based solely on a video recording. [Come on!]
He represented that the company was a profitable artificial intelligence company that mined cryptocurrency. He provided a 100% money back guarantee. He defrauded 400 investors and promised a fixed rate of return of 15% to 30%. [Crypto and AI together is the perfect match for fraud]
Brothers Mehmet Aydin and Faith Aydin were sentenced to 45,376 years in prison in connection their Ponzi scheme [When you sentence to life in prison just does not have the same effect lol]
How about a Fraud Czar? And why do we have this Russian name for this anyway? COVID and Tech Fueled Fraud Against Older Americans.
Between 2019 and 2023, the number of fraud cases reported to the Federal Trade Commission more than doubled to 2.6 million. But the losses from these scams tripled to $10 billion, indicating the scammers are becoming more effective.
You like my blog? Send a link to someone please!
ODDZ & ENDZ
Cults are weird. But reading about this one shocked me. And it takes a lot to shock me: Eco-Radical, Singer, Criminal, Cult Leader: Inside Carbon Nation. Eligio Bishop declared himself a God to a group of dedicated followers he led through Central America, Mexico, and the US before landing in the Atlanta area. Now he’s serving life in prison. I kept shaking my head reading this and I think it almost separated from my body wow.
Bookmark this and come back to it when you want to do something for free, you are welcome: Freeble. If this saved you money please consider buying me a coffee so I can continue doing this, thanks.
What a family smh: Growing Up Murdoch. Every family is unique. Looking forward to what happens after this dude finally dies, grab your popcorn.
Many don’t know that the current Ford CEO is the cousin of legendary comedian Chris Farley who left us way too soon. And he almost never talked about him in public. Until now: My cousin, Chris: Ford CEO Jim Farley opens up about his relationship with Chris Farley. I really enjoyed reading this. Can you imagine Chris was still around making us laugh?
Amazing photography: The Underwater Photographer of the Year Celebrates 60 Years of Wildlife Diversity.
One day I would like to go to Burning Man. Maybe when a Hyatt is built nearby within driving distance lol. Some cool pics: 2025 Burning Man Temple Draws From Kintsugi and Volcanic Rock To Mix Strength and Fragility.
TRAVEL
I use this feature a lot and you should too: How to Use Google Flights Price Alerts as a Price Tracker.
Another gem to bookmark: Virtual Vacation. I have added this site to the TBB Travel Resources permanent page.
There are a lot of AI thingies popping up everywhere. Including travel, it is impossible to keep up with all of them. Here is one that caught my eye: Discover Things.in [Enter City] and you get the following pronto:
- Comprehensive city guides, curated lists of attractions, restaurants and stays
- Clean, distraction-free lists and guides
- Up-to-date information on 5652+ cities worldwide
- User reviews and ratings to help you make informed decisions
Been playing with it and it is all right…
Some cool places to check out: TOP 100 Coffee Shops. Any one that you have visited and agree?
I have continued to learn about all things Thailand lately. And I am hooked on this Irish guy’s Thairish Times YouTube channel who has been interviewing people with some connection to Thailand. And the interview with this nice guy just blew me away: American’s Thai Family STOLE His House & Land in Thailand (Big Update).
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
Here we go:
I agree with this: Chase is Winning The Airport Lounge Wars…and It’s Not Close. Will the day come to say goodbye to the Amex Platinum and its Centurion lounges to return to the Sapphire Reserve card? Hmmm, pondering such thoughts lately.
Very disappointing: Southwest Cuts Earning Rates On Wanna Get Away Fares (6 > 2). Not that we ever pay cash to fly on Southwest lol.
Some interesting tidbits sprinkled in this article: Follow Up Thoughts On Hyatt’s Upcoming Negative Award Chart Changes.
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
There was a sheer panic last week when it was discovered that Chase business credit cards were reporting to credit reports. Of course, bloggers and YouTubers love this shit, it is easy clickbait friendly territory. Anyway, more content with the follow up that it was all an error due to a faulty software upgrade zzzzzzz…
Speaking of IT related booboos, I swear no other bank comes close to Citi, NONE. I mean, only Citi can do this: Another ‘near miss’: Citigroup mistakenly credited a customer account with $81 trillion. I mean, really: Citi Copy-Paste Error Almost Sent $6 Billion to Wealth Account. Sometimes I miss this bank, maybe I should go back woohoo.
We have two NEW great Amex Hilton cards elevated welcome offers:
70k AND Free Night Hilton Honors American Express Card
This is the basic Hilton entry level No Annual Fee card. The signing bonus is 70,000 Hilton Honors points AND a Free Night Award, which matches the BEST EVER welcome offer. The minimum spend is only $2k in the first six months. You also get Silver elite status which includes benefits like a 20% points bonus on stays, free bottled water, the 5th night free on reward stays, and elite rollover nights. The earning structure on the card is: 7x on Hilton purchases, 5x on restaurants, groceries and gas stations and 3x on everything else. These Hilton Free Night certs can be used in ANY property anytime which makes them much more valuable than all other hotel free night certs by far. No foreign transaction fees. If you spend $20k on the card you get upgraded to Hilton Honors Gold elite status. If you like Hiltons and abhor paying annual fees this card could work for you.
130k AND Free Night Hilton Honors Surpass American Express Card
I have this card because Hilton is my #2 hotel program (and closing in to #1 Hyatt). The annual fee is $150 but you can get up to $200 per year ($50 per quarter) credits if you stay in Hiltons or buy a $50 Hilton gift card online (temporarily out of stock). It also gives me Hilton Gold Elite status which is great, especially overseas where you get more upgrades and free breakfast (you get a daily food & beverage credit on US stays). Signing Bonus is 130,000 Hilton Honors points AND a Free Night Award cert, which matches the BEST EVER welcome offer. The minimum spend is a surprisingly low $3k in the first six months. These Hilton free night certs can be used in ANY property anytime which makes them much more valuable than all other hotel free night certs by far. You can earn a second Free Night Award cert after you spend $15k on the card every year. Earning is also very good with 12x on Hilton purchases, 6x on restaurants, groceries and gas stations, 4x on online retail purchases and 3x on everything else. You can upgrade to Diamond elite status if you spend $40k on the card. No foreign transaction fees.
Another elevated offer from Capital One:
75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards PLUS $250 Travel Credit
The annual fee is $95 and the minimum spend required is $4,000 in three months. Capital One cards usually earn a simple flat 2 points on every dollar. This card earns 5x on hotels and car rentals booked on its own travel portal. No foreign transaction fees. Get $120 credit towards Global Entry or TSA Precheck. Complimentary Hertz Five Star elite status. Most importantly, you can transfer the 75,000 points out to airline and hotel partners. Or just erase travel charged on the card for $750. And then of course you get the $250 travel credit. Basically, $1,000 of travel for $95. Very tempting indeed. For diversifying purposes as well if you have enough miles and points elsewhere as it is always nice to use this card to pay for a trip and then use Capital One miles to erase the charges. Capital One can be, well, finicky in approvals. If you are denied, you can not call to ask them to reconsider, it is all done by algorithms so, good luck! Finally, YES, you can have both the Venture X and the Venture Rewards cards.
Frankly, if you only go for one Capital One card it should be the Venture X, see below, no brainer. Oh, by the way, only the Venture X card gets you into Capital One lounges for free.
More elevated offers finally from Chase:
100k CHASE United Business
And just like that, the welcome offer for this card went up to 100k from 75k. The annual fee is $99 and and the minimum spend is $5k in the first three months. The card earns 2x on United, gas stations, restaurants, office supplies, local transit and commuting. And 1x on everything else. If you buy 7 United tickets with it, you will get a $100 United flight credit at card anniversary. You get two United club passes every year. If you have a personal United card as well, you get a 5,000 mile “better together” bonus. 25% discount on United in flight purchases. Expanded award availability. Ability to earn Premier Qualifying Points (PQP). Free checked bag for credit card holder and one companion on the same reservation. Priority boarding. No foreign transaction fees. Can be a good fit for travelers flying on United a lot. Available from my favorite bank HERE.
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. If you prefer, this is my personal referral link.
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 BLOG BUZZING
The formula is not a secret. Focus on impressing the newbies who are not credit card savvy and make them click on your credit card affiliate links. And make a lot of money. Instead, if you know what you are doing since you have been doing this for thirty years and you focus on producing a quality read full of outstanding content that is geared to intelligent and more savvy readers and avoid commercially friendly and shitty tactics (clickbait, AI, slick videos, loads of monetized pumping, etc.) and…you don’t earn anything and you quit. Which I have seen it happen hundreds of times over the years. Something that this blog has not done 12+ years into this journey. There comes a point that this can not be sustained. Oh, and these outfits will not stop until all these sweet spots are all gone: The 8 Best Business Class Awards Sweet Spots for Flights to Europe.
Anyway, I got bored and used my own links here to apply for the 100k Chase United Business card. I am the first sale this month. And only one. Reminds me those commercials years ago about hair transplants that went something like “I am also a client of my own product” lol. Let’s see how many days it will take for Chase to get it to me.
Son is back with the one way American Airlines award from Honolulu to Bali for only 37,500 miles after firming up the date. It is so nice being able to book United and American Airlines awards and then canceling them getting the miles back without any fees. Are you listening Air Canada Aeroplan?
I just transferred wife’s 110k American Express Membership Rewards points to her Hawaiian Airlines account and then I transferred them to her Alaska Airlines account. Not sure how long this will last.
I am throttling my spend on both my personal Hyatt Visa and Amex Hilton Surpass to slowly crawl towards hitting the $15k annual spend to earn them Free Night Award certs so the expiration dates can last longer into the future. There is always something to do in this space you know.
Has anyone in SE Michigan found a Hilton hotel with a restaurant that you can visit and pay without staying that accepts Hilton gift cards? And/or it codes the charges as a “Hilton” that can qualify for the $50 Amex Business Platinum and Amex Hilton Surpass quarterly statement credits? Please tell, thank you.
Lately I have been listening to one of my favorite bands UB40, here is Madam Medousa. Sounds so soothing with the all the insanity happening around us.
The movie Last Breath bored me. I am looking forward to watch Mickey 17 this weekend though.
In my long recovery trying to get back to running I think what has been the most beneficial move is getting custom foot orthotics. And not pushing my body. I have been through so many shoes in my life that is ridiculous. Still trying to find the perfect shoe. Just ordered a Genesis II from Xelero, we’ll see how this one works out. Nothing broken in my elbow, doc gave me steroids to help with inflammation and I think they may be working very slowly. I am now up to 6 or 7 miles a day, mostly walking sprinkled with some light jogging/running. Looking forward to a 5k race next month, it has been soooooo long.Never give up. Unless it comes to blogging, that day is coming when the ax comes from the 2nd credit card vendor due to low sales again, so sad.
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
75k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 75k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 100k CHASE United Business, 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 AND $250 Travel Credit, 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 have burned 175,500 miles/points year to date (2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,366,881 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.
Thanks for the link to the Thai YT. We have booked again for December, managed to score a suite at the HR BKK. However, big dilemma is trying to find something inspiring to pair with it. No Pattaya this year, HH seems a bit dull based on your reports and The Standard does look like an influencers paradise so that won’t work for me , HR Phuket overpriced. I thought do we do KL and the PH? Any suggestions of places in the region or exciting properties would love to read suggestions from all.
I’m working our household to a place where management of finances is handed off to a professional along with all the tax returns. I’ve so lost interest, maybe an age thing, but want to focus on fun and just have oversight.
On the suggestions front it’s tough to tell how far you want to venture but Siem Reap in Cambodia is easy to get to from Bangkok, has dry weather in the winter, and has a superb Park Hyatt in a wonderful location. If you’re looking to stay in Thailand then Chiang Mai is pretty, has cooler temperatures than Bangkok, and is really enjoyable without the frenetic activity of the capital. Lastly there’s my personal favorite: Bali. My wife and I go almost (Covid) every year and simply adore the island. There is insane amounts of culture, beaches, great food, and an almost ridiculously welcoming people. Very well priced too. Feel free to ask more about any of these. I was a full time travel agent for most of my 20’s and somehow the habit of talking travel never quite wore off.
Christian has named three of my favorite places on the planet. I’m not driven by Hyatts but did stay at the one in Siem Reap in its previous incarnation. Bali (Ubud), Chiang Mai, Siem Reap: all places I return to at every opportunity. I stay in cheapo places while in each and am happy as a clam. Heartily recommend all three.
Thanks for the great links! Where else can one keep up to date with ponzis with
a bonus for the weirdest cults?
The competition in airport lounges is just terrific. I remember flying from London to Eugene — don’t ask! — and not understanding lounges. I soon fixed THAT!
Glad you are healing and thinking about running ..
Hitler phones Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNltws-wXdM&list=WL&index=6
Fits your blog mission to entertain TBB.
Hello from Florence! School starts Monday! I’ll be working my way through stuff here over the next couple days. Glad you are taking it slow and easy on the walking/running thing. My first Airbnb of my trip is a bit odd, but it is super close to the Ponte Vecchio and straight into the center city. Bought Airbnb GCs before booking at Whole Foods and at least I got 5% by using my Prime card and now have enough credit in my Amazon acct to pay next years annual fee! Small whoop!
Thanks for the good reading. Each week it is like getting a nice letter from a pal!
You can easily get Airbnb gift cards for 75-85%. You are leaving a lot of money on the table.
Thanks for the help. I’ll just go back in time and do that when I needed them basically right away instead of what I did. I looked for deals but some is better than none. A bit of money is a bit, but my TIME is worth money too.
You’re right. Buying them online takes a lot of time. I forgot. Good luck with the Time Machine.
I dug up one of Carbon Nation’s songs. Say what you will about them, at least the rapping was better than Razzle Khan’s.
UPDATE: Apparently Razzlekhan just recently went to prison and was still posting videos up until a month or so ago. Her music is even worse than I remembered. https://www.youtube.com/@realrazzlekhan/videos
btw, just catching up on last week’s comments… if you’re spending $60 per month on MailChimp and WP then why not switch to substance and save $720 per year? And then you invest all that money and earn 10% per year and it’s worth more than $100,000 after 30 years of blogging but I will only charge you $10k for this amazing advice.
and FIRE by not going to starbucks.
Do you still run across the grief/mourning support group at Panera?
And our favourite crypto turd seeking a pardon. The orange baboon will probably see himself in Sam so will be free to go with an appropriate donation to the Trump coffers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/technology/sam-bankman-fried-pardon-trump.html
@ Vicky: I think PH at KL is wonderful. I may go back to HH to just totally unplug one day when I retire, having visions lately of getting out of the US to escape the Trump beatings, it is all getting way too much, can’t escape these assholes. The Standard—>influencer paradise LOL. Still have not booked anything but still would love to return to Thailand Nov/Dec again. Thought about Koh Samui but that may be out of reach now with the White Lotus effect. Yeah, been delegating more as I age. But delegating the financial/tax stuff is not gonna happen as long as I am breathing 🙂 And I need to focus more on fun…which may require finally putting an end to this blog, all $ clicks have just stopped 🙁
On SBF kissing Trump’s ass, I mean, are you shocked? If his parents were not bigly Democratic donors I think the pardon would have been a reality by now. I think it is coming soon when SBF tricks Trump that he has stashed loads of crypto in “safe” venues and would give him some 🙂
@ DML: All cults are weird but that one I posted is really WAY out there.
@ JuanDinero: When Hitler is speechless with Trump’s actions you know we may crossed that…threshold.
@ Carl: Not that really into Airbnbs. And I thought the gift cards had issues. Or maybe those were Hyatt gift cards I am thinking about. Thanks for the nice words Carl, if I did not get those rare and brief psychic rewards ego injections this site would have been dead years ago.
@ Jon: Leaving money on the table? I am the poster of child for this man. I have turned down potential clients wanting to pay me much dinero so I can continue to blog here and beg for a few coffees and credit card sales. Sometimes I wonder wtf is wrong with me, am I a communist deep down lol.
@ Nick PFD: Oh dear god, no linking to her videos please, think of the children LOL. Yeah, I think she is locked up now finally. Would not be shocked if she kisses Trump’s ass and gets a pardon. Now that I think about it, her next rap song would be a love letter to Trump to get his attention. Of course money would be preferable to get his attention but she probably does not have any left woohoo. No idea what substance is. I don’t have the technical knowledge to keep up when things go down. So I pay Mailchimp and my WP guy to keep the site up and take care of any issues/updates. My United Business card sale covered them this month. I need to reevaluate my life incorporating this blog in it 🙂
@ ABC: I did stop going to Starbucks and splurging on sugary coffees a few years ago. And never looked back. I also don’t go to Panera much these days. I may pop in once a week or two. Haven’t seen the grief/mourning group in a while, probably because I did not make it there on Tuesdays. I am going to visit on a Tuesday soon and report back. It has probably dwindled in size due to natural causes.
Join Tesla Takedown
https://www.teslatakedown.com/
Substack, not substance. Darn autocorrect.
Yeah, Substack has always been the option for me. Been thinking to split the non miles travel content and go with it there. But then I have 2 things I need to maintain and I just don’t have the mental bandwidth to spend more time and even make less than what I do now. So, I just keep carrying on here doing my thing. Which I think is truly different, I mean, who combines deep personal finance, keeps up with scams, brings in the weirdest cults, far out photography and the best coverage in the miles world telling it like it is when no other “expert” online even mentions the plague of the bank pumping them to pump plastic? What is evident is that blogs are being bypassed, everyone’s attention span has been hijacked and there are so few of you who value content like mine. And all of you are restricted to get more cards, have plenty of referral links to get more miles and just don’t bother anymore. So, the axe is coming from my 2nd cc vendor for low sales and that will force me to make some decisive moves here. Could be Substack, could be another platform, I have this article to read about the subject:
https://www.mightynetworks.com/resources/substack-alternatives
Not thrilled about Substack in general but they won’t go bankrupt one day. As many of the other platforms listed.
Just need to get through my client tax returns to lower my stress and things will be all right…
3rd client retiring this year, works for VA, tired of the Trump shit. I am retiring every single one and wondering when it will be my turn lol.
Any feedback welcome.
Anyway, about to watch my hometown soccer team play another game, 6 games left, hope we keep the nonlosing streak going, currently at 20 games long!
https://www.skai.gr/tv/live
Any
Have a great week everyone, We are north of 60 F degrees today in Ann Arbor, Michigan, WOW!
I had an idea. I stop posting until the earlier of 20 Coffees or 1 credit card sale happens. Because I just looked and March has been the worst ever around here. No coffees and only one cc sale, my very own Chase United Business Visa! And weekly email with blog traffic was pathetic. It is finally dawning on me that my little baby has no future. 12+ years at this and the time to give up is almost here.
I started the Friday draft post and placed five phucking amazing must read links to it already.
I need intervention to quit me.
We will miss each other when TBB ends you guys.
Actually, wrong temp reading, it is only 37 F degrees very early Monday am, sad lol.
Hey Buzz-
Trump’s now saying “You really can’t look at the stock market”.
And never mind the man behind the curtain either.
This guy? Lol
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHB__-mv_JG/
Have not deleted any Ramsey comments lately, wonder why. I am sure he still trusts DJT’s plan. Because this has to be planned, right?
Are there tariffs placed on my site’s credit card sales, come on! Still the only sale this month is my own’s for the 100k Chase United Business card. Since all this tariff crap can shift by the time lunch time comes…the imaginary TBB staffers are waiting for the 2nd sale to take place so they can eat since their investment portfolio is in the dumps. And can’t have Biden to blame anymore. Or Pelosi, lol.
I’m not saying this is definitely worse than Razzlekhan but at least it might be, which is impressive. https://x.com/TikTokInvestors/status/1899513304076488837
Oh my God!
I am gonna get you for this Nick LOL.
Yeah, it is definitely worse than Razzlekhan #unreal
Shocking development! I see two cc sales to join my own this month wow! Thank you to the two readers. Actually, you all thank them because tomorrow’s post would probably never see the light of day if it wasn’t for some sporadic conversion like these. Been a very rough go lately around here.
Down to just six tax returns left. One is in the oven. Another one will be done tomorrow. Leaving two client kids to do, which are pretty simple. Another client is traveling in Italy, he got away without sending me his tax info. One has K-1 forms that will be late, hopefully by early April so we can avoid extension. Soooo, looking good in the tax front. Which will reduce stress levels.
I am getting in the groove dropping four-five links in the TBB draft post every day. So tomorrow’s post is shaping up to be another great one. Which will generate dozens of cc sales and hundreds of coffees. Lol, hey we can always dream.
In the meantime, it is early Thursday am, do you know where the US tariffs stand? No? They are all waiting to see how Trump is feeling at breakfast and who knows what happens by lunch time.
George, I pulled some strings and had the NYT make today’s Wordle just for you:
https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html
New post is online. Never got into Worldle, I am surprised by this.