Hilton HHonors 60,000 Bonus Points Amex

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Earlier this week I stumbled across an offer to improve my Hilton HHonors status to Gold Elite Status  if I had a Visa Signature card.  Well lucky me… I just happen to have a Visa Signature card – in fact, I have two: the Chase United Mileage Plus Visa Signature (for which I piled up 50k miles to be used on United), and the Citi AAdvantage Visa Signature (for which I received 75k miles that I used to take my family to Colombia). –Sorry, neither of those deals are formally available now. 🙁

Gold Elite Status gives me the following benefits at everything from the Hampton Inn chain to the Waldorf Astoria chain:

  •  25% bonus on HHonors points awarded for stays
  • Complimentary high-speed internet
  • Space-available room upgrades 
  • Complimentary breakfast
  • Executive lounge access
  • Early check-in/late check-out

In the midst of my daydreaming about how I can take advantage of these as soon as possible, I received an email offer for the Hilton HHonors American Express card… They’re offering 20,000 points on the first purchase plus 30,000 more once I spend $500 in the first 3 months.  They’ll also give me 2,500 bonus points for the first 4 nights I stay.  I coud be up to 60,000 miles in no time at all… very tempting considering that those points could get me up to 5 nights…. more than enough for a couple of weekend getaways.

Hopefully some of you can take advantage of these offers.  Thanks for taking the time to wanderlust with us.

 

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Mint.com: The only way to track expenses

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I mentioned the other day that Mint.com has been a great resource to me.  I’m the kind of guy that used to track all of my expenditures on a monthly basis.  I would open up my Excel spreadsheet once a month and put all of our expenses in the computer manually.  I felt a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing where all of my money was going.  I guess that it is the Finance degree that has caused me to be so crazy.  Some of my friends laughed at me, but I loved having the information.

Since then I’ve learned about Mint.com.  Mint.com is a free service that helps you to manage all of your financial accounts in one place.  Now that I’ve got over 20 accounts at various places between loans, credit cards, savings, checking, retirement, etc.  This service gives you a snapshot of all of those accounts in one place.  It even reflects your current net worth, which makes it exciting to see that you are actually growing the net worth.

I’ve been a subscriber to the service for over a year and have been very satisfied with their services.  I love being able to track my budgets electronically.  They even send me email notifications when my wife has been shopping too much.  She doesn’t know that I get them, so it results in a great conversation when it happens 😉 I also love how it has consolidated all of my retirement accounts into one place.  I have a Roth IRA, a Traditional IRA, and a normal stock trading account that are all simplified in one place.

When you start rolling 10 different credit cards between you and your wife you will really appreciate this service. It can warn you about due dates on your cards and help you to make sure that you keep track of your many accounts that you have open.

On the left I’ve included a screenshot from an Iphone how this service gives you the information about all of your accounts in one handy location.  The “All Accounts” above is kinda like a net worth.  It looks like this guy has some money in an IRA, checking, savings, and a credit card, all of which are with different companies.

What about Security of my personal information?

I have a friend who works at USAA and has a degree in Computer Science.  This is the kid who would call me and tell me that Facebook had changed their privacy settings, and I needed to adjust them or someone might be able to gain information from my Facebook to steal my identity or something like that.  I always appreciated his viewpoint and his knowledge and let me know how I needed to be more careful.  As a result of his advice, I never add people on Facebook that want to be my friend if I don’t know them.

He has taught me to be careful with the information that I make available to everyone out there.  He explained to me that Mint.com uses the highest level of security possible.  Here is some information from their website regarding security.

Why does Mint need my bank login information (username and password)?

  • We need your online banking user name and passwords so that we can help you organize and manage your accounts. We use this information to establish a secure connection with your bank, credit union or credit card company. This enables Mint to download and categorize your transaction information securely and automatically.

Do you store my bank login information on your servers?

  • Your bank login credentials are stored securely in a separate database using multi-layered hardware and software encryption. We only store the information needed to save you the trouble of updating, syncing or uploading financial information manually.

Am I at greater risk of someone stealing my identity by using your service?

  • No, as Mint does not require any personally identifiable information for you to create an account. Mint only asks for the following:
  • * Email Address
    * Zip Code
    * Password
  • At no time do we ask you for information that would be required for a hacker to steal your identity, such as your full name, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, billing address.

I totally recommend their program and their products.  Check it out and tell is if you use the service.  We would love to hear how it has treated you.

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Chase Sapphire 50k Bonus Points + Possible 50k Points =100k of Wanderlust Fuel

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Before last night, I already had my eyes on the Chase Sapphire card with 50k reward miles, but after some of the posts I’ve read, I’m convinced that I’m going to give it a shot today.  It seems that they’ve begun offering pre-approved 100k reward miles offers, which gives me a chance to take the 50k, and then ask for 50k more in my “pretty-please” voice.

100k bonus points on the Chase Sapphire reward card is essentially $1250 in travel cash – a very large reward for the small price of a few points on my credit rating for the inquiry.

Here’s the story from a fellow travel blogger who tells how he pulled this deal off.

If you’re the kind who would prefer to apply for the card by phone, the number you can dial is 1-866-814-6960.  I called this morning hoping to get the 100k deal right off the bat, but all he could offer was the 50k.

If you’d rather apply online, use our link on the right hand side for the 50k and follow up with a courteous email asking them to top you off with 100k.

  • The annual fee is waived for the first year on this card, so worst-case you only land 50k… not too shabby when you figure that Chase’s Sapphire program lets you redeem 50,000 points for 2 flights up to $312.50 each.
  • This card also spares you the expense of foreign transaction fees, something that would have saved me at least $30 in Colombia.
  • If you need a few more Delta, or American miles to pull off a trip, you can transfer these points to each of those programs.

Wanderlust with us.

 

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Travel and Currency Quiz

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Where was this picture taken and what currency do they use there?

Hint: This house was built for the man who “discovered” America.

American Express Platinum- 25,000 Points, $200 in incidentals, and free lounge access

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Starwood Amex Arrival

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Yesterday I opened my mailbox and was pleasantly surprised with my new shiny credit card.

I found it rather comical that my full name didn’t even fit on their card. I must have maxed out the number of characters and they couldn’t put on the last n. Hahah.

Getting a new card always gets pretty exciting.  Now I’ve got to make sure that I make all of my expenses on this card.   I’m ok with this because we are going to be having our baby this month sometime, which will easily generate $5,000 in expenses.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

This card is going to come in handy when traveling to Europe.  I had a coworker just return from Europe who said that most of the decent hotels were between 90-130 Euros per night.  I don’t know about you, but that is pretty pricey if you ask me.  This card will allow me to drastically reduce the prices that I pay on hotels.  In addition to reducing the price of the hotels, it will actually have a private bathroom, soft bed, and customer service.  I know I’ve sacrificed a low price for a poor night’s sleep.

I also plan on adding my wife as an additional user on this card.  That will ensure that all of our expenses are ran through this card.  Last night I wrote a very short email to the Customer Service team and asked them if I could get some type of bonus for adding her as an authorized user on my card.  I haven’t gotten a response yet, but if you never ask, then you’ll never know.

Starwood Preferred Guest Card Earn up to 25,000 Bonus Starwood Points
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

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Build one house, get two trips to Mexico free

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Back in the old days, we used to have to earn our frequent flier miles the hard way – one at a time.  We didn’t have 75,000 AAdvantage mile bonus credit cards, or 50,000 mile Chase Sapphire cards…. or if we did have them, I didn’t know about them, or was too credit-cautious (or uneducated) to take advantage of them.

My wife and I built our own house a few years ago.  Most of the major costs couldn’t be put on a credit card, but I was sure to charge everything I could.  I even bought Lowe’s giftcards on eBay with my credit card so I could get the double whammy of buying the cards at a 10% discount and still get the miles on the purchases.

By the time we had our house completed, I had racked up a little more than 80,000 miles on NWA, which has since merged with Delta.  Having been largely absent as I had worked long hours on the house, and with the onset of a nasty Idaho winter, we were anxious for a getaway.

We wanted a trip that would meet our combined demands – I wanted adventure, Nicole wanted relaxation.  I wanted historical significance, Nicole wanted 90+ degree weather. Our wanderlust carried us to the Yucatan by way of Cancun (CUN). We had no interest in the resort scene in the city, despite the lure of the clean white beaches.  So, the second we got into town,  we grabbed a rental car and headed inland to Chichen Itza.  We spent a few days touring the Mayan ruins there, at Ek Balam, and riding bikes through the jungle to discover the ruins at Coba – all of which where phenomenal, don’t-miss experiences I could rave about for days.

We spent a candlelit night at a bungalow on the beach in Tulum, possibly our second favorite beach behind Costa Rica’s Playa Ventanas.  Our next stop in Playa Del Carmen reintroduced us to the wonderful delicacy that is the “taco al pastor.” If there’s one thing that’s abundantly clear in this world, it’s that God wanted pineapple and pork to be together.

We snorkeled the wonders of Akumal Bay, finding the legendary “ball of fish” encircling a snaggle-toothed barracuda, turtles, stingrays, and a myriad of characters from Finding Nemo.  A 15 year-old Guatemalan with teeth like the aforementioned barracuda guided us on an eerie but amazing dive in the crystal clear waters of a stalactite encrusted underwater cavern.

And then, seven days into the vacation, Nicole finally got what she wanted.

I have a proprietary method for low-balling people with extraordinarily amazing vacation homes for rent.  I suppose the owners probably hate me, and they’ll really detest that I’m willing to share my secrets with you.  For the final three nights of our escapade, I secured Casa South Breeze in the idyllic beachside town of Puerto Morelos – a haven for those of us who crave what’s “off the beaten path.”  For four days we occupied the mansion… alternating between the pool, the beach and the hammocks.  By day I devoured the words of Dan Brown, and by night I devoured the General’s Chicken at Hola Asia – a veritable oasis of culinary deliciousness.

It’s no wonder that we were seized by an unquenchable thirst for radically reduced-price travel… our first taste of free-quent flier travel and we were wanderlusters.

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I Have Cards..Now What? – Effectively managing your credit to maximize rewards

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Brad Christensen

As a wanderluster taking advantage of credit card bonuses, it can sometimes feel rather intimidating to think about all cards I have open and whether or not I have charges out on them.  For someone who is checking out this blog for the first time, or has already gotten started, let me give you a few pointers that have helped me.  After all, getting some sweet deals loses its luster if you can’t manage the cards and end up with late fees. Here is a list of my thoughts on how to be wise…..

  1. Autopay- I use this feature as much as possible.  The great thing is that it usually pulls the amount out of my account on the last day of my statement.  Thereby it gives me enough time to make sure that the amount of money that I need to be in the account is there.
  2. Mint.com–  I will probably post about this website later, but it is awesome.  It consolidates all of your bank accounts, credit card accounts, loans, etc., into one secure location.  A friend of mine works in the electronic security department of a bank, and he even uses this service.  I totally recommend it because it lets me know at one time how much I have on all of my credit cards in one place.  That way I don’t have so sign in to all of my accounts individually.
  3. Pay Everything- Make sure that you are paying EVERYTHING with your credit cards.  Car insurance, health insurance, groceries, decorations, food, etc.  Make all of your traditional expenses on your cards to make sure that you are racking up the most points possible.
  4. Staple Cards (See our ad for the staple card we like best below)- Your staple cards are your ticket to the new hot cards.  Don’t forget about them.  I try to use mine at least once every few months just to show that I am using it consistently.  You also run the risk of them putting the card at an inactive status.  Make sure that you continue to use them once in a while and that you are still meeting your spending requirements on the new hot cards.
  5. Carrying Cards- Let’s be honest.  I have more cards than I can comfortably carry, so  I never carry all of them at once.  I like to focus on a single card or two until I’ve met the spending requirement.  That way, at the end of the month, I have one big payment on one card, as opposed to many small payments on different cards.
  6. Spending Requirements- Once you have met the spending requirements you want to make sure that you keep using the card from time to time to make sure that the company doesn’t target you as a promotion-abuser.  You don’t want to end up on their blacklist because they just might have a sweet deal on a card for you next month.
  7. Keep em open- Remember to keep your cards alive for at least the first year.  You want to extend your length of average credit history to the longest time possible.  If you call the company up at the end of the first year and they won’t waive the annual fee (Amex usually won’t) or give you any retention bonus, then cancel the thing.  Plan on getting ran through the ringer.  They pass you off a few times before it is actually canceled, but always try for something.

Plan everything out and make sure that you are never late on your payments.  Remember that your credit is important in getting a mortgage and other necessary loans.  In the simple advice of one who knows, “O be wise, what can I say more?”

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