Strategies

The points & miles hobby is at the cross roads of travel loyalty programs and credit card rewards. Some travel hacking purists only believe in airline and hotel currencies. As for me, this game is about saving money in whichever way possible. Maximizing the value of a purchase sometimes involves receiving rewards in different shapes and forms. Cashback and statement credits, anyone? If you don’t look at your options holistically, you may be missing out!

When I began collecting credit cards, I focused exclusively on the “points and miles” hobby. My goal was to accumulate measurable currencies that could be redeemed for free travel, and I paid no attention to other benefits that may have come with the cards. I didn’t know much about them, and I didn’t think I would keep the cards long enough to take advantage of them. These “soft” benefits of travel credit cards, however, were like the sides on my steak plate. I couldn’t ignore them forever. And, when I finally paid attention, some of them turned out to be a wonderful surprise.

Manufactured Spending (MS) is a big part of the points and miles hobby. It’s a collection of techniques where you pretend to spend the money that you don’t have, in order to generate points. The general concept is that you buy cash-equivalent instruments with a reward-earning credit card, and then convert those instruments to cash in order to pay off the credit card balance.

Now that I am a points & miles millionaire, I wish I were a real millionaire. The truth is, there’s a pretty big difference between the two. How, then, do I quantify my treasure chest of travel currencies? In this article, I will share how my thought process evolved.

Hi everyone! This is Peter, Terence’s coworker and fellow actuary. Some time ago, he introduced me to the hobby of points and miles. And wow it’s been a learning process! Looking back at how I see the world differently, now, I’d like to give back to the community by sharing my experiences. Terence has generously allowed me to ramble on contribute to this blog. So here I am, as the first guest writer on Hungry for Points, on a mission to bring you a unique perspective on this hobby.