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May 4, 2022

Maximize Your Points: Stacking, Buyers Clubs, Redemption Hacks, and More

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Travel, Points + Miles

#55: Points expert, Julia Menez, joins Chris to go deep on all things points and miles, including points stacking, optimizing rewards, tools to help organize your points and miles, using buying clubs to earn lots of points, and Chris shares how a somewhat sketchy website saved him an extra 15% off a new couch!

Julia Menez (@geobreezetravel) is a points strategy coach, speaker and host of the Geobreeze Travel podcast, where she interviews travelers from all walks of life about their points and miles strategies.

 

Partner Deals (Advertiser Disclosure)

Vuori: 20% off the most comfortable performance apparel I've ever worn

InsideTracker: 20% off personalized wellness & nutrition plans backed by science.

Fabric: Affordable term life insurance for you and your family

CardPointers: 20% off the app that helps you earn more cash back, points, and miles. 

Point.me Award Search: $1 trial w/ this link (and the code ALLTHEHACKS)

 

All the Hacks Live Q&A Episode

Monday, 5/9 @ 12p PDT
Register and join at allthehacks.com/live

 

Selected Links From The Episode

Connect with Julia Menez: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Julia’s Podcast: Geobreeze Travel

Julia’s gift to All the Hacks listeners: Geobreeze Hotel Upgrade Template

Buyers Clubs

Earn More Points + $$$

  • Grabr - International purchasers prepay for you to buy items locally
  • Rakuten - Cash back at thousands of stores
  • Fluz - Cash back at thousands of stores + referral bonuses
  • Seated - 20%+ back at partnered restaurants
  • Dosh - Additional rewards shop, dine, and book. Can be stacked with Seated and other dining portals
  • Cashback Monitor - Portal to find cash and points back for online retailers.
  • Honey & RetailMeNot - Promo Codes Instantly
  • SearchTempest - Search the whole USA on Craigslist
  • Savendeals - Coupons for Crate & Barrel, Lowes and Home Depot
  • MyVegas Rewards - Get points towards free things in vegas
  • Frequent Miler - Blog with great points + miles content
  • Doctor Of Credit - Blog with great points + miles content
  • Pay1040.com - Pay taxes with your credit card
  • ID.me - Discounts for teachers, military and more.

Optimizing Your Points

Credit Cards

Podcasts

 

Full Show Notes

How people on a smaller budget can earn enough points to use toward travel [03:05]

Outsource buying, how participating in buying groups can work to your advantage [05:14]

When sourcing items, do buyers usually pay more than the item costs? [07:04]

Buyer’s groups: are they reliable? trustworthy? Advice to keep you from being scammed, and how to learn about the different buyer’s clubs options available [08:36]

Using Freedom Flex, Freedom card, Freedom Unlimited, Sapphire Preferred, and Sapphire Reserve to earn points [11:10]

Bringing electronic and medical devices to Latin America: reasons to consider using Grabr, and advice about safety during the product exchange [11:55]

Chris and Julia walk through an extreme example of how valuable ‘stacking’ can be along with ways to automate the process [13:40]

The unbelievable benefits of stacking through dining portals [14:54]

Using Cashback Monitor to learn the best places for cashback, transferable points, and airline points, as well as hacks for accessing coupons online [18:45]

Julia’s favorite app for stacking deals in Las Vegas and how often you can take advantage of the offers [23:53]

Chris highlights the “crazy amounts” of point stacking deals [26:39]

Specific places to search online for timely deals that require prompt action and tools to help organize your point balances [28:52]

Why it’s important to understand the 5/24 rule and its exceptions [31:54]

Julia Menez’s go-to cards and her advice for travelers who are just beginning the process of accumulating points [35:16]

Amazing redemptions to take advantage of even though you may not have a huge balance and how to use the ANA Around the World redemption program [40:02]

Plan a trip across Europe using Julia’s redemption super hacks [45:07]

Buying points, is it worth it? Chris and Julia share their perspectives [50:55]

3 reasons why paying your taxes on a credit card might actually make sense [52:54]

Hacks to save money and earn perks for members of the military and their spouses [57:49]

For upgrades and extra perks, while traveling, Julia shares a special link to a template on her website for All the Hacks listeners [59:56]  

Where to find Julia Menez online [1:01:50]

 

Today's Sponsors

Vuori

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To get the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet with 20% off your first purchase (plus free shipping on any US order over $75 and free returns) visit allthehacks.com/vuori

 

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Fabric is fully-backed by Vantis Life, one of the most trusted names in life insurance. To start protecting your family today with a 30-day money-back guarantee visit meetfabric.com/allthehacks

 

InsideTracker

InsideTracker provides a personalized plan to improve your metabolism, reduce stress, improve sleep, and optimize your health for the long haul. It's created by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics. They analyze your blood, DNA, and fitness tracking data to identify where you’re optimized—and where you’re not. With Inside Tracker you’ll get a daily Action Plan with personalized guidance on the right exercise, nutrition, and supplementation for your body.

For a limited time, you can get 20% off at allthehacks.com/insidetracker

 

CardPointers

CardPointers is a free app that helps you manage all your credit cards in one place and makes it easy to find the right card to maximize your category bonuses on every purchase. You can also load it on your partners phone so they'll also the best cards to use. The app automatically tracks every category bonus and recurring credits from over 5,000  cards. They also track and help you use your Amex, Chase, Bank of America, or Citibank offers to save even more money every day.

The app is free to download and many of the features are free too, but if you want to unlock all the features, you can get 20% off CardPointers Pro at allthehacks.com/cardpointers

 

Connect with All the Hacks

All the Hacks: Newsletter | Website | Facebook | Email

Chris Hutchins: Twitter | Instagram | Website | LinkedIn

 

The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired.

Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.