FREE NEWSLETTER
Go to main Forum page »
I’ve never been that diligent about pursuing frequent-flyer points, credit card rewards and other “freebies” for being a loyal customer. Still, it’s amazing how many of these programs I participate in, including four airlines, three hotel chains, a travel site, a cruise line, Amtrak, a rental car agency and four rewards credit cards, not to mention a local pizza joint.
And these are just the ones I pay attention to: I have a quarter-century-old address book listing all kinds of rewards programs that I no longer bother with. Can these rewards and points be inherited? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It all depends on the company involved.
As my cancer compels me to wind down my financial life, has all this been a waste of precious time? To be sure, I’ve enjoyed an occasional free hotel night, car rental and airline flight. Meanwhile, one of my credit cards has generated $470 in cash back so far this year, while another has garnered me $240. That isn’t exactly chump change.
On the other hand, all this involves a degree of mental effort. Which of my credit cards is offering 5% cash back at restaurants this quarter? Should I order flowers for my mother through the airline’s online mall to get a few frequent-flyer points, or should I go hunting online for a coupon? Should I book through the Marriott Bonvoy site to get rewards points, or does it make more sense to snag a cheaper room rate through one of the third-party travel sites?
There’s a certain gamesmanship involved with this, and no doubt many folks enjoy that. But what about the time expended? Is it worth it?
That, of course, is a question we each have to answer for ourselves. But if I were doing this all over again, I’d probably take the lean approach, using just one airline program, one hotel chain and one rewards credit card, knowing I might be leaving some dollars and rewards points on the table, but also knowing the extra time recouped was likely worth the price.
The older I get, the more I crave simplicity in my life. I have one credit card in my name, and my wife has one credit card in her name. We are probably leaving some rewards on the table, but meh… we’ll benefit from the rewards we are accumulating and carry on.
I don’t like the game either, but I also don’t like that feeling of leaving money on the table if I don’t try to garner at least some of the award money that I’m supporting through my purchasing. My wife mostly keeps track of it, and she seems to enjoy it, for which I’m grateful. Maybe someday I can shake the feeling that I need to watch every dollar, even though I know there’s a sufficient amount of a few escape my notice.
I have two credit cards and two rewards cards. Amx and Mastercard, a Hilton and Exxon rewards card. I pay little attention to any of them.
My Amx points show up on Amazon and I can use them to buy stuff. My Mastercard is linked to United Airlines so I build up miles, but these days unlikely to use them.
My Hilton has gotten me a free room or two and Diamond status which is basically nothing. My Exxon points get me gas once in a while, but it takes forever to get a tank worth.
I agree with you I have 1 credit card that gives me points and a little cash back………..the points I use at Lowe’s for spring clean up and spruce up the cast just reduces my monthly bill which I payoff in full ……it is a win win my wife is happy and we pay no interest yet the use of the money for a moth
Time is the one resource that cannot be recouped. It is also a resource that doesn’t have an obvious scorecard– after all, how much time each of us has left is rarely known with any certainty. Hence, it is easy to “waste” it without even realizing we are doing so.
If I could go back in time, I would spend far less time on investing. Investing is the one arena in life where less is more. The harder we work at it (and sink more time into it), the less we reap in financial gain. The famous “Fidelity study” showed that investors who were more active had lower returns and vice versa. Those who forgot they had accounts apparently fared the best.
However, I do not at all regret the time I learned about personal finance. The time spent learning and thinking about compound interest, mortgages/loans, savings rates, and the like have been invaluable to me and my road toward financial security. It is a shame that there isn’t a standard curriculum or “bible” that teaches us the these pearls of personal finance. Instead, most of us are bombarded by financial media that lowers our financial IQ, not raises it. Imagine how much people’s lives could be improved if there was such a standard book or curriculum that everyone learned early in life.
I’m a homebody not a traveler and so don’t pursue the airline miles. But I like the cash rewards I get with my cards. I have 3: one has the 5% quarterly categories, which is especially nice when one of the categories is groceries; one let’s you select a category for an ongoing 3%, and I chose online shopping which I do a lot of; and one pays 2% for anything, with no limits, so I use it for everything else.
I get well over $1000 in cash rewards every year. The cards aren’t hard to keep up with, especially since I adjusted their payment dates to fall at the same time. I sit down once a month and pay the balances on them all.
I can see slimming down to 2 at some point, but that would be the minimum. It’s important to have a backup just in case.
Some folks go after the rewards in a big way, and with impressive results. E.g., our contributer Dana Ferris (DrLefty): Scoring Points – HumbleDollar But you really have to be organized, systematic, and willing to spend the time—and probably a frequent flyer as well. Not for me, but I admire Dana’s results!
Jonathan I suppose time is a bit like land in as they ain’t making any more of it. I’ll play some stupid computer game if I need to kill a little time before dinner or some other activity. That’s time I will never get back. You’re making me rethink my bad habits.