Category: Guest

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author Jonathan, a second time guest poster, for taking the time to write an anecdote about characters encountered in manufactured spend. You can find his first article from last year here. Have a nice weekend!

Introduction

You know that inner debate we all have when driving home late: “Should I make another stop or just screw it and head home?” “It’s just 10 mins out of the way.” “But it’s late and I am tired.” “Yeah, but one stop is definitely worth it, and Sharalyn is there tonight.” Well, that night, I decided to make that stop. (Note: I’ve changed her name to Sharalyn to protect her anonymity—though I’m sure she wouldn’t care one bit. That’s just the kind of person she is.)

This was at my go-to Speedway for manufactured spend, the kind of place where you know the clerks’ schedules better than your own. I pulled up, expecting the usual, but noticed the door was locked during business hours. Strange. Then I spotted Sharalyn behind the counter, busy with something.

A Quick Backstory on Sharalyn: Sharalyn was one of my all-time favorite Speedway clerks. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t care at all what you do. She told me once she was 43, but honestly, she looked closer to 66—life has been hard on her, and her dental situation (4 teeth left) didn’t help. But still, she was a gem.

Anyway, I wasn’t about to let a locked door stop me. I went back to my truck and called the store. Sharalyn picked up:

Me: “Hey, Sharalyn, it’s Jonathan. Can I come in and do some gift cards?”
Shariee: “Ah, I’m having a bit of trouble right now… I $*!? my pants.”
Me:“Oh… well, that’s okay. It’ll just take a second.”
Shariee: “Alright, I’ll unlock the door.”

Now, at this point, I figured I’d walk in, see Sharalyn awkwardly holding her composure, and move on. I was surprised about what happened next.

No Pants, No Problem

As I walked up, true to her word, Sharalyn unlocked the door—wearing NO PANTS.
She had on a sweatshirt that was juuuuust long enough to make this a PG-13 situation. She went right back to the register while I grabbed my cards. Let’s just say the “Speedway” name was fitting.
I paused for a moment, feeling a mix of surprise and sympathy. “Sharalyn, do you want me to grab you a pair of pants or something?” I offered, genuinely concerned for her.

Meanwhile, another guy walked in behind me, froze mid-step, and said, “Wow… you know you’re not wearing any pants, right?”

Sharalyn, unfazed as ever, ignored him completely. I purchased my cards, gave her a nod of respect, and left.

The End of an Era

Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw Sharalyn. The store was closing, and apparently, she didn’t transfer to another location. I looked for her at many other speedways in the city. Wherever she is, I hope she’s still rocking that I-don’t-give-a-#%&$ attitude.

– Jonathan

Speedway: Where the receipts never stop printing, and neither does your safety paranoia.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author Jim for his reinforcement of the gospel of SSB. Have a nice weekend!

I just finished reading MEAB’s annual mistake of letting the inmates run the asylum, and need to RAT (calm down, Amex MSers, just a phrase) out Slideshow Bob 223 and reveal his true identity:

Since he showed up around the time Ronald McDonald was no longer showing up in commercials, it is obvious that Ronald got axed, and, having no other marketable skills (like most MSers) got a “job” MSing.

Now, don’t get me wrong: most of what SlideshowRon223 said about MSers needing to avoid opening Citi and Chase bank accounts if they want to continue raking in the points, is right on target.
Especially the part where he warned that images of unemployed clowns trapped in rooms filled with rakes and annoyed at MSing P2s could be very disturbing. (At least that’s as best as I can remember, as Barbra sang in The Way We Were: “what’s too painful to remember we simply choose to  forget”.)

So, to get those disturbing images out of my mind (think: writing therapy) I wanted to amplify on Ron’s Slideshow on Citi and Chase.

Citi is not only, as Slideshow and the guy who is letting the inmates run the asylum (whose identity I will not mention) one of the worst cancerous lesions of unbridled American capitalism, but they are Shameless (very funny show, BTW) about it: After Citi told me I could open a bank account, deposit numerous money orders and it would all be good, and after I did what they specifically said was OK, they axed me. They took the position that it did not matter if they lied to me and then closed my account when I relied on their lie.

Their clause in the terms and conditions about letting them close accounts for any reason, permits them to close accounts because they do not like the nature of their money order deposits, the color of a clown’s hair, the color of a person’s skin, and let’s them lie about it to prospective customers.
Sounds like a job for …CFPB (Commission F*ed up Pretty Badly).

When I asked them for help, it turns out the CFPB is like the Wizard of Oz: a toothless figurehead hiding inside some really scarily impressive trappings. They were fine with letting a major bank (Citi) set the precedent that, as long as they had the close for any reason clause it would justify whatever other slimy actions they took.

Only good thing about the CFPB/Wizard of Oz experience is it helped me come up with a one word description of Citi: Wicked.

The few readers who have taken enough of your meds to still be reading this may be wondering: how did I know to ask Citi if they would axe me for depositing tons of similar looking  money orders?
That’s because Chase axed me (and several family members guilty by association) for that many years ago.

But since MEAB is supposed to include not just disjointed ramblings, and Citi Piti Parties, here’s an actual important MS PSA: even if you are on Chase’s Lubbock list, they take a little while to figure it out and axe your newly opened account.

My family has gotten ~10 opening bonuses for spending quickly, and qualifying for the opening bonus before the axe falls. In fact a Chase CSR  told me that as long as you qualify, they will give you the bonus even if they know they are going to axe you and have scheduled your final MS meal.

(Note: any Chase RAT people reading this do not need to track down the author and bar him from opening Chase accounts in the future: he was tragically crushed to death by large piles of unused Amex AU cards falling on him, after he submitted this post)

In any event, I likely could have and would have avoided these MS faceplants if I had shared intel with other MSers. The easiest way to do that is to join a insiders group, but for those that are too lazy, or can’t pass the mental health background check ( I’m talking to you, SlideshowRon 233), just find an informal group.

For extra bonus points you can share not only MS tips but pool your resources for mutual benefit, e.g. let MSer with incredibly profitable Kroger play who has maxed out CL use your CL and share the profits.

Two suggestions for informal groups: MEAB Matt (not just saying that to suck up to him so he will publish this post: he  really is good); and AA (does not stand for Awards Anonymous, he is a real person: not mentioning his name here but email me for contact info.)

Likewise, the previous inmate post asked if there is a better way to cash out Membership Rewards points than transferring to airline partners or Schwabbing.

There is and I can email it to you offline. Matt does not want it broadcast online, and even tho it is pretty clear he is not editing or reading these inmate posts, i thought I would err on the side of caution and not divulge it here.

Sideshow Bob as the wicked witch of the west Citi, as imagined by creepy AI.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author who needs no introduction for following up on the Early Warning Service warning (under duress). Have a nice weekend!

Everyone loved my Early Warning System (EWS) post last year, and by everyone I mean at least 2-3 people, so Matt asked me to post a bit more on the topic. I said no, but he threatened that he’d force me to load more money into Juno if I didn’t so here comes my update.

Image of the conversation of MEAB threatening me

You’re thinking to yourself “SideShowBob233 what else do you have to add here” (and this time you didn’t say the 33 out loud but kind of trailed off like someone who just got his Pepper account locked by buying too much Best Buy). Well, I will tell you. In the most rambling way possible.

I advised everyone to use a business account if at all possible, but it turns out not all business accounts are excluded from EWS reporting. Several victims reached out to me to let me know that BOA biz checking for sole proprietors does report to EWS. I don’t know if that applies to all sole proprietors or only some (I don’t have a sole proprietor account at BOA because the voices told me not to). It’s possible that other banks also report biz checking for sole proprietors, feel free to reach out on Telegram, WhatsApp, passenger pigeon, or via telepathy to send me your DPs.

But Bob you’re saying (maybe you’re getting a little too familiar with me considering we only met once and that was in a dream, albeit one where there were no clothes) why should I care if all my transfers are tracked by EWS? Who really cares? Well I’ll tell you who cares. Your mom. Also bank compliance officers (which may or may not include your mom, I haven’t tracked her career since we broke up) who when they get nervous about shenanigans we just pulled will then grab your EWS report to try and get more info on you. If they can’t find much information they may still shut you down, but if they get a 500 page report showing tons of money going everywhere you can bet they will be shutting you down faster than you can yell for your mommy.

To summarize, don’t step on a rake, instead use a business checking that does not report to EWS.

– SideShowBob233

Your punishment for not listening to me last year.

EDITOR’S NOTE:Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author mforch for reflections on the hobby. Have a nice weekend!

We are in a golden age of opportunity. We can gamble on the outcomes of a game, presidential election or digital money. New platforms pop up almost weekly, but the strategies that worked last year, last month, last week- don’t always work today. That’s the nature of the game designed to keep you chasing, not winning. But sometimes it isn’t about beating the game—it’s in learning to adapt, redefine, and turn what looks risky into the next big play.

Gambling to me isn’t about the game; it is The Game. Gambling has always been a tool. At the start, the game was simple: win. Win big, win often, and stay ahead of the curve and then hello millions (well, maybe more like thousands). But if you’ve been in the game long enough, you know that the rules change. Arbitrage opportunities disappear. Phone armies get found, fake mustaches no longer work and casinos no longer will taek us. The tricks that worked so well yesterday dry up overnight. But maybe, it’s not only about winning—it’s about not losing. It’s about figuring out a way to just be in the game where you have an edge. If you’re following me this far then high5! And while low margin plays may not sound sexy, that’s what built Vegas.

Here’s the dirty secret: casinos, loyalty programs, rewards schemes are all designed to encourage you to make sub optimal decisions. Maybe it’s redeeming points for gift cards or Amazon purchases, their game is praying on human nature to take the easy way out. But if you learn to harness some basic strategy—like leveraging venture capital to offset losses, using a credit card signup bonus to scale your points game, or simply figuring out how to play long enough without getting burned—you can flip the script.

This is where gambling and travel hacking converge. They’re both about understanding the system and finding leverage points. Sometimes, that means knowing how to lose strategically to set up a win. Sometimes, it’s as simple as knowing when the odds have flipped. Other times, it’s just 4x Entertainment. The tools may change, but the principles stay the same.

Knowing that their game is to take advantage of human nature, playing the long game is a superpower. Small edges can become large rewards over time with consistency. The people chasing flashy wins are the ones funding your business-class seats or your five-star hotel suite. And the people designing these systems know that 99.9% of people will never stop to think about how the game works. That’s what keeps the game going. But if you’re in the 0.1% of people who can adapt, scale, and stay ahead—you’re playing a different game entirely.

Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to win (well it kinda is). It’s to stay in the game long enough to see opportunities others miss. Long enough to realize that sometimes losing isn’t losing- fake money can be real money. As long as you’re still playing, you haven’t lost. What’s old is new again. Because here’s the thing: losing isn’t the opposite of winning.

– @mforch

More lessons on opposites.

EDITOR’S NOTE:Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author, Graham from TC Tailwind, for his enumeration of failures in the hobby. Have a nice weekend!

Introduction

We are, almost as a rule, optimizers in this hobby. Optimizing is supposed to pay off (for some definition of “pay off”), but it doesn’t always. I’ve failed in a lot of interesting ways when optimizing, and I console myself in those failures by telling myself I’ve learned something from them. For your benefit –or at least entertainment– I’ll enumerate some of my failures, and the tactics that I’ve developed to avoid repeating them.

My Failures

Taking on more complexity than I could understand

As a Canadian student earning internship money in the US, I had a brilliant idea to stash that money in a TFSA (the Canadian equivalent of a Roth IRA). I was planning to (and did) return to the US to work full time, and I knew the US didn’t respect the tax free nature of TFSAs. But I was also smart, and knew that the US doesn’t charge you tax on your investments if you don’t sell them, so I figured I could safely stash the money there tax free until I returned to Canada eventually.

It turns out I wasn’t smart enough. I did not know that the US has a special designation for money you invest in passive investments outside the country, and that it applied to Canadian ETFs. Nor did I know that they had an extra special tax treatment for them. I also didn’t know they had a handy little 4 page form that you have to fill out per ETF you own, and which no tax software I know of supports. In the end, this little stunt saved me nothing, and cost two rounds for foreign exchange fees on the money, and burned through countless hours of my time across multiple years of tax filings.

My tactic to avoid repeating this failure is:

  • If you have a clever idea, validate it with some experts first: I could have saved a ton of pain if I’d talked to an accountant. The churning world doesn’t have certified professionals you can go to, and it isn’t exactly known for its openness, but I’ve always found folks in the chat groups I’m in to be willing to call bullshit on a bad plan. Turns out people like correcting you when you’re wrong on the internet, who knew?

Not considering the opportunity cost

When purchasing my house, I was very proud of how I used a 0% offer on a Chase Freedom Unlimited card and some credit limit transfers to get $43,000 loan for no cost. This was a fun act of financial engineering, and I calculated that it saved me about $654 in interest on a loan I’d taken against my assets. Putting that spend on my Chase Freedom, however, meant that I wasn’t using it to hit sign up bonuses. That $43,000 would have been enough for seven Chase Ink Cash/Unlimited sign up bonuses, at $750 each (or a mix of equivalently lucrative offers). That means I gave up a chance to make $5250, just to save $654.

My tactic to avoid repeating this failure is:

  • Consider the opportunity cost of your plan: Any time you undertake an optimization, think whether it precludes you from doing something else (especially if that’s something else you’d normally be doing, like I would have been in this case). Calculate the value of the alternative, and make sure it’s less than the value of your plan.

Being too early

I’ve always been the type of person to try and get things done early, and boy have I found a million ways in which that can burn you. Closing a credit card with lounge access? Of course I end up with a last minute flight and no other lounge options in that airport. Burning my Dell credits on something frivolous on Jan 1? Of course I end up needing a new router that I could have gotten for free with those credits. In each case, my desire to get things done early meant I gave up optionality that I could have used later.

My tactic to avoid repeating this failure is:

  • Wait until the last minute, if there’s no benefit to being early and little risk of losing the opportunity: Credit cards have well known annual fee refund rules. If a bank will refund your money 30 days after the fee posts, there’s no benefit to cancelling it the day the fee posts. Set a reminder for a few days before tha last possible day instead. Similarly, if you have an annual benefit you’re clearly entitled to, there’s no reason to blow it early on something you don’t want at the beginning of the year, when you might want it for something else later in the year.

    There are some huge caveats here. If something is too good to be true and might get nerfed, or it is less than above-board that might get patched, you should absolutely continue to get on that ASAP.

Not valuing my time

For a great take on this, which highly resonated with me, read Kai’s post from last year’s blogging vacation. For my concurring take, read on.

I love Doctor of Credit, and I was hooked on getting their deal alerts after I got a free phone out of one. But one day, I caught myself responding to one of those alerts by spending 10 minutes punching my personal information into a random website to get a free cookie dough bar. In retrospect, I view saving a dollar or two on a thing I didn’t even want as a failure (and it’s indicative of dozens of other micro-optimizations I’ve done, like the time I’ve wasted going through 1% back shopping portals on ~$20 purchases).

My tactics to avoid repeating this failure are:

  • Set a minimum dollar value on your time: I have a hard $200 / hour rule for my time now. Obviously I don’t spend every hour focused on making / saving money, but if I’m doing something to make / save money, it better meet that bar.
  • Remember free can still be too expensive: Just because something is free, doesn’t mean it’s worth taking. There are extra costs in terms of time, the environment, your health, etc., even on free items. If you don’t actually want it, don’t waste your time on it.

Not valuing my comfort

I recently flew home from Tanzania, and booked the cheapest business class ticket that I could using points. The problem? It involved an awkward 6 hour overnight stay at Cairo airport (a completely wonderful airport with no faults at all). Even finding a soft place to hole up in a lounge, I barely slept and I was a miserable traveller for the rest of my trip. In retrospect, not paying the extra ~50k points for a better flight was a failure to value my comfort appropriately.

My tactic to avoid repeating this failure is:

  • Set hard rules for your comfort: I can’t put a dollar value on comfort as easily as I can on time, so instead I make strict rules for myself. I already had a hard line that I don’t do red eyes in economy. Now I have a new rule that I don’t do overnights in an airport. These hard and fast rules help me feel mentally compelled to take the options that I know are better for me, even if they’re more expensive.

Want more content like this?

If you’re interested in content like this, check out my blog. There’s a subscribe box at the bottom of every page, if you’re interested in seeing new posts as they come out. And if you think I’ve missed something, gotten something wrong, or should write future posts on a particular topic, please drop me a line.

– Graham

Other fails in no particular order.

EDITOR’S NOTE:Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author, Sam from both HelpMeBuildCredit.com and from the amazing CardRight credit card tracking app. Have a nice weekend!

I enjoyed many of the other guest posts, but based on the length, it seems like there’s a competition of who can write the lengthiest post. (It also looks like there’s a competition for the longest name – if your name is long enough, why add 233 at the end?:)!

I love that Matt’s posts are short and sweet (short enough that I can read them in the same amount of time it takes me to finish my morning coffee.) I decided to write this guest post short and sweet as well- Matt style. 

OK, let’s dive into the post, because I’m already a quarterway through my coffee.

Over the last few years, I’ve been maximizing an extra 5% or so back on my credit card spend by utilizing 0% APR offers on credit cards.

This topic is something that I feel is not being written enough about. Especially with today’s high interest rates, it’s definitely something that someone in the churning game should explore.

I swipe my daily personal and business expenses on 0% APR credit cards that offer interest-free periods of up to 21 months.

Then, instead of using the cash in my bank account to pay the balances, I put the cash into a high-yield savings account. I only pay up the card balance once the 0% APR period on the card is up.

So ultimately, the bank is giving me rewards for swiping, potentially a welcome bonus as well, plus an interest-free loan, and at the same time, they’re letting me earn the interest by me putting my money into a savings account.

I currently have close to $200k in high-yield savings accounts, earning me over 5% interest!

I find Raisin to be a good resource for finding the best high-yield savings accounts and HelpMeBuildCredit’s Ultimate Credit Card Finder is a good resource for finding the best 0% APR credit cards (they list all cards, both affiliated and not).

Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind

  • I try to focus mostly on business cards rather than on personal cards. A balance on a personal credit card will affect your credit, while a balance on a business card will not.
  • Don’t confuse offers for 0% APR on balance transfers with 0% APR on purchases. You should be looking for cards with 0% APR on purchases.
  • Be extremely careful not to make a single late payment, as even one can cause you to lose the 0% APR promo.
  • Be super organized and responsible, otherwise you will lose more than you will gain.
  • The Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited are really great for this, as they offer both a great welcome bonus and 0% APR for 12 months (and they are business cards). 
  • As a bonus tip, (since I still have one sip left in my coffee), once the 0% APR period on a card expires, you can transfer the card balance to a new card with 0% APR on balance transfers and gain an additional 12 months or so of 0% APR on that same balance.

Most cards have a 3% fee to transfer balances, which is still worth paying with today’s rates. But I found one card (on the website mentioned above) that surprisingly has no balance transfer fee, plus is a business card, and has 12 months 0% apr. It’s the Edward Jones Business Plus Mastercard. I plan on getting it now to roll the dice and knock over my coffee, but ultimately, to get another 12 months of interest and laugh all the way to the bank.

– Sam

A barista makes Sam’s morning coffee.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to today’s author, MEAB’s P2, for writing this followup to last year’s diary while I’m on vacation. I’ll see you tomorrow on January 1!

I’m a simple girl with simple needs. Like many of us, I like coffee in the morning, yoga in the evenings, and since I teach middle school, I always hope that a day will go by without hearing the words ‘skibbidi toilet’ or ‘hawk-tuah’. It’s not a lot to ask for, and most days two of those three things are usually accomplished. I’ll let you wonder which two. Anyway, as I said, simple.

At least I thought I was simple. Then my husband took me to Europe over the summer. 

It was not my first trip to Europe, in fact not even my first trip to Europe this year. And, since I’m married to MEAB, it probably won’t be my last. However, traveling with him has slowly chipped away at my “simple girl” aesthetic, and now I’ve surpassed the scale of “simple girl” to “passenger princess” and I fear I’ve landed firmly at “Bougie Bitch.” Because, my friends, this was the summer I flew Lufthansa First Class. 

I’d like you to imagine for a moment, if you will, this school teacher wearing thrifted pants and a Taylor Swift Eras Tour t-shirt arriving to Munich Airport with MEAB. We check in, and the ticketing agent at the counter said “You’ll go to the lounge this way. They’ll take care of you there, and you won’t have to board with all the other people.” I look at MEAB with my eyebrows shooting off my face as I mouth “other people”? He chuckles, because he knows what’s in store. 

We are two of four in the entire first class lounge. I’m brought a specialty margarita and given delicious food to eat. There are no babies crying, no jostling for space, none of the hundreds of minor inconveniences that might plague other people when flying. Just simple relaxation.

When the time comes for us to board, we are taken down a secret elevator and passage to our gate (though I’m told in Frankfurt it could have been a ride in a Porsche), where we board our A380. I’ve got my carry on luggage and pink backpack on and looking very much like a thrifty swifty. But no. This girlie goes UPSTAIRS (you guys, planes have stairs!) and I find my seat. A wildly comfortable window seat in first class. 

Immediately I’m given the best sparkling wine I’ve ever had. I’d like to call it champagne, but I think it was a sparkling Rosé. Either way, delectable. For the next ten hours I’m feted like a MFing princess. Caviar – check. Alcohol – check. Some of the best food (that’s also gluten free because life) – check. Lay flat bed – check. Pajamas – check. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss the bathroom. It’s literally larger than our main bathroom in our house. Not only that, but stocked with goodies. Mouthwash, facewash, toothpaste, Evian facial mist…I opened all the drawers, took all the pictures. You get the gist. All in all, it was life changing. Exceptional. Luxe. Bougie. 

Now, I won’t lie. It wasn’t my first time in international first class. However, the time before had been on American Airlines with a grumpy stewardess who thought gluten free meant I couldn’t have ice cream and an airline meal that was the worst chicken I’ve ever had. It was a truly disappointing experience on AA…not so on Lufthansa. 

The Lufthansa flight was my Nexus event. If Loki hadn’t fixed the sacred timeline, it’s very possible that the timekeepers would have popped right out and culled me right there. Because, my friends, this is when I went from a simple girl with passenger princess tendencies to a Bougie Bitch with uppercase Bs. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a nice person. I still teach 8th graders American History, I scrape gum off my carpets, learn all the new teen lingo, and yell MAKE ROOM FOR SANTA when two kids start the weird, slow hug that tweens do. I’ll still fly Southwest to get to Mexico, and EasyJet to get to Munich if I need to. But the fact is that I don’t want to. The process of becoming a Bougie Bitch has been slow. So slow that you may not have even noticed if you weren’t looking for it. But that all came to a head this past week. Let me lay the scene.

For Christmas, MEAB took me to Europe. Why? Because this Bougie Bitch loves Europe and I love Christmas and so he took me on a quick tour of Christmas Markets. We went to London, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. It was a wonderful trip that culminated in a stay at the Park Hyatt Vienna and some of the most amazing coffee I’ve ever had in my life. We flew Air France home, and had a three hour layover in CDG. Easy right? Should have been. Except…our gate was in the K concourse in 2E. 

There’s nothing wrong with the K concourse. It’s perfectly fine by airport standards. Pretty, brightly lit, easy to access. No problems there. Except when we went to the lounge. The first sign of trouble was when we had to go downstairs to access the lounge. But, it’s fine, no worries. Our legs work, so we checked in and got a seat. That’s where it went off the rails. 

There was a family entirely spread out in one section. Parents, grandparents, small children. Food everywhere, on the floor, on the kids’ faces. They were very loud, and I’m not talking about the children. The grandparents were practically yelling a conversation. The Dad was walking around the lounge with no shoes…it’s a mess. Then, a very drunk guy sits next to us and is just…smelling of alcohol. There’s people milling about coughing over the food, people talking on Facetime without headphones. If the boarding area for Southwest Airlines was turned into a lounge…that’s what this was. 

And that’s when I knew. I didn’t want to be with the other people, I wanted to be in a first class lounge, sipping champagne. Because I’m no longer a simple girl. I’m a Bougie Bitch. 

*disclaimer: Please don’t think less of me, dear reader, I know that what I experience is exceptional and I’m grateful every day to MEAB for providing me with such elegant experiences. I run a silly little blog about historical postcards at myhipstory.com, I’m a history nerd who wears mostly thrifted clothes and still pays out of pocket to buy pencils for my classroom. I just also really like caviar and champagne.* 

Evolution of a P2: Post Bougie Bitch transformation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to TeddyH for writing a thoughtful contrarian post to the conventional wisdom in the community. I’ll see you on January 1!

Introduction

Oh, the 5/24 status. In a sea of rules that we have to keep track of in our game, 5/24 is without a doubt the most well-known churning rule. Even CNBC has an article (EDITOR’S NOTE: A terrible, awful article) on it as an excuse to dump TWENTY-FOUR affiliate links!

Perhaps because of this, most churners don’t even consider what could happen if you did decide to go over 5/24. You’ve probably decided to stay under 5/24 years and years ago—when you first found out about credit card SUBs prolly on The Points BlogTM brought to you by Chase® SapphireSM Reserve®. Since then, you probably have never thought about going above 5/24. Like how you also always stop the microwave one second before it beeps or if your name ends with 233 how you always step on every rake you see.

I’m here to present my unpopular opinion today that if you are reading this blog, you almost definitely should go over 5/24. Here’s why.

The Current State of Churning Chase Cards

Based on my scientifical survey of all of my imaginary friends, people who stay under 5/24 do so mainly because going over would lock you out of the Ink Train every 3 months, the Sapphire MDD every 48 months (which has been patched), and most importantly, stop the flow of oh-so-valuable Ultimate Rewards points which you need for all those Hyatt redemptions you are going to make. Oh, and did I mention the coveted Southwest Companion Passes?

To these people’s credit, the plays I just mentioned above are cult classics and they are so easy and straightforward! Buying VGCs at Staples with a CIC and turning them into MOs is usually the first thing I will talk about if one of my non-imaginary friends happens to get curious about

MSing. Unfortunately, though, it’s starting to look like these straightforward plays are becoming a thing of the past, and with it the Chase landscape has changed significantly even just over the past year.

The Ink Train

In the past, it was possible to open a new Ink card roughly every 3 months. With sign-up bonuses around 90,000 points, that would net you 360,000 points if you opened an Ink every 90 days for the whole year. Unfortunately, Chase has tightened up approvals for new Ink cards significantly, and reports show that it’s essentially impossible to get a fifth Ink card if you hold four, and even if you hold just three your approval odds would only be at 18%.

On top of that, Chase halved the referral bonus cap on the Ink cards to 100,000 points, significantly limiting two-player mode as well.

And the cherry on top? You can’t even product change Ink cards until 3 months after you open the card nowadays.

These new changes reduce the 5x Office Supply capacity, invite more application scrutiny, as well as reduce the referral cap, making the Ink Train significantly less appealing than what it once was.

What should I do instead?

Like I was saying previously, the modern MS landscape is quite different from the traditional Staples runs of the past. Consider the key differences:

  • High multipliers are more important than the multiplying category
  • In fact, the category being bonused is no longer important.
  • It is more important than ever to consider cards that can phone a friend

There are Amex cards out there that give you 475,000 points instead of 90,000 points for an Ink. Why stop there? Apply twice in a row and now you can phone a friend on this card too for another set of 475,000 points.

Those Hyatt Points

But Teddy, where am I going to stay if I don’t get a fresh Ink SUB every three months? You may ask. Here is where I would argue that the microwave logic is coming back into play. With four Ink cards a year you are earning 360,000 points in sign-up bonuses. Once you maximize the office supply spend on these cards you’ll end up with 875,000 points. If you did the same thing with the aforementioned Amex card, you’d end up with 1.9 million points, netting you over 2 times more than you would get with the Inks.

Yes, Hyatts have good redemptions but I can tell you straight away that if I told you to double the points price on any of the rooms you would start to reconsider. Those 45,000 URs you used for Park Hyatt New York could have been 97,650 MRs; and with 97,650 MRs even if you decided to transfer MRs to Hilton (shudder) and book the newly devalued (second shudder) Waldorf Astoria, you’d still have a decent chunk of change left to put a mother-in-law (third shudder) you hate in the adjacent Doubletree.

Treat Points like a Currency

And currencies can always be exchanged.

Remember that many airlines sell miles at a discount very frequently. That cash back card that can phone a friend can be used to make an Aeroplan redemption.

Better yet, you can even trade with friends instead of dealing with the airlines/hotels themselves to make it even sweeter. Yes, you can always find a buddy that will buy Amex points from you at 1.35cpp; just like how you can also find a buddy that will sell Hyatt points to you at the same price. Does that mean you’ve transferred Amex points to Hyatt? I’ll leave you and your new Guest of Honor booking to decide for yourselves.

These jet bridge advertisements are getting… oddly specific.