Sharing my top finds from the past 2 weeks. Have a great weekend!
-Chris
🛫 Travel, Points & Miles
💵 Cash Back vs. Points: Are We Doing It All Wrong?
If you’re a long time All the Hacks subscriber, you might be surprised that I did an entire episode (#180) making a case for cash back as your credit card strategy. There have been so many recent changes in the points and miles world, so I wanted to do an in-depth analysis on how to think about cash back (and I think the results might surprise you).
🏦 75k Welcome Bonuses on Two Top Travel Cards
The Blue Bank just increased their welcome bonus on two top travel cards (Card One and Card Two). You’ll earn 75,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months, which is ~20 points/$ if you include the points you get from that spend. To be eligible for the bonus, you’ll need to 1) not currently have either card, 2) not have earned a bonus from either card in the past 48 months and 3) be under 5/24.
Note: For compliance reasons, we can't include the name of the card or issuing bank, but you can click the link above to learn more. As always, thank you in advance for using our links to support us!
💳 New & Improved Credit Card Optimizer Tool
After making the Points vs. Cash Back episode above, I spent dozens of hours building out a more robust version of my credit card optimizer tool, so you could maximize your earnings from credit cards. It's currently $10 off, but if you're an All the Hacks member (or want to be), you’ll get free access to the tool and so much more!
🤑 Latest Deals
🌴 Hilton Double Points Summer Promo
Hilton Honors members can earn 2x points for stays at any Hilton Portfolio hotel or resort this summer between 5/2 and 9/2. There’s no limit on how many bonus points you can earn and there’s no minimum stay needed, but members are required to register before checking in.
🛫 $500 Southwest Gift Cards for $419.99 (16% off)
Sam's Club and Costco are both currently offering $500 Southwest Airlines gift cards for $419.99 (Sam's Club Link and Costco Link), which works out to be 16% off. These Gift Cards don't expire, so they can be a great pickup if you regularly fly Southwest. Also, I've heard that Cash Back portal links for Sam's Club might work with these purchases, so take a look at all the options here.
🔁 Current Transfer Bonuses
- Amex ➡️ AeroMexico: 20% (through 5/31)
- Amex ➡️ Virgin Atlantic: 30% (through 5/31)
- Citi ➡️ Qatar Airways: 30% (through 5/31)
- Blue Bank ➡️ Virgin Atlantic: 30% (through 6/15)
- Blue Bank ➡️ Marriott: 40% (through 6/15)
Note: I don’t recommend speculative transfers, but if you’re planning a trip and can use one of the bonuses, it’d be an even better deal!
🕵️ Great Finds
📩 Superhuman: The Fastest Email Experience Ever
I’ve saved so much time on email since switching to Superhuman. It works on top of Gmail or Outlook, is lightning fast, has keyboard shortcuts for everything and recently launched AI that will write entire emails in your own voice and tone. I’m leaving off a ton of features, so just go try it for a free month here with code ALLTHEHACKS.
💰Best Big Spend Cards for Elite Status and Free Perks
I loved this Frequent Miler post that lays out every hotel and airline credit card that offers the ability to spend money to earn perks like elite status, free nights and companion tickets. Definitely worth a read if you’re chasing status or have some big spending coming up. And if you’re considering any of these cards and want to support All the Hacks, please check out our cards page (as long as it has the best offer).
❣️ Using Radical Candor to Strengthen Relationships
I loved reading Kim Scott’s Radical Candor years ago and was thrilled to have her on last week’s episode. She shared great tactics to overcome the discomfort of giving and receiving criticism to strengthen relationships at work and home. We also discuss how Radical Candor has evolved into Radical Respect, a concept she explores in her new book coming out 5/7 (preorder now).
🚗 Why Car Insurance Rates Are So High
Auto insurance rates have gone up more than 20%, and I enjoyed this article from Vox about how inflation, dangerous driving, and underlying costs are behind the price increases. Hopefully the author is right that they won’t keep going up like they have been!
🤩 Recommendations
💐 Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
With Mother’s Day around the corner, I thought I’d share some thoughtful gift ideas that my wife Amy highly recommended.
- Vuori: Super comfortable performance apparel (20% off)
- Storyworth: Capture stories/memories in a custom book ($10 off)
- Ember Mug: Keeps coffee or tea warm all morning (20% off)
- Hatch Restore: Sunrise alarm clock to improve sleep ($30 off)
- Cuyana Travel Case Set: Amazing travel set you can monogram
- Waterproof Birkenstocks: Versatile, comfortable & easy to clean
- Breakfast in bed with no one demanding anything of them!
📺 Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller
I’m about done binging every episode of Trafficked on YouTube and am so impressed with how deep the host (Mariana van Zeller) goes. It’s a docuseries that explores the often dangerous inner-workings of the global underworld - everything from drug cartels to black market organs to online romance scams. There are full length episodes on YouTube, Hulu and NatGeo.
Editor’s Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. 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.
