The journal · Live Richer
Points and travel.
Cards, points and award trips are a tool I use, not a hobby I am trying to sell you. This is how I think about them and what the math actually looks like when I run it.
How I think about it
Most of what gets written about this treats points like a score. I treat a card the way I treat any other tool: it has a price, and the only question is whether what I get back is worth more than the price in the year I actually hold it.
- The annual fee is the price. Not a detail to look past. If I cannot name what I am getting back for it, I am paying for nothing.
- Points are not money until they are booked. A balance is potential. It becomes value the day a trip is confirmed, and not one day sooner.
- Credits and certificates expire. A credit I did not use is not a benefit, it is a fee I paid twice. The calendar matters more than the headline.
- Never spend money you would not have spent anyway to reach a bonus. The moment the bonus is steering the spending, the card is running you.
- Write it down. Fees, renewal dates, what each credit is worth, what got used. I keep a record because memory is not a system and the dates do not wait on you.
What I keep an eye on
Fees and their dates
What each card costs and when that cost lands, so a renewal is a decision instead of a surprise.
Credits used against credits left
The ones that reset yearly are the easiest to waste. These get checked, not assumed.
Certificates and expiry
Free nights and companion fares are only worth something if they get used before the clock runs out.
What a trip actually cost
Points spent, cash spent, and what the same trip would have cost paid outright. That comparison is the only honest scoreboard.
I keep my own numbers private. What shows up on this page is the method and what I learned, not my balances.
Coming to this page
Trip write-ups with the real math
What a trip cost in points, what it cost in cash, and what it would have cost without either. Including the ones where the answer was that it was not worth it.
A look at current bonuses
Sign-up offers move constantly, so anything I publish here will carry the date I checked it and will say plainly when it has gone stale. I would rather show you an old number honestly labelled than a fresh one I cannot stand behind.
The cards I actually carry
With what I use each one for and what I would do differently. This section is empty on purpose until I have written something worth reading.
While you’re here
Live Better.
Home projects and the habits that make ordinary days run smoother.
Go thereLive Healthier.
Fitness, movement, recovery, and what I’m learning through practice.
Go thereLive Wiser.
Technology, AI tools, and lessons from real estate and everyday decisions.
Go thereLive Richer.
Experiences, connections, and making more of the time we have.
Go thereThe fine print.
This is not financial advice
Everything here is my own experience and my own opinion. I am not a financial advisor and nothing on this page is a recommendation about your money, your credit or your situation.
Credit cards carry interest, fees and real consequences for your credit. Read the issuer’s own terms, run your own numbers, and talk to someone qualified before you act.
Offers change constantly
Bonuses, credits, fees and award prices change without notice, and an offer can differ depending on who is looking at it. Anything I quote here is what I saw on the date shown, nothing more.
Always confirm the current terms with the issuer before applying.
Referral links
I do not have any card referral links on this page today. If that changes, every one of them will be marked clearly as a referral link, and I will say so here rather than hoping you do not notice.
A link will never be the reason a card shows up on this page. If something stops being worth it to me, it comes off, link or no link.