21. The Art of Credit Card Points: Our Sign-Up Offers vs. Everyday Spending Strategies

In today's special episode, we'll be discussing the evolution of our credit card strategies over time. We will be sharing insights into our unique approaches and how we have adapted our points stratagies over the years! Jess began her journey of traveling on points back in 2015, initially focusing on cards with no annual fees. She was hesitant to open business cards, and her primary goal was to secure flights for her family. However, her strategy has since evolved, and business cards now play a key role in her overall plan. Pam's experience was quite different. She was unaware of the points world until her daughter, Alex, introduced her to the concept. Without a clear plan, Pam simply opened as many cards as possible, and surprisingly, this "no strategy" approach has proven to be quite successful over the years. Meanwhile, Alex's journey began with a specific goal: a trip to Hawaii. She and her husband targeted particular cards to reach their dream destination. Once accomplished, Alex shifted her focus to cards offering the best deals at the time, accumulating a cache of points to plan trips based on her existing rewards. One of our favorite parts of traveling on points is there is no RIGHT or WRONG way to do it! So, whether you're new to this or a seasoned pro, stick around and let's learn from each other's strategies and experiences! :)    Links:   Free Gifts and Resources To Start Your Points and Miles Journey: Award Travel Academy: Award Travel Academy I https://travelmomsquad.teachable.com/p/thmata?coupon_code=THMWEB150   Our Website: https://travelmomsquad.com   Connect With Us: Newsletter signup: https://travelmomsquad.com/newsletter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travelmomsquad/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@travelmomsquad Facebook group: Travel Mom Squad: Travel on Points | Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/travelmomsquad   Links For This Episode:  Travel Freely App: Travel Freely | Free Travel App   Episode Minute By Minute: 0:00 Show Introduction 0:42 Afraid of annual fees? Listen to this 6:26 How Pam was a pseudo points master for years…and didn’t know it! 11:00 The real reason why Alex started traveling on points 15:33 Why opening new cards is typically worth it in the long run 18:00 Why there are actually less downsides to earning points than you think  22:39 Tips for getting the most points when you can’t do a lot of spending 25:00 Why Pam takes the “go big or go home” approach to earning 29:29 How we get around the Chase 5/24 rule 36:41 Cards that we will always keep