This was the highest intensity month I have had to date, with a lot of great deals to wrap up the end of the year. The main ones were AirPods from Verizon and Capital One Shopping Portal referrals, but there were some other gift card deals mixed in as well as the usual Amazon BG stuff.

Recapping our 2-week trip to India, including Delhi, Rajasthan, and Goa. We faced a lot of unexpected challenges during the trip but overall had a great time!

Award Flights:

• PDX-YVR-DEL on AI Y/J/F for 55k/90k/117k Aeroplan.
• PDX-SFO-EWR-DEL on UA J for 80k United Miles (in both directions).
• GOI-DOH-SFO on QR J for 80k Avios.

Award Hotels:

• Hilton Jaipur for 20k HH/nt (upgraded to Diamond floor w/Gold status).
• Alila Diwa Goa for 9k Hyatt/nt (upgraded to Junior Suite with Explorist status).
• Club at Alila Diwa for 15k Hyatt/nt.

A short month for me since I was out for the last two weeks, but I still made use of some decent deals for BGs and GC reselling. I got another batch of BoA Alaska Business cards and discuss the plans for my new Citi AA Business card.

Send me an email if you are looking for a link to the private Slack.

This episode covers a couple of trips that I went on over the past few months and some general award travel advice on how to plan your trip to Europe this summer. If you are interested in a churning meetup in Portland, I've linked a quick google form if you want to give any input:

https://forms.gle/rnk7wecYiAbWshya9

This is a slightly different episode from the content I've been putting out lately - I do a deep dive into the Joinsave brokerage "bonus" and discuss some general finance stuff that is mostly unrelated to churning but that I think is important for everyone to know.

Update 1/5/24: They have nerfed the referral sign-up offer to a $1k match for a $1k deposit and a $5k match for a $5k deposit. I have removed my referral link since I don't think this offer is still worth doing.

This month had it's ups and downs for me. Another round of Amazon devices and Prime Day were great for buying groups, but I had a disappointing round of applications with US Bank. Towards the end of the month, I accepted some targeted offers for Amex 99x AUs for the first time, which I am really excited about. This episode also has a bank bonus section for the first time as I pick up some low hanging fruit.

Today I talk about an MS method that involves using bill pay services to liquidate gift cards or to put spend on cashback debit cards. In the second section I talk about some discussions that people have involving taxes (disclaimer: not tax advice).

See this IRS ruling for more info: https://casetext.com/case/anikeev-v-commr

Note that Paypal Bill Pay is now mostly dead.

I had a fun experience with gaming the AA shopping portal that ultimately didn't work. I also discuss my plans for how to get back into the game with Best Buy and Walmart and general strategies to stay prepared.

The new iPhone 15 was a fun reselling opportunity, although it ended rather quickly. In September I got a a new round of Amex NLLs and stacked these with the 20k/4k employee card bonuses for some hefty profits. I also spent a lot of time on the phone with BoA for some business card applications and feel like I learned a lot from the process.

Recapping the major trips we have had so far this year! Below is a summary of the flights and hotels:

Belize:

• PDX-SEA-BZE/BZE-SEA-PDX on AS Y with companion fare for $750 pp.
• San Pedro: Paradise Villas - 5 nights for $645 w/Airbnb GC.
• San Ignacio: Villa Cayo - 3 nights for $390.
• AQ Car Rental Belize - 3 days for $175.

Vietnam:

• PDX-DFW-DOH-SGN on AA/QR J for 175k MR pp with biz plat.
• Fusion Suites Saigon - 2 nights for $168.
• Little Riverside Hoi An - 2 nights for $314.

Taiwan:

• TPE-SFO on CI J for 88k KLM.
• ICN-HNL-PDX on HA J/Y for 95k HA.
• Sea Monkey Diving Homestay - 4 nights + 2 PADI Open Water I for $1100.
• A Mei Yi B&B (阿美姨民宿) - 2 nights for $170.