Maximize Your Points: Stacking, Buyers Clubs, Redemption Hacks, and More with Julia Menez

#55: Points expert, Julia Menez, joins Chris to go deep on all things points and miles, including points stacking, optimizing rewards, tools to help organize your points and miles, using buying clubs to earn lots of points, and Chris shares how a somewhat sketchy website saved him an extra 15% off a new couch! Julia Menez (@geobreezetravel) is a points strategy coach, speaker and host of the Geobreeze Travel podcast, where she interviews travelers from all walks of life about their points and miles strategies. Full show notes at: https://allthehacks.com/maximize-points-julia-menez

Sponsor Links Vuori: 20% off the most comfortable performance apparel I've ever worn Inside Tracker: 20% off personalized wellness & nutrition plans backed by science Fabric: Affordable term life insurance for you and your family CardPointers: 20% off the app that helps you earn more cash back, points, and miles Point.me Award Search: $1 trial w/ this link (and the code HACKS)

Selected Links From The Episode Connect with Julia Menez: Website | Instagram | Facebook Julia’s Podcast: Geobreeze Travel Julia’s gift to All the Hacks listeners: Geobreeze Hotel Upgrade Template Buyers Clubs

PFS Buyers Club

MYS Buying Group

BuyForMeRetail

@thepointsanalyst

Pack Your Bags With Points

Julia's Monthly Buyers Club Masterclass

Earn More Points + $$$

Grabr - Get paid to bring items when you travel

Rakuten - Cash back

Fluz - Cash back

Seated - 20%+ back at restaurants

Dosh - Additional rewards

Cashback Monitor - Find the best cash back

Honey & RetailMeNot - Get Promo Codes

SearchTempest - Search Craigslist

Savendeals - Buy coupons

MyVegas Rewards - Get points for Vegas

Frequent Miler

Doctor Of Credit

Pay1040.com - Pay taxes with credit card

ID.me - Discounts for teachers/military

Optimizing Your Points

Feedly

AwardWallet

Travelfreely

CardPointers

Credit Karma

Point.me

ANA Around the World Redemption

United Excursionist Perk

Scott’s Cheap Flights

Credit Cards

American Express Gold - 4x Dining/Groceries

Bilt Rewards - Earn Points on Rent

Chase Freedom Unlimited - 1.5x on Everything

Chase Freedom Flex - 5x on Rotating Categories

Chase Sapphire Preferred - Huge 80k Bonus and 3x Dining/2x Travel

Chase Sapphire Reserve - 3x Dining/Travel

All the Hacks Card Signup Site - Thanks for using this! :)

Podcasts

Geobreeze Travel podcast:

Episode 7 - How to Stack Points and Rewards Programs with Angel Trinh (@pennywisetraveler)

Episode 56 - How to Earn More Points on a Teacher's Salary with Zac Hood (travelfreely.net)

Episode 67 - Brazil Travel Tricks and Military Benefits with Mark White

Hacking the American Dream

  Full Show Notes How people on a smaller budget can earn enough points for travel (03:05) Outsource buying, how participating in buying groups can work to your advantage (05:14) When sourcing items, do buyers usually pay more the item costs? (07:04) Buyer’s groups: are they reliable? (08:36) Using multiple Chase cards to earn more points (11:10) Bringing electronic and medical devices to Latin America (11:55) Chris & Julia walk through an extreme example of how valuable ‘stacking’ can be along with ways to automate the process (13:40) The unbelievable benefits of stacking through dining portals (14:54) Using Cashback Monitor (18:45) Julia’s favorite app for stacking deals in Las Vegas (23:53) Chris highlights the “crazy amounts” of point stacking deals (26:39) Specific places to search online for timely deals to help organize your point balances (28:52) Why it’s important to understand the 5/24 rule and its exceptions (31:54) Julia Menez’s go-to cards and her advice for travelers who are just beginning to accumulate points (35:16) Amazing points redemptions (40:02) Buying points, is it worth it? (50:55) When paying taxes on a credit card might make sense (52:54) Hacks for military and their spouses (57:49) Julia's hotel upgrade template (59:56) Where to find Julia Menez online (1:01:50) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices