Sept. 10, 2025

Hacked & Packed: Travel the World for Less

Hacked & Packed: Travel the World for Less
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Season 1

Wondering how to make your travel dollars go further? Do you think free flights & five-star hotels are too good to be true? This episode explores the magic of Travel Hacking, from how it works to the secrets behind booking luxury travel on a budget. My guest Tim Walker shares his journey into Travel Hacking, favorite beginner-friendly credit cards to gain significant travel rewards, & jaw-dropping stories of free trips—both his own & others he has helped.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Ask Good Questions Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

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liability explicit implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

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or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W FOURCY Radio.

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Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

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six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

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W four cy dot com. This week and every week,

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we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,

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as well as a focus on health and wellment. Now,

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let's join your host, Anita bell Anderson, as together we

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start with Asking Good Questions.

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Hey, welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. I'm coming

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at you from Hawaii, where we're just screting a hurricane

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hurricane at the moment, and I am so excited about

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this topic today. I have a personal interest in maximizing

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travel for myself, and so I would love to invite

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to the proverbial podcast stage my guest Tim Walker.

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Hey, Benita, thanks so much for having me on the show.

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Yeah, Tim, let me tell people a little bit about you.

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We're going to be talking about traveling for far less

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than you might expect that you could. And so Tim

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is an expert in helping people unlock the secrets of

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free travel. So for years his family buried and barely

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made enough money to live on, let alone go do crazy,

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wonderful travel all over the world. And he learned He finally, somehow,

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you know, the universe showed him how to earn thousands

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of dollars of free travel. He has now earned over

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three million points, and he's got a wife in little kiddos,

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and he travels the world for free, and he's turned

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that into a business that called Travel Multiplayer.

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Correct, Yep, that's it, and.

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He helps He's helped a lot of people. I'm actually

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going through his course right now because I wanted to.

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I mean, I've done this kind of in a way

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for a long time, but not nearly to the extent

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that he's doing it. So he's really passionate about helping

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others experience this. And so he learned that hacking your

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way to free travel changed everything for himself and for

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his family, and so he wanted to do that for others.

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So Tim, I'm just excited to get into this. There's

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a lot of things to talk about, a lot of

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little nuances. So just also before I let Tim start,

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I want to make sure you know that at the

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end of the podcast, you'll be able to go to

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the podcast website and you'll be able to click on

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bonus downloads, and there you'll be able to find Tim's

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information if you want to find out more about what

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he's doing. All right, it's Ask Good Questions podcast at

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dot com. So all right, Tim, exactly what the heck

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is travel hacking?

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Yeah? Absolutely, So that's the big question that everybody asked.

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What is travel hacking? And travel hacking is really a

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strategic process of layering and leveraging credit card rewards for

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thousands of dollars in free travel every year. The good

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news is travel hacking is not a pyramid scheme, it's

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not a scam, it doesn't involve time share pitches. It

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is simply a process through which you can unlock the

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secrets of free travel.

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I've been through too way too many timeshare pitches. So

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how did you first discover this? How in the world

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did you go from Oh, I don't have any money

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to travel to being able to do this?

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Yeah? Absolutely So. I live in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania.

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For those of you that are fans of the office,

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I live just south of Scranton, Pennsylvania. And in the

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work that I do here, I'm on frontline, the front

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lines of community development work in my city, working with

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hundreds of people coming out of homelessness, addiction, poverty, incarceration, crisis, trauma,

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and everything in between. And so this is something that

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I've had the privilege of being a part of for

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about fifteen years now. But what I found is as

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exciting as it was to have hundreds of stories of

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transformation that I've had the privilege of being a part of,

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our team has had the privilege of being a part of,

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it was equally exhausting being crushed under the weight of

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compassion fatigue that that type of gritty, intense vocation really entails.

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And so it felt like there was this annual cycle

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that my family was on where man, we just felt

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like we barely make enough money to live on we

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don't make enough money to travel, so every year it

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feels like we got a beg and borrow just to

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be able to get a vacation. And even the types

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of vacations that we were taking were the types of

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vacations that leave you more exhausted than when you left,

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because when you're trying to cut costs, oftentimes you have

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to cut corners, which often preempt you from being able

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to take refreshing vacations that we all need.

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So can I can I? Can I give you a story?

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Yeah?

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Absolutely, So one time several years ago, and you know,

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I'm coming at you from Hawaii. I'm on the island

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of Wahoo doing a senior mission with my husband right

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now for another ten months or so. And this was

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a timeshare pitch and it was like one of those

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things where you get a free hotel. So we got

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a free hotel on Kauai in exchange for coming and

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listening to a timeshare pitch on KUOI. Well guess what.

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When we got to Kauai, it was the suckiest, yuckiest

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cheap motel that they could possibly put us up in.

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And then they wanted us to go to this luxurious

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place resort to do a timeshare pitch through this, I

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was like never again, never, never going to do that.

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Yes, that is very similar to my breaking point that

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led me into travel hacking. So there was a year

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where somebody reached out and they said, hey, we love

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who you are and the mission that your family is

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involved in, so tell you what we would like to

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gift you Ten days at a beach house in Cape May,

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New Jersey, which is right on the ocean. So we

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were so excited until we showed up and we found

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that the house that we were loaned was mold filled,

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mosquito infested. We literally had to spend two days cleaning

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this disgusting place before we even got to get going

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with our vacation. So at that point I was like,

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you know what. That moment broke me and I really said,

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you know what, I don't want to grow up with

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my kids saying hey, remember how Dad used to take

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us a wrap vacations every year because we were involved

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in frontline urban work and couldn't afford anything better. So

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it really sent me on the search like what do

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I do to overcome this problem that we bump up

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against on an annual basis? So I searched, and I scoured,

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and I tried all kinds of different things, and eventually

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I found travel hacking. So I found it, and I'll

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be honest, I had the same reaction that many of

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you might have right now listening to this. I thought

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it was too good to be true. But what I

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found is that my desperation outweighed my skepticism. At that point,

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I was willing to try anything, so I gave it

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a try. I took an online course which really taught

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a little bit of the basics of it, which really

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ignited in me this passion and this understanding to go, wait,

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hold on, there's so much more here. So I ended

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up mastering travel hacking, and I earned one point two

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million travel Rewards points in my first nine months. So

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I started doing it. I got into it, started taking

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some incredible trips, and what I found was all of

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the things that I had doubted and feared about it,

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the opposite was actually true. This was a true and

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complete solution to the annual problem that my family faced

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where we didn't make enough money to travel. We never

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got to travel in nice places or do things. Now

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we're traveling multiple times a year to incredible luxurious vacations

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that leave us coming back so refreshed and replenished.

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Right. Well, the interesting thing is, you know, being a

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financial advisor, I'm always trying to help people, you know,

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I'm doing all this financial education to help people maximize

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the money that they have and save more and all that.

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And this really resonated with me because it's like, how

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do you maximize what you've got? How do you maximize

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and maybe think outside the box on how to do

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things in a better way, because you know, somebody that's

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retired might say, well, I don't have time to save,

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you know, and it's like, this is such a better

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way to think about how to be able to travel.

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So what's the most luxurious travel experience that you'd say

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you've had so far?

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Yeah, probably the the trip that my wife and I

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just came back from about a month ago, three weeks ago,

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I guess. So this year, my wife and I are

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celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, which is pretty exciting, and

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we decided that we wanted to do something pretty extravagant

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to celebrate, so we got to be able to take

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a two week trip to Europe. So we flew to

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and from Europe in lay flat business class seats and

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so we got yeah, yeah, it was so nice. Not

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only do you get to sleep on the plane, you

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get like three course catered meals on the plane. It's

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so nice, so enjoyable. We got to do that, and

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then we spent time in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the

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Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland over that two week period

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and we got to stay in incredible places. Probably my

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favorite place that we stayed is we stayed in Lucerne, Switzerland,

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which is a gorgeous lake down there.

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I lived in there.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for those of you that don't

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know what it is, Lucerne, Switzerland is a lake town

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right at the base of Mount Pilatus in the Swiss Alps.

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And so we literally got to this place and as

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we were checking in, they said, hey, we wanted to

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let you know all these different things about your room.

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And by the way, we have a we have a

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pillow menu. And I was like, what, we have a

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pillow menu at our hotel. You have fifteen different pillows

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to choose from because we want to make sure that

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every guest gets a luxurious experience and the best sleep

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they've had all year. They definitely delivered on that promise.

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And when I wasn't laying on that pillow, I was

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opening the balcony porch that we had which overlooked Lake Lucerne.

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Overlooked the lake absolutely gorgeous. So what's incredible? Total up

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the whole trip, this trip should have cost us twenty

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five thousand dollars. That's what other people would pay for

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this type of trip. We got the entire thing free

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with our points. We literally didn't pay a dime for

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two weeks in Europe in some of the most luxurious

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places with some of the best travel accommodations, and we

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only used a fraction of our points to be able

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to do that. That's actually the fourth of five trips

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that we get to take this year, all for free

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thanks to our points.

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Awesome. Well, how does somebody get started with travel hacking

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if they're brand new, if they've never even heard about

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this concept?

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Yep, So there's really three key steps to be able

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to navigate travel hacking. Step one is to determine your

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travel goals, to figure out like, where would you like

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to go, what would you like to do, how do

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you prefer to travel. And so the great thing is

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there's no one size fits all way to engage in

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travel hacking. Regardless of who you are and who and

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how you like to travel, you can do it for

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free with travel hacking. So some people prefer cruise ships,

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other people prefer mountain cabins. Some people like beach houses,

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other people prefer all inclusive resorts. Some people dream of

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Disney with their kids, other people want to fly their

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family across the country. Whatever it is, whatever you're dreaming of,

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travel hacking can really make those dreams a reality. And

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one of the things I find is if you are

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where I was, persistently in a place where you can't

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afford to travel, sometimes it can be really hard to

226
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dream big. And so my challenge to everybody, especially if

227
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it's been a long time since you had a nice vacation,

228
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or maybe you just have never really had that type

229
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of high end vacation, My question to you is where

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00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.320
would you travel if money wasn't an obstacle? Because for

231
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many of us, money is our obstacle to travel. So

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when you think about that first step to be able

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to determine your travel goals, think about where would you

234
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travel if money wasn't an obstacle, because travel hacking will

235
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remove the obstacle of money for you, So that would

236
00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:17.879
be step one. Step two is then signing up strategically

237
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for the right credit cards that align with your travel goals.

238
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So there are a number of different travel rewards credit

239
00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.000
cards out there, and the reality is you want to

240
00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.639
be able to get the ones that fit your travel goals. So,

241
00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:34.440
for instance, if you're somebody who's terrified of flying, don't

242
00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:37.799
get a card that's mostly good for airline points because

243
00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.279
you might want to use your points in a completely

244
00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:44.960
different direction. What I often encourage people is the first

245
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.080
and best card to start with is the Chase Sapphire

246
00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:52.720
Preferred Card. So with that card, once you get it,

247
00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:56.679
if you spend five thousand dollars in your first three months,

248
00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:01.559
you'll get seventy five thousand bonus points, which is worth

249
00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.919
about twelve hundred dollars in free travel. What's even better

250
00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:10.080
is if you get that card and rather than adding

251
00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:13.559
your spouse or significant other is an authorized user, you

252
00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.320
could actually refer your spouse or significant other to sign

253
00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:21.279
up separately for the exact same card, so you'll get

254
00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.000
a seventy five thousand point bonus when you spend the money.

255
00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:27.120
They'll get a seventy five thousand point bonus when they

256
00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.919
spend the money, and then you get a fifteen thousand

257
00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:35.279
point referral bonus for referring your significant other. So you

258
00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:37.799
can more than double the amount of points that you

259
00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:41.240
get right off the bat just by signing up for

260
00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:45.360
that one card. Then comes step three. Step three is

261
00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:50.440
to maximize those rewards for free travel. So the average

262
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.039
consumer is pretty familiar with credit cards and credit card rewards,

263
00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.200
and what most people get is most people average about

264
00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.799
one to three percent in cash back on the money

265
00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:03.360
that they spend with their credit cards. The amazing thing

266
00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:08.039
about travel hacking is you're actually redeeming your everyday spending

267
00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:12.480
for the equivalent of twenty thirty even forty percent back

268
00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:16.200
just on your everyday spending at the grocery store, the

269
00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:20.519
gas station, on Amazon, all because you are not just

270
00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:24.679
earning points, but then you're maximizing those points for free

271
00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:27.360
travel and the value of them. So I'll give you

272
00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:31.000
two examples. You might ask, Okay, what could I do

273
00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.240
with the one hundred and eighty thousand Chase points that

274
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.320
I could earn if my spouse and I both sign

275
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.799
up separately for that card well one hundred and eighty

276
00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:44.759
thousand points. This past winter took my wife and I

277
00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:49.519
from the freezing cold tundra of the Northeast when it

278
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.000
was fifteen degrees. We hopped on a plane, flew down

279
00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.799
to Cancun, Mexico, where it was eighty five degrees when

280
00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:59.639
we stepped off the plane, and we stayed in an

281
00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:05.160
all inclusive ocean front resort that retailed for fifteen hundred

282
00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:09.359
dollars per night. I enjoyed filet mignon steaks multiple times

283
00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.720
a day, my wife got to go to the spa.

284
00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.880
We were able to get some of the best sleep

285
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.960
we've gotten all year in an extremely luxurious room. And

286
00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:24.319
other people would have paid six thousand dollars for the

287
00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.559
trip that we took. For us, it only cost us

288
00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:31.079
one hundred and eighty thousand points. We didn't pay a dime,

289
00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:34.039
so we were able to maximize the value of those

290
00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:37.599
points because rather than cashing that out for eighteen hundred

291
00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:40.480
dollars in cash back, like many people would do, we

292
00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.799
took those one hundred and eighty thousand points and we

293
00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:46.400
leveraged them for a six thousand dollars all inclusive trip

294
00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.119
to Kanku. You could even take the trip that I

295
00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:53.279
just described to you. How do we went on to Europe?

296
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:58.640
So the the a one way flight from Philadelphia to

297
00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:03.319
Amsterdam in a lay flat business cost seat costs four thousand,

298
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.559
one hundred dollars yep. And while everyone around us paid that,

299
00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:12.000
we got the exact same seat for fifty five thousand points.

300
00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:16.079
So most people would cash out those fifty five thousand

301
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:19.519
points for five hundred and fifty dollars cash back, and

302
00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:24.240
we almost eight x the value of that by being

303
00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.440
able to redeem it for a forty one hundred dollars

304
00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:32.039
plane ticket, which was absolutely incredible. So those three steps.

305
00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.160
Step one determine your travel goals, Step two sign up

306
00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:37.240
for the right credit cards that align with your goals,

307
00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:41.519
and step three maximize your points for travel rewards. Those

308
00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:43.920
are the three key steps that my family and I

309
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.599
have been traveling, have been following for the last few years,

310
00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:51.559
earning over a dozen free trips and enjoying the freedom

311
00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:54.240
of free travel in some really incredible places.

312
00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.039
Well what do you think, what would you say is

313
00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:02.440
the most common misconception that people have or the most

314
00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:08.920
common myth that you wish people would understand and straighten out.

315
00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.599
Yeah, so I would say there's a few quick hitters

316
00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:13.079
with that number.

317
00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:13.359
One.

318
00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:16.640
The biggest misconception is this is too good to be true.

319
00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.279
And that's the exact same thought I had when I

320
00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:22.920
first encountered it. So many people think it's too good

321
00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:25.599
to be true. Other people might think that it will

322
00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:29.079
mess up their credit score. Actually, I would tell you,

323
00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:32.319
since I started engaging in travel hacking, and the way

324
00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.440
I teach people to do it is also built off

325
00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:37.880
of a foundation of financial literacy. So this isn't about

326
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.279
spending more money. This isn't about spending money that you

327
00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:44.039
don't have. This isn't about racking up debt. The way

328
00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:46.599
I teach people to do this is to simply use,

329
00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.200
strategically use the right credit cards on your everyday spending.

330
00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.519
Pay that off on time and in full every month,

331
00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:57.079
no debt, no late fees, just the freedom of free travel.

332
00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:00.599
But other sometimes people fear, like off I, if I

333
00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.640
open up credit cards, then it's going to hurt my

334
00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:06.759
credit score. That's actually a big myth. My credit score

335
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:11.519
has grown, not shrunk, since I started engaging in travel hacking.

336
00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:16.119
Another time, people will say that they fear that, hey,

337
00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:18.559
am I going to have to open up and manage

338
00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:21.960
like all kinds of different credit cards. I know you're not,

339
00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:25.799
because the way I teach it is quality matters more

340
00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:30.359
than quantity. So travel hacking isn't about frantically signing up

341
00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:32.920
for all kinds of different cards. It's about signing up

342
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:36.200
for the right cards and layering those cards in a

343
00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.799
way where they stack on each other to be able

344
00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:42.720
to maximize value. I would say the last myth or

345
00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:46.519
misconception that people have is they often think, hey, you

346
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:49.920
have to be a high spender in order to earn

347
00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:53.000
enough points to make this work. I would tell you

348
00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:54.920
from my background, you can tell I'm not a high

349
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.559
earner historically, nor am I a high spender. I actually

350
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.359
make less and spend less than the average American does,

351
00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.039
and yet I've been able to take my below average earnings,

352
00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:10.880
my below average spending and turn it into over four

353
00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:14.039
million travel rewards points now, which has been incredible.

354
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.440
Yeah. Well, well, I think that makes you even more credible,

355
00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.240
because you know, people would say, well, it's okay for him,

356
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.839
but no, I mean you have the background to prove

357
00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:28.519
that no, everyone should be able to do this. They

358
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:31.960
just need to learn how. So let's kind of pivot

359
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.079
a little bit. So you're talking about you've got all

360
00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:39.480
these terms, you're talking about, what's the difference between cash

361
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:46.039
back points, miles? How would somebody you know, what are

362
00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:48.640
the difference between those and who? How do you decide

363
00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:49.559
what you focus on?

364
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:54.920
Yeah? Absolutely, so, really there's four there's five different types

365
00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.759
of credit cards that are primarily on the market. Number one,

366
00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:02.000
the most common is cash back. So typically a cash

367
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.759
back card, you're getting somewhere between one and three percent

368
00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:10.039
or sometimes one in three cents back per dollar spent.

369
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:14.960
That is a fixed rate. It's a fixed number that

370
00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:18.279
will always kind of you'll get that whenever you swipe

371
00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:21.680
your card based on all the different transactions in categories.

372
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:25.119
The second type of credit card that's really the most

373
00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.480
valuable when it comes to travel hacking is a transferable

374
00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:34.000
points card. So with a transferable points card, you could

375
00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.000
cash those points out for cash back if you want.

376
00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:39.480
You get about a penny per point, just like you

377
00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:43.359
would with a cash back card, but those travel points

378
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:46.400
are actually worth significant or those points are were significantly

379
00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:49.839
more when you cash them out for travel or when

380
00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:52.720
you redeem them for free travel. So with a transferable

381
00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.200
points card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card I mentioned,

382
00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:01.039
there are like seventeen different airline and Hope hotel partners

383
00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:04.640
that you could transfer those points too.

384
00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.880
So let me let me stop you for a minute.

385
00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:10.960
Ye are you saying you go on to the credit

386
00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:16.759
card website to book your travel using those points or not?

387
00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:21.079
No? No, not in that way. What you do is

388
00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:26.119
I'll give you an example. I just booked a flight recently.

389
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:29.720
I booked a flight for my family to fly out

390
00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.640
to Chicago for a conference that I was going to.

391
00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:37.400
And so my Chase Sapphire Preferred card that I mentioned.

392
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:41.799
One of the many airline partners is United Airlines. So

393
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:45.279
I took my points from Chase and I transferred those

394
00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:50.000
into my United Airlines account so that those points became

395
00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:53.759
United miles that I then used to book those flights

396
00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:57.200
for my family this past summer. So you can do

397
00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.400
that with all kinds of different hotel and airline parksartners

398
00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:04.960
based on the different credit cards, whether it's Chase, American Express,

399
00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:07.000
Capital One City and others.

400
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.720
So the key is it has the card has to

401
00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:12.720
be a trends. Okay, I get it. Now. The key

402
00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:14.720
has to be that it's a transfer that you can

403
00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:17.000
transfer points to an airline.

404
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:22.400
Yeah, so that's a big one. There are other specific cards.

405
00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:27.440
Airline and hotel cards would be the number three and

406
00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:31.839
four in that list. So all of those different companies

407
00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:35.079
have co branded credit cards that are specific to their

408
00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:39.880
particular program. Maybe it's Delta, maybe it's Hilton, maybe it's Higatt,

409
00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:42.960
whatever it would be, and those can be really valuable

410
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.279
as well, again depending on your travel goals and your

411
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:50.920
travel preferences. And then the fifth category would kind of

412
00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:54.640
be a variation on those transferable points, uh that you

413
00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:57.799
actually just mentioned a minute ago, Benita. That would be

414
00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:02.799
bank portal points. So with some of some of those cards,

415
00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.799
you can book travel through the bank's travel portal. So

416
00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:09.720
it might be, Hey, I'm going to book this next

417
00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:13.160
trip through American Express because I can use my American

418
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:18.319
Express points to book you know, this this flight, this hotel,

419
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:22.240
this experience, this rental car, something like that. So all

420
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:25.960
five of them have value in different ways for different reasons,

421
00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.519
but some of them have superior value based on the

422
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.160
specific opportunities that they make possible for you.

423
00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:40.599
Wow. Well, okay, so you're talking about layering cards. So

424
00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:42.960
then the next thing that comes up is how do

425
00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:46.640
you keep track, yeah, of all your points and miles

426
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:49.039
and expiration dates without going crazy?

427
00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:52.559
Yeah. Absolutely, So there's a couple of things I would

428
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:57.119
say in general, this is where quality matters more than quantity. So,

429
00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:58.880
kind of tying it back to even what we were

430
00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:02.440
just talking about, there's a foundational principle that not all

431
00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:06.319
points are created equal. There are some points that are

432
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:09.720
significantly more valuable than others. So, for instance, if you're

433
00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:13.039
listening to this thinking about getting into travel hacking, the

434
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:16.599
chase points that I mentioned through the Sapphire card are

435
00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:19.400
some of the best most valuable points on the market.

436
00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:23.319
There are other ones that they might give you like

437
00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:27.799
zero point five cents per point in value. They sound good,

438
00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:31.920
look good thanks to marketing departments, but they really aren't valuable.

439
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:35.400
They really don't get you very far or very much.

440
00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:39.000
So it's important to be able to distinguish that. But

441
00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:42.000
as you go through it again, it's not like you're

442
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:46.599
you're juggling all kinds of different cards and deadlines and details.

443
00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:51.160
I would say the average, the average family signs up

444
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.240
for about two to three credit cards that they end

445
00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:59.119
up getting and that earns them over five thousand dollars

446
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.799
in free travel, so they're able to do that pretty quickly,

447
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:07.160
pretty easily. I offer all kinds of digital tools and

448
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.359
resources in the services that I offer to be able

449
00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:13.960
to make it like effective and efficient for anybody who's

450
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.599
doing it, and really my encouragement as well as just

451
00:27:16.759 --> 00:27:19.680
go at your own pace. You don't have to do

452
00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:23.599
more than you have capacity for at the moment. So

453
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:25.839
take it one card at a time, take it one

454
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:28.960
trip at a time. Oftentimes, for me, what I do

455
00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:32.599
is I only carry one, maybe two credit cards in

456
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:35.519
my wallet. It's not like I it's not like I

457
00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:38.160
have this paralysis every time I show up to the

458
00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:40.640
checkout and I go, oh no, I get to do

459
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.400
some serious calculus to figure out which one of these,

460
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:46.119
Like you know, however many cards I have to use

461
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:50.200
at this place. No, No, nobody has time money, and

462
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:55.079
nobody has time, energy or focus for that. Oftentimes, I

463
00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:59.000
guess another myth that people have about travel hacking is

464
00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:02.079
that it's going to take a lot of time, and

465
00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:05.960
it doesn't. I would tell you I'm an extremely busy person.

466
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:11.400
I don't have time or energy or margin to be

467
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:13.559
able to chase all kinds of things. No where do

468
00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:19.119
I want to trade saving money for wasting time. So

469
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:22.039
for me, I would tell you travel hacking. For me,

470
00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:25.960
it's like half an hour a month. Like I'm not

471
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:29.440
I'm not expelling an exorbitant amount of time on this.

472
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:33.720
It's quick, simple, easy. It really is about learning the system,

473
00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:37.079
and then once you learn the system, you have clarity

474
00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.680
and confidence to be able to navigate it really really well.

475
00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:45.039
So it really is just taking it one step at

476
00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.799
a time and engaging it as you can when you can.

477
00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:52.319
And what people often tell me is, hey, I thought

478
00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:55.519
this was or this was confusing before you taught me,

479
00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:58.880
and I thought this was going to be a time

480
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:03.359
constraint issue, but really this is quick, easy, simple and painless,

481
00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:04.519
which is really great.

482
00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:09.640
Well, now, one thing that people might come up and

483
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:13.880
say is, well, is this going to hurt my credit

484
00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.880
score or does it actually help? Why don't you go

485
00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:19.599
into that a little bit more. You kind of touched

486
00:29:19.640 --> 00:29:21.920
on it, but let's talk about that a little bit more.

487
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:27.119
Yeah, absolutely, So. There are several different factors that credit

488
00:29:27.160 --> 00:29:30.680
score is based off of. One of the largest is

489
00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.440
on time payments, and so one of the ways they

490
00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:37.200
boost your credit score. About thirty to thirty five percent

491
00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:41.200
of your credit score is actually factored off of whether

492
00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:45.240
or not you make on time payments. So if you

493
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.240
think about the exponential nature of this, Let's say you've

494
00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:52.759
been a one credit card person for the last two decades. Well,

495
00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:55.880
if you go from one credit card to say three

496
00:29:55.960 --> 00:30:00.880
credit cards, now okay, so now you have three different

497
00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:04.759
payments showing up on your credit report every month. And

498
00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:08.839
if those are three on time payments, well, now that's

499
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:12.200
a big boost to your credit score because you're having

500
00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:15.559
triple the amount of on time payments showing up. One

501
00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.440
of the things I do, even just for efficiency, is

502
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:20.920
what I teach people to do is as soon as

503
00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:23.200
you get your new credit card, whatever it is, let's

504
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:25.359
say you get the Chase staff I preferred card, set

505
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:27.640
up an online account and go in there and set

506
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:30.880
up auto pay so that it pays the statement balance

507
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.359
on time and in full every month. So then you

508
00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:35.319
don't even have to think about it. It doesn't matter

509
00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:39.079
if you get busy or stressed or distracted. You're not

510
00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:40.839
going to forget about it. You're not going to fall

511
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:43.960
behind on it, and that actually is a big boost

512
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.519
to your credit score as well, because not carrying a

513
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:50.880
balance month to month is another thirty percent of your

514
00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:56.720
credit score. So the percentage of credit used accounts for

515
00:30:56.759 --> 00:30:58.920
about thirty percent of your credit score as well. So

516
00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.319
two very simple thing not carrying a balance and paying

517
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:06.599
things on time give sixty five percent of your credit

518
00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:10.559
score an automatic boost, which can be really helpful. And

519
00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:14.240
then there's smaller, more nuanced details along the way. But

520
00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:18.559
those two overarching realities just make it really easy. What

521
00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:21.119
you will find is my credit score when I started.

522
00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:24.440
I was at about seven to fifty when I started this,

523
00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:27.839
so I had excellent credit and I didn't want anything

524
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:31.279
to negatively affect that. Normally, what you'll find is your

525
00:31:31.319 --> 00:31:35.240
credit score may drop by ten to twenty points for

526
00:31:35.319 --> 00:31:38.759
a very short period of time. But while my credit

527
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.960
score started at seven fifty when I started this journey,

528
00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:46.880
my credit score pretty much lives above eight hundred at

529
00:31:46.920 --> 00:31:50.480
all times now, despite the fact that I have multiple

530
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:53.319
credit cards that I'm using because those credit cards are

531
00:31:53.319 --> 00:31:55.640
working for me, not working against my credit score.

532
00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:03.039
There you go, Well, okay, that sounds great. Now let's

533
00:32:03.079 --> 00:32:05.960
pivot back to actually getting out there and doing some traveling.

534
00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:10.880
How do you find a ward availability for flights and hotels,

535
00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:15.480
especially during peak seasons, because another thing people might say

536
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:19.759
is all, I wouldn't be able to travel like at Christmas,

537
00:32:20.119 --> 00:32:22.240
So how do you find out a ward availability?

538
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:25.720
Yeah, so it's pretty easy in a lot of ways.

539
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:29.720
You could do it directly through the airline, hotel resort

540
00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:33.000
provider in a lot of ways because oftentimes when you

541
00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:35.880
go to search what's available, you can search whether or

542
00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:38.680
not you want them to display the price and points

543
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:42.440
or cash, and so it's really easy to go on.

544
00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:46.000
And you know I did this. I went like prime

545
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:49.759
season into New York City for my wife and I

546
00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:51.960
to be able to go see a Broadway play. We

547
00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:55.319
get a luxury hotel overlooking Times Square and Broadway, and

548
00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:57.960
I went right to the hotel website search via points.

549
00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:01.319
There it was. I booked it with points. Deal done.

550
00:33:02.119 --> 00:33:04.880
Other students that have taken my course have even said

551
00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:09.640
this has actually empowered their holiday travel, not restricted it.

552
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:11.920
I get a text from one student he said, Hey,

553
00:33:11.960 --> 00:33:14.559
I just want to say thank you because my family

554
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.599
lives across the country and with three little kids, the

555
00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.599
thought of driving multiple long days to get there and

556
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:26.039
back is excruciating. We've never been able to afford flights.

557
00:33:26.519 --> 00:33:30.319
But because we now have travel points because of what

558
00:33:30.359 --> 00:33:34.440
you taught us, we're actually able to fly our entire

559
00:33:34.599 --> 00:33:39.279
family of five across the country for free on Thanksgiving week.

560
00:33:40.359 --> 00:33:44.359
So the great thing is there really aren't like blackout dates.

561
00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:47.640
It's not like you have to These are not random

562
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.319
obscure deals that you have to get lucky in order

563
00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:55.279
to find or grab before they go away. It really

564
00:33:55.400 --> 00:33:58.000
is your searching for these, just like you would search

565
00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:02.759
for any other hotel, resort, say, any of those things.

566
00:34:03.319 --> 00:34:06.000
And oftentimes it's just a question of what currency are

567
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:08.119
you paying with? Are you gonna pay with cash or

568
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:10.639
are you gonna pay with points? And you're able to

569
00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:13.039
search via points right there, and it's really great.

570
00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:17.760
Well, I would love to hear a story. What's your

571
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:22.360
favorite success story for helping some family or some friends

572
00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:23.519
score free travel.

573
00:34:24.280 --> 00:34:26.519
Yeah, so it's hard for me to pick one. I've

574
00:34:26.519 --> 00:34:29.960
got a few that I'll wrap a fire. My best friend,

575
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:34.280
when I first got into this, he was probably the

576
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:37.000
most skeptical. He would roll his eyes every time I

577
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:39.800
talked to him about this, And then finally he had

578
00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:42.039
a wedding anniversary coming up and he gave me a

579
00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:43.559
call and he goes, all right, what do I need

580
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:45.840
to do to do this travel hacking thing? So he

581
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:48.559
did it and they got ten nights at an ocean

582
00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:52.599
front all inclusive golf resort in Cancun, so they got

583
00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:56.800
to do that. I had another engaged couple that came

584
00:34:56.880 --> 00:34:59.480
to me looking ahead to their honeymoon and said, hey,

585
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:02.599
is there any we can travel hack a honeymoon? Absolutely.

586
00:35:02.679 --> 00:35:05.360
I help them travel hack a honeymoon to Costa Rica

587
00:35:05.719 --> 00:35:09.239
at an all inclusive resort for free. I've been able

588
00:35:09.239 --> 00:35:13.000
to help large families travel speaking of peak season, One

589
00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:17.119
family took their entire family of seven and stayed in

590
00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:21.320
a luxury hotel in downtown Washington, d C. On Memorial

591
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:24.159
Day week, so they got to introduce their kids all

592
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:28.519
kinds of national history there, which was really cool. Another

593
00:35:28.559 --> 00:35:31.360
friend of mine just texted me and said, Hey, I

594
00:35:31.400 --> 00:35:34.360
wanted to let you know. My wife is turning forty

595
00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:38.159
next year and I get to surprise her with a

596
00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:40.639
trip to Europe where we're going to be able to

597
00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:43.360
fly to and from Europe and lay flat business class

598
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.480
seats and stay in some incredible European places, all because

599
00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:50.280
of travel hacking. So that's just a few of the

600
00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:53.400
dozens and dozens of stories that I've been able to

601
00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:57.239
help make possible by helping people to unlock the secrets

602
00:35:57.280 --> 00:35:58.519
of that type of free travel.

603
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.159
That sounds awesome. So are there any destinations Let's talk

604
00:36:04.199 --> 00:36:06.480
a little bit about destinations. Do you think there's any

605
00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:11.480
destinations that are particularly easy or on the other side,

606
00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:15.239
the flip side, difficult to travel hack your way into.

607
00:36:15.880 --> 00:36:19.039
Yeah, I would say in general, I would say most

608
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:24.000
destinations are easier than you would assume or fear. So

609
00:36:24.119 --> 00:36:26.719
for instance, one free bonus that I give with the

610
00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:29.679
course that I teach is I give people the Ultimate

611
00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:34.039
Guide to Disney on Points. So many families dream of

612
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:36.400
Disney and they want to go to Disney. But the

613
00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:39.320
thought of saving up months and months and thousands of

614
00:36:39.320 --> 00:36:41.079
dollars in order to be able to do it, that's

615
00:36:41.079 --> 00:36:43.480
a lot. And so Disney would be one of those

616
00:36:43.480 --> 00:36:45.760
places that people often go, Okay, come on, can I

617
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.039
really go to Disney on Points? Yeah? You could. I've

618
00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:50.199
the whole guide that walked it through at start to finish.

619
00:36:50.840 --> 00:36:55.159
Other people would look at like international travel and think

620
00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:59.119
that it's likely beyond their reach. It's not actually international

621
00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:03.920
business cloud flights are some of the best value you

622
00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:07.280
can get in Points. And it's not just the type

623
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:09.239
of business class that I flew in where it was like,

624
00:37:09.559 --> 00:37:11.719
you know, you had your own cubicle to yourself. Some

625
00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:15.119
of these you're flying in like apartments with like a

626
00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:19.840
living room, couch and a shower, and yeah, it's unbelievable

627
00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:24.239
the type of international flights that are available for free

628
00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:30.239
with your points. I would say probably the hardest places

629
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:35.119
to go to. It would be two specific types. One

630
00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:40.960
would be the extremely luxurious, think like over the water

631
00:37:41.079 --> 00:37:46.320
bungalows in Bora Bora. Can you do it? Yeah, eventually,

632
00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:49.639
but you're gonna have to like spend a nest egg

633
00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:53.199
of points in order to do that. I would say

634
00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:55.440
that would be one where people in the Points in

635
00:37:55.480 --> 00:37:57.639
miles world they do it. They travel hack trips to

636
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.840
Bora Bora, but it's not quick, it's not easy, and

637
00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:04.400
it is a significant amount of points. Another one would

638
00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:09.239
probably be some of the private, off the grid like

639
00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:17.199
non consumer participating locations. Yeah, meaning like places where like

640
00:38:18.280 --> 00:38:22.159
you're you're booking, you know, with an individual or with

641
00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:25.719
a private mom and pop like chateau or something like that.

642
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.960
Can you do it? Yes, you're definitely not gonna get

643
00:38:30.039 --> 00:38:34.119
maximized value on it, but sometimes those can be a

644
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:37.000
little bit harder to travel hack. You definitely don't get

645
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:39.760
as grid of value on your points for that. But

646
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:43.920
I would say probably eighty five percent of the world

647
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:48.880
is easily accessible and doable on points. And in some

648
00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:53.159
cases some people aren't where I where I was. Some

649
00:38:53.159 --> 00:38:57.079
people would say, Hey, I'm not like broken, burned out,

650
00:38:57.159 --> 00:39:01.480
unable to travel. I'm already traveling and this would simply

651
00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:04.320
enhance the travel that I'm already doing. I don't need

652
00:39:04.360 --> 00:39:06.360
to travel for free, but man, I would sure love

653
00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:09.519
to save eight thousand dollars on my next trip. Yeah,

654
00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:13.239
that's great too, whether whether you're travel starved and this

655
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:17.039
would make travel possible, or you're a travel lover who's

656
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.679
already engaged and this isn't something where you're aspiring to

657
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:23.880
free travel, but it would help you reallocate thousands of

658
00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:26.320
dollars that you used to spend on travel that now

659
00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:29.559
you could reallocate to other portions of your life. That

660
00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:32.719
would be really great as well. Well.

661
00:39:32.760 --> 00:39:38.480
You've talked a little bit about how to make sure

662
00:39:38.519 --> 00:39:42.519
that you do the minimum amounts every month, like by

663
00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:46.199
just setting up bottle pay. But what about the annual

664
00:39:46.280 --> 00:39:50.280
fees that sub cards. I mean, well, there's a lot

665
00:39:50.280 --> 00:39:53.440
of cards that charge annual fees. Let's talk a little

666
00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:54.800
bit about those annual fees.

667
00:39:55.400 --> 00:39:58.800
Yeah. Absolutely, so there are cards that do you have

668
00:39:58.840 --> 00:40:02.360
annual fees. For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is

669
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:06.039
a ninety five dollars annual fee. But what you often

670
00:40:06.119 --> 00:40:09.559
find is that the value that the card, those cards

671
00:40:09.639 --> 00:40:14.000
with annual fees give you far exceeds the cost. So

672
00:40:14.159 --> 00:40:18.239
I used to be somebody that was staunchly against annual fees.

673
00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:20.840
I used to think it was the biggest waste of money,

674
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:23.599
was never willing to touch it. And then what I

675
00:40:23.679 --> 00:40:27.239
found is Okay, because I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card,

676
00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:30.880
I get a six thousand dollars trip to King Kun.

677
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:33.239
So you tell me, I gotta pay ninety five dollars

678
00:40:33.320 --> 00:40:35.760
a year for the card that made that possible. Yeah,

679
00:40:35.800 --> 00:40:39.960
that's a no brainer. But beyond the travel perks, there

680
00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:43.119
are also everyday perks that a lot of those cards

681
00:40:43.199 --> 00:40:46.679
offer as well. So, for instance, my Chase Sapphire card

682
00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:51.760
has monthly door dash credits. Other cards that I have

683
00:40:51.880 --> 00:40:55.159
give me monthly Duncan credit. There are some cards that

684
00:40:55.199 --> 00:40:58.840
will give you free Uber or Lift credit every month.

685
00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:02.039
Other ones will get you into airport lounges where now

686
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:04.280
you don't have to pay for food in the airport.

687
00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:06.800
Now you get to relax in a quiet place with

688
00:41:06.880 --> 00:41:11.719
catered food. There are all kinds of different value adds

689
00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:14.559
that the cards with annual fees get. Yet at the

690
00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:19.280
same time, this whole idea of quality matters more than quantity.

691
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:23.840
What I have not done is I have not established

692
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.639
an arsenal of cards where now I'm paying hundreds and

693
00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:30.559
thousands of dollars every year in annual fees just so

694
00:41:30.599 --> 00:41:33.119
I get to take some awesome trips. One of the

695
00:41:33.159 --> 00:41:35.079
cool things is there are actually a lot of no

696
00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:40.039
annual fee cards that have far more value than people

697
00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:44.079
ever realize at face value, and so it's not like

698
00:41:44.119 --> 00:41:46.639
you're racking up a ton of annual fees. And what

699
00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:49.000
I do is I actually help people figure out as

700
00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:51.039
I teach them in my course, I help them to

701
00:41:51.079 --> 00:41:53.719
be able to make an informed decision about whether or

702
00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:57.000
not an annual fee is worth it for them. There's

703
00:41:57.039 --> 00:41:59.360
really not a black and white, cut and dry, cookie

704
00:41:59.400 --> 00:42:02.199
cutter answer. It really depends on who you are, what

705
00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:04.519
you want to do, and what you would actually benefit from.

706
00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:06.760
It doesn't matter if the card has all kinds of

707
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:09.960
perks if they aren't perks that you're actually going to

708
00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:14.800
and use and benefit. So, yeah, you're able to engage

709
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.519
that in some really great ways that make it really

710
00:42:17.559 --> 00:42:20.880
easy to be able to navigate those decisions with an

711
00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:21.880
informed perspective.

712
00:42:23.199 --> 00:42:25.480
Well, we are gonna we're gonna have to wrap this up.

713
00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:30.159
This always goes fast, but let's talk a little bit.

714
00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:31.719
I want to find out a little bit what your

715
00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:37.440
take is on like hotel loyalty programs, comparing that to

716
00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:40.920
airline programs in terms of value and perks. Is there

717
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:41.960
a difference.

718
00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:46.000
In terms of which types of programs give you more

719
00:42:46.079 --> 00:42:51.960
value or yeah? Yeah, yeah, So I would say I

720
00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:56.000
don't have a loyalty to any airline or hotel chain.

721
00:42:57.119 --> 00:43:01.079
My loyalty is based out our recency bias of who's

722
00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:04.519
offering the best value at the moment. So I don't

723
00:43:04.559 --> 00:43:07.199
really like pin myself down to one particular. I will

724
00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:11.840
say I am extremely unloyal to budget travel. I'm unwilling

725
00:43:11.920 --> 00:43:15.239
to fly budget airlines. I'm unwilling to stay in crack

726
00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:18.559
pop motels like. So it's it's you got to be

727
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:22.199
at a certain quality level. But in general, I would

728
00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:25.039
say there are a lot of different great airline and

729
00:43:25.159 --> 00:43:28.679
hotel loyalty programs out there. Some of what I teach

730
00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:30.360
in my course is helping you to be able to

731
00:43:30.440 --> 00:43:34.559
know which one of them are the most valuable, helping

732
00:43:34.599 --> 00:43:37.440
you understand the value of the points that they offer,

733
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:40.840
you know how they treat consumers, all of those types

734
00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:43.880
of things. But again, there's not like one particular one

735
00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:46.880
that you're forced to stick with. It really depends on

736
00:43:47.039 --> 00:43:50.519
where you're going, what you're doing, what airline will get

737
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:53.760
you there, and what hotel chains are present in that

738
00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:58.559
particular destination. So I'm pretty wide open with that and

739
00:43:58.679 --> 00:44:02.159
able to really take make all kinds of incredible opportunities

740
00:44:02.159 --> 00:44:04.599
from all kinds of different loyalty programs.

741
00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:10.559
Sounds awesome. Well, we're gonna have to wrap up. I

742
00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:13.880
would love to have you answer one last question. What's

743
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:18.159
one step that listeners could take today to get closer

744
00:44:18.280 --> 00:44:22.280
to their first free flight or hotel stay.

745
00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:25.440
Yeah. Absolutely, I would say sign up for the Chase

746
00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:28.840
Sapphire Preferred Card. That's the one step, and then for

747
00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:32.960
any future steps, feel free to connect with what I'm

748
00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:36.639
doing at travel Multiplier. It's just travel multiplier dot com.

749
00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:40.119
I've had the privilege of walking start to finish with

750
00:44:40.280 --> 00:44:44.079
dozens and dozens of people helping them unlock the secrets

751
00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:46.679
of free travel, helping them to avoid many of the

752
00:44:46.760 --> 00:44:50.480
common mistakes and be able to maximize the opportunity that's

753
00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:52.199
in front of you. So if you're interested in that,

754
00:44:52.280 --> 00:44:54.599
I would love to connect and love to help any

755
00:44:54.599 --> 00:44:55.199
way that I can.

756
00:44:56.480 --> 00:45:00.400
Well, I am believing that this is just going to

757
00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:03.519
bring all kinds of value to a lot of people.

758
00:45:04.159 --> 00:45:10.039
So really appreciate your time today. And like Tim said,

759
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:12.440
you can go find him at his website and you

760
00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:16.159
will also be able to find a little pdf flyer

761
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:19.960
on the bonus downloads at the podcast website so that

762
00:45:20.039 --> 00:45:23.280
you can have some more information on how to find Tim.

763
00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:26.760
And so Tim, with that, I want to ask you

764
00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:34.079
to just you leave your last parting thought for everyone.

765
00:45:34.440 --> 00:45:40.000
Yeah, I would say that. Yeah, I guess my parting

766
00:45:40.039 --> 00:45:47.639
thought would be investment in yourself through refreshing vacation is

767
00:45:47.760 --> 00:45:50.800
absolutely worth it. Your family is rarely going to be

768
00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:53.719
healthier than you are. Your workplace is rarely going to

769
00:45:53.719 --> 00:45:55.960
be healthier than you are wherever you are. If you're

770
00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:58.960
able to bring your best self there because you've invested

771
00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:05.039
in yourself through replenishing travel and vacation and experiences, it

772
00:46:05.159 --> 00:46:08.360
is absolutely worth it. So if you're able to get

773
00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:11.199
those for free, it's even better to be able to

774
00:46:11.199 --> 00:46:13.679
invest in yourself in that way.

775
00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:17.320
Well, Tim, thank you so much for joining us today,

776
00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:20.199
and I want to just say thank you to everyone

777
00:46:20.599 --> 00:46:23.559
who has been here to take part in this and

778
00:46:23.639 --> 00:46:26.800
thank you for joining the Ask Good Questions podcast.

779
00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:33.840
Today's episode is over, but we did Ask Good Questions again,

780
00:46:33.960 --> 00:46:38.159
didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday,

781
00:46:38.239 --> 00:46:42.239
six pm Eastern Time on W FOURCY Radio at w

782
00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:46.360
fourcy dot com. Joined Banina Bell Anderson next week for

783
00:46:46.559 --> 00:46:52.199
more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues,

784
00:46:52.280 --> 00:46:56.920
health and wellness, and more. Until then, remember to ask

785
00:46:57.119 --> 00:46:58.719
good Questions.