WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:02.310
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
2
00:00:02.350 --> 00:00:04.009
solely those of the host and their guests and not
3
00:00:04.049 --> 00:00:07.160
those of W4CY Radio, its employees or affiliates. We make
4
00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.119
no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services or
5
00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.060
products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability
6
00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.839
explicit or implied shall be extended to W4CY Radio or
7
00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.570
its employees or affiliates. Any questions or comments should be
8
00:00:18.609 --> 00:00:21.929
directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W4CY Radio.
9
00:00:29.050 --> 00:00:33.799
Welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast, broadcasting live every Wednesday,
10
00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:39.920
6 p.m. Eastern Time on W4CY Radio at W4CY. com. This
11
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.920
week and every week, we will reach for a higher
12
00:00:42.979 --> 00:00:46.840
purpose in money and life, as well as a focus
13
00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:51.409
on health and wellness. Now, let's join your host, Benita
14
00:00:51.469 --> 00:00:56.490
Bell Anderson, as together we start with asking good questions.
15
00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:06.060
Hello and welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. My
16
00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:09.060
name is Benita Bell Anderson. I am your host and
17
00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:12.859
we have got a fabulous show today that is going
18
00:01:12.900 --> 00:01:17.719
to be, I think, super, super helpful. This has to
19
00:01:17.769 --> 00:01:24.069
do with travel and using credit card points wisely. We've
20
00:01:24.109 --> 00:01:26.950
got a super guest who has figured out a whole
21
00:01:26.989 --> 00:01:31.989
new system for this. And I'd like to invite Kunal
22
00:01:32.069 --> 00:01:36.879
Lakwani to the podcast stage. Welcome.
23
00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:39.780
Thank you, Vanita, for having me.
24
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:43.439
Yeah, you bet. Let me tell everyone a little bit
25
00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:48.379
about you. First of all, I'll say most people think
26
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.739
that luxury travel is reserved for the wealthy or the
27
00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:58.329
obsessive points nerd who's got 47 screens available for him.
28
00:01:59.530 --> 00:02:02.950
He says he's neither. He's an immigrant who came to
29
00:02:02.989 --> 00:02:06.209
the United States. I believe it was from India, correct?
30
00:02:06.950 --> 00:02:07.329
That's right.
31
00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:12.870
And he's built a career as an engineer and stumbled
32
00:02:12.949 --> 00:02:17.810
onto a system where his everyday expenses generate enough credit
33
00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:23.689
card rewards to fund business class flights and high-end hotel stays.
34
00:02:24.610 --> 00:02:32.979
And he runs on Instagram something called rentals.and.runways, where he
35
00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:37.520
documents the art of travel hacking. And so he's turning
36
00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:40.939
credit card points into luxury travel experiences, which I think
37
00:02:41.620 --> 00:02:45.830
everybody should be interested in. Most people think this is
38
00:02:45.909 --> 00:02:49.490
out of reach, but he's built a repeatable system that
39
00:02:49.509 --> 00:02:52.969
doesn't require quitting your job or spending a lot of
40
00:02:53.009 --> 00:02:56.979
money you don't already have. So I'm hoping that our
41
00:02:57.099 --> 00:03:00.300
audience today is going to walk away knowing how to
42
00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:04.379
identify the credit cards that generate the most valuable points.
43
00:03:04.750 --> 00:03:07.150
Because I know I get credit card offers all the
44
00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:09.789
time and you just you don't know. And so we're
45
00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:12.270
going to talk about this. We're going to talk about
46
00:03:12.330 --> 00:03:15.990
how to find and book business class flights and luxury
47
00:03:16.050 --> 00:03:21.080
hotels and how to build a simple repeatable process. That's
48
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.270
probably the most important thing. It works alongside a busy life.
49
00:03:25.430 --> 00:03:29.969
He says he's not a guru. He's someone who's figured
50
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.500
this out while working a full-time job. So with that,
51
00:03:35.259 --> 00:03:37.360
is there anything that you'd like to add to that?
52
00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:41.180
I think that is the best introduction I've ever heard
53
00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:45.180
of myself. So thank you for that. Nothing to add.
54
00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:51.810
Well, I mean, so you're an engineer, right? And you're
55
00:03:51.870 --> 00:03:57.449
also a real estate investor. He lives in Colorado. How
56
00:03:57.530 --> 00:04:00.650
in the heck did you ever stumble onto travel hacking?
57
00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:04.629
And what made you realize that this would be something
58
00:04:04.650 --> 00:04:05.889
that you could be interested in?
59
00:04:07.310 --> 00:04:11.270
Yeah, so I, as you mentioned, I came to the U.S.
60
00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:14.969
as an immigrant. I came here to pursue my master's
61
00:04:15.030 --> 00:04:18.990
degree in computer science from Arizona State. This was about
62
00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:26.639
at this point, 12 years back now. So that's when I,
63
00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:30.829
as I landed here, I realized that having good credit
64
00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.449
always helps in the US. Like even when I was
65
00:04:34.509 --> 00:04:38.189
trying to rent my apartment, they wanted to pull my credit.
66
00:04:38.769 --> 00:04:42.209
I just landed, like I'm two days old in this country.
67
00:04:42.269 --> 00:04:45.069
So I don't have a credit history or a good
68
00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:50.639
credit score. So just getting an apartment for myself was
69
00:04:51.459 --> 00:04:54.629
a challenge without credit history so that's when i got
70
00:04:54.649 --> 00:04:59.509
exposed to at least first understanding what a credit score
71
00:04:59.569 --> 00:05:02.050
is what a credit history is and how do i
72
00:05:02.089 --> 00:05:05.360
go about building it so as part of that i
73
00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:10.800
my banker recommended that i get a credit card at
74
00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:15.839
that time it was called the chase freedom um I
75
00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:19.259
needed to achieve a few milestones in order to first
76
00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:22.560
get that card and also get a bonus. The bonus
77
00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:26.980
was minimal from today's standards, now knowing what I know.
78
00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:29.620
But at that time, it felt like a fortune because
79
00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:33.540
I could get $ 100 back if I spend $ 500, and
80
00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:39.410
I needed a new $ 600 Dell laptop. I'm like, perfect.
81
00:05:39.949 --> 00:05:43.230
I get a $ 100 discount, and this is the best
82
00:05:43.250 --> 00:05:46.500
deal ever. So that's how I got my first credit card.
83
00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:51.889
And that's when I understood the, the whole landscape of
84
00:05:52.029 --> 00:05:56.430
credit history, credit score, and what different types of credit
85
00:05:56.470 --> 00:06:00.430
cards are available. And I started educating myself from that
86
00:06:00.509 --> 00:06:04.089
point because I was interested in finding good deals. Um,
87
00:06:04.420 --> 00:06:07.439
and as part of finding good deals, I realized that
88
00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:11.160
credit cards can help me get that extra cash back
89
00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:15.959
and make the deal even better. Um, Through that process,
90
00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:19.910
I realized that the points that I am earning through
91
00:06:19.970 --> 00:06:25.189
my spend, instead of redeeming it for cashback or just
92
00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:29.509
focusing on cashback, I could potentially use those points to
93
00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:34.660
transfer to travel partners and then leverage it to get
94
00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:40.199
a 90%, in some cases, 100% discount on hotel stays
95
00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:45.490
or flights. So that's when I started looking into it further.
96
00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:51.000
And that's how I discovered travel hacking. It had nothing
97
00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:54.040
to do with my day job of software engineering. It
98
00:06:54.180 --> 00:06:57.759
has nothing to do with my side project or passion
99
00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:04.319
of real estate investing. But it probably has something to
100
00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:08.259
do with my mindset of being frugal and always wanting
101
00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:10.399
to find a good deal. Right.
102
00:07:12.529 --> 00:07:17.810
You described yourself as not a guru, why is that
103
00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:21.790
distinction important? What do you think?
104
00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:26.480
I think as a guru, there is a connotation that
105
00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:30.560
I'm trying to sell something. There is something in it
106
00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:35.379
for me. I'm trying to benefit out of this for
107
00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:40.500
myself without thinking about the benefits that I'm maybe providing
108
00:07:40.579 --> 00:07:44.839
to the listeners or, viewers of this show or any
109
00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:48.439
other place that i speak at that is not my
110
00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:55.819
intention my intention is to help everyone elevate their lifestyle
111
00:07:56.579 --> 00:08:01.050
as part of that elevation travel is a big piece
112
00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:05.670
because as we travel more we understand about different cultures
113
00:08:05.769 --> 00:08:10.269
we learn about different groups of people, how they live,
114
00:08:10.370 --> 00:08:13.220
how they interact, what is important for them, and so on.
115
00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:20.800
So it opens different avenues in our mind. And that
116
00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:25.990
is one benefit. Another benefit is we get relaxed. Let's
117
00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:28.670
say we just go on a luxury trip. We don't
118
00:08:28.730 --> 00:08:32.450
do anything. We don't even interact with people. That trip
119
00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:37.779
may not really open up uh, new cultures or new, um,
120
00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:43.370
mindset shifts in you, but it gave you like five
121
00:08:43.419 --> 00:08:48.750
days of, uh, relaxing time when you come out, come
122
00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:54.919
back home, uh, with better energy. So it eventually elevated
123
00:08:54.940 --> 00:09:01.500
your lifestyle. And in my case, I was, uh, I
124
00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:07.159
was never able to afford those $ 600, $ 1, 000 per night
125
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:14.820
resort stays. But now with credit cards, I can achieve that.
126
00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:18.889
So that's what I want to share. And that is
127
00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:22.909
my intent, that the people that I'm able to touch
128
00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:26.570
and share this with, they are able to experience the
129
00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:30.269
same benefits that I experienced from travel hacking. It is
130
00:09:30.429 --> 00:09:35.259
not about me wanting to sell a particular course or
131
00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:40.720
a particular product I am teaching a system that I
132
00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:47.990
personally used and as a guru I think when someone
133
00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:50.629
calls themselves a guru they know everything and they are
134
00:09:50.690 --> 00:09:55.450
only preaching in my case I don't know everything I
135
00:09:55.490 --> 00:09:59.230
am here to share my journey and what I have
136
00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:02.019
learned but i also do want to listen from people
137
00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:06.500
who are in this for more years less years than
138
00:10:06.539 --> 00:10:09.679
me does not matter if there's an information that i
139
00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:13.039
don't have then that they have i am open and
140
00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:16.350
willing to listen to that learn from it and implement
141
00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:19.659
in my system That's why I treat myself as not
142
00:10:19.730 --> 00:10:21.450
a guru. I'm just sharing what I know.
143
00:10:22.269 --> 00:10:26.750
Right. Well, you know, the name, this name of this
144
00:10:26.830 --> 00:10:31.210
podcast has worked really, really well in calling it Ask
145
00:10:31.250 --> 00:10:35.870
Good Questions. That has been applicable to so many different things.
146
00:10:36.509 --> 00:10:41.549
And so like in this case, you know, the question of, well,
147
00:10:42.190 --> 00:10:45.690
can I afford to travel? I'm thinking that you would
148
00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:47.110
say that's the wrong question.
149
00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:48.639
That's right.
150
00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:51.759
What's the right question then?
151
00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:56.519
How do I travel? What do I need in order
152
00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:00.019
to travel? I think that is a better question because
153
00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:04.340
if you are asking, can I afford this? You are
154
00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:10.899
thinking about having to spend all of that extra amount
155
00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:15.620
that you maybe cannot afford or do not have income for.
156
00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:20.720
But if you ask, These are my expenses. This is
157
00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:27.500
my income. Without overextending myself, without putting a strain on
158
00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:32.629
my family or my financial situation, how can I still
159
00:11:32.710 --> 00:11:39.269
fulfill my desire to travel to exotic locations, in luxury,
160
00:11:39.649 --> 00:11:43.169
or it doesn't even always have to be luxury or exotic.
161
00:11:43.809 --> 00:11:48.379
It can be a remote location that fulfills your desire
162
00:11:48.460 --> 00:11:51.700
to learn about a new culture. But you have to
163
00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.340
take a flight. It can be an economy. It doesn't
164
00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:57.210
have to be a business class flight, but even economy
165
00:11:57.230 --> 00:12:00.909
flight can be expensive at times. If you're traveling with family,
166
00:12:00.990 --> 00:12:05.370
with kids, you need more than one or two tickets
167
00:12:05.549 --> 00:12:11.389
and that can get expensive as well. So everyone's style
168
00:12:11.490 --> 00:12:16.049
of travel is different. Everyone's budget is different. But everyone
169
00:12:16.350 --> 00:12:20.360
can and should travel, and this opens that door for
170
00:12:20.389 --> 00:12:20.769
all of us.
171
00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.679
Well, is there a mistake that you see people make
172
00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.679
that comes up again and again when they're first starting
173
00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:32.110
to try to earn points?
174
00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:38.710
Yeah, I think a lot of people get subscribed to...
175
00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.820
cards that we get sold while we are in store.
176
00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:47.720
Like if we visit Macy's, we have a $ 500 bill
177
00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:49.799
and at checkout, they would say, if you sign up
178
00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.970
for this credit card, you'll get a 10% discount. And
179
00:12:53.620 --> 00:12:57.549
instead of 500, you're only paying 450. In the moment, yes,
180
00:12:57.750 --> 00:13:04.129
it's a good deal. But if you think beyond just
181
00:13:04.250 --> 00:13:09.960
that one transaction, if you don't apply for that card,
182
00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:14.620
but apply for something different. How can you still get
183
00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:20.679
that same $ 50 discount on that transaction, but come out
184
00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:24.429
ahead even beyond that? And how does that one card
185
00:13:24.649 --> 00:13:30.070
affect your overall plan or framework to apply for cards?
186
00:13:30.529 --> 00:13:33.250
I think that is a mistake that many people make
187
00:13:33.289 --> 00:13:33.870
in the beginning.
188
00:13:34.909 --> 00:13:39.159
I think what you're saying is, begin with the end
189
00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.620
in mind. I mean, like Stephen, I'm thinking of Stephen R. Covey,
190
00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:46.870
who basically said, you know, so I think you're saying
191
00:13:47.269 --> 00:13:51.850
when you're going out to start implementing this, go with
192
00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:54.049
what is it that you want to achieve, right?
193
00:13:54.870 --> 00:13:59.090
Yes, totally. And that's where I think distinction between cards
194
00:13:59.169 --> 00:14:04.610
is important. Are you focused on cashback because you're tight
195
00:14:04.710 --> 00:14:09.690
on cash? Or are you focused on travel because your
196
00:14:09.929 --> 00:14:14.049
everyday expenses are already covered by your income and you
197
00:14:14.110 --> 00:14:17.679
are living below your means. And this is something that
198
00:14:18.379 --> 00:14:22.580
you are using as a tool to get better experiences
199
00:14:22.659 --> 00:14:27.379
than you can otherwise. So I think that is really
200
00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:32.100
important to begin with. Are you focused on that 10%
201
00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:35.919
cashback at Macy's or are you focused on that outsized
202
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:42.090
value while you're traveling with your family. And with that
203
00:14:42.149 --> 00:14:44.009
in mind, we can figure out what are the right
204
00:14:44.070 --> 00:14:47.049
cards and what cards do you want to focus on?
205
00:14:47.830 --> 00:14:52.090
Well, do you think that you have to spend a
206
00:14:52.149 --> 00:14:55.169
fortune to start earning points?
207
00:14:56.730 --> 00:15:00.480
No, I think if we end up doing that, then
208
00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:07.710
we are actually going against the principle. Yeah. If you
209
00:15:07.750 --> 00:15:12.049
have to spend $ 2, 000 extra a month to achieve those points,
210
00:15:12.110 --> 00:15:15.950
and then maybe you are getting $ 1, 500 or $ 2, 500 in travel,
211
00:15:15.970 --> 00:15:19.659
then did you really benefit from the system? Not really.
212
00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.159
Well, let's get into the nitty-gritty.
213
00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:23.909
Yeah, let's do it.
214
00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:28.820
What parts are actually worth it in 2026? How do
215
00:15:28.860 --> 00:15:31.659
you discern which ones are worth it and which ones
216
00:15:31.730 --> 00:15:32.429
are overhyped?
217
00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.320
If you are being sold a card, I think by
218
00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:43.899
default it is overhyped. So I gave one example of
219
00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:47.679
the Macy's card because I think that is always the case.
220
00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.470
If we step a foot in Macy's, you get some
221
00:15:52.350 --> 00:15:57.090
printouts at the door, at checkout, everywhere. There are other
222
00:15:57.590 --> 00:16:00.570
store cards like that. Target will try to sell you
223
00:16:00.809 --> 00:16:02.070
a card with 5% cashback. Yeah.
224
00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:05.059
I can't think of any big box store that I
225
00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:07.259
haven't been in where they've tried to sell me a card.
226
00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:11.720
Yeah. So I typically consider those as a not good
227
00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:16.590
card for me because, and this is where the framework
228
00:16:16.629 --> 00:16:19.230
or the system comes in. It's not that those are
229
00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:24.350
bad cards or the stores are out there to get
230
00:16:24.409 --> 00:16:27.500
some money from you or there's a hidden agenda for it.
231
00:16:28.110 --> 00:16:31.929
I'm not saying that, but for my goal, which is
232
00:16:31.990 --> 00:16:36.649
to travel, more in luxury or to places that I
233
00:16:36.909 --> 00:16:39.990
otherwise would not be able to afford, it does not
234
00:16:40.149 --> 00:16:46.080
sit in that framework. So that's why defining your goal
235
00:16:46.139 --> 00:16:49.759
is really important. Then it's an easy decision at that
236
00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:53.740
counter when they try to sell you that card. This
237
00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:56.320
$ 50 discount on my current bill, is that worth it
238
00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:59.679
to me? Or can I use a different card for
239
00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:03.500
the same spend? And maybe instead of $ 50 today, I
240
00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:07.460
am going to get $ 100 back. But there is delayed
241
00:17:07.509 --> 00:17:10.990
gratification because I will have to wait for a year
242
00:17:11.130 --> 00:17:16.109
to travel and then use this credit. So how are
243
00:17:16.130 --> 00:17:16.569
you going to.