Milenomics ² Podcast - No Annual Fee Edition

On today's podcast I chat with Bram Berkowitz to discuss investing in mutual savings banks. I first became familiar with the topic from an excellent article he wrote: See: How The Average Person Can Make A Lot Of Money Investing In Mutual Savings Banks 0:00 Background and intro 2:10 The basic pattern of mutual banks offering pre-IPO shares to account holders, a potential run up and second bump 3 y...

On this week's "No Annual Fee" podcast we discuss... 0:25 Amex Personal Gold/Platinum Offers through Resy (HT DDG ) Direct Link to offers Personal Gold has standard characteristics (60k welcome bonus, $4k min spend, $250 fee) plus 20% back at restaurants first year up to $250 back Personal Platinum has standard characteristics (75k welcome bonus, $5k min spend, $550 fee) plus 20% back at restauran...

Earlier this year we launched a podcast network, adding the Manifesto hosted by Gideon the Free-quent Flyer to the Patreon Feed. In this episode Gideon sits down with Kelly de Schaun, Chief Executive Officer of the Galveston Park Board. Enjoy this special episode, and if you're interested in even more great podcast content, check us out on Patreon. -- [0:00] Intro Original Galveston post: https://...

Today we're doing 10 minutes on the podcast All About Amex. This post is a companion piece to that audio. The goal here is to describe the "quirks and features" (as Doug DeMuro would say) of American Express credit cards and their Membership Rewards program. Amex may not be as straightforward to interact with as Chase but if you take time to familiarize yourself with Amex it can prove to be a very...

0:25 Stop & Shop Rewards can now be used for Groceries ( Milenomics Slack ) 1 point per dollar earned  Redeem 100 points for $1 (1 cpp value) 2,000 max per transaction (ie, max $20 off) Fuel Rewards is 100 points for $0.10/gallon up to 20 gallons (Up to 2 cpp of value if you can fill a 20 gallon tank) But how much gas can you realistically use? You need to log in to your account (on deskt...

Today we're back with a standard No Annual Fee episode.  We do the news, and then talk Personal Finance and Amex Small Business Credits. 0:30 GiftCards.com joins giftcardmall with $2k monthly portal cap Rakuten lasted until 7/7 at $60k/mo Showing $2k cap as of 7/8 1:50 [Targeted?] Chase Marriott/Ritz cards: 10x on Gas + Dining ( DoC ) 7/15-9/15 $3,500 cap Must register: Link 3:15 Discover 20%...

A couple months ago we launched the Milenomics Podcast Network which now includes three shows: Milenomics² Podcast with Sam Simon and Robert Dwyer Milenomics Second Podcast hosted by Garth Grawburg The Manifesto with Gideon The Free-quent Flyer Subscribers gain access to these shows as well as a thriving Slack community, the ability to attend meetups, and more. Today we're releasing a free preview...

We're back with a bit of a stretch for our 'short cut' topic.  Robert and I sat down to have a quick chat about our upcoming summer travel plans, both of which revolve around vacation rentals. Along the way, as we tend to do, we took a bit of a deep dive into price variances between booking channels, how does the current Chase 1.5 cpp cash out method play into paying for vacation rentals, and...

Update: Here's link to the Instagram Live video Last week Emirates greatly reduced taxes + fees on awards on their metal using their Skywards miles . That's great for those who want to fly Emirates metal, especially since we can transfer bank points to Skywards 1:1 across so many programs. But the place a lot of us immediately went with this was to wonder... Did Emirates also reduce fuel surcharge...

Check your Business Platinum and Personal Gold cards for 20,000 referrals We’ve been seeing [targeted] heightened 20,000 Membership Reward “Blue Star” referrals come and go on Amex Business Platinum and Personal Gold cards. Right now they seem to be “in season” with a high percentage of these cards showing heightened referral bonuses. Update: Others are reporting seei...

This episode was originally released last July 4th for our Patreon members. We’re releasing it here for all readers and listeners of the Podcast. Maybe you’ll find it a nice 38 minute distraction from everything going on right now.  Original Show notes are as follows: Today we’re taking a break from the regular show format to have a little fun. Both of us have a bit of a guilty p...

Welcome to another episode of Short Cuts on our No Annual Fee Podcast. I recently applied for a Home Equity Line of Credit and noticed that my FICO score was a bit lower than I expected. It got me wondering whether it is still important to monitor my credit report and check my credit score, and if so – how? In this episode we mention these services: Credit Karma Credit Sesame Experian.com Se...

Welcome to another episode of Short Cuts on our No Annual Fee Podcast. Today we talk about where the points & miles game fits in the context of a pandemic like we’re currently experiencing. We discuss the importance of demand schedules. Check this link for more on that topic. Want more? Become a Patron to Unlock 1+ Hour Weekly Shows Support Milenomics on Patreon where you’ll get: A...

Welcome to another episode of Short Cuts on our No Annual Fee Podcast. Today we’re talking about opportunities for travel deals surrounding Coronavirus. Not necessarily for travel in the near term, but where we see angles to book award travel further out with flexible cancellation terms. Want more? Become a Patron to Unlock 1+ Hour Weekly Shows Check out Episode 67 of our Paid Show where we...

We’re trying something different on our No Annual Fee Podcast this week with a format called Short Cuts . In Short Cuts we’ll cover the latest points & miles news, and our take on recent developments, in short digestible shows with a singular topic. This week we’re talking Coronavirus change waivers, and how to navigate them for upcoming travel. In life almost everything is n...