Points and Travel Priorities
Something I’ve talked about on Miles to Memories podcasts, in public episodes or the Spending Time with Benjy version for MtM Diamond members, is that I can’t do everything. The points and travel hobby simply offers too much. And even if I could, I’m confident I wouldn’t. Of course, this is a good problem. A wealth of options is superior to a dearth. So how do I decide which points plays, deals, and travel to pursue? I focus on these points and travel priorities, instead.
Goals Are the Guide
What are you trying to accomplish? In my view, that’s the question anyone should ask themselves before pursuing any type of rewards currency or deal. This may seem tremendously obvious, but I fear many who play haven’t come up with their overall strategy.
Define and prioritize your goals upfront. Importantly, these goals can but aren’t required to involve travel. Think big picture. What are your life goals? Can points, cash back, and/or miles get you there? If so, how?
Using your goals as your guide, pursue rewards currencies that most directly contribute to them. Many other credit card offers, plays, and currencies exist which don’t map to your goals. Those are noise. Block out such distractions, no matter how popular they are with others, and commit to your priorities.
Focus on the Fun
Hopefully, you’ve defined your goals by now. You may be in a favorable situation where there are multiple rewards options to address those goals. And perhaps there may be too many of them for you to possibly do. Where should you put your time? I encourage you to center your effort on the options that are most fun in the moment.
Again, we are inundated with a deluge of ways to collect points, miles, and cash back. What those options don’t come with is more time. Pick the ones you find most fulfilling which also map to your goals and march onward!
Embrace Barriers to Entry
Maybe you’ve run out of “easy” options for addressing your goals. Something else to consider is leaning into barriers of entry. Often, one can do bigger things with points, miles, and cash back by putting in just a bit more effort. By doing so, you can unlock other options that aren’t as picked over or ripe for devaluation as all those easier options are. When I’ve spent more time with such tasks, I’ve found a new level of satisfaction in our hobby.
Share with Trusted Individuals
Develop relationships with other points and travel hobbyists. Leverage their expertise to validate your own strategies. By doing so, you can get that reality check you may need before diving into a more aggressive pursuit. They might catch something you’re not watching out for, saving you substantial time and effort. More importantly, making such connections can lead to a type of fulfillment so much greater than any petty rewards currency can bring.
Periodically Reevaluate
We go and grow through seasons of life, and naturally, our goals change. Therefore, so should our rewards strategies. Acknowledge when you need to make changes, be honest with yourself, adapt, and overcome. Part of this may involve letting go of a previously-perceived “dream redemption” rather than stubbornly seeing through something that you don’t actually want anymore.
Points and Travel Priorities – Conclusion
While not an all-inclusive article, these five areas can help you choose what to focus on and what to leave behind. I’m not just talking about our hobby, actually.
First and foremost, acknowledge that you can’t possibly do everything. Convincing yourself that you can and subsequently trying to pursue it all is futile. Instead, consider the items I’ve mentioned along with your own unique guiding principles. Go forth, and be fulfilled!
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
How is your college fund going? I thought those were great articles.
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Mark wrote those articles, actually. I’m glad you enjoyed them, though!