Churning Life Podcast

This month continued to be good at Best Buy for iPads, and there was some big drops at Walmart for Pokemon. On the travel side, I went on a two-week trip to Kyoto, Taiwan, and Thailand to escape the Portland winter.

Best Buy spending continued to be strong with the annual business gold cap reset and good sales on iPads and Apple watches. I also have been making good progress on the Pokémon front with Walmart. The travel for this month included a visit to Mexico City for the first time and another ski trip in Europe, both great trips!For more information on the private Slack group, head over to churninglife.com.

December had a lot of great deals on Apple products, with the main items being the S11 Apple Watches and iPad 11s. I also talk with Bryan M about his recent trip to Norway and the Lofoten Islands, including KLM and AA business class for his family of four and some great value with Choice hotels. A meetup is happening in New Orleans on 3/28 and the details have been sent out to the mailing list. If you would like to join and didn't get an email, let me know at [email protected].

Black Friday was a bit disappointing on Best Buy because the best Airpod sale never went live, but there were still plenty of lower margin deals. On the travel side, we visited the Maldives for the first time with stopovers in both Dubai and Doha.

This month, iPhones continued to go strong and are still going through November. There was also a good sale on iPads and Airpods at Best Buy with another round of coupons. We went on two different weeklong trips, one that included Hermitage Bay in Antigua and another at Chicago Seminars followed by Miami.To join the mailing list, there is a link on the website churninglife.com.

Best Buy had another good sale on Airpods this month that I was able to scale pretty well. I also recap a 1.5 week trip to Peru where we saw Machu Picchu and the Inti Raymi festival.Link to the amex lounge waitlist (replace the airport code): https://queue.americanexpress.com/accountKey.59957E3C6338837882DC2D4C1D9AF664/PHX_CENTURION_LOUNGEFor more information on the private Slack group, visit churninglife.com

I discuss the latest Amex shutdowns along with the upcoming changes with Southwest Airlines and Emirates. It was another solid month at Best Buy where I was able to get a combination of laptops and Pokemon cards, and meanwhile I am steadily working on buying more gold.

The meetup was a success, and thanks to everyone who came out! In this episode I dive into my churning and buying group activities for this month, including some Bank of America success and ordering the usual items from Best Buy. I am also starting to work on scaling up Costco gold, Walmart, and figuring out Pokemon cards.Head over to churninglife.com for more information on the Patreon & private Slack group.

This episode covers a 3 week trip that we did to Taiwan, Bali, Niseko & Kyoto, as well as the usual buying group activities. Niseko Hotel: https://nisekohakuunso.com/Kyoto Restaurant: https://www.kaland.co.jp/yata_honten/Austin Meetup Sign Up Form: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alignedincentiveschurning-life-meetup-tickets-1218491895059?aff=oddtdtcreatorHead over to churninglife.com for more information on the Patreon & private Slack group.

This is the 2nd beginner-focused episode and is about the mindset of churning as a hobby and how to get started with award travel. I also talk about some tips for Qatar Airways and how to book with EVA's own mileage program.Head over to churninglife.com for more information about the Patreon and private Slack group.

Starting with a layover in Vegas, we spent a week traveling around Marrakesh, Morocco and ended in Paris. This was my first time on Air France & KLM (booked with Virgin Atlantic miles), which were both decent business class products. I also had a few mishaps on the way including multiple traffic violations from the Moroccan police, almost denied boarding for losing my paper boarding pass, and forgetting to select seats, but it still turned out to be a great trip.For a full library of the podcast and a link to the private Slack group, head over to Patreon.com/churninglife.

In this episode I talk about two trips I did in September in central Italy and Kauai. Both were really amazing trips! Highlights include Turkish, ITA, and Hawaiian business class, WA Rome, GH Kauai & Vacasa as always.Important podcast update: Starting 12/1/24, most episodes will be moved from the public channels over to the Patreon. The latest episode will always remain public for at least 30 days from the publishing date.

This is the long awaited tax episode! In this episode I have a special guest Tonei Glavinic, who is a tax professional and long-time churner. We do a deep dive into taxes on reselling and manufactured spending for miles and points, discuss how various methods of earning points should be treated, and also discuss tax ethics and tax-preparer responsibility. To connect with Tonei, visit their website https://travelhackertaxes.com/. You can also find them in the Slack :)

This is a beginner focused episode and is part one of a two part series: Part one is focused on the making money side of churning and part two will be more geared towards points and award travel. Topics include a rundown of the credit card issuers to start churning sign-up bonuses with, some basic methods for manufactured spending, and the types of skills that a churner should develop.Amex:Can hold up to 5 credit cards at a time.Can hold up to 10 charge (pay over time) cards at a time.Maximum of 2 credit card approvals every 90 days (2/90). No restriction on charge cards.Only one approval per product every 90 days (1/90). Upgrades and downgrades don't count.Must keep a card open for 12 months to avoid clawback of the sign-up bonus.Chase:You can't get approved for any credit card if you have had more than 4 personal card approvals in the last 24 months - stay at less than 5 (5/24). There's no hard limit, but there tends to be a max of 3-4 ink business cards before they won't approve any more.US Bank:Applications made on the same day will only have one hard pull (most of the time).LLCs can help scale duplicate applications.Bank of America:Applications within 30 days will only have one hard pull.LLCs can help scale duplicate applications.Amazon:Accounts need to be well-seasoned (6-12 months is ideal).Up to 3 accounts can make the same order with the same credit card every 7 days.One prime account can add one additional household member account and up to 6 teen accounts that share prime benefits (teens must still be seasoned).Address jig is not required, but if you don't jig then you can't get a refund for lost items.Walmart:Accounts need to be somewhat seasoned.It helps to avoid changing payment methods prior to making large orders.Limits reset overnight (usually limited to two orders per day of the same product).Hard to get a refund for missing items.Best Buy:No seasoning required.Once a credit card has had a canceled order, that card will no longer work.Limits reset every 24 hours.Very hard to buy apple products and streaming sticks.Hard to get a refund for missing items.

A quick episode to recap our trips to LA to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and a week-long trip to Guatemala.

In this episode I talk with Logan from Aligned Incentives about how he started his gift card brokerage and how it operates today.To join the free Slack group, head over to churninglife.com.

A recap of our week-long trip in Miami and St Croix, USVI, where we had a really fun experience. I also discuss the latest Wyndham/Vacasa and Hyatt devaluations and what's next after Best Buy. To join the free Slack group and sign up for the mailing list, head over to churninglife.com.

I start with a deep dive into what happened with the crypto collapse and the bankruptcy of "crypto lending" platforms, then discuss what we can learn from them and how to think about the risk with churning-related activities. To join the free Slack group and sign up for the mailing list, head over to churninglife.com.