Learning to maximise my spend

[Myztikal_]

Hi all,

Decided that rather than letting my spending go to waste i'd like to make the most of it. Can anyone recommend any goals i should try to achieve? Perhaps lifetime status with Virgin/Qantas? Wouldn't mind an around the world trip with OW as well.

Trusty kit of benefits
- ING Paywave used for most purchases as under $100 for 2% cashback
- Free for life Citibank Signature and Platinum. Using Platinum for spend and Signature for Balance Transfer
- Free Amex. Not used unless an Amex offer rolls around.


Spending trends
Flight spending
- 5 domestic return trips per year, mixture of work and recreation
- 1 overseas trip per year
- Friend is a flight attendant so can get usually fares for 50% off but perhaps not the best way to get status credits?

Shopping spending
- Less than $30 with lots of $1-$10 purchases every couple of weeks. Going to shop at Coles soon after the end of Qantas and WW agreement.

Spend per month
- Most of my spends is eating out for lunch and dinner. They range between $5-20 and categorised from a kebab (yum!) to fine dining. This ones a big one for me.
- About 1-2k


I don't think i can churn through cards to keep my good credit report.

Thanks!

 

[jackthomas]

Welcome to the forums!

I'll be honest, I'm certainly not the credit card expert here.. In fact I've only got one with Commbank Rewards which is known to be not that great...

However, you will not earn lifetime status with Qantas by spending or earning points, you have to be flying enough to maintain the status year after year until you hit the requirement.
Virgin do not offer any lifetime status at this time (although its rumoured to be potentially close)

As for staff travel, I do not believe it is eligible for status credits which is why I've always denied the offer... However if its just a reduced rate you never know.

 

[ajd]

I'm also not the rewards expert around here, but my $0.02 anyway...

Given your relatively low levels of flying (roughly the same as me!), getting status beyond Silver will be difficult. The general advice here is that if you're mostly a leisure traveller who doesn't fly for business often enough, don't bother with chasing status - if you chase points instead and spend them on premium cabins (business/first), you'll get most of the advantages of status anyway. Potentially if you fly enough that not having lounge access is annoying, but not enough to get to Gold, then buying a Qantas Club membership (on a corporate discount plan e.g. what AFF Gold membership or many employers offer) may be worthwhile. Doing a "status run" (extra flights just to maintain status) is worth it if you're just under the threshold for Gold/Plat/P1, but I wouldn't structure my entire travel plans around it.

Personally, I'm saving up for a business class *O RTW - 280k points + taxes. This is generally agreed to be a reasonable option, $ per point-value-wise. Redeeming individual one-way/return bookings isn't quite as good.

I have used a couple of cards to get signup bonuses, but not as often as many people here - I've only made 60k in signup bonuses so far, but planning to do a bit more next year. Others can probably comment better on how much it affects your credit rating.

 

[Pierre_a]

- Free for life Citibank Signature and Platinum. Using Platinum for spend and Signature for Balance Transfer

Hi Myztikal

Again, I'm no expert so this is just my two cents. You imply you are running a credit card balance with the above statement. If you are and you're not clearing it before any interest free period ends the interest cost will quickly erode any benefit you get from your 2% cash back, or indeed any points you may earn.

My advice would be unless your balances are paid off in full every month its hard to get any value out of the credit card game, especially if you are unwilling to collect signup bonuses. Please accept my apologies if I have misunderstood you.

Personally I channel my general family spend through a combination of ANZ Black Visa/Amex (fee free 75k sign on bonus at the moment), making sure there are no surcharges. Plus I've also got a Qantas ultimate amex (80k signup bonus through referrals at the moment, $450 fee) which I put travel and flights through for extra points. Seek out retailers where no Amex surcharges are made and use them wherever reasonably possible - but absolutely never pay a premium or go out of your way for the privilege of earning points.

As far as goals - the 280k OW award is a pretty good place to start, and extremely achievable.

Thinking about it, the best advice I could offer is to get married, have kids and take control of the family finances - then you get to earn from two incomes!

Pierre

 

[Dr Ralph]

I don't know that there's any one perfect answer for you. My advice would be:

1) Concentrate your spending on one card

or

2) Play the bonus point game. Sign up, get the points, cancel as quickly as possible and start all over again.

 

[Myztikal_]

Thanks everyone. I have a clearer idea of what i can reasonably expect from my spending. I'll definitely go for the one the world travel and try to consolidate them onto qantas.

 

[andye]

If your main way of accruing miles is going to be via credit card application bonuses, I'd consider a subscription to veda (even if only for one year to see how your score rises and falls with each application). May seem like a frivolous expense but you will probably get 1 or 2 more successful applications in a year

 

[andye]

Hi Myztikal

Again, I'm no expert so this is just my two cents. You imply you are running a credit card balance with the above statement. If you are and you're not clearing it before any interest free period ends the interest cost will quickly erode any benefit you get from your 2% cash back, or indeed any points you may earn.

My advice would be unless your balances are paid off in full every month its hard to get any value out of the credit card game, especially if you are unwilling to collect signup bonuses. Please accept my apologies if I have misunderstood you.

Personally I channel my general family spend through a combination of ANZ Black Visa/Amex (fee free 75k sign on bonus at the moment), making sure there are no surcharges. Plus I've also got a Qantas ultimate amex (80k signup bonus through referrals at the moment, $450 fee) which I put travel and flights through for extra points. Seek out retailers where no Amex surcharges are made and use them wherever reasonably possible - but absolutely never pay a premium or go out of your way for the privilege of earning points.

As far as goals - the 280k OW award is a pretty good place to start, and extremely achievable.

Thinking about it, the best advice I could offer is to get married, have kids and take control of the family finances - then you get to earn from two incomes!

Pierre

From a FF perspective, get married but minimise the children. More points needed, taxes sting more, less availability (happily ignoring this advice)