Everyone mentioning points always neglect that there's always taxes and fees you still have to pay, especially for flights. 12,000 points plus $400 in tax and fees is typical for a cheap points ticket on economy to London using British Airways and Virgin as examples. Using one cent to the point, it's marginally cheaper than booking with cash. So the 50,000 points plus $200 in taxes and fees if flying to Paris or Amsterdam on KLM also isn't as great of a deal either (all assuming you use cash back as the alternative use for points).

But points can get you good deals on hotels.

OP, I have always traveled even when a broke grad student. I make a good income now but I still travel frugally. It's easy to travel cheaply in Europe while still having a good trip. The cost of living is so high in the US that a two week in Europe is partially offset by savings on consumption in the US during those two weeks. Most people traveling internationally are paying for it out of income, not family money or whatever. It’s a blend of salary and budgets. To be in the top 10% of wage earners in the US you need a salary of around $165k, and anyone making $100k+ can make an international trip happen, so assume at least 20% of Americans can afford to travel overseas. That is a lot of people.

Last but not least, flights have never been as cheap as they are now. I can buy round trip tickets to Europe slightly off season for $550 if booking far enough in advance. That is what we were paying for tickets to London 30 years ago!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hilarious how many posts in this thread there are where the real answer is “I’m rich” but the poster still includes a lot of details about how virtuous they are as cope. “We have a 7 figure HHI so we can afford basically any kind of travel BUT ALSO I rollerblade to work so that’s somehow relevant”

Poor people think their daily Starbucks habits don’t add up, but they do. Dh and I come from frugal, well off families. We all have always paid cash for cars and never carried debt. Car loans aren’t worth it.

Blah blah blah. The reason you (and I) can afford to travel as much as we do is because we are rich. The fact other rich people can squander their money is neither here nor there.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Points for flights. We charge all our tuitions (3 in college and 1 in private high school).

I wish I could do that for my kid in college but there’s a fee to use a CC.

+1
I wanted to use CC too. I don’t think PP is telling the truth.

I think they're probably telling the truth but overlooking or not caring that it actually IS costing them money to pay with a card!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hilarious how many posts in this thread there are where the real answer is “I’m rich” but the poster still includes a lot of details about how virtuous they are as cope. “We have a 7 figure HHI so we can afford basically any kind of travel BUT ALSO I rollerblade to work so that’s somehow relevant”

DP

Eh, we have a HHI north of $350, but we have a very low mortgage, stuck with public schools, drive our cars until they die, don’t redecorate for fun, etc. Basically, we don’t blow money on a lot of things others do so we have more money to spend on travel.

Honestly, we don’t drink, and I believe we’ve saved thousands each year because of it. I’m shocked by how much people spend on beer, wine, and booze each week—whether they drink at home or at bars. I challenge drinkers to do the math and see for themselves.

Yep. DH's wine habit sets us back $400 every two months or so.

Anonymous wrote:I find it hilarious how many posts in this thread there are where the real answer is “I’m rich” but the poster still includes a lot of details about how virtuous they are as cope. “We have a 7 figure HHI so we can afford basically any kind of travel BUT ALSO I rollerblade to work so that’s somehow relevant”

Poor people think their daily Starbucks habits don’t add up, but they do. Dh and I come from frugal, well off families. We all have always paid cash for cars and never carried debt. Car loans aren’t worth it.

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Anonymous wrote:Points for flights. We charge all our tuitions (3 in college and 1 in private high school).

You lie lie lie.

As someone with 4 kids who went to different private schools and 2 in college there is no possible way. You have to pay through a service which charges a fee by bank transfer. Unless your kids go to for profit schools - in which case you’re wasting money

I do not think they lie... I just think they make poor financial decisions. But it seems that they have excess money anyway, so probably not a big financial hit to them.

DP

Yes, there is a CC fee. It’s somewhere between 1.5-3%.

Depending what credit card you use, the points might be worth more than the fee.

Pretty rare to have a tuition payment earn any extra points, so at most you would be getting 2 cents per dollar or maybe 2.5 cents if you value the points really highly, and say Chase Freedom Unlimited get 1.5x points on everything. And the cost range is usually not 1.5-3%, it's more like 2.5-3.3%, so yes, rarely worth it- unless you are working on a credit card bonus, in which case your spending is earning a range of 10-15%. Like say you are doing an Amex bonus requiring $20k spending to earn 250k points, then it's worth it

My credit cards generate better points than Chase Freedom. Ymmv.

What points system and how many do you earn on a standard purchase? Meaning not a special category like travel earning 3x points.

No clue, pp.

But I can report my Hilton Honors Amex serves me well. I had 20+ nights covered over the last year with points, I have a handful of upcoming stays covered with points, and I still have 250k points (that will offset costs for a hotel stay in Europe next summer).

My American Airlines card similarly serves me well with lounge access, free checked bags, and points that covered flights for my family’s spring break trip (domestic) plus two other domestic flights this year.

And I’m not even a points guru who fully leverages the system. Rather, we’ve linked our cards so all family members are on essentially the same account to accumulate points.

Cheap mortgage ($1100 month) and good salaries 365k. We never eat out at restaurants and we are very good at home maintenance. Dh can fix anything.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Points for flights. We charge all our tuitions (3 in college and 1 in private high school).

You lie lie lie.

As someone with 4 kids who went to different private schools and 2 in college there is no possible way. You have to pay through a service which charges a fee by bank transfer. Unless your kids go to for profit schools - in which case you’re wasting money

I do not think they lie... I just think they make poor financial decisions. But it seems that they have excess money anyway, so probably not a big financial hit to them.

DP

Yes, there is a CC fee. It’s somewhere between 1.5-3%.

Depending what credit card you use, the points might be worth more than the fee.

Pretty rare to have a tuition payment earn any extra points, so at most you would be getting 2 cents per dollar or maybe 2.5 cents if you value the points really highly, and say Chase Freedom Unlimited get 1.5x points on everything. And the cost range is usually not 1.5-3%, it's more like 2.5-3.3%, so yes, rarely worth it- unless you are working on a credit card bonus, in which case your spending is earning a range of 10-15%. Like say you are doing an Amex bonus requiring $20k spending to earn 250k points, then it's worth it

My credit cards generate better points than Chase Freedom. Ymmv.

What points system and how many do you earn on a standard purchase? Meaning not a special category like travel earning 3x points.

DP but AMEX Gold is 4x on groceries and dining and we generate a lot through that. Then we earn a turn booking regular and work travel on AMEX Platinum for 5x. Anything else gets 2x.

Right, but the response was about using cards to pay for tuition payments, which have fees of 2.5-3.3%. Even if you earn 2x on everyday spend (blue business plus?), and say an Amex point is worth 1.5 cents (a reasonable estimate), you are earning net 3% on that tuition payment. So if the fee is 3% or higher (ours is 3.3%), that doesn't make sense

Agreed you can do well with focused spend on bonuses categories on the right cards. But nobody makes tuition payments a bonus category

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it hilarious how many posts in this thread there are where the real answer is “I’m rich” but the poster still includes a lot of details about how virtuous they are as cope. “We have a 7 figure HHI so we can afford basically any kind of travel BUT ALSO I rollerblade to work so that’s somehow relevant”

DP

Eh, we have a HHI north of $350, but we have a very low mortgage, stuck with public schools, drive our cars until they die, don’t redecorate for fun, etc. Basically, we don’t blow money on a lot of things others do so we have more money to spend on travel.

Honestly, we don’t drink, and I believe we’ve saved thousands each year because of it. I’m shocked by how much people spend on beer, wine, and booze each week—whether they drink at home or at bars. I challenge drinkers to do the math and see for themselves.

Speculating you save “thousands” through the virtue of not drinking? Wow great work being an even worse example of what I’m saying 😂

Anonymous wrote:We are rich now, but I traveled more when i was poor. It doesn’t need to cost much. I was spending $10/day back in 1992…

Traveling was much cheaper back in the 90s. There are way more travelers today.

Anonymous wrote:I find it hilarious how many posts in this thread there are where the real answer is “I’m rich” but the poster still includes a lot of details about how virtuous they are as cope. “We have a 7 figure HHI so we can afford basically any kind of travel BUT ALSO I rollerblade to work so that’s somehow relevant”

DP

Eh, we have a HHI north of $350, but we have a very low mortgage, stuck with public schools, drive our cars until they die, don’t redecorate for fun, etc. Basically, we don’t blow money on a lot of things others do so we have more money to spend on travel.

Honestly, we don’t drink, and I believe we’ve saved thousands each year because of it. I’m shocked by how much people spend on beer, wine, and booze each week—whether they drink at home or at bars. I challenge drinkers to do the math and see for themselves.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Points for flights. We charge all our tuitions (3 in college and 1 in private high school).

You lie lie lie.

As someone with 4 kids who went to different private schools and 2 in college there is no possible way. You have to pay through a service which charges a fee by bank transfer. Unless your kids go to for profit schools - in which case you’re wasting money

I do not think they lie... I just think they make poor financial decisions. But it seems that they have excess money anyway, so probably not a big financial hit to them.

DP

Yes, there is a CC fee. It’s somewhere between 1.5-3%.

Depending what credit card you use, the points might be worth more than the fee.

Pretty rare to have a tuition payment earn any extra points, so at most you would be getting 2 cents per dollar or maybe 2.5 cents if you value the points really highly, and say Chase Freedom Unlimited get 1.5x points on everything. And the cost range is usually not 1.5-3%, it's more like 2.5-3.3%, so yes, rarely worth it- unless you are working on a credit card bonus, in which case your spending is earning a range of 10-15%. Like say you are doing an Amex bonus requiring $20k spending to earn 250k points, then it's worth it

My credit cards generate better points than Chase Freedom. Ymmv.

What points system and how many do you earn on a standard purchase? Meaning not a special category like travel earning 3x points.

DP but AMEX Gold is 4x on groceries and dining and we generate a lot through that. Then we earn a turn booking regular and work travel on AMEX Platinum for 5x. Anything else gets 2x.

I find it hilarious how many posts in this thread there are where the real answer is “I’m rich” but the poster still includes a lot of details about how virtuous they are as cope. “We have a 7 figure HHI so we can afford basically any kind of travel BUT ALSO I rollerblade to work so that’s somehow relevant”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Points for flights. We charge all our tuitions (3 in college and 1 in private high school).

You lie lie lie.

As someone with 4 kids who went to different private schools and 2 in college there is no possible way. You have to pay through a service which charges a fee by bank transfer. Unless your kids go to for profit schools - in which case you’re wasting money

I do not think they lie... I just think they make poor financial decisions. But it seems that they have excess money anyway, so probably not a big financial hit to them.

DP

Yes, there is a CC fee. It’s somewhere between 1.5-3%.

Depending what credit card you use, the points might be worth more than the fee.

Pretty rare to have a tuition payment earn any extra points, so at most you would be getting 2 cents per dollar or maybe 2.5 cents if you value the points really highly, and say Chase Freedom Unlimited get 1.5x points on everything. And the cost range is usually not 1.5-3%, it's more like 2.5-3.3%, so yes, rarely worth it- unless you are working on a credit card bonus, in which case your spending is earning a range of 10-15%. Like say you are doing an Amex bonus requiring $20k spending to earn 250k points, then it's worth it

My credit cards generate better points than Chase Freedom. Ymmv.

What points system and how many do you earn on a standard purchase? Meaning not a special category like travel earning 3x points.

DH makes a lot of money (attorney) and I shop for good travel deals/also play the points game. We live in a very modest house by law firm standards and our kids attend public schools. I drive a Honda Odyssey and my clothes and purses typically come from TJ Maxx and Marshall’s because I just don’t care that much. I always have at least 2 trips in the works.