
March 25, 2020
Maximizing Travel Rewards | Brian Kelly on Masters in Business
Check out the Masters in Business Episode Page & Show Notes
Key Takeaways
- “Budget travelers are the number one people who should be maximizing points” – Brian Kelly
- Facebook is the best social media marketing platform because of its massive audience and micro-targeting tools
- Important to remember that marketing on social media is also about cultivating your brand, not just your conversion ratio
- Pack your clothes using the stack and fold method and invest in noise-canceling headphones
- The Points Guy is releasing an app soon that will give personalized information on all your reward points needs
- Three Great Credit Cards:
- American Express Business Platinum for the perks
- Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel and dining
- Chase Freedom Unlimited for 1.5x points on everything
- Advice for college graduates:
- Treat your credit score like an asset
- Being valuable and congenial will generally take you farther than staying at one place forever
- “Make yourself uncomfortable; that’s how you grow.” – Brian Kelly
- We are in a golden age of travel — traveling is cheaper, faster, and safer than ever before
Books Mentioned
- The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Bob Iger
- Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac
- Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
Intro
- Brian Kelly (T: @thepointsguy and IG: @briankelly) is founder and CEO of The Points Guy, a travel website and blog teaching you how to use the points you already earn
- Host – Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz)
The Origin of The Points Guy
- Brian started the site in 2010 as a side hobby while working at Morgan Stanley
- The site exploded in 2011 when Seth Kugel of the NYT wrote a piece on The Points Guy after Brian answered Seth’s challenge to prove frequent flyer miles aren’t useless for budget travelers
- “Budget travelers are the number one people who should be maximizing points” – Brian Kelly
- Around the same time Brian started affiliate marketing for the credit cards he reviews
- Then one sudden weekend Brian netted $30,000 in one weekend from affiliate links, prompting him to devote himself full-time to the site
- A year later Brian sold the company to Bankrate but then decided to work for Bankrate in order to keep working on The Points Guy
The Points Guy App
- Coming soon in 2020
- The app will give personalized information tailored to your needs rather than the identical experience TPG currently gives everybody
- “Our app will be the next generation of our company” – Brian Kelly
- Some features of the app:
- The homescreen will be the net worth of your reward points
- Automatic point tracking and information on efficiently spending points
- Advising you on what cards to use for specific expenses
Social Media Marketing
- Facebook is the best social media marketing platform for marketing because of its massive audience and its micro-targeting tools
- Conversely, this is why marketing on Snapchat isn’t as effective. It has many active users but doesn’t provide such tools
- Brian has recently started experimenting with TikTok marketing, but is wary that it might have similar issues to Snapchat
- Also, TikTok’s audience skews very young
- Remember that marketing on social media is also about cultivating your brand, not just your conversion ratio
- For ‘traditional’ marketing, affiliates are currently where it’s at
Traveling Tips From a Professional Traveler
- Stack and fold your clothes rather than rolling them
- This method minimizes wrinkles
- Brian explains the exact method in this video
- The iPhone X and above supports dual SIM usage on one phone
- You can easily swap between data plans when you travel with this feature
- Verizon Wireless is currently the fastest and most reliable data plan internationally, but Google Fi is an inexpensive and reliable alternative
- You can easily swap between data plans when you travel with this feature
- “I always have my MacBook Air, and I always bring my own TV shows and movies on planes” – Brian Kelly
- Invest in noise-cancelling headphones
- Besides granting peace and quiet, when you have noise-canceling headphones planes become a great place to meditate
- If you are having a bad travel experience, try shifting your perspective from what’s bothering you
- Researchers estimate that only 5% of the global population flies a year so you’re pretty lucky just to have the experience of flying
- Never take sleeping pills before takeoff
- You never know what kind of issues can suddenly occur
Three Great Credit Cards
- American Express Business Platinum
- Relatively high annual fee but it has some of the best perks available
- This card will get you into most U.S. airport lounges
- “A lot of times Amex has cheaper prices and more flexible fares. We book all of our travel at The Points Guy through Amex Travel.” – Brian Kelly
- Relatively high annual fee but it has some of the best perks available
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- 3x points on travel and dining
- Travel includes tolls, parking, travel, and others — it’s quite a broad definition
- No foreign transaction fees
- 3x points on travel and dining
- Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Unlimited 1.5x points on everything
- The half point difference compared to the 1x of most cards may seem small, but it’s practically a 50% bonus
- No annual fee
- Unlimited 1.5x points on everything
Advice For College Graduates
- Treat your credit score like an asset
- If you mess it up it’ll take years to fix
- Just because you can’t see yourself spending the rest of your life at a job doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it
- Being valuable and congenial will generally take you farther than staying at one place forever
- “Make yourself uncomfortable; that’s how you grow.” – Brian Kelly
Additional Notes
- We are in a golden age of travel — traveling is cheaper, faster, and safer than ever before
- Concurrently, Brian and Barry have both noticed that people have been acting odder on planes over the years
- Some personal experiences:
- People spreading their naked feet across people’s seats and clipping their toe-nails
- Requesting that the pilot fly at a lower altitude in order to take a better picture
- Some personal experiences:
- The goal of learning is growth, not to be the best or smartest
- Your academic performance doesn’t determine whether you’ll be successful so don’t stress too much over it
- What’s more important in life is to throw yourself into something you love
- The theoretical problem with teleportation:
- You are taken apart molecule by molecule, essentially killed, then built molecule by molecule in another location
- Are you still the same person?
- You are taken apart molecule by molecule, essentially killed, then built molecule by molecule in another location