June 2025
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The Modern Business: How We Think About Growth & Culture | Morton Wealth
Smart Ways to Give and Receive an Inheritance | Morton Wealth
Welcome to Couchside Conversations, this is actually my first one. And because we're here to talk about credit card points, I had to bring the boss of our family that's in charge of credit card points. My wife, Brianna, thank you for joining us on this conversation.
I'm, you know, happy to be here.
You know, I saw an interesting article that said only 40% of Americans have a rewards or travel credit card. And that sort of blew me away knowing how many amazing experiences we have leveraging the points.
Yes. You're fortunate because you have like a full time travel points expert 24 over seven at your disposal, so you're welcome for that.
I'm very appreciative. I mean, we've been together almost 20 years, and we used to manage finances in a very different way compared to what we do now.
And I don't think we realized how much we were missing out by not leveraging credit cards and credit card points for the incredible experience, the experiences that we get to use them for today.
Yeah.
So what is the best experience you've ever had? Leveraging points.
Before we go any further, I want to say that one of us was much earlier to the travel Point game and tried to get someone else to come along for a long time. I'm so glad that some other person jumped in because they just wanted to keep using the debit card.
I'm just glad you finally turned the corner.
No sir. Okay. Best experience? It's a toss up, I think when we went business class to and from Europe, just purely on points. That was like in April we went to Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome.
That was quite an experience. And I always think of the phrase, when you travel first class or business, the trip starts when you get on the plane. If you travel and the economy, your trip starts when you get there. Do you know what I'm saying? So that really just set the tone for what was such a memorable and romantic and fun trip.
And then the other one that comes to mind would be when we blew it out on points and went to the Ritz-Carlton in Hawaii, with the girls, and stayed there for a week. And it was just like the best time. Beautiful experience. The staff was incredible. And we've actually gone back since because we loved it so much. So tie between those two things.
That was an amazing experience. I mean, the Ritz-Carlton was so cool because they had just opened it for a remodel. And so we got such a great deal because it wasn't full, people weren't using it. It was sort of post the fires in Lahaina. That was very unfortunate. But we had just an incredible week.
It was amazing.
It was a great time and that's such a special place. Obviously since we've been back. So. Yeah.
Yeah.
So tell me. You had mentioned before and this is a kind of above my pay grade about how points can devalue or to not hold on to them. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Yeah. I mean, it's the points are essentially a currency. And just like anything in life when you have inflation, things eventually cost more money. And so if you're just sitting on a boatload of points and not using them, they eventually lose their purchasing power over time. And we were looking at a hotel that I think was around 20,000 points a night to stay in.
Well, that was last December. If you tried to book that today, it's 27,000 points per night. And so sitting on a boatload of points doesn't do you any good because you lose that purchasing power over time. Just like inflation sort of eats away at your purchasing power with your dollars. And so you have to be mindful about how to use the points, stay on top of them and not just let them sit there and sort of, you know, disappear.
Yeah.
When you think about all the options that are available to people as it relates to credit cards, points, miles, dollars, like, are there any cards that are better for people than another? Like, how do you evaluate which cards we should open up and use?
Yeah. So I think for us, obviously travel is the number one priority and that includes both airline and hotel travel.
So I think it depends on the individual or the family, what their priorities are, what their values are. If it's a family that, you know, maybe doesn't like to travel by plane a lot with their children and they just like to take road trips, then maybe a more hotel-focused card is the one for them.
For us, like we have the American Airlines card and the Amex Platinum card, which both serve us really well. So I think it just kind of depends on where you're at with your family, what your needs are. I think something important to mention also is fairly newer card is the Built card that people—renters—can now use to pay their rent. As you know, someone's housing or mortgage and rent is one of the biggest expenditures usually per month that people have.
And so now renters are able to get points back. It's dollar to dollar, with using the Built card. And the Built card just sends a check to your landlord, just like if you were to write them a check. But you get the points back for now. So it's a wonderful card to look into for renters.
Oh that's interesting. So they could use it for, you know, travel or hotel or airlines?
Yes. Oh yeah. It's a great card and it's fairly new. A lot of people don't know about it yet.
So there's so many different avenues where people need to kind of stay on top of, you know, what's the best card for me? What am I going to use this for and how do I manage the points?
Yeah. So how do you like to try and keep track of. Because I do what I can, but what's the best way for people to just kind of keep a finger on the pulse of what's happening?
I mean, I'm not really in charge of this day to day, as you know, but I found a couple of really good resources.
The Points Guy—he's on Instagram and YouTube. He's an incredible resource for trying to figure out maximizing points and rewards. There's also somebody else that I follow. His name is Colin Stroud. For a very low fee, he will help people that have amassed a large number of points plan their best vacation of their lives and teach them how to best use them.
I think you mentioned that you like to use Reddit, and even there's a calculator there from NerdWallet that you can evaluate, is it better to use points or pay cash? And what's the value of the points that I actually oversee?
Yeah, and that's an important tip too, is if you're ever going to use points, figure out what the cash value is versus if you use the points and find out the best avenue to take.
I use NerdWallet constantly for that purpose, and then NerdWallet is just generally a good source of information too.
So obviously you have NerdWallet, you've got a number of different resources. What's your favorite card and why?
My favorite card is the Amex Platinum, hands down. I always joke that I should get a commission from American Express Platinum for the number of people I refer out. It's a fabulous card. The sort of red flag with it is it's very expensive. It's $695 annual fee, which is hefty. However, if you use it and take advantage of all of the benefits—and it's a long list—the value that you'll get far outweighs the $695.
So, just off the top of my head, some of the benefits:
It's a $200 airline credit (can’t be used for tickets, but can be used for luggage, in-flight rentals, lounge access, food, things like that).
A $200 hotel credit if you book through Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts. You get a $240 digital entertainment credit, which is $20 a month for things like Netflix, Hulu, etc. There’s a $300 Equinox credit if you have an Equinox near you. There’s a credit for Uber. You get credit for CLEAR, TSA PreCheck, Global Entry. Also Saks Fifth Avenue, which is good.
If you use all of those benefits, you won’t even bat an eyelash at the $695, because what you get in return just far outweighs the cost.
I enjoy it. I love when we check into a hotel and you get that automatic upgrade. I mean, that just feels like value. Hidden value right there.
Yeah. That's awesome. And then also, the lounge access—that’s a big one for us because when we're traveling with the girls, our children of five and two, having just sort of a more relaxed place to maybe get some food and hang out preflight, and not necessarily in a busy, packed terminal at a gate, it’s just a nice way to start the trip.
So do you have any other tips for people or just kind of takeaways?
I think one thing that I would encourage people to do is when they've got a large expenditure that they've got to make, they should look into valuing—like, if I make this purchase on the credit card, yes, in many cases you might be paying an extra 3% fee, but does it make sense?
Yes.
I mean, last year we had a recent tax bill, quarterly tax bill that we had to pay. And normally, we just send that right out of our checking account. But instead you ran the calculation and you decided to use one of our credit cards to pay that tax bill. Now, we paid that bill off right away. But you chose to use the credit card because it gave us permanent increased status with the airline.
It bumped us up to the next tier, yeah.
Which made a difference.
Yeah. And also I looked—if I were to buy the number of points to get us up to that status, the transaction fee was far less than what it would cost to buy the points with cash. So it just totally made sense. And then it locked us in for another year at that higher status. So it was sort of a no brainer. But I also I want to mention: chasing points is never a good idea. If you're right on the cusp of something like locking in status or leveling up, then maybe consider it. But really, if you are spending money, use the card to get those points. It's a cup of coffee, a tank of gas, airline ticket, hotel booking—whatever you're buying, just use the card and get more value back for what you’re using.
So as the person in our relationship that handles the majority of the day-to-day finances, how do you make sure that we don't overspend chasing this whole points accumulation thing?
Yeah. Well, I mean again, we tend to be very level-headed when it comes to spending. I've never really spent to spend or chase points. We usually go in with a plan. And then also, it's important to mention that if you are going to be using points or transferring points, make sure you know what you're doing. Because sometimes when you do a point transfer, there is an expiration on that. So you want to kind of lay out a plan before you execute any transfers or spending.
Got it. And I think one misnomer that people have is: “If I open up credit cards, it's going to ding my credit score.”
And that’s true in essence, but it's not really true in the long run. I mean, your credit score is determined by a number of factors—paying on time, paying off debt, your revolving balance month over month. And so when you're opening up a new card, you're actually increasing your available credit.
And if your average spend is a lower percentage of your total available credit, your credit score actually might go up.
Right, you're also in a better position.
Right. And so I'm okay—or we're okay—opening up a new card to get points if we're going to use them for that trip, knowing that in the long run, if we're paying off our bills every single month, we're not hurting the long-term credit history.
Right. And then also, one of the best things about these cards is once you get status, these other airlines and other companies want to match. So if you have status with one airline, you can do a status match with another airline. You write them, you show them your points, whatever, and often times they will match you. So then you would get status on multiple airlines.
The same thing works with hotels and also car rental companies. So once you kind of get your foot in the door with a card or with an airline, the domino effect is really wonderful—if you sort of pay attention and leverage that to the maximum.
If I haven’t said this in a while, I’m so grateful for your knowledge, time, and expertise to handle all of the points and navigating this world, because yeah, if it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t be able to have the experiences.
We wouldn’t do the things that we’re able to do.
For sure. I’m happy to do it. It does take a lot of time and energy, so thank you for recognizing that. But you also freed me up to do those things, so thank you.
We’re a good team.
Yeah, yeah. You ready to have some fun?
Yes.
All right. We're going to play a little game called "This or That."
Okay.
This or that. Would you rather have one first-class ticket or three economy tickets? All can go anywhere you would like to go.
You mean with my children.
First class. First class, first class.
Yeah. Okay. Now it's my turn. Unlimited two-times points on all purchases or five-times points on only one category?
I would do five-times in skincare and we would have a million points.
I'm going to go with five-times then.
But what would your category be? If you had to choose?
I mean, if you could choose tax payments, get five-times—we’d have a lot of fun.
Oh my gosh
I don't know. The two-times on anything sounds pretty interesting. I mean, it's a broad base, but you're accumulating a lot of points. You're not just narrowed into one category.
That's such a financial planner answer.
Okay, here's another one. Would you rather have a free credit card or pay $500 a year for luxury rewards and points?
I'd rather pay $695 for luxury rewards points. I'll do that any day. All day, baby. No brainer.
Amex Platinum for sure. Call me Amex.
Okay, last one for you. Cash back or travel points?
Travel points. Yeah, I think that the cash back is misleading. When you look at it, you think you're getting a good value with the cash back. You think of something like Costco, but the amount of experiences that we have had using points—it doesn't even equate to the cash back value in my perspective.
But what's the value on my time to now calculate all the points? Did you think about that?
I did not think about that.
Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Couch Side Conversations. Hopefully you got some great takeaways about leveraging credit card points.
Wow.
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