I've never bothered with credit. Bought my house, car, boat, motorcycle, etc in cash. Stealing money from my future self just to get more cash now always seemed like a bad idea to me.
I open a credit card. They give me $600 bonus for spending 4k in 6 months. And 15 months to pay it back. I get my $600, put a bunch of debt on it, and pay the thing off in full on the 15th month while making APY on the money the entire time. Rinse and repeat.
No specific card. Just whichever institution is promoting a bonus at the time I have spending needs. Right now it just so happens to be a USBANK biz card and a Chase biz card. I do the same thing with the bank accounts too, make a few thousand every year.
I can spend someone else's money, and if I do it smart can make back more with incentives!
This is a trick much of the time.
ALWAYS make some portion of your purchases in cash. Look up game theory and games of perfect information if you need an understanding. TL;DR imagine you are playing chess against someone except you're allowed to cover up squares on the board and your opponent doesn't know exactly where your pieces are.
Don't fall for that cash back crap all the time. Especially if something is in a nearby store for the same price as online. I just bought about $1000 worth of stuff locally that was the same price online as it was in the store. it incentivizes stores to keep things LOCALLY LOCALLY LOCALLY stored.
in this case, a few of the items were less expensive in the store though. This is common. there was a 2 year stretch between 2017 and 2019 that things on amazon were 2-4x as expensive as in the local stores. I have no idea what was going on there but that got me into the habit of going to the store instead. even walmart i consider a local store now because we just need a place that has the items physically at that location. one thing I wish they'd get under control is the freaking price of ammo. there is no reason it should be as expensive as it is, and there is no reason we can't make it locally.
Dude my state is fucked for local sourced, sure local made or assembled, but they don't source shit.
Some things yeah I will make an effort, but with needed items like grocery, fuel, and some shit my Walmart cc I get 5% back...8% on fuel and with the Sam's membership that is included with the cc it makes fuel super cheap.
That is just one of the pairings, others are for hotels like IHG that I get pts on the cc and with stays.
[ + ] PotatoWhisperer2
[ - ] PotatoWhisperer2 2 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 10:24:28 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ]deleted
[ - ] deleted 1 point 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 10:33:51 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] SumerBreeze
[ - ] SumerBreeze 1 point 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 08:14:32 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] iThinkiShitYourself
[ - ] iThinkiShitYourself [op] 1 point 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 09:35:00 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] Kozel
[ - ] Kozel 0 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 17:14:31 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] iThinkiShitYourself
[ - ] iThinkiShitYourself [op] 0 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 20:32:35 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Kozel
[ - ] Kozel 0 points 3 monthsJan 19, 2024 21:03:07 ago (+0/-0)
This site has it all: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/
[ + ] Oldguynewname
[ - ] Oldguynewname -1 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 09:18:51 ago (+0/-1)
Doesn't matter as there is so many stipulations and bullshit.
However I recently had a friend of mine show me how he has 12k in cash....dude I have a credit card with 15k limit!
I can spend someone else's money, and if I do it smart can make back more with incentives!
All of this is tracked now...you dont pay it, you are fucked.
[ + ] iThinkiShitYourself
[ - ] iThinkiShitYourself [op] 3 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 09:42:02 ago (+3/-0)
This is a trick much of the time.
ALWAYS make some portion of your purchases in cash. Look up game theory and games of perfect information if you need an understanding. TL;DR imagine you are playing chess against someone except you're allowed to cover up squares on the board and your opponent doesn't know exactly where your pieces are.
[ + ] Oldguynewname
[ - ] Oldguynewname -1 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 09:44:35 ago (+0/-1)
[ + ] iThinkiShitYourself
[ - ] iThinkiShitYourself [op] -1 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 14:16:56 ago (+0/-1)
in this case, a few of the items were less expensive in the store though. This is common. there was a 2 year stretch between 2017 and 2019 that things on amazon were 2-4x as expensive as in the local stores. I have no idea what was going on there but that got me into the habit of going to the store instead. even walmart i consider a local store now because we just need a place that has the items physically at that location. one thing I wish they'd get under control is the freaking price of ammo. there is no reason it should be as expensive as it is, and there is no reason we can't make it locally.
[ + ] Oldguynewname
[ - ] Oldguynewname -1 points 4 monthsJan 19, 2024 15:42:49 ago (+0/-1)
Some things yeah I will make an effort, but with needed items like grocery, fuel, and some shit my Walmart cc I get 5% back...8% on fuel and with the Sam's membership that is included with the cc it makes fuel super cheap.
That is just one of the pairings, others are for hotels like IHG that I get pts on the cc and with stays.