Maximizing My Credit Card Returns

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Keep moving and keep yourself capable of moving especially when it comes to ambulation. I think the research supports my next statement (go easy I'm a...

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My and my wife's credit is frozen unless we are seeking credit - I can unfreeze and freeze any of the three in less than 2 mins - actually two of them...

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The beauty of my plan is it will still involve 4 out of 5 CCs in this rotation generating and pooling Amex points. The last step, how I spend those Amex...

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Many of your general comments are true when considering the population as a whole but not a single point applies to me specifically. While there are A...

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We're flying a family of 5 on Air France from Boston to Paris and JetBlue from London to Boston this summer - all on a combination of Amex and Chase points....

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My budget is my budget and it would not change significantly if I used a debit card, a CC with no rewards, or cash. As for too many cards it's actually...

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While Air Canada is giving 1.9 cents pp many are at 1 cent or less pp. This is just an easy way to generate some extra retirement cash with very little...

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Yes, but as I said in the OP it is a combination of personal and TWO business cards all of which get paid in-full every month.

It's a bunch...

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I think as someone who has paid off my balance every month for the past 20 years and can stick to a budget I'm not their target audience - I know people...

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That is a great return! Is the cashback true cashback that you can use for anything or are they statement credits? Part of the appeal for me in my plan...

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I know when I'm socking away $60K per year for retirement a couple of thousand dollars isn't a big deal but for some reason, I'm hellbent on extracting...

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Those "inefficiencies" are what pays most of us several times the average income of other Americans. As business owners, we just chose to take...

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Is anyone surprised? PE ruins everything because they really don't care about the underlying core business and it's all about the shareholders. Everyone...

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Update - magically all deposits now take 2 days to clear. I'm happy again...

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I have zero problems flying first/business with my wife and putting my three ingrates in steerage. Kind of like my 16-year old who last week said he'd...

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I’ll see your six pack and raise you a pony keg![/QUOTE]

While I have some decent mass there’s definitely no six pack under there!...

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QUOTE=AR;n328373]

Bolded is pretty impressive. It was once a goal of mine, but I never made it there. Just started too late in life and never...

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Tangential but here I go anyway - I lived in a large 3600sqft ranch along CTs "gold coast". Great house, great yard, most of it was renovated...

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I don't know about stairs in the house being meaningful but I will say "old" in my mind is when lower body muscles atrophy to the point where...

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Nope...my auto insurance in MA has been amazingly stable for the past 10 years. There's been some creep but not much. Every 3 years I look around to compare...

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How about "My Boring Portfolio"? ...

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Lol...the story goes it's just his regular plan and he likes ginger ale and so there was a bottle sitting there and he thought may as well since he has...

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A couple of questions:

1. The market has been down since the start of 2022 and there isn't much anyone can do about that fact. What were...

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Thank you! Exactly the kind of discussion I was hoping this would generate....

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Oh, I'm not going down this rabbit hole - I'm a simple man. I can follow a simple plan because the majority of people endorse it and it works but I also...

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His rationale seems reasonable but I'm admittedly new at this and so I'm interested to know what others who know more think about this asset allocation?...

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Update - I'm past 90 days on my CMA and every deposit is still 6-days to clear. My son has a brokerage account he's using as a checking account and his...

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Cast are (unless they are the newer CAD ones made from digital impressions) fragile and unless you're wearing a retainer, night guard, etc teeth continuously...

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While it may not be the primary route of transmission for CV-19, you don't think touching fomites covered in droplets containing CV-19 and then picking...

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Many people will experience jaw pain and make significant noise grinding their teeth but for many, this is not the case. My canines are as flat as my...

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Obviously, this post didn't age well but it is a reminder to me about why no one can predict the actions of even one other human being not to mention...

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It's "free" in the sense that it wasn't generated with my blood, sweat and tears. If I used my debit card the exact same money would be missing...

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Validation received...muchos gracias mi amigo!

P.S. I know I know...but then I start doing the math of $2K per year compounded at 8% over...

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Warning - just looking for validation

Most of the credit card reviews gloss over the real benefits of cash back cards that are connected...

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I have an account at Gemini - started by the Winklevii twins....

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1. Not every pick is a winner...that's true of any investment and things change - there's no problem selling if it's not a winner.

2. Most...

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Inflation goes up and inflation goes down and we spend most of the time with low inflation. I think it's important to keep perspective because if people...

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That makes sense. Thank you for your thoughtful response and I now know what I'm reading next.

I fear my position came across as enthusiastic...

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This is one of the authors and this is a short synopsis

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettow...-guide-to-reti...

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A particular reading phase - the second half of 2021 it was all Richard Feynman biographies and now it's anything on finance. Next month it could be all...

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Who's upset? Not me......

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What phase…IDFK…the one where I enjoy learning about things I know little about. I’m supposed to pick what type of investor I want to be BEFORE...

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The book is a book on how to choose the right one and a pitch for their news letter that gives up-to-date info. Now I’m already skeptical since it’s...

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I was hoping some others had read the book so we could have an intelligent conversation about its merits or problems but it seems like most of the responses...

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What’s the difference? Some pay monthly and some quarterly but they pay consistently. BTW…it’s the “inefficiencies” in CEFs compared to OEFs...

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That’s only in a bull market - the authors claim they can maintain similar returns during down markets. They concede you give up some upside during...

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AWF is one of the picks they talk about in the book....

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Wow...I've never taken so much flak just for reading a bunch of different books to get a sense of what's out there. It's cool...I read quickly...
...

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No, I thought the dividend fairy would come in the middle of the night and carefully tuck cash under my pillow. The point of the book is to show an investment...

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Have you read this book? They are VERY clear that the primary goal is capital preservation (not a term I'd use without having read it) - he calls it...

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Well, the whole point is capital preservation.

Ex. Invest $1,000,000 and an 8% dividend means $80K per year income without giving up your...

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Lol...as I said I'm just trying to survey the entire investment world to get an idea of everything out there.

As far as this book - yeah,...

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I read Principles and thought...meh?...

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I'm in a phase where I'm just reading as many books as possible on personal finance, investments, and markets. I started with WCI Financial Boot Camp,...

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I have always done better with smaller companies I've never heard of before who never hold the mortgage and they always sell them to big banks on the...

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Our CPA is part of a large CPA firm in MA that specializes in dentistry. We only deal with one partner and he knows our situation inside and out.
...

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This was all over email, there were videos sent out, it was all over FB groups, etc, etc. My CPA knew this was coming and was just waiting to see the...

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I have a 16, 14, and 11-year-old with Fidelity 529's. Up until recently, it's been pretty easy just to place everything in a total stock or S&P 500...

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For the record, NO CPA should “miss” something like this, EVER, and you shouldn’t have to call them to make them aware or ask if it pertains to...

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I just deposited a check from USAA (not from my account at USAA - actually written from USAA for an insurance overpayment) for $75 into my CMA via the...

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All good questions. I know a guy who was a very successful plastic surgeon in NYC and at the age of 55 he finally admitted to himself that he never really...

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Sign me up!...

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These transfers show up in 2-3days but they aren't settling for 7-10 days. In other words, the money is available to trade in 2-3 days but settled cash...

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I have had my HSA there for years and three 529's there from the start of 2021. The brokerage acct, CMA, and IRAs are all new so there may be something...

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Every ACH I've tried so far has been initiated from Fidelity and it has made no difference. My ACH transfers of $55K and $65K took a full 10-days which...

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It's funny this came up as I recently decided to pursue an MBA. UMass Amherst has one that allows you to pick between all online vs a hybrid model with...

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So nearly TWO weeks later Vanguard fixed their initial mistake and the transfers are at Fidelity and they are correct.

As an aside, I'm attempting...

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What can I say - I like the larger three checks to a page stub style. They really are easier to write on....

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I know quite a few people with MBAs. Some are legitimately very intelligent and they could've done just about anything they wanted. That said, some are...

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The EDJ broker could see where I was going and immediately said before I even asked that I could absolutely do this cheaper. He then gave me his schtick...

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Honestly, he showed up with all this information printed nicely in color....

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So we had the yearly review with the EJ broker. I thought I'd share the misery...


Assets: ~$1.1M
Platform: American Funds...

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If I get to $10M and it wasn't from winning something or inheritance then I lived too little and worked too much.

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My son's music teacher, the lawn guy, the plow guy, just about any contractor I've had in the house for any reason, not everyone has Venmo so reimbursements...

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Lol...or just people like me whose writing looks like it should be in crayon - hard to fit on those little lines....

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Lol...I'm only 43 but I have to say I REALLY LIKE the big checks...haha

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Probably the silliest post you'll read today so I apologize in advance. I have to order new checks for my personal account and I much prefer the large...

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We've already had this basic discussion - my partner is not very savvy with respect to investments and he honestly didn't know any better. He met the...

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I appreciate the very insightful comments and appreciate you all taking the time to help me figure this situation out....

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I wasn't clear about this part but "this guy - the EDJ guy" is my partner's guy for his personal investing as well (Yes, I'm talking to him...

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Honestly, that's way more involved than I ever plan to be at this point. I don't trade or do options and I'm not studying charts. I think Fidelity's website...

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I still plan to buy Vanguard ETFs from my Fidelity account....

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Thank you to everyone who has contributed! I have a meeting with this guy next week to discuss the 401k.

1. I know this is a loaded question...

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Some of these seem relatively innocuous but when you multiply them out over a year you have $5000 in optional expenses:

I am truly at a loss...

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Lol...their website sucks and so does their customer service. That's a deadly combo......

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I've decided to do nothing for a week or two...lol...

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Spoke to Fidelity who confirmed Vanguard recalled the transfer since it was supposed to be the ETFs and not the MF. Fidelity instructed me to confirm...

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Ah! Thank you!...

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Prior to your post, I did not have any idea these even existed! I did find these forms last night and went through the exercise again having them compute...

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I thought VG MFs purchased at Fidelity had a transaction fee but VG ETFs were free?...

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Just to understand the form and how the calculations work. I haven’t used Turbo Tax in years and what could be easier than downloading the actual PDF...

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Much appreciated!...

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So the saga continues. My Fidelity Roths are now $0 with the following description, "ADJUSTMENT ACAT REVERSAL VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET INDEX ADMIR...

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Alright...the rollover was $9205.14 and it didn't work out exactly but it's pretty close - do you see any issues?



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Thanks you! Exactly what I was looking for here!...

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Thank you! I'm filling out form 8606 by hand:

Since I also did a $6000 spousal backdoor IRA conversion will that and the rollover backdoor...

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My wife had a small $10K 401k at a former employer that we rolled over into a Rollover IRA and then we converted to a Roth IRA

We also made...

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I run just about everything at home through Amex Gold and that's about $10K per month - just switched to using the Fidelity VISA. I run anywhere from...

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I just "purchased" five tickets on Air France from JFK to Chucky De Gaulle and 1 ½ tickets back from Heathrow to JFK on a combination of Amex...

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Looks MUCH better than the Tundra from the front! I have a 2020 Tundra that I love but the 2022 is UGLY! There have been a small number of issues with...