ok, I see you're not getting a lot of responses here so let me share with you what I learned in the last 30-40 days.

Open up credit cards that give you a lot of miles. Good cards such as

Chase Saphire = 50K points = 50Kmiles into Continental
AA Citi Visa/Amex = 75K miles
SPG is great but currently no good offers,
etc.

Some recent deals were great that I got .... British Airways 100K miles, Continental 50K miles, Amex Gold 75K points.

Pretty much ... visit this board and see what the latest deals are.

Keep in mind ... when applying for cards, see which bank is giving them out. I don't suggest applying for too many cards from one bank. Wait 30-40 days before you do. Major banks are Chase, Citi, Amex, Barclays, Bank of America ... but most cards come from Chase and Citi.

Keep in mind that many cards make you spend $500-$3000 in first 3-6 months, so be sure you meet that requirement.

Since you're a young guy who is not spending a lot of money every month on business expenses, the only way you'll get miles is from these promotions. I'd recommend BankDirect as your "savings" account but it's good if you have at least $50K to keep there for which you'll be getting 5K AA miles a month. If this is what you want to do, let me know and I'll send you an invite for which you and I get 1,000 miles each.

Also, if you have $20K + to play with, you can do the Fidelity investments thing. See the thread on this forum.

Bottom line is ... don't rush. Don't jump on bad offers. If a new offer pops up, wait a few days, couple of weeks. See what people report back and then jump on it if it's a good deal.

Right now a good deal is offered by Chase Saphire card. Also .... just got AMEX Gold card and got lucky with a customer support rep who modified the offer to 75K points. 90% of people couldn't get that as it either expired or had some limitations availability only to specific university graduates.

so ..... just play the game but don't go overboard. Too many CC applications will get you turned down. As you apply for these cards, have your mom do the same. Most airlines now allow one way travel. So you book a ticket TO somewhere and use your moms points/miles to book a RETURN ticket.

good luck.

Oh and check out awardwallet.com to help you keep manage your awards.