I would never bank miles for 5plus years in the future. The worst thing LIKELY to happen is that the miles will almost certainly be greatly devalued. The worst thing that COULD happen is that she doesn't retire or she gets injured or she dies and never gets to take the trip at all. A guy I know was scheduled at the post office to retire on Sept. 14, 2001. He had a robust stock account with Enron and Worldcom and all those, so why not grab the early retirement. He, is needless to say, still working at that same post office; indeed, he waited on me within this month. Stuff happens. And it can happen very suddenly. Couple the chance of illness and old age making it more difficult to travel, with the near-certainty that the miles will lose value, and it's an easy call to use the miles for vacations or other travel NOW.
Originally Posted by
cloudeleven
My mother has about 95K AAdvantage miles, and she was wondering if it's a good idea for her to just use them all now, or save some/most of them for the future (say, 5-10 years from now)? She's planning to retire by then, and since her income will be significantly lower she would have the miles to travel with at that time.
What do you think, use them now or save for retirement in 5+ years?