I struggle with the concept of "value" when it comes to item that one cannot otherwise afford. I had as a target 400k UA miles for a family trip. I could have purchased them for 2.1 cents per mile, which means about $8300 (because I would earn 8300 miles on the purchase).

But I can't afford $8300. My acquisition cost was about $920 in the form of gift card fees and credit card annual fees. If one assumes 2% I also gave up the chance to earn about $1k on a cashback card with the spend I generated. So $2k give or take.

I wouldn't pay $8300 for the miles. I wouldn't pay half that. I can't afford it. I can only do this trip by getting the miles cheaply. So I guess that's one way to look at value.

But then I ask myself a second question. How much would I sell my miles for? Obviously, I would sell them for $8300 plus a few bucks for the effort, because then I could just re-buy them for that. But nobody is offering and it's not permitted anyway. It's a mental exercise. How much would I take to cancel my tickets? If I couldn't repurchase miles, it's a high number. I can generate lots of miles, but don't have sufficient spend to generate unlimited miles.

Is it irrational to not sell an asset for the same amount you would pay for it? I'm not sure. It seems like it isn't if you can't afford it. People give me sports tickets for example. I wouldn't buy them for more than, say $50. At that point, it would be irrational for me not to sell them for $50. But if it is a Superbowl ticket that I can't afford, it feels different. Perhaps the ebay market value of a superbowl ticket is $2500. I can't pay that. But if I got one for free, I might not sell it.