I know there needs to be some form of calculation in order to determine when to use points and miles but my take it very different. I'll be 65 in one month and will probably retire about 5 years or so from now. Until then, I can generate lots of points paying office expenses with my credit card.

Those points enable me to experience a level of luxury that is far above my what my finances could pay for. To wit, in less than two weeks we will fly RT in First on Cathay Pacific from JFK to BKK. 135,000 American miles each versus an insane ticket price of $26,000 each! I really don't care how anyone calculates my return because to me, it's all the memories I will be creating. Flights, hotels, suite upgrades - we can work the numbers any way we want. In the end, you figure out why you play this game and act accordingly.

Here's a link to a thread I wrote years ago on point value that got the best feedback of anything thread I ever started. I pretty much stand by everything I said back then;

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...int-value.html