How do you make decisions about earning rewards if you do not estimate their value? Every choice has an opportunity cost. EXAMPLE: Should I decide to spend $2,500 per month for six consecutive months to earn 30,000 bonus AA miles -if- that will prevent me from earning some other rewards during that period? I need to have an estimate of the value of AA miles to make that decision.
+1.
I have my own spreadsheet with values for each point/mile I care about. Also has my own earn/burn estimates for each. (e.g., The Starpoint I earn today will likely be spent 15 months from now, etc.)
Of course, it's an
estimate based on how I've historically used my points. But it's a tool I use to inform decisions on whether to effectively pay for miles or points.
Examples include:
- Using a credit card when there's a processing fee, as there often is when paying taxes or tuition.
- Buying a product that is heavily marked up primarily to pay for miles, as is often the case for flowers.
- Staying at a hotel where the Priceline (or similar) option is well-defined, but you could choose to pay extra for hotel points instead. For me, very applicable when roadtripping: elite benefits at HIX/Hampton/Fairfield aren't part of the equation.