CMHFlyerOH

For years, I've taken advantage of manufactured spending to earn miles--and while I still do this to a degree--earning miles through manufactured spending is not nearly as cheap or as lucrative as it used to be. In the past few months, it's been much easier to earn cash (or points that can effectively be used as cash) than miles.

In the past, what kept me going through the mild annoyances of manufactured spending were grand notions of flying International Business and First Class. These days I earn a lot--and I mean a lot!--of cash back, but while I'm certainly not ready to quit, it's just hard to get as excited about $1,200 as it is 120,000 miles good for an international premium cabin redemption. I keep all the money I earn from manufactured spending in a separate savings account and try to pretend that it's "travel cash," but it's just not the same (nor is it easy to avoid the temptation to use this money for a new bike, some new hiking boots, etc. ).

Has anyone found a way to keep manufactured spending sexy, even when you're mostly earning cash?

Tuppins

When did cash become not sexy?
Maybe you should use some of it on that new bike. Instead of a vague "for travel" earmark, why not set some concrete goal for the dollars? Like paying off your mortgage or early retirement?

hamhead

Like you say, I think miles are more "fun" - to me, dreaming up trips for the points, clever redemptions values, etc. is a lot of the lure.

Doesn't mean I shun cashback. I generally set the goal of revenue neutral - my cashback earnings should cover the many fees that MS brings.

roki

Personally, I don't have any true cashback cards. I'm looking to remedy that before too long, but right now, I don't have any in my portfolio. I am not counting UR-earning cards as CB cards. I'm debating getting the BCP for the 6% groceries. We spend ~$300/mo on Groceries, and I could easily cap out whatever remains <$6K at the end of the year with VGCs, etc.

I agree, too, that miles feel more rewarding in a way. On the other hand, I got my friend's parents set up with the FIDO 2% card, because they couldn't be bothered with miles. At the end of the year, they had just over $1K to spend, and they were stoked. I would have got much more than $1K out of the $50K spend, but to each their own.

commdiver

The best cashback cards will always be better than the best miles cards. If you only MS with miles cards, you are missing out.

raccah

Seriously what is wrong with you guys! This is the right answer! Why is everything BINARY??? Miles cards have a cost and they have an opportunity cost of not using a 5x card! Why is BOTH so bad? I LOVE miles/points/UR/MP/AA/MR/etc! But I am always in the black every month no matter how hard I hammer the opportunities that come up!

Stay in the black - and pile on the miles. Even if you think the miles have a higher value than others, why would you not want to have ZERO cost and lose a few miles for those purchases? All you need is 10K of 5x and you will cover a bunch of mile work.

vinyalwhl

Same here, I probably wouldnt play the cashback game if there wasn't a trip at the end of the rainbow

andyandy

Since I find YQ and taxes to be an unbearable part of redeeming miles, cashback cards will always have a place in my arsenal.

Volodath

It is an unfortunate fact that the human mind has trouble converting money into value, and doing value comparisons. Let's run a couple for instances...

Would you rather have all costs of delivering a new born child for free (2-6k depending on insurance), have the same amount of cash on hand, or take a one week all expenses paid 1st class vacation to the Mediterranean?

Would you rather fly first class on your next trip (60k miles) or have the newest iPhone on launch (~$800)?

Would you rather take an 7 day cruise to Honduras in a mini suite or replace the transmission in you car?

MS (and related activities) force your brain to realize how fungible miles/points/CB really is, and can lead to some of the comparisons above. Add in the fact that you feel like you're 'playing with house money', I suspect that MSers frequently are irrational (towards their luxury side) when it comes to allocating their spend and earning redemptions.

Does it sound super sexy to say you earned 2.3 cpm on a transatlantic flight? Yes. But was that flight worth 2.3 cpm, or even all the CB you gave up to earn those miles?

Treat MS as you would any other earning opportunity. Who really enjoys a hobby of standing in line to print MOs? In the long run, profits are more sexy than travel you didn't really want/need/desire.

jmw

Some of us give little or no extra value when choosing premium seats over economy seats. For example, an economy post-devaluation redemption that is 1.0 CPM after factoring in taxes, fees, and loss of RDM will look good when compared to the premium ticket at 0.5 CPM. See how that works? F/J doesn't look so sexy anymore.

This doesn't even address the opportunity cost of not MSing with the Old Amex Blue at 5x.

As much as I'm a fan of cash, I have lots of cancelled AA Exec cards as well. The 110k miles plus free $200 cashback was too good to pass up.

It's good to go after both cash and miles, but you should really favor cash and make sure you burn miles as you earn them. AA sometimes allows date changes with no fees if you can avoid the redeposit, so burn them now.

sosamo

Recently I have been favoring more Cash than miles. (Fidelity, Amex Blue). When Alaska had the 3pts for AGC, I was getting Alaska miles with my Cash back.

Other than that, I haven't ms airline miles.

spgbus

Any ballpark # on CB you could earn in a month? If it is as you said 'a lot!', forget the miles.

rismoney

i cant best 3% cb TYP to pay mortgage w/o category bs. 5x category spending for everything else. Miles are for diversification

ericdabbs

The reason why it sounds "sexier" than cash back is because if you think of the dollar value of 120K miles gets you for a round trip business class ticket, that amount can surpass $1200 easily. Therefore the 120K miles is much more valueable than cash back in terms of potential overall value.

However if you don't look at that this deeply then the reason why 120K is much more sexier than $1,200 is simply because of the number of zeros. What if I told you would rather have 120K miles or $1.2 million pennies, what would you say?

amolkold

A little from column A, a little from column B