Do you actually realize that it is AWESOME that all these people are lazy? Can you imagine if everyone wanted to get free miles and worked for it, it would be MUCH harder for us (who currently do it) to get miles.

I feel like this is perfect balance. If someone wants free miles then they can do reading, then do work to get them. (although it's not even that hard!)

If not then fine, more for us :D

Yes.

So you went from over 1k an hour to 137 an hour. I bet if you sharpened that pencil a little more you will be down to minimum wage! :D

Let's get serious - 40%? That sounds more like your marginal tax rate after taking you deductions. Your effective tax rate would be more like 30% or less.

*sniff* all my friends are outside playing ball and I'm stuck in here looking for mistake fares to Europe! :(

Some of my friends like to keep their worlds very small. They don't care to travel. They watch a lot of TV. Other, kids or pets or work make travel too bothersome. Others, they like to plan their vacations and be in total charge - they think miles/points limits them. Sometimes it does. I've given up on alerting my real-life friends to awesome deals and points/miles collecting ops because they don't care of don't understand or .... *sigh* ...it just has no value to them. So now I just alert my FT friends. ^

As this is my very first post in this forum, I would have to say that I am currently one of the people not working to get free miles. I have always known it was a possibility, and i surely spend enough money on credit cards and things to warrant it.

I suppose the incredible amount of mileage cards out there are what scares me. Plus to date I have been somewhat intimidated by the amount of frequent flyer programs there are and that i have always heard how hard it was to spend the miles. I am realizing that is not so much the case, but as someone said the level of research to begin is daunting enough. Simply trying to select my first credit card into this venture is difficult. I have read some of the FAQ posts, but am still slightly hesitant.

Bottom line is I am looking for 1 card (Visa/MC) to be my big spender in my wallet. From the points gain on this card (1000-1500$ average monthly spending) I would like to earn points towards international fares, and some domestic. I don't have any preferred airlines, so I don't want to limit myself to bad ones by purchasing the wrong card.

Because I do not fully understand what restrictions on travel, and what specific airlines some of these programs apply to, I find myself still spinning in circles a bit. This is what I expected, so hopefully I can browse around until I read the magic posts that make it click into place.


that said, I feel like I could ask enough of the right questions that someone experienced at this could answer them instantly and improve my knowledge by leaps and bounds in a few minutes. If anyone is willing to answer some PM's or jump on a messaging program with me for a bit, please let me know. I would be quite grateful

The top tax bracket is 35%. If you include SS + Medicare, it hits ~42% (for W2) or ~48% (self-employed), but that's marginal, not effective. To hit 40% effective tax rate (ie: 40% of your income in taxes) to the feds, you'd have to make a rather absurd amount of money (well above 20mil/year) by my calculations.
Income: $20mil

Taxes on first $372950: $108190
SSI (up to cap): $13243
Medicare: $580,000
35% tax above $373k: $6,869,467.50

Total effective federal tax rate: 37.85%.

I think you miscalculated, or you've won the lottery recently.

ETA: To bring this post somewhat on-topic, I've told several friends of mine about how to play the game, but only a few have. Some don't have the credit score, some don't have the inclination, and some just can't seem to figure out that it's legit. Oh well, more miles for me :P

the poster said 40% in "taxes", not just federal. If you add up federal (including FICA), state, local property, sales tax, etc. you don;t have to makes millions to reach 40% :td:

Actually, he said:

It helps to read posts before whining about them. I even quoted the poster I was responding to.

40% to the feds alone is not realistic. 40% total is entirely realistic, especially in a higher-tax state like NY/MA/CA. OTOH, you've still gotta make quite a bit of money (~$1.2mil/yr in VA, to hit 40% in income taxes).

different priorities
 

People that want to travel, don't have the $ or miles to travel, and still don't get the whole miles/points thing, yes, they belong to the category of people who will complain about their situations, take 0 risks, and envy others who do the work to get what they want.

There are also people who either have no time to travel or have a bulkload of miles sitting and have turned their attention elsewhere. The chase is half the fun. People that like to chase miles often like to chase investments, other deals, run a business or some other pursuits. While I continue stay on top of available offers, miles/points can and do go down the priority list of things to chase as they have for me (There, I said it :p)

Perhaps you should read post #2 again; Satman40 posted

Same reason why less than 3% of the population retire rich...

Lazy, stupid, and could care less...

We start school and find teachers work 70% of the year, we find a score of 70% is average, we find 45% pay no taxes. the ones that do work pay 40% of their income in taxes...The seats up front are very few, so we should be glad very few love collecting miles.

Did I quote that post, or give any indication I was responding to it?

I quoted the post I was responding to. Other posts in the thread do not affect that (note my 2nd post where I addressed total vs fed only, and how 40% was possible in one, but not the other). Post I quoted said 40% to the feds, which is a large pile of bovine excrement.

Again, I quoted the 1 (one) post I was responding to. That post was incorrect. The one you quote is not the one I quote, in fact, I challenge you to find where I addressed that post at all. Read what I wrote, and you won't look so ridiculous.

Satman40 said, and I quote: "Our tax rate is also greater than 40%, to the Feds". That was the post I was addressing, which I indicated by quoting it. What part of that includes non-federal taxes? Please, elaborate.

Edit: somehow "lazy, stupid, and could care less" (sic) is oddly appropriate here.

This is exactly correct- hoard the points for ourselves!!!!
 

I thought this was a good post for someone new to the game. I'm no expert but if I were in your situation I would sign up for the BA Visa card for the signup bonus alone. ( I would then redeem those miles on AA domestic flights as some of the other fares have way too high fees for my taste) Longer Term personally I like the AA Visas/MC, but I will say I'm not real versed with United/Cont. Just pick one and go with it you can always switch later, in the meantime you are missing out on miles! :)

Don't believe that post below - frequent flyer miles are just an urban myth!:p