As the doc said.. this is mainly for information for some of us who have not been doing this for ages. We get a sense of what a reference points (whether it is attainable or not is a different matter)

Then you're doing it wrong ;)

I'm also curious about this (and I have investigated a little on Google :D ). Not counting the initial sign up offer, you get 100 AA miles per $1000 in their checking account.

That means to get 20k AA miles/month someone has to have $200,000 sitting in a checking account. Lets say those are worth 2 cpm, that's a value of $400/month. Now lets say they get redeemed for business class, that's probably closer to 4-5 cpm(? just a guess as I haven't had the luxury of redeeming for biz/1st) so they are getting a value of $800-1000/month. If you were to park 200k in some retirement/investment account that gets 5% return (doesn't seem unreasonable to me), your value would be $10,000/month.

Why is anyone parking 200k in a checking account? I love to travel, but it just doesn't seem like the smartest way to stash your money.

5% of 200K is 10K/YEAR or $833/month. And it's generally pretty difficult to find a guaranteed 5% interest right now.

No, that's 60% interest. 5% gets you about $10k/year, not month

In today's low interest environment, 240k AA miles at 2 cents a mile is worth approx 5K. That's a 2.5% return and higher if used wisely on premium travel.Not bad if you ask me...

If you know of an investment that is not a Ponzi scheme that returns $10K a month on 200K I'd like to know about it. Check your math - 5% ANNUAL return on an investment account gives you about $800/month in return, not $10K.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz-370;)

Seriously? I find it to be one of the most interesting "new" topics in a long while on here.

I park 200k in the BD checking account because I get 20k miles a month, tax free (everyone please do their own analysis, etc, dont depend on anything I say regarding taxation).

To me, AA miles are worth about 2.5 cents each. x 20k per month, so thats like getting $500, every month. And you can imagine what taxes I get hit with living in the Socialist Republic of California if I had them in a checking account or wherever else that I'd be 1099'd

Its a better return than anywhere else I can think of, while keeping these funds 100% liquid and FDIC insured.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that those miles are taxable. Doesn't BD send you a 1099 with a valuation of the miles each year? Or am I thinking of only Citi?

BankDirect is for those who have substantial extra cash. The most popular account is Mileage Checking With Interest. Some of the particulars are:

"...Earn 1000 miles for opening a Mileage Checking Account.

Earn 10,000 miles for signing up for payroll direct deposit into a Mileage Checking Account.
Earn 5,000 miles for using BankDirect's bill pay service for 12 months.

Earn 100 miles per month for every $1000.00 of the collected balance in your Mileage Checking Account up to the first $200,000. Earn an additional 25 miles per $1,000 in balances over $200,000, WITH NO CAP!"

In other words, to earn 20k per month, you need $200,000!

It is somewhat cumbersome to open an account and there is a $12 per month charge which was free until Jan of 2012.

Obviously, not for everyone.

I'm gonna blame my shoddy math skills on the fact that it is Friday :D'

You all are correct. About $800/month value at least if using for Biz/1st. Makes significantly more sense to me now.

Now I just need to work on saving up 200k to finance my AA travels! Thanks for the corrections guys & gals.

Why get a 5% return that must be used for miles when you can get that elsewhere as cash that can be used anywhere?

Hey, I signed up for DirecTV this month and got 15k AA miles. I'm a heavy hitter! Now to start a blog.