The conventional wisdom in the miles and points community is that you should “earn and burn” your points. In other words, once you have them, don’t be afraid to use them up because there’s no guarantee the program won’t devalue later, leaving you wishing you’d spent your points when the value was higher. But…is that always the right choice?
Is it worth hoarding points?
Watch here:
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(00:29) – When does it make sense to hoard points?
(01:00) – Great award availability pops up randomly in unexpected places
(05:33) – Amazing point deals sometimes pop up randomly
(08:42) – New partnerships sometimes create amazing short-term opportunities
(09:50) – Points with free/cheap change/cancel rules are great for placeholder awards
(11:21) – Point programs change: value can go up or down for different situations
(13:50) – You can read Greg’s old post from 2013 about opportunistic hoarding vs earning and burning here.
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Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads
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I’m not able to travel too much for the next year or so due to job commitments. Still, I’m hoarding points because its easy even as inevitable devaluation occurs. I used to put all our spend on a costco and alaska card for ALL my spend and thought it was great to get 30K miles and $1000 from costco every year and a few thousand miles from flights. After listening to FM episodes for six months my award wallet was at $20K and climbing. I’m a retired Navy CAPT and a chemical engineer so I enjoy the math and learning I get from the group. Really cool people doing stuff for themselves and their friends and families.
6.5 million Bonvoy points here. Lifetime titanium. I spend enough points for 5-7 “free” nights at an upscale to luxury hotel every year. I never go to the Maldives or places like that. I prefer Western Europe. I probably have enough for 9-10 years assuming Bonvoy points aren’t so devalued that it requires 200,000 points for a single night.