RealGM

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:47 pm**

I'll add Citi ThankYou if you travel enough.

Pretty good %s and you can buy travel through their service for roughly 75-80% of the cost you would through Kayak if you use your points.

I basically get 2-3 flights/year with it. The 75-80% on travel is somewhat offset by the $100 fee, so you have to have it as your most used card or that may outweigh the savings.

Otherwise I use the Amazon card there and Costco for that.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:51 pm**

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:
humanrefutation wrote:Anyone have any opinions on the best rewards credit cards? Travel rewards, straight cash rewards, etc?

What is most important to you? International travel, domestic travel, smartest financial decision, 0% APR? Are you planning on only having one card, or willing to churn?

Cash back is probably the smartest since you actually get money instead of having to spend money to use the rewards, but I like the travel cards. I travel a lot for personal and work trips, so airport lounges are a huge plus.

Chase SW- Probably best deal if you stack a business card for companion pass. But you have to do it right, or else the rewards are not that great.

Chase Sapphire Reserve- Huge sign-on bonus, Priority Pass (airport lounge) $300 travel credit, other perks - $450 annually. AmEx Platinum is very similar with pros and cons.

AmEx Hilton Aspire - Decent sign-on bonus, 1 free weekend at any hilton, $250 credit, Diamond status - $450 annually

Amazon is a no brainer (if you already have prime) for 5% Amazon/Whole Foods purchases.

I'm fine swapping between cards. I think my #1 priority is getting the best bang for my buck. I like the perks that come with the CSR, especially the lounge access, travel credit, and the global entry reimbursement, but it's also $450 annually and I don't travel that often (though I'd like to if my rewards could cover much of the cost). I also hear good things about the Chase Sapphire Preferred - lower benefits but $95 annually.

I currently have Discover It and the Chase Amazon Visa. The Discover It racked up some nice bonuses the first year, but I think I can do better. Chase Amazon Visa is a no-brainer for sure.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:02 pm**

I use the Fidelity Visa for 2% cash back on everything deposited directly into my Roth IRA. It's nice to get tax free contributions into a post-tax account, and a nice way to save without thinking about it. I usually lump sum my IRAs so it's always nice when I go to do that at the end of the year that I don't have to contribute the full amount at once because I already have some contributions for the year.

Then I have a US Bank Visa through my bank for 5% cashback rotating categories (you get 3 categories of options like Phone bill, Gym bill, Supermarket, Athletic Club, Fast food, Restaurant Food, Utilities, etc.). Then you get 2% on another category but that doesn't matter because I use the Fidelity Visa for everything that isn't a 5% category.

Obviously, I enjoy the cashback rewards.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:07 pm**

REDDzone wrote:I use the Fidelity Visa for 2% cash back on everything deposited directly into my Roth IRA. It's nice to get tax free contributions into a post-tax account, and a nice way to save without thinking about it. I usually lump sum my IRAs so it's always nice when I go to do that at the end of the year that I don't have to contribute the full amount at once because I already have some contributions for the year.

How does it work with Fidelity? It looks like it is $5 a trade, so do you let the the rewards pile up (2% maybe gets you $500 a year depending on what you spend) add in your contribution and make a single trade to invest in an index fund/stock? It would annoy me to see my cash back sitting in a cash account for a year.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:05 pm**

Got married on Saturday, everything went perfectly from start to finish. Gotta thank my fiancé wife for all her planning on it. And thanks to y’all for letting me vent to someone outside of RL people who might let it slip :lol:

Chilling in Florida now, married life is good 8-)

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:19 pm**

jschligs wrote:Got married on Saturday, everything went perfectly from start to finish. Gotta thank my fiancé wife for all her planning on it. And thanks to y’all for letting me vent to someone outside of RL people who might let it slip

Chilling in Florida now, married life is good

Congrats!

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:23 pm**

jschligs wrote:Got married on Saturday, everything went perfectly from start to finish. Gotta thank my fiancé wife for all her planning on it. And thanks to y’all for letting me vent to someone outside of RL people who might let it slip

Chilling in Florida now, married life is good

Congrats!

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:07 pm**

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:
REDDzone wrote:I use the Fidelity Visa for 2% cash back on everything deposited directly into my Roth IRA. It's nice to get tax free contributions into a post-tax account, and a nice way to save without thinking about it. I usually lump sum my IRAs so it's always nice when I go to do that at the end of the year that I don't have to contribute the full amount at once because I already have some contributions for the year.

How does it work with Fidelity? It looks like it is $5 a trade, so do you let the the rewards pile up (2% maybe gets you $500 a year depending on what you spend) add in your contribution and make a single trade to invest in an index fund/stock? It would annoy me to see my cash back sitting in a cash account for a year.

If you wish you can have deposits go in monthly if you are at 5000 points ($2500 spending) or more. You need to open the account first and then link it to the card. There is no minimum for their Roth IRA. I don't have this card but I'm familiar with it, I have my 401K through Fidelity. It's a good deal.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:18 pm**

REDDzone wrote:I use the Fidelity Visa for 2% cash back on everything deposited directly into my Roth IRA. It's nice to get tax free contributions into a post-tax account, and a nice way to save without thinking about it. I usually lump sum my IRAs so it's always nice when I go to do that at the end of the year that I don't have to contribute the full amount at once because I already have some contributions for the year.

Then I have a US Bank Visa through my bank for 5% cashback rotating categories (you get 3 categories of options like Phone bill, Gym bill, Supermarket, Athletic Club, Fast food, Restaurant Food, Utilities, etc.). Then you get 2% on another category but that doesn't matter because I use the Fidelity Visa for everything that isn't a 5% category.

Obviously, I enjoy the cashback rewards.

Are you using pre-tax dollars when you make purchases on your Visa card? If not then it's not a tax free contribution. The cash back is treated as a discount, it's not pre-tax cash. But good on you using that money for retirement. Love the discipline!

Posted: **Wed Sep 18, 2019 1:45 am**

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:
REDDzone wrote:I use the Fidelity Visa for 2% cash back on everything deposited directly into my Roth IRA. It's nice to get tax free contributions into a post-tax account, and a nice way to save without thinking about it. I usually lump sum my IRAs so it's always nice when I go to do that at the end of the year that I don't have to contribute the full amount at once because I already have some contributions for the year.

How does it work with Fidelity? It looks like it is $5 a trade, so do you let the the rewards pile up (2% maybe gets you $500 a year depending on what you spend) add in your contribution and make a single trade to invest in an index fund/stock? It would annoy me to see my cash back sitting in a cash account for a year.

Yea, it's not a ton of money I get through the 2% back, but usually it just sits there in the money market fund until I buy something. Occasionally I'll just go in and invest in an index fund or whatever when the amount is substantial. I actually like having some cash in my accounts so I can buy during days when the market is down or sometimes I do fun little speculative individual stock investments for the hell of it.

Posted: **Wed Sep 18, 2019 1:47 am**

Iheartfootball wrote:Are you using pre-tax dollars when you make purchases on your Visa card? If not then it's not a tax free contribution. The cash back is treated as a discount, it's not pre-tax cash. But good on you using that money for retirement. Love the discipline!

I always thought the cash back was considered a rebate. So I thought of it as a way to contribute to a post-tax account with money that I didn't technically pay tax on.

If that's wrong, whatever lol.

Posted: **Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:05 pm**

jschligs wrote:Got married on Saturday, everything went perfectly from start to finish. Gotta thank my fiancé wife for all her planning on it. And thanks to y’all for letting me vent to someone outside of RL people who might let it slip

Chilling in Florida now, married life is good

Congrats, my friend!

Posted: **Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:12 am**

jschligs wrote:Got married on Saturday, everything went perfectly from start to finish. Gotta thank my fiancé wife for all her planning on it. And thanks to y’all for letting me vent to someone outside of RL people who might let it slip

Chilling in Florida now, married life is good

Congrats man! Good to hear it was a perfect day. Enjoy FL.

humanrefutation wrote:Anyone have any opinions on the best rewards credit cards? Travel rewards, straight cash rewards, etc?

I travel a lot for business and live at the Delta hub, so I have the Delta AmEx Platinum. It's the right tier for me balancing rewards with how much I travel, but I pretty much put everything on it. Nice perks (free companion pass, more miles, various travel perks), I get upgrades pretty frequently, and I don't think I'll be paying for any flights anytime soon.

I will say, I am looking for a dedicated card for groceries. Would love to find something with 5% back at all grocery stores. Haven't looked in earnest yet - just something that's been on my to-do list for a while.

Posted: **Thu Sep 19, 2019 11:33 pm**

When I first got into cooking over a decade ago one of the first things I did was make my own stocks, except the day I did it I made WAY too much (all three of beef, chicken, and veggie) and since I wasn't a great cook back then almost all of it when unused in my freezer. When I moved out I tossed it instead of transferring it. Since then I've used the store bought stuff.

Not anymore. Made chicken stock a couple nights ago and it was relatively cheap and easy. Bought a whole chicken and two frozen chicken backs for $13. Added other veggies and herbs. Maybe all together the stock was $20 and I got about 190 oz. Using some tonight to make tortilla soup and MY GOD. The overwhelming smell of chicken coming from the pot is absolutely insane.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2019 1:23 am**

ReasonablySober wrote:When I first got into cooking over a decade ago one of the first things I did was make my own stocks, except the day I did it I made WAY too much (all three of beef, chicken, and veggie) and since I wasn't a great cook back then almost all of it when unused in my freezer. When I moved out I tossed it instead of transferring it. Since then I've used the store bought stuff.

Not anymore. Made chicken stock a couple nights ago and it was relatively cheap and easy. Bought a whole chicken and two frozen chicken backs for $13. Added other veggies and herbs. Maybe all together the stock was $20 and I got about 190 oz. Using some tonight to make tortilla soup and MY GOD. The overwhelming smell of chicken coming from the pot is absolutely insane.

It makes such a big difference. I wish I had the patience to do it all the time. Do you follow a particular recipe?

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2019 1:26 am**

humanrefutation wrote:
ReasonablySober wrote:When I first got into cooking over a decade ago one of the first things I did was make my own stocks, except the day I did it I made WAY too much (all three of beef, chicken, and veggie) and since I wasn't a great cook back then almost all of it when unused in my freezer. When I moved out I tossed it instead of transferring it. Since then I've used the store bought stuff.

Not anymore. Made chicken stock a couple nights ago and it was relatively cheap and easy. Bought a whole chicken and two frozen chicken backs for $13. Added other veggies and herbs. Maybe all together the stock was $20 and I got about 190 oz. Using some tonight to make tortilla soup and MY GOD. The overwhelming smell of chicken coming from the pot is absolutely insane.

It makes such a big difference. I wish I had the patience to do it all the time. Do you follow a particular recipe?

I used Daniel's at Serious Eats as a guide, but not a bible. I used more fresh herbs in mine and more thanksgiving kinda stuff like rosemary and sage. I used maybe twice as much water because I felt like I used more chicken than he did. I was a little scared when it came out that it was too thin but that went away immediately tonight when I started cooking with it.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2019 3:21 am**

ReasonablySober wrote:When I first got into cooking over a decade ago one of the first things I did was make my own stocks, except the day I did it I made WAY too much (all three of beef, chicken, and veggie) and since I wasn't a great cook back then almost all of it when unused in my freezer. When I moved out I tossed it instead of transferring it. Since then I've used the store bought stuff.

Not anymore. Made chicken stock a couple nights ago and it was relatively cheap and easy. Bought a whole chicken and two frozen chicken backs for $13. Added other veggies and herbs. Maybe all together the stock was $20 and I got about 190 oz. Using some tonight to make tortilla soup and MY GOD. The overwhelming smell of chicken coming from the pot is absolutely insane.

I am not vegetarian, but I tend to make my own veggie stock even if I use it in chicken soup or something like that. I know the bone will add so much flavor, but I just haven't taken that step yet for whatever reason. I should.

Love veggie stock, though. I tend to use leeks, fennel, white onion, yellow onion, carrots, parsnip, ginger, bay leaf, various herbs (what we might have in the garden). Also highly recommend adding soy sauce and a parmesan rind. Garlic too, but I can't eat it right now (rough life). Makes an excellent base for several dishes.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2019 5:32 am**

I've been driving my family crazy with frozen chicken bones in the freezer. Leftover bones from a roasted chicken, in bag then in freezer- stockpile until you have a few then make brown chicken stock. Super deep, richer flavour- probably too overpowering for a clear broth but fantastic in risotto*/heartier soups.

*risotto is basically only made in my house now to cool down and make arancini with the next day.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:33 am**

I just quit from the most toxic workplace I've ever seen. Unbelievable. Crazy hours, head office on the other side of the planet wants me to update them usually around midnight, fights, bullying, accusations, legal threats, people disappearing without even bothering to tell anybody and next thing you know they're on stress leave, and most of all 200 angry creditors and suppliers we hadn't paid in weeks because we're basically bankrupt. And most of them had my phone number as the key contact in finance :lol:

The day I left that phone on my desk and walked out was one of the happiest of my life. I still remember the interview, "currently we have some cash flow issues, but the industry is booming and the future is bright" :lol:

First time I quit without having found my next job first.
And I'm **** loving it

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:39 pm**

We still have Turkey stock from Thanksgiving we use. It's nice being able to vacuum seal bags of stock.

RealGM

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