๐ฐ My Top Finds, Latest Deals, and Best Recommendations (10/18/25)

This week, we'll cover open enrollment, investments & more listener Q&A, business class award deals to 8 destinations, my wife's preventative surgery updates, card-linked offers worth $1,000+ in savings, free $40 from InKind for new and existing users, up to $1,000 investment account bonus, 3 easy ways to earn bonus miles via airline promos and more!
๐ง Open Enrollment, Investments & More Listener Q&A
This week on the podcast, I answered lots of your questions covering open enrollment, investing, buying gold, life and auto insurance, RSUs, practical ways to leverage AI tools, and more.
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. I've already recorded a few more AMAs to answer other questions, but if you have a question you'd like to submit for a future AMA, please โshare it hereโ.
And if you want to go deeper on health insurance and open enrollment, check out this episode from last year:
๐ง Navigating Open Enrollment
๐ My Past Week
Let me share a quick recap of what I was up to last week:
- After 4 years of having an incredibly loud garage door, I had a garage door installer come out to see what we could do. Turns out a quick 30-min service made all the difference and it feels like we just installed a brand new quiet garage door. I can't believe it took us this long to do this, but I'm so glad we did.
- I'm trying hard to use a few AI coding tools to turn my โCredit Card Optimizer Spreadsheetโ Tool into an app, but all the different credit card earnings rules I’ve added make it way more complex than I had realized. So it looks like it'll be a much bigger project than I originally thought, but stay tuned!
- I was looking forward to earning some points paying our taxes, but when we finally got our 2024 return filed last week (thanks โGeltโ) we ended up having a small refund. Maybe next year!
- Finally, my wife Amy has the BRCA2 gene mutation and had surgery two days ago to preventatively remove her ovaries and significantly reduce her risk of ovarian cancer. Everything went great and she's recovering at home right now. Hopefully she has a quick recovery like she did last year after a double mastectomy she did for the same reason. For those not familiar, โmore than 60% of women with BRCA2 develop breast cancer during their lifetimeโ. Being proactive can make a huge difference, and I'm so proud of my wife for going through all this!
๐ซ Travel, Points & Miles
๐จ Hotel Promos: Marriott, Hilton, Accor & Best Western
Here are some of the hotel promos to take advantage of if you have upcoming travel plans.
- Best Western: โEarn 1,000 bonus pointsโ per night on up to 10 nights. Register โhereโ, book, and complete the stay before 11/2.
- Marriott: โEarn 2,025 bonus pointsโ per stay (up to 3 stays) this fall, plus 2K extra for stays at Outdoors locations. Register โhereโ and book before 12/27 for stays between 10/28 and 1/10/26.
- Hilton: โSave 25% on Asia-Pacific staysโ between 10/24 and 3/31/26.
- Accor: โEarn 2x points on 2+ night staysโ across the Americas between 10/15 and 3/31/26. Register here and book before 1/15/26. You can also โsave up to 30% at select North American propertiesโ when booked by 3/30/30 for stays between 10/15 and 3/31/26. The discount is progressive, where you get 10% off for 1-2 nights, 15% off for 3-4 nights and 20% off for 5+ nights.
๐บ Business Class Award Deals to 8 Destinations
Check out these business class award flight deals if you're looking to travel to/via these destinations.
- ๐ฆ๐บ Australia: From โ85K AAdvantage milesโ
- ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong: First-class from โ160K Cathay Pacific Asia milesโ
- ๐ฎ๐ช Ireland: From โ45K Atmos pointsโ
- ๐ฎ๐น Italy: From โ55K Atmos pointsโ
- ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands: From โ48.5K Virgin pointsโ
- ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea: From โ75K Atmos pointsโ
- ๐ช๐ธ Spain: From โ40.5K Avios pointsโ
- ๐ฌ๐ง UK: From โ23K Virgin pointsโ
If you're not set on business class, โSingapore Airlines' Spontaneous Escapes promoโ is offering 30% off saver awards to multiple destinations that are listed โhereโ when you book before 10/31.
๐ซ 3 Easy Ways to Earn Bonus Miles via Airline Promos
Airline promos like these are relatively easy ways to earn bonus points.
- United: Earn extra miles via the โMile Play promoโ. Register โhereโ before 12/22 and enter your MileagePlus loyalty number to see your targeted offer.
- Southwest: โEarn 1K bonus pointsโ when you spend $100 via the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping portal before 10/20.
- TAP Portugal: โEarn 50% bonus on milesโ when you book any flight before 10/20 with promo code BDAY2025USD.
๐คฉ Rove's Loyalty Eligible Hotel Bookings (10x Miles)
โRove Milesโ is a really interesting hotel booking platform that lets you earn their own transferrable points currency when booking hotels. However most hotel booking sites aren't eligible for earning points or elite nights with hotel chains. Fortunately, Rove โjust announcedโ that you will be able to book hotel rates that earn points and elite status, making it a really compelling platform for booking hotels.
Plus, through 10/31, you can โearn 10x Rove Milesโ per $1 spent on eligible bookings at hotels including Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and more. This is exciting news considering Rove Miles can be transferred to 12 different hotel and airline partners.
๐ธ 2x Rewards (Up to 6% Back) on Venmo Credit Card
A targeted offer is allowing select โVenmo Credit Cardโ holders to earn double rewards through December, meaning 6% back on your top category, 4% on the next category, and 2% everywhere else. Check your Venmo app to see if you're eligible and activate the offer.
๐ค Latest Deals
๐ฅ Free $40 InKind Dining Credit (New & Existing Users)
โInKindโ is a dining rewards app that's helped me save $100s at some amazing restaurants and they're continuing to offer more deals. Right now, new and existing customers can get โ$15 off $15โ and โ$25 off $50โ. Plus, if you don’t have an InKind account yet, you can join with a โ$25 off $50โโ referral offer first (here’s โmineโ) and then activate the offers above.
P.S. If you split the bill with others, you can both use these deals.
๐ต Up to $1,000 Bonus for BoA Merrill Edge Investments
If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member, you can get โup to a $1,000 bonusโ when you invest in a new Merrill Edge SelfโDirected account using promo code โ1000PRโ. You need to maintain the balance for 90 days, but you can transfer existing investments over without needing to sell them.
๐ Card-Linked Offers: $1,000+ in Savings
Here are some card-linked offers I found this week with expiration dates in parentheses. Also, note that some of these offers are targeted, so I recommend using โCardPointers Proโ (get 30% off โhereโ) to automate these offers.
- AT&T Fiber: โ$50 off $75โ (11/8)
- Wyndham: โ$40 off $200โ (12/5)
- Miraval Resorts & Spas: โ$70 off $700โ (12/8)
- Big Sky Resort: โ$500 off $2,000โ (12/25)
- Lyft: โ10% back, up to $10โ (12/31)
- Qatar Airways: โ$200 off $850+โ (12/31)
- Virgin Atlantic: โ$250 off $1,800โ (12/31)
- Hilton: โ20,000 bonus pointsโ after a $10K spend or โ6,000 bonus pointsโ after a $3K spend on Amex Hilton cards (2/10/26)
๐ $35-$60 Off Sam’s Club Memberships
Through 10/31, new members can join Sam’s Club for just โ$15โ (normally $50) or upgrade to a Plus membership for โ$50โ (normally $110). This offer is not valid for renewals, members who canceled in the past 6 months or guest members.
โฝ Save 25¢ per Gallon Every Friday with Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime members can โsave 25¢ per gallon every Fridayโ at bp, Amoco and am/pm gas stations in the U.S. through 12/26. All you need to do is activate the offer โโhereโโ and create a free account with BP.
๐ฆ $10 Off $50 Walmart Delivery Purchases
Get โ$10 off an order of $50+โ at Walmart when you use promo code DOUBLE10. It seems to only work on delivery orders, but you can use this offer up to 2 times.
๐ฐ Aeroplan, Flying Blue, EVA Air & More Points on Sale
Do you have a redemption in mind, or are you familiar with these programs? Check out these deals with expiration dates in parentheses.
- Aeroplan: 1.4¢ with up to a โ90% bonusโ (10/29)
- Flying Blue (Targeted): 1.69¢ with up to a โ45% bonusโ (11/5)
- EVA Air: 0.2¢ with up to a โ50% bonusโ (11/20)
- Marriott Bonvoy: 0.89¢ with up to a โ40% bonusโ (12/7)
Editor’s Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.