Oct. 18, 2025

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

๐Ÿ’ฐ 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!

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๐Ÿ“ง 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.

๐Ÿ“บ Watch or ๐ŸŽง Listen

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 โ€‹share it hereโ€‹.

And if you want to go deeper on health insurance and open enrollment, check out this episode from last year:

๐ŸŽง Navigating Open Enrollment


๐Ÿ“‹ 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 โ€‹Credit 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 โ€‹Geltโ€‹) 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, โ€‹more 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!

๐Ÿ›ซ Travel, Points & Miles

๐Ÿจ Hotel Promos: Marriott, Hilton, Accor & Best Western

Here are some of the hotel promos to take advantage of if you have upcoming travel plans.

๐Ÿ’บ 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.

If you're not set on business class, โ€‹Singapore Airlines' Spontaneous Escapes promoโ€‹ is offering 30% off saver awards to multiple destinations that are listed โ€‹hereโ€‹ when you book before 10/31.

๐Ÿ›ซ 3 Easy Ways to Earn Bonus Miles via Airline Promos

Airline promos like these are relatively easy ways to earn bonus points.

๐Ÿคฉ Rove's Loyalty Eligible Hotel Bookings (10x Miles)

โ€‹Rove 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 โ€‹just 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 โ€‹earn 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.

๐Ÿ’ธ 2x Rewards (Up to 6% Back) on Venmo Credit Card

A targeted offer is allowing select โ€‹Venmo 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.


๐Ÿค‘ Latest Deals

๐Ÿฅ— Free $40 InKind Dining Credit (New & Existing Users)

โ€‹InKindโ€‹ 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 $50โ€‹โ€‹ referral offer first (here’s โ€‹mineโ€‹) and then activate the offers above.

P.S. If you split the bill with others, you can both use these deals.

๐Ÿ’ต Up to $1,000 Bonus for BoA Merrill Edge Investments

If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member, you can get โ€‹up to a $1,000 bonusโ€‹ when you invest in a new Merrill Edge Selfโ€‘Directed account using promo code โ€‹1000PRโ€‹. You need to maintain the balance for 90 days, but you can transfer existing investments over without needing to sell them.

๐Ÿ”— 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 โ€‹CardPointers Proโ€‹ (get 30% off โ€‹hereโ€‹) to automate these offers.

๐Ÿ›’ $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.

โ›ฝ Save 25¢ per Gallon Every Friday with Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime members can โ€‹save 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 โ€‹โ€‹hereโ€‹โ€‹ and create a free account with BP.

๐Ÿ“ฆ $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.

๐Ÿ’ฐ 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.


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.