This week, we'll cover important lessons on money and life, how to earn up to 18,500 bonus points via shopping portals, save $$$ negotiating your property tax, turn Rakuten cash back into valuable Bilt Points, a new 2% brokerage bonus from WeBull, up to 12,500 points from new debit card bonuses, $1,000 off kitchen appliances at Home Depot, free tours at Amazon fulfillment centers, and more!

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🤔 10 Important Lessons on Money and Life

📺 Watch or 🎧 Listen

📖 Read the Blog Post

📋 My Past Week

Here's a quick recap of what I was up to last week:

• For the third year in a row, we successfully appealed our home's assessed value. It resulted in a value 22% lower than it would be otherwise, which reduces our property taxes by the same amount. The appeal deadline in many counties is approaching, so you'll either want to 1) do it yourself (takes time/work) or 2) use a service like ​Ownwell​ (← $25 off), which charges a % of any tax savings they get you.
• There are so many flights getting delayed/canceled across the US, but it looks like most airlines are letting passengers change flights for free (which has helped two family members who are visiting us this week). If you want to get a sense of how impacted specific airports are, I really like the ​FlightAware MiseryMap​.
• We decided to get Epic Ski Passes this season, but not everyone owns their own ski gear. With kids growing so fast, it seems expensive to buy everything, but it also seems expensive to rent skis for every trip. Fortunately, it is so easy to rent everything for a whole season for as little as $200 a season. Maybe everyone knew this, but it feels like a huge win for us.
• We've made this ​Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon​ twice in the past few weeks. It's quick, easy and delicious (and not on NYT Cooking, so no subscription needed to access it haha).

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

💰 Earn up to 18,500 Bonus Points via Shopping Portals

Multiple airline shopping portals are offering up to 18,500 bonus points, which is perfect if you’re planning to do some holiday shopping. The best ROI is on Southwest/United, but you could do them all if you have enough shopping. I already knocked out a few by buying gift cards at Giftcards.com, which stacked with ​this offer for 5% back (up to $50)​.

• American Airlines: ​Up to 4,000 bonus AAdvantage miles​ with spending tiers of $200 (500 miles), $700 (1,500 miles), and $1,600 (4,000 miles). Ends 11/17.
• Alaska Airlines: ​Up to 1,500 bonus Atmos points​ with spending tiers of $100 (300 points), $350 (750 points), and $650 (1,500 points). Ends 11/19.
• Delta Airlines: ​Up to 4,000 bonus SkyMiles​ with spending tiers of $200 (400 miles), $500 (1,000 miles), and $1,500 (4,000 miles). Ends 11/21.
• United Airlines: ​Up to 5,000 bonus MileagePlus miles ​with spending tiers of $125 (500 miles), $500 (2,000 miles), and $1,100 (5,000 miles). Ends 11/22.
• Southwest Airlines: ​Up to 4,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points​ with spending tiers of $100 (400 points), $400 (1,600 points), and $900 (4,000 points). Ends 11/24.

🤩 Turn Rakuten Cash Back into Bilt Points

I'm very excited that you can now earn Bilt Points instead of cash back with Rakuten. You could already earn Amex points with Rakuten, but with transfer partners like Hyatt, Alaska, United and Japan Airlines, ​Bilt Rewards​ is my favorite points currency, so I've already made the switch. For the first 6 months, cash back converts $10 = 1,000 points (same as Amex), but after 6 months, you'll need Bilt status to continue that rate.

Finally, if you're not already a Rakuten customer, you can earn $50 (or 5,000 points) with ​a referral link​​ (← mine). It's important to know that you do NOT need a Bilt card to be able to earn and transfer Bilt points to airline/hotel partners.

🚗 New Lyft + United Partnership: Easy 1K Miles

​Lyft and United​ Airlines just launched ​a new partnership​ that lets you earn 1-4x MileagePlus miles on Lyft rides. Even better, you get 1k bonus miles when you link your accounts and complete 2 rides in 30 days.

🏦 Up to 12,500 Points from New Debit Card Bonuses

While debit cards aren't that exciting, they don't hit your credit report or count towards your 5/24 status, which makes them a bit more interesting. Even better, they both have signup bonuses that might make them worth considering:

• ​United MileagePlus Debit Card​: Earn 10,000 bonus miles when you open an account and spend $500 in 4 months. The $4 monthly fee is waived if you maintain a balance of $2,000.
• ​Southwest Rapid Rewards Debit Card​: Earn 2,500 points after 2 recurring deposits and a $100 spend in 90 days. Plus after each year, you'll get 7,500 bonus points, a 20% off coupon, and a $35 Southwest travel credit.

🛋️ Amex's New Pop-Up Lounge in Vegas (11/13 - 12/17)

From 11/13 to 12/17, Amex is hosting ​1850​, a private pop-up lounge at the ARIA Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Platinum card members, plus 1 guest will have complimentary access to the lounge with free food, drinks, giveaways, and more.

📣 Lots of New Hotel, Airline & Points Promos

There are a bunch of other promotions happening right now that might interesting to anyone planning upcoming travel.

Transfer Bonuses

• Capital One → British Airways: ​20% bonus​ until 11/22.
• Amex → Avianca LifeMiles: ​15% bonus​ until 11/30.
• Popular Bank → Virgin Atlantic: ​40% bonus​ until 11/20 (and 30% after that until 12/5).

Airline Award Deals

• 🇺🇸/🇪🇺 US & Europe: From ​7.5k AAdvantage miles​
• 🌏 Asia/Oceania: ​Up to 50% off Atmos award flights​
• 🇦🇹 Austria: From ​70K Aeroplan points​
• 🇧🇪 Belgium: From ​60K Aeroplan points​
• 🇩🇰 Denmark: From ​75K Virgin points​
• 🇪🇹 Ethiopia: From ​80K MileagePlus miles​
• 🇫🇮 Finland: From ​55K Atmos ​​points​​ or AAdvantage miles​
• 🇲🇦 Morocco: From ​55K Atmos points​

Airline Promos

• Southwest: Points sale for 1.5¢ pp with a ​50% bonus​ until 11/17.
• United: Miles sale for 1.88¢ pp with a ​100% bonus​ until 11/25.
• Lufthansa: Miles sale for 1.41¢ pp with a ​50% bonus​ until 11/30. Also, Lufthansa is now a ​Rove Miles transfer partner​.
• United: ​Up to $80 in United travel credit​ when you book an Avis or Budget rental using an eligible United credit card and complete the trip before 12/31.
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue: ​Paid status match promotion​ with matched status valid for 12 months from the approval date.

Hotel Promos

• Marriott: ​Up to 15% off at 4 resorts in Fiji​ when you book before 12/10 for stays between 1/10/26 and 3/31/26.
• Hyatt: ​Double points​ on stays in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Register ​here​ before 12/6 and complete the stay by 12/20.
• IHG: ​15% off awards​ at select new properties booked by 12/31.
• Wyndham: ​Up to 15% off plus 1k bonus points​ for servicemembers, veterans and their families. Book before 12/8 and complete the stay before 12/31.
• Choice Hotels: ​Now allows pooling points​ with friends/family.

🤑 Latest Deals

🎛️ $1,000 Off Kitchen Appliances at Home Depot

If you're looking to upgrade your kitchen for the holiday season, you can get a discount of ​up to $1,000 on select kitchen appliances​ at Home Depot when you purchase multiple items before 12/3. You'll save $200 by buying 2 appliances, $500 for 3, and $1,000 for 4+.

💰 Big WeBull 2% Brokerage Bonus (+ Referral Deal)

WeBull currently has a ​2% transfer bonus​ when you complete a cash deposit or stock/ETF/fund transfer (up to $2m) between 11/1 and 12/31. You must hold the funds for 13 months to qualify, which is shorter than other similar bonuses we've seen with 2 to 5 year requirements.

You can also stack this with a ​referral bonus of up to $5,000​ if you refer a new customer who transfers in brokerage assets and maintains the balance for 60 days. Or if you plan to take advantage of the 2% bonus, you could have your partner, friend or family member refer you. As always, be sure to review all the terms for each promotion.

🥗 inKind Deal: $15 Off $35+ (incl. Existing Users)

​InKind​ has a ​promo​ for new and existing users to get ​$15 off your next $35+ meal​. If you're not familiar, ​InKind​ is a free dining rewards app that's helped me save $100s at amazing restaurants.

If you don’t have an InKind account yet, you can get ​$25 off $50​ with a referral link (​​here’s mine​​) and then add the deal above to your account.

🔗 Card-Linked Offers: $600+ in Savings

You can leverage card-linked offers to maximize your savings, so here are some I found this week. Expiration dates are in parentheses.

• Best Buy & Newegg: ​$100 off $4,000​, up to 3 times (2/3)
• Hilton: ​$200 off $1,000​ in Mexico and Caribbean or ​$100 off $500​ in Nevada (12/31)
• Carnival Cruises: ​$100 off $500+​ (12/31)
• Caesars Rewards: ​$25 on $250+​ (12/29)
• SIXT Rentals: ​15% off​, up to $76 (12/1)
• Amazon: ​$25 off $25​ or ​3–10% off​, up to $10 or ​up to $60 off ​when redeeming Membership Rewards points (12/31)

Note that some of these offers are targeted, so I highly recommend using ​​​CardPointers Pro​​ (get 30% off ​​​here​​​) to automate these offers.

🕵️ Top Finds

📦 Free Tours of Amazon Fulfillment Centers

Nick Gray recently shared his experience on an ​Amazon Warehouse tour​ where you get to see their full operations. The best part is that Amazon offers these tours to the public for free ​here​. As soon as I'll be near one of these locations, I'll definitely try to book one!

📺 Show Recommendation: The Diplomat