This week, we'll cover what's new, dying & next in points & miles, latest credit card welcome offers (incl. best ever), free $25 Amazon Pharmacy credit, 300K sign-up bonus + up to 500K points/year with Silo, latest award flight & hotel deals, card-linked offers worth $1,000+, how to borrow money at U.S. Treasury, and more!

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🤔 Points & Miles in 2026: What's New, Dying & Next

Learn how to navigate major changes in points and miles while maximizing travel rewards in 2026. My friend Brian M and I cover Bilt 2.0, the Mesa card shutdown, how we evaluate annual fees, find award availability, and what’s likely (and unlikely) to change this year.

📺 Watch or 🎧 Listen

📋 My Past Week

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

• We spent last weekend in Tahoe with friends and had an incredible trip. The girls are now skiing green runs on their own (and even a few blues), which is so fun to watch. We put them in ski school for a day as well, which gave me and Amy time to ski the whole mountain together. I'm excited to see how much they level up by the end of the season.
• On the drive back from Tahoe we started crossing the San Mateo bridge just a few minutes after a bad accident a few miles ahead. At the time we didn't know what happened and certainly never expected to end up stopped for ~2 hours. It was a great reminder to always keep plenty of snacks and water in the car, because you never know when you (or more likely your kids) will need it. We were lucky the kids didn't need to go to the bathroom, but going forward we're going to keep the formerly retired travel potty in the trunk of the car just in case.
• Shortly after getting home two hours later than planned, we realized that as we were leaving Tahoe, I managed to throw a large garbage bag we were using for dirty clothes into a dumpster. I'll share the full story on the podcast in a few weeks, but thanks to some kind people on the internet and a good amount of persistence and luck, we managed to get the entire bag of clothes back two days later. Special shoutout to Gordon from ​Handyman Kirkwood​, who made the hardest parts possible. Definitely give him a call if you ever need anything in the area.
• I did my semi-annual bloodwork two weeks ago and reviewed the results with my doctor yesterday. While I was happy that I've managed to keep my cholesterol in check, I still have some work to get my Omega-3 index back up. I'll be doing an annual VO2 Max and Dexa next month, which is starting to motivate me to work harder on my cardio so I can beat my results from last year.
• I always talk about the value of setting alerts and being patient when it comes to finding award availability and that lesson paid off big this past week when we found availability for 4 non-stop flights to Europe in Business Class this summer. After a couple companion certificates, it ended up being 116k + ~$250 in taxes per person. That seemed like an incredible deal until I realized that paid business class from SF to Europe this summer is less than $3,000/person. So factoring everything I shared from my ​Top 5 Mistakes Episode​, it was only ~1.5¢/point, but unlike a cash fare it's fully refundable with no fees, which made it much easier to commit before we actually have anything planned.

🤑 Latest Deals

💵 Silo: 300K Sign-Up Bonus + Up to 500K Points/Year

​Silo​ is a new brokerage firm with a huge points bonus if you sign up via a referral link (​here’s mine​) and get their $80/month Platinum plan. You earn 1x points on the first $100k of cash or securities transferred and 0.5x on the next $400k (up to 300k points total), with no specified holding period. Since Silo accounts are custodied at Interactive Brokers, which made me comfortable signing up and moving some assets over.

Even better, you also earn 1x points annually on balances up to $500k (paid monthly). On a $500k balance, that’s 500k points per year, plus the 300k bonus, for 800k points in year one (worth at least $8,000), for $960 in fees. Points redeem at 1¢ each, with airline and hotel transfers coming soon. More details ​here​.

💊 Free $25 For New Amazon Pharmacy Customers

Amazon Pharmacy is offering a ​free $25 gift card​ when you sign up and make your first purchase by 1/31. If you already use Amazon for everything else, this might be worth checking out for prescription refills.

🔗 Card-Linked Offers Worth $1,000+

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

• Turo: ​$30 off $150​ (1/31) or ​20% back​ or ​$25 off $150​ (3/31)
• AG1: ​$35 off $100​ (1/31)
• Uniqlo: ​$10 off $50​ (1/31)
• Away: ​4% back​, up to $250 (2/1)
• Bonobos: ​4% back​, up to $250 (2/1)
• Dyson: ​2% back​​, up to $250 (2/1)
• Walmart.com: ​$20 off $60​ (2/1)
• Vitamix: ​5% back​​​, up to $250 (2/1)
• Air France: ​$250 off $1,400+​ (2/18)
• Aesop: ​$25 off $150​ (2/28)
• Paramount+: ​$12.99 off $12.99​ (3/1)
• Singapore Airlines: ​$300 off $1,700​ (3/1)
• Replit: ​$5 off $25​, up to 3x (3/17)
• YouTube TV: ​$20 off $49.99​ (3/31)
• Postcard Cabins: ​10% back​, up to $60 (4/1)
• Trust & Will: ​$55 off $150​ (5/29)

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

🎁 Gift Card Deals Expiring Today (1/24)

If you want to learn how to save and profit from gift cards, listen to ​Ep #212​. For now, here are some gift card deals expiring today, 1/24:

• Safeway: ​10x points​ on Zift Zillions gift cards
• Office Depot/Max: ​$15 off $300​ Mastercard gift cards
• Family Fare: ​20% off​ popular gift cards including Lowe's, Macy’s Dick’s and more

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

💳 Latest Credit Card Welcome Offers

Here's a roundup of all the increased welcome offers out this week. For compliance reasons, we can't mention all the cards by name, but the linked pages have all the details.

• IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card: 175k bonus points after a $5k spend in 3 months.
• IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card: Up to 120k bonus points. 90k after a $2K spend in 3 months and up to 30K more points by earning 3 additional points in the first 6 months on up to a $10K spend.
• ​Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card​: 75K miles after a $4K spend in 3 months and a $250 Capital One Travel portal credit. This is worth $1,000 if you leverage transfer partners.
• ​Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card: 3 Free Night Awards (worth 50K/night) after a $6k spend in 6 months.
• ​Air France KLM Visa Signature​: 70k bonus miles + 100 Experience Points (XP) after a $3K spend in 3 months. Plus, this card now earns 3x on dining, and you earn an additional 140 XP after a $25K spend per year.

And as always, you can find the full list of best card offers on our ​​Best Cards Page​.

📣 New Airline, Hotel and Points Promos This Week

Award Flight Deals

• 🇦🇺 Australia: First class from ​110K AAdvantage or Atmos points​ or business class from ​80K AAdvantage miles​
• 🇵🇫 French Polynesia: Business class from ​60K Atmos points​
• 🇩🇪 Germany: Business class from ​60K Aeroplan points​
• 🇻🇳 Vietnam: Business class rom ​94K Flying Blue miles​

Award Hotel Deals

• 🇫🇷 Hôtel du Louvre: Available from ​25-35K points per night​
• 🇯🇵 Park Hyatt Tokyo: Available from ​35-45K points per night​

Airline Promos

• United: Up to ​1,000 bonus miles​ when you spend $300+ via the shopping portal before 1/26.
• JetBlue: ​Winter sale​ with domestic U.S. flights from $34 and to Europe from $189​. Book by 1/24 and travel between 2/7 and 3/18.
• Alaska Airlines: 1.88¢ per point with a ​​100% bonus​​ until 2/18.
• Copa Airlines: 1.65¢ per point with a ​​45% bonus​​ until 2/13.
• American Airlines: Buy up to AAdvantage elite status valid through 3/31/27. ​Log in here​ to see if you qualify for this offer.
• Southwest: Up to 7.5K elite status qualifying bonus points and a limited-time Companion Pass when you register ​here​ and complete an eligible business class flight before 4/15.

Hotel Promos

• Hyatt: ​25% savings and free breakfast​ at hotels in Europe, Africa, and Middle East. Book by 2/9 and stay before 5/3.
• IHG: ​25% off Asia-Pacific stays​ booked before 2/4 and completed by 8/31.
• IHG: ​20% off stays​ when you pay with a Visa card. Book your stay using this link before 12/31.
• IHG (Targeted): ​12k points​ when you complete 2 qualifying stays within 60 days of registration.
• Hyatt House & Hyatt Studios: ​Up to 50K bonus points​ (5K/5+ nights) when you ​register​ and complete the stays by 12/31.
• I Prefer Hotels: ​2,500 bonus points​ at the newest locations listed ​here​. Book by 3/31 and complete the stay before 6/30.
• Hilton All-Inclusive Resorts: ​Kids and teens stay and eat free​ at select all-inclusive resorts throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Valid for 3+ night stays booked by 3/31 and completed between 4/16 and 10/31.
• Choice Hotels: ​3x points​ on stays through 3/31. Register ​here​.
• IHG: 0.5¢ per point with a ​​​100% bonus​​​ until 2/5.
• Choice: Redeem Choice Privileges points for ​VIP racing experiences​.

🕵️ Top Find

💡 How to Borrow Money at U.S. Treasury Rates

If you're thinking about optimizing borrowing costs or curious about alternative financing strategies, this ​X thread​ explains how to borrow money at U.S. Treasury rates. It might be a little advanced for my liking, but if I end up needing to borrow money, I might consider it.

✈️ How Airline Loyalty Programs Work

It's amazing to me that airline loyalty programs are bigger businesses for airlines than actually operating flights, and I enjoyed this quick video from WSJ about how those programs work. It's similar to this longer and also amazing video on ​How Airlines Quietly Became Banks​.