👋 Hi Reader,

We're back to emails on Saturday! Hope you're having a great start to your weekend. Here are some highlights from today's newsletter:

😲 The surprising history of points and miles
💳 Up to 150K miles on the new CapOne Venture Business card
⛽ How to save up to $0.95/gallon at Speedway
💰 Earn up to $4,350 in bank bonuses
🐶 Free 24/7 online pet care with Amex Platinum
🔗 Card-linked offers worth $800+
💻 The ancient coding language from the 1950s, and more!

Quick favor: If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, I'd really appreciate it if you would forward this to a friend who might too! (And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here). Thank you so much!

Chris

😲 The Surprising History of Points and Miles

Want to learn the history of points and miles so you can get more out of every point you earn? I cover the legal accidents that made credit cards wildly profitable, why loyalty programs are worth more than the airlines themselves, the psychology behind hoarding points, and more.

📺 Watch or 🎧 Listen

💰 Smart Q2 Tax Moves to Make Right Now

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by… Gelt

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Right now, Gelt is offering two Q2 specials for business owners who are ready to get serious about their taxes. Find out if you qualify here.

📋 My Past Week

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

We're finally all caught up on jet lag from the Japan trip. It went better than expected, but it turns out the first night back was a red herring, because the kids woke up in the middle of the night for a few days after. That said, they went back to sleep and finished out the night, which makes us optimistic about continuing to take overseas family trips.
While I always prefer not to have to pay any more taxes, I did owe something on tax day this past week and the silver lining is that I was able to advantage of the low 1.75% cost to put federal tax payments on a credit card.
Our youngest daughter got some stitches out from a small accident in Japan (full story will be on the podcast in two weeks). The craziest thing was that we paid 2x more to get the stitches removed at a routine appointment back home with good health insurance than we did to get the stitches done at a hospital in Japan paying cash. Big thanks to three subscribers (Corey, Bill and Rob) who offered some remote guidance on the situation.
If you need to bake a cake to celebrate anything in your life, I can't recommend this Lemon Bundt Cake more highly. It's a huge hit every time we make it and is now at least half of my extended family's birthday cake requests.
Last year my sister and I got my Dad a Lego Concorde kit, which he loved, so when the Pan Am DC-3 kit came out, we knew it'd be an amazing birthday gift for him this year (and it was). Highly recommend Legos as gifts for people that are hard to shop for

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

💳 New CapOne Venture Business Card: Up to 150K Miles

Capital One just introduced the Capital One Venture Business to replace the Spark Miles card and it comes with a limited-time welcome bonus of up to 150,000 miles (75K after a $7,500 spend in 3 months, plus another 75K after a $30K total in 6 months). It earns unlimited 2x miles on every purchase, 5x on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Business Travel, and up to $100 in annual credits for just a $95 annual fee. This is a great card for business owners because Capital One miles transfer to 15+ partners like Aeroplan, Avios, and Japan Airlines.

🛍️ 95x Amex/Bilt Points at Rakuten

Rakuten is currently offering 95% cash back (or 95x Amex or Bilt points) on Surfshark VPN. If you set your earnings to Amex or Bilt Points, you're effectively buying transferable points for ~1¢ each and getting a free VPN for up to 27 months. For example, the Surfshark One+ plan costs $112.86 and would earn you $107.21 cash back or 10,721 points. You'd also get a VPN for 27 months, so you could look at this as 27 months of a free VPN for $5.64. Offers are limited to new Surfshark customers on first purchase. Also, these offers change frequently, so you can keep checking here for the latest deals.

And If you're not yet a Rakuten member, this referral link earns you an extra $50 (or 5K points) after your first $50 purchase, which would make the deal above profitible :)

🧳 A Guide to Free Checked Bags via Credit Cards

Since checked bag fees just went up across every major U.S. airline, free checked bag benefits on co-branded cards have become more valuable than ever. This Frequent Miler guide breaks down every card that offers free bags, how each benefit works, and which cards cover multiple passengers on the same reservation.

📣 Other Airline, Hotel and Points Promos This Week

Business Class Award Deals

🇦🇹 Austria: From 70K Aeroplan points
🇮🇪 Ireland: From 45K Atmos Rewards points
🇲🇦 Morocco: From 55K Atmos Rewards points
🇹🇷 Turkey: From 65K Turkish Miles&Smiles miles

Hotel Promos

Accor: 2X points on stays of 2+ nights in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Panama, and Brazil. Register and book by 8/8 and stay before 9/8.
IHG: Stay 2 nights and get the 3rd night free at select properties in Asia and the Pacific. Book by 5/1 and stay before 12/31.
Preferred Hotels: Up to 35% off stays at select properties worldwide. Book by 4/27 and stay before 5/28.
Wyndham: 20% off 2+ night stays at 600+ participating properties. Book by 5/22 and complete the stay before 6/1.

Airline Promos

American Airlines: 100K AAdvantage miles sweepstakes for 100 winners. Enter daily with your AAdvantage number, no purchase necessary. Book an AA flight during the sweepstakes for 100 bonus entries (up to 4 bookings).
Singapore KrisFlyer: 30% off Saver award tickets on select routes in Economy, Premium Economy, and Business. Book by 4/30 for travel between 5/1 and 5/31.
Southwest (Targeted): 2x Companion Pass-qualifying points (up to 10K bonus points) on home improvement store purchases made with your Southwest card between 4/1 and 6/30. Registration is required.

🤑 Latest Deals

⛽ Save Up to $0.95/Gallon at Speedway

Last week I shared how you can save on gas up to $1.41/gallon at 7-Eleven and $0.20/gallon through Amazon Prime Fuel-Up Fridays.

Now Speedway is running a stackable fuel discount promo that can save you up to $0.95/gallon by combining multiple promo codes. Text SAVE for $0.25 off (works for three fill-ups), FUEL for $0.40 off and FUEL30 for $0.30 off (which are one-time use) separately to 96001. Not sure how long these codes will last, so act quick.

🐶 Two Pet Deals: Free Virtual Care and $30 off $100+

Free 24/7 Online Pet Care. If you have an Amex Platinum Card, which includes a monthly Walmart+ credit, you can activate a free Pawp membership for 24/7 virtual vet care. A standalone Pawp membership normally costs $99/year, so this is a nice hidden perk. Just log into your Walmart+ account, click "Free online pet care," and follow the prompts.
$30 Off $100+ on Pet Products. Amazon is currently offering a $30 credit when you spend $100+ on select pet products. If you were already stocking up on food, treats, or supplies, this is an easy way to save.

💰 Earn Up To $4,350 in Bank Bonuses

Bank bonuses continue to be one of the easiest ways to earn cash, and there are new offers that might be worth checking out:

Up to $1,500 from Capital One: Open a new 360 Performance Savings account with promo code BONUS1500 and complete the qualifying requirements.
Up to $450 from U.S. Bank: Open a new Smartly Checking account before 6/18 and complete the qualifying requirements.
$400 from Wells Fargo: Open an Everyday Checking account before 5/18 and complete qualifying direct deposits.
(Business) Up to $2,000 from Citi: Open a new eligible business checking account in-branch before 7/7 and complete the qualifying activities.

🔗 Card-Linked Offers Worth $800+

Here are some card-linked offers I found this week with expiration dates in parentheses.

AT&T Wireless: $50 off $65 (6/30)
Best Western: 10% back, up to $32 (5/25)
Construction Purchases: $75 off $2,500+, up to 3x (7/16)
Hilton: $60 off $300+ (depends on the stay)
La Colombe: 10-20% back, up to $250 (7/15)
Norwegian Cruise Line: $200 off $1000 (6/30)
Omni Hotels: $100 off $500+ (8/14)
Preferred Hotels & Resorts: $100 off $500+ (7/8)
Rover: $50 off $100+ (6/30)
Turo: $25-30 back on $150 (5/31)
YouTube: $20 off $49.99, up to 3x (7/15)

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

🕵️ Top Finds

💻 The Ancient Coding Language Powering 95% of ATMs

It's pretty wild that banks still rely on COBOL, a programming language from the 1950s, to run critical financial systems. It’s incredibly stable and deeply embedded (so replacing it is risky and expensive) but also creates a weird talent gap since very few engineers learn it today.

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, please let me know why!