👋 Hi Reader,

I hope your weekend is off to a great start! It was a slow week of news, but a few things worth sharing:

• 😁 The Science of Lasting Happiness
• 🗓️ $100 Best Buy gift card for $60, in store today only
• 📉 Flying Blue devalues awards on 9/8
• ✈️ New US to Europe routes on Alaska
• 💳 Bilt Cash adds Blacklane, Equinox & BLADE
• 💎 Park Hyatt Los Cabos from 35K points/nt
• 🏦 SoFi's 2% deposit match, with a 5-year hold

If you enjoyed reading, please forward this email to a friend who might too! And if that's you, make sure to subscribe here. Thank you so much!

Chris

😁 The Science of Lasting Happiness

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Behavioral social scientist Arthur Brooks shares why success and happiness follow different rules as we age. We dig into fluid vs. crystallized intelligence, success addiction and dopamine, the reverse bucket list, and how to actually buy happiness

🧖 A Beautiful, Modern and Easy Home Sauna

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📋 My Past 2 Weeks

• We got home from a 12-day trip to Europe last night and had a truly incredible time. I couldn't possibly capture it all here, so a full episode on the whole trip and how we made it possible will absolutely be coming soon, but here are a few highlights.

• For flights, we booked Swiss Air business to ZRH for 80k Lifemiles per person. The flight was easy (we mostly slept), though I think the cabin is overdue for a refresh. Coming back we flew Condor business from FRA for 75k Alaska miles per person, which was probably my favorite biz class flight of the year, except that outside of meal service they had ZERO snacks/food available.

• In Switzerland, we stayed at the Märchenhotel in Braunwald and it was truly the most incredible and magical experience I could have imagined for a family with younger kids. I could honestly see us making it part of an annual tradition and even encouraging friends or family to join us each year. I've never had family travel be so seamless and catered towards parents (wine tastings, 3-course meals, free childcare, gym/sauna), while simultaneously giving kids a fairytale experience (animals everywhere, playgrounds, kids club, bouncy houses, kids meals and so much more). I spent some time getting to know the owner, so feel free to email me if you ever want to book a trip.

• In Italy, we drove to Lake Como and stayed at the Grand Hotel Victoria, using Hilton Free Night Awards. I'd never been to Lake Como, but wow, I totally get the appeal and I couldn't imagine a better hotel/resort to stay at. The rooms, breakfast, pools, spa (which has kid-friendly hours), staff, etc. were all fantastic. We rented a boat one day to cruise around and mostly spent the days enjoying Italian food, gelato and the beauty of the lake and the town of Menaggio.
• Now it's time to do a ton of laundry and get ready for school to start next week!

⭐ My Top Picks

✈️ Flying Blue to Devalue Awards on 9/8

Starting 9/8, the cheapest Air France/KLM awards will become “Light” fares, which are non-refundable and no longer include free checked bags, advance seat selection, or lounge access. Standard awards will then cost about 25–30% more. If you don't care about some of those things, this might not be a devaluation, but it definitely means less flexibility at the lowest price point. Since partner awards aren’t affected, Flying Blue still might be a great program for booking SkyTeam awards.

💳 3 New Places to Spend Bilt Cash

Bilt Cash is getting more options to use it, which is important because all but $100 expires at the end of the year. Using Bilt Cash to unlock points on housing payments ($30 unlocks 1,000 points) would value Bilt Cash at ~58% off (assuming 1.25¢/point). That means that if any of these are worth it for the same discount or you've maxed out your housing point earning, then they could be good options for redemption.

• Blacklane: Up to $150 Bilt Cash on Chauffeur Rides — At 58% off, it's close in price to an UberX, but a better experience.
• Equinox: Up to $150 Bilt Cash for Spa & Training — Only worth it if you're already an Equinox member
• BLADE: Up to $350 Bilt Cash per Seat, 2x/year — At 58% off the lowest $195 price, this gets pretty close to the cost of an Uber/Lyft with a much faster trip (depending on traffic and destination in NYC).

🏦 SoFi: 2% Deposit Match Through 8/31, 5-Year Hold

SoFi will match 2% of any new cash you move into a taxable brokerage account through 8/31, but the money has to stay there for five years (or the bonus gets prorated). That works out to 0.4% a year, which is lower than many other brokerage bonuses on an annualized basis, but if you don't want to be doing multiple brokerage bonuses over the next 5 years, this one is probably the best. Also, there's no cap on the bonus, so if you have a huge 7-figure balance, this might also be the best option out there. For balances of $100k or less, the current TastyTrade 3% match might be better. Note that you do need SoFi Plus ($10/month) for the full 2% bonus.

😎 Recommendation: XREAL Glasses

Right before my trip to Europe I bought a pair of XREAL One Pro AR glasses and they were amazing. You can plug them straight into your phone or computer with a single USB-C cord and get a giant screen (they say 171") for watching movies, gaming, or even working from your laptop. I found it to be such a better experience for watching TV or movies on a flight or in bed than using a phone, tablet or computer. I've even used it as a second display for my computer. The One Pro is $599, so it's not cheap, but they do have a few cheaper models (the a01+ is $299) and they have free returns on Amazon. Just know that despite all the photos, they definitely don't look "cool" when you're wearing them. If you're not sure on size, they have this free tool.

📰 The Rest of the Week

💳 Credit Cards & Points

• Popular Bank: Back-to-back hotel credits work again — Good news if you want to use the full $500 for a 4-night stay.
• Uber One: Ride credit 6% → 5% — Breaking even on the $96 fee now takes $1,920 of rides, but is still free with Amex Platinum or Gold.

✈️ Airline News & Promos

• Alaska: New Seattle to Athens & Paris routes — I love seeing more carriers with Europe routes.
• Cathay: 800 Miles back per 5K (book by 8/27​) — Only valid on select award flights to/from Hong Kong.
• United: Status match for Chicago residents (register by 9/30) — 120 days of elite status when you take an eligible United flight in/out of ORD within 90 days or have taken in the past 30 days.

🏨 Hotel News & Promos

• Hyatt: Up to 5 free nights in LatAm & Caribbean (register by 9/30).
• Wyndham: 15K points after one business stay (register by 9/30).

💎 Award Deals

• 🇲🇽 Los Cabos: New Park Hyatt from 35K/night — Can't wait to try this property out!
• 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Biz class from 80K AA miles​
• 🇪🇸 Spain: Biz class (one way) from 35K Atmos rewards​
• 🇨🇭Switzerland: Biz class from 60K Aeroplan points​

🛒 Capital One Shopping Deals

Some offers are targeted, so check your account to see eligibility.

• Away: $150 off $250​
• Hotels.com: $150 off $250​
• StubHub: 30% back or 20x miles — Stacks well if you have a StubHub credit from a popular travel card.
• Turkish Airlines: $100 off $350​
• Virgin Atlantic: $100 off $350​

🤩 Other Deals

• Best Buy: $100 gift card for $60 in store today — Stock will be limited, so go early if you're interested.
• Rakuten: $50 new member bonus when you use a referral link (here's mine) and spend $50. — This can also be earned as 5,000 Amex or Bilt points.

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading! Hit reply and let me know what you think. I read every response. 🙏

Chris