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TPG Talks episode four: A virtual walkthrough of the TPG Beginner's Guide

Richard Kerr
Richard Kerr
Contributor
Richard Kerr is a veteran naval officer and founder of the Award Travel 101 Facebook community. He’s one of the foremost experts in points and miles strategy, featured in Forbes, US News, Money Magazine, Kiplinger Personal Finance and presented at #SXSW 2017. Richard has visited over 45 countries, lived in England and Japan, and spends his spare time dissecting loyalty program award charts to maximize the value of points and miles. Richard holds a BBA in International Business and has his wife and two small children in tow for his travels as often as possible.
May 09, 2020
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3 min read
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In episode four of TPG Talks, we went straight to one of our our largest audience segment: points and miles beginners! Joining us was TPG Lifestyle Editor Samantha Rosen, author of TPG's Beginner's Guide. This comprehensive resource gives you all the basic information you need to start your journey in the world of loyalty programs and travel rewards. There's a lot of information to digest, so make sure to watch the replay of episode four and start working toward your first award trip.

Show notes:

  • 8:20 - What are points and miles?
  • 14:22 - How do you earn points and miles?
  • 16:40 - Why should I use a credit card?
  • 21:55 - What credit card should I get?
  • 26:50 - Common terms on the site
  • 30:53 - Q&A
  • 31:22 - Tracking credit cards and fees
  • 32:37 - Should you close a card that you're not using?
  • 34:14 - How do decide that annual fees are worth it?
  • 36:40 - How do you decide if an airline card is worth it?
  • 38:50 - Strategies for looking for award seats for more than one person
  • 41:09 - Should you leverage more than one points program?
  • 43:22 - What are the best strategies for finding airline award availability?
  • 49:16 - Now what do I do?
  • 51:30 - Application restrictions
  • 53:15 - Best program to use when booking award flights

Follow on reading and important links:

TPG beginner's guide: Everything you need to know about points, miles, airlines and credit cards

TPG's monthly valuations of points and miles

Maximizing online shopping portals

How Do You Keep Track of Your Points and Miles?

Daily Newsletter
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The best ways to maximize Air Canada's Aeroplan program

FlightConnections.com

AnnualCreditReport.com - free credit reports authorized by Federal law

TPG Lounge on Facebook

Chase's 5/24 rule: Everything you need to know

Bottom Line

Be sure to catch all the future TPG Talks webinars live by registering for your spot. You can catch all of our upcoming live events across all of our online channels through our master calendar. You can also re-watch recordings of all previous TPG Talks on the TPG Learning Hub.

Featured image by (Graphic by Abbie Winters)