1 hour ago, Kz! said:

Niiiice. So much winning!  

Trump raised my taxes to build a wall that he never finished and obviously doesn't work. Biden is raising other people's taxes and not mine to save our crumbling infrastructure. Huuuuugeee win from the greatest president of all time. 

26 minutes ago, Kz! said:

I know a guy who got married with no money and thought it was a good idea to put his entire honeymoon to Hawaii on a CC. 

You got married? Congratulations! 

1 hour ago, Kz! said:

Niiiice. So much winning!  

Nice that you don't understand how gov't works.   Biden doesn't pass legislation - he's an executive, not a legislator.  we'll see how it shakes out in the end.  Nor do predictions by "breaking 911" always come true.  

1 hour ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

the Caribbean is freaking cheap as hell. how are you "maxing out" a credit card on a trip there? 

because people are entitled morons

My travel agent lives across thw street from the house I just moved out of. Everytime we booked a vacation she asks if we want to finance it, I guess thats a relatively new thing? We always pay up front in cash, but I guess it is very tempting for some people who rarely or never get to go to a resort, cruise or something like that to use a card or finance a vacation if that's the only way they could pay for it.

1 minute ago, Boogyman said:

My travel agent lives across thw street from the house I just moved out of. Everytime we booked a vacation she asks if we want to finance it, I guess thats a relatively new thing? We always pay up front in cash, but I guess it is very tempting for some people who rarely or never get to go to a resort, cruise or something like that to use a card or finance a vacation if that's the only way they could pay for it.

I don't mean to derail you, but wait a second  -  travel agents are still a thing? Isn't it a bit like being a Pony Express courier in the age of e-mail?

10 minutes ago, Boogyman said:

My travel agent lives across thw street from the house I just moved out of. Everytime we booked a vacation she asks if we want to finance it, I guess thats a relatively new thing? We always pay up front in cash, but I guess it is very tempting for some people who rarely or never get to go to a resort, cruise or something like that to use a card or finance a vacation if that's the only way they could pay for it.

 

I like to put vacation charges on my airline CC to get the points and build easy credit, but I always pay it off immediately. I don't take any trips without having the money on hand to pay out of pocket, but I'll use a few tricks to get the most out of it.

16 hours ago, caesar said:

At the least the GZP is not a total dick and is genuinely friendly.   On the other hand, NAHs are always bad to deal with.   So on the whole, its a win.    

I’ve learned that the seemingly "genuinely friendy” political figures are just sticking in our A’s w/ a smile.   But I digress.  Biden isnt calling any shots anyways. 

14 minutes ago, Lloyd said:

I don't mean to derail you, but wait a second  -  travel agents are still a thing? Isn't it a bit like being a Pony Express courier in the age of e-mail?

Yeah. I think most work out of their homes now. We use her a lot, her commission doesn't come out of my pocket anyway and if there is any kind of issue I don't have to deal with it.

1 hour ago, Gannan said:

Trump raised my taxes to build a wall that he never finished and obviously doesn't work. Biden is raising other people's taxes and not mine to save our crumbling infrastructure. Huuuuugeee win from the greatest president of all time. 

Stop being rich.  I really didn't see taxes going up for middle class under Trumps plan.  Unless you lived in CA or NY.  Then you got Fed by the SALT cap.

10 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

I like to put vacation charges on my airline CC to get the points and build easy credit, but I always pay it off immediately. I don't take any trips without having the money on hand to pay out of pocket, but I'll use a few tricks to get the most out of it.

I uses CCs like that too. The one I use for "daily expenses" gets me free tanks of gas pretty often. And I have one I use for large purchases that gives me tons of miles or points for free hotel rooms. I do like you and pay it in full at the end of the month.

10 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

I like to put vacation charges on my airline CC to get the points and build easy credit, but I always pay it off immediately. I don't take any trips without having the money on hand to pay out of pocket, but I'll use a few tricks to get the most out of it.

I put everything on CC for the points.  It's paid off every month.  That's not the reality for the majority of Americans living well beyond their means.

3 minutes ago, rambo said:

Stop being rich.  I really didn't see taxes going up for middle class under Trumps plan.  Unless you lived in CA or NY.  Then you got Fed by the SALT cap.

Any middle class person that itemizes deductions in a state with moderate to high state and local income taxes likely saw an increase. For me I paid about 3k a year more in taxes under Trump than I did under Obama. 

5 minutes ago, Gannan said:

Any middle class person that itemizes deductions in a state with moderate to high state and local income taxes likely saw an increase. For me I paid about 3k a year more in taxes under Trump than I did under Obama. 

Meh, maybe upper middle class took a hit but the majority weren't coming in above the itemized amount regardless.  Thing that got screwed up was withholding tables.  A lot of people were under withheld.  So despite having lower effective tax rates they owed or rec'd less back than usual.  CTC offset a lot of that SALt cap with the increased phaseouts.

8 minutes ago, rambo said:

I put everything on CC for the points.  It's paid off every month.  That's not the reality for the majority of Americans living well beyond their means.

I put everything on my Amex for the points, which I barely ever use. But the service from Amex is great.

I use a card that gives me 4% on dining out. We order and dine out somewhat frequently, even through COVID (more the former than latter then), so why not?

But it's paid off every month, and I put the 4% on the balance. It's literally free money. Even in a pretty down year from a dining out perspective I cash back over $2k in 2020, and they've not seen a dime in interest from me.

19 minutes ago, rambo said:

Stop being rich.  I really didn't see taxes going up for middle class under Trumps plan.  Unless you lived in CA or NY.  Then you got Fed by the SALT cap.

It's wider than that -- I got f'd by the SALT cap -- I'm in PA.

20 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

I put everything on my Amex for the points, which I barely ever use. But the service from Amex is great.

People take shots at Amex, but I don't know why. It was the first big-boy credit card I ever got when I was in my early 20s and had very little credit history,  and I still love it. I've kept it all these years because it's got no annual fee but great benefits, and it's the lowest interest rate of any card I have. I like the monthly perks and being able to use points as cash. I saved up my points for a few years and used them to get a Canon digital camera off Amazon for free!

3 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

People take shots at Amex, but I don't know why. It was the first big-boy credit card I ever got when I was in my early 20s and had very little credit history,  and I still love it. I've kept it all these years because it's got no annual fee but great benefits, and it's the lowest interest rate of any card I have. I like the monthly perks and being able to use points as cash. I saved up my points for a few years and used them to get a Canon digital camera off Amazon for free!

I've had an Amex since the day I started working. I have the charge card version, so no option to carry a balance. I pay an annual fee (I think it is like $500), but the perks make it well worth it. The best are the travel perks -- resort credits, room upgrades, etc. 

We have some Amazon Visa the wife uses for a few things, and for places that don't take Amex. 

Just now, vikas83 said:

I've had an Amex since the day I started working. I have the charge card version, so no option to carry a balance. I pay an annual fee (I think it is like $500), but the perks make it well worth it. The best are the travel perks -- resort credits, room upgrades, etc. 

We have some Amazon Visa the wife uses for a few things, and for places that don't take Amex. 

You got the AMEX black card?  

17 minutes ago, caesar said:

It's wider than that -- I got f'd by the SALT cap -- I'm in PA.

Single and live in Philly?  Single homeowners with no child taxpayers making a 100k+ may have seen a bump.  Philly wage tax sucks.  More than the state tax. 

2 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

You got the AMEX black card?  

Platinum. Never had any desire to step it up to the Black. Feel like most people I know with a Black have it to show off more than anything else. Annual fee is like $2,500 I think.

EDIT: just looked it up. $10k initiation fee, $5k annual fee. Even I think that is stupid.

1 minute ago, vikas83 said:

Platinum. Never had any desire to step it up to the Black. Feel like most people I know with a Black have it to show off more than anything else. Annual fee is like $2,500 I think.

EDIT: just looked it up. $10k initiation fee, $5k annual fee. Even I think that is stupid.

Also have to charge a minimum of 250k a year on it I think

15 hours ago, Kz! said:

What the actual eff

To me she was weaving in between daycare and school, big deal. 

I live in Northern Virginia and it was costing me over 1k thousand a month to take my son to daycare and this was almost 7 years ago. If do it again, I'll get an au pair. 

5 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

Also have to charge a minimum of 250k a year on it I think

There's no minimum once you have it, but they look at your spending to see if you qualify. It's all just ego -- the travel people are the same for Platinum and Black. Plus, what do I pay my assistant for if Amex books all my travel?