Archives for July 2025

Americans Spend More on Healthcare than Housing?!

Posted on July 30, 2025 // 1 Comment

Housing has always been considered the biggest expense in a family’s budget. More recently, everyone’s grocery and restaurant bills have skyrocketed, bringing food costs into focus. But the biggest item in your budget is very likely to be healthcare, even if it is often disguised by your employer’s direct payment of part of the premium.

(Although employers seem to cover less and less every year… Employers love Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as it allows them to justify pushing lower-cost high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) wherever possible. If you are a family with a kid with ongoing medical needs, HSA+HDHP does not work out to be a good deal.)

The NYTimes article How Health Care Remade the U.S. Economy (gift) shows us how this came to be over time. Healthcare costs include insurance premiums as well as drugs and other medical products.

As someone who has been thinking about early retirement since they were 25 years old, I am well aware that health insurance premiums for our family of 5 is roughly $25,000 a year. I’m not even counting our actual healthcare expenses like co-payments and deductibles. Healthcare has always been a huge expense to offset with investment income.

Some people try to keep their modified adjusted gross income low and use ACA subsidies, check out this KFF ACA calculator to estimate your numbers. Note that the ACA income “cliff” is set to return in 2026, meaning household incomes exceeding 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will not be eligible for any ACA premium subsidies.

Filed Under: Insurance //

BJ’s Wholesale Club: $15 for 1-Year Membership + $15 Reward (Regularly $60)

Posted on July 29, 2025 // 1 Comment

Groupon has a BJ’s Wholesale New Membership deal with $15 for a One-Year BJ’s The Club Card Membership that also includes a $15 reward with $45 purchase. Regular price is $60.

There is also an option for $40 for a One-Year BJ’s The Club+ Card Membership (2% cash back) also includes a $40 reward with $120 purchase. Regular price $120. BJ’s auto-renewal enrollment is required for this offer, although you can cancel later. New members only (not sure how this is defined, but no renewals). Valid at all BJ’s Wholesale Club locations (East coast mostly). Nice deal, net cost technically zero for most folks.

Here is the fine print on the bonus rewards:

Purchase qualifying membership and spend qualifying amount of $45 (for The Club Card members)? or $120 (for The Club+ Card members) before discounts and after taxes, in one transaction in-club or on BJs.com within 30 days of membership enrollment, get a $15 reward (for The Club Card members) ?or a $40 reward (for The Club+ Card members) added to the primary membership account within 24 hours of qualifying purchase to be used within 30 days from the date of the qualifying purchase.

Save even more on your Groupon with a cashback shopping portal. Many offer new customers bonuses if you make a qualifying purchase, including Swagbucks ($10 bonus), MyPoints ($3 bonus), Rakuten (formerly eBates) ($30 bonus currently, varies), TopCashBack (varies), and BeFrugal ($10 bonus). So you could sign-up and stack this Groupon to trigger the bonus. I have cashed out of all of these in the last 12 months.

(Existing BJ’s member? Log into your account at this link to check for a possible renewal discount at only $10. Use code EZ33DW if prompted. Seems to work only for some memberships. Found via DoC.)

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

An Ounce of Gold Always Buys 350 Loaves of Bread?

Posted on July 28, 2025 // 9 Comments

I was reading the thought piece Finance is other people when I came across an intriguing finance nugget:

Suppose you think that bitcoin will, like gold, have enduring appeal. During the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, an ounce of gold purchased 350 loaves of bread according to Erb and Harvey (2013). Here we are 2,700 years later, and an ounce of gold will still get you around 350 loaves of bread. On the one hand, that’s an amazing record of retaining value. On the other, that’s a zero percent real return! If gold had merely beaten inflation by 30 basis points a year, an ounce of gold would get you a million loaves of bread today, instead of 350.

This claim was so specific, I had to dig further. So I looked up the paper by Erb and Harvey from 2013 called The Golden Dilemma. The only reference to Nebuchadnezzar was in a footnote:

Harmston (1998) mentions that in 562 B.C., during the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, an ounce of gold purchased 350 loaves of bread. At the recent price of $1,600 an ounce, an ounce of gold could buy 350 loaves of bread priced at $4.57 a loaf.

This led to Gold as a Store of Value, published in November 1998 as a “research study” for the World Gold Council which states:

It is said that an ounce of gold bought 350 loaves of bread in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who died in 562 BC. The same ounce of gold still buys approximately 350 loaves of bread today. Across 2,500 years gold has in other words retained its purchasing power, relative to bread at least, and has had a real rate of return of zero.

In the end, I could not find a single piece of historical evidence support this claim. Just a lot of people repeating each other. Feels like a true factoid – an “assumption or speculation that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact”. Like “Humans only use 10% of their brains”.

Obviously, gold has been a store of value for a very long time, but how much money do you really want to commit to something that will end up with a zero return above inflation? Not to mention it is so volatile that it’s not a good short-term store of value. Nobody saves up for their house downpayment with gold coins.

So what’s the point of gold? I still fall back on a scenario where you want to flee quickly as society collapses around you and you want enough assets to start over somewhere else. Imagine you lived in Ukraine. It’s a form of “insurance” you can hold in your hand, and feel a bit more secure in this crazy world. I don’t think it’s completely irrational to put aside a small bit of your net worth into it. Such happy thoughts are echoed in the study:

Gold has not necessarily held its value in terms of purchasing power in times of war. This is partly because at such times the prices of other commodities, more immediately useful for the war effort, have tended to rise faster. However, gold’s liquidity, acceptability and portability are qualities that have been particularly important in times of crises such as occupation by a foreign power or collapse in a monetary system. At such times, these qualities may well be more important than gold’s rate of exchange with paper money. Given this, and gold’s role as a wealth preserver in some of the darkest periods of the twentieth century, gold has proved to be a haven on numerous occasions and in different places.

Photo by Tommaso Urli on Unsplash

Filed Under: Insurance //

GigSky: Free Travel eSIM with Many Visa Cards (Signature/Infinite)

Posted on July 25, 2025 // 3 Comments

GigSky is a travel eSIM provider, which allows you to access cellular data both in the US and internationally in 125+ countries with your existing phone (almost all newer smartphones now support eSIM). They have a promotion that gives you one free eSIM per year for each Visa Signature and/or Visa Infinite credit card that you link with their app, along with up to 30% off paid plans. If you have multiple credit cards, there is a good chance you have at least one Visa Signature. Visa Infinite cards are usually those with $300+ annual fees.

  • Visa Infinite: Free 3 GB / 15-day plan (one per year). Discount of 30% off all paid plans.
  • Visa Signature: Free 1 GB / 15-day plan (one per year). Discount of 20% off all paid plans.

If you link multiple Visa cards, you can get multiple free eSIMs. The value of a 3 GB eSIM is about $10, 1 GB eSIM is about $4, depending on the country. If you want, you can use my referral code at sign-up JONP110 for a 25% off coupon on your first plan purchase, but won’t be that much better than this offer.

I’ve personally used Airalo in the past, which is very similar but what I like about them is that they usually list the specific cellular network(s) that their eSIM uses. Sometimes that matters, for example I have bought a Verizon SIM for certain US national parks with only Verizon cellular coverage. If you want, you can use my Airalo referral link or JONATH1624 for $3 off your first Airalo eSIM.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Capital One 360 Savings Deposit Promo ($300 to $1,500 Bonus)

Posted on July 22, 2025 // 30 Comments

Offer is back again/still around. Capital One has brought back a deposit promotion worth up to $1,500 for new 360 Savings accountholders. It’s a good bonus, but only for “new” customers and those that are willing to keep an eye on things. Here’s their definition of “new”:

If you have or had an open 360 Performance Savings, 360 Savings, 360 Money Market, Savings Now or Confidence Savings account as a primary or secondary account holder with Capital One on or after January 1, 2022, you will be ineligible for the bonus. If your account is in default, closed or suspended, or otherwise not in good standing, you will not receive the bonus.

Note: Some readers have reported in the past that they were not able to apply the promo code even as valid new customers, and Capital One responded that this was a targeted promotion even though there is no such language on the offer page nor in the terms and conditions. This offer seems clearly available to the public, however. After applying, I would contact them and make sure that the promo code “BONUS1500” was accepted before making a large deposit for this promo.

The steps:

  • Open a new 360 Performance Savings account with promo code BONUS1500 on or after April 3, 2024.
  • Deposit $20,000+ of external funds during the 15-day Initial Funding Period after opening your account.
  • Hold the deposit(s) in your account for an additional 90 days after the 15-day Initial Funding Period ends.
  • $20,000+ deposited = $300 bonus.
  • $50,000+ deposited = $750 bonus.
  • $100,000+ deposited = $1,500 bonus.
  • See the bonus in your new account within 60 days after holding.
  • You’ll also earn their normal interest rate (variable, but currently 3.80% APY as of 12/22/24). No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements.

Note that the 90-day “maintain balance” period is after and in addition to the end of the 15-day “initial funding period”. So if you are counting from the opening day, that is a total of 105 days after opening. This is important as other readers have gotten denied for the bonus when withdrawing after 91-100 days. You may wish to chat with Capital One to confirm the exact date.

As long as you hit the tiers exactly, you are getting 1.5% of your deposit with technically a minimum holding period of 90 days, but you’ll probably want to send it in a little early and take it out a little late to be safely within the deadlines. Let’s call it 120 days for a conservative round number. This means the bonus by itself works out to the equivalent of (a little more than) a 4.5% annualized yield. Add in your expected interest rate for the total annualized yield for those 120 days.

Again, this one is only for new customers or those that have closed their previous CapOne360 savings-type accounts by January 1, 2022.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

OnPath FCU: 6.00% APY Rewards Checking ($150 Bonus) + 4.40% APY Elite Money Market

Posted on July 22, 2025 // 11 Comments

APY now 6.00% APY. Bonus now increased to $150 (was $100). OnPath Federal Credit Union now has two accounts that are competitive in the high-interest cash landscape:

Credit union membership requirements (easy). OnPath FCU is based in Louisiana, a their field of membership starts with people that live and work in that area. However, anyone nationwide can join OnPath FCU with a $5 donation to OnPath Foundation. I did not experience a hard credit check, which was nice.

Elite Money Market details. This is a new account type, and it looks like they are looking to pull in some big deposits. (OnPath has been growing, recently merging with Louisiana Federal Credit Union.) You have to open with at least $25,000 and maintain at least a $25,000 balance to earn the highest APY. Funds must be new to OnPath. This account offers NCUA excess-share insurance up to $1,000,000.

It’s a little hidden on their website, but you it’s in the Savings section and look for “Elite Money Market” on the left menu.

Note: The Elite Money Market (EMM) has some ACH restrictions. My understanding is that they do have some limitations when you initiate ACH transactions internally (at OnPath) between an internal (OnPath) and external (outside) account. They also appear to not allow externally-initiated ACH transfers directly to/from the EMM account. To work around this, you can perform an instant transfer of your money into an OnPath checking account (no limits), and then withdrawal the money via that OnPath checking account using an externally-initiated pull.

6.00% APY High-Yield Rewards Checking details. Their High-Yield Rewards Checking earns 7% APY on balances up to $10,000 and .50% APY on balances over $10,000, if you meet these three qualifications per monthly cycle.

  • Have 15 or more debit card purchases post and settle.
  • The primary owner must log into online or mobile banking at least once.
  • Be enrolled in and receive electronic statements.

Qualification cycles start on the last day of each month and end on the second to last day of the following month. Here are the exact dates for each cycle [pdf]. They will e-mail you at the end of each month to confirm if you’ve met the qualifications. All balances for non-qualified accounts earn .01% APY.

Out-of-network, domestic ATM fee rebates ($10 max per month) are also included if you meet the qualifications. No monthly service fee, no minimum balance requirement, and $25 minimum deposit to open.

OnPath has been pretty reliable and hasn’t given me any problems. There are no minimum debit purchase amounts, although I still try to vary the amounts. I also avoid waiting until the end of the month, because it says you have to post and settle, which might take a couple business days.

$150 Refer-a-Friend Bonus. This bonus is independent of the checking account qualifications above, but you need to pick a checking account and I picked the one above since it stacks well. Note that this refer-a-friend bonus has a $10 minimum per transaction, but the ongoing requirements for the 7% APY do not include the minimum.

  • First, register your information at member’s $100 bonus referral link (that’s mine). I have already registered on my end, and successfully referred members in the past.
  • Become an OnPath FCU member and open a new OnPath FCU personal or business checking account.
  • Within 60 days of account opening, make at least 15 debit card transactions of $10 or more (excluding ATM transactions), AND have one (1) or more direct deposits totaling at least $250.
  • Both referring and referred parties will receive a $100 Visa Reward card mailed to them upon completion. I got my prepaid Visa in the mail with no issues. You can cash out the Visa Reward card by purchasing an Amazon gift card, or buy using it as a funding source for the Cash App (via PayPal) or Apple Cash.

Here’s a quick screenshot of the OnPath FCU user interface. They use the same backend provider as many other credit unions.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Hyatt Hotels Points Calendar Tool: Find Award Night Availability

Posted on July 21, 2025 // 1 Comment

My favorite hotel rewards program is still Hyatt, as they are the least diluted program with the most valuable points. I can almost always get at close to 2 cents per point value, often a lot more. In addition to earning Hyatt points through stays or their co-branded credit card, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points (including the Chase Sapphire line of cards) and Bilt Rewards points to Hyatt at a 1:1: ratio.

Hyatt just introduced their “Points Calendar” tool which makes it much easier for you to find award nights to use your points. Let’s take the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. I just looked for a close-in date and the cash cost after all taxes would be $320 a night for the cheapest Member’s Rate, plus a “daily destination fee” of $38 per night. So that’s $358 a night, or 18,000 points per night, for a value of 2 cents per point. Hyatt award nights include all taxes/fees and also waive daily resort-type fees.

Tip: Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach is also Category 4, which means you can use your Cat 1-4 Free Night Awards at this hotel as well. Pretty solid deal to get ~$360 of value out of a free night certificate.

When you pick the hotel, you’ll have to look for the “Points Calendar” icon:

Now you can see which days are available to book with points without having to check every night or span of nights separately. This is the calendar for August, which is literally days away and during peak season, so I wouldn’t expect it to be completely open. With this tool, you can quickly see exactly which nights you can use your Hyatt points or Free Night Awards. A long-awaited improvement.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Citi ThankYou Points: 1:1 Transfers to Accor ALL Hotel Program (Limited-Time Offer)

Posted on July 21, 2025 // Leave a Comment

Update: Expired, although even the default transfer is still a decent way to get over one cent per point value out of your Citi ThankYou points.

Original, expired post:

If you have a stash of Citi ThankYou points, right now at ThankYou.com you can transfer the to the Accor Live Limitless (ALL) hotels rewards program at a 1:1 ratio. This is double the usual transfer ratio and looks to be a limited-time offer, as it is a potentially very valuable way to redeem ThankYou points.

The Accor Live Limitless (ALL) rewards program offers a straightforward redemption system: 2,000 ALL Reward points = €40 off your hotel bill, which is worth ~$45 USD, depending on the current exchange rate. This means each ALL point is worth ~2.25 cents when redeemed for stays at Accor hotels (such as Sofitel, Novotel, Fairmont, and Mercure). There are no blackout dates, and redemptions can be applied directly at checkout, making ALL points very flexible.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Aeroplan® Credit Card Review: 85,000 Bonus Points (Improved Offer)

Posted on July 20, 2025 // 9 Comments

Improved offer. The Aeroplan® Card is the Air Canada co-branded credit card for US customers, issued by Chase. If you fly Air Canada regularly, this card makes the experience better in many different ways. If you don’t fly Air Canada regularly, you can still use the new Pay Yourself Back feature where Aeroplan points can be redeemed at 1.25 cents per point towards any eligible travel purchase on ANY airline, for up to 200,000 points per year (for up to $2,500 back). Here are the highlights on the sign-up bonus and Air Canada perks:

  • 85,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
  • 85,000 points can be redeemed to offset over $1,000 in travel. Redeem points at a rate of 1.25 per point as a statement credit to cover travel purchases including flights, hotels, car rentals, ride-shares and more. Through 12/31/2025, you can redeem up to 200,000 points for up to $2,500 back.
  • Free first checked bags on Air Canada flights: one free checked bag for the primary cardmember and up to eight other travelers on the same itinerary.
  • Automatically receive Aeroplan 25K Elite Status for the remainder of the first calendar year, plus the following calendar year, allowing primary cardmembers to enjoy benefits such as priority check-in, early boarding, upgrades and more on Air Canada flights.
  • Each calendar year in which you spend at least $15,000 in purchases you earn Aeroplan 25K Status through the following calendar year.
  • Up to $120 credit toward Global Entry, TSA Precheck or NEXUS every four years (as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card)
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • $95 annual fee.

Here is the rewards structure on credit card spending:

  • 3X points on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services
  • 3X points at grocery stores
  • 3X points on direct purchases at Air Canada
  • 1 point for each dollar spent on all other purchases
  • 500 bonus points for every $2,000 spent in a calendar month (up to a maximum of 1,500 points per calendar month)

Redeeming Aeroplan points for flights. It is very easy to redeem Aeroplan points on Air Canada, Air Canada Express, or Air Canada Rouge flights because “every Air Canada seat available to buy for cash is also available for points, no restrictions.” You simply run a search like normal on the Air Canada website, and it will tell you upfront the cost in Aeroplan points. It’s quite easy to compare the cash cost side-by-side. In addition, when you have this credit card, you get even better preferred pricing on flights when redeeming points.

Here is an example flight from San Francisco to Vancouver during our March Spring Break period:

At 8,300 miles + CAD$8 for a one-way flight, that means I could get 4 of these SFO-YVR roundtrip flights for 70,000 with some 3,000+ points left over. This means an entire family of four could get their flights covered. The cash cost for the one way was CAD$207 or US$161 at this writing, for a total redemption value of CAD$1,656 or US$1,288.

For a more general idea, here is a link to the Aeroplan rewards chart (PDF). The points required are based on distance.

You can also get excellent value by redeeming your points on a partner airline.

Finally, with this credit card, you get preferred pricing on award flights (less points required):

You, as the primary cardmember will often require fewer Aeroplan points to redeem for flight rewards through the Aeroplan program than Aeroplan Members who do not hold an Aeroplan co-branded Credit Card.

Redeem towards any travel at 1.25 cents per points. Via their Pay Yourself Back(R) feature, Chase allows an alternative option to redeem Aeroplan points at a rate of 1.25 cents per point to cover travel purchases including airline flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, rideshares, parking lots, and more. This provides a nice minimum floor on the value of an Aeroplan point. More Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back details here. Here are the updated eligible categories for 2025, which include eligible restaurants and grocery stores:

Pay Yourself Back®
Aeroplan® points may be redeemed for a statement credit using Pay Yourself Back for purchases made at select merchants within the 90 days before the redemption request date.? Redemptions using Pay Yourself Back against the following purchases made with your credit card will qualify: travel purchases and the prior payment of your annual fee. Currently, purchases made in the following promotional categories will also qualify: dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services), grocery stores (including eligible delivery services, excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs). Each point you redeem through Pay Yourself Back for a statement credit towards qualifying travel purchases (up to 200,000 points or $2,500 annually) and the prior payment of your annual fee is worth $.0125 (one and a quarter cents), which means that 100 points equals $1.25 in redemption value. Each point you redeem through Pay Yourself Back for a statement credit towards qualifying purchases in promotional categories is worth $.008, which means that 100 points equals $.80 in redemption value. Valid through December 31, 2025.

Here’s all of what counts as “Travel”:

Merchants in this category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages. Some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV and boat rentals, merchants within hotels and airports, public campgrounds and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. Purchases from gift card merchants or merchants that sell points or miles will not qualify in the travel category.

Personal experience. I have had this card, and here is why I renewed and paid the annual fee for another year. There are a lot of little things with this card that makes travel better.

  • You get 25K elite status on Air Canada with this card (25K automatically for the remainder of the first calendar year, plus the following calendar year, later years with eligible spending), and that lets you check in using the speedy priority line with helpful humans! The same line as business class ticket holders. This 1 on 1 person can help you make flight changes, fix seats, check bags and just make flying smoother rather than trying to flag down the kiosk person trying to help 30 people at once.
  • 25K status lets you pick better seats for free and gives you a 50% discount on the preferred seats with extra legroom on (non-basic) Flex economy fares.
  • 25K status gets you Zone 2 boarding even on basic economy tickets, which is very early. You know how the line is usually split between “1st class/fancy folks” and “everyone else”? You get to board in the fancy folks line.
  • Free checked bags for you and all travel companions with the card. For me, that means my family can check 5 bags for free. 25K status also gives the person with status 2 free checked bags.

Basically, this card helps me feel closer to a business class passenger when I just buy economy tickets and pay for the extra legroom seats. I get the nice check-in line, no hassles with checked bags, TSA PreCheck for security, and true priority boarding so no stress about carry-on space.

Bottom line. The Aeroplan® Card offers a generous sign-up bonus (redeemable for multiple Air Canada flights or use the Pay Yourself Back feature to offset travel purchased from ANY airline or hotel) and Air Canada flight perks (including free first checked bag and elite status).

I will be adding this offer to the Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The information for the Aeroplan® Card has been collected independently by My Money Blog. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Virgin Red Rewards Credit Card: 60,000 Bonus Points (Improved Offer)

Posted on July 20, 2025 // 1 Comment

The Virgin Red Rewards credit card is the co-branded card for Virgin Red, the loyalty program for Virgin Atlantic flights, Virgin Hotels and Virgin Voyages. In addition, Virgin points can be used for other things like Delta Airlines flights, Legoland tickers, all the way down to a bag of AMC movie popcorn. Right now, there is an improved offer, so let’s take a closer look.

  • 60,000 Virgin Points on new accounts when you spend $4,000 in your first 90 days.
  • 3X Virgin Points per $1 spent on Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels and Virgin Voyages.
  • 2X Virgin Points per $1 spent at grocery stores, on dining out, select streaming services and EV charging.
  • 1 Virgin Point per $1 spent on everything else.
  • Spend $15,000 in a year to choose one Personal Perk, or $30,000 to choose two. Options include Flying Club reward voucher for a companion seat or cabin upgrade (Virgin Atlantic), a free night stay or priority upgrade (Virgin Hotel), or a $150/$300 Bar Tab credit or Blue Extras perk package (Virgin Voyages).
  • Book two nights at a Virgin Hotel, get your third night free with this card.
  • Add an authorized user and earn 2,500 Virgin Points. Maximum of 10,000 Virgin Points.
  • Earn Tier Points with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Earn 25 Tier Points for $2,500 of qualifying spend, up to 50 Tier Points a month.
  • Anniversary bonus: 5,000 Virgin Points every year you renew.
  • $99 annual fee.

This card is currently a Mastercard issued by Synchrony Bank. While Synchrony is not my favorite issuer, that can actually be a good thing once if you’ve already gotten many of the other popular rewards cards and they start to turn you away…

What can you redeem Virgin Points for? First, a quick reminder that there are both Virgin Red points and Virgin Flying Club points. Although they are separate programs, you can link your accounts together and use your points across both programs.

You can redeem Virgin points for free flights on Virgin Atlantic Airlines, including Economy, Premium Economy, and Upper (First) Class. There is no fixed award chart, but you can use this Reward Seat Checker tool to see what is available. Here are the best case scenarios for a Saver reward, which are very limited. You’ll also have to watch out for carrier-imposed surcharges, which are not included.

The US partner airlines include Delta Airlines. There are also a variety of international partner airlines including both SkyTeam (Air France/KLM) and non-SkyTeam (like ANA), which I won’t go into detail here. (As of June 30, 2025, Virgin Red members can no longer redeem Virgin Points for Hawaiian Airlines flights.)

For Delta Airlines, here are the one-way costs for domestic flights within the US, excluding taxes, fees and carrier-imposed surcharges. The cost is based on distance, so it can be a relatively better deal for shorter Delta flights within the US.

Lots of incoming transfer partners. Even if you rarely/never fly Virgin, a positive feature is that there are many ways to get Virgin points if you need some extra to meet a redemption. These are all the programs that transfer into Virgin Red points at a 1:1 ratio:

  • American Express Membership Rewards
  • Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • Bilt Rewards
  • Capital One Miles
  • Citi ThankYou Rewards
  • Wells Fargo

You can also transfer from Marriott Bonvoy at a different 3:1 ratio (plus possible 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points transferred).

Like most co-branded credit cards, the value depends a lot on how often you already use Virgin products. As someone who has never used any Virgin product, my plan for this card would be instead to use the bonus points within the first year on economy Delta flights for my entire family. I’d transfer enough points over from another program to top off the account and use them all at once. I’ll have to see if Delta flies to where we want to go and calculate the cost based on distance.

Bottom line. The Virgin Red Rewards credit card is the co-branded card for Virgin Atlantic flights, Virgin Hotels and Virgin Voyages. Right now, there is an improved offer of 60,000 bonus Virgin points, which are can be redeemed towards airfare on Virgin Atlantic or Delta Airlines, along with some other partner airlines.

I do believe it is reasonably easy to get $600+ of flight value out of 60,000 Virgin points, so I will be adding this card to my list of Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

The information for the Virgin Red Rewards credit card has been collected independently by My Money Blog. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

New Vanguard Bond ETFs: Total TIPS ETF (VTP) & Total Treasury ETF (VTG)

Posted on July 17, 2025 // 3 Comments

Following Vanguard’s stated plans to expand into fixed income, Vanguard recently announced the following new bond ETFs (press release):

  • Vanguard Total Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTP). Seeks to track the performance of an index of the full market of inflation-protected public obligations of the U.S. Treasury including short-, intermediate-, and long-term maturities. Expense ratio of 0.05%.
  • Vanguard Total Treasury ETF (VTG). Seeks to track the total U.S. Treasury bond market including short-, intermediate-, and long-term maturities. Expense ratio of 0.03%.
  • Vanguard Government Securities Active ETF (VGVT). Actively-managed bond ETF that seeks to outperform the benchmark (Bloomberg Government Total Return Index) with an expense ratio of 0.10%.

In my opinion, the most notable addition here is the Vanguard Total Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTP) because the only previous TIPS ETF available was Vanguard Short-Term Inflation Protected ETF (VTIP). Finally, we have an ETF option for those that want a longer-duration TIPS ETF with usually a higher real yield and thus higher expected long-term return for long-term holders. Of course, this also comes with higher real interest rate risk, meaning higher volatility and price fluctuations with changes in the real yield.

In contrast, there are already multiple Treasury ETFs from Vanguard with your choice of short-term (VGSH), intermediate-term (VGIT), or long-term (VGLT) flavors.

My current pick in this category, the Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF (SCHP) currently has a lower expense ratio at 0.03%. I hope that VTP will also become cheaper as the assets grow.

I personally only use TIPS ETFs in taxable brokerage accounts because they simplify the “phantom tax” situation with individual TIPS in those accounts. Otherwise, in my tax-sheltered accounts, I try to just own the individual TIPS directly since I am manually building a long-duration ladder.

Overall, Vanguard entering a sector is a good thing, as more competition is better. Vanguard also recently announced new extremely short-term Treasury ETFs including the Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL), which are potential cash/T-bill alternatives.

Filed Under: Banking, Investing //

Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji Interview Highlights: What’s Next?

Posted on July 15, 2025 // 3 Comments

It has been almost exactly a year since Salim Ramji moved from Blackrock to start his new job as CEO of Vanguard (July 8, 2024, announced May 2024). I don’t think it is a coincidence that he has been doing a bunch of extended interviews recently, including this Economist article (paywall, archive), this Morningstar Long View podcast, and Bloomberg article (paywall, archive). As someone with the majority of their net worth inside a Vanguard brokerage account and inside Vanguard ETFs, it was good to hear Mr. Ramji’s outlook and reasonings.

The Economist article provided a nice high-level overview of Vanguard’s history and core values, written in a very “Economist” manner with an overall positive take. We also find that future expansion areas will include:

  • Fixed-income ETFs. Vanguard has already launched 6 new bond ETFs this year. “The fixed-income market is twice the size of the equity market. It is far more inefficient than the equity market…It is far less understood”.
  • Financial advice/wealth management. “The goal, he says, is to “democratise advice, just as we have democratised investing”.”
  • Access to private markets (in partnership with Blackstone). “Today the haystack includes private as well as public markets.”

The Morningstar podcast had a nice nugget that showed that (for now) there are still some limits to their growth aspirations:

  • No plans for a crypto ETF. No gold ETF. No silver ETF.

Ramji: It was pretty straightforward. Greg Davis, our CIO, and I had talked about it kind of early in my arrival. And at Vanguard, we like investments that deliver cash flow or have the prospect of delivering cash flow. That could be cash, could be bonds, could be equities, could, over time, if the circumstances are right, be private markets. We don’t like things that don’t. We don’t have a gold ETF. We don’t have a silver ETF. And so it’s a logical extension as to why we don’t have ETFs in other things that don’t either deliver cash flow or have the prospect of delivering cash flow. And that’s OK. The market’s well-served. Investors can decide. But we also want to be clear about what our own investing philosophy and investing thinking are. And we’re OK not being everything to everybody. And there are certain things that don’t fit our investment philosophy, or we don’t think we have particular scale or expertise in. And so I’d put some of those types of ETFs in that bucket.

The Bloomberg article added more context behind how he’s making all these changes. Vanguard (and its Board) has been shaking things up a bit internally, including hiring more outsiders into executive roles, and paying higher salaries to get them. Some long-time insiders got pushed out, and it’s hard to know the truth of how much the company has changed.

Ramji has been reaching out to acquaintances at banks and asset management companies. Insiders say Vanguard is offering pay packages that, while not quite New York-level, nonetheless amount to big money in Malvern. In some cases, Ramji is dangling seven-figure deals. “We’ve been able to attract people from other firms who have the same sense of mission,” he says.

Ramji has also worked to break down silos and speed up decision-making (the product-strategy team was flabbergasted when he okayed a new project within minutes, insiders say). The new HR boss arrived from Principal Financial, via Wells Fargo & Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc. In a departure, Vanguard has based its new head of public relations in New York, where it doesn’t have an office.

Multiple journalists suggest that Vanguard is getting into private markets because they need to have an expensive “high margin” option in order to subsidize the rest of the operations. Yes, that is how Fidelity and others do it, but that doesn’t mean that’s how Vanguard has to do it. Vanguard can offer a quality product “at cost”, even if it’s not always the absolute lowest cost, every time.

From my perspective way back in the cheap seats, I can see that change is definitely in the works at Vanguard but they are still at least saying the right things about maintaining the culture. I remain concerned but hopefully optimistic.

Filed Under: Investing //
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