For those dealing with computers on a day to day basis, it is common knowledge that computers, applied scientific creations and technology, robots etc are tools that help automate various aspects of life thus allowing humans to do what they do best - sleep like a bear. Honey badger really likes that concept and tries to get all its eating/sleeping/spending/living habits out of the way so that it can remain in its state of iowa (which is blissful state of ignorance and being) as soon as possible. There are so many activities and things to do in life. There are the good stuff like fitness, yoga, travel, experimenting on concepts such as minimalism, learning finance and spirituality or simply helping out other humans and pursuing math and science and so on .. (there is also TV :D ). While not aspect of life can or should be automated, it is possible to achieve a balance which helps your mind being mindful while keeping oneself engaged and on. Take the example of driving - in my view, do I like shift stick manual driving? Probably no, that is a bit too much work. What about driverless car - again no. Not due to lack of trust on technology but it is simply nice to drive oneself and get that experience. It is kind of a yoga in itself and takes off your mind from its current context. Maybe at a later point of evolution and time, with a particular activity such as exploring maybe driverless car looks enticing. But, I would really like to be in a spot where I do driving for the sake of it and not because it is stressful. There is already a driverless car in place - it is called train or hiring another human as driver. I think technology can aid or help as a tool. To completely automate it and treat it as a black box kind of takes the fun. Of course, to each his own. There is nothing wrong in having a view and application consistent with one's own comfort level. In the context of credit cards, there are people who automate the credit card spending and keep track of things in their minds or in excel sheets. Frequent changes means frequently revising all this. A simple case of changes that happened in 2013-2014 can be tabulated as follows:
1. The sign up bonuses came in targeted and in certain periods of a year
2. The tools mainly used such as reload cards underwent drastic changes in terms of fees, locations where they are available, locations where they frequently ran out, how they could be loaded
3. Some of the main tools such as Amex Serve card or Bluebird or Paypal or Netspend/Go/Vanilla reload kept changing the rules about how they can be loaded - some stores accepted credit cards while some wont.
4. Walmart accepted loads on the prepaid cards at first and then stopped
5. Same with CVS
6. Same with ... you get the gist!
7. Online bill pay service stopped or limited number of users per service
In the meantime, the customers had their target of spending 5k to 10k within 3 months would get fatigued with too much gift cards at hand and less money to spend. Not everything can be or should be automated. For instance, I had some minor automation in some online sites to load money from a certain credit card. Not only the site changed its rule regarding the loading limits and automation, the credit card itself fell out of favor in terms of points raked. Now, on a given day with a busy work schedule takings its toll on mind and body, it is difficult to keep tab on such things and make necessary adjustments. Let alone missing opportunities, sometimes automation at this level becomes a burden. Those with software background can appreciate the negatives that too much automation cause to a process. Hence the approach of this blog is going to be flexible. There are no written rules in the land of hustling, no optimization, no crying over missed offers and so on. There is no point in being rigid. Rather best to adapt and use a tool well. This blog would give well crafted images - essentially flow charts or work flow. One can mindlessly , like a drone , simply execute the steps on the way without thinking and reap the benefits of strategic credit card spending. Some day when there is a computer which will do some of this via open API, it would make sense to have a program that reads this image and converts that to point earning action. Till then, we would just change and adapt as per need.
The image instructions would not be as simple as loading an app or getting a code to scan on a store. Those are unit actions in themselves which us humans can do quite well. But when it comes to having to chose between 5 stores to load, 5 cards to choose from, 5 stores where they can be purchased and then keeping track of these, you may want tools that help you achieve these in under 10 minutes time on a weekday. That is the aim of this blog.
Bottom line, look at the images that come up on this site and execute them. If this gain traction, I might even come up with a few apps which help you give the tools require to manage them well. The tools would be generic enough for beginner to advance level folks to use. Aim is simplicity, ease of use and learn, easy to use quickly and highly customized solution to a problem which simply solves the problem. The aim is to reach a balanced level of automation in a moving goal post such that it optimizes our time and effeciency.
Some tracking apps such as reward wallet are good but they dont seem to integrate with a significant number of airlines or hotels. Of course, many folks counter that with an excel that is customized and has important information such as end dates, expiration date of rewards or annual fee due dates among others. A better tool would be to remind you to use a set of credit cards every six months or simply transfer over 100 points every six months from some of the better reward programs such as the Amex Membership rewards or the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.
As of 2014, some tools are better used by human minds rather than computers. They are simply better computers than man made computers. For instance, looking at a moving story from a charity organization and getting inspired by it enough to donate one's miles to the charity instead of taking that trip to a tropical destination is something that can be done by a human mind with a single thought for now. So while sentinels need to do the sentinel thing, lets get together and create the visual and functional tools to speeden up the point raking strategies.
1. The sign up bonuses came in targeted and in certain periods of a year
2. The tools mainly used such as reload cards underwent drastic changes in terms of fees, locations where they are available, locations where they frequently ran out, how they could be loaded
3. Some of the main tools such as Amex Serve card or Bluebird or Paypal or Netspend/Go/Vanilla reload kept changing the rules about how they can be loaded - some stores accepted credit cards while some wont.
4. Walmart accepted loads on the prepaid cards at first and then stopped
5. Same with CVS
6. Same with ... you get the gist!
7. Online bill pay service stopped or limited number of users per service
In the meantime, the customers had their target of spending 5k to 10k within 3 months would get fatigued with too much gift cards at hand and less money to spend. Not everything can be or should be automated. For instance, I had some minor automation in some online sites to load money from a certain credit card. Not only the site changed its rule regarding the loading limits and automation, the credit card itself fell out of favor in terms of points raked. Now, on a given day with a busy work schedule takings its toll on mind and body, it is difficult to keep tab on such things and make necessary adjustments. Let alone missing opportunities, sometimes automation at this level becomes a burden. Those with software background can appreciate the negatives that too much automation cause to a process. Hence the approach of this blog is going to be flexible. There are no written rules in the land of hustling, no optimization, no crying over missed offers and so on. There is no point in being rigid. Rather best to adapt and use a tool well. This blog would give well crafted images - essentially flow charts or work flow. One can mindlessly , like a drone , simply execute the steps on the way without thinking and reap the benefits of strategic credit card spending. Some day when there is a computer which will do some of this via open API, it would make sense to have a program that reads this image and converts that to point earning action. Till then, we would just change and adapt as per need.
The image instructions would not be as simple as loading an app or getting a code to scan on a store. Those are unit actions in themselves which us humans can do quite well. But when it comes to having to chose between 5 stores to load, 5 cards to choose from, 5 stores where they can be purchased and then keeping track of these, you may want tools that help you achieve these in under 10 minutes time on a weekday. That is the aim of this blog.
Bottom line, look at the images that come up on this site and execute them. If this gain traction, I might even come up with a few apps which help you give the tools require to manage them well. The tools would be generic enough for beginner to advance level folks to use. Aim is simplicity, ease of use and learn, easy to use quickly and highly customized solution to a problem which simply solves the problem. The aim is to reach a balanced level of automation in a moving goal post such that it optimizes our time and effeciency.
Some tracking apps such as reward wallet are good but they dont seem to integrate with a significant number of airlines or hotels. Of course, many folks counter that with an excel that is customized and has important information such as end dates, expiration date of rewards or annual fee due dates among others. A better tool would be to remind you to use a set of credit cards every six months or simply transfer over 100 points every six months from some of the better reward programs such as the Amex Membership rewards or the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.
As of 2014, some tools are better used by human minds rather than computers. They are simply better computers than man made computers. For instance, looking at a moving story from a charity organization and getting inspired by it enough to donate one's miles to the charity instead of taking that trip to a tropical destination is something that can be done by a human mind with a single thought for now. So while sentinels need to do the sentinel thing, lets get together and create the visual and functional tools to speeden up the point raking strategies.
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