Manufactured spending is an awesome way to generate enormous amounts of miles and points. Outside from my typical business spend, I try to manufacture spend to earn additional points or to meet sign up bonuses. This month, I opened the Citi AA Advantage Business Card which has the annual fee waived for the first year. This card is currently offering 65,000 American Airlines miles after spending $4,000 in the first 4 months. Wow, this might be the first card I’ve gotten that gave you 4 months instead of 3 to meet the spend requirement. This card also offers 1 loyalty point per dollar spent( Peep my American Airlines Elite Status Challenge) and a some airline benefits.
1) Property Taxes
I still live with my parents but every year there’s property taxes. This month, I used my card to pay about $4,100 in property tax which incurred a 2.5% fee or $102. Just with this alone I was able to earn 69,200 American Miles for a total cost of $102. If I value American miles at a conservative rate of 1.2 cents per point, here would be my breakdown.
Spend: $4,202
Cost: $102
Points Earned: 69,200 American Miles
Total Value Earned: $830 – 102 = $738
2) US Mint via PFS
This month there was an outstanding deal on several buyer clubs for buying US mint coins. I purchased one set of the coins for about $5340 and will be paid $5500 giving me a net profit of $160 in additional to earning valuable spend on my World of Hyatt Credit Card(My referral link). This card offers 2 elite nights for every $5,000 of spend and is a great way for me to fast track my way to requalify for Hyatt Globalist. Hyatt is my favorite hotels brand and I tend to find exceptional value for my points, using them for stays at Carmel Valley Ranch, Alila Napa Valley, and more. I value Hyatt points at 1.5 cents per point.
Total Spent: $5,340
Earnings: 5340 World of Hyatt Points, $160, 2 Hyatt Elite Night Credits
Value of Earnings: $80(Points Value) + $160 = $240
3) Reselling/ Retail Arbitrage/ Flipping
I love flipping and reselling a variety of products. In the month of March, I spent about $9,500 dollars on products while taking advantage of a few discounted visa gift card offers through giftcards.com found via Doctor of Credit. If you haven’t checked them out, Doctor of Credit is one of my favorite places to get a daily dose of deals. Most of my spend was completed on the World of Hyatt Credit card.
Per usual, all of my non Amazon purchases were done via a shopping portal. I try to find the best portal deals, but my preference in order is Rakuten, AA Advantage Shopping, and United’s Mileage Plus Shopping. Rakuten is the best at tracking all purchases and I am trying to earn as many loyalty points as possible in 2022 thus my ranking. Rakuten has an ongoing partnership with American Express and I can earn Amex points instead of typical cash back. I value Amex points at about 1.5 cents per point.
If you’re interested in using Rakuten, they are currently offering $30 cashback when you spend $30 or more. If interested, you can also use my referral link: Calvin’s Rakuten Link.
Amount Spent: $9,500
Cost: $0
Total Earnings: 9500 World of Hyatt Points, ~ 4 Hyatt Elite Night Credits, ~34,600 American Express Points, 5,300 AA Miles, 2200 UA Miles
Total Value Earned: $142.5 + 519 + $63.6 + 22= $748.1
Recap
The month of March went relatively well. I earned 6 Hyatt Elite night credits on credit card spend alone, while also continuing to build up my stash of Hyatt and Amex points. This month I was also able to open and meet the sign up bonus for the Citi AA Advantage Business Card earning me 65,000 bonus miles. I also opened up the no fee Amex Hilton Credit card as it is currently offering a free night certificate and 70k points as a signup bonus. I hope to meet this sign up bonus in the near future. Overall, the month of March was solid and I was able to earn about $1500 worth of points.
