If you came to my session at the 2024 Minnebar, thank you! Scroll down for links referenced in my talk.
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Minnebar is the largest running tech “un-conference” and it’s held at the Best Buy campus in Minneapolis annually. Minnebar is one of the highlights of my year, since it’s a day when I can reconnect with so many people in the Minneapolis tech community in once place.
Some of my favorite sessions in the past have taught me how to run a profitable AirBnB, how to think about social media as a growth engine, how to present better, and (many years ago) a session got me my first exposure to an electric car.
By the time you read this, Minnebar 2024 will likely over, but here’s a link to the sessions posted this year: Minnebar 2024 sessions. If you want to hear about future Minnebars, sign up with Minnestar for updates.
Links to things I talked about in my presentation.
Here are links to things I referenced in my presentation. While the whole talk will be available online in the coming months, these links can give you more information now on the rewards programs and credit cards I referenced during my talk.
Secured cards and 0% balance transfer cards.
If you’re still working on building your credit, you’ll likely find it difficult to get approved for a travel rewards credit card. Unfortunately, most secured credit cards are high-fee products that feel designed to extract fees, rather than help people build credit. Here’s a link to my list of good secured cards with $0 annual fees. All of these cards are genuinely good products that offer a path to upgrade to a $0 annual fee unsecured credit card.
If you’re currently paying interest on a credit card, you’re never going to get enough value from travel rewards to offset the interest charges you’re paying. A 0% balance transfer offer can help you cut interest charges while you pay down your cards. Hopefully we talked after the session. Unfortunately, I don’t have a list of good 0% balance transfer offers up on my site yet, but I hope to soon.
Transferable point programs
Here’s a list of the major transferable point programs and links to the guides I’ve written on this site.
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Bilt Rewards
- Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- Citi ThankYou® Rewards
- Capital One Miles
Chase Ultimate Rewards® resources
Check out our guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards® and our list of the best Chase Ultimate Rewards welcome bonuses to research Ultimate Rewards cards.
Transfer partners I like
Here are the transfer partners that I like that I referenced in the presentation:
- Air Canada Aeroplan: Star alliance awards, easy search, flexible cancellation policies.
- Avianca LifeMiles: Star alliance awards. Good pricing for United short-haul domestic flights.
- Avios (British Airways/Iberia/Emirates): Good short-haul pricing.
- American Airlines AAdvantage: Decent pricing on coach American flights within the U.S.
- Flying Blue: Easy to use awards to Europe, good business class pricing, excellent coach pricing, promo awards.
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: (Very) occasional good pricing on Delta transatlantic. Air New Zealand to Auckland.
- Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus, Southwest Rapid Rewards: Use almost exclusively for speculative tickets because of free cancellations.
- Hyatt: Decent value for hotel redemptions.
Buying benefits
In this section, I covered credit cards that offer a free annual hotel night, cards offering a companion pass (mostly the Delta credit cards) and cards offering airport lounge access.
Additional cards I like
Here are the cards I featured at the end of my presentation:
- Target RedCard Mastercard. A great card to use at Target for its 5% discount on most items you buy at Target.
- U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card. Excellent card to use everywhere for its 3x rewards for mobile wallet purchases. Also includes an easy-to use $325 travel/dining credit, consumer insurance protections and travel protections.
- Amazon Prime Visa. 5% cash back at Amazon coupled with Chase’s extended warranty means you should get this card and use it for pretty much everything on Amazon if you are a Prime member.
- Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. 6% on the first $6,000 you spent on groceries at U.S. supermarkets each year, an $84 The Disney Bundle credit (enrollment required) and easy to use extended warranty, return protection, and purchase protection benefits make this card a great choice for a lot of people.
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. The easiest way to buy lounge access to the PGA lounge at MSP, thanks to its included Priority Pass membership (with two guests) and free authorized user cards. (Each authorized user gets their own Priority Pass membership with their own guest allotment.)
