Harlan Vaughn's Blog, page 26

Which Chase Card Is Best When You’re Starting With Points?

In general, I tell most peeps to start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It’s the quintessential points card, even after all these years. And you can transfer the points you earn directly to airline and hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio – most of them instantly.

If you spend a lot in travel & dining, or if you want lounge access, spring for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Here’s how to find the break even point with the annual fees ($95 for the Preferred and $450 for the Reserve, but you get a $300 annual travel credit).

I transferred Chase points to Hyatt to stay 3 free nights at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta

Already have one or the other? Then get the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. The only difference is the bonus categories. Freedom has 5% rotating quarterly categories. Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5 points per $1 spent – and you can combine the points with your Sapphire card points. So they’re an easy way to boost your Ultimate Rewards points balance fast. And both cards have a $0 annual fee!

If you’re looking for a small business card, get the Ink Business Preferred or Ink Business Cash. The former earns points that transfer directly to travel partners and has a $95 annual fee; the latter requires you to have a premium Chase card to access travel partners, but a $0 annual fee.

If you just want to earn cashback, spring for any of the cards with a $0 annual fee (Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, or Ink Business Cash).

But to get awesome travel (think international Business Class flights, upscale hotels, and cheap flights to Hawaii), you want one of the annual fee cards (Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred). The annual fees are worth it for the huge travel savings you can get. It’s how I got a $2,000+ Mexican vacation for $90!

Which Chase card? Here’s a flowchart

All the information summarized in a flowchart (click to enlarge):

How to decide which Chase card to get

*AF = annual fee

“Transfer” in the chart means if the card earns points you can transfer directly to travel partners. Here’s how that works and which partners you can access:

Pair Chase cards to earn even more points

Of course, ALL of these cards are subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule. That means if you’ve opened 5+ cards from any bank in the past 24 months, you will likely NOT be approved (although some small business credit cards don’t count).

And because Chase has the best travel rewards cards on the market, you want to get as many as you can before you hit that limit. Because after that… you’re basically locked out from getting most Chase cards (with a few exceptions for some co-branded cards).

Sapphire Preferred or Reserve?

Link: What’s the Break Even Point for Chase Sapphire Cards?
Click here to compare the Sapphire Preferred
Click here to compare the Sapphire Reserve

The Sapphire Reserve has a $450 annual fee. Woof, right?

But consider you get:

$300 annual travel credit per cardmember year
Unlimited visits to Priority Pass airport lounges
3X points on travel & dining

The $300 travel credit alone brings the annual fee down to $150, assuming you’re going to spend on travel anyway.

I visited the Wingtips Lounge at JFK Terminal 4 before a Virgin Atlantic flight for free with my Priority Pass

In that light, $150 isn’t much more than the $95 annual fee on the Sapphire Preferred – plus you earn 3X on travel & dining (as opposed to 2X) and get a Priority Pass Select membership, which is incredibly useful if you don’t already have one.

But if you don’t want to commit to the bigger annual fee, the Sapphire Preferred is still the best card for beginners.

Do you prefer cashback?

Click here to compare the Freedom to other cashback cards
Click here to compare the Freedom Unlimited to other cashback cards

The Freedom and Freedom Unlimited are both excellent supplements to either Sapphire card. Because you can combine all your points and send them to travel partners.

But, if you really just want to earn cashback, I’d go with the Freedom over the Freedom Unlimited. Only reason being there are 2% cashback cards out there, so you can do better than Freedom Unlimited’s 1.5% cashback rate.

Past quarters on the Chase Freedom included useful categories like Amazon shopping

A curveball

Link: Sign-up for Discover it® Cashback Match Card

And if you like 5% bonus categories, oh man, consider the Discover It!

The only reason to get the Freedom instead is if you think you might want to add another Chase card in the future. Or do what I did, and get both!

Review: American Airlines Business Class 777-200 Dallas to Tokyo-NRT

Also see: 

Electric Tokyo: A $15,000 Week in Japan for $58 (With Business Class Flights and Free Hotels!)
Review: JAL Business Class Sky Suite 787-8 NRT-DFW

The day finally came to travel to Japan. I love travel days. And this one was silky smooth.

We arrived to the airport in 20 minutes flat, cleared PreCheck in I swear to gods 90 seconds, and headed to the Centurion Lounge. There was time for breakfast, a cocktail, and a free manicure. And, our departure gate was right across from the lounge.

(Perfect!)

I was relaxed and happy when boarding began. And used 54,000 American miles for this flight.

The actual cost is 60,000 American miles. But I got a 10% mileage rebate upon booking – so 6,000 miles were instantly redeposited into my account. This perk comes with most American co-branded cards (with both Citi and Barclays). It’s worth the annual fee for this alone.

Ready to fly over the Pacific (and nearly halfway around the world!) in Business Class for 54,000 American miles

Last time I flew this route in this plane was in First Class.  So I was curious to see how the new retro-fitted Business Class seats would look and feel. And off we go!

American Airlines Business Class 777-200 review

To start, the Dallas Centurion Lounge is by far by favorite in the whole network. It’s moving to a bigger space next month. And Amex is adding new lounges at DEN, JFK, and LAX this year.

I’m impressed they keep adding lounges at such a nice clip. If you can make use of them, access to the lounges could be the sole reason to hang on to an Amex Platinum Card (any version, including small biz).

Free food and drinks get a big hell yeah

I am constantly in that lounge. And this time, I got a friend in for free. When traveling domestically, I go to the lounge before and after my flights – I’ll even take the AirTrain over there if need be.

This also chilled me out and put me in the mood to fly. So when boarding rolled around, I strolled onto the plane and right to my Business Class seat.

The seat

I’d read about the inconsistent cabins on the 777-200s. The retro-fitting. The back and forth between seat manufacturers. Etc.

So I was prepared for nearly anything on this aircraft.

Business Class seats on the 777-200

I had #3L, a forward-facing seat on the right-hand side. In Version 3 of this aircraft.

My seat, #3L

In each seat, you get your own little pod.

Seat configuration of the 777-200

The Business Class cabin is split up into 2 parts and separated by a curtain. I was in the front. Every seat has direct aisle access.

And they alternate between forward- and backward-facing. They’re set up in a way to minimize having to see other passengers. Even the seats next to the other require you to lean forward to talk around the partition.

When I got to my seat, I found:

Pillow and blanket
Slippers
Bose headphones
Amenity kit
Food menu

Cute little slippers

I put on the slippers and settled into the seat.

Tons of leg room

There’s a small footrest that angles into the corner at the end of the seat. Even with legs fully stretched, I couldn’t reach it.

Remote control and reading light

The control for IFE and reading lamp are next to your shoulder.

Decent sized TV screen

The TV screen wasn’t huge (~15 inches), but holy crap did they load up the movies! I watched 3 films on the way over. Excellent selections.

4 charging ports

And I loved the little tray next to the (four!) power ports. I plugged in my phone and left it to charge while we flew. It’s also in a great place if you want to sit up and work on your computer while having a power source connected.

Seat as a bed

As soon as I saw that angled foot rest I thought, “Oh dear.” I can’t stand those things. Inevitably, my feet get squished up into these weird angles and can’t fall naturally. Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad here. The length of the seat made it so I could scoot up and give my feet more room.

This won’t be an issue at all if you’re short or a side sleeper. But something to note if you’re tall or like to splay out.

Press and hold

To transform the seat into a flat bed, just hold down the button until it stops moving. Very simple.

Casper bedding

The pillow and blanket are from Casper. Indeed, the duvet cover was soft and the perfect thickness. And the pillow had excellent support and a soft cover on it, too. Good job with the bedding.

There wasn’t a mattress pad, so I made myself into a lil taco with the duvet cover.

This flight left Dallas at 1:10pm and got to Tokyo at 5:21pm. So even after a few hours of flying, I just wasn’t sleepy. But I did manage to drift off and get some rest.

I did the side sleep thing with my arm under the pillow. The cabin temp was nice and cool, which I appreciated. And the flight attendants seemed to be off sleeping or resting somewhere, too. So there was a long period of quiet where most of the cabin fell asleep for a couple of hours.

Between the soft bedding, cool temp, and quiet – this was an extremely comfortable ride over the ocean.

Amenities

The amenity kit contained:

Toothbrush/toothpaste
Mouthwash
Tissues
Lotion
Lip balm
Eye mask
Socks
Ear plugs
Pen

Amenity kit contents

Excellent! I used pretty much everything in there.

The skin products and mouthwash were from CO Bigelow:

CO Bigelow toiletries

And the container was Cole Haan. But it was really just a cheap, flimsy little sack. Seemed disposable. I like a sturdy container that either stands on its own, or can be reused in some way.

So, great contents, poor packaging.

Food

Holy cow, they kept the food coming! There was a steady stream of food. I basically snacked throughout the entire flight.

Red wines and dessert wine

White wines and bubbly

Meal options

Desserts, snacks, and, and light meals

Beverage choices

I got the Japanese meal with a green tea.

Japanese meal “bento box”

I noticed they partnered with JAL for the Japanese meal contents. So I was looking forward to what was inside.

Japanese meal presentation

American Airlines Japenese meal

It contained:

Shrimp
Eel roll
Egg cake
Bamboo shoots, broccoli, beans
Chicken teriyaki
Cabbage roll

There was a nice variety of meat and veggies. And I liked the little touches like sesame seeds, the glaze on the yam jelly, and the flavors added to certain items.

Salmon and beef main, miso soup, and rice

Next up, they brought out braised beef, tofu, and grilled salmon as the main dish, with a side of rice and miso soup. The salmon was very good. But the beef was a little tough and dry. Even still, I was impressed to get such a nice variety on a plane.

I was so full, I skipped dessert. But had a snack later on.

“Midnight” snack of cold udon noodles, seaweed, and fruit

I really liked the noodles! And the seaweed was a nice touch – I love seaweed. Would definitely recommend this dish.

Pre-landing meal of broccoli strata, chicken sausage, and potatoes

The final meal was a quick snack with a few breakfast-y items, even though it was 5pm in Japan.

The side salad was bland, even with the dressing. But the eggs, potatoes, and sausage were all really good. I also ate all the cheesecake.

New! Chase Hyatt Visa Offers for Spending at a Dozen Merchants

Just got this email from Chase. Peeps with a Chase Hyatt Visa can now sign up for an official offer page and activate offers – very similar to Amex Offers. The only difference is there’s a dedicated page for it – you can’t activate the deals from your Chase accounts page.

Visa Offers with the Chase Hyatt card are live

I have 13 offers on my card after signing up for access, to places like Lowe’s, Boxed, Hulu, and StubHub. Here’s how to find it!

Chase Hyatt Visa Offers

Link: Enroll your Chase Hyatt card
Link: Chase Hyatt card

Very cool to see this. Chase had some offers attached to the Marriott and Slate card recently (that’s been discontinued now). And through July 31st, 2018, you can enroll to add offers to your Chase Hyatt card.

Here’s the email I got:

How neat

After creating a login, I found 13 offers ready to activate and add to my account – just like Amex Offers.

Chase Hyatt Visa Offers Pt 1

Chase Hyatt Visa Offers Pt 2

Some of the merchants are meh, but some – just like with Amex Offers – could be super useful. A few that caught my eye are:

Cinemark – $5 off $20+ purchase
Harry’s – $5 back on $15+ purchase
Etsy – $10 back on $40+ purchase
Boxed – $20 back on $75+
HelloFresh – $15 back on $50+
Nectar – $50 back on $500+

Just click to activate

Chase says you need to register for the site by July 31st, 2018. But many of these offers expire in May 2018. So presumably there will be even more through the end of July.

All of the discounts are sizable – at least 10%. And many are in the 20+% range. So it’s well worth checking, comparing, and adding the offers, especially if any of the merchants are useful for upcoming spending.

In the case of Boxed and HelloFresh, for example, Amex has similar offers. So if you can split orders and use multiple offers, you could do really well with the savings.

Bottom line

Link: Enroll your Chase Hyatt card
Link: Chase Hyatt card

It looks like Chase is getting into the “offers” game again – these literally work the exact same as Amex Offers. The big exception is there’s an external page to log into to add and activate the deals.

There aren’t many yet – just 13 on my account – but I did notice it asked me for my location. So perhaps some of these are geo-targeted.

In any regard, it’s a nice step for Chase. And a dozen good merchants is a good start. Here’s hoping they add more – and potentially some local chains like Amex sometimes does.

If you have a Chase Hyatt card, did you get the same offers on your account? Curious to hear what’s different and if there are any other good ones out there!

OUT AND OUT - Investing. Positivity. Oh, and travel.

Review: JAL Business Class Sky Suite 787-8 NRT-DFW

Also see: 

Electric Tokyo: A $15,000 Week in Japan for $58 (With Business Class Flights and Free Hotels!)

Last week, before my flight from Tokyo to Dallas, I checked if seats were open on JAL. I originally booked my way home with 50,000 Alaska miles for an American Airlines Business Class ticket. But I was totally willing to pay 10,000 more miles to fly back on JAL. Especially when the cash rate was $7,300+!

JAL Business Class cabin

Seats were available! I called Alaska Airlines to make the switch. A few minutes and 10,000 miles later, I was booked into a JAL Sky Suite seat back home to Dallas.

I’d always wanted to fly a Japanese airline. Both times I’ve flown were with American. So I did a happy dance I was able to score this seat.

Even better, the new flight time was within 5 minutes of my old one. So I didn’t have to change any plans, other than fly home in a better seat on a new (to me) airline!

JAL Business Class Sky Suite review

Link: JAL Sky Suite seats

The trek back to Narita sucked hard, dude. I missed the Narita Express train before I realized they only leave once per hour at certain times of day. Missing the 7am train meant waiting until 8am. And for a 10:45am flight, I didn’t want to cut it that close. So we took a JR East train to Nippori and transferred to the Skyliner. It was roughly the same cost, but with more stops and a connection.

Even still, we got to NRT around 8:45am. So had plenty of time to check a bag and have a drink in the Sakura lounge.

Bag drop was a bag drag

We’d already checked in online. But my friend shopped a lot in Tokyo and needed to check a bag. The bag drop line moved slower than expected. Like, isn’t it a bag drop – as in drop and go?

Happy Hour Tonight – Join Us at the Frequent Flyer Meetup in Dallas!

Hey-o, I’m back from an amazing trip to Tokyo. And man, jet lag is no joke!

I can’t wait to write about the hotels, flights, and wanderings. In the meantime, follow me on Instagram to see the city covered in pink and white cherry blossoms – or let’s talk about it tonight at the next Out for Miles frequent flyer meetup!

Take a break from Monday-ing and have a drink with us

There’s a great group of folks chatting about points & miles, trips, and credit cards tonight at Blue Mesa in Addison, TX. We’ll be there at 6pm – just in time to make the end of happy hour!

Out for Miles frequent flyer meetup

Link: Join Out for Miles
Link: RSVP here

The location is near the Tollway, 635, and PGBT. I thought it would be fun to try out a Monday meetup. If you’re in the Dallas area, feel free to add your attendance via the links above. Or just show up! I reserved a table near the bar, and I’ll have a name tag on to welcome everyone.

What: Out for Miles – Dallas Meetup
When: Monday, April 16th, from 6 to 8:30 pm
Where: Blue Mesa, 14866 Montfort Dr, Addison, TX – Google Map directions and location
Links: Join the group and RSVP on Meetup or RSVP on Facebook

The happy hour is until 7pm with:

$4 large margaritas
$4 well drinks
$5 wine
$1 off all draft beers

Here’s the full happy hour menu.

Feel free to bring friends or plus ones, too. It’s beautiful out today – hope to see everyone later this evening!

Updated: What’s FoundersCard Membership Worth in 2018?

Also see: 

FoundersCard Membership: Is it worth it?
Assessing the Benefits of FoundersCard
18 FoundersCard Travel Benefits (Status, Discounts, and Freebies)

I wrote my first post about FoundersCard 4 years ago (!). And have been a member ever since.

I renew my membership every year to get discounts and many of the same ancillary benefits offered on co-branded credit cards. So it’s high time for an update about what FoundersCard gets you in 2018.

A lot has changed but many perks have stuck around

If anything, it’s gotten better. Though benefits have shifted, it’s still worthwhile if you can make the most of a few good deals.

What’s FoundersCard about?

Link: Apply for FoundersCard

At its core, FoundersCard is built for small business owners and entrepreneurs. The benefits reflect that.

But some, particularly travel and lifestyle benefits, would be of use to most peeps. Especially if you’re a frequent traveler.

FoundersCard breaks down their perks into:

Travel 
Business
Lifestyle 
Hotels

Over the years, I’ve gotten huge savings from discounts with AT&T, elite status and offers for travel, 2 cheap trips to the Bahamas, and fun perks like free magazine subscriptions, free TripIt Pro for a year, access to a free private jet flight, and a fun event in Dallas with drinks and gifts.

Basically, if you can find 2 or 3 perks that make sense, you can do well with a FoundersCard membership.

Let’s take a look at popular benefits in each category.

1. Travel
Airlines

Alaska – 5% off fares within the US, Hawaii, and Canada
American – Rotating quarterly benefit. Past quarters included free Platinum elite status challenges, a percentage off fares, and Business Extra points
British Airways – Up to 10% off most fares between the US/Canada and the UK (this is a perk of the Chase British Airways card)
Cathay Pacific – Silver elite status and 5 to 25% off flights
Emirates – 5% to 10% off fares from the US
JetBlue – Up to 5% off fares
Qantas – 8% to 25% off fares between the US and Australia/NZ, depending on flight direction
Singapore – Up to 5% off select flights from the US
Virgin America – 5% off fares in the US, Hawaii, and Canada

Great deal if you fly any of FoundersCard’s partner airlines

I’ve made excellent use of the American Airlines benefits. And saved money on paid flights, earned elite status from free challenges, and bonus Business Extra points (which I redeem for lounge access).

You can also save 5% with Alaska/Virgin America, JetBlue, and Singapore. And 10% off with British Airways. Not huge discounts, but certainly a nice offer. Especially if you get travel reimbursed or fly those airlines a lot.

Hotels

Caesars – Free Diamond elite status through January 2019, waived resort fees, VIP lines, $100 Celebration dinner, 20% off select room rates
Hilton – Free Gold elite status through March 2020 (free breakfast, upgrades when available, late check-out, extra points on paid rates)
Marriott/Starwood – 3 months of Gold elite status, with a challenge to keep it through February 2019 with 6 paid stays in 3 months

I basically require free breakfast. Hilton Gold elite status is the best for it

These are all excellent perks – without having to open a credit card. I love Hilton Gold elite status for the free breakfast. If you stay at these hotels often, you can get:

Bonus points
Free breakfast
Late checkout
Room upgrades
Possible lounge access, if you score a Club floor room

I get Hilton and Marriott/Starwood through Amex cards. But this is an excellent perk you usually have to earn or get through certain cards.

Car rentals

Avis – Free Avis Preferred Plus Membership and rental discounts
Hertz – Free Gold Plus Rewards or FIVE STAR membership and rental discounts
Silvercar – 20% off rentals (this discounts also comes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card)
Sixt – Free Platinum Sixt Card Membership and rental discounts

I couldn’t find a good car rental photo, so here’s downtown Dallas at sunset

Again, these are all perks of certain cards. I usually rent through Priceline/Costco/Chase Ultimate Rewards. But it’s worth checking every time for the best deal (and I always do – I sometimes find cheaper rates with Hertz status than I find anywhere else).

Other travel savings

Here’s where it gets fun.

CLEAR – 6 months free of CLEAR membership and $140 a year rate thereafter (usually $179 a year, but you can do better booking through Delta for $99 or less a year anyway)
JetSmarter – Free 3-Month JetSmarter Membership
ZipCar – Waived setup fees for small business owners
TripIt Pro – Free year, then $39 annual rate for 3 years

TripIt Pro has become a must for me

I had a Zipcar membership when I lived in New York and loved saving on the initiation fees.

I’ve also gotten hooked on TripIt Pro since it was a benefit on the old Barclay Arrival Plus. I’ve kept it since – it’s becomes part of my travel organization and flow.

Every now and again, a new benefit will pop up, like a free private jet flight through JetSmarter. It’s little things like this that keep me year after year.

2. Business

Shipping, phones, and data backup:

UPS – Big discounts on shipping (up to 47% off)
AT&T – 15% off most voice and data plans $30+, not including unlimited voice and iPad plans
Backblaze – 20% off 1- or 2-year subscriptions (something like this is a MUST for small businesses, or anyone with a computer)

If you don’t already back up your computers, you need a service like Backblaze or CrashPlan (which is what I use)

Promotion and documentation:

MOO – 20% off business printing
Constant Contact – 15% off marketing tools and emails
Shopify – 20% off for a year after a 14-day trial, to have your own e-shop
LegalZoom – 20% off (I’ve used this a few times)
BizFilings – 25% off services

Save on promotional materials, email services, and business filings – indispensable

I’ve personally used these combined discounts several times. It really does add up. I’ve incorporated LLCs, written a will, and gotten business cards for the blog with the participating companies.

These are all geared toward building your small business. In that sense, saving some cash definitely helps the bottom line.

3. Lifestyle

There are a lot of great discounts in this category:

Trunk Club – $100 credit toward your first shipment
Mr Porter – $200 off your first $500+ order
Entrepreneur magazine – Free 1-year subscription
Inc. magazine – Free 1-year subscription
Dollar Shave Club – $18 in credits toward a razor subscription
Adidas.com – 30% off most items
Rent the Runway – 20% off
Spafinder Wellness 365 – 15% off gift certificates
ShopRunner – Free membership (although this comes with many credit cards, including all Amex personal cards and some Citi cards)

Lots of discounts for shopping, housewares, spas, and much more

Most of them are for online shopping at upscale clothing stores. But there’s also gyms, spas, flower shops, coffee, and lots more (69 lifestyle benefits currently).

I’ve used them here and there (like Dollar Shave Club and a gym membership). And the free magazines were handy to toss in a bag to read during a flight or layover.

Everything here is a “nice to have” – not crucial, but a fun extra. And again, it adds up if you shop often at a few of the merchants.

4. Hotels

FoundersCard has relationships with several hotel chains and independent/boutique hotels around the world. You can get:

Exclusive members-only rates
Upgrades and extra perks
More flexible cancellation policies
No travel agent/booking fees

For example, at certain Starwood hotels, perks include:

Complimentary welcome drinks
More flexible cancellation privileges
Spa discounts
Free breakfast
Discounts off the standard room rate

You get similar treatment at Marriott and Park Hyatt hotels – although the specific perks are unique to each hotel.

Even better, you can book directly. So you’ll still earn credit toward elite status and enjoy your elite status benefits. The caveat is that only:

21 Starwood hotels participate (mostly W hotels, a few St. Regis, and a couple others)
14 Marriott hotels participate (Some Ritz-Carltons, and a few others)
7 Park Hyatts participate

It’s aight

While this is a cool benefit, it’s certainly not all-encompassing. But if you have paid cash stays in a FoundersCard hotel city, you can get a few extras at places that don’t partner with Amex or Chase and their respective upscale hotel programs (Fine Hotels & Resorts and Luxury Hotel Collection– Frequent Miler has a nice comparison).

The selection in Dallas leaves a lot to be desired

I ran a search in Dallas and turned up 2 hotels in the FoundersCard program. New York has 11. Hong Kong has 1.

I don’t consider this a huge money-saver as it’s so limited, but nice to have in your back pocket. And worth checking the prices for any paid stays at upscale hotels.

What’s it all worth?

As of writing, FoundersCard is $395 a year with waived initiation fees for Out and Out readers.

If you can make good use of 2 or 3 benefits, it can easily save you that much – and often more.

FoundersCard has a Chrome extension so you won’t miss savings online

For example, my AT&T phone bill is ~$110 per month for 2 lines. I save $15 per month with the FoundersCard discount (applied before taxes). That’s $180 saved per year on something I need anyway – and brings the net cost of membership down to $215.

I have easily saved that much with the:

TripIt Pro discount (free for a year, then $10 cheaper for 3 years)
American Airlines lounge membership from FoundersCard promotions for Business Extra points (I go in all the time for snacks and drinks)
LegalZoom 20% discount ($50+ in savings)
Total Rewards Diamond elite status with $100 Celebration dinner and trip to the Bahamas (huge, huge discounts with this perk alone)
Dollar Shave Club credits ($18 to start)

Also, if you value hotel elite status, you can get Gold elite status with Hilton, and can earn it via a challenge for Marriott/Starwood (and get it free for 3 months).

FoundersCard has become an invaluable part of my life, travels, and blogging business

The airfare discounts are also handy to save here and there.

Using the deals = savings, not using them = not saving

It’s easy to completely cover the cost of the annual membership. But the real worth is if you can use the benefits or not. If you do, you come out way ahead – $1000s ahead, in some cases.

And if you don’t find the discounts useful, then you shouldn’t waste your time and money. The goal of FoundersCard is to give small business owners access to discounts typically enjoyed by huge corporations. In that way, it gets you more access, savings, and perks than you’d ordinarily have.

I love my FoundersCard membership. And will definitely keep it with the current value proposition.

Preview the membership here. If you like it, use promotion code “FCHARLAN2018” to lock in the special $395 a year rate for life.

Bottom line

Link: Apply for FoundersCard

I hope this is a balanced review of FoundersCard. The upshot is: if you use the benefits, you can do well to recoup the entire annual membership fee – and much more. If there’s nothing that appeals to you, move on.

I get enough return on my membership with the AT&T discount, which saves me $180 a year (this is irrelevant if you don’t have AT&T, but I do). And all the other savings are easy and fun – which is the feeling I get from FoundersCard membership. I love checking the new perks and using the various discounts.

Many of the built-in benefits are ancillary with many credit cards. But here, you can access them without signing up for lots of cards.

As long as the value remains, I’ll keep FoundersCard. I’ve been a member for 4 years. The savings are easy, discounts pop up often, and they’re engaged in the end product and user experience. It’s amazing for small business owners looking to access many of the same travel, hotel, lifestyle, and business benefits usually only given to large corporations.

Interested? Preview the membership here. And if you want to apply, use promotion code “FCHARLAN2018” to lock in the reduced membership rate.

If you have FoundersCard, what do you think of it? Have you gotten outsized value from membership? 

OUT AND OUT - Investing. Positivity. Oh, and travel.

Recap: Out and Out’s 9 Best Posts of March 2018

Wow – March 2018 was the best month ever here at Out and Out. Your likes, comments, clicks and views are definitely noticed. Thank you.

The blog got over 54,000 page views, from readers in every US state. That’s not as much as the “big travel blogs” but it means everything to me.

Thank you, Cali!

Recap: Out and Out’s 9 Best Posts of March 2018

Wow – March 2018 was the best month ever here at Out and Out. Your likes, comments, clicks and views are definitely noticed. Thank you.

The blog got over 54,000 page views, from readers in every US state. That’s not as much as the “big travel blogs” but it means everything to me.

Thank you, Cali!

Recap: Out and Out’s 9 Best Posts of March 2018

Wow – March 2018 was the best month ever here at Out and Out. Your likes, comments, clicks and views are definitely noticed. Thank you.

The blog got over 54,000 page views, from readers in every US state. That’s not as much as the “big travel blogs” but it means everything to me.

Thank you, Cali!

Recap: Out and Out’s 9 Best Posts of March 2018

Wow – March 2018 was the best month ever here at Out and Out. Your likes, comments, clicks and views are definitely noticed. Thank you.

The blog got over 54,000 page views, from readers in every US state. That’s not as much as the “big travel blogs” but it means everything to me.

Thank you, Cali!