Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. Laura’s Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card statement just closed and the $99 annual fee posted. As of today, we are 99% sure she will close this card, but I wanted to get a second opinion from readers to make sure we’re not missing an obvious reason to keep the card open for another year. Since her statement just closed a few days ago, we have about 4 weeks to make the final decision.
Good afternoon everyone. I just got an email from InKind with some great news, they’ve doubled the referral bonus from $25 to $50. If your referral signs up and spends $50 with InKind by October 5, 2025, you’ll earn a $50 bonus. If they miss the deadline, don’t worry, you’ll still receive the standard $25 bonus once they spend $50.
There’s no special referral link for this promotion, so you can keep using your current one. And if you’d like to use my InKind referral link, you’ll get $25 back after spending $50 or more with InKind.
Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. A few years ago, when Laura completed her Master’s Degree, I helped her open a 529 college savings account so she could earn miles and points by buying Gift of College gift cards and using them to pay for tuition. Fast forward 5+ years, and I knew I wanted to do the same for Madison.
While researching 529 plans available in California, I came across CalKIDS (California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program). This is a state-funded initiative that helps children start saving for higher education. Every child born in California on or after July 1, 2023 is eligible for up to $175 in free college savings (read this post to learn more). In today’s post, I’ll walk you through how CalKIDS works with ScholarShare 529 and Gift of College eGCs.
Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start! As if there weren’t already enough reasons to love Alaska Airlines and Atmos Rewards, here’s another perk worth knowing about: Status Protect for New Parents. If you’re an elite member (Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Titanium) and you’re expecting a baby or taking parental leave, you can request to have your current status extended for an extra year. Even better, the extension runs through the end of the following calendar year. For example, if you apply now, your elite status will be extended all the way through December 31, 2026.
The process is really simple: just email elite.flyer@alaskaair.com with your full name, date of birth, Atmos Rewards number, and proof of pregnancy or parental leave (like a note from your doctor or employer).
Good afternoon everyone. First off, thank you for all the kind messages and encouragement you shared with me in my previous post about the birth of my daughter: Attention Passengers: Madison has Joined the Travel with Grant Family. I’m glad to share the exciting news with TWG readers and I promised I would have some good blog posts in the works. Here is the first one…
Back in December, I signed up for the waitlist for the new premium Alaska Airlines credit card (now called the Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Credit Card). A few weeks ago, I received a targeted email to apply for the credit card and receive 5,000 bonus Atmos Rewards Points, bringing the total sign up bonus to 105,000 points, but I only had 2 weeks to apply for this offer.
Unfortunately, Bank of America has their “3/12 Rule” (Doctor of Credit post) where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 3 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months. But… if you have a BofA checking or savings account, the rule changes to the “7/12 Rule” where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 7 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months. I was slightly over the 3/12 cutoff, but as luck would have it, BofA is currently offering a new checking account bonus up to $500 (Doctor of Credit post), depending on your total direct deposits within the first 90 days.
