There is a lot to take in if you’re just getting started out with the miles and points hobby. I’ll help provide some food for thought as you contemplate the best approach for you.

What do you want to get out of the hobby?

In my view, this is the most important thing to remember both as you’re starting out and if you’ve been in the game for a while. What’s your goal? Sure, there are plenty of other bloggers or videos out there promising loads of free travel for you if you invest some time, but I don’t buy it. I’d recommend you stop thinking about the giant payload (whatever they claim it is) and instead focus on a more reasonable goal. Is there a trip you’re trying to take but just haven’t found the means to get there? Do you want to experience premium international travel at its finest? Are you just looking for a more economical way to travel?

Why does it matter so much on what you want to get out of this? Because everything you do should be in support of that goal. If you’ve been pining for a stay at a Hyatt hotel, but then sign up for a Hilton credit card simply because you could, that might not be an effective use of your credit pull. If you’re looking for access to international travel, perhaps focusing on Southwest isn’t the best option for you. At some point when you’ve been in the game awhile, you might want to branch out and diversify, and that’s fine if you have some ultimate goal to use those miles in a reasonable time.

Very simplistically speaking, are you a premium travel type of person or an economy travel type of person? Because the preferred approach for one type is significantly different from the other. I’d argue that economy travelers are best focusing their time on a good cash back card earning at least 2% back while premium travelers should focus a bit more on points in programs that still offer value at the premium end (not all do these days).

“Earn and burn” is important to remember

Don’t store your points and miles until a later time expecting them to hold the same value as the time you collected them. I know some people think they want to hold them until retirement and then travel the world with those points. How far away are you from retirement? It’s probably worth a review at some point, but every few years programs have a tendency to devalue those points, making them worth less than they were the year before. In some cases, the level of devaluation can be extreme. And it’s not like you can cash out your investment and put it in a different program–your money is locked in there.

Don’t forget that companies can and do go out of business or merge with others, which can cause a big unknown to the value of your points.

I’m not sure how long the optimal time is to hold your points before using them, but the point is not to hoard more than you can use within the next couple of years. If you’re goal-oriented, this shouldn’t be hard news for you to follow.

Determine your order to apply for credit cards

There’s an obvious reason blogs talk about credit cards–and I’m not just talking about the financial incentives those blogs might have if people sign up for a card with them. Credit cards provide an opportunity to get a large number of points and miles up front, faster than almost any other approach. However, not all credit cards are created equally and it’s important to figure out which ones help your goals.

There are credit cards that are best obtained for the travel benefits and there are others that are best suited for just the sign up bonus (sometimes referred to as “sock drawer” cards given you won’t use them again, so just toss them in your sock drawer). I won’t go into a detailed classification of every credit card exists, but I will identify my preferred approach for applying for cards.

For someone starting out, I’d recommend the following order (I may earn a commission from these links):

• Capital One Venture or Venture X. Why start with Capital One? The issuer seems to prefer those who are not well-established in the game for one thing, but they also have a good points program that transfers to a number of useful programs or can be used straight up as cash back. That makes it a decent choice as a starting point for anyone. The choice between the regular Venture and the Venture X depends on your own travel goals.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred. Don’t get enticed by the Reserve card, which I feel doesn’t offer a compelling value given its high price. Instead, the better option for starting out with Chase is the Preferred card, which offers some of the best travel protections when using the card to purchase flights. The Chase Ultimate Rewards isn’t quite as intriguing as other programs (Hyatt is only of the few reasons I care about it), but it’s still solid enough.
• It’s at this point where we might differ a bit more depending on your own travel goals:
  • You can consider getting a specific airline or hotel credit card if that’s in your goals.
  • You can consider other transferable points programs, but I wouldn’t branch out too far too quickly.
  • You can also consider cash back cards, which is better if you’re looking at funding economy travel.

Please remember two things though:

• Always pay off your balance in full every month. If you don’t, the interest fees rack up significantly and the value of being in this hobby diminishes.
• Never spend above your means. Don’t sign up for five credit cards at once if you have no way to make all the minimum spending requirements at the same time. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need just to earn points.

There are other points opportunities too

Credit cards are not your only savior to earning points quickly. Shopping portals are also an effective method to earn points. I use them all the time when trying to buy things for around the house or gifts for others. It’s something I view as a much welcomed discount off the standard purchase price.

Pretty much any airline program runs its own portal, along with cash back options and transferable points options too. Check out Cash Back Monitor for the latest portal rates by store. If you wait to buy at eligible stores during a special promotional period (like any random holiday), you might earn bonus multipliers on top of the typical rate. If you want an example, in 2023, I bought a TV and earned 20,000 AA miles for the purchase, which just sweetens the deal.

Don’t get lured in by airline elite status

Can I just say it? There’s no reason for someone just starting out to care about airline status. Usually airlines expect customers to jump through a lot of hoops to earn status off of credit card spend. Trying to earn airline status when you’re focused on other goals is a tough proposition.

There’s another reason to not care that much about airline elite status and that’s if you are looking for travel in premium cabins. Many of the benefits of elite status (shorter lines, better service, checked bags) are duplicative if you’re in a premium cabin. Having airline status then is really just important if you’re anticipating spending a lot of time in economy.

That said, hotel elite status is more realistic to have: you can get Hilton Gold status or Marriott Platinum status from just having the correct credit card. Both of those status levels come with some of the better elite perks in the hotel industry (free breakfast and room upgrades). If your goal includes staying in one of the hotels by these mega-chains, it might be a good idea to chase elite status for these hotels.

Find a buddy

Life is more fun when you spend it with someone else. The same holds true for being in the points and miles hobby. Find someone to travel with, share those experiences, and keep you company. It’s one of the main reasons we travel together with the whole family–sharing those experiences makes life fun.

There are other reasons to pair up with someone else. It’s a little easier to build up your points balance if you’re working together towards a shared goal. It’s a way to perhaps double down on a good credit card sign up offer. Or you can have one person prioritize building up points for flights while someone else works on hotels.

Sometimes status can be shared with others. Hyatt’s Guest of Honor feature is a prime example of this but it’s far from the only one. You could also share airline status in some cases (like American Airlines offers). It’s a way to make an otherwise normal trip a little bit more comfortable. Just don’t buy these from brokers or resellers. You risk your reservation canceled when you show up and being permanently banned from the program, as buying these from others is not allowed by the terms and conditions.