Vacation Hacks and Travel Tips
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[00:00:00] Want to learn more about ways you can travel in luxury without paying a fortune? Keep listening as we delve into vacation hacks and travel tips. Hello, and welcome to the Wealth Minded MD podcast with your money best friends. I'm Dr. Lisha Taylor. I'm Dr. Brittne Halford. And of course, we're here to help you build wealth and make good money decisions.
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Dr. Brittne Halford: All right, so now moving on to our Life is Lifing Lisha, I want to know, what's going on in your world without kids right now?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Yeah. So I'm actually, we were talking before we started recording about how I am actually trying to eat healthier and like be more fit. And so for Lent, I gave up potato chips, which may seem like a normal thing to give up, like very easy to give up. If , You know me very well. You know that I love to snack. it's one of my downfalls is I love to snack. And I had found this like type of potato chips, like maybe three or four months ago that I absolutely loved. And they were like crack inside of them. And I would go to the grocery store and buy like two bags every single time. And I was like, I am a whole physician.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: This is not healthy. [00:04:00] And so purposefully gave up potato chips for left. I, , haven't actually gone back to those chips. Thank you. So I've,, sort of broken that habit, but I also was like, okay, instead of just like changing the way that I eat and like trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods , I'm also going to try to exercise more.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so we were talking about how I have been in the gym very consistently lately, , running more, lifting more weights. And I'm sore. You saw me like sit down , I couldn't even plop down in the seat. I had to like go slowly. Cause my hamstrings are sore. My butt sore, my back sore , if you are like me for those lists and you are also trying to be more fit and you're going through that painful stage where every inch of your body is sore, , I understand because that's exactly how I feel right now.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah. so you all were not there, but if you could see Lisha, she was lowering down like a 80 year old woman. And if you are an 80 year old woman listening to this podcast, you're in good shape, ,
Dr. Brittne Halford: but Lisha, you know, it's so important that we kind of not say, at least this is what I say to myself, Oh, so old. Like my body doesn't feel like it used [00:05:00] to. But instead that, okay, I'm getting myself back to where it needs to be. And I'm going to go even further. So I have a done much running, , recently, because I've been on service.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So I love that you've done some pushups. I never do upper body and that you're getting back into running and, you know, being healthier. So I have a question for you about this chips thing. And so hopefully I don't bring you back because you know, you're going to start salivating talking about your favorite chips.
Dr. Brittne Halford: But I am curious, what are your favorite chips?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: going to need a therapy session, but There are chips that I really like that I know I shouldn't eat and so I'm like in my head I filled a conflict. I'm like don't say that don't say that But I like a ton of different kinds of chips There is this one kind of chips though these are the kind that I had discovered a few months ago The brand is like Zappos or something and the flavor is like voodoo, which I know sounds very odd voodoo or voodoo heat or something like that.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: It's like some Cajun spice flavor. That's a little bit sweet. I got it from Publix. You can also get it from Kroger. [00:06:00] Not that this is an ad, but, They were so good. , I was going to Publix, which is a grocery store in the Southeast. I was at Publix and I was getting a Publix sub, which they're pretty known for.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And then when you get a Publix sub, sometimes they'll ask you, do you want like a bag of chips to go with it or a drink? And I hardly ever get that. But one particular day I did, and I was looking through the chip selection and they had this particular kind of chip. And I was like, this seems interesting.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Let me try this. I should have never done that because those chips were so good. I ate the entire bag and then I was like, okay, I need like the big girl version. I need like the big bag of this. Cause the little snack bags, not enough. So then I would like go to their grocery store I would get a big bag and then I would eat half the bag of chips in one setting, the other, half bag in the next day. And I was like, okay, well, then the next time I go to the grocery store, instead of buying one, I need to buy two. Cause , I'm running out of these things super quickly. And I was like, okay, Lisha, you cannot be an entire. Sports medicine physician that teaches lifestyle medicine and you are literally eating [00:07:00] two bags of potato chips out of the bag in three days. This is terrible. We need to break this habit. But I do love those chips, but I did, I gave it up. So for the past, lent season, so what's that like almost two months or so? I haven't had them. I'm very proud of myself. But yeah, I'm also, thank you. It's motivated me to eat even healthier. I have one of my best friends, she eats so healthy, like salads every day for lunch, doesn't have any processed foods, no sweets, no nothing.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And every time that we talk and I make the mistake of talking to her about the food she's eating, it makes me feel ashamed. And I'm like, Oh, I need to do better. And so I am now motivated to do better now that I've sort of given up this potato chip habit. I'm trying to eat more salads, eat more fresh fruits and veggies, less processed food. And as I mentioned earlier, working out more, we were talking before this podcast about my pushups and how now my entire back is sore. So I'm sort of going through this phase of trying to get as healthy as I can. And it's one of those things where you don't yet start to see the benefits, but you do start to feel the [00:08:00] soreness and you're like, Ooh, is this worth it? , you and I were talking before. about how we're both sort of naturally on the slimmer side. , and so that can be great. , I don't gain as much weight from my potato chip habit, but the downside is that I don't actually see much difference in my body type. A lot of the times when I am working out consistently at the gym, I sort of stay around the same size. Because of that, I'm not necessarily as motivated. It's like, why am I working out for? I'm going to say the same. So I am just trying to motivate myself and saying, okay, be a good example. Practice what you preach as a physician, eat healthy, work out consistently, but I'm definitely paying the price right now.
Dr. Brittne Halford: you're talking about these chips, and so I googled it, Zapp's chips, because Zappos is a shoe brand.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: It's a shoe brand. Oh,
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah, or a shoe company,
Dr. Brittne Halford: yeah. yeah. So zaps chips. But as you're talking about it, I just see like my future Brooke, because one morning, Lisha, I bought this big thing of chips from, , Costco because my mom was coming and she used to snack or [00:09:00] two and Brooke hid some chips.
Dr. Brittne Halford: She was like in her room or somewhere. I'm like, Brooke, where are you? She's in there munching on some lays. at around 10 a. m. in the morning. Okay, Lisha, 10 a. m. in the morning.
Dr. Brittne Halford: No, don't go, Brooke.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: your daughter's too cute. She's like, look, I know mom's going to judge me. So I'm going to eat these chips in a judge free zone under my bed. And when mommy comes looking for me, I'm going to try to hide them. I get, you know what? Brooke makes sense to me. She's making a lot of sense. This makes a lot of sense.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I get it. I don't want to be judged by your mommy either, Brooke.
Dr. Brittne Halford: My goodness. Yeah, , that was crazy because then everybody, she's like crying to my husband and my husband's like, Brooke, nobody told you to eat the chips, Brooke.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So funny.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: look, she wanted them. I get it. I get the chip craving. It can be strong, Brooke. If you're listening, I understand. And of course, Brooke, if you've not listened to one of our episodes, Brooke is, Brittne's little adorable daughter, whose voice you hear at the end of our shows. So, , I like Brooke.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I totally sympathize with her.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Oh, [00:10:00] man. Yeah. I'll have to let her know that well, Lisha, I know that we're going to talk about a money mishap coming up soon. And I'm just thinking about what could be my money mishap while I'm thinking about that. Do you have any money mishaps that you want to share with the audience?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: this money, mishaps and confession segment, I do actually have one. So we were talking about on the last podcast, a lot about utilizing credit card points, right? And so, , we get these different rewards cards and they earn us different points. And. Oftentimes, another one of the things that these different credit cards may have is certain perks or coupons or discounts when you buy certain things at certain stores. And one of my credit cards that I actually really love is the American express personal gold card. It gives you all these points when you, eat out and buy groceries and things like that, but it also gives you Uber credits. each month you get like a 10 Uber credit that you can use whenever you use Uber as like a ride share platform or when you order Uber eats.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I remember I had this credit and it's a monthly thing. And so I was like, Oh, you know, I need to use my Uber credit [00:11:00] before the end of the month. So then I'm like, okay, I'm going to Uber eats myself like a sandwich from, Jimmy John's or order some cava or some chipotle or whatever. And as I'm ordering on the app and I'm like clicking through really fast, so I'm not really paying attention to all of it. When I get to the total, I realized that , I'm spending more than I'm saving, if that makes sense. Like I could have just not gotten the food at all and not utilize this credit.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: But in my quest to utilize this credit, I think what normally would have cost me, eight or 10 ended up costing like 20 when you factor in the delivery fees and the taxes and the gratuity. And i'm like, oh my goodness, this is probably Not how I should use this credit. I should order uber eats and just pick it up myself So I don't have to pay the delivery fees.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I should just use it as a rideshare credit or something But I think that happens to a lot of us where we are trying to utilize some discount or something That is time bound that may go away You And in our quest to utilize the discount, we end up spending money that we wouldn't have [00:12:00] normally spent.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so that's my money mishap and confession is that I need to be a little bit more diligent about when it is best for me to use certain discounts and when it isn't. , has that ever happened to you,
Dr. Brittne Halford: definitely. And it's the psychology of sales. They know if they offer this discount, then you're likely going to spend more with them. And as you alluded to in the past episode about credit credit cards is that you actually spend more when you use a credit card opposed to using cash. And I think with some of Uber Eats, it's just.
Dr. Brittne Halford: easier. Whenever you remove the barrier, remove some of the difficulty and you can trigger your brain to say, Oh, well, I actually kind of want this. Then you're going to spend more. So definitely, I hear that. And that has definitely happened to me, but see, I've gotten to the position where after you get so far, and I think this probably happened to you.
Dr. Brittne Halford: After you get so far, you spend so much time. Clicking through and going through the ordering and putting in your address, you're like, this doesn't make sense. But you still go through it because you now feel like you're going to waste the time if you were to get in a car and go and pick it up.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Like, Oh, [00:13:00] I've already spent this amount of time. that happens to me often where , I have a second thought, but I still make the purchase because now I'm factoring in the time that I spent to make a bad decision.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: you know, there's a psychology principle. I can't remember what the exact name of it is, but it's almost like you realize that you spent so much time on something or so much energy and something. It's like the fallacy of the sunken costs. Right. And
Dr. Lisha Taylor: so instead of just giving up on it, you realize, Oh, I spent so much time.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Oh, I've
Dr. Lisha Taylor: spent so much energy. Oh, I've already got my heart set on this. Oh, I've already started thinking about, in my case, the food I'm going to eat. And I've gotten a taste for this thing now that you end up going through
Dr. Lisha Taylor: it, or I end up going through it Even though in hindsight, it might not have been the best decision.
Dr. Brittne Halford: And I know that about myself and how I make decisions. I try to have an awareness, well, I have the awareness, but I hope to have the actualization. I don't always have the actualization. So thinking about this. My money mistake now is using the credit card in the third party.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So we've been talking a lot about how to best use credit cards, and you mentioned this too, like [00:14:00] sometimes when you go through Amex, for example, and you book your travel, Which is what we did in our case. We use AMX as that third party, that mediator between Air Canada. You have to go through additional hoops in order to make any changes because now that mediator has to be the mediator between you and the travel partner.
Dr. Brittne Halford: for one of our trips and my husband booked the tickets well in advance. We almost never do this because we're always kind of chasing our tail, for our travel, but he booked it well in advance, like six months in advance for this trip. And things happened in our lives with two small children. I wasn't able to go with him on this trip.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So we canceled part of that. Now I have this credit that I'm not able to utilize. In the time in the one year span of when he purchased the flight. So now I'm like arguing with Air Canada of how I can get these points extended and this money extended because I don't want to lose all of it and I'm going to have to pay either like 50 or [00:15:00] 200 in order to extend it.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So I don't lose that money. And it's just so frustrating whenever, , things happen. Sometimes we order insurance or we add on insurance for our travel. When we know that there's a possibility that somebody could get sick or there'll be some type of alteration, but I'm really just. Frustrated now that one, he bought the tickets so early and we almost never do that.
Dr. Brittne Halford: I appreciate that, he's trying to have good practices, but also that I have to fight with Air Canada and Amex on how to mediate this process.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Yeah. You know what? One of the things that, Dr. Devon Gimbel, who we had on our last podcast, and I talk about a lot in the Facebook group and other podcasts is we try to help people sort of optimize travel in this way. And one of the things that we always talk about is not booking flights through the different credit card portal companies. So like you talked about how you booked this flight or in this case, your husband books the flight through the Amex portal. So if you have certain credit cards, whatever credit [00:16:00] card you have, oftentimes those credit cards have different travel portals and they'll say, Oh, you get this discount. If you book travel through this portal, right?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: If you use our site to book your flight, if you use our site to book this hotel and, oftentimes they will try to give you a discount or some sort of incentive to do it that way, but I hardly ever do that because of what you just described. If ever you want to change something in your itinerary, oftentimes the airline is looking at the third party site.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: The third party site is looking at the airline and no one really wants to take responsibility. And so you're just sort of caught in the middle. And so whenever you want to make changes, it can be a nightmare. And for people who have never had to make changes, they may be like, Oh, that's totally fine. You just wait.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: If you're in that position, it'll. It will definitely leave an imprint on you. And so, that's one of the things that we always tell people in the points and miles world.
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Dr. Lisha Taylor: And that's what it brings us to this next segment, , which is the financial focus of today's, episode, which is all about travel tips.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so I cannot wait to get into our financial focus today.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Me too, me too. Because Lisha, I like, I was a little bit jealous. I'm just honest. I'm just going to be honest. And also very happy for you. But as I'm scrolling on Instagram and I see your stories, like on the safari with the lions, a few feet away, I'm so glad they did not bite your arm off or your head off.
Dr. Brittne Halford: And you came back, , a full person, but also your travel and how you had wine in the bed, like it went [00:18:00] completely flat, , You had a good night's sleep on an airplane. And that has never happened to me, even flying first class. I've never been in a full reclined bed. So Lisha, are in drop some gyms today because I need to lie flat when I fly overnight, I want a good night's sleep.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to talk today about my travel tips ways to make travel more affordable, money savvy ways to decrease travel costs and also be able to travel in style in luxury. And, , a big part of this, I want to say. say, , stems from utilizing credit card points. And so if you have not listened to our episode last week, I would encourage you to go back and do so because, we have Dr.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Devon Gimbel on who is the credit card points guru and the physician community, and she really goes through about why utilizing credit card points can be really beneficial for your travel. , , if you are somebody who is looking to travel, who loves to travel as I love to travel, , one of the things that you want to do is really look for deals, , because unless you are in the financial position where [00:19:00] you can afford to just pay cash for first class flights and business class flights and pay cash for all inclusive resorts or swanky resorts or whatever, , you're going to have to find some sort of deal or discount.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And, one of the things that I have done is , really utilize credit card points in order to do that. And so that means getting savvy with accumulating points and then also being savvy with redeeming points. And there are some different, , best practices of things to do. , but as we tackle that first part, which is being savvy with earning credit card points, I think there are some things that you could do.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: one of the things that we talked about on the last episode was making sure that you've got the right credit cards for you. for you. And I think that really encompasses two things. One, making sure that you've got at least one credit card that earns you transferable points and two, making sure that the card or cards that you use help you earn bonus points. And I think that can be really like a good first step, you know, part a part B. like, do I have a [00:20:00] transferable points currency credit card and is the credit card that I've chosen or is the credit card that I'm thinking of getting a good credit card for me? That's going to help me earn some sort of bonus points.
Dr. Brittne Halford: those are great tips and I want to give a I'm not as skilled as Lisha this, domain, but I've used credit cards to, , do some of the things that you talked about and the bonus points was critical. I remember, just thinking very strategically about, okay, the timing of getting this new credit card and what are the purchases that I desired now that maybe I can delay.
Dr. Brittne Halford: For a week or two, so I can allow the credit card to process and for me to get the credit card number, so that I can use it to purchase all the stuff that I need to buy, because typically what the bonus is like, you have to spend a certain amount within a certain period of time in order for you to achieve that bonus.
Dr. Brittne Halford: And I'm actually thinking about that right now, as we are preparing for our move and like the new furniture that I need to purchase of how can I leverage a [00:21:00] credit card bonus in order to get some. points for our travel because unfortunately, we haven't taken a huge family vacation this year because we're making a home purchase.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So this is something that I'm really thinking about, Lisha.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so if you are like Britney and you're also thinking about it, , we said, step one, part a is making sure that you have a credit card that earns you transferable points. And that basically means, do you have a credit card? That's going to earn you points that you can then transfer directly out to airlines directly out to hotel partners and stuff like that.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Instead of having to redeem those points inside of your credit card point portal, because as we were talking about, whenever you redeem them through the portal, the amount of value that you get for each point is fixed. Oftentimes it's like one cent. And so they'll tell you, , Oh, if you have a hundred thousand credit card points, that's the equivalent of a thousand dollars.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And you can use that thousand dollars. To get a statement credit, you can use that 1, 000 to get cash back. You can use that 1, 000 to buy some Starbucks gift cards, or you can use that 1, 000 [00:22:00] to redeem it for travel through their portal. But one of the things that they often do not tell you is that you can also take those 100, 000 points and transfer those points out of your credit card account and directly into the account of an airline partner a hotel partner.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And oftentimes when you do that, a few things can happen. One, they may have a transfer bonus, meaning they give you extra points when you transfer it out. And two, Whenever you transfer it out into a different airline, loyalty account or into a different hotel loyalty account, you oftentimes get much better value for your points. So if you had redeemed those points through the portal, maybe those 100, 000 points would have given you 1, 000 worth of travel. But if you were to transfer those points out, maybe those same 100, 000 points can give you, , 5, 000 worth of travel. And that to me is the biggest difference. That is how I am able to book, , these first class flights.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: That's how I'm able to book these all inclusive resources for free is being able to accumulate these points and transfer them out. [00:23:00] But in order to have the ability to transfer out these points, you have to have certain credit cards. Only certain credit cards give you these transferable points. And as we mentioned on the last episode, those five sort of cards are the built card, chase cards, American express cards, city cards, and capital one cards. And not all of the chase cards or all of the Capital One cards or all of those other cards will give you these transferable points, but you have to have at least one of these types of cards that allows you to earn these transferable points. And then once you get one of these cards, it's making sure that you can earn the bonus on those cards.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And there's two sort of main. Types of bonuses, really three. One is the signup bonus, Brittne. And I think that's what you're alluding to. Oftentimes when you apply for these credit cards, they'll say, Hey, if you spend, , 6, 000 in five months, we'll give you this bolus of points. Maybe it's an extra 50, 000 points or 60, 000 miles or whatever it is. That's called the signup bonus. And that's one thing you want to earn. The other thing is making sure that you earn. Extra points. Whenever you use that [00:24:00] card, even after you've had it for a while. So some of the cards, like I know Brittne, you have the chase Sapphire reserve card. I've got the chase Sapphire preferred card.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Those are very similar. They earn extra points for dining. And so I know that I eat out a lot. And so that's a good card for me or my American express personal goal card will earn me extra points for groceries. And I spent a lot of money on food. And so making sure that I pick one of those one is the credit card that I have a transferable points earning card.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And then two is the card that I've chosen going to give me some extra bonus points, either from the signup bonus and, or when I just use a card on a day to day basis. And then the other kind of bonus you can get sometimes is a referral bonus when you encourage other people to get these cards, but I think learning how to optimize points on credit cards is crucial and is the key, I think, to really being able to stretch your travel budget and be able to travel better and more because if , okay, it only takes me. 50, 000 points to be able to book a first class flight to Europe. [00:25:00] You quickly realize, Oh shoot, the signup bonus alone is enough for me to book that flight. Or, Oh, it only takes 30, 000 points to book directly with Hyatt hotels and resorts. And they own a lot of the all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Then you might say, Oh shoot. I know now that I get to book. so much value from these points, and they may be so much easier for me to accumulate because of the signup bonus or these bonus spend. So now it seems a little bit more realistic for me. And so I would encourage you, one of my top travel tips is to really try to see if you can optimize points on credit cards, , in order to be able to earn some credit card points so that then you can utilize those points for travel.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah, I love all of that. And as you're speaking about the sign up bonus and also the referral bonus, I am also, , just reflecting on a money mistake. This is what my brain does. People. It's like, ah, well, instead of me being an authorized user on one of my husband's accounts, right? He could have established the account, then use the referral bonus to [00:26:00] refer me to establish My new account and I get a sign up bonus.
Dr. Brittne Halford: He gets a referral bonus. But of course, as a married couple, it all goes into the same pot and we could have been traveling, , and living large. So, I think one of the things to highlight here is that we've already highlighted is you want to use credit cards as leverage, not to use them to accumulate debt, right?
Dr. Brittne Halford: Because we understand that credit cards have these perks. They can help you travel. very nicely. And while doing that, we also want you to stay within your means so that you can pay them off at the end of the month and really have no additional costs for the use and the bonus. It's only a bonus if you're not paying for addition.
Dr. Brittne Halford: You know, , Lisha, as you're also speaking, one of the things that comes to mind is doing that initial step of Transferring the points to travel partners. So recently in the experience that I had, it charges a fee when you transfer the points to a travel partner, at least this company that I was using, Amex.
Dr. Brittne Halford: [00:27:00] And I think it was like, I don't know, 1%. I don't actually remember the exact rate. And so now I'm doing a mental calculation to say, okay, now I'm going to transfer these points, but they're going to charge me a fee. How much would that fee be? And the points, how much would the points allow me to get in order to purchase this flight opposed to using cash.
Dr. Brittne Halford: And for many people, they may think about this is all too complicated. Now I got to do, these mental calculations so that I could get, , a true discount and really leverage. It's only leverage if you're not paying more for it. It really leveraged these points. Is it worthwhile? And that was essentially what my husband said to me, it's like, Is it worth you doing all of this?
Dr. Brittne Halford: What would you have to say to that?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Yeah. So I would say a few things. Number one, you haven't missed out on things being an authorized user. And I think that a lot of married couples do the same thing. They say, well, why do we both need a card? Why do we both need to pay such a high annual fee? Isn't it easier? Isn't it better for me to be an authorized user on my husband's account or on my [00:28:00] wife's account or whatever? , and my, first advice for that is to say, you haven't missed out, even though I think you are an authorized user and your husband's , American express platinum card or something that doesn't disqualify you from getting the American express gold card or disqualify him from being able to refer you for that card.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so I just want you to know that if you do want the American express personal gold card, Devon and I both love that one. We think it's a great points earning card. You can still get it. He can still refer you for that. You being an authorized user on his other card does not disqualify you for that. , in regards to your question about fees and transfers and does this get too complicated? So I think there's a few things to really realize when I was getting into this hobby, people would tell me, okay, you can transfer these points out to different airlines, right? But different credit cards have different airline partners. And so you've really got to realize and think to yourself, okay, American express transfers out to Delta, for example, chase does not, , and a lot of people, when they're first thinking about travel, their https: otter. ai or American airline companies, right? And so you're thinking about Delta, you're thinking about [00:29:00] American, you're thinking about United Southwest jet blue, and you're like, okay, well, which airline do I fly the most on? Which credit cards may transfer to those airlines? And is there a fee?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And is this too complicated? So one of the things that I want to say, number one, is that, You have to expand your mind be aware that there are a lot more airlines than the ones that you may be familiar with. One of the main ways that I utilize my points is for international travel. And when you talk about international travel, a lot of these American based airlines have what we call Partners overseas.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so even though you may only be familiar with Delta, for example, you may not realize that Delta when it comes to internationally is a SkyMiles partner Air France. For example, they're like the Delta of France. There are also, , a SkyMiles partner of Virgin Atlantic. And so oftentimes when you're aware of these partnerships, you may say, Okay, maybe it doesn't make sense for me to transfer my points to Delta directly.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Maybe it makes sense for me to transfer my points to another Delta partners overseas. [00:30:00] airline, like an Air France or like a Virgin Atlantic. And the reason you might wonder about that is because one, they share the same planes to oftentimes you get much better value.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: You only have to pay a fee when you transfer the points out to some of these American airlines for domestic flights.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: But if you were to transfer the points out to. Virgin Atlantic or Air France or whatever. You wouldn't necessarily be charged that fee. And I mentioned earlier, I don't usually transfer points for flights, for domestic flights. Often I usually reserve a lot of my transferable points, currency points for international flights.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And when I have transferred points out to Virgin Atlantic, SkyMiles partner of Delta Air France, SkyMiles partner of Delta British Airways, some of these other international airlines, I have not been charged a fee. It's been pretty easy to do pretty. Instant. points hit the other account instantly, and it's been much easier for me to book that flight.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so I would want to say, one, , you're not always charged a fee to, we have to really expand our mind about the different airlines and be open to flying these different airlines, [00:31:00] especially because you probably do it already. when I booked last Delta flight, I was actually flying on a Virgin Atlantic plane, ?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: So again, realizing that have several different options for airlines. And I think to your point, Brittne, about, is this too complicated? That's a question that I asked myself too. , it seems like a lot. I've got to learn about these different credit cards. I've got to learn how to transfer them out.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I've got to learn when to book them. I've got to look for a word space. There's a lot of work involved. This seems too much and I get that. I think one of the things that Devon and I both sort of coach people on is that you don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to become an expert at credit card points overnight.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: You may decide that you only want to redeem your points in one way, and that's okay. You may decide that you don't want to transfer them out, and that's also okay. I'm just trying to say that if you are somebody who is saying, , I really want to be able to find first class internationally. I really want, as you mentioned before, a bed on the plane like I had when I flew to South Africa.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: If you really want those kinds of experiences, then you may need to [00:32:00] start learning these things. But again, you don't have to learn it all at once. I was not an expert. , I got a couple of cards I mentioned on the past episode. I started with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Amex Personal Gold card.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I was able to accumulate the signup bonuses on both of those cards. I joined the Facebook group that Devon has where a lot of people were sort of talking about this and I started to learn about it. Whenever I had a flight that I wanted to take and sort of redeem my points for, I started to look at, okay, what airlines fly to the destination that I'm looking for, and I remained pretty open about which airlines I was going to use.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: If I had said, oh, I only want to fly United, or I only want to fly Delta, or I only want to fly JetBlue, I would have been limited. Maybe it would have cost me subsidies. to book that. Maybe I would have been charged a fee to book that. But if I would have just said, okay, are there other airlines that could get me there that may charge less points, have a better redemption value than I may not have been charged that fee and I may have still been able to take that same flight. And just get a lot better value. So I think it's realizing that there's different [00:33:00] ways to do this. I will acknowledge that the redeeming part of the points and being really good and skilled at that does take time, but that doesn't mean that because it takes time, that it's not worth it. I mean, for me being able to book a first class flight from Atlanta to South Africa, that would have normally cost 8, 000 only having to pay the taxes in the bees, I paid 600. That's a big difference. , my family didn't do that. , they decided that it was too complicated. They didn't know if they had enough points. They didn't want to go that route. It was new to them. And they paid cash for economy flights and they paid three times as much as I did. They all paid 1, 500 for their economy flights to South Africa.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And I paid 500 for a first class flight. And so for me, I was like, you know, that is worth it. It is worth the extra steps,
Dr. Lisha Taylor: right? I was able to, as you mentioned, get a bed on the plane. wasn't jet lagged when I landed. I got all the wine that I wanted, all the food that I wanted. I was given pajamas on the plane.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: This is something that I didn't think was open to me before, but it was open to me once I learned this. And so I [00:34:00] think, yes, it can be overwhelming at first. Yes, there does seem to be a big learning curve, but I want to encourage you that I do think, at least for me, it's something And you don't have to do everything all at once, right?
Dr. Lisha Taylor: When you're starting.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So take it from Lisha. You can see I'm being coached on this episode, but I'm taking all of it because my brain is now like, okay, next year we would have purchased this home. , nobody's going to be running my credit looking for me, when I open up a new credit card. So how can I leverage this?
Dr. Brittne Halford: And that's what I hear you saying is that yes, there's some complexity, but yes, it also is possible and give yourself some time to understand some of the nuances. And 8, 000 and living the girl, you live it. You were living good on this trip. I know, at least I got to ask you this question. And it's like,
Dr. Brittne Halford: did you feel guilty though?
Dr. Brittne Halford: You know, you stop, you go in the plane and you, Oh, Oh, three eight. That's me. Here's my bed. And then your family goes all the way to the back
Dr. Lisha Taylor: So a fun fact, we actually weren't on the same flight. So I actually, I left a [00:35:00] day before they did, cause I wanted to spend some time in London again, booked on points. So I, it wasn't like, you know, I went to the left and they went to the right, but, uh, cause I left a totally different day than they did.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: They were on a different flight. But we did talk about sort of what my travel experience was like and what theirs was like. And I just wanted to say, , this is something that I think is open, not just to me because I'm a doctor, not just to me because I make a certain salary. It's okay. I already need to buy food.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I already need to buy groceries. I already need to shop and buy clothes or pay my ties or pay my student loans or whatever it is. Instead of paying for those things using a debit card. I can pay for those things using a credit card. And instead of just picking any old credit card, if I choose one of these transferable points. earning cards. Not only am I able to purchase the thing that I wanted to buy, but I also can accumulate all of these other credit card points that I can then redeem for free travel or for luxury travel. And so for me, that was worth it. And that was the thing that sort [00:36:00] of got me into this game. one of the things that I wanted to talk about also Not only optimizing credit cards and getting these transferable points currencies, but one of the things that I've also benefited from this year that has really enhanced my domestic travel experience because everybody can always travel internationally all the time is getting airline status. and getting, , hotel status. And this was also something that I didn't think was open to me. , I am someone who had credit card debt, , when I first, , graduated from medical school and I was really focused on paying that off. And that experience was so traumatic for me. It took so much effort.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: It took so much time that I didn't really want to use credit cards anymore. I was afraid of using credit cards. I told myself, I don't need this anymore. I'm just going to pay for everything with cash or using a debit card. Then I started to learn a little bit more about credit cards and the extra protection that they have and all of those things.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And, , I started to learn about these points. I met Devon, who, as I mentioned before, sort of transformed my life and my approach to this. But one of the things that I've gotten along the way, one of the things that I have learned along the way is this thing about status. And when you [00:37:00] fly a certain amount of time on an airline and you accumulate different statuses and each airline, each hotel chain sort of calls it differently. Sometimes it's bronze, gold, silver, platinum status or whatever. , you get certain perks and I fly a lot for work. I fly a lot for business. And so I've been able to accumulate status on delta. I live in Atlanta. It's a huge delta hub. And so because of that airline status, I often get free upgrades on domestic travel.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: , oftentimes when I am paying for, , a relatively cheap economy flight or relatively cheap main cabin flight, I will oftentimes get upgraded for free into comfort plus or for free into first class. And that I think has also really enhanced my travel experience. And I wanted to mention this because I think before this period of my life, I would just sort of go to googleflights.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: com, go to kayak. com, go to search my origination and my destination and choose the flight that I thought was the cheapest. And now sort of, I'm realizing the perks of maybe if I stuck with the same airline, I could start to accumulate some status that could really enhance my travel experience.[00:38:00]
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so that's another thing that I've sort of gotten into is. Not only utilizing credit card points, not only being strategic about which cards I use for what thing, but also maybe being strategic about where I stay in that hotel and using the same hotel chain or , which airline I used to fly using the same, , airline partner so that I can start to accumulate status so that I can get suite upgrades at hotels or so that I can get flight upgrades when I'm flying domestically.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah, love all of that. And I think, The underlying message here is to be intentional, be intentional about how you're spending, making sure that if you are wanting to use and leverage credit cards, then you can leverage them by examining your spending and finding a credit card that matches your spending.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Because remember, you're not carrying a balance on this card. It's only to serve you. And you want to choose a card that has transferable points. And then the next step is once you've accumulated those points, step outside of your, box and think, how can I use these points to the best value? [00:39:00] That might be saving and accumulating many more points so that you can travel internationally and not have to pay additional fees.
Dr. Brittne Halford: It could be, yes, choosing to use the points in a different way or, , sticking with the same airline so that you can get status. And also just knowing that this is all possible for you. So Lisha, I just wholeheartedly appreciate some of the gems that you dropped. I'm definitely going to think about what card I want to get, , and where I want to go and making sure that I know some of those details about how many points and what are the fees and where do they go and using that to base some of my travel.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. I know this episode is running a little long, but I wanted to quickly, you know, Brittne, did you have any other questions? I know. One of our favorite segments is our wealthy wonders where we take sort of questions from our audience, from our community. And one of the questions that I've been asked a lot is what cards do you use? Cool. We show, how do I get started in this? And I think Devon [00:40:00] really alluded to that in our last episode. , and I agree with her on those in terms of what are some good cards to maybe start with. , I like my chase Sapphire preferred card. I like my Amex personal gold card. , the reasons why I like those is because I think that the chase world , is very easy to sort of get into.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: , it's really easy to accumulate a lot of points, a lot of chase points, and they really. , specialize , in having a lot of different kinds of credit cards, whether it is personal credit cards, business credit cards, or airline hotel co branded cards that, , really don't charge very high annual fees at all.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And it's pretty easy to, , accumulate a substantial amount on points pretty easily. And so I like the chase world. I also love American express, cards, , we'll talk about in future episodes about some of the perks of the American express cards and why I love that. But I love my Amex cards.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: personal gold card because it allows me to earn so many more points, , on my grocery spend on dining out on airline flights. And it comes with that, , pretty big signup bonus. And so those are some of my favorite cards. We will, , be sure to talk even more about this, tidbit of [00:41:00] personal finance when it comes to credit card, , points and travel hacking in future episodes.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you for all of the wisdom. And yeah, let's, do it all again. So now let's move on to fun money. , we should tell us what is something fun besides traveling to all these luxurious places and not taking me,
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I'm like, man, what else am I doing besides traveling to luxurious places and not taking Brittne? Um, so I think I mentioned before that I was buying concert tickets for usher. I used that before on a different podcast episode. Let me see. , I, Shoot. What else am I spending? I think I've just spent a lot of money. I've spent so much money on travel and booking airlines and things like that. , I will mention one of the fun things I want to do with money. I have this bucket list, Brittne. I don't know if it's realistic or not, but I, , not only have a travel bucket list, but I also have an experience bucket list. And one of the experiences that is on that list is to be able to see the United States like Team USA play in the Olympics, especially [00:42:00] basketball. And I know this year is the Olympics. I went to the medical Olympic conference earlier this year, and so I was able to network with a lot of the people that will be traveling with Team USA, and that was an incredible experience. I don't know if I will become part of the Team USA medical staff this year. Probably not. It's a little too late. But I would love to go just like as, , like a normal fan. And so that is something fun that I would love to do with money. If the tickets are not astronomical, that is something that is on my experience bucket list, see team USA men's and women's in person at the Olympics.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: And so I hope I'm able to do that this year. And if not in 2028, baby, I'm gonna be there.
Dr. Brittne Halford: All right. I love it. And setting the intention, start that savings right now. That's so amazing. So one of the things that. We recently have come up with for our fun money is we're going on a cruise and I have never been on a cruise before, but know you said that
Dr. Brittne Halford: your, your dad has been very intentional about, , making me with family and taking family trips.
Dr. Brittne Halford: And my mother has [00:43:00] always said like, Oh, I want to take a family trip. And we just kind of have kicked that can down the road. But my sister in law has started to plan this. Seven day cruise, and I'm not exactly sure where we're going yet. I need to read through the emails. I just got off service. So still some details that I'm filling in here, but I'm really excited because as I have, , transitioned from undergraduate to attending hood, I've moved every four years and I haven't been home for a while.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So usually when I go home, they're for short stints and. I'm always in motion because I'm trying to see everyone. This time, all of my family, well, my mother's side of the family will be captive on a cruise ship, which is fantastic. It's all inclusive so we can have whatever we want. And the best part is that we will have babysitters.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So that means we're having some date nights.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I'm so happy for you as someone who basically has a babysitter every day of her life because I don't have kids. I can understand how that could be very appealing for you. So are you bringing your kids on the cruise or are they [00:44:00] not going on the cruise?
Dr. Brittne Halford: They are, they're coming on the cruise with us. So my brother will bring his two daughters. And I think we're I think my sister in law, her sister has a daughter as well. So we'll have a bunch of kids on the cruise ship. And I think the cruises have like really great activities for kids as well. So I'm really looking forward to it.
Dr. Lisha Taylor: I'm happy for you. You'll have to report back and let us know how that went, how everything went with the cruise, , and where you actually are going since that seems to allude you at this moment. Okay.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Alrighty. Well, we just want to thank you for joining us on this episode of Wealth Minded MD. And remember, we want you to make wealth minded money decisions, whether that's, , mindful spending for your credit cards or doing something else, paying down debt. And if you are a woman in healthcare or not a woman in healthcare, who wants to get to the point where you can actually leverage credit cards.
Dr. Brittne Halford: But right now you are carrying a balance on your credit cards or you have other types of debt that's not allowing you to have fun with your [00:45:00] money. We have a boot camp for you. And this is the debt payoff boot camp. It is a student loves made simple and joyfully free accelerator.
Dr. Brittne Halford: We've included Everything that you need, the high yield action steps to get you started to pay down your debt and to do it effectively without all of the burden and the guilt that sometimes comes with debt. We're going to teach you how to leverage all of the assets that you know, so that you can get to this point of freedom and live in luxury and really enjoy the life that you're creating.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So head over to a wealth minded md. com and explore our debt payoff bootcamp. We are certain that this is the right move for you and we can't wait to guide you to financial freedom.
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