Am I Financially Ready For This Hobby?

April 23rd, 2020

Frankly, only you can answer that question fully. What we can offer are three key questions to ask yourself:

1. Do I have sufficient credit?
2. Am I organized enough?
3. Can I meet the minimum spends without running up debt?

The last question might be the most important. The intention of this site — and points collecting generally — is to reward you with tons of travel experiences, not to saddle you with any debt.

Can I do this with my credit score?

To qualify for most of the cards in this hobby, you need a credit score of at least 600. You can easily check your score on a free credit monitoring service such as creditkarma.com. The main factors to getting/keeping good credit: Having on-time payment history (credit card and/or loan payment) PLUS utilizing less than 50% (ideally less than 25%) of your available credit. If you're looking to build your credit, Discover and Capital One are the easiest major credit card companies for which to get approved.

Am I organized enough?

Organization is key to this hobby.The Points Navigator is designed to help (a lot). But at the end of the day, you still have to make sure all of your payments are on time and that your minimum spends are met. You’ll also need to keep track of annual spends. Again, this one can be remedied, but it is important to utilize some system and/or tool to keep track of your cards. If for some reason you decide not to use the Points Navigator tools, at least have a well organized spreadsheet.

Can I meet the minimum spends without running up debt?

There are many creative ways to meet minimum spends for bonuses. What is equally important is that you have the funds and discipline to consistently pay off your balances every month. This hobby will end up costing you more money than you’ll receive in points if you carry a balance on your cards. Read that last sentence again. The last thing we want is to put someone in debt. So we insist everyone asks themselves these questions honestly.