023 - 1:29:26, 17.30

[00:00:00] I am John and my goal is simple to visit all 47 Prefectures of Japan. The only reason that goal is even possible is because of points and miles turning everyday spending into flights, hotels, and experiences across Japan and the rest of Asia. This is rewarding routes, a podcast about making travel like that realistic and repeatable.

Each episode I'll share what I'm learning so you can plan smarter, travel more often, and feel confident using points and mouths without feeling overwhelmed from booking, award travel and choosing the right credit cards to build a meaningful itinerary. And exploring regions, traditions, and moments that just make Japan so special, we'll figure it out together.

If Japan is on your bucket list or you want to keep going back and explore Asia along the way, you're in the right place. Let's build your rewarding route one trip at a time, and welcome back to another episode. And in this episode, I'm actually [00:01:00] going to be changing the format. Going forward, um, with the podcast, so I'm going to start creating segments and with the segments.

They're gonna be like updates. Uh, so we do have an update on the Built Palladium card that I talked about all in the last episode. We're also gonna be talking about news, so that's either credit card news that comes out, or news about Japan and things that are maybe coming and or opening up in Japan. Uh, topics like that.

Then I, I'm going to have like a little listener question. Because I do have a few questions that I received recently. So I'm gonna put in one question that I can answer, just so you know, we can go deeper into that topic or question that, um, was asked. And then we're gonna talk about like, the main topic of this episode.

That way it breaks it up and, and it creates a little bit more diversity. And I could talk about different topics in one episode. So. This is exciting and I, I'm ready to get into it. [00:02:00] So the first part is the update. So the update on the palladium card from built that I just recently applied for and was denied.

So in the last episode I talked about how I emailed for maybe like a reconsideration, but unfortunately I got the email saying nothing can be done. You can reapply in 45 days. And that was it. But I was. Sent an offer by Built, which is the built Blue card. This card is the $0 annual fee card. And I thought about it and I went ahead and accepted it because why not?

Why I already have the original OG built card. I'm just transitioning to another, no annual fee built card. Uh, I am getting a $100 built cash, which was, uh, explained actually just recently, a little bit further, but it's super limiting. Bill Cash is. Very limiting of how it's going to be used. [00:03:00] I believe there's like a Lyft credit and a dining credit, but it's like $10 here.

And it doesn't really seem worth it. Um, but I'll be using the built cash for my mortgage. Uh, I'll use it up. And I don't think I'm gonna put much spend on this card. I might just use up the a hundred dollars built cash that they give me, put it on the mortgage maybe for two months, and then I'm gonna put that card aside, um, and not bother with it right now because I was just approved.

For another card. So I, I kind of pivoted away and I went ahead and applied for a business card. And that's actually what this episode's gonna be all about because having business cards is a pretty good strategy to have, and it's a, a little bit more. Advance and um, a little bit more advanced tactics, but it's really simple.

Uh, anyone can do this and that's why I'm going to have an episode about it, just to really break it down and, and make it easy to [00:04:00] understand and, and why I decided to open up business cards and, and what are the benefits of having business cards? 'cause it's really rewarding and I'm going to break that all down and talk about the card I was approved for.

In the main topic portion. So yeah, we'll, we'll dive deeper into what I was approved for, why I decided to get it, and how I found it. Because I actually didn't really know much about this card until I was doing some research and, and going around some Facebook groups and seeing what people were, um, applying for and just getting ideas.

And then this card popped up and I became really interested in it. But I'll cover it in the main topic episode. So let's move on to the news. So let's get into what is new around Japan and credit cards. So let's start with some news about Japan. Universal just came out with a statement saying that Pokemon is going to have more of a permanent experience coming to [00:05:00] Universal Studios, Japan, and beyond.

Meaning it's also going to be coming to. You know, places like Orlando here in my hometown, uh, universal and there's also Universal in Hollywood. So it'll be really exciting to see what kind of, um, permanent attraction Pokemon is going to come with. Uh, I know in universal Japan right now, there's the No Limit Parade, which has the Pokemon float, which is really cool.

And they also have like some food stands like kiosk with some Pokemon themed food. So it'll be really cool to see what they come up with. I know here in Orlando there are some rumors of, like the Simpsons area, uh, expiring in 2028, so that could be a potential spot for Pokemon to come in. There's the, there's even the Lost continent in Islands of Adventure.

That's also going to just change because that area's kind of been abandoned. , So that could other, that can be another potential spot for Pokemon. [00:06:00] Uh, so we will see, we'll see what Universal decides to come out with. Um, I mean, Pokemon is the largest IP in the world, so why not? This is a major at addition for Universal Studios, so they just keep getting bigger and bigger and they keep adding more things, especially with, uh, super Nintendo world and having all those rides and.

Even, you know, hinting Zelda potentially coming to Universal. So this is really exciting news for any Universal fans out there. We're definitely Universal fans. Uh, we have our annual passes here for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Um, but yeah, this is really cool and I'll be making sure to link all the news articles.

Down in the show notes. That way if you wanna read more about it or dive a little bit deeper, those links will be in the show notes. So moving on to the next news topic. We have pokey park canto that's [00:07:00] opening up February 5th, 2026. This will be kind of Pokemon's first permanent outdoor. Park, uh, they don't have a park, which is surprising.

You think Pokemon would have a park by now? But no, this is going to be located inside of Yo Moody Land in Tokyo. It's kind of outside of Tokyo. Um, but this is just gonna be a separate park of that theme park in Moody Land. And yeah, it's going to include a lot of really cool things. And right now there's actually pictures being posted of what the park looks like.

There's even some videos, uh, I know on iGN um, there's a video of like a first look at the pokey park canto, and once again, I'll link that article and you can watch the video on in the article. But yeah, it looks really good. It's more interactive than, um. And actually having a lot of rides. They have like a merry-go-round and like a Pikachu ride that takes you in circles and goes up and down.

[00:08:00] Um, but I don't see too many attractions. It's more interactive in like photo ops, which are really cool 'cause they say there's over 600, like life-size Pokemon in this pokey park. Um, so it'll be cool seeing videos of people. Um, visiting and posting after, after February 5th. And I like watching these walkthroughs of places that, you know, have my interest and places I want to visit.

Um, YouTube's always that source that I go to to watch these things, but yeah, this looks like a really, a nice. Addition to UDDI land. I didn't know much about Uddi Land before, but now that, you know, pokey Park, Contos coming, yeah, it looks really cool. It's gonna be very busy. Uh, getting tickets might be a little bit difficult, just like, you know, getting tickets for Ghibli Park or, uh, Ghibli Museum or like those other high-end, uh, high demand attractions and things that people want to do.

So I know there's going [00:09:00] to be a lottery system. And, um, the early dates here for February are already sold out. Um, but I'm going to link. An article going over how to potentially get tickets in the future. Um, I'm sure there's gonna be good YouTube videos on how to get these tickets and, you know, if I get any more information or visit Pokey Park In the future, I'll make sure to talk all about my experience and how I was able to, you know, snag these tickets because it can be very difficult to get these tickets or even reservations. I remember for our last trip, I was trying to get a reservations for the Kirby Cafe. It was, I believe, 30 days.

In advance that I had to log in on, Japan time and make sure I was on the website and went through the whole process. And they released a whole month at once and, we didn't get it. Uh, it just sells out like. Instantly like these things. [00:10:00] So , I can see the pokey park kind of following that trend of being a little bit difficult to get, but it's definitely not going to be impossible.

There. There'll be ways and, you know, once people, you know, post these videos and more articles come out, it, it becomes more, a little bit more clear for people and, and hopefully a little bit easier for us to book these kind of activities in the future. So, moving on from the pokey park and. The Pokemon and Universal announcement.

We have some news with the, uh, chase Sapphire exclusive World Cup ticket access. I, I know this news has been out for a little bit, but you know, with the World Cup coming up soon and the early access beginning. On February 10th, this is something definitely worth talking about because if you have a Chase Sapphire card, like the Sapphire Preferred Sapphire Reserve, or the Reserve for Business, you get early access to FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets, which begins [00:11:00] on February 10th.

This is a really cool perk. I remember Capital One. Um. Capital One Venture X holders getting a very similar perk, but for like the Taylor Swift Eras tour where if you had a Venture X, you had early access to getting tickets. So this is something that, you know, chase is doing for the for the World Cup, and I'm definitely interested in the World Cup.

I'm not sure if we're gonna be able to attend matches. This year because you know, we have a little one, we have some trips already in the works, but this is something I'm gonna keep my eye out. I'm gonna try to see how. Ticket releases go on February 10th and what kind of matches I can potentially get if there's a price range that works for us.

But how this works is this is going to be all the matches that are played here in the US host cities. Um, and the World Cup's gonna be played between June 12th in July 18th, so the [00:12:00] cities included in this, or Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami. Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, New York, New Jersey, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Maybe I'll be looking at Miami or East Coast cities. Maybe Atlanta, uh, Dallas. There's a lot of Nonstops to Dallas and you know, with us having the companion pass, this could be. Easier to, to lock in. So if maybe I find a good price on, on February 10th, and you know, it's one of those easier cities that we have access to.

Yeah, maybe we'll take that trip and, um, we'll book it right away and I can use my companion pass and, and add that trip to the, the other trips that we have planned this year. Um, so how many tickets can you buy? It looks like you could buy up to four tickets per match and up to 40 total tickets for the tournament.

What you'll need to do is you'll need to create a FIFA account. I would do this before [00:13:00] February 10th. If you do have a Chase Sapphire Preferred Reserve or Reserve for Business, and just have that all set up. That way, you're good to go. Once February 10th comes by. I know a question that came up is, can you use points for this for the tickets?

No, you can't. You have to pay the cash price for the tickets, and you have to use your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve or Reserve for Business to purchase the tickets. So I'm going to link that article in the show notes as well just to, you know, it expands a little bit further on, on FAQs and, and a little bit more details.

But that was just kind of the general idea and it's really cool that Chase came out with this and gives us. People who have Chase Sapphire cards and opportunity to grab some tickets for the World Cup. So I, I think that's pretty neat. I'm excited for the World Cup. I'm a big fan, so, uh, I'm just overall excited that this per came out and [00:14:00] you know, that I have an opportunity to maybe snag some good tickets.

We'll see. I'll let you guys know. I'll keep you updated in the update, uh, updated segments that are gonna be in this podcast going forward. So. That takes us to our next topic, and Japan Cherry Blossom Forecast has been released. It looks like I'm gonna be posting the Tokyo Cheapos forecasted article in the show notes.

And yeah, we have the, this is the third forecast. Announcement. So if you're listening to this, the forecast tends to, you know, get updated every week or so. So if you're planning to visit Cherry Blossom season this year, just make sure you keep checking every week or every, every few days as these dates kind of shift a little bit.

But this is a, an overall, an idea and a, a good baseline to go off of. And, you know, it kind of gives us that general timeline that. Parts of Japan will see full bloom. So let's get into it. The first date I'll mention will be [00:15:00] like the estimated flowering date. The second date I'll mention is the estimated full bloom date.

So for Tokyo, the estimated flowering date will be March 22nd with the estimated full bloom date being. March 29th for Osaka, you have March 25th to April 1st, Kyoto, March 25th to April 2nd. Very similar there. Hiroshima, March 22nd to April 1st, we go a little bit further south to Kyushu. We have Fukuoka with March 22nd to March 30th, Kawashima from March 26th to April 6th.

And then if we go all the way north to Al-Qaeda, we have Sao with April 26th. To April 30th, Al Maori with February 18th to April 22nd, and Sendai April 6th to April 11th. So you can see the shift in dates, um, going from, you know, the middle of Japan from like places like Tokyo and [00:16:00] Kyoto, Osaka down south to Kishu, which is.

Not too different, but once you go north, you can see how those dates go from like the end of March to early April, to then kind of the end of April, uh, up north. So, you know, if you, if you have a trip planned, you can always start from South Japan, make your way up, and you're just seeing cherry blossoms all the way up, uh, depending on how long you stay.

But that would be a really cool route to take and a, a great trip. So. That's the forecast right now. It can, those dates can always shift around. This is just like a projected, um, but it gives us that good baseline to understand, um, what to expect for cherry blossom season. And this leads us to our last news article.

This is Japan Tourism Reaching Record Highs. So in 2025, Japan welcomed 42.7 million international visitors. The first time Japan's ever passed, uh, [00:17:00] 40 million visitors. So they do expect this number to keep increasing and by 2030 the goal is to have 60 million visitors. And I can definitely see that with the trend of how in in demand Japan is and how many people want to visit.

I could definitely see them hitting the 60 million mark by 2030. Um, it's good for Japan. You know, it's a, it means a lot. A lot of people are visiting, a lot of people are spending money. Uh, I have the numbers here. Foreign visitors spent 9.5 trillion yen in 2025, and the year before they spent 8.1 trillion yen.

So you can see. You know, the spend and, and the economy in Japan is definitely making money, but this is why we're seeing Japan implement, uh, certain tax, uh, increases and, you know, fee increases because of the high demand, , the. The country also has to make sure it keeps up [00:18:00] with, , maintaining the country as so many people come over to visit.

So, you know, increases that we're seeing are, like, an example would be the departure tax that we talked about in a previous episode where it's going from 1000 yen, um, and tripling up to 3000 yen, which isn't a lot. I mean, that's only going from about $6 and 50 cents all the way up to about. 19 to $20, and you don't, you won't see this as a separate cost.

It'll just be added on to like airfare costs. Whenever you're buying like a ticket with cash, you'll see the fees on there and such. So yeah, you'll, you'll also see like the accommodation tax that, that kyoto's bringing for, you know, more high end. Hotels or, um, what might come in for Tokyo in 2027 and, accommodation, taxes as well, just because those areas are seeing such high demand.

So I expect to see more of this, [00:19:00] more fees added on, more taxes added on for certain things, uh, just because the demand just keeps increasing, and especially with the yen being so weak. Currently a lot of people are just, you know, going over and, and, and taking advantage of that. And it's something I talked about in a previous episode of the weekend.

But I do feel for the people who live in Japan that can't really afford to go out of the country. And that's one thing that has kind of been a problem with the weekend, even though it's great for us and we can go over and. You know, it's a good, uh, conversion for us and we can spend money and, and shop and eat, um, for the people who live in Japan, if they want to visit other countries with the yen being so weak and then converting that into like USD or, or the pound or the Australian doll like.

It doesn't go as far for the people who live in Japan. So, you know, that is [00:20:00] the downfall of having the weekend. And, um, hopefully it does bounce back, just to have it, have the people in Japan, , have a stronger currency that they are allowed to visit other places without it being such like a, uh, expensive trip and, , their dollar or their, again, not going as far as the USD or in some other countries.

So, yeah. Hopefully it bounces back in the future, which I think it will definitely. Um, but at the moment the, the yen is weak and a lot of people are, are just taking advantage of it, you know, and, and Japan is getting a lot of money in for the, for, um, from foreign spend. So, you know, they're definitely taking advantage of that and building, you know, new parts of, so many parts of Tokyo are being rebuilt and so many areas are getting, uh, renovations.

So. It's, it, it's good for that part. Definitely. So let's move on to the listener question of the weekend. I had just recently got a question of what is your planning process [00:21:00] like for trips? So this is a, great question because I know a lot of people have different ways of planning trips. Um, but when it comes to.

Self planning trips. What I like to do is I'll go over to Google Maps and I'll start saving places I know I want to visit, and I'll have like my must dos and then I'll have like things that I'll add along the way that I'll get ideas from maybe watching YouTube videos, listening to podcasts, reading articles.

Um, you know, there's a lot of good shorts that have, you know, cool things that interest me, and once I start saving those places, I get a better idea when I save them on my Google Maps. I'll see all my pins and I'll, I'll get better ideas of like, maybe locations and neighborhoods I should target for that trip.

Um, based on what has like , our highest interest, um, when we want to visit Japan and, and other places around the world. I also like [00:22:00] watching a lot of, um, walkthrough videos. And this is something you don't have to do, but it helps me get familiar. With places. Um, so once I start saving 'em on Google Maps and I, I start seeing the neighborhoods I wanna explore, I'll go on YouTube and I'll type in that neighborhood or that area.

And there's really good walkthrough videos in 4K that you can watch on YouTube that you could play in the background when maybe you're doing some kind of chore. And, you know, this can help you familiarize yourself with this area and, and the things that you want to do. You kind of get a feel of like, okay, this, this area does interest me.

And you know, I know I have a lot of places saved over there. So that's one way, and, and that's kind of how I generally start my planning process. Then I'll start kind of moving those pins and those saves on Google Maps over to an app. I just recently started using things to my good friend Ricky. Um, he put me on this app called.

Let me see if I can [00:23:00] find Wonder Log. So I went ahead and put my Google Maps pins in Wonder Log and from Wonder Log I started planning out my, my days and, and my routes and hitting certain areas so that way I don't backtrack too much. And the app is really good. It, it, it really breaks down a lot for you.

You could save all the things that interest you and then you can start creating your itinerary and you can go day by day. And it shows you kind of each place and the distance between each place that you choose. So for example, like on May 13th that I had, I had, you know, Tokyo Records, Shibuya. Then I had Mita Park and it tells me it's a three minute walk.

It's 0.16 miles away, and I can see that all on a map. And it's, it gives you a detailed description of that place that you're going to. Um, it gives you a map view so you don't have to use Google Maps. [00:24:00] You could use Google Maps for this. 'cause I've used Google Maps in the past, and Japan's a great place to use Google Maps whenever you're navigating.

But whenever you're just looking at your itinerary. And getting an idea of places and you can start grouping them together to create like what days you want to see them on? Yeah, just I would play around with the Wander log app. Um, there is a free version and there's a paid version for extra features. I have the free version.

It seemed to be really good for me. I, I didn't have any problems. Like I didn't feel limited at all. Um, but if you wanted to take it further and look at the benefits they have for the paid option, you can definitely do that. So, I. I would highly recommend for the Wonder Log, or maybe there's other apps that you know about that help you create an itinerary.

But yeah, once I get everything saved on my Google Maps and I start pinning 'em, and I get in a general idea of the place I want to visit, then I'll put it into Wonder Log, or I'll have a Google sheet, and then I'll start breaking [00:25:00] those down to days and just making sure that each day is well balanced. I won't have.

Too much. I'll have my must-dos. I'll have the things that I would like to do, and then in general, I just want to explore those areas that most of the places are in and just have time to just wander and explore and enjoy um, the things that really catch our interest. And yeah, that's normally how I go about planning, uh, the planning process, but I'm gonna have a whole episode dedicated to this topic.

I thought I'd just touch up a little bit on how I generally, you know, create itineraries and how I start, saving places and, and how I can visually see how it'll look. And yeah, it's a fun topic. It's really, I think, building itineraries and, and planning the trip is. One of my favorite things to do, um.

Not only just taking the trip, but, but planning it and, and like planning each [00:26:00] day and seeing like the things that we could do. And, and of course, you know, going forward for us, those, those itineraries will look a lot, a lot slimmer and, uh, a lot more, um, loose and, you know, flexible because of our child.

But of course it, it'll still be fun to just kind of. Plan and have the different neighborhoods, uh, set for different days and explore. And yeah, you should, this should be a process where you, you really enjoy and it really excites you for the trip coming up. So thank you for the question. And this will lead us to our main topic of the podcast and it, it's the business card strategy to help you unlock a little bit more points.

So business cards are. A big strategy for us and, and what we target now. It wasn't always like that. This was just recently, maybe in 2024 is when we first started opening up business cards. Um, I was really [00:27:00] intimidated by business cards because I thought I had to have a lot of money and like a full on business, but that's actually not the case.

And I'll touch on that in a second. But the reason why business cards are great. To get into is because the benefits and the signup bonuses are generally better than the personal cards you can get. And you know, with the bigger bonuses, that means more points for you. There's also unique categories that business cards hit.

Um, so you'll get higher multipliers on spend in certain categories. And yeah, it gives you more options, more a whole different card system. To target after you hit personal cards. 'cause you know, once you hit personal cards, you have that card, then you can start looking at business cards to open. But of course I know you're thinking, but what if I don't have a business?

Like how does this work? So yeah, that's one of the biggest misconceptions with [00:28:00] business cards is that like you have to have a business. You have to have a EIN. To get started, but you actually don't. So many things qualify as a business. So let me give you some examples. You can have, you can sell things on eBay.

That's a business. Sell things on Facebook marketplace. That's a business you babysit. That's a business. I'm doing this podcast. That's a business. You know, you do content creation, that can be a business. There's so many different things that you can do. And so many different ways that you can go about it.

So it doesn't have to be like you have to have an established business. You could just be starting a business or you've sold things online before. And I'm gonna link an article. Um, diving a little bit deeper in, in how to apply for these business cards. 'cause I don't have any articles posted myself and maybe that's something I'm going to be doing, you know, in the future and have [00:29:00] newsletters going out just to get more.

Deep into the main topic and build off of what I say here. And maybe there's things I left out in the newsletter, I can go ahead and talk more into that topic and cover more things that I forgot to mention. Um, but in this case, I'm going to pull a few articles by some other people that are, are great and sources that I've used for a long time, and they'll talk a little bit deeper into the process of applying for credit card for business credit cards.

It really is simple, like you can have a business idea going forward. Like for the, we have seven business cards between myself and my wife. I have four that I've applied for under my name, and all four of those business cards have been because of this podcast. And a few of them were, were before I even started this podcast.

And then a few others have been, you know, since I've started and. Just [00:30:00] to tease it, the one I just applied for, the business card that I just got approved for, you know, I used because of the podcast. I used the podcast as the business. So let's get a little bit deeper into it. So how did I apply for this as a business?

Well, you're allowed to apply as a sole proprietor, which means you can just use your social security number instead of A EIN, where EIN comes with LLC. And that's, you know, if you have more of established business that you know you needed an EIN for, um, but if you just wanna start off as an individual, as yourself, you, you sign up as a sole proprietor and then you just use your social security number, then you know nothing is really.

Required much of you. There are gonna be a few questions on the application saying like, how much does your business make? How much do you expect to spend monthly on the card? But honestly, you can put zero on how much your business make [00:31:00] because. You know, maybe you're just starting off and that's completely fine because you, you can still get approved.

Even though your business makes no money, it's still a business and you know, in time it does take time for businesses to grow. And yeah, that's not a problem if you put that number, but of course the articles I'm gonna post and uh, share in the show notes are gonna. Dive a little bit deeper into, you know, the subjects of what you can do on how to apply and they have really good ways of applying.

So basically you're going to approach a business credit card, like a personal credit card. Your so proprietor use your social, uh, to apply. Your credit score will need to be between six 70 and eight 50, but most travel credit cards are going to be between that range. So it's kind of the same there. Um, just know that you are gonna take a hard inquiry because this is, it's using your social, but the business credit line is going to be different from your [00:32:00] personal, so that's not going to affect your credit score or your personal credit score.

It's going to be in your business credit score, and that's separate so you don't have to worry about. You know, opening up these business cards and if it affecting your personal credit, it's just whenever you open these cards and use your social, you'll just take that hard inquiry, which will drop like a, a few points and then it just bounces right back up within a few months.

So that's something to know. And this is great for the Chase five and 24 rule. And the reason it's great is because business cards don't count towards your Chase five and 24 rule. If you don't know what the Chase five and 24 rule, that means having five accounts opened within 24 months. That's two years of any bank, not just Chase.

And Chase has some really valuable cards. So say if you're FI or four and 24, which actually I was in 2024, and if I opened up one more personal card, that would put me at five and [00:33:00] 24. And there's still Chase cards I want to go after if you apply for business cards. It's not going to take a hit. Well, most business cards, the majority of 'em, it's not going to take out at F five and 24.

So one, when I was at four and 24, I was just applying for business cards back to back. Just to give myself time to drop back down to four and 24, and currently I sit at uh, three and 24, but in March I'll be dropping to two and 24, and this allows me to, you know, target more personal cards. With limited time offers, either that's Chase or that's other banks, but I'm able to apply for more personal cards and then mix in business cards that way.

Stay. If there's a Chase card I really want, that comes out with a really good offer, I stay under the five and 24 rule and I can go after it. And I still have that, you know, flexibility. And I'm sorry if this sounds a little bit confusing, but the more you get into [00:34:00] this hobby, the more you'll understand and.

Yeah, I know business cards are a little bit past, like just applying for personal cards. You know, this is not, business cards aren't something you target like right off the bat unless you want it to. Um, but it is a strategy going forward. So maybe after a year and you start getting more confidence with points and miles and opening up cards, then you can look at business cards and then you can start seeing, oh, okay, I can start, you know.

There's Chase cards I want to get, but I need to stay under five and 24. And then you can kind of start having a strategy. And this is a strategy that we have now, uh, and it's just recent. I mean, I just started opening up business cards in 22 years ago in 2024. So, you know, I'm just starting, uh, to apply for more and more of 'em.

And yeah, the, the card that I recently applied for and got, um, accepted for is a business card. And I'll, I'll get to it really soon, but I'm gonna break down a few more things of like. Why are business [00:35:00] cards so, uh, valued and, and why should you target them a little bit more? And really the biggest reason is they have bigger signup bonuses, and that can be really beneficial if you want to start accumulating even more points than just getting like, um, personal cards or signup bonuses that maybe don't have limited time offers.

Um, the only thing is with the higher like signup bonuses you do. See higher like minimum spends on business cards just because they expect you to have like a few business expenses to pay for and such. But I do have an episode, episode eight, which is the smart way to spend turning daily life into travel rewards.

You can listen to that episode and see how I go about. Making sure that I can hit certain signup bonuses and, um, hitting that minimum spend for those, whatever the signup bonus is. [00:36:00] And then you can start really seeing like what categories. You can start targeting for that minimum spend, how you can use your daily, everyday spend to hit these targets.

That way you're not just spending money to spend money to hit these targets. You're doing it in a responsible way and you have like your categories and everything laid out for you. So if you haven't listened to that episode, definitely give it a listen to because with business cards, you're going to see higher minimum spend, such as like.

Spend 6,000 in four months, spend 8,000 in six months, um, things like that. You'll, you'll see a little bit higher minimum spend of course. If that's not comfortable for you, definitely don't, don't target those business cards. It's okay. Um, we all start somewhere and, and personal cards have great signup bonuses too.

This is just another step. on gaining more points in miles, but making sure you just use your everyday spend and you do it responsibly. Remember paying it your [00:37:00] statements off in full each month to avoid interest and, and just making sure that you know you're. You're really focused on making sure you hit your just normal spend your, your everyday spend on your groceries, gas, rent.

You don't wanna just spend on random things to hit sign up bonuses, 'cause then that's when things kind of go wrong. Um, but yeah, definitely go back to episode if you haven't listened to it. And I break down, uh, different strategies and different ways to hit minimum spend on cards. Now, I do want to be transparent for a moment here, and my wife and I do have a business with an Etsy shop that we run.

So the business cards that she opens are for the Etsy shop, and I'll use. The Etsy shop to hit those minimum spends with her business cards. But for the four business cards that are under my name that I've applied for, were all for the podcast. And let me tell you that the podcast has made $0 since I've [00:38:00] opened up all four of those cards.

And that's just an example like. The business ha doesn't have to like be making money right off the bat and you can still get approved for these business cards. So, you know, that's just an example of what I've been doing. And, you know, maybe in the future I'm hoping this podcast can make a little bit of money and become another source of income.

And maybe I could leave my full-time job, uh, or spend a little bit less hours at my full-time job and do this a little bit more full-time and just. Give more value to you and, and hopefully that you can take what I, what I talk about and apply it for yourself and take these amazing trips and take these tips and, and pass them forward and, you know, create a community here and really share the passions of traveling and experiencing these places and saving money on 'em.

So, you know, that's what I, I really want to build, but for me it doesn't. Matter about the income right now is just building the value for you. [00:39:00] And it just gives you an example. You don't need to have like this full on business with, with it making a lot of money to get approved for these business cards that, you know, these business cards can allow you to gain, gain even more points in miles for your future trips and you can keep doing it.

You know, I would recommend anyone start a business because now in 2026 it's so. Much easier, like the entry point into building a business is the easiest it's ever been. And of course, you know, there's um, a lot of mental hurdles that come with it. But if you find the the right people to follow and you listen to the right things and, and you block out all the other noise that maybe are distractions.

And you, you apply yourself, uh, you can definitely have a business for yourself and maybe it's something that you've dreamed about for a while now and you should definitely pursue it. So. That kind of talks about that subject [00:40:00] there. And the main, um, main topic of this episode, but the reason why I came about this topic for the episode is because I was recently approved for a business card and it wasn't one that wasn't, that was really on my radar radar at all because I just had an episode a few weeks ago of talking.

Our business plan or our not business plan, our plan for 2026 and like our travels and the cards that we plan on opening. And this card was definitely not on the list. And it goes to show you that, you know, cards pop up. Um, certain cards get limited time bonuses or even cards get targeted bonuses. So the card that I was just approved for is the American Express Blue Business Plus credit card.

This has actually a targeted offer. And what a targeted offer means is basically you were sent maybe a piece of mail with this offer or there's certain links that, um, take you to this offer. And that's what I was able to find. So. [00:41:00] I was on a Facebook group and I'll, I'll link the Facebook group below in the show notes and I'll also link the article with the link of the targeted offer for this card.

And yeah, the way I went about it is, you know, I, I, I usually look through this Facebook group just to get ideas, see, see what people are talking about. Maybe any cards that have like. Limited time bonuses or or such. And a lot of people were talking about this American Express Blue Business Plus card, and it has a targeted offer of 75,000 membership rewards, which is American Express's flexible currency, which is really good because American Express has transfer partners such as.

A NA, which is Al Airways, cafe Pacific, British Airways. There's ways to use those points for a trip to Japan or Asia. So with the limited time targeted offer for this business card, it would give you 75,000 [00:42:00] membership rewards, which is really good. You'd have to spend $6,000 in four months, which is about $1,500 a month.

So you would just have to make sure that's within your range. You look at your budget sheet or, or whatever you use to calculate your budget and your or your finances, and make sure that's a comfortable goal for you. Um, and maybe if you have something big that's coming up that you know, for us it's gonna be medical bills and, and then add everyday expenses onto it, we'll be able to hit the signup bonus.

But a big plus for this card is it has no annual fee. So not only is it a $0 annual fee card, but when I hit the signup bonus, I'll get 75,000 membership rewards. I mean, you get two x on all purchases up to $50,000 per calendar year, and that's a really good card. That card makes a lot of sense for us. Um, this will be my first ever American Express card, [00:43:00] and I think it's a great way to get into American Express with this targeted offer because I know I'll be using those American Express points for a future Japan trip.

Um, not for this one coming up, but, but for the next one, uh, after that and, you know, I could, I could keep going and keep accumulating these points. And now I have another currency with the, uh, American Express membership rewards that I can use for our next trip. And that covers our flights for that trip, hopefully.

And I can, you know, now I can start looking at maybe American Express Gold Cards. Um. Or the green card or the platinum in the future. Uh, just know when you apply for American Express cards, like the personal cards, uh, there's like a ladder system in their rules. So say if you applied for the American Express Platinum and got to sign up with the platinum.

Then you applied for the American Express Gold, you wouldn't get the gold signup [00:44:00] bonus. So you always wanna make sure you start at the bottom and then work your way up the American Express, uh, ladder. Uh, that's just a rule for American Express. And if you wanna learn more about that, there's really good articles on like the points guy, , frequent miler and such.

And there, there's just a lot of people with a lot of good sources on that. But I thought I just mentioned that, uh, in case you were eyeing like an American Express card, uh, I would avoid getting the platinum first.

So this is a great like, catch all card 'cause it earns two x on all purchases up to 50,000 per calendar year, which I don't, I won't hit 50,000 in the calendar year. I'll just use it for the signup bonuses. Since it's $0 annual fee. Once I hit the signup bonus, I'm basically done for the card. So I'll just put it in my office drawer and just let it sit there and then work on another card signup bonus, and then, refer my wife to another card or have her sign up for another card and hit the signup bonus.

And then we kind of just take turns [00:45:00] and that way we spread out. How many cards we apply for and like the distance of when we apply for those cards. So normally I like to weigh about. At least a month to three months before reapplying for a card. For myself, I know I just got the built blue card, but I was just transitioning the original built card to the built blue, so that's why I was okay with applying for this American Express Business card because that was just changing from one system to another.

It wasn't like applying for a whole brand new card. So I'm really glad I saw. That Facebook group post about what card should I look at signing up for? And I saw this American Express Blue Business card and yeah, it, it made sense for me and that's why we're going for it and I got approved for it.

And plus with, you know, medical bills coming up for our first child and, you know, our everyday expenses on top of that, we'll be able to hit the sign on bonus at no time. It also doesn't affect our five and 24, so [00:46:00] I'll be. Two in 24, once March comes around and then I can look at maybe some personal cards, um, and have my wife look at maybe some personal cards.

'cause she also drops down to, I believe, one in 24. So she definitely has room to play with for limited time offers. I know the world of Hyatt cards are probably what's going to be next for us. Uh, just to gain more Hyatt points, but right now there's an offer for the world of Hyatt card where you can earn up to five free nights.

Uh, you could get three free nights if you, after you spend 5,000 in three months, and then an additional two if you spend 15,000 in six months. Um, for most of us, we'll hit like the three free nights. Normally the offer on this card is 30,000 points, so that's normally around two free nights. But the only thing is with this limited time offer for the three nights after you spend 5,000 in three months, is you can only redeem it.

For Hyatts [00:47:00] category one through four. This is a good offer for some people. Definitely. 'cause they'll get those three. Nice for category, maybe four Hyatts that they have on their list. But personally for us, there are a few Hyatts that are category fives. And six that we want to go to. And I'd rather just have the points that I could put towards those Hyatts in higher categories.

So that's why I didn't go for this card right now. I'm gonna wait for this offer. I believe it ends on February 26, but if you are interested in this world of Hyatt card, the personal world of Hyatt card is a $95 annual fee. You know, you get the three nights after you spend $5,000 in the first three months.

That's a category one through four. So, yeah, if this works for you and there's definitely Hyatts that you know, that are either a category one through four for being preferred because then you get the most value out of it. Yeah. That this can make sense for you because the, the normal offer would be 30,000 points [00:48:00] and normally with 30,000 points, you would only get two nights at a category four.

But for myself, I'd rather have the points because I already have Hyatt points and I can just add that total. Into my grand total of higher points to book higher categories. So yeah, it, it's whatever works best for you. This, this offer can make sense for a lot of people, and the point side can make a sense for a lot of other people.

So it depends on whatever you want to do. But this is a card that, you know, is definitely on our list to get next. Uh, either the personal or the business, most likely the personal, but. This world of Hyatt card also has rumors of new cards coming out. Um, I'm thinking maybe it's like an additional, so they'll have like the $95 annual fee.

And the premium personal card and then you have the world of Hyatt business card that's, you know, still around right now. Or maybe that'll get a revamp too. We'll see. Well, I, I'm expecting that this year, [00:49:00] but. I also kind of want those points, so we'll see once I hit this sign a bonus, maybe some news about that card will be announced.

But of course, in the, in next episodes coming up and going forward, I'll have the updated segments, um, the new segments that I'll be covering, any news that comes out, either between cards or Japan or travel in general. And then we'll have our listener question. Which if you have any questions for this podcast, definitely send those in.

Um, you can either write to me on Instagram, you can write. In the email on Rewarding Routes podcast@gmail.com. Um, yeah, what, whatever way you wanna contact me, definitely reach out and I'd love to not only answer your question, but, um, to answer your question here on a podcast to help other people who maybe have similar questions themselves.

So definitely reach out and ask those questions if you have 'em. And then we'll be talking about our main topic. So I'm [00:50:00] excited, um, going forward to have like a new format for this podcast and, and to grow this way. And, and it feels a little bit better 'cause I can touch up on several different topics in one episode and not just have one topic for each episode.

So let me know if you like it and let me know if I'm doing the right thing, but it feels right and it feels good. So. That's all I have for you today. If you have any questions, once again, just uh, send them in. Also, if you wanna leave a review for the podcast, it'll definitely help. I, I haven't really been asking for reviews lately.

I just feel like I had to kind of prove myself a little bit with the podcast, but the more episodes I'm doing. I'm feeling a little bit better. So if you could definitely leave a review, uh, it'll definitely help the podcast and maybe reach, uh, more people who are looking for this, uh, these topics and, maybe find some value in them and in my experiences with points and miles and traveling and in the future, traveling with a child and the challenges that come with that.

[00:51:00] So, thank you for listening today. I hope you got some real value and I'll catch you on the next one. See ya.