Episode 42: Manufactured Spend Setbacks and Opportunities, and Limited-time Promotions

Today we're back with a standard No Annual Fee episode.  We do the news, and then talk Personal Finance and Amex Small Business Credits. 0:30 GiftCards.com joins giftcardmall with $2k monthly portal cap Rakuten lasted until 7/7 at $60k/mo Showing $2k cap as of 7/8 1:50 [Targeted?] Chase Marriott/Ritz cards: 10x on Gas + Dining (DoC) 7/15-9/15 $3,500 cap Must register: Link 3:15 Discover 20% off Amazon when Using 1 point (DoC) Just wanted to mention it’s smart to keep some Discover rewards clanging around rather than draining the rewards to be able to take advantage of these promos Discover is 5x on PayPal Q3 2020 so a good time to use Discover cards in general 5:00 Stop & Shop/Giant: 3X Fuel Rewards for VGCs 7/10-7/16 5:30 Hyatt 15-25% Point Rebate on Award Stays + Free Parking (Direct Link) Register by 9/1/2020 Stay from 7/8/2020 - 10/8/2020 15% back for all, 25% back for Chase Hyatt cardholders Stacks with a promo for 2,500 for those with elite status + Chase card (Dans Deals) Example: 30k Hyatt is 22.5k after 25% back, potential 20k after 2,500 back promo  8:55 Chase Sapphire Reserve Only Earned 5x at Restaurants 7/1-7/5 (DoC) Still, 3x + Pay Yourself Back is pretty great Still getting 5x on Gas through the end of September So Random  11:25 Flexible Spending Account Covid Changes (Wirecutter) FSA Healthcare You can increase, decrease, or stop your health-care FSA contributions altogether. You have more time to spend your health-care savings from 2019. In the past, you had a two-and-a-half-month grace period after your plan period ended in which to spend your remaining balance, but your employer can now opt to extend the grace period through December 31, 2020. You can roll over up to $550 into your 2021 health-care FSA, a $50 increase over the previous $500 limit. FSA Dependant Care You can increase, decrease, or stop your dependent-care FSA contributions altogether. You now have until December 31, 2020, to spend your dependent-care savings from 2019 (rather than the usual two-and-a-half-month grace period). The same weird scenario from above applies. If you think you’ve lost your unused DCFSA contributions from 2019, contact your