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Every now and then, I see a blog post or a post on a forum about the number of miles and points people own at any given time. And frequently, those balances are close to or over a million points.
I’m always surprised at this because I never have that large of a balance. But, it doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong. Here is my situation:
I Have Five People in my Family
On most trips, my entire family of five is traveling. I know that makes us unusual in the “miles and points” community. But, it takes a lot of miles and points for flights and hotels for five people! On our trip to Australia and New Zealand two years ago, we spent 425,000 points on the flights for economy class.
Now that my kids are older, we don’t try to squeeze into one hotel room anymore. So, if we opt for a hotel instead of a rental house, we need to shell out the points for two rooms. Whatever miles and points balance we have depletes quickly with our redemptions.
Devaluations Happen All the Time
In the miles and points world, inflation and devaluations happen all the time. Expect them. The points you own today will be worth more now than they will in a year. Take the recent Southwest Airlines points devaluation, for example. While the points are not by any means “worthless” now, their value is slightly lower. And every year, most hotel brands announce a list of properties that are going up in points price.
I don’t want to own a million miles that keep depreciating in value. It makes no sense for my family.
Points Are Worth Nothing If You Don’t Spend Them!
Miles and points are not trophies or status symbols. If you don’t use them, they are worth nothing. If you have too many that you can’t possibly spend yourself, give them to me! (Ha!) But seriously, you can use them to book travel for friends and family. Or, you can donate them.
I’ve been accumulating airline miles over the past year (nowhere near a million) that I’m hoping to spend on flights to Europe as soon as the booking window opens for my dates. They are burning a hole in my pocket right now.
I realize that for most people, it’s been hard to spend points because of the pandemic. So, many folks are sitting on more miles and points right now than they are used to. Also for some, it makes sense to have an emergency stash of points to use if you have family that lives far away and you need to fly to them in an emergency. Every family’s situation is different.
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Jennifer, the formula is pretty simple: Start (or have) a business that allows you to purchase millions of dollars of materials with credit cards and pass the material costs on to your customers.
That, and take advantage of sign-ups, bonus category spend, etc… :’)
It is a good problem to have!
@Shane: “It’s simple. Start or have a business where you spend enough to earn millions of points.”
That’s genius! Why didn’t I ever think of that?! lol/smh
I’m sitting on over 4 million miles & points. Have spent over 11 million in last 5 years, but my earn rate seems to continually exceed my burn rate in spite of sometimes taking 10+ family members on trips… Need to get international opened up again to cash out with some up-front seating.
I wish I had your problem of earning exceeding burning!
I’m with you – family of five. We earn and burn!
i love the aspiration of points, but the reality with two young kids points me to cash back instead, especially having to plan around school vacations and needing specific dates. not going to stop collecting points, just need more flexibility to convert to cash
@Danny Cash is king and the ultimate in flexibility for sure.
Earn and burn is the way; I have a family of 4 so every big trip has been over a million points in total, but Marriott any Hilton will run up to a million rather easily, although we rely on Hyatt — our big trip this year is a European Christmas markets for 6; 66 hotel nights, all night hotel nights but 3 on points
@RAP Wow! Sounds like a great trip! Kudos on using all those miles for free nights.
I understand your point. However, once your kids are old enough to take advantage of signup bonuses, all 5 of you combined can easily earn over 1 million points a year!
@Joey 5 player mode, you’re right!