SF Bay Area Family Guide to Credit Card Travel Rewards

Jenni: I am Jenny, your host, and a San Francisco Bay Area financial Planner, and I am especially excited about today's. Yes, Kerry Durkin, because she's also one of my favorite mom friends.

Jenni: Our kids go to the same school here in outer sensitive San Francisco. And it was through the school that I first learned about Kerry's consulting practice called Kerry's Points, unpacked for credit card rewards. And since then she continues to impress us with stories of how she's taken incredible international trips with her family of three kids.

Jenni: So Kerry helps families travel smarter by maximizing their credit card rewards, and through her classes and personalized consults, she simplifies the often overwhelming world of points and miles showing parents how to turn and really doesn't have to be parent, I guess, any household how to turn everyday spending into unforgettable trips.

Jenni: So Kerry, I'm excited to have you here today.

Kerry: Yeah, thank you. I'm so excited. Thank you for having me. I can't wait to dive in.

Jenni: Awesome. Okay. Well, how did you first get into the world of points and miles?

Kerry: We have a 10-year-old, 8-year-old, and a 4-year-old, and we were on a trip in 2022, so it hasn't been too long. And we were on a road trip to the Teton, so we had some time to kill. And my husband and I listened to a podcast and it was by the points guy, his name is Brian, and he basically talks about how he leverages credit card points to take these luxurious trips.

Kerry: And he does it by opening, I, I mean he has like 20 cards in his wallet. But something clicked at that moment. Because as we're sitting on this road trip thinking, oh my God, I'm never gonna fly with my kids. It's so expensive and all these things. I was just thinking, I use one credit card. I've only used every one credit card and I have all these expenses and I definitely am not maximizing my spend.

Kerry: So I, my husband and I just dug in, like, I opened two more credit cards on that day. My husband opened two. And within like a month we book, we had like reached our the signup bonus, which is the big chunk of points they give you once you meet that minimum spend. We met it so quickly and we were just sitting on a stockpile of points.

Kerry: And so from there it just kind of really took off of me starting to book, book trips and all of that. And yeah, that's kind of where it started. A road trip.

Jenni: Okay, well, Kerry, tell me like what was one of your first successful points trips?

Kerry: Oh my God. So we decided early on that points were so valuable to us that we would only use it for bucket list trips.

Kerry: We would never be able to afford. So I studied abroad in Italy for a year in college, and I was dying to get back and I wanted to show my kids Italy. And my husband is Irish, so he's only really been to Ireland. I wanted to show him, so we made this, we booked a trip to Italy and we paid barely anything for the flights, but this was my first time digging in, so I've learned more from that.

Kerry: But we paid not barely anything for the flights and for the accommodations and. And we just had such a great time and I showed my par my kids, my apartment where I, where I lived in Florence. And I just, it was this pinch me moment and I remember Jim and I just looked at each other, we were just like, oh my God, we gotta do this again.

Kerry: And it was just addicting. Like nothing feels better than free, you know?

Jenni: Yeah. Especially it's like something that you probably wouldn't have thought to you could afford otherwise, right? . Okay, so a lot of the families that we talk to are very busy people. They feel, they know that there are such things as rewards travel and have heard of people like you who have seemed to gain the system, but it sounds like a heck of a lot of work.

Jenni: So I mean, guess what, what are some of the biggest, I mean, misconceptions you'd like to clear or up right away, or what would you say to, to a friend you know, a mom friend who is, who is maybe having that kind of reaction?

Kerry: First, I would be like, you could text me at any time. I'll answer your points questions to make it really easier.

Kerry: But I would say it's not that hard. The, you don't, you don't need to just dig into the fine details and book everything yourself. There's so many resources out there that can help you, and it's. Not gonna expect your credit score. It's not this crazy coupon like a lot of people think it's like couponing.

Kerry: It's not like that. And the credit card companies are betting on you not using the rewards. That's why they, they are in this game. So I would say just that. Yeah. You could do it. And there's people like me who can help you do it.

Jenni: Great. Okay. And so I guess if, if we think about the credit cardboards, if, if, if you were to design like, okay, like somebody's gonna spend a little bit of time, like what are the lowest hanging fruit things for a family to do?

Kerry: Okay, so the first thing that you're gonna just wanna do is a credit card audit. You know, look your credit cards, what are the ones that you are using every day? And are you using them correctly? Because a lot of them have categories spend associated with groceries and eating out and other things like and gas.

Kerry: So I'd look at my credit cards and say, Hey, like. How am I using these? And then I probably get an app or, or use a resource, like there's apps out there to stay organized and just make sure you're using it. That like, you don't need to dip deep, like dig deep into the game, but like, just make sure that the credit cards that you're using, you're using correctly.

Kerry: 'cause a lot of them you have to pay for. So if you wanna get like the most bang out of your buck, are you using that hotel credit? Are you making sure to use the right spend at the grocery store? So anything like that, just make sure, 'cause a lot of people don't even know. The benefits that come with their credit cards.

Kerry: And they, and I'll ask, they'll be like, oh, what do you use at the grocery store? Like, I dunno, I chase And I'm like, no, you need the Amex goal that you get times for, like, just, just use that. Just one thing, like one tip.

Jenni: Of people don't know that. So, I mean, you meant, you threw out the term category spent.

Jenni: What does that even mean?

Kerry: So, credit card companies like to reward you more points based on the type of spend you're use you are using. So if I go to the grocery store, I could get two times amount of points if I use my Capital One, or I could get times four if I use my American Express goals. So they wanna incentivize you to use it at certain places for gas or for groceries or anything like that.

Kerry: So that's what categories spend just kind of means. So it's looking strategically at. Where a lot of your bucket, your spend bucket is coming from. Because you know, if you have a family, you're probably spending a lot on groceries. So if you look at it like that and just make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck in terms of the categories, it's the first place you could start.

Kerry: 'cause then you can be like, oh, my points are kind of accumulating fast. Like I didn't realize I wasn't using them correctly. Yeah.

Jenni: Okay. So category spend. All right. What's, what, tell me some other low hanging fruits. Okay. Should, do they have to be opening a ton of cards? Like what do we have to do here?

Jenni: I mean, and what are some of the best cards to open? If, if, or what, what are some of the best cards to hold? So how would I know?

Kerry: We always focus on transferable points. So what that means is there are four main cards really you wanna focus on. And that is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I like to do that over the reserve.

Kerry: The Amex Gold. American Express the Capital One venture, and then the city strata is another good one. Now, what I mean by transferable is that it's different than a hotel branded card, right? If I got a United card, a credit card, I'd only use it for my. For, I'd only get United Points, but the biggest thing that you can do to maximize and just make your life easier is focus on cards that have currencies that transfer to other diverse group of airlines and hotels.

Kerry: So that, okay, like I can't. Transfer my Amex and Chase points to fly to Air France and flying blue, or I could do it to Virgin Atlantic. So the more that you focus on those transferable points, the faster you can get points and you can bucket them together and use them to travel. I wouldn't focus on hotel branded cards or anything like that, especially if you're just trying to make your life easier.

Kerry: If you just focus on those, those four cards, you could really do some damage with your point.

Jenni: Okay. That's actually really thank you for, I just wanted a list of four is very good. Yeah. Okay. So, so far I've heard you, in terms of low hanging fruit, make sure you're using the right card for the right category of spend because they have different spend multiples.

Jenni: I guess based on the category, how would you even know what they are?

Kerry: So you can literally look on your credit when you log into your app. It'll tell you, and a lot of people don't, which is so funny. I love asking people like, how many points do you think you have? And they're like, oh, I dunno, where do I even find that?

Kerry: Yeah. So if you go into your app and it'll say it on the bottom and it'll scroll, be like, oh, you get times two here, times three here. And it'll tell you what benefits you get from that certain card. So your app is like the perfect way, or, I mean, there's so many reasons it starts with online that you could just like Google, what do I get?

Kerry: And you know. All that. So when you

Jenni: say app, you're talking about the credit card app. So like Chase app card? Yeah. Or the Citibank app or something. Correct. Yeah. When you log into your

Kerry: account, it should, it always like personalizes it for you.

Jenni: Got it. Okay. So low hanging fruits, use the right card for the right spend.

Jenni: And then also there's four cards that you recommended in terms of, and then focusing on transferable points. Yes. Good. Okay. Don't focus on the hotel branded ones, especially if you're trying to keep it easy. Okay. Any other kind of key principles or low hanging fruits that you wanna share?

Kerry: Sure. So there's one thing that you should probably understand is that if you're going to.

Kerry: Do this or get into the credit card game, or just make sure you do it. Just make sure you're paying off your credit card. Come to your credit card. Yes. Monthly as a financial

Jenni: planner, number one. Yes. Yeah. Number one, paid off. Don't take consumer debt. Yes. Yeah,

Kerry: exactly. But also know that, you know, a lot of these come with a signup bonus and it, you need, and it has a sort minimum, so maybe it might be 4K in three months, and so on.

Kerry: So the benefits of signing up for these is they give you that large amount of points. And make sure that you have spend coming up that can get you that. 'cause some people don't do that and they're like, what's a signup bonus? And then they kind of forget and they lose their points. So just make sure that you can do those and then use the resources out.

Kerry: There's just so much out there in terms of credit card points, resources that like use that to your advantage. I mean, there's a lot out there.

Jenni: Yeah. And I'm curious like about the signup bonus. 'cause I, you know, like Lisa and I have also played this game and have used it. You know, every year we travel to Taiwan with our family of four for free.

Jenni: And Lisa also feels very proud of herself when she gets it done. But like between the signup bonus and the points, the points that you get from a signup bonus versus the points that you get from spending on the card, obviously like you're gonna get a big chunk, but like kick. My, my original understanding was like, it's really all about the signup bonus, but you can only open so many cards and at some point the, the credit cards company cut you off and don't let you open anymore.

Jenni: Right. But like, can you actually generate meaningful points through spend as well, you know, or, or is it really about opening cards over and over again?

Kerry: Okay, so I guess it all depends on what your goal is, right? Mm-hmm. So I mean, if you're trying to take one big trip with your family yearly, I mean, you could probably between, and you have a spouse, a player, so another term, a points term, it's player one would be you, Jenny, and player two would be Lisa.

Kerry: So to use that. In your, to your benefit. So I know you said that you could run out of cards, but if you look at it as, oh, I'm approaching this one trip and I can open a card. She could open a card, we can get the signup bonus put together, and then that's our cards for the year. And you can look at it like that.

Kerry: I don't. We went hard, like I have like 15 cards, but I, like, I downgrade, I cancel, I do all the things when I want to because we were in a very, we went to Europe five times in like two years. We were going like every six months. All on points. All on points. Okay. See this

Jenni: is, this is what you could do if you're willing to play the game.

Jenni: Right? Yeah. On a family of five. Yeah.

Kerry: If you were willing and committed, and especially you have to use the fact that you're in the Bay Area, you have children who just. Or just bleeding you dry with excuse. Use that to your advantage and get points. And that's what I like. You could really, you can do it like if you don't make Lisa an authorized user on your card and you open a card, get the points and you, you play the game.

Kerry: Like it's, and you could do it. I mean, we're starting to run out a PTO and all that, but I mean, it's, you, it's definitely possible. Some people, I, I went really hard 'cause I just wanted to see what I could do. Right. And it's possible when you spend a lot of money.

Jenni: Yes, those children do bleed us dry. Yeah. Okay. And then actually speaking about player one, player two, also, what about folks who have their own businesses? Like how do you increase the number of players you can, who can play?

Kerry: Oh man. So there is, for the business cards, a lot of people underestimate the fact that.

Kerry: These credit card companies, they just want customers. I mean, they don't really care about too much of the fine print of what your business constitutes. So when I first started, before I started this business, if I was selling my kids' clothes on Facebook marketplace, and that's technically like a business or like someone was the photographer for the coaches, like just any side hustle, right?

Kerry: I mean, people sell things on Etsy, anything like that, anything qualifies. Yeah. And I know this gets. Different, and this is the financial thing. I wasn't, I wasn't trying to itemize for my accountant or anything, right. But like, I was just trying to get points. So there is this like niche thing of the Chase Inc.

Kerry: Business cards, if you own a business, which is, so they, it's just that the best card, because there's not an annual fee they give you a boatload of points and you can easily transfer them. So if you have a business, like you could still start with a player. I mean, depending if you both own. And what you're trying to itemize or anything that like I would focus with Chase Inc.

Kerry: Business cards. Yeah. And don't be afraid to open them if you have like a side hustle or you're selling your kids' clothes on next door .

Jenni: Now let's say a family hears this and they're like, okay, Kerry says, I should open up a couple of these cards. They pick two out of the four cards. They figure out what their category spend is, and now like, how do they track all this stuff without losing their mind?

Kerry: Yeah. So in terms of staying organized and making sure, like that credit card audit I was talking about, there's a wonderful resource called Travel Freely, and it's a. Free app and I would be lost without it. I've seen people tracking it in spreadsheets and I think they're crazy because that's just like too much.

Kerry: But there's this wonderful app. It's free. You download it, you just enter your card information. It's not, you're not giving it your, like social security or anything. And it just tells you when your card, if after a year it tell, it sends you an email like, Hey. Your annual fee's coming up in case you wanna downgrade or cancel, or, hey, you have one month to reach your signup bonus, make sure you do it.

Kerry: Or, Hey, you're up for, if you are playing the, the cards game. Some people get them every three months. So if you go that deep it'll give you card recommendations and tell you when that three months is up so that you could apply for a new car. It's great. I don't know what I would do without it. It's the only thing that I've seen that really puts it all in one place to help you.

Kerry: Keeps it just rewind, like it's the best.

Jenni: Yeah. I have to say we used to do the spreadsheet thing and then, and then Kerry showed us this app. I'm like, what is this? This is amazing. Okay. So it's so good. Making, making our life easier. Okay, so last question on kind of earning points. Is there any, like, other than that.

Jenni: Time and energy it costs for somebody to kind of do this. And I think if you just focus on these low hanging fruits, it's actually not that much time. It's just a little bit of upfront work. Are there any downsides? Like, I think people are really worried, oh, I'm gonna open all these cars, I'm gonna hurt my credit score.

Jenni: Is that true? Oh,

Kerry: yeah. Well, they're not, it's not true. They're not hurting their credit score. So the, your credit utilization rate, so your amount of credit that's under your bubble, your, you know, your bubble or whatever, the more that you increase that, the better your credit score gets. So it's funny 'cause a lot of people be like, oh my God, I don't wanna have my credit score credit cards.

Kerry: Score and you don't, it can only get better. Like honestly, my husband and I like have competitions and he'll be like, sell my credit score with yours. Like, because ours are like over 800. Yeah. Because we pay off our bills and we're are, we have a huge credit utilization, so yeah. You're, it's not gonna affect it.

Kerry: I mean, I would say that if you're trying to, you know, buy a house or try to, you're probably not gonna get into the game and be in it like a year prior to getting like a loan or anything. I'd be careful with that. But it doesn't affect, it's only gotten better. And it's so funny 'cause I get those naysayers out there who say that.

Kerry: And then they're, and then they'll text me and be like, oh my God, my credit score went up. And I was like, I told you just pay your bill. Like fine. Like, I dunno what Yeah, because you actually

Jenni: increase your available credit, but you're still using, so you're using less lower percentage of it. Yeah. So it actually helps your score.

Jenni: I guess my one, just to kind of push on that one, like I have, my understanding is that the duration or the length of your credit matters. And so you, if you're closing them, is that a problem? Or you know how you manage that

Kerry: so you don't wanna close your oldest line. Okay. So like, I have. First Capital One card I ever had from like college, like I will not close.

Kerry: I'll downgrade it. So what I say is I don't, I'll cancel sometimes, but a lot of times I'm just downgrading to a no fee card, right? All you need to do is or is to email them or call and be like, Hey, I don't wanna pay. I wanna downgrade. And. Then you're not affecting your credit score, but just don't, if you have an old Victoria Secret card sitting there from like 20 years ago, just keep it in the drawer and let it go.

Kerry: Like you don't need to close it because it's gonna hurt your credit.

Jenni: So I think the key takeaway is it's not gonna hurt your credit score actually in general. Because you might actually see your credit card scoring proof 'cause you increase your credit capacity. And then just make sure you keep your oldest credit card open, even if you're not utilizing it. Yeah.

Jenni: Okay. So if we then talk, kind of switch gears and talk a little bit about spending points. That's the other challenge, right? You're like, you get all these points and it's like, ah, I can never book anything. So like, what, what are some of the misconceptions there and like, and I guess, yeah. How, how do you advise on that?

Kerry: Okay. Well the first thing that like is always, it's like point touring. Earn and burn is always what I say, but that you can't do it, that it's too hard. I think a lot of people, and that's kind of where I come in, a lot of people get like analysis paralysis, like, oh my God, like is this the best value? Like yes, I dunno if I wanna do this. And then I'm just like, calm down.

Kerry: Like the whole point is to take a trip. So like, I mean, if you burn, if you burn a little too many, that's still fine. You're still taking a trip and saving money. Yeah. So that's kind of what I say is just make the decisions that's best on for your family. But. I mean, there's so much out there. Like you could literally Google, like, I wanna go to Italy on points.

Kerry: And you probably have 20 articles about someone who's done it. And there's different options depending where like with the research we have available, like don't be stuck and be worried about spending them. I always go through a process, like I always, and it's market research, like, you know, I always look to see, okay, w.

Kerry: What is it in the portal? What is it if I paid cash or what if it if I transfer and just kind of just weigh it? And if I don't have flexible dates. So some people have like a 50 year anniversary they're trying to get to, and they have, they're, they're locked in on those dates like you do with the best that you can, but don't be worried about not like, not getting the best like value for 'em.

Kerry: I think people can get, I mean, but there are like, there's literally. A calculator online where you could put in, and it's on the point sky.com. It's a great resource. You could put in the value of the, of the cash you're paying and with the savings, and it'll tell you the best. You know, what's my best option?

Kerry: Like, how much am I saving? If you're really into that. So,

Jenni: yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I used to do that. I used to be like, oh, I am not getting the full, the dollar value of my points. I should not do this. We should save them. At least it's like Justin for freaking use them, you know? So I, I think there's a point in which Optim, like you're overly optimizing, right?

Jenni: It's kind of like you said, like, and this is the truth with money too. At the end of the day, the point of having points or money. Is to enjoy them, enjoy what they can buy, not freak out about how you're not optimizing them to the nth degree. Right. So and if you're like I don't even wanna figure out how to do this call, Kerry, Kerry can help you figure it out.

Jenni: Yeah, I

Kerry: can help you.

Jenni: How far in advance, like if, if a family knows, hey, this summer I wanna take my family a four or five and my mom-in-law or whatever to Europe like how far in advance do they start by thinking about a point strategy?

Kerry: So I let, and this, oh, I always get people like, oh my God, you're already planning a trip.

Kerry: Well, because we have a family of five and award tickets, they, the airlines only release a certain amount and Yeah. I like to do the sooner the better. So like, I like to do a year to nine months out, depending on the program or partner airline. I've had luck with nine months and finding like pretty cheap bears and it also depends on the season or whatever you're gonna do.

Kerry: And yeah, summer for Europe is obviously more expensive. It's their high season, so I would probably definitely look out a year in advance and use the benefit of knowing our kids'. School breaks to your advantage, like Yeah. A lot of these airlines, like for example, we're big proponents of Air France and flying blue for getting to Europe.

Kerry: Because they have great award rates and kids under 11 fly for 25% off discounted of award, the award rate. So it's cheaper. And they're, they open up a year in advance and I literally will just look and be like, oh, like where are the fairs? Like, what's open? Right? Like in a year, if I know that we wanna go somewhere next summer, so, and then it's done.

Kerry: And a lot of them, the cancellation fee isn't that bad if you do need to cancel and then you get your points back in your account. I mean, so it's kind of, I don't know. It, it. I, people are like, oh my God, you're not, you can't be flexible with, with it, but you can, if you just use it to your advantage of, oh, I have like a schedule.

Kerry: I can just look at it in year in advance. Like, it's fine. So I don't worry. Yeah,

Jenni: Is there any general rule of thumb if you think about like, okay, you have some points that you can use, the points, usually it's like either airlines, hotels, or just cash. Right? Do you have any rule of thumb about those things or is it really based on like what you're trying to get?

Kerry: Yeah, I mean, basically what you're trying to get, the great thing about the transferable points is like if I focused on Chase, yeah. I could transfer to an airline or a hotel. So like, if I'm looking at a trip, I could either foc be like, I wanna save money on the flight.

Kerry: And, and just transfer it out. Or I wanna save money at a Hyatt and I'll transfer it to Hyatt or whatever. Yeah. Hotel. So you kind of just focus, I mean, you're probably not gonna get both depe because you probably aren't gonna have that many points to do that, but just focus on one and if you save a little little money, like that's great.

Kerry: And then even for family, like I really like Capital One venture because you can use it for Airbnbs, which is great for families. You can it's called the Purchase Eraser, where it just. Once it hits your statement, credit your statement, it just, you're just credited it. So I really push that as well if you're, because that's a big expense right there, so, yeah.

Jenni: Yeah, that's pretty great. Yeah. Okay. Is there, like, at least for our, you know, many of our clients live in the Bay Area. Is there any particular best, like if you're thinking about flying out of SFO or something, is there any ideal airlines or cards or anything like that? If you're, if, if you're coming from here.

Jenni: Totally if we're just focusing on travel optimization.

Kerry: So it's all about hubs, right? Yeah. So in SFO we united the big hub Alaska, we have a lot of, and then I wanna, and then we, for Europe, there's some sweet spots. So it kind of depends on where you're going, but I would de the beauty of the four card that I mentioned is that they transferred to all of those, those hubs.

Kerry: Yeah. So United, south, even Southwest Alaska Airlines. And then, like for Europe, we do Virgin Atlantic. Yeah. Which is American Express. So, I mean, there's a, there's some sweet spots. And then you also have, if you had to wanna go to Japan. Yeah. So like, we're like, you have the sweet spots there. So and that would be more of like American Airlines then you'd get into those cards?

Kerry: Yeah. Yeah.

Jenni: , A lot of. Barrier. Families have high expenses. The children that are bleeding us dry, our mortgages, the food bill, all that, you know, what are some, are there any like biggest, when you talk to folks in your workshops and stuff, what do you see as some of the biggest missed opportunities?

Kerry: So a lot of people don't know that there's this card out for, it's called Built and you can actually pay your starting in 2026. So they're gonna release it next year. You can start paying your mortgage with it. What? Yeah. Really? Okay. Yeah. I haven't signed on for it yet just 'cause I wanna see how this plays out.

Kerry: Yeah. You've been able to put pay, your rent was built for a long time. Yeah. So you can get max a hundred thousand points. A year by paying your rent through them. But they're gonna, they're trying to get into the mortgage game now. And the beauty of build is that it has all those transfer partners that I was talking about with the four other cards.

Kerry: So they're really trying to get in the game. So mortgage is getting there. I think they're realizing that there's potential there. I don't know how it's gonna marry up with all the banks, but mortgage, so childcare, I mean. When it, depending on your school system, a lot of them take credit cards. Sometimes there's a fee.

Kerry: But if you're trying to make a, so say you, you're focused on making po as many the points as possible in a quick amount of time because you wanna book that trip to Europe and you need to make that signup bonus. That sub, like you could make a payment on your credit card, eat the fee, it's not that much, and just know that you're gonna hit the signup bonus and then you could use that.

Kerry: So you could definitely do it for childcare and tuition. Like I know I've paid credit card before for our tuition. And then dining out, I mean, chase. Preferred, it's like times a three and then Amex and times four. So I think that just making, it's expensive here to eat and to go to school and all those things.

Kerry: So just make sure that you're getting the most value there. And even if you can't use that category spend for those, like even if you get the Capital One venture, it's times two on everything. So I, we quickly, like if we're in between cards and we're only use the Capital One like that goes up pretty fast because of everyday expenses.

Jenni: Okay. Wait, is there a specific credit card or does that have to be a specific one?

Jenni: Or anything? I

Kerry: don't know if they take Amex because Amex Okay, that's fine. We don't have Amex. Yeah. And then another thing that, I don't know that, but we pay our taxes with a credit card.

Jenni: Yeah, yeah, totally.

Jenni: Okay. Like for you, I mean, and I don't know if you can quantify this, like if you were to guess, what do you think on an annual basis, if you were to quantify by dollars, like what you would've spent, like how much money do you think you've been able to save or make, whatever from doing this?

Kerry: I saved over 50 k.

Jenni: Per year?

Kerry: No. No, no. Total for total. Like total, yeah. For, I calculated it. I really was curious, especially with this, I wanted to see how much I've spent yeah. Over 50 K in a couple years.

Jenni: Couple years. Okay. So maybe like you're getting like 15, $20,000 a year. Yeah. In, in rewards. Yeah. So that's pretty great, right?

Jenni: No, yeah. Like that's, that's like we,

Kerry: we, we, I had a goal this summer. We took our family to Scotland in the uk and I didn't wanna pay anything for accommodations. And I wanted do, and we'd paid a dime, weeks paid. $1,200 for five of us to fly there, and then our accommodations for three weeks. We didn't pay anything.

Jenni: Wow. Awesome. This is what you could do, the aspirations. Yeah, you can. Okay. So let's say people are like I have aspirations to do this. This feels really hard though. I need help. How do you help people, like if they wanted to do a consult with you, what does that look like?

Kerry: So it's, so it's all about your goal.

Kerry: So it could be as basic as, I wanna bring my kids to the Great Wolf Lodge and I wanna use points, and these are my points. Tell me what I could do. I will let them like be that quick. Like this is what you should do. Yeah, that's a consult. Or we have a strategy session where we sit down. We look at all your cards, we talk about your options like should you downgrade, cancel, or what you should focus on and what your travel goals are.

Kerry: 'cause some people have stuff that they wanna take that bucket list trip. And then I also do the full gamut. Like I will look up all of, depending on your points, I will look up all of the different airfares and all of that for you. Provide all those options for you. And all you have to do is book. So some people don't wanna do that heavy lifting.

Kerry: I will do it. It felt that hard for me. But yeah, so basic to full booking, I will do.

Jenni: Let me ask the final two closing thought questions is number one, what is one, if you could just pick one action. You know, every family, every, every household I'm sure at least has a credit card. What is one action they can start doing to use their rewards or accumulate their awards better?

Kerry: Oh my God. Well, first. Like, don't use your debit card on anything, please. But one thing, like sit down for five minutes and make, and like look at where you wanna go in like three months and make a goal and try to make a strategy to, 'cause a lot of people are so busy they don't think about it all of a sudden they're like, oh, I wanna go to Hawaii next year.

Kerry: But they haven't really planned it out. So take like five minutes to just think of where you wanna go and how you wanna re and what programs you have. And then if you need help, like re reach out to me.

Jenni: Yeah. Okay. And how can people find you?

Kerry: I am at Kerry's Point, unpacked on Instagram, and that has my full store of all my services and you can click through and see all the fun videos I make when.

Jenni: Great. Well, we will have a link to all of that. Thank you so much. And I guess I just wanna say that yes, you know, there, I think there's, yes, this takes a bit of, this takes a little bit of work and some planning. But if you think about the potential of making or saving $15K to $20K A year, right, for somebody, like, I just think about how much energy people spend to either make it or like.

Jenni: Research the best car to save 15 000 or 20,000 or whatever it's that people are doing. Right. So this is actually, and also this is an ongoing thing. Once you kind of figure this out, you can do this on an ongoing basis. Yeah. So, great. Thank you so much for your time.

Kerry: Yeah. Thank you for having me.