I have next-leveled my traveling for free with credit card points and I have a tip for how you can too!

Last summer my family of five spent a month in Italy almost exclusively on credit card points.

Today I booked trips for all of us to visit my sister in Idaho and my father in California and I did not pay a dime for plane tickets! That is because we have started using Plastiq to earn points on our credit cards for EVERYTHING we buy.

Plastiq allows you to pay for things that you normally cannot pay for with a credit card. They charge your card for the purchase, and then send a paper check or an ACH wire to the merchant.

I have long-since been trying to max out my use of credit cards for every-day purchase but this is a huge up-level to my credit card game! I now pay my accountant, my lawyer, and construction contractors with Plastiq. I’ve even paid for entire rental properties with credit cards, paid the balance off immediately, and reaped enough travel rewards points to send me to Siberia and back!

Plastiq does charge a fee for these transactions. I admit I did not like that at first but when I realized that I have to pay my CPA 5-figures per year anyway and was getting nothing in return for that, I felt much better about the $250 fee. Consider that the benefits of a $10,000 purchase on credit card points is most likely equal to a free night at a 4-star hotel. I’d rather pay $250 for that benefit rather than $300 out-of-pocket.

Also consider that in most cases, that fee is a taxable deduction if you are using business credit cards. We make an effort to travel with business credit cards because if we redeem the rewards as cash, we have to pay taxes on that. Which I do not want to do.

Now do this math: If I have to pay post-tax dollars for travel, I have to earn approximately $1.37 for each dollar that I spend on travel, given my 37% tax rate. But if I pay for travel with business credit card points, I pay for travel with tax-free money because business expenses are paid with pre-tax dollars. So even with that Plastiq fee, you are still saving tons!

That is how it works for us on travel. If you are the kind of family that prefers cash-back rewards, it works out similarly!

Consider that $300 hotel room night. I have to earn $411 in my pre-tax salary to pay that $300 tab. But if I pay Plastiq to earn that in rewards, it only costs me $250 for that hotel room. Get it?

Now think of all the things you pay for with cash that you could be reaping rewards for!

• Recurring car payment
• Rent payment
• Tuition
• Taxes
• Freelancers
• Home improvement
• Babysitters
• Really anything you can pay with a wire or check you can now reap credit card rewards for!

Of course this is not ideal for everyone because you need discipline and organization to do this. But if you like to travel like the Morris family does, Plastiq is worth looking into! The link I am giving you in this post will get you $50 off of your first credit card purchase and up to $250 off in the next. It is an affiliated link meaning I have a business relationship with Plastiq. See my affiliated business disclosure here. I hope that does not put you off because I swear to you that I use this service like a beast! Run the numbers for your family to see if you should be beastly with your credit cards too!

Of course, this is NOT a trick if you do not pay off the cards right away. Don’t charge anything you cannot pay off right away. That should go without saying but I feel compelled to say it anyway!

Bon voyage everyone! Charge!