Author: Kyle Burbank
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With Another Price Increase, Is CLEAR Still Worth It?
In 2021, the American Express Platinum Card was revamped — a change that came with a number of new perks but also a hike in annual fee. Among the numerous additions was an annual credit for CLEAR. This wasn’t completely unexpected as, by that time, the Green Card had also been relaunched and featured a…
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MasterClass Actually Lowered Its Subscription Price
The world of streaming entertainment has been incredibly frustrating as of late. For all of the mockery the move from HBO Max to just Max got, the story that sticks out to me is the fact that Disney+ just purged a bunch of their original content — meaning that great shows like Prop Culture and…
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Travel Tuesday: I Kickstarted a New Travel Product
Over the years, Kickstarter has had an interesting trajectory. While it was originally associated with art projects such as independent films (including some that were criticized for using the site to raise money when the creators were perceived as having the ability to self-finance… whether or not that was actually true) and musical albums, it…
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Starbucks’ Summer Game is Back and You Could Score Free Stars
I feel as though I’m kind of going back to my roots with this week’s Quick Tip: discussing a new Starbucks promotion. If you’re newer to my site, pre-pandemic, my wife and I would go to Starbucks every weekend as a means of hanging out with our favorite baristas, enjoying some breakfast, and catching up…
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Cutting Your Loses: My Brokerage Battle and How I Finally Fixed It
Late last year, word came down that the app Bumped — which allowed customers to earn stock in the companies they made purchases from — was shutting down. As bummed as I was at the time, it turns out that this announcement would only be the start of my troubles. Let me explain. After learning…
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Travel Tuesday: Understanding Chase’s New Sapphire Lounge
When Chase announced that it was opening a number of airport lounges in partnership with The Club, there were several questions I and others had. At the top of the list, with The Club being a staple of Priority Pass membership, it seemed fair to assume that those with Priority Pass — including those who gained…
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TD Bank Has a Pretty Dumb New Idea for a Credit Card Product
Doing what I do, I’ve seen several new credit card products come down the pike in recent years. Some of these are fairly boring (like 2% flat rate cards — they have a use but they’re not exciting), others as more interesting but not for me (see: Ness Card), and yet others just sound downright…
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Buying a MacBook Pro in 2023: The Challenges and Tips for Saving
In 2004, I began my freshman year of college. During my first week, I realized that I needed a laptop that I could use to take notes in class, do homework on, and make dorm life more bearable in between. When I went to the school bookstore, I learned that all they sold were Apple…
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Bask Bank Has Once Again Raised Its Mileage Earning Rate
In hindsight, Bask Bank either launched at the best or worst time ever: January 2020. On the one hand, debuting an account emphasizing travel just before the world shuts down can’t be good for branding. But, on the other hand, one could argue that the account allowed people to build up their frequent flier accounts…
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Travel Tuesday: Home2 Suites Chicago McCormick Place Hotel Review
Last month, for the fourth year in a row, my wife and I headed up to the Windy City to attend C2E2. As you may recall, after previously staying downtown and shuttling or driving in to the convention center, we decided to try staying at McCormick Place itself. Having tried the Hyatt Regency last time,…
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Facebook Probably Owes You Money (But You May Not Get Much)
As the headline says, Facebook probably owes you money. Or, to put it in television commercial terms, “If you were a Facebook user in the United States between May 24th, 2007 and December 22nd, 2022, you may be entitled to compensation.” That’s because Meta (Facebook’s parent company) has agreed to pay $725 million to settle…
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Bilt Continues to Expand Its Platform with Bilt Dining, Bilt Wallet
Remember when I joked that I basically write about Bilt on a monthly basis? Well, in actuality, it seems to be about every three weeks now. But it’s not my fault! The company continues to do interesting things — including launching a new program that not only allows customers to earn bonus points but also…
