Beginner vs. Advanced Points & Miles Strategy: How Your Strategy Should Change

When you're brand new to points and miles, I will almost always tell you the same thing:

Figure out where you want to go first.

But after you've booked a trip or two?

I actually want you to start doing almost the opposite.

Instead of earning points for one specific trip, I want you building a stash of different points so you're ready for the trips you don't even know you're taking yet.

Because eventually, the goal changes from “How do I pay for this trip with points?” to “Ooooh, that's a great deal. Good thing I already have the points.”

And THAT is when points and miles get really fun.

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If You're a Beginner, Earn Points With a Purpose

When you're starting out, 100,000 points sounds like 100,000 points.

But it's not quite that simple.

Different points give you access to different airline and hotel partners, and some are going to be much more useful for the trip you want to take than others.

So I don't want you opening a card just because you saw someone on Instagram say the welcome offer is amazing.

I want you to work backward from the trip.

Where do you want to go?

Which airlines can get you there?

Which hotel programs have properties you'd actually want to stay at?

Which points can you use to book those flights and hotels?

Then you can start figuring out which card makes sense.

This is why flexible points are usually where I like beginners to start. They give you more options instead of locking you into one airline or hotel program before you really know what you're doing.

And if you have a trip in mind but have absolutely no idea which points you should be earning for it, that's exactly why I made my Points Matchmaker Guide.

But Once You've Booked a Trip or Two... I Want Your Strategy to Change

At some point, you don't need every single point you earn to already have a job.

You've transferred points.

You've booked an award flight.

You've figured out that sometimes the flight you originally wanted isn't available, but there's an even better option from an airport two hours away.

You've seen what happens when a random amazing redemption pops up.

And now?

I want you to have options.

This is when I'd start thinking less about earning points for one trip and more about building your overall points bank.

I Want Points in More Than One Place

Once you've been doing this for a while, having 300,000 points sounds great.

But I'd rather have a useful mix of points across several programs than have everything sitting in one place.

Why?

Because I don't know where the next great redemption is going to come from.

Maybe I find four award seats through an airline that partners with one bank but not another.

Maybe there's an incredible hotel redemption available through a program I wasn't originally planning to use.

Maybe a transfer bonus suddenly makes one option way more appealing.

The more options I have, the easier it is for me to jump when something good comes along.

That doesn't mean I randomly collect every type of point I can get my hands on.

I'm still strategic.

I just don't need to know exactly how I'm going to use every point before I earn it anymore.

This Is When I Start Paying REALLY Close Attention to Elevated Offers

This is probably one of the biggest differences between my beginner strategy and how I earn points now.

As a beginner, I don't want you opening a card simply because it has a huge welcome offer.

Does that card actually help you get where you're trying to go?

But once you've built your first points trip or two and you're trying to grow that bigger points bank?

I'm absolutely watching those elevated offers. 👀

If there's a card I've already been interested in and suddenly the welcome offer is significantly better than usual, I'm asking:

Do I want more of these points?

Can I comfortably meet the spending requirement?

Does this give me access to transfer partners or benefits I don't already have?

Is this an unusually good time to get this card?

If the answers make sense, I might earn those points without having a clue which trip I'll eventually use them for.

Because at this point, having the points ready IS the strategy.

This Is Also When Cobranded Cards Start Getting More Interesting

I don't think most beginners need to start collecting a bunch of airline and hotel cards.

I'd much rather see you build a solid foundation of flexible points first.

But later?

Cobranded cards can start filling some really specific holes in your strategy.

Maybe there's an elevated welcome offer with a hotel program you know you love.

Maybe you want a free-night certificate.

Maybe you fly the same airline enough that the card's benefits actually matter to you.

Maybe you already have plenty of flexible points and now you want to build up one particular program.

At this stage, I don't need every card in my wallet to do everything.

I want each card to have a job.

And sometimes a cobranded card has a very specific job that makes sense for our travel.

Here's the Difference

If you're a beginner and tell me:

“I want to take my family to Italy next summer.”

I want you to figure out what points can get you to Italy and start earning those points.

We're building toward something.

But if you've already booked a few trips with points and tell me:

“I don't know where we want to go next summer.”

I'm completely okay with that.

Now I want you building options.

Flexible points with more than one bank.

Maybe some strategically chosen airline or hotel points.

Free-night certificates or other benefits you know you'll use.

Then one random Tuesday you get an alert four business-class seats somewhere amazing...

You don't have to start figuring out how you're going to earn the points.

You already have them.

And you can book.

And that’s exactly why my points strategy looks so different now than it did when I started.

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