Posts tagged: banks

How to Buy Rewards Points Instead of Waiting to Earn Them

card reward pointsNot many people know but it’s true that you can buy rewards points without having to wait to earn them. This has been a somewhat hidden option all this time. You can actually top up your account by buying points for a redemption. And the best thing is that the cost of doing so is not as unreasonable as you might think it will be.
People can buy points by their Membership Rewards Linked Cards, and at $25 for 1000 points, they’re not as expensive as one might think they’d be. These points are still cheaper than buying from an airline. So in this article, we’ll discuss how you can buy rewards points and why you might want to do that.

Why Buying Rewards Points Makes Sense

The main reason to buy rewards points is to top up your account for a particular redemption. Membership Rewards points happen to a flexible currency. This means you can check how many points you have and how you wish to use them. If you’re short, then you can buy as many points as you want to use them for whatever purpose you intend to use them for.

Buying points to top up your account when you know there’s an airline seat that can be redeemed is another reason to buy rewards points. This way you can secure the seat earlier instead of waiting until you have earned the remaining points from your day to day spends. If let’s say you’re another 1000 points short, then it could take a very long time to earn that many points, and the airline seat that you’re after won’t obviously wait for you for that long.

Important Details When Buying Rewards Points

The process of buying rewards points can easily be conducted over the phone number given at the back of your frequent flyer credit card or charge card. With American Express, you have to buy points in chunks of 1000. There is no limit on the number of points that can be bought. For more details about buying points, you can visit Points Bank.

Whenever you buy Membership Rewards points you’ll have to transfer them or redeem them over to a partner program at the time of purchase. So it’s better if you buy these points with a specific purpose in your mind. Points can be purchased on request immediately, and the transfer of points is also initiated at the same time.

Another advantage of buying points is that if there is any bonus promotion running at the time when you buy points, then the points will be offered to you at the bonus promotion that is being given at that time. However, you won’t be able to earn more points on the purchase of your points.

Buying rewards points is actually very easy. All you have to do is just make an account with Points Bank and state how much points you would like to purchase and for what purpose. These orders usually take 72 hours before your purchased points can be seen in your account.

The Best Places To Keep Your Money Safe And Keep It Growing

11947055-gold-globe-with-many-gold-coinsWhen you want to grow your money or just keep it safe, probably your first impulse is to look for a bank account that offers good interest rates and put it in there. This is how most of us will keep our money safe and amass a little interest over time, but are you really making the most of your cash when you put it away like that and forget about it? Could you be doing more with your cash or enjoying more benefits? Here we will look at how to get more from your money and how to choose the right account or service for you and your money.

Understanding Bank Accounts

Before you put your money into any account, you should make sure that you understand precisely what a bank account is and what it does. What you might not be aware of for instance, is that when you put your money into an account that money gets invested into properties, projects and businesses as though you were playing the stock market with it. The interest you accumulate is the customers’ cut of the profit the bank makes by making those investments.

Now generally this interest is pretty low in a current account, but you can make more interest by putting it into a range of savings accounts which generally make accessing your money more difficult. Because you take your money out of a savings account less frequently, the banks can make more profit from investing it and thus they can offer you higher APR (annual percentage rate). If you pay into an ISA that doesn’t allow regular access, then this will provide you with even higher interest.

Choosing the right bank account then should mean choosing the bank that you most trust, choosing the deal with the highest APR (make sure it’s cumulative interest) and choosing the one that offers the easiest access. In general you should also make sure that you have multiple bank accounts with different organizations. This will keep your money safer because it won’t all be in one ‘pot’ should anything happen to that bank, and it will also help you to keep track of your own money and to budget more wisely.

Other Options

The problem is though that with any bank account you will still only be taking a cut of the profit they get from investing your money – and a very small cut at that. There are ways you can increase this amount further though, which include investing yourself in stocks and shares (or bonds) or alternatively using something like a self-managed super fund which means essentially teaming up with some other people to invest your cash jointly and choose which investments you want to make.

There are also other ways you can keep your money safe which provide other benefits or which are more suitable for particular groups. For instance if you run a large business and are worried about potential bankruptcy you might be interested in asset protection in which case you may be interest in a Swiss Annuity which pays you back your own money with interest over a set duration. If you need to take out life insurance to protect your family meanwhile, then life assurance policies can help you to invest your cash while at the same time protecting your family and could be a great way to protect your family.