🤑 My Top Finds, Latest Deals, and Best Recommendations (7/5/25)
👋 Hi there,
Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here's a quick look into today's newsletter:
💰 My 10-step money allocation framework
🌍 Earn 1 million points by flying to 6 continents
🎯 Up to 50% off + free $50 credit at Target
🤗 Free museum tix, fitness membership, ice cream
💺 20% off Flying Blue award flights
🤩 Easy bonus miles & points: United, Marriott & Hyatt
💳 $20 off Amazon with Discover cards
📈 Increased award ticket fees & taxes on Virgin Atlantic
💸 Learn to spend money and more!
I really hope you enjoy reading! Feel free to share this newsletter with someone else who might too! (And if that's you, subscribe here so you don't miss out on amazing deals in the future). Thanks so much!
Chris
💰 My Personal 10-Step Money Allocation Framework
Want to learn how I allocate my income? Here's the 10-step money allocation framework I've built to balance and prioritize savings, investments, and financial flexibility. I also cover advanced strategies for tax optimization, liquidity, and more.
🏃 My Favorite Performance Apparel
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by… Vuori
Vuori makes my favorite performance apparel, because it's incredibly versatile and SO comfortable. Everything is designed to work out in, but doesn’t look or feel like it at all, which is why I pretty much wear it every day of the week (as does my wife Amy).
I have so many favorites to check out: the Sunday Performance Joggers (my #1), the entire super-soft DreamKnit collection, Kore shorts, Strato Tech Tees, Meta pants and so much more.
Get 20% off your first purchase, plus free shipping on U.S. orders over $75 and free returns at chrishutchins.com/vuori
🛫 Travel, Points & Miles
🤩 Easy Bonus Miles & Points: United, Marriott & Hyatt
Here are three relatively easy ways to earn some bonus miles/points.
1,500 United Miles: Add an eligible credit card to your digital wallet and make 5+ purchases in July, August & September. Register here before 7/31.
750 Marriott Points or 500 United Miles: Link your Marriott and United accounts to earn bonus United miles on eligible Marriott stays and vice versa.
500 Hyatt Points: Per night, when you stay at new properties (or hotels new to the rewards program) during eligible dates.
500 Hyatt Points: Per 20-min peloton workout at a Hyatt through 8/5 (max 500 pts/day and 5,000 pts/mo). Register here
💺 20% Off Flying Blue Promo Award Flights
Air France-KLM's Flying Blue program's July 2025 Promo Rewards is offering a 25% discount on economy award flights between Europe and Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Toronto, Austin, Portland and other cities. There are also business-class options to Bogota and Panama City starting at 63,750 miles. Book before 7/31 for travel until 12/31.
🌍 Fly to 6 Continents and Earn 1 Million Points
Turkish Airlines' latest promo lets you earn up to 1 million points when you fly to destinations across 6 continents. It's a pretty decent challenge considering Turkish's extensive route network, but you have to book and complete all your travels between 6/27 and 10/27. If you're interested, this Frequent Miler episode covered the promo in depth.
✈️ Up to 5,000 AA Miles from AA Shopping Referrals
You can earn up to 5,000 bonus AA miles when you refer friends to the AA shopping portal. You'll get 500 miles for every friend who spends $75+ before 7/14, plus your friend gets 1,000 bonus miles on top of their normal earnings. Here's my referral link if you need one :)
💸 Points & Miles on Sale
Do you have a redemption in mind, or are you familiar with these programs? Check out these deals with expiration dates in parentheses.
Avianca: 1.27¢ with up to a 160% bonus (7/14).
IHG: 0.5¢ with a 100% bonus (7/17).
Etihad: 1.43¢ with a 40% bonus (7/6).
United (Targeted): ~2.35¢ with up to a 60% bonus (12/31).
➡️ One-Way Award Bookings on ANA Are Now Live
You can finally book one-way awards with ANA, like a non-stop business class from Tokyo to Hong Kong for just 26,500 miles. This opens up a lot of opportunities since you can transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to ANA (though it takes 2-4 business days) and you can convert points to miles only in units of 1,000.
🔁 Up to 50% Transfer Bonus to Marriott
There's a 50% transfer bonus and a 20% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy (both ending on 8/15), but neither of them are interesting enough to overcome the fact that Marriott points are often worth ~0.7¢. That said, the right redemption could make sense for you.
Speaking of transfer bonuses, starting 9/16, Amex is reducing its transfer rate to Emirates Skywards from 1:1 to 5:4. This is a massive devaluation if you’ve been eyeing an Emirates redemption.
📈 Virgin Atlantic Increases Fees on Award Tickets
Virgin has hiked award ticket taxes and fees by 50% or more, especially on long-haul redemptions. This is yet another negative development in the points and miles world (and a reason I don't love speculatively transferring points to a program without a redemption in mind.
🤑 Latest Deals
🎯 Target Circle Week: Up to 50% Off + Free $50 Credit
Target Circle Week (7/6-7/12) has savings of up to 50% off toys, books, movies and more, plus 10% off Target gift cards. Additionally, some Target Circle cardholders can get $50 off $50+ when they subscribe to Target Circle 360 for $49.
💳 Easy $20 Off Amazon with a Discover Card
Add your Discover card as a payment method on Amazon and get $20 off your next $20.01+ purchase with the promo code PDDISCO25.
🤗 Free Museum Tix, Fitness Membership, Ice Cream
Freebies are a great way to stack savings, so here's a few to check out.
Free Museum Tickets: For Bank of America cardholders through the Museums on Us program. Valid on the first full weekend of every month, so that’s today, 7/5, and tomorrow, 7/6.
Free Planet Fitness Membership: For teens aged 14-19, valid through 8/31.
Free $10-25 from Best Buy: Targeted offer, so check your email. Valid for use until 7/13.
Free $15 Ice Cream: For Xfinity Rewards members, so check your account. Valid at Smoothie King, Baskin Robbins , Cold Stone Creamery, Sonic and Steak n Shake.
💳 Latest Card-Linked Offers
You can leverage card-linked offers to maximize your savings, so here are some I found this week. Expiration dates are in parentheses.
Air France/KLM: 20k Membership Rewards points with a $1,000 spend (9/30).
JetBlue: $50 off $200+ (8/31).
Travel: $25-$75 off $250-$750 (9/30).
U.S. Bank: $25/2,500 points with 2 bill payments (enroll by 7/31 and make payments before 9/30).
AT&T Wireless: $75 off $100 (7/31).
Cable/Internet: $5 off $50 (limit 4, 12/31).
Marriott Brands: 10% off $100+ (8/15).
Aria, Bellagio, and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas: $140 off $700 (9/25).
🛒 50% Off Annual Walmart+ Membership
You can now get a year of Walmart+ for only $49 (regularly $98) until 7/15. This membership includes free delivery, fuel discounts, Paramount+, and some other perks. Even better, if you have an Amex Platinum or Business Gold, you get a free Walmart+ membership.
🎁 Save 10% on Uber, Instacart & TopGolf Gift Cards
BestBuy.com is currently offering 10% off Uber, UberEATS, Instacart, and TopGolf digital gift cards. This is an easy way to save on things you're planning to spend money on anyway, and additionally, you can earn points or miles if you use a credit card to buy them.
🕵️ Top Finds
💸 How to Spend More Money
I enjoyed this article from Ben Carlson that explores the psychology behind spending decisions and offers practical advice on when and how to spend more money strategically to improve your quality of life.
💬 Parting Thoughts
As always, thanks so much for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, please let me know why!
Chris