Welcome to Miles Maximized where we concisely breakdown how to travel the world for free by maximizing credit card miles and points to maximize your travel miles and experiences. Credit cards can be a great way to save massive amounts of money for yourself and your family or to travel luxuriously in First/Business class and to stay at 5 star hotels on points! 

Most credit cards give a return of 1-5% on purchases which can take years to accrue enough points to do much of anything. However, by consistently leveraging sign up bonuses the effective rate of return can become ~10-20%. On top of that, using proper redemptions such as certain transfer partners can further 2x+ the value of your points, turning your expenses into 20%+ back toward travel! The below table outlines the differences in potential returns for a hypothetical year of $24,000 spent on credit cards. CPP = cents per point. Read here on how to increase the value of your points.

	1 CPP	1.25 CPP	1.5 CPP	2 CPP
Cash back without bonuses	~2% ($480)	2.5% ($600)	3% ($720)	4% ($960)
Cash back using sign up bonuses	~13.5% ($3,240)	16.875% ($4,050)	20.25% ($4,860)	27% ($6,480)

Read this post for our favorite card/strategy for maximizing credit card points.

You can further increase your ability to earn points by getting creative with how you spend! This post outlines a number of ways to maximize your spend without actually spending more for even more points.

Whether you want to spend minimal time accruing points or want to fully maximize your points the guides and strategies here will help you jumpstart your points earning and your travel adventures. 

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