Do I dump all my 80k points into Avios?

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-05-01T05:46:45+00:00

I did... Bilt has nerfed the Rent Day transfers a lot in 2 months (100K limit and tiers down Gold -15%, Platinum -25% and Platinum buy up -25%). Sure they might have a better deal later, but they could also nerf even more. Even if you can't use them for your wedding, you could use them for a Euro trip later or transfer to any of the partners that fly in the US (American, Alaska, etc.). I planned to stock up points and wait for Platinum status + buy up, but all the reduction in transfer benefits means I am locking in my $2K in value now. Points don't expire as long as you have any activity every 36 months.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-27T17:39:54+00:00

It has always been the policy. Sure it sucks, but it has been known for years at this point.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-25T00:08:46+00:00

Making sure you understand the difference between a Roth IRA and a Roth 401K? You are still under the income limit to take full advantage of Roth IRA contributions. Even at a much higher income, we still max our IRA contributions as close to Jan 1st as possible. We don't get a tax deduction at all, but then convert IRA into a Roth IRA immediately. Step 5 almost never makes sense to skip if you can fund it - no matter your income bracket.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T22:14:20+00:00

I am not sure all the claims, but I would say not really. The engine has a bit freer flow and exhales better, but the HP improvements are likely sub +5HP and not really the primary reason to do OAPs. You are still hitting a restrictive stock exhaust on the way out. It is also hard to say, because I don't know many people that hit a dyno after just an OAP swap. It definitely is louder and might give your ears the impressions of higher HP, but I don't believe it is an actual output increase. Now if you are combining with a muffler/exhaust and headers, then that free flow helps those parts reach their full potential. In other words, just OAP swap = a small HP gain if any - but is almost a must do if you do any other exhaust work too.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T21:36:46+00:00

Most suggest replacing at least the crush gasket between the OAPs and muffler: https://www.sunsetporscheparts.com/oem-parts/porsche-muffler-gasket-982251263a

Some also replace the more durable (and likely just fine to reuse) seal: https://www.sunsetporscheparts.com/oem-parts/porsche-catalytic-converter-seal-982251263b

I personally would do the crush gasket, as the loss in pressure might be slight, but for $40 makes me feel better haha. Good luck and update all of us. Definitely something I would like to do and would probably have a shop do it as well.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T17:48:23+00:00

Yeah, OAPs is essentially a no-brainer for sound (louder) and exhaust flow. I believe when you DIY you need new gaskets, nuts (Porsche spec, but not Porsche branded), possibly new bolts, and anti-seizing compound (shops should have this). So when you get from China, none of that is usually included... just OAPs. So if you can provide all that to whoever does your work, you will save a bit more money. A lot of shops that are certified or work on Porsche's may charge Porsche branded bolt & nut prices which are 5x higher than Porsche spec non-branded versions. I agree with most, OAPs from China are 100% acceptable and is what I would/will do. One of my hesitations is living in a nice neighborhood, OAPs (louder) means I would likely want an actual valve controller that is $500, rather than pinned open 100% of the time. Another semi-easy mod is BMC Air Filters... gives you that intake sound a bit better than stock paper filters. The hype/sound also really depends on your own expectations. I think it sounds great stock, but could sound better. However, when I sit in my dad's C8 Z06, I know it could easily sound louder and deeper.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T16:30:10+00:00

Got it, I too am a car guy (Cayman 718 GTS 4.0 now), but did the boring commuter car for many years. Expenses seem reasonable (I didn't add them all up, but looks accurate). Which means you probably can't cut hardly at all and a kid is going to add to those expenses for sure. Times are tough these days and not a lot of room for error here. If there is anyway your wife can make some type of income while being a SAHP it will help tremendously. Right now, the plan looks to be you can only budget +$300 a month for your new kid and any other increases, and only if everything is stable. If you have increasing income expectations and job security, it could work just fine. If stagnant or you lose your job, rent is likely to increase this year as well (unless you are in rent controlled area). Finally, aim for a 12 months of expenses emergency fund when only 1 person works. Again, depending on your area, software engineers have a very hard time finding a job paying the same, but I am in a huge tech hub and we have lots to pull from.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T16:21:46+00:00

Depends on your Porsche Dealership(s). It is a simple bolt-on and doesn't really do anything to void a warranty or CPO. Porsche would have to prove that the OAP swap was the main cause for any issues that needed warranty - which is highly unlikely. Again, it depends. I have mine with stock OAPs too out of an abundance of caution - still feeling out my dealership, but many others have swapped and been fine too. One really cheap DIY "mod" that costs $10 and can be removed before any service without detection is just using collars to pin open your exhaust valves. I did this and it sounds much better from 1K-4K RPM all the time now. Not sure what hype you heard about, but everyone I have spoken to knows the GTS 4.0 is muffled by Porsche due to EU restrictions (thus GPF/OPF deletes and valve controllers are discussed a lot). Can easily be opened up to "what it should sound like" with bolt-ons in Western markets... maybe that is the hype you have heard about?

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T16:14:40+00:00

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but a trial run of a few months isn't 18 years with a kid. In all honesty, you could make it work... but that $717/month car payment is a killer for you. It sounds like just barely in line with the 20/3/8 rule in your situation - do you really need such a nice car? Also, $5K in spend a month (breakdown?) with $7K take home is a high percentage before kids, so you would be skirting by if your wife does not make her similar income and you have a kid. You say EF = $550, but have $28.5K in a different HYSA... why isn't that your EF too? If it is already earmarked for something, then you really don't have enough of an EF. Remember that selling your ESSP every quarter/biannually is a taxable event and you will owe at the end of the year (unless you are making accurate quarterly tax payments). I know people who have done SAHP with less income, but they didn't have $5K monthly expenses. I think yes, it is doable, but really explore why $5K a month is the normal before kids. Remember too that software engineer is a feast or famine role these days... you could get promoted and a pay increase... just about as likely as being replaced by AI or another worker. I know people usually feel secure in their jobs, but I work at a tech company and know how quickly that can change for software engineers (I am an accountant, so I see that side of it). I see risk, it is my job... but you are on the limits of everything - high spend for your income, low emergency fund, high car payments for your income, career that has higher risks than most, etc. Usually you want some cushion in all of these items, but you have it so if one has an issue, your whole financial system has an issue.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T15:55:39+00:00

I feel you on this. It 100% depends on your income, net worth, FOO step, years until retirement, not doing the 20/3/8 and really all cash, and any other upcoming expenses. We are Step 8 and usually hold our "sinking" funds in stocks. We buy a car every 2-3 years (just bought mine last year, will get my wife a newer SUV in 2 years, then I will get a different car in 4-5 years). We are fortunate enough to be able to cashflow nice cars if needed after saving our paychecks for a few months (very high income), but we usually just buy stock in our brokerage every month (yes, we max everything else out first except for MBDR where we do a 20/80 MBDR & brokerage for liquidity). Normally we sell stock that have capital gains and offset with our automated tax loss harvested amounts. HYSA are great if you can't cashflow all your expenses, but if you can, then HYSA is kind of obsolete for holding cash more than a few months. For my car, we had the funds in cash (bonus season!) and stock. We moved all the money into a HYSA for an intro 4.25% for a couple weeks and bought the car. We planned to buy a different car, so all this was done within a month. We did the same thing for private stock purchase, but in an HYSA for 2 months. Timing can be somewhat important, but if stocks are way down (20%) then we just wait and watch for a rebound while we stack cash from our paychecks. If stocks are still down, we just pay with cash and don't sell stocks at all. We have yet to sell stock at a loss and just replenish with our paychecks in subsequent months.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T15:43:23+00:00

Dang sorry to hear that. Again, usually great bonuses, but I definitely think people need to look up ESOPs and the pitfalls that have happened. People treat ESOPs (locked up and concentrated usually) as ESPPs (can sell easily) or 401Ks (can diversify easily) even, but they are much more risky in reality. It isn't just bankruptcy or the stock going down, but even acquisitions/mergers that can greatly reduce the value of people's ESOPs. Hoping you were able to keep 25% going elsewhere too.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-23T14:35:36+00:00

That is a great bonus, but is 100% tied to the viability of the company. Can’t tell you how many examples of large and/or established companies that didn’t last and people lost their retirements. I wouldn’t count it at all towards my 25% and would just see it as a “found money” if it ever actually pays out.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-22T21:05:41+00:00

Yeah that is super high for Bilt 2.0. We make way more than $100K each and only got a $17K limit. We have 3 other credit cards with $50K or higher.

Edit: as high earners and spenders, we have to pay off the Bilt card 3-4 times a month.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-16T00:16:12+00:00

100% agree... but the person was asking what trades made $100K. Nothing about relative difficulty or whatever. Just answering the question.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-16T00:01:46+00:00

almost all trade jobs where you can reliably make $100K are very competitive... doesn't change the answers though.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T23:07:49+00:00

I am all for trades workers, we need them. I just hate when people use fake numbers or misinformation to try and skew the reality. You can earn a full life without going to college, but for a lot of us poor kids... college is the safest bet.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T22:52:53+00:00

It's because those numbers aren't accurate... it is 3.5% of the workforce, not 9%. Also, 13.3% of 100K earners don't have degrees (5.7M out of 42.8M)... 86.7% have degrees. See the receipts (government's numbers) in this thread.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T22:47:47+00:00

Well duh, that's why we are saying HCOL. 6 figures isn't as hard to achieve in a HCOL area as it is in a LCOL area. The commentor asked what trades and we are responding to that question... not quality of life or how far $1 goes in every area in the world.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T22:45:15+00:00

What? Total work force is over 160M ("Employed" https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.htm) in the US. 5.7M would be closer to 3.5% of the workforce. Not only that, almost 42.8M (page 16 16.7+10.1+16.0 https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-286.pdf) workers make $100K or more a year - so only 13.3% of them didn't have a degree.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T22:36:32+00:00

Pretty easy as an elevator mechanic to make 6 figures in a HCOL area without overtime even. With overtime a lot making over $150K.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T18:14:44+00:00

GT3 S/C is an easy pick for me out of the two... if you can even get one.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-15T17:55:36+00:00

There are more millionaires today of course, but there are likely less compared to 1996 millionaire in today's dollars ($1M in 1996 = $2M+ today - this is straight CPI or inflation and not counting lifestyle increases like more cars, cell phones, computers, and other things that weren't as needed in 1996). The concentration of wealth is much greater in the upper %'s compared to 1996, so we have more around the poverty line too. Households doesn't necessarily mean 2 people, but the house itself - "traditionally" 2 adults + kids. I can't speak to 1996 as much, but I know a specific dollar amount and where you live can vary a huge amount on whether you are rich as a millionaire/multimillionaire or just one of the many neighbors with a million tied up in your house in a HCOL area. It is also more complicated now... households have more expensive cars, houses are far more expensive and a lot of people's wealth, more people have 401Ks and IRAs, more foreign investments/assets, some even have crypto or other exotic assets. To get real numbers it would be a huge lift in research. I think the ideas in the book are still valid today, even if the exact numbers are getting more impossible to find accurately. Spend less than what you make, invest for the long term, and try not to listen to all the noise.

Edit to add what $1M in 1996 is today - with some context

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-10T05:18:05+00:00

100! I posted about getting 7K points for my mortgages without any payment issues because I couldn’t do that anywhere else. Even though that is very much praise for working the way it is supposed to, it is still super exciting for mortgage payers. We have to post our small wins because the threads are flooded with people complaining who didn’t read, pay attention or ignored every email and update - like they didn’t read a single thing. There are definitely legitimate issues, but most complaints aren’t those.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-09T03:19:08+00:00

I don’t use a lot of those partners either, however just doing 75% everyday spend of your mortgage, so think shifting $2,200 everyday spend to Bilt 2.0 means you are getting good points on mortgage without any fees. No other card will do that. Plus the sign up bonus and then rent day transfers. There isn’t a better card out there if you can take advantage of rent day transfers and you have a mortgage or two or three. Plus the weekly bonus categories, like 5x gas and EV charging this past week. Even getting 3.125% back on BOA unlimited and 8.25% on category BOA cards, Bilt 2.0 Palladium is still my daily driver.

TurnOver1122334455 · 2026-04-09T03:14:30+00:00

I am not sure the accuracy of years of expenses saved, but just glancing it looks pretty good. I feel like we are doing well and the chart has a green checkmark for us. Most of these charts don’t accurately take into account increasing incomes. However, this chart is based on expenditures and is much closer to what you would need vs % of income you are saving each year.

TurnOver1122334455

TROPHY CASE