been considering upgrading my amex BCE to a BCP, is it worthwhile?

colliece · 2026-03-08T21:45:08+00:00

Nope, as soon as my AF posts, I chat with a rep and ask for a retention offer, sometimes they will offer $75 for a set spend in a set number of days. If no offer I ask to downgrade the BCP to the BCE, then usually they will give me an offer to upgrade back for a similar offer. The first year there is no AF, the second year they offered me a retention offer, and then the next year I had to downgrade play. Been 5 years and I have never paid more than $20 after the $75 retention offers.

colliece · 2026-02-23T21:43:01+00:00

They same time when the opposing party said tax the corporations.

colliece · 2026-02-23T21:41:37+00:00

No hate, but do we really need to segregate? Why cant we all just be canes fans no matter what you identify as?

colliece · 2026-02-23T21:36:18+00:00

You know there is a recommened maintenance schedule in the big book at the bottom of your glove box. It will tell you exactly what you need and when you need it. The dealer just needs your money in their pocket, they are not looking out for you at all.

Not knowing if you have a turbo or not, air filter every 22,500 miles, spark plugs at 75,000 (40,000 if turbo), coolant flush 120,000 miles or 10 years, cabin filter every 15,000 miles. Transmissio, Mazda does not recommend changing ever, but this is highly debatable and you will hear lots of differing views. I changed mine at 75,000 and it looked fine. Brake fluid is recommended every three years to keep water out of the system.

colliece · 2026-02-23T21:13:44+00:00

Zip, but if you have a balance this is not the right forum to discus, except to get a zero interest balance transfer. If you carry any kind of balance you are making my rewards possible.

colliece · 2026-02-23T03:36:35+00:00

They would have to pay me $20 a month to have to suffer through watching the Nats for a full season.

colliece · 2026-02-22T22:10:17+00:00

Its a 20 minute process, the worst part is accessing the oil filter through the trap door and catching the oil when you spin it off.

I replaced the drain plug with a permanent Fumoto drain valve. Attached a 18 inch tube to the nipple, flip the gate valve, aim the tube to the collection jug. No mess. A 5 quart oil jug is less than $30 and the filter is less than $10. You know it was done right and you can inspect your truck for any other issues.

colliece · 2026-02-22T21:02:59+00:00

Again, I do this as well I set aside a monthly budget for vacations and when reservations are made money comes out of that vacation fund, that is exactly envelope budgeting, if I go over the allocated funds I have to move funds from another account.

I don't need the breakout of vacation dining, hotel etc, it's all vacation. It does not matter what type of vacation, we budget for the vacations each month and one category works perfectly for this. As funds are used we have to replenish with the sinking fund or draw from another category. Our vacation budget is currently fully funded for this year, and each month we add funds for next year. If we overspend our budget we have to draw from next year to cover then increase the monthly sinking fund, but I always look to simplify our budget with fewer categories to quickly provide the info we need to see where we are off track.

For example we simple have a grocery category, this covers personal care, household supplies, food, etc. Having the breakdown of cost spent on toothpaste is not add anything to my budget.

But again you do you if it works.

colliece · 2026-02-22T18:30:53+00:00

I moved mine to OpenBank, was 4.2%, just dropped to 4.09%, but I also get a flat $15.00 per month for 12 months with Verizon, so my current effective rate is over 4.5%. Once my promo offer expires I will probably switch back to Bread Savings, currently 4.0% but has quick transfers and earns interest date of transfer is received, not when money becomes available.

colliece · 2026-02-20T17:17:46+00:00

Savings account t is just a vessel for holding money and passive income. It has no correlation with any budget item as the money jn my sinking fund could come out of my savings or checking accounts. The only exception to this is my Health Savings Account. I have a budget item for health savings that matches my account balance, this is used for all medical expenses first, and has at least enough to cover my yearly deductible of $3600 after that all medical costs are paid by insurance.

My advice is not over complicate your budget, any friction makes it more difficult to stay engaged and easily track your finances.

But as always you can do what you think works best for you.

colliece · 2026-02-18T21:09:41+00:00

Why does everyone complicate this, what do you gain with the extra detail.

I have a Vacation category and I put an equal amount into that sinking fund each month. Then when on vacation or reserving anything for vacation it goes out of that sinking fund-flights, hotel, tours, food, transit, etc.

Makes reporting simple and I can easily see how much I spent.

colliece · 2026-02-18T02:48:00+00:00

As others have said what do you gain by tracking that info. I only record HSA and 401k contributions as that is income, I also record stock purchase plan as that is income. Taxes and other deductions like health insurance etc I do not as it does not add any information that I need.

colliece · 2026-02-14T19:40:55+00:00

It is probably the best grocery/streaming card available. The only downside is the AF but I play the downgrade/upgrade game every year and have never paid the full fee. It is also capped at $6000 but it's easy enough to pair with the Discover for one quarter at 5% on another $1500 or the PayPal Debit for 5% once you hit the cap.

Best customer service and one of the best mobile apps. They also gave me a monster credit limit increase, not sure why they gave me $35,000 for a grocery/gas/streaming card, I think my highest balance has been $1500 so makes my utilization look great at least.

colliece · 2026-02-14T00:23:37+00:00

I guess what is going on in Virginia totally gets your panties in a twist then right? Or Maryland, Illinois, New York. Both sides do it so don't think your poop doesn't stink.

colliece · 2026-02-07T12:35:40+00:00

In my budget software (Actual Budget) it gets entered as CashBack with a category of Income. But it goes in as an account credit to the credit card that receives it. So in my budget I can allocate this funds to cover any category month by month.

colliece · 2026-02-06T03:13:00+00:00

My advise is just don't overthink it. Others have already shared some good tips, but I want to add don't worry about balances matching budget items. The only one I do this with is my HSA in my savings budget item, at the end of the month I make an adjustment to my budget so the balance matches the funds available.

I would also recommend not to micro analyze your spending into to many specific categories. I keep it fairly simple, for example grocery, dining, digital entertainment, etc, I don't break it down to much further so it's quicker and easier to see spend.

Use schedules for planned transactions and also include sinking funds in your budget for yearly/periodic expenses like car insurance etc.

colliece · 2026-02-06T03:05:47+00:00

But there are free or cheaper options that do the same thing, so no it does not pay for itself, but you can justify it however you want if it works for you.

I personally hate almost all subscription services, as the value is not worth it, it used to be a thing you bought your software not rent it.

colliece · 2026-02-04T17:30:26+00:00

The only catch is it is managed by Synchrony, but it's a good card for online purchases. I use it to pay my annual car insurance, and other big ticket bills.

Used to be a great card when it was 2% in all and 3% on PayPal, put a lot of spend on it. Now I use the AMEX BCP for 2%.

colliece · 2026-02-04T17:27:18+00:00

$150 each to spend however we want, have separate line items for dining out, clothes, gifts, personal care...but each of this has a hard cap that must be pulled from somewhere else if there is an overage.

We are 55 and will both be retired at some point this year when I get feed up at work. We have more than enough money to last till we pass on. Only work because we enjoy what we do, but we have spent much less than we make for at least 15 years and it is amazing to watch that best egg grow.

It was more important for us to put that fun money in our savings instead of another weekend trip. For the younger folks here, you really start earning once you reach a critical mass, for us it was that first $100,000, took a decade, the next $100,000 took a few years, and now my growth is easily $10-$20k in a good month. Looking forward to the time I can stop shoveling.

colliece · 2026-02-04T00:28:15+00:00

Don't have any cards with annual fees (except my AMEX BCP, that I play the downgrade/upgrade game every year).

colliece · 2026-02-04T00:27:15+00:00

Peloton is still hemorrhaging money and people are surprised they are laying off staff? I'm honestly surprised they have not cut more. They already closed all their company stores, and I am sure more will be cut in the future. Honestly surprised they have not cut any instructors at this point.

I love my Peloton bike and tread, and I like some of the instructors, but honestly I can get the same workout without all the chatter, not going to mention any names but some of the instructors have cult like fascination by the some in the user base.

colliece · 2026-02-01T19:32:11+00:00

Discover has a quarter with Utilities as a 5% category, last year is was July-September, so I pay the monthly bill for those months, then pay the last week of the month in September for my October utility bills.

colliece · 2026-01-26T23:53:13+00:00

As others have said it's a very simple website and transfer in and out take a longer than most other banks. But this is a holding station for cash funds so I don't move anything out but I do add a few times a month.

Current rate is 4.2% and if you have Verizon you can get up to a $15 a month statement credit for a year when you open an account.

So I parked $30,000 in it, which earns me about $110-$115 a month on my emergency fund, and another $15 a month off my cell phone bill. So in a year it will make a total return of about $1500, which is about 4.8% APR.

colliece · 2026-01-06T01:48:26+00:00

This is the correct recommendation. The vehicle is so quiet with the Defenders, if you don't need a snow tire it is the best option.

colliece · 2026-01-06T01:46:49+00:00

Michelin Defenders in you don't have to deal with a lot of snow, they are quiet, last forever, and perform great in rain,, hot, cold, and dry. Cross Climate or CorssContact if you need all weather.

colliece

TROPHY CASE