Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope it has been a wonderful Christmas / holiday / dividend season for all.

This was our first holiday season in the United States since we first hit the road back in 2012… 9 years ago?

It’s been… different.

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Resort Report: Miraval Austin

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Recently my wife I stayed at the Miraval Resort in Austin, Texas, a luxury wellness spa on the banks of Lake Travis just a short drive from downtown. This was an aspirational property for us and since it’s bookable with Hyatt points it was within reach given our stockpile of points that we’ve been sitting on due to limited international travel over the past year. We stayed for two nights in mid-October while celebrating my wife’s birthday and were blown away with the experience.

If you’re thinking about booking a stay here, here’s what you can expect.

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The Obamacare Tick-Tock

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare, the health insurance options available to us are standardized. It definitely makes it easier to compare and contrast.

And thanks to a series of somewhat dated yet excellent blog posts (e.g. Obamacare Optimization in Early Retirement and Obamacare Optimization vs Tax Minimization) I have a clear understanding of how to balance costs and benefits.

Unfortunately, that balance seems to require either a cheap plan with insanely high deductibles (just pay the first $13,000 of medical needs out of pocket, good times) or an OK plan with decent benefits but restrictive income challenges.

So which did I choose? Both.

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Earning an Easy $250+ with Uber Eats

I recently read a post on Frequent Miler about a deal where you can earn $250 or more by becoming an UberEats delivery person and completing a single order. Though I don’t usually bother with low-reward, high-effort deals anymore (like gift card arbitrage), this one piqued my interest so I decided to give it a go – and it was easier than expected!

Definitely a good way to get a $250 Christmas Bonus. Would do again.

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