Financial and Banking Learnings

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

What are your financial, banking, credit card, etc related learnings of 2024? List of things you learnt new, any new findings, any new hacks etc?
My list:

• Learnt that SBI reward points can be used to pay credit card bills in the rewardz.sbi portal
• Learnt about Rupay platinum debit card Friday offer (Rs 100 instant off) on bill payments using Amazon pay
• Used ICICI Sapphiro card and booked 4 movie tickets, got Rs 1000 instant discount on BMS.
• Learnt that we can do full KYC in Payzapp using any HDFC credit card, without having HDFC bank account.
• Used Appollo 24|7 circle subscription well and extracted good benefits.
• Wrote to HDFC customer care and converted both HDFC Swiggy and Tata Neu Infinity paid cards as LTF
• No use of chasing the best UPI app, best wallet and best cashback Rupay card. Stick to what is convenient.
• Closed so many unwanted, unused, idle cards and stick to a few cards for regular use.
• Hard Realization: Monthly family expenses is coming near 75000 without additional luxuries or splurges.
• Investments: Index funds are easiest and simplest option to participate in market than direct stocks.
• Bank accounts - SBI, HSBC; Most used cards - HDFC Swiggy, Tata Neu Infinity, Amazon Pay ICICI
• Got TF Legend badge in TechnoFino
• Travelled to Mumbai, Mangalore, Chennai, Trivandum, Pune.

Things in progress, things I don't know yet:

• Explore a prepaid wallet like Amazon pay or payzapp and see how it works. I haven't used wallets much yet.
• Explore the best/most rewarding way of using Tata Neu app and infinity card. This is still unresolved for me.
• Explore reward point based card - Regalia Gold, or some other card. Need to see if I need to shift from cashback cards to reward point based cards if they are better rewarding.
• Review the standing instructions for Google One, Youtube Premium, Amazon Prime, and some other online purchases and see how best can I make these payments with better rewards.
• What is Magicpin, Park+, cashkaro, gyftr and all these kinds of sites? What are its uses? Need to explore this.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas 🎄 and Happy New Year 🎉

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Restarting this thread this year to collate the learnings of 2025. I'll go with my list.

1. Moved from cashback cards to points and miles card.
2. Started using vouchers from Amex and Axis gyftr. Started learning the accelerated points game.
3. Started transferring edge miles to Accor and using for hotel stays.
4. Claimed most of the hotel status matches (Marriott Gold, GHA Titanium, ITC Gold, Wyndham Diamond etc) - though never used anything yet.
5. Started using Rupay Select debit cards and claiming offers/vouchers. Good as long as it lasts.
6. Started using SBI debit card reward points for utility bill payments.
7. Stopped using Unipay for bill payments at the last moment, failures can cause mini-heartattacks. Moved to Phonepe/Paytm.
8. Withdrawn full amount from EPF and moved it to a debt fund. Not comfortable locking big amount in EPF, not enough confidence on their system.
9. Claimed Google One AI Pro 2TB Students plan, ChatGPT Go. Did not get Perplexity Pro.
10. Travelled most of the flights in Air India Express, moved to their top loyalty tier.
11. Bought a new scooter TVS Jupiter scooter.
12. Completed an online MBA degree.
13. Bank accounts: SBI, HDFC Preferred, ICICI Wealth. Most used cards: Axis Atlas, Amex Plat Travel.
14. Investments: Continuing with Mutual Funds alone for both equity and debt.
15. Learnt that never trust anyone - never share credit card details with friends or colleagues. I lost a significant amount by trusting a colleague.

Things that I still need to sort out:

1. Stuck between HDFC and ICICI bank acocunts, need to get rid of one.
2. Get an HDFC Core card. Regalia Gold or higher.
3. Monthly family expenses are coming near 1L. Need to see if that can be reduced.
4. Need to explore airline point redemptions for international flights.