I want a tablet.
Not just any tablet either. I want the ASUS Transformer Prime. I’ve been waiting for this thing for months! They officially “launched” the tablet on November 9th, but still haven’t set a release date. I’m told it will be available in December though, and I will preorder this baby as soon as I can.
From a geek perspective (aka hardware) it is superior to the most popular tablet, the iPad2, in every way. I also very much prefer the Android operating system over iOS, so this thing is basically all I could ever want.
Gimmie Gimmie GIMMIE!!!! I want! So bad!
But I don’t need a tablet. Specifically, I don’t need a $500 tablet.
I really couldn’t justify spending $500 on something I don’t need. But I can justify spending $500 worth of credit card rewards on something I really really want!
Treat Yourself With Credit Card Rewards
The problem with credit card rewards is that I can’t use them to pay bills. I can’t buy groceries with them and I can’t pay rent with them. They are useless from a responsible personal finance perspective!
I’m basically limited to gift cards from Best Buy, Sears, and a whole bunch of restaurants or other places I don’t shop. So if I can’t do something “responsible” with my rewards, then I may as well do something fun!
And yes, I’m sure I could have scoured the website and found items of gift cards that I would have purchased eventually, and I probably would have if I were struggling through debt.
But I’ve worked hard to put myself in a position to buy things I want, and I’ve been responsible enough to get over $500 of free money by using credit cards responsibly.
IT WILL BE MINE!!!!
What would you buy if you had $500 worth of credit card rewards?
P.S. Happy Veterans’ Day to all the veterans out there. Thank you for serving America proudly!
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT atย Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer ofย Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When heโs not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
I focus on travel rewards these days because traveling is the best reward I could get for anything. If I had $500 today, I would no doubt use it for a plane ticket over a gadget.
But I can’t lie, a tablet would be pretty sweet.
I agree….I would have to buy a plane ticket as well. But if I had to be limited to three or four stores I’d be buying a tablet as well! I prefer tickets to go see my fiancee, however!
My credit card rewards program (Citi ThankYou) allows me to exchange points for a mortgage credit. As soon as I hit $500 in rewards, I will own 0.3% more of my house. From a personal finance perspective this will give me nearly $2 more per month of spending money (or savings money).
There is one big thing to watch out for. Even though many reward programs offer cash/statement/mortgage rewards, they are usually at a much higher cost than store gift cards or travel.
I use my rewards for frequent flier miles. I do not have an expiration date, although I use them to travel overseas.
I would get a tablet or a netbook – but that’s because my laptop is slowly dying on me so I am in the market anyway ๐ Otherwise I use all of mine to fly home, I have a southwest card so I rack up points to fly.
What card do you use and what kind of point system does it have? Do you like it? How much is the tablet actually costing (ie how much did you spend to get the $500?)
I’m going to be in the market for a new card soon as Chase (for my SW card) denied my application for a higher credit limit (new post on that soon!) and I don’t like having a 30% debt to credit ratio on that card.
I just use mine for cash. Once I get $50 in rewards, it automatically credits my account. I don’t spend that $50 or even count it into my budget. It just shows up in my net worth calcuations after the credit card bill is paid (in full each month of course).
We get cash back, but we use it to go to Disneyland so I guess we do use it for fun.
I would use the rewards to buy plane tickets for an upcoming trip. I actually did this recently ๐ The next purchase will be a laptop.
I have gotten lots of great stuff from rewards programs. It’s mostly stuff we would have bought anyway.
I’d use for travel or some nifty gadget, too. Cash back would also be nice. ๐
Darn it! I was all set to put down money for the Samsung Galaxy 8.9″ tablet. But the Asus Transformer Prime looks too sweet! Looks like more waiting for me to get a tablet.
I have cash back cards, where I get my rewards in cash. So I am afraid there is no justification for me. But I applaud your choice. I would have gotten exactly the same thing.
By the way, the name cracks me up. Transformer Primeโฆ.last of the Primes? ๐
I have a cash back card – the Citi Dividend card. Once I hit at least $50, I just request a check in the mail. And every quarter they have “bonus” cash back on certain things, where I get a higher percentage on whatever the deal is for – like over the summer it was hotels, airlines, and car rentals.
I really like having a cash back card because I CAN buy groceries or pay rent with the rewards ๐
fyi – you can always sell the gift cards on ebay and net about 85-90% even after ebay fees
With $500 in credit card rewards…I would apply for another $500 with another bonus mile offer like one of these
http://milecards.com/1031/top-bonus-mile-offers-with-credit-cards/
Though frankly prefer airline miles as if you do some homework can get better than 1% value out of them