Last day for Hilton’s UK, Europe and Middle East hotel flash sale

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• Grant says:

  25 Mar25 March 20:03

  Rob, any plans to cover the Apple Credit Card that was announced today? US release ‘this summer’ but I don’t see any details of when it will hit the UK.

  • Mikeact says:

    25 Mar25 March 20:21

    No point.

  • Shoestring says:

    25 Mar25 March 21:14

    understood but ‘hard cash in return for spending’ will only ever be a fixed percentage of your spend – whereas Avios points (for example) can at times be worth many multiples of their face value.

    Eg a face value 1p Avios point can work out to be worth 4p or so when you need that flight and cash prices are sky high – but there’s still a reward flight available!

    • Chris L says:

      25 Mar25 March 21:21

      I agree but for many it’s “ifs and buts” vs cold hard cash. I doubt most consumers who follow a blog such as this manage to achieve 1p per Avios value. You’re only going to do so really if you’re redeeming for business class or above, aside maybe from peak times, granted.

    • Chris L says:

      25 Mar25 March 21:34

      Sorry I meant “…most consumers who DON’T follow…”

    • BJ says:

      25 Mar25 March 22:11

      £25,358.46 for 2 pax one way in flexible first EDI-HKG on Christmas eve when I must travel. I paid under £1k + 75k avios with a 241. Also used avios to BKK on same date last year in CW when even economy was over £1500 return. Doubt you’ll see me near an apple card so long as an avios card remains.

    • BJ says:

      26 Mar26 March 06:07

      Correction to my 22.11 xomment: should read 120k avios for peak first, was thinking of my default off peak CW redemptions which are 75k.

  • Optimus Prime says:

    25 Mar25 March 22:06

    But a card with those benefits and no fees is not sustainable in the UK market, is it?

  • Rob says:

    25 Mar25 March 22:10

    No

    • Symon says:

      25 Mar25 March 23:48

      This is the sort of problem old media has; failing to keep up with new tech. Apple has massive clout, and Sachs isn’t some two-bit operation. This card will no doubt come to the UK (less sure about mainland Europe), you should be at the front of covering this Rob. Just Saying…

      • BJ says:

        26 Mar26 March 06:17

        The problem is the Apple brand is on a slippery slope because they are failing to keep up with new technology. Reason for their interest in such things as credit cards is because the know they are fighting a losing battle on the tech front. I suspect they will be another Nokia within a decade.

• Spurs Debs says:

  25 Mar25 March 20:39

  Oh I’m going to look at that … any excuse for a spa treatment !

• Shoestring says:

  25 Mar25 March 21:09

  Don’t forget the big wins. You might be focused on points & flights – but some of the really big wins are on pensions & ISAs. Points might be a hobby but points = money.

  Get another £40K into your pension, if at all possible. Before the end of the tax year. That’s the very best big win in my humble opinion.

  Mission success.

  • Shoestring says:

    25 Mar25 March 21:28

    so a £40K contribution for a basic rate taxpayer must be worth 800,000 Avios points

    for a higher rate taxpayer, considerably more 🙂

  • Rob says:

    25 Mar25 March 22:06

    If you’re earning so little that you get the full £40k allowance then you don’t earn enough to put away £40k ….

    The only reason I think I should stick HFP into a corporate vehicle is that I could reduce my salary to exactly £40k, pay the entire lot into my pension and have zero tax liability.

    • Jimbob says:

      25 Mar25 March 22:29

      Not entirely true, with the joys of a db pension you can earn less than £100k, yet have “pension growth” of more than £40k per year, and get hit by a marginal tax rate of 80%.

      Think I may have gone off topic though…

      • Alan says:

        25 Mar25 March 23:31

        Haha – it gets better – move from earning £109k to £111k by doing £2k of non-pensionable extra work to cover a gap and you can get a nice £9k+ tax bill, marginal rate 475% or thereabouts. All on a theoretical benefit that you’ll lose about 25%+ of by taking earlier than State Pension Age…

        (OK I’ve gone even further OT but couldn’t resist!)

      • Matthew says:

        25 Mar25 March 23:51

        Would you mind explaining for me?! Are you talking about the LTA? Thanks

        • Alan says:

          26 Mar26 March 00:09

          No – this is due to tapering of AA. See worked example (in the form of a quiz!) at https://twitter.com/goldstone_tony/status/1109163914175172608. It’s a fiendishly complex piece of legislation that combines with DB pensions (such as the NHS) to make it extremely costly to take on extra work.

    • FlyingChris says:

      25 Mar25 March 23:08

      “So little” being under 150k…?

      • Rob says:

        25 Mar25 March 23:13

        £150k is £90k net. I doubt anyone on £90k take-home is putting £40k into a pension unless they have substantial savings to top-up their day to day spend.

      • Charlieface says:

        26 Mar26 March 00:15

        Sorry mate, anyone on 150k paying the full 40% really isn’t doing their homework.
        (For reference I’m on less than 10% of that at the mo)

• Benilyn says:

  25 Mar25 March 21:13

  OT: London to Maldives redemption in business, any ideas? BA impossible to get. Looking for March 2020.

  • Chris L says:

    25 Mar25 March 21:17

    Sri Lankan?

    • Rob says:

      25 Mar25 March 22:05

      or Qatar. SriLankan easier though.

  • Peter 64K says:

    25 Mar25 March 22:19

    BA release 355 days in advance so more days in march next year to be released still.

• BJ says:

  26 Mar26 March 06:25

  See above…

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