Lurking Below

There is something present in you and in me at all times and in all situations to varying degrees.

Beneath the surface whenever we meet someone new, or give a talk, or ask the boss for a raise, or fly on a plane, or cross the street, or look out of the window in a tall building, it is always there waiting to rear its ugly head.
I am, of course, speaking about fear.

Spoiler Alert: Fear could be robbing you of the ability to take really memorable pictures

I heard an interesting radio program this weekend about fear which really got me to thinking about the role that fear plays in our lives.

Some of the points that were made in this hour were the following:

• Fear at it’s most basic level is an (unconscious) autonomic nervous system reaction that was adaptive at some point in our development.
• Fear can allow us to escape danger with a burst of adrenaline and increased cardiac output and improved muscular strength.
• Fear helps us to develop strong aversions to truly dangerous situations.(Once we experience true fear we subconsciously and vigorously try to avoid the stimulus that caused fear in the first place.)
• A specific fear can be erased away with training and hard work.
• We are the author of the stories of our own fears.
• We are also the audience for the very same stories.
• Acknowledging and sharing our fears with others can release us from some of their paralyzing power.
• All fear comes from the same place, our inability to accept our own inevitable death and eventual nonexistence.

All of which got me thinking about my own obsessions, and the role that fear plays in the miles game and early retirement.

Let’s start with the miles game today.

So what are some of the fears that prevent people from taking advantage of this tremendous value added opportunity?

1. Fear of a downgraded credit score.

This is a rational fear on the surface, after all credit inquiries do temporarily lower your credit score.

But in balance it ends up being an irrational fear.

As long as you don’t have an impending large loan application (i.e. a mortgage or a mortgage refinancing) upcoming, your credit score going down by 20 or 30 points for a month or so will likely have no effect at all on your life.

Long-term your credit score will probably stay the same or even improve since your credit utilization ratio will go down.

And as I see it, right now, your excellent credit score’s chief value, if you’re not going to apply for a big loan soon, is that it enables you to play the miles game successfully.

Fear of losing money.

This fear is semi-rational. It is certainly possible to lose access to your money for short periods of time (like when gift cards get frozen and must be reactivated.)

But overall, since the miles game requires no illegal activity, or lying, the chance of you actually losing a significant amount of money is probably on the same order of magnitude as the risk of pulling cash from an ATM.

And the likelihood of you gaining significant travel value and money is large.

What’s wrong with those odds?

Fear of getting a credit card shut down.

This one’s pretty irrational.

Let’s say you buy a bunch of Visa gift cards at a drugstore and your credit card Company audits you for perk abuse and they ultimately decide to shut down your credit card account.

The worst case scenario is that you’re in the exact same position that you would have been had you never opened the credit card in the first place (and this is only if you haven’t used any of the miles yet.)

And at the level that I play the miles game (merely replacing every dollar of personal spending with credit card spending,) this ever happening is quite unlikely.

Fear of social discomfort.

This one’s actually pretty rational.

For some people, just knowing that what you’re doing is perfectly ethical and legal is not enough.

The mere social interactions at places like the drugstore and Walmart during manufactured spending missions, can inundate our hapless miles game player with uncomfortable social cues.

This can make a certain type of sensitive person feel as if he is doing bad things, despite all evidence to the contrary.

If you are such a person, then manufactured spending, and possibly even the miles game are not for you.

(Fortunately I’m an insensitive brute.)

The fear of doing a little bit of work.

It’s true that the miles game and manufactured spending require some effort. (Maybe 2-6 hours a month if you don’t write a blog about it.)

But it is actually a lot of fun once you get into the spirit of the thing.

Furthermore, even if you don’t enjoy the mechanics of it, it is extremely well-paid work.

And last I checked you probably roll out of bed every morning and go and put in a good eight hours of work for money, (and for probably a lot less money on an hourly basis.)

So if the miles game will steal hours away from oil painting, or training for a triathlon, or working on your golf game, and these pursuits really fulfill you, fair enough.

But if you’re just going to lazily sit on the couch watching the boob tube or looking at funny cat videos on YouTube, how rational is that degree of laziness?

Just get out there and make some magic happen!

After all as a famous progressive once declared….

The only thing we have to fear, is missing out on a great miles deal, itself.