One of the more frequent bits of skeptical feedback I get on my miles posts goes something like this:
“I don’t think I can do that manufactured spending stuff. It’s way too complicated, and way too much work.”
I heard this very statement today from heart failure specialist Alicia Ross MD.
Now keep mind, this is a woman who feels comfortable, performing a simultaneous transesophageal echocardiogram and right heart catheterization on a patient with an LVAD.
So I’m pretty sure that the “too complicated” part is not actually true. She may be too busy. But it’s certainly not too complicated.
That being said, I get that this level of benign money-laundering is not everybody’s cup of tea.
Nor does it have to be.
If you want to fly your family of five on three vacations a year without paying a cent, then granted, you’ve got to be pretty game. But if your goal is to fly one or two people first class to anywhere in the world on vacation, no spending gymnastics required.
Manufactured Spending: Easier than it looks
To put it in context: manufactured spending is a way to increase the percentage of your total spending that is credit card spending.
The main purpose for this is to reach Credit card bonus spending goals.
If you apply for six credit cards at once, you may very well have to spend close to $20,000 in three months.
This is not a normal amount of credit card spending for most people.
If you average $7000 a month on your credit card, however, there is absolutely no need to manufacture spend in order to reach this goal.
If you average $2000 a month on credit card spending, you’ve got two choices.
Either apply for fewer cards, or manufacture spend.
If you just want one round-trip ticket first class to Europe, say. Then this should only cost 100-150,000 miles. So 2 to 3 card sign up bonuses should be sufficient.
Probably only 6-7,000 $ of credit card spend will be required.
Doable without a Bluebird Card, for sure.
But before raising the white flag, make sure to read the post entitled On Bluebirds And Wolves. Because manufactured spending is honestly quite easy. And it’s got a terrific return on investment with limited downside.
