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slash setup welcome to the nerd wallet smart money podcast where we answer your money

questions in 15 minutes or less. I'm your host,

Sean Piles. And I'm Liz Weston. As always, be sure to send us your money questions. Call or text

the nerd hotline at 901-7306373. That's 901-730 Nerd. Or email us at podcast at nerdwollet.com.

Let's get to this episode's question from Janelle. She says, I'm brand new to the whole game of credit card points and rewards and I'm planning a trip for next month. I'm trying to figure out my best option for how to pay for the trip and maximize the points that I earn. Do I open a new

card to purchase my plane ticket? I'm considering a number of different airlines and credit card

companies and I'm going to have to rent a car. How do I plan my travel to maximize points?

Travel rewards. This is something we love. It's right in our nerdy wheelhouse. Yeah, and it's such a fun game to play, and it can also be kind of as complicated or as simple as you want it to be.

So, Janelle, in this episode of the NerdWallat Smart Money podcast, we're going to talk with travel super nerd, Sarah Rathner to help you figure out how to maximize the points you can get while traveling,

and then we'll give you some of our favorite travel tips that don't involve using a credit card.

At the end of the episode, we'll leave you with the takeaway tips

so you can put all of your newly acquired knowledge into action.

All right, let's get to it.

Hey, Sarah, welcome back. Thank you. Glad to be here. Hey, Sarah, welcome back.

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Hey, Sarah, what are Janelle's options?

It sounds like she's just getting started when it comes to credit card rewards, and she has this looming deadline of a trip.

...