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9 Best Travel Credit Card Options 2020

9 Best Travel Credit Card Options

best travel credit cards

The best travel credit card options of 2018 are designed to help maximize your travel, and hopefully help you earn the most rewards, so you can keep traveling. Whether you travel for business or pleasure, most of these credit cards can help you earn miles toward your next flight or hotel stay.

Many credit card providers may also try to tempt you with large sign-on bonuses or waiving fees, but it’s important to know what to look for before you decide to apply for a new credit card in order to think about how much the card may cost you. If you pay your balance off each month when you receive the bill, you may have different concerns than if you let the balance roll over to the next month.

We have everything you need to determine which travel card is best for you. Explore our buyer’s guide to find out what features you should be on the lookout for, based on your needs and check out our list of the 9 best travel credit card options available today.

Travel Credit Card Buyer’s Guide

best travel credit card: man paying for his food using a credit card

Paying off your credit card balance should be at the forefront of your thoughts when you choose the right card for you, so consider the interest rates and annual fees you may need to pay.

You may also need to consider your credit score, as some cards are only available to those with excellent credit. The cards with the best reward deals are typically reserved for credit scores above 740.

Here are some of the most important factors you should consider before choosing your travel credit card, based on your needs:

Rewards

​Intro Bonus

​Annual Fees

​Regular APR

​International use

​Travel protection

​How to Make the Most of Your Card

To make the most of your travel credit card and maximize your rewards, use the following tips:

  • ​If your card has an online bonus mall, you can receive extra rewards by shopping for your essentials there

  • ​Plan to sign up for your credit card around the time you plan to make a big purchase in order to earn a sign-up bonus

  • ​If your card has a bonus reward on dining, pick up the check whenever you can to receive more bonus rewards. Your friends can return the favor another time

  • ​Redeem your rewards for more travel purposes rather than in perks like merchandise or gift cards, or the most common option, cash back rewards

  • ​Sign up for a loyalty program that’s associated with your cards, such as a frequent guest or frequent flyer reward

  • ​Look out for hidden caps on how much you can spend before you receive the same cash-back reward. You may only receive 3% cashback up to a certain dollar amount of gas purchases, for example.

​Top 9 Best Travel Credit Cards

Here are our picks for the best travel credit card options of 2018, based on the rewards and fees associated with frequent travelers.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

best travel credit card: chase sapphire credit card

Voted the best card for travel redemptions the best card for travel redemptions like airline miles, this travel card comes with a large bonus that people love. Receive a sign-up bonus of 50,000 reward points, which is worth around $625 in travel redemptions, when you spend your first $4,000 during the first three months after you open your account.

People who don’t commonly fly the same airline or stay at a specific hotel love the flexibility of their Chase card, and you can receive rewards on every purchase you make. The rewards never expire either.

With an annual fee is $95, waived for the first year. You can also earn two points per dollar on travel purchases, which transfer to 13 different partners like Southwest airlines and Marriot. Plus, there are no blackout dates or restrictions on where you can travel.

Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card

best travel credit card: Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card

With Bank of America’s Travel Rewards card, you can use your card to book anywhere you want, with no blackout dates or website restrictions. You earn 1.5 points for every $1 you spend, with no annual fees or foreign transaction fees. Your points will never expire, and they can even be used to pay for flights, hotels, cruises, rental cars, baggage fees, or vacation packages. However, you may need good to excellent credit to apply.

Receive 0% APR for the first year, then a regular APR of 16.74 – 24.74% after. For a limited time, you can also earn 25,000 online bonus points when you spend $1,000 in purchases during the first 90 days of opening your account, which could amount in $250 toward travel costs.

Even better, you can earn more benefits. If you have a Bank of America checking or savings account, you can earn an additional 10% bonus on every purchase. And if you’re also a preferred rewards holder, you can boost the bonus in between 25 and 75%.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

best travel credit card: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Named one of the all-time best travel credit cards this year by CNBC​, Capital One Venture allows you to fly any airline and stay at any hotel, anytime you want. The mile rewards you earn will never expire, and there are no foreign transaction fees if your travel abroad.

This card comes with awesome travel rewards and no annual fee, which makes it perfect for those with good to excellent credit score ratings. If your credit is between 670 and 850, you could sign up to receive a 50,000-mile intro bonus once you spend your first $3,000 within the first three months and a waived annual fee for the first year.

After your card’s newness wears off, you will pay a $95 annual fee with an APR around 14.74 – 24.74%. The rewards you earn will 10x your miles on thousands of different hotel options, which you can find at hotels.com/venture. You’ll also receive double your miles on every purchase you make, no matter what day or item you use your card on.

Uber Visa Card

best travel credit card: Uber Visa Card

With no annual fees, this newer card option offers great travel bonuses. Receive points per every dollar you spend on restaurants, bars, Uber Eats, hotels, vacation home rentals, airfare, online purchases, online shopping, music, and even Uber rides.

If you spend $500 within the first 90 days, they’ll even give you $100 bonus. You’ll also receive an added $50 subscription credit you can use for online subscription services after spending $5,000 on your card every year and up to a $600 bonus used toward mobile phone damage of theft if you pay your phone bill with your card.

The only catch is that the APR is a bit high, at 16.74 – 25.49%, depending on your credit.

The Platinum Card from American Express

best travel credit card: The Platinum Card from American Express

Travelers who love rewards pick this card for the airline fee credits and worldwide lounge access while they wait for flights. You could earn $200 for Uber rides each year, 5x the points on flights booked with airlines and on eligible hotels booked on amextravel.com​, complimentary benefits with hotels, and a $200 airline fee credit used for baggage fees at qualifying airlines.

The annual fee, however, is $550, so you’ll need to make sure to use the card enough. You’ll need good to excellent credit as well for this high-end card. Travel in style and receive perks at hotels like concierge service, but for this high fee, make sure you travel often.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

best travel credit card: Chase Sapphire Reserve

Like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve is still great for travel rewards. However, this card comes with an annual travel credit for those who enjoy traveling often. With an annual fee of $450, you can earn back nearly $300 in annual travel credits alone.

Earn 50,000 reward points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months after signing up, and earn 3x points on travel, 2x points on restaurants, and a point on everything else you spend money on. There are no foreign transaction fees, and you may even earn trip cancellation coverage or car rental insurance perks. The amount of bonus goes on, making up for the high annual fee.

Ink Business Preferred Credit Card

best travel credit card: Ink Business Preferred Credit Card

The Ink Business card helps you earn the maximum value for every penny you spend traveling, and new cardholder receive huge perks. When you sign up, you could earn 80,000 bonus points on the first $5,000 you spend within three months, and other typical Chase Ultimate Reward perks like three points per dollar on travel, shipping and advertising fees on social media, or telecommunications fees.

Even better, points can be transferred to partners like United, Marriott, Southwest, or Hyatt. You’ll need good credit to apply, and APR rates land around 17.74 – 22.74%.

United Explorer Card

best travel credit card: United Explorer Card

If you fly with United often, a loyalty credit card with an airline like this comes with cardholder perks. You could earn 40,000 bonus miles if you spend $2,000 within the first three months and pay no annual fee for the first Year (only $95 afterward). Plus, you get two miles per dollar you spend on restaurants and hotels as well as United flights.

The APR is a bit higher, at 17.74 – 24.74%. Again, this depends on how good your credit score is. However, with free checked luggage and low fees, you could save money on flights, land a spot in the United Club airport lounge, and earn free rental car insurance.

Holton Honors American Express Ascend Card

best travel credit card: Holton Honors American Express Ascend Card

This card is perfect if you’re looking for rewards with a great hotel and a large sign-up bonus. Staying at Hilton hotels often could earn you 14 points per dollar, plus seven points on flights booked on amextravel.com and car rentals from select companies, rewards on restaurants, and at least three points per dollar on every other purchase you make.

You could earn fee weekend night stays if you spend $60,000 in a year as well as a slew of Hilton resort bonuses. The annual fee is $450, but with all the perks when you stay at Hilton, you won’t have to spend as much on fees and airport luggage. Plus, it even comes with a priority pass for airport lounge membership and no foreign transaction fees.

How We Choose Our Ratings

Honestly and integrity are important to us, so we take the time to create accurate buyer’s guides and best-of lists. To find all the facts, we scour the internet to find the best travel credit card options available on the market today. We research the rewards and fees, read real user reviews, and see what the masses have to say before making a valid suggestion.

Our goal is to help you find the best travel credit card options available for you, so we indicate which card is best for which type of traveler. The information we provide is all available online, and we create our list based on the information provided. 

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The 10 Best Investing Books to Help You Buy Low and Sell High 2020

The 10 Best Investing Books to Help You Buy Low and Sell High

woman reading ebook

Image via Pexels

If you are looking to invest substantial capital in the stock market or enhance your present understanding of the market to optimize profitability, it would behoove you to peruse some of the best investing books. Fortunately, investment has been explored extensively in research institutions, universities, and private corporations. Some of the best minds in finance have postulated strong hypotheses regarding market behavior. If you want to learn about investment, a shortage of reading material will never be an issue.

Product FAQ

1. What Are the Best Investing Books?

The best investing books are sufficiently myriad in terms of perspective to defy succinct categorization. However, the books on our list all offer the perspective of highly successful financial professionals with extensive Wall Street experience. Many go beyond economic theory and offer readers concrete strategies for maximizing the profitability of their investment portfolios.


2. Which Market Perspective Is Most Valuable?

Unfortunately, economics as a discipline cannot, or at least has yet to, crown one strategy or perspective the penultimate market vision, and many of the perspectives proffered in the books listed below contradict one another. Each has proven its value in one way or another. A dedicated investor is best equipped with a working knowledge of many perspectives on the market from which the investor can draw upon as needed.


3. What Do the Best Investing Books Teach Their Readers?

The lessons of the best investing books are two-fold but closely related. First, books on investing analyze the market’s behavior and introduce readers to various tools that assist the reader in making sense of the market’s behavior. Secondly, on a more practical level, investing books teach readers to craft their portfolios in a manner that will build long-term wealth.


4. How Should I Pick the Best Investing Book for Me?

The premise of each book listed below will be clear based on our descriptions below. Each of the best investing books aligns with a category of investor based on experience, working capital, and goals. Once you have a clear understanding of where you are financially and where you want to go, the book that best fits with your proclivities will become clear.

How We Reviewed

In order to create our list of the best investing books, we surveyed reviews by major periodicals that cover finance, research institutions, universities, and reviews written by readers. We then reviewed information from major retailers for relevant price points, availability, and additional insight regarding the popularity of each book within the purview of our review.

Guy reading red book

Image by StockSnap via Pixabay

Overall Price Range

You can expect to pay up to $30 for a book on investment. This would likely be the case if you choose to purchase the most up-to-date book or edition of a previously published work replete with an analysis of the most recent trends in the stock market. Some of the best investing books were published long ago and still contain valuable information and guidance. These books are often sold for less than $20.

What We Reviewed

  • The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing
  • A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing
  • Irrational Exuberance: Revised and Expanded Third Edition
  • One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market
  • The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
  • Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook
  • A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market
  • Good Stocks Cheap: Value Investing with Confidence for a Lifetime of Stock Market Outperformance
  • The Truth About Your Future: The Money Guide You Need Now, Later, and Much Later
  • Money Machine: The Surprisingly Simple Power of Value Investing
  • The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing

    The Intelligent Investor

    Summary

    At this point in the history of financial analysis, The Intelligent Investor has achieved canonical status among the best investing books. In this work, Benjamin Graham describes the group approach to buying securities, a deviation from endorsements of the selective approach Graham espoused earlier in his career. The group approach posits investors are more likely to beat market averages by purchasing groups of securities that fundamental analyses indicate are undervalued while paying little attention to each company in particular. This approach later became known as value investing.


    About the Author

    Benjamin Graham was a founding partner of the Newman-Graham Partnership, a successful Wall Street investment firm where Graham first employed his former student, Warren Buffett. Graham would go on to teach business and economics at Columbia University and UCLA.

    Formats Available

    The Intelligent Investor is available in hardcover, in paperback, on audio, and on Kindle.

    Publisher and Year Published

    The Intelligent Investor was first published by Harper & Sons in 1949.

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing

    A Random Walk down Wall Street

    Summary

    In A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton Malkiel insinuates investors cannot beat market averages, or at least that they cannot do so consistently. Malkiel is a propagator of the random walk hypothesis which is closely related to the efficient-market hypothesis. Both stipulate that the price of a security is based on all available information and that prices change only when new information is available; therefore, investors cannot beat market averages because they only receive new information when that information is already reflected in an asset’s price.


    About the Author

    Burton Malkiel has served in numerous prestigious capacities including Director of the Vanguard group, chairman of the economics department at Princeton University, and Dean of the Yale School of Management.

    Formats Available

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street is available in paperback or hardcover.

    Publisher and Year Published

    A Random Walk Down Wall Street was originally published in 1973 by W. W. Norton & Company.

    Irrational Exuberance: Revised and Expanded Third Edition

    Irrational Exuberance

    Summary

    Named after Alan Greenspan’s famous quote warning of the potential of a financial meltdown, Irrational Exuberance is perhaps the most pessimistic of the best investing books we surveyed for this article. Robert Schiller used a psychologically informed view of behavioral economics to predict the Dot-com bubble that burst in the spring of 2000 and the housing bubble of 2007-2008 that wrought havoc on the American economy for years thereafter. Schiller’s peers have criticized his cynical view for a lack of specificity that seems to predict any crisis given a sufficiently lengthy time-frame.


    About the Author

    Robert Schiller is a long-time professor and fellow at Yale University. He has also served a number of regulatory and research organizations in a wide variety of capacities in addition to founding his own investment firm: MacroMarkets, LLC.

    Formats Available

    The third edition of Irrational Exuberance is available in paperback, hardcover, and as an eTextbook.

    Publisher and Year Published

    Irrational Exuberance was first published by the Princeton University Press in March 2000.

    One Up on Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market

    One Up On Wall Street

    Summary

    Peter Lynch’s One Up On Wall Street is one of the best investing books for everyday investors looking to build wealth for retirement. Lynch explains how investors can incorporate information and experience from day-to-day life into a robust investment portfolio that pays off in the long-term. His approach includes analyzing widely available products and services to find companies with a tremendous upside. His work contains detailed instructions on how to build a diversified portfolio and manage that portfolio effectively.


    About the Author

    Peter Lynch managed the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments between 1977 and 1990. During that time, assets in the fund increased from a valuation of $18 million to $14 billion.

    Formats Available

    One Up On Wall Street is available in paperback or on Kindle.

    Publisher and Year Published

    One Up On Wall Street was originally published by Simon & Schuster in 1989.

    The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America

    The Essays of Warren Buffett

    Summary

    The Essays of Warren Buffett are compromised of letters Buffett has written to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders regarding sound business practices and wise investing strategies. The collection has grown slightly in each edition but the core of the work remains the same: Buffett’s nuanced analysis of the market put in plain, easily digestible language. For readers interested in gleaning the insights of a financial legend through an informal lens, this is one of the best investing books on our list.


    About the Author

    Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a world-renowned investor, and the third wealthiest person on the planet.

    Formats Available

    Buffet’s essays are available in paperback or on Kindle.

    Publisher and Year Published

    The Carolina Academic Press published the 4th edition of Buffett’s essays in 2015.

    Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook

    Unshakeable Cover Page

    Summary

    Of the best investing books we reviewed for this article, Tony Robbin’s Unshakeable most closely resembles a battle plan. This book guides investors through the construction of an actionable plan for financial independence and exposes the most common pitfalls investors encounter by featuring the insight of experts on 401(k) accounts, Wall Street investment firms, and market volatility. If you feel overwhelmed by the extant information on investing and struggle to find a first step, this the best investing book for you.


    About the Author

    Tony Robbins is a well-known author and life coach. He is less of a financial genius and more of compositional authority with access to the world’s foremost financial thinkers.

    Formats Available

    Unshakeable is available on Kindle, in print, and as an audiobook.

    Publisher and Year Published

    Simon & Schuster published Unshakeable in 2017.

    A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market

    A Man for All Markets Cover Page

    Summary

    Of all the best investing books we reviewed for this article, A Man for All Markets is certainly the most bizarre. The book’s author, Edward Thorp, used probability theory to overcome the house advantage in blackjack while working as a professor at MIT. He eventually turned his agile mathematical mind to Wall Street where he made a fortune in hedge funds and then, just for the sake of variety, he collaborated with Claude Shannon and managed to create the world’s first wearable computer.


    About the Author

    Outside of his escapades on the strip in Las Vegas and on Wall Street, Edward Thorp has worked as a mathematics and finance professor at universities throughout the United States.

    Formats Available

    A Man for All Markets is available in print as either a paperback or a hardcover, as an audiobook and on Kindle.

    Publisher and Year Published

    A Man for All Markets was published by Random House in 2017.

    Good Stocks Cheap: Value Investing with Confidence for a Lifetime of Stock Market Outperformance

    Good Stocks Cheap

    Summary

    Similar to the work of Benjamin Graham, Good Stocks Cheap encourages investors to adopt the value investing mindset whereby an investor recognizes that while stock prices change constantly the actual value of an asset is relatively static. With this insight in mind, investors can use fundamental analysis to identify undervalued assets and beat market averages in the long-term. Good Stocks Cheap includes a bevy of practical information that Graham’s classic work lacks, making this one the best investing books for those are interested in value investing but lack experience with the market.


    About the Author

    Kenneth Jeffery Marshall is a business and economics professor. He teaches at Stanford, the University of California’s Berkeley campus, and the Stockholm School of Economics.

    Formats Available

    Good Stocks Cheap is available in print, on Kindle, and as an audiobook.

    Publisher and Year Published

    Good Stocks Cheap was published by McGraw-Hill in 2017.

    The Truth About Your Future: The Money Guide You Need Now, Later, and Much Later

    The Truth About Your Future

    Summary

    The Truth About Your Future is either an unlikely Sci-Fi fantasy or the most prescient of the best investing books. Ric Edelman scrutinizes the impact science and technology will have on the world economy and he comes to some far-reaching conclusions. Edelman sees a world in which the economic landscape barely resembles the present market and he provides helpful, if at times far-flung, advice for shoring up your portfolio to contend with the rise of AI, the internet of things, and cyborgs.


    About the Author

    Ric Edelman is an author, widely lauded financial advisor, and the founder of Edelman Financial Solutions.

    Formats Available

    The Truth About Your Future is available in print, on Kindle, and as an audiobook.

    Publisher and Year Published

    Simon & Schuster published The Truth About Your Future in 2017.

    Money Machine: The Surprisingly Simple Power of Value Investing

    Money Machine Cover Page

    Summary

    Money Machine is a great book for investors who have spent their lives and many of their dollars chasing payouts based on tips from friends, stories buried in the Wall Street Journal, or the ever-vulnerable hunch. Gary Smith advocates the value investing mentality that cautions investors against outsize expectations and demonstrates the durability of value that enables long-term profitability once the wary investor has identified a group of undervalued assets and given the market time to recognize the value that was there all along.


    About the Author

    Gary Smith is an economics professor at Pomona College in California and the author of ten books on finance.

    Formats Available

    Money Machine is available in print, on Kindle, and as an audiobook.

    Publisher and Year Published

    Money Machine was published by AMACON in 2017.

    The Verdict

    If you are not entirely new to the world of investing, any of the classical titles at the top of our list would serve as excellent perspectives on the market broadly, especially if you chose two authors who would disagree on substantial economic issues like Graham and Malkiel. For those newer to investment it would be best to choose a book that provided a scaffolded guide to an investment theory, particularly value investing as its philosophical tenants lend themselves well to investing for personal financial security.

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