Churning Gold
Maxing out my 3% cash back card
The new Robinhood (HOOD) Gold Card works with Apple (AAPL) Pay, so can be used for almost everything. 3% cash back is the gold standard in credit card rewards, so I plan on using it exclusively. One way to max out your rewards: you can use it to fund the PredictIt betting market. While I expect Trump to win the White House, I prefer to express that with Freddie and Fannie prefs than with the prediction market bet on Trump because I think that the prefs have a better risk to reward ratio. But there are other markets that might be worth participating in. Who will win the 2024 Republican vice presidential nomination? J. D. Vance is currently at 45%; that strikes me as high. You can buy a “no” bet for $0.56 which makes a 79% return if someone else gets picked (Rubio? Youngkin?). An $850 bet could make $668 and another $26 in credit card rewards for a return of about 82%.
Caveats
There are several problems. First, bets are capped at $850 per account. There is a workaround in that the same bet can be expressed in multiple ways (e.g. betting both against one candidate and for another). And if you’re married you can double the scale with a P2’s account. Secondly, there is a 5% withdrawal charge. Obnoxious and expensive, but can be deferred by keeping money at PredictIt and just rolling bets. There’s always something do to.
Conclusion
Buyer beware, think for yourself, and do your own work. But whatever you think and whatever work you do, it will be better with 3% cash back.
TL; DR
Sign up here.
