So this year is one of my favorite times of the year. We got the holiday season coming up. We got Christmas Thanksgiving Black Friday here in the states and in this video I Wanted to go over everything that you can do in order to optimize your spending. It turns out just to give you guys a little bit of data regarding holiday sales that year over-year Americans are spending even more money throughout the past.

Let's say I think it's been 15 20 years where holiday sales are going up about 6 to 8 % since 2021 to 2022, and it's forecasted that we may go up another 6 to 8% for the year of 2023. Now to break that down, we got some more data in 2020: Americans spent about $777 billion on holiday related purchases. Now the average cost of Christmas shopping in the US was about ,000 per person or $998 to be exact. Now every single year online shopping is becoming predominantly more I Remember back like four or five years years ago, right after Thanksgiving you'd basically pull an all nighter I don't know if y all did this with your families, but then you would run to the mall, go to the store and try to get these deals.

but it turns out these deals really aren't like deals anymore. just cuz the stores are adapting. But you know, if you look hard enough you can definitely find some good stuff going around. What? I found real interesting about this whole statistic is that for me personally I really procrastinate on my holiday shopping.

So I've been trying to get better and better at it every single year, but it turns out that 43% of Americans actually do their holiday shopping before the end of October which I thought was interesting I thought it would be more towards before Thanksgiving so only 25% of people. But regardless, whenever you're doing your holiday shopping, this video here is still going to be so perfect for you. So right now we're just going to assume that you're going to have to spend a decent amount of money this year on gifts if you know you're going to be spending money anyways. first of all, I just want to mention reiterate this every single time I can is the fact that please do not put yourself into credit card debt to get you know gifts for people like getting gifts I think is amazing, but do it within reasonable spend.

Now if you have the budgeting aside, you know you've been saving a little bit of money for this time of year. This is where you can get about 20, 30, or even 40% cash back into your pocket on the spend that you're going to do anyway. So one of my favorite ways to do this is to utilize the right credit card. Now yes, you can use like the Chase Freedom Flex card and go through PayPal and get 5% back.

but then first of all, you're capped out on a specific amount. But second of all, the % actually doesn't really end up being much. If you want to get a ton of cash back, you need to look into getting new credit cards. And this is because the Welcome Bonus offers on credit cards are so significant that often times you're going to have to spend a lot of money for a long period of time for you to ever get close to the Welcome Bonus offers that you get back.

Now we'll go over some of the best credit cards I've actually organized my list here in this video to someone who has bad credit to good credit to someone who's spending a little bit to a lot. and then we're also going to be talking about how you can utilize Ize Business credit cards throughout this time too to maximize your cash back. Now that is one strategy. the second one.

What I think is very powerful is going to be making sure that you utilize these online cashback portals. So something I've been doing and it turns out since 2017 here in my Ebates account I you know what? I still call them Ebates Which this company here got bought out by Rutin which owns a whole Fleet of random different companies. So it turns out over all the years I've been using Rakuin I have a lifetime cash back of 20, $2,196 and what I've done since then is simply just use Rutin anytime I'm doing some online shopping. so recently you know I got a second cell phone I wanted to get a good carrier I utilized AT&T I literally got I think it was actually more than $100 before and keep an eye out for Rutin because when you do turn it on, sometimes they elevate their offers even more so I remember getting like Nord LIF law completely for free and even more money back in my pocket.

But then you'll notice that there are many other stores where generally they're about 2x back. but even things like Teemu if you don't know about Teemu they started coming up if you got like kids, if you got like some Gen Z kids they'll probably know about it. but it's like the super cheap version of AliExpress you'll notice this star light projector $428 C even on their homepage. look this Moon lamp $12.78 So if you thought Amazon was cheap, this is like Amazon except the dollar store version of Amazon you're basically buying direct from China The quality of Tmu could be questionable, but but you are getting things at a discount and then if you pair up Rutin with this, you're going to be getting an additional 18% back.

So this is just one of those examples. If if you don't shop on there, don't force yourself to buy gifts. but it is an idea. You know if you got a ton of kids or you're shopping for a huge family and you know they don't care about the name brand Gucci Expensive stuff I Think this is a great option here, but the whole point here is that you're going to be getting additional cash back so it's all about just making a little bit more and over time it can add up to be aive now I'd be capping if I said that all this cash back just came from the cash back.

that I was earning that cash back I was earning was still a good chunk of it, but it was only a fraction. A majority of that came from the referrals way over time in the last 5 six years of doing this. Now if you guys also want to get on top of it too, you guys can refer your own friends and the referral program here is great. The qualification isn't that much and all you have to do is sign up.

You can use my link down below and then you get $40 for every referral and then whoever refers you gets $40 too. If you guys do decide to use my link Down Below in the description I Just want to say thank you so much. It does support this channel this team so we can continue to push out good content just like this. Now going back into the credit card offers.

this is somewhere I want to expand just a little bit more on now recently I had to make a big purchase too I Love investing into my own health and one of the things I finally decided to do was to build out a home gym in my basement. This is one of those things to I wasn't too sure of just because I have two gym memberships and I rarely go out to those right now, but it's mainly because the drive you drive 15 minutes there, 15 minutes back and then you know getting warmed up going up the stairs, park it just starts to add up. So one of the first things that I did before I even got into the whole world of Fitness was just building out like a $100 gym set it was from Sports Authority like 10 years ago in my parents basement in the unfinished basement. I I was like breathing in black mold and dust and sawdust and all this stuff at the time.

but that's where I started and I'm someone who utilizes the home gym a lot I built one out I didn't want cheap out here, but I still got a 10% off discount at rep Fitness The total to that came out to be about $7,000 but I'm actually very excited I see it as an investment in my health and being able to save more time. but the reason why I say this story is because one of the things that I did before placing that order was getting a new card now. I Got lucky because that sale that they had ended today and fed X They overnight expedited ship this bag here. So usually credit cards can take anywhere from 3 to even eight business days for you to get it in the mail.

but I got this pretty quick and I wasn't sure I would get it in time. I'm going to make a full review video. This is a card that I've been waiting on for pretty long time. I've been mentioning it on my channel how bad I've wanted it.

But basically today I placed the order and I was able to knock out that welcome bonus offer. The welcome bonus offer on this was on the minimum of $750 cash back. so I pretty much got that back on top of the discount that I was getting. So I got 10% off of $7500 I got about $700 cash back.

so if we multiply that I pretty much saved about $1,450 all with just a few clicks and just being a bit patient. Now let's go over how you guys can save thousands of dollars too. So down below in the description section for this video, you're going to see a bunch of links and we actually have Brian J.org favorites. so this is going to show up a variety of my own favorite credit cards.

These are affiliate links as well. You don't have to use them, but whenever you do, it supports this. Channel and whenever you do, if you guys comment down below that you use this. link, I'm going to go ahead and respond to you personally thanking you for doing that, because it does make a difference now.

I'm pulling this up here because we have a bunch of credit cards and I want to go over just what I think is the best. For someone who might have bad credit, good credit. you know we talked about it earlier. So first of all, if you have bad credit and you're coming up on a season where you know you have to spend money, generally I would say just don't even bother getting a credit card, but if you've already made the decision to do it, I would at least do it in a smart way.

So don't get something like the Platinum Card I don't even know if you get approved for that. But look toward some of these lower tier beginner friendly cards like the Chase Stre and Flex or my personal favorite right now, the Capital One Sa One Cash Rewards card. Now with these cards, you don't have to spend a lot of money either if you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months, which most people can actually do like most people probably be able to hit it in less than a week. you'll get $200 cash back.

That's free money in your pocket if you had this card and you got the Freedom Flex card in a single day. that's $400 total cash back if you spent $1,000 Now if you have good good credit, this is a whole different story. So I would look towards completing. Your Own Credit Card Road Map I Recently made a video in my Ultimate Credit Card Hacking Guide going through the road map that I first started out with about 5 years ago.

That has led me to gaining 3 million points about $30,000 in free money. Basically that all you guys can get. A lot of people think I'm just you know this isn't real, but it is real money if you do it properly. But in that video I actually went over the updated road map because there are some cards from 5 years ago that are just not relevant today.

If you don't have a precise road map or game plan on what you should do with your credit cards, watch that full video. It's like 40 minutes long. but I assure you it's so worth it. You're going to find a ton of value and I spent a lot of time putting that together to make it the best video here on.

YouTube regarding anything credit card related. So watch that if you don't really have a knowledge of what cards you should get. But if you're in a situation where you're not, you know, too crazy into the free money, the travel perks, and all the stuff you get with it. and you're looking for a go-to card I'd say the gold card? is a pretty strong Contender Even right now, generally even during the holiday season, most people are going to be going out to dinner.

So I co-own a Japanese barbecue place here in Rockville Maryland Most of my OG Subs know this we bought in I think it's been about one to two years now, but pretty much a lot of our sales come in fourth quarter. Everyone starts eating out, everyone starts booking up the tables. it's hard to get seated I'm sure you guys know this too as a customer. And one of the things that I cringe at is when someone does not spend on the right credit card.

So the gold card and anytime you're eating out at a restaurant or you're even going to the supermarket, you're getting 4X back on your spend. But you're also going to be getting 60,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 which I think is simply just amazing right there. So if you already have the gold card, look to other Alternativ. So if you're someone who doesn't travel that much I'd say you know Chase Sta I Preferred is a great card Capital One Venture X Card Another fantastic card and there are still going to be plenty of other options.

I'd say if you haven't applied for a card in the last 3 months, you have something over like a 700 credit score and you're still not sure. Look at hotel credit cards they are great Roi Easy. Get the welcome bonus offer on it. You usually get one free Hotel night so you know if you're taking a trip to the city or whatever it is that can comp you right there.

What? I really like is the IHG credit card and I Love the world High credit card two keepers that I still got and then when you look towards Hilton or Marriott Bonvoy cards. They have a wide spectrum of cards that have $0 Annual fees to cards that have more than $495 a year. So if you really love spending time at Marriotts then you'll know that you want to adjust the type of card that you get. But if you know that, okay I just want to get the welcome bonus offer I Don't really care about all the perks I Don't even stay out of Marriott You can look at getting the no annual fee card but still getting a free welcome bonus offer and then look towards either canceling or downgrading that card if you don't use it in the following years.

All right. so bad credit, Good credit. That's how I split it up, but you're actually going to notice there's a lot of congruency between that and also the low spender and the high spender. If you know that you're not going to be spending a lot of money this holiday season, opt in for the bad credit cards Capital One Saer One or the chase freom Flex card.

These two cards in particular, they give you a welcome bonus offer. They also give you the no interest promotional offer just in case you happen to be an individual struggling in some way or not. Now if you are a high spender instead of even the gold card I'd consider getting something like the Platinum Card Right now, you can earn 880,000 membership reward points after you spend $8,000 So if you can spend 8 Grand in 6 months, you'll be getting the welcome bonus offer too. But I do know that there is a floating elevated offer for the platinum card and I do have a special link so you can access that through the card match tool that is linked Down Below in the description you put in your information.

I See none of that. By the way guys, this is just going straight to the tool and then it's going to check your credit score and give you the right offers based on your score. And sometimes if you get lucky, you'll be seeing a 100,000 Point offer on the platinum card or even the 120,000 Point offer for me personally back then. I think I got the 100,000 Point offer offer I was happy about that I Heard there's 150,000 Point offer, but it's extremely hard to get.

but either way if you're getting anything above 80 to 100,000 I still think you're doing pretty decent now. Last but not least, out of this entire list, one type of credit cards are going to be your business cards. Now, if you're someone who's been maximizing your personal credit cards already and you're looking to get a new business credit card, there are a ton of great ones out on the market, but I'd still look to getting the ones that offered the welcome bonus offers first. The chasing cards are hands down still my favorite.

The Chase Inc Business Cash and the Inc Business Unlimited have a limited time welcome bonus offer that is still elevated at $900 cashback. Uh, and this is great because these two cards no annual fee you pay z a year to hold and uh, the Chasing Business preferred. Yeah, you get a little bit higher. You get a hundred more dollars with this welcome bonus offer.

but you do have an annual fee of 95 bucks. If you don't think you qualify for a business credit card, you might be surprised because it turns out a lot of people can get them through the right steps. So if you guys want to watch my full Dedic dedicated video on the Ultimate Business Credit Card Hacking guide, watch that as well at the end of this video if you want to learn more about those products. But if you want to keep it simple just with a personal cards, I still think that's completely fine too.

Now for me I've been getting credit cards at a pretty Interesting Pace This is the first time in many years where I've decided to apply for them within even a 1 to two month period and I've had no issues in getting approved. I'd say about a year ago the banks are really tightening down I heard a lot more people getting declined, but I feel like right now during these days I don't know if it's cuz of the recession might be getting a little bit better what it is, but it seems like right now the approval odds are loosening up just a bit so it might actually be easier in getting some of these cards. I Think this is just one of the easiest ways that you can accumulate a ton of extra cash back throughout this season. Make sure you don't overspend ladies and gents.

But most importantly, that was all about optimizing your spend. But I want to talk about the simple principle of just going out and making more money? Now look I know everyone's not entrepreneurial, but even if you're working a 9 to5 job, this is still applicable to you because I'm sure if you go in your closet right now, you're going to find different things to sell. In a climate where we're seeing overall sales grow, it's not just for new products that you're typing in online and buying from. you know, the brand new stores.

People actually go on those stores and realize man, this is still kind of expensive. and then they buy the pre-owned version of it. So this is also a great time throughout the holidays. If you have old shoes, you're not wearing old shirts, sweatshirts, you know items Tech whatever it is listed on eBay listed on stock ax, goat, whatever it is and get extra income coming in during this time out of all that I think the biggest needle is going to be just making more money, so start a side.

Hustle sell a product. you know we have all these guides now whether it's Drop Shipping affiliate marketing. We have so much content here to support you guys and being able to make a lot of money. All the things I share on this YouTube channel come from my own experience and from the things that I've done in my experience.

You guys can at least see from the last four or five years of what I've been able to do. There's really no secret to it, its first mindset and the second that follows is taking action day by day. Now granted, in the beginning it was slow. It took me many, many years to make my first $100,000 But I know if Young Brian Jung who did not do a good job in school who is really not that smart of a person I know a lot of you guys can do it too.

So guys, if you found any value in this video, be sure to drop a like down below: Share this with a family member or friend so that they can optimize their spend. During this time we want to save as much money for people as possible. If you guys want to also get a more in-depth look at my personal life, you know I got a lot of interesting things coming up like I got a wedding coming up and less than a year from now that hasn't actually been too stressful, but it is expensive building out the home gym. I'll post some of that on my Instagram and just more details about some products that we're launching here on our end that I've been working super hard on with my team, be sure to follow me on the social media.

Check out the links once again down below in the description if you guys want to take advantage of any of these offers. I Love you guys! I Appreciate you guys and I'll see you guys later. Peace.