My fiance and I will be holding our wedding banquet towards the end of 2020 at a local hotel. Is it advisable to pay a considerable sum as advance payment to the hotel for miles?

Hey Anonymous, congrats on your upcoming wedding! It'll definitely be one for the memory, so hope the finance issues aren't causing you too much headache.

As noted in one of the responses below that you plan to maximise the sign-up bonuses, hence it would be great to time the application of your cards with the various playments you have planned. Do stay up to date with all the sign-up bonus that are on offer, especially to new-to-bank customers. You can keep track of them either via:

• SingSaver or MoneySmart. They regularly share sign-up bonus from the various banks, say $250 for signing up for a Citibank card as a new-to-bank customer.

• Milelion Roar telegram broadcast channel (https://t.me/milelionroars). They post all (I think?) promotions almost in real time, as well as compile a Weekly Deal Summary to ensure you do not miss out on any promotion. Best of all, it is a channel so no spams! Only the best stuff shared there.

Post-weddding, if you are also wondering how to continue earning miles on a regular basis, then perhaps this article (https://milelion.com/2019/09/21/miles-game-star...) could be useful. It lists the various categories of spend and the cards that would help you maximise the miles earned. Hope it is not too much of an hassle keeping up with various perks of these cards when you have them in your wallet.

May 2020 be a year of bliss for you and your fiance!

Yes! advance payment is a smart way to earn miles in periodic tranches.

you can definitely earn more bonus miles this way.

you can consider splitting between spouse and you, and between periods, and also for all the sign up bonus that new credit card offers!

If the hotel is reputable and you don't mind locking your money, then you may consider doing so after you have read and fully agree with the contractual terms, e.g. event crisis measures (food poisoning and kitchen has to be closed, overbooking, etc).

Having mentioned that, it will be valued to calculate the opportunity cost associated with this move. For instance, by putting the money in your bank, will the returns outweigh the offer given by your credit card?

Since the wedding is at the end of 2020, you may actually consider applying a new card and use it to this end. Either way, it depends on how comfortable you are with the risk involved in the advance payment, as well as the return that you get.

Here is everything about me and what I do best.

If the hotel is an established business, I don't see any issues (apart from potential cashflow issues for you- so make sure this doesn't affect your ability to meet immediate obligations).

Sidepoint: proposed strategy for you

1. Man applies for UOB Preferred platinum visa, UOB visa signature

2. Woman applies for UOB Lady's Card (or Solitaire if income allows), UOB Preferred Platinum visa, UOB Visa signature

3. Each month, man pays $1K on UOB PPV and $2K on UOB VS via paywave for 12K miles

4. Each month, woman pays $1K on UOB PPV, $2K on UOB VS, $1K on UOB Lady's Card (or $3K on UOB Lady's Solitaire) with "travel" as your declard 10X bonus category. Total miles= 16K (or 24K with Solitaire)

5. Rinse and repeat each month. Take note that the UOB VS cap is based on statement month while the UOB PPV cap is based on calendar month

If you spread out your banquet payments, you'll be able to hit a lot of miles with this strategy. This assumes you've already maxed out your sign up bonuses