Unlocking Credit Card Rewards: Boost Your Assisted Living Investing
Dec 25, 2024
Running an assisted living facility is a rewarding journey, but it comes with its fair share of expenses. From groceries to utilities, every dollar counts when building a successful business. But what if your spending could also bring in extra cash or perks? That’s where credit card rewards come in!
By using the right business credit cards, you can earn rewards like cashback, points, or miles on everyday purchases. This blog will show you how to make credit card rewards work for you, break down the types of rewards, and share tips to maximize your benefits.
Check out the video, too:
What Are Credit Card Rewards?
Credit card rewards are bonuses offered by credit card companies. Each time you make a purchase, you earn something back—like points, miles, or cashback. Think of it as getting a little thank-you gift for spending money. You can use these rewards to save on business costs or even earn extra cash for your assisted living facility.
For example, you might earn 2% cashback on groceries or 3x points on gas purchases. If you’re spending thousands each month on operations, those rewards can add up fast!
The 3 Main Types of Credit Card Rewards
There are three types of rewards programs:
1. Points
Points are like virtual currency. You earn points for every dollar you spend, which you can redeem for things like:
- Gift cards
- Travel
- Office supplies
Some cards even offer bonus points in certain categories, like 2x points on groceries. If you’re spending $5,000 a month on food, that’s 10,000 points—just for buying groceries!
2. Miles
Miles are travel-focused rewards. Every dollar spent earns you miles that you can use for:
- Flights
- Hotel stays
- Travel upgrades
If you travel to conferences or visit out-of-state facilities, miles can save you a lot. However, if you don’t travel much, a miles card might not be the best fit for your assisted living business.
3. Cashback
Cashback is the simplest reward—you get a percentage of your spending back in cash. For example:
- Spend $10,000 in a month.
- Earn 2% cashback.
- That’s $200 back in your pocket!
Cashback is great because it’s easy to use. You can reinvest it directly into your business or save it for future expenses.
How to Choose the Right Credit Card for Your Business
Not all credit cards are the same, so it’s important to find one that matches your needs. Here’s what to look for:
-
Spending Categories:
Figure out where your business spends the most.- Groceries? Look for a card with high rewards on food.
- Gas? Choose a card with gas rewards.
-
Redemption Options:
Think about how you’ll use your rewards.- Need quick cash? Go for cashback.
- Like flexibility? Points might be better.
-
Annual Fees:
Some cards charge an annual fee but offer better rewards. Compare the fee to the potential rewards to see if it’s worth it. -
Ease of Use:
Cashback is usually the easiest to manage. If you prefer simplicity, skip complicated points or miles systems.
How to Maximize Your Rewards
Here’s how to make the most of your credit card rewards:
-
Use the Right Card for Each Expense
For example:- Use a grocery rewards card for food purchases.
- Use a gas rewards card for transportation costs.
-
Pay Off Your Balance Every Month
Interest charges can eat up your rewards. Always pay your balance in full to avoid extra fees. -
Track Expiration Dates
Some rewards expire. Set reminders to redeem them before they’re gone! -
Consolidate Spending
Use one or two main credit cards for most expenses to rack up rewards faster.
Real-Life Example
Let’s say your assisted living facility spends $10,000 a month:
- $5,000 on groceries
- $2,000 on utilities
- $1,000 on gas
- $2,000 on other expenses
If you use a cashback card that offers 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else, you could earn:
- $100 in cashback on groceries ($5,000 x 2%).
- $50 in cashback on other expenses ($5,000 x 1%).
That’s $150 a month or $1,800 a year—just by using your card wisely!
Why Credit Card Rewards Matter
Credit card rewards can make a big difference for your assisted living business. They’re not just about saving money—they’re about making every dollar work harder. Whether it’s cashback for reinvestment or points for business supplies, rewards add value to your everyday spending.
Final Thoughts
Running an assisted living facility is no small feat, but credit card rewards can help lighten the financial load. Start by picking a card that matches your business needs, and use it to earn rewards on everyday expenses.
With the right strategy, those rewards can become an extra source of income—helping your business thrive while you provide amazing care for your residents.
Ready To Take The Next Steps?
To help you get started, download our Business Plan Checklist here and set your facility up for long-term success.
Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:00
i've been talking a lot about credit cards lately and i keep talking about credit card points and rewards but what exactly are points and rewards with a credit card we're going to get into that in today's video hi everybody i'm brandon gustafson i own and operate two assisted living facilities and i created this channel to help people like you learn the ins and outs of investing in assisted living welcome to assisted living investing [Music] hi everybody welcome back to the channel
00:00:37
in our last video we talked about debit cards versus credit cards for a small business i'll link that up above today we're going to get into what are credit card rewards what are points and just kind of give you an overview of what those are so the definition of a credit card rewards or a point system certain credit card companies have created this in an effort to gain and maintain your loyalty not all credit card companies are going to have them not all credit cards within a a credit card company are going to have
00:01:07
them but a lot of them do and they have done it in an effort to just like keep you and create brand loyalty and it's just kind of their way of of getting people entrenched in their ecosystem credit card rewards are the credit card companies currency they are worth money i'm putting these in quotes because they're not they're not real um but that currency that money can be used just like real money um to complete a transaction um so this currency is often referred to as points or rewards or miles or cash back
00:01:45
you might hear some of those phrases but they all essentially mean the exact same thing it just depends on which credit card company you're working with how they use them what they want to call them it just kind of depends on on how they have set up their system but when you are hearing all of these different phrases about the different types of rewards just know that they're all essentially the same thing they might have different values and things like that and i'll get into that in a future video
00:02:14
um but uh yeah just kind of keep an eye out for that when you hear those phrases you're talking about the same thing speaking of phrases we're going to get into phrases remember each of these phrases is basically a currency of the credit card company so the first one is going to be points so points are are actually quite easy to interpret like how you earn them what is not super straightforward with a point system is how much they are worth and i'll get into that in a future video but to keep things simple many credit
00:02:44
card companies will give you like a 1.4 each cent that you earn or a hundred points for a dollar so they try to make it relatively simple in how they're going to do that but sometimes they'll give you like two times or three times the amount of points for each dollar that you spend in a certain store or a certain type of store so whether that's like supermarkets or gas or something like that they'll give you extra points if you use um money in those areas and they have set up relationships with those vendors and
00:03:19
that's how they're able to give extra points for each of those the next one would be miles so miles are typically earned when it's a travel card so you'll see you'll earn a certain number of miles for every dollar that you spend um typically you'll earn more miles when you're using that card for travel related purchases so flights or hotels or um like if you're taking an uber or a lift or something like that you can get extra points for that so that's another thing
00:03:50
that you want to kind of take into consideration working in assisted living you're probably not going to be doing a ton of that even me who has my facilities out of state um i'm not flying a ton like a few times a year but it's i'm not flying out every every week so it doesn't make a ton of sense to have a a travel a miles type of a card for me um but take that into consideration um with you maybe you travel a lot and so earning those points is going to be beneficial to you so you
00:04:19
can use those points to do some of your traveling um but yeah if you are using that you'll get a premium for that travel that's typically how the 2x and 3x points that i talked about just a second ago that's how they incentivize you to use uh the card for travel is how they kind of work their their system there the other one is uh cash back so this is more of a straight cash back it's probably the easiest reward for you to earn or understand i guess so cash back typically happens as a percentage of
00:04:55
your purchase with certain vendors or those vendor families you know gas or supermarkets or whatever that is and they will offer more cash back so you might see something like two percent cash back you know so in the event that you spent one dollar you would get two cents um cash back for the purchase that you made that's kind of how two percent would work um cash back feels a little bit more tangible than a point system or a mile system but often you are probably getting a little more bang for your buck
00:05:28
if you are reward if you're using that point or that mile system they typically give you a higher value in points than you do for cash back but then you have to go through their system to redeem everything whereas cash back you could just ask them it'll give you a check for it so pros and cons there but you know this is basically people are i think it's because people are less likely to redeem their points or their miles than they are cash back if you have a thing that says oh you've got
00:05:56
five hundred dollars cash back you're going to say oh okay send me the check or if it's with sam's or sam's club or costco you're going to go in and they'll send it to you or they'll automate automatically send you a check on an annual basis here's your cash back rewards whereas a point system with a credit card company you may not use it you may not recognize that you have it there and so you just kind of let it sit there and i'm sure they have some kind of a system where
00:06:20
they fall off if you don't use them after a while so that's something else that you want to just kind of be aware of so next is are all rewards equal no no they are not rewards whether it's points or miles or cash back are not equal they're not equal within the the same credit card company across credit card companies they're certainly not equal it really just depends those values change from credit card company to credit card company from card to card even underneath that same umbrella
00:06:52
and so do the rates at which you earn those rewards so i've been talking a little bit about this so certain market segments gas supermarkets those types of things you might get better rewards for those than another card or market segment and so you just want to do your research and find out what's going to work best for you in assisted living i'm going to talk about this in a future video but really we use a lot of money on grocery and so if i can find a card that gives me extra perks for
00:07:19
all the groceries that i'm buying that's great or if i have brand loyalty to walmart or costco or sam's club or target or something like that i'm gonna get their card because i'm buying a ton of stuff there so i might as well get their premium cash back premium point version so that i can kind of maximize the the money i'm spending because i'm going to spend the money anyways i might as well look for opportunities where i can gain greater incentives for the things that i'm buying
00:07:47
and in our next video we're going to get into how do credit card points work so i'll get into the nitty-gritty of how they work and and what that process is like to learn more about investing in assisted living make sure you visit me on assistedlivinginvesting.net i'd love to have you over on the website i've got other content up there i have a blog free resources you can set up a consulting call with me and then make sure you follow me on my other social media platforms and remember it doesn't
00:08:11
take a lot just just a little bit just keep going step by step by step keep making progress if you do that and you're consistent you will be successful i promise thanks for watching and have a great day [Music] you
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