Austin

Founder at Travel AF

Hi! I’m Austin. I have been a lifelong learner of personal finance.

I went through an extreme Dave Ramsey phase in late 2019 cutting up credit cards and budgeting every single dollar every day for more than 8 months. I’m happy I did! I paid off $8.9K in those 8 months making $48.5K a year! That experience was pivotal because it showed me that I am in control of my money and no debt would hold me from my goals again.

After my DR phase, I heard another voice saying you don't need to sacrifice so much to hit your goals, you can breathe. That voice came from Shannon McLay at The Financial Gym. Her podcast Martinis and Your Money and Financially Naked podcast helped me reset my extremist, scarce mindset on money and helped me take a more holistic, stress-free approach.

I knew I wanted to do something in personal finance but I wasn’t sure what until I caught the travel bug - more clearly, the travel *hacking* bug. I learned some unique ways to find cheap yet luxurious travel through podcasts (shout out to All The Hacks), and anything else I could find online. I absorbed as much content as I could before beginning my own credit card hacking journey in October 2022.

Since October 2022, I have not paid for a single flight outside of taxes/fees and that includes 5+ domestic trips and 3 trips abroad.

Fast forward to now, I’m taking what I’ve learned to show you how to build your own strategy for award travel and helping people book individual flights through my Points Strategy Plan and Award Travel Concierge service.

Think of me as your Personal Trainer for inexpensive yet luxurious (award) travel.