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Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus for 15 Destinations

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Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus for 15 Destinations


Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus

🔃 Update: This offer expired on March 24, but one of your Facebook Group members was able to call in and still get the 150K bonus. They also got an extra 25K bonus points for booking within 45 days and staying by end of August.

There’s also this new offer for 125K that is available through April 27, 2026.

Hilton Honors members can get a 3-night stay at several destinations and 150,000 bonus points, starting at just $199. We see these Hilton Grand Vacations offers from time to time, and you can often negotiate something better. But this is the highest bonus we have ever seen.

There are 11 destinations in total to choose from, including three in Hawaii. There’s a small catch however, a timeshare presentation that you must attend. Let’s see how these offers work and also check out my experience in Las Vegas with a similar offer from Marriott Vacation Club.

Offer Details

Guests must purchase one of the following packages:

  • Las Vegas:
    • 3-night stay at The Boulevard, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $199 plus tax
  • Orlando:
    • 3-night stay at SeaWorld® Orlando, Tuscany Village, or Las Palmeras
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $199 plus tax
  • Myrtle Beach:
    • 3-night stay at Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort or the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Myrtle Beach Oceanfront.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $299 plus tax
  • Daytona Beach:
    • 3-night stay at Homewood Suites Daytona Beach Speedway – Airport or steps from the sand at Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $299 plus tax
  • Gatlinburg, TN:
    • 3-night stay at Hampton Inn Pigeon Forge or Hilton Garden Inn Pigeon Forge.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $299 plus tax
  • Williamsburg, VA:
    • 3-night stay at Embassy Suites by Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, The Historic Powhatan, a Hilton Vacation Club or Greensprings, a Hilton Vacation Club.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $299 plus tax
  • Sedona, AZ:
    • 3-night stay at Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock or steps from the Marg’s Draw Trailhead at Arabella Hotel Sedona.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $349 plus tax
  • Park City, UT:
    • 3-night stay at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Park City – The Yarrow.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $349 plus tax
  • Honolulu, HI:
    • 4-night stay at Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach, Hilton Waikiki Beach or DoubleTree by Hilton Alana—Waikiki Beach.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $899 plus tax
  • Waikoloa, HI:
    • 4-night stay at Ocean Tower, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $999 plus tax
  • Maui, HI:
    • 4-night stay at Aston Kaanapali Shores Resort or Royal Lahaina Resort.
    • 150,000 bonus Hilton points
    • Cost: $999 plus tax

OFFER LINK

You may purchase a package now through March 24, 2025, but you have up to 12 months from purchase date to travel. Travel can begin 30 days after purchase of vacation package.

Important Terms

  • As part of your vacation package, you’ll attend a two-hour personal preview and sales presentation of Hilton Grand Vacations, where you’ll learn how you and your family can enjoy the many benefits and privileges of vacation ownership with Hilton Grand Vacations.
  • A $19.95 charge applies to each reservation change made up to seven (7) days prior to arrival. Should your plans change within seven (7) days of your scheduled arrival, requiring a cancellation and change to your reservation, the equivalent of one (1) night at the currently published retail price ($175-$500) for the applicable resort or hotel at that time will be charged to the credit card used to purchase the vacation package.
  • If you are married or cohabitating and combining income, the couple is required to visit and attend the Timeshare Presentation together, except where prohibited by law. You are not eligible for this offer if you have attended a Hilton Grand Vacations sales presentation at any property within the last year.
  • There is absolutely no obligation to purchase a Hilton Grand Vacations ownership interest.
  • Make sure you also go over the fine print to check your eligibility or any other specific information that could affect you.

Get a Better Deal

We have seen many versions of these offers in the past. The number of days can vary, the price, and even the bonus points. It’s a good idea to call 833-970-0010 and see if you can receive a better offer, but points-wise this is as high a bonus as we have seen.

You can often negotiate a better price or maybe even inquire about additional destinations not listed in the offer page.

Use Quarterly Hilton Credits

Three credit cards offer Hilton credits:

You can trigger the Hilton credit if you use one of these cards to pay for the stay. When booking via phone you can even possibly split a purchase to use two or more of these credits and make this Hilton timeshare offer a much better deal. 

OFFER LINK

Hilton Timeshare Offer: Guru’s Wrap-up

This is the best ever bonus offered for a Hilton timeshare presentation. There are 11 destinations to choose from, starting at $199 for a 3-night stay. And you also get 150,000 Hilton Honors points which are valued at about $650. So it’s basically a free vacation and a nice profit at most destinations. Or you can choose a 4-night stay is Hawaii for $899 or $999 which is still a great deal when combined with the 150K bonus points. It makes sense even for a staycation if you’re in one of the eligible cities.

Normally you can also call and ask for a better offer, but I doubt you’ll get anything more in this case. It could be worth asking for more destinations though.

However, all these types of offers come with a mandatory sales pitch for Hilton Grand Vacations. You have to sit through that for two hours. They can’t force you to buy anything, but again not everyone can say “no” over and over. And they make those deals sound pretty good. If that’s something you’re not comfortable with, it might be best to skip this Hilton Grand Vacations offer. But if you’ve done this before, or are confident that you will resist the temptation, then could be a good opportunity.

If you are really looking to buy a timeshare, then it is better to look at time share resellers where you will get a much better price. I still do not think it is a good idea, but always see for yourself, add up the costs, and then make a decision.

Have you participated in similar timeshare presentations in the past? How did it go and what tips do you have for other readers?

HT: ToP

Enforcement against mortgage professionals jumps as FSRA flexes new powers

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Enforcement against mortgage professionals jumps as FSRA flexes new powers




With higher fine limits now in place, regulators say recent penalties may only reflect the early stages of a stricter regime

VDC vs. PBJ: Is Broader Consumer Staples Exposure the Better Buy?

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The Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC +0.01%) and the Invesco Food & Beverage ETF (PBJ 0.26%) both offer exposure to U.S. consumer staples companies, but their approaches and portfolios look quite different. This comparison explores each ETF’s fees, performance, risk, and holdings to help investors decide which may be a better fit for their goals.

Snapshot (cost & size)

Metric VDC PBJ
Issuer Vanguard Invesco
Expense ratio 0.09% 0.61%
1-yr return (as of 4/1/26) 4.4% 7.9%
Dividend yield 1.95% 1.61%
Beta 0.63 0.72
AUM $9.9 billion $89.7 million

Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months.

VDC is significantly cheaper, with an expense ratio of 0.09%, compared to PBJ’s 0.61%. VDC also offers a higher dividend yield at 1.95%, while PBJ pays 1.61% — a notable gap for income-focused investors.

Performance & risk comparison

Metric VDC PBJ
Max drawdown (5 y) -16.56% -15.83%
Growth of $1,000 over 5 years $1,421 $1,321

What’s inside

PBJ focuses narrowly on 30 or so U.S. food and beverage companies, making it far less diversified than many sector ETFs. Its top holdings — including Corteva (CTVA +0.20%), Kroger (KR +2.68%), and Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM +1.56%) — show a tilt toward agricultural inputs and food distribution.

VDC, by contrast, covers more than 100 stocks spanning the entire consumer defensive sector, with heavy weights in Walmart (WMT +0.23%), Costco Wholesale (COST +1.06%), and Procter & Gamble (PG 0.44%). This broader approach includes not just the food and beverage category, but also household and personal products, offering broader diversification across the consumer staples sector.

For more guidance on ETF investing, check out the full guide at this link.

What this means for investors

Consumer staples — the category covering everyday essentials like food, beverages, and household products — tend to hold up relatively well during economic downturns, which is a big part of their appeal. But not all ETFs are built the same.

The cost gap alone is striking. PBJ’s 0.61% expense ratio is nearly seven times higher than VDC’s 0.09%. For long-term investors, that expense drag compounds quietly over time — and becomes harder to justify when VDC also delivers a higher dividend yield. Income-oriented investors, in particular, will likely find VDC the more rewarding choice.

The trade-off with PBJ is focus. If you have strong conviction that food and agricultural supply chains are poised to outperform broader consumer spending — perhaps due to commodity price trends, food inflation, or structural shifts in how Americans eat — PBJ’s concentrated bet could make sense. Its stronger 1-year return suggests it can outperform in the right environment.

For most investors, though, VDC’s combination of low cost, higher yield, greater diversification, and stronger long-term track record makes it the more sensible option. It captures the defensive characteristics investors seek from the consumer staples sector without doubling down on any single corner of it.

As always, the best ETF is the one that fits your broader portfolio — not just the one with the flashiest recent return.

Is this really a good time to be investing?

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Is this really a good time to be investing?



👉🏼 Looking for help planning your retirement?
I am a Chartered Wealth Manager and Partner in a financial planning practice based in the UK. Find out how we can help here:

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Capital at risk. Past performance is used as a guide only. It is no guarantee of future returns. Different funds and asset classes carry varying levels of risk depending on the geographical region and industry sector. You should make yourself aware of these specific risks prior to investing. Prevailing tax rates and reliefs are dependent on your individual circumstances and are subject to change. We do not provide tax advice. Any examples used in the video are for illustrative purposes only and you may get less back than the figures shown. This video does not constitute personal advice. We do not take any responsibility for third party websites and content we may link to from this video.

Issued on behalf of Nova. Nova is a trading name of Nova Wealth Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 778951) and is a limited company registered in England & Wales (10739796).

James Shack™ property of Shack Media Limited
Copyright © James Shackell 2025. All rights reserved.
The author asserts their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this channel and any video published on it.

source

Prediction markets caught insider traders in real time. Congress wants to shut them down anyway

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Prediction markets caught insider traders in real time. Congress wants to shut them down anyway



Hours before U.S. missiles struck Tehran on Saturday, February 28, six Polymarket accounts placed bets that military action would begin. They were bang on the money right. Together, they raked in $1.2 million, with one account turning $61,000 into nearly $493,000—a whopping 821% return. Most of these accounts were created and funded within 24 hours of the strikes. The whiff stench of insider trading is unmistakable.

This was no isolated incident. Similar patterns emerged in January, when freshly created accounts netted over $400,000 betting on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, just hours before the operation went public.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Kalshi and Polymarket, which are facing a growing number of lawsuits demanding that prediction markets be regulated like gambling. With war-related betting stirring up scandal, a group of congressional Democrats has put forward the “Prediction Markets are Are Gambling Act”— legislation that seeks to ban prediction market bets on elections, government actions, war and sports. They are making a big mistake.

Prediction markets haven’t created the insider trading problem out of thin air. It has been an unsavory feature of financial markets for many a decade for decades. What Kalshi and Polymarket have done is drag this dirty secret out into the open with the help of transparent and immutable blockchain technology. Crypto transactions are recorded on a ledger that anyone can see and cannot be altered or obfuscated. This makes prediction markets the most useful and precise tool for eradicating exposing insider trading that has ever existed—a tool Congress should rely on heavily, not legislate out of existence.

Following the Breadcrumbs

Regulators already see the opportunity. On February 25, the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement issued a formal advisory after two cases of insider trading on Kalshi. The Commission is currently collecting public comments on how these markets should be regulated. But it’s clear that prosecution is the next step. As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton put it, “because it’s a prediction market doesn’t insulate you from fraud,” and federal prosecutors have since met directly with Polymarket to explore charges.

But prosecution in this area is only possible if these markets are allowed to function, unmasking insider trading that has, until now, largely happened behind closed doors. The system, as it currently stands, makes insider trading prosecution incredibly difficult. Perhaps that’s why no member of Congress—not even Nancy Pelosi, whose husband’s suspiciously well-timed trades became a national scandal—has ever been prosecuted for profiting off from privileged information.

Prediction markets, for the first time, create a trail of breadcrumbs that is hard to ignore. Timestamped, public, and—crucially—independent of established institutions. That independence matters: no institutional pressure can make inconvenient data disappear. No amount of political pressure can erase transactions on the blockchain. And so prediction markets, for all their flaws, can lead directly to the doorstep of those profiting from privileged information—prosecutors need only follow the breadcrumbs.

Nowhere to Hide

This isn’t theoretical. A recent, concrete example proves it can be done. In February, an Israeli Air Force reservist was indicted, along with an alleged accomplice, on suspicion of placing bets on Polymarket based on classified information about the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June 2025.

Less than a year from wrongdoing to prosecution. That’s a faster timeline than virtually any comparable insider trading case in traditional finance.

And it doesn’t even require sophisticated infrastructure. Independent blockchain analysts like ZachXBT and Bubblemaps are already tracing these transactions voluntarily. In the latest case of war-related betting, Bubblemaps quickly identified that the funds came from a wallet called “nothingeverhappens911,” which was connected to another account called “Skoobidoobnj” through a shared Binance deposit address—and this account turned out to be connected to two further Polymarket accounts that placed similar trades. Little by little, the walls are closing in.

Granted, these are obviously anonymous accounts. There are ways traders can obfuscate their transactions and hide their locations. They can use crypto mixers in an attempt to “wash” the funds. In short, they can make prosecutors’ lives difficult. But many things can’t be hidden on-chain: funding patterns, timing of entry, fund flows, and connected wallet addresses. And if a bunch of independent enthusiasts can uncover this much information with public tools, this fast, imagine what a properly coordinated and resourced regulatory effort could achieve.

Eradicate It Once and For All

Yes, prediction markets gave insiders an opportunity to profit from disaster. But it would be naive to think that this hasn’t happened in the past. This time, however, we know exactly which bets were placed, when, and how much profit was made.

Now it’s time to follow the breadcrumbs to find the missing piece of the puzzle: the identity of these traders. The CFTC is ready to move, the forensic tools already exist, and the April 30 public comment deadline on prediction market regulation is an open invitation to get this right. Fund the enforcement, strengthen the penalties, mandate identity verification above meaningful trading thresholds—but keep prediction markets open. Congress should lean into this opportunity, instead of killing the very tool that shines a light on a problem they have struggled to eradicate for decades.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

Fundamental Growth | Research & Policy Center

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Conventional growth indices suffer from two important shortcomings. First, stocks that are anti-value (very expensive) are not necessarily growth stocks. The decision to include a stock in a growth index should be based on fundamental growth measures, such as growth in sales, profits, or R&D spending, rather than price-based measures. Second, when these indices are weighted by objective measures of growth, rather than by market value, performance markedly improves. Overpaying for growth is unhelpful. We also assert that some stocks with poor growth prospects and unattractive valuations may have no place in either value or growth indices.

[Now Live – Rebook] United Announces Changes That Benefit United Cardholders

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[Now Live – Rebook] United Announces Changes That Benefit United Cardholders


Update 4/2/26: These changes are now live, rebook if advantageous. 

United has announced changes that benefit United cardholders.

Rewards Earned From Flights

One change ishow rewards are earned when booking flights, with Chase United cardholders set to benefit and everybody else will be worse off. The new changes will go into effect for tickets purchased on or after April 2, 2026. The new earn rates are as follows:

The old or current earn rates are as follows:

Seems like cardholders are one points off better and non cardholders are two point off worse? You also still get the bonus from your credit card as well. Basic economy earning will also be restricted to elites or cardholders. 

Award Discounts

Cardholders will save at least 10% on every flight they book and 15% with Premier status. 

Award Space

Cardholders will also get access to Saver Award inventory in United Polaris® Business Class. Previously this was only available to loyalty members with Platinum and 1K status. 

Our Verdict

These days loyalty programs and credit cards are really the ones driving airlines to any level of profitability so it’s not a huge surprise that United wants to encourage more loyalty members to become cardholders. For most people actual travel doesn’t drive a meaningful amount of miles/points anyway (especially when we are talking about a few points per $1 spent), I can still see elites being upset at these changes especially access to award inventory. 

Overall I think this is a devaluation for consumers overall and an interesting way to do one. 

7 Ways Homeowners Use a HELOC to Access Their Home Equity

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7 Ways Homeowners Use a HELOC to Access Their Home Equity


If you locked in a low mortgage rate a few years ago, the last thing you want to do is give it up. But you’ve also been watching your home equity grow and wondering, is there a way to put that money to work without starting over with a new mortgage?

Continue

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning to Nashville and Orlando

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Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning to Nashville and Orlando



From the mid-2000s through the late 2010s, San Francisco was a magnet for young graduates driven largely by Web 2.0 and the mobile tech boom. It was a cool city that boasted high-paying jobs and promised a breezy West Coast lifestyle.

But in the past several years, younger workers have been ditching San Francisco for cheaper cities and better work-life balance. It started with a pandemic exodus, as workers moved to be closer to their families or to pursue a different lifestyle; then they steadily drifted toward Texas and Florida, where jobs were plentiful and rent was more manageable. In fact, a survey by global architecture firm Gensler showed nearly half of San Francisco’s young, childless adults were contemplating a move.

And now a new report from commercial real estate and investment management firm JLL shows there’s a third chapter in San Francisco’s migration script in which younger generations are moving to “welcomer cities” like Nashville and Orlando.

JLL now defines Nashville and Orlando as “welcomer” cities because they still offer plenty of corporate job opportunities, but are more affordable than large cities. 

“Specifically, Nashville’s outsized cultural presence and Orlando’s favorable tax policy make them powerful magnets for talent,” Travis McCready, head of industries, leasing advisory at JLL, told Fortune. 

McCready pointed out “welcomer” cities overall have a net migration rate of 5.2% over the past three years, while “anchor” cities like New York and the Bay Area grew just 0.6% from migration over the same time period.

What this also means is “welcomer” cities like Nashville and Orlando are now legitimate contenders in the innovation economy, according to JLL, which tracks talent migration, office market dynamics, and corporate investment across 135 cities globally. 

Will “welcomer” cities stick?

Especially in the past few years, Gen Z has been flocking to more affordable cities just to get by during the cost-of-living crisis. Aside from places like Texas and Florida, many have made moves to the Midwest, where homes are about 30% cheaper than the coasts. 

A 2025 ConsumerAffairs analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) data found that seven of the 10 most accessible metros for young homeowners are in the Midwest. Unsurprisingly, California dominated the list of the least affordable metro areas for Gen Z.

A cost-of-living comparison by Apartments.com shows the cost of living in San Francisco is 80.6% higher than in Orlando, and housing prices are 226.2% higher. Compared with Nashville, San Francisco’s cost of living is 66.3% higher, and housing is nearly 150% more expensive. 

“The pull factors that drew people to affordability- and lifestyle-oriented cities [like Nashville and Orlando] are not likely to disappear, and people have built lives, bought homes, and put down roots in these markets,” McCready said.

Corporate migration also reinforces why younger people are moving. In 2024, Oracle announced plans to establish what it called its “world headquarters” in Nashville, committing $1.2 billion in capital investment over a decade and pledging to add 8,500 jobs to the area, with Tennessee state leaders offering a $65 million economic grant to help offset costs. (Although recent reports suggest Oracle is struggling a bit to attract workers to its office.)

Starbucks also recently announced it would debut a corporate hub in Nashville, which would reportedly be 250,000 square feet, or large enough for up to 2,000 employees, according to CoStar.

“With these growth plans, we see Nashville, Tennessee, as an ideal location to open an office and establish a more strategic presence in the Southeast region of the U.S.,” Starbucks COO Mike Grams said in a statement.

In Orlando, Travel + Leisure made the decision to relocate its global headquarters downtown—a move McCready called “a signal worth paying attention to.” Boston-based cybersecurity firm SimSpace also moved its headquarters to Orlando this year, and global banking software company Temenos, AMD, and Charles Schwab have all announced expansions in Orlando in the past couple of years. 

Despite all of these moves, it by no means suggests cities like San Francisco or New York are dead. It just means they’re competing more now with mid-size markets. 

“What we are seeing in established hubs like New York and the Bay Area is a recovery, but it’s highly selective,” McCready said. “Demand is concentrating in places and spaces with high degrees of accessibility, visibility, and access to amenities. And the supply in those markets is genuinely constraining: Only about 9% of office space in the Bay Area and major anchor cities was built after 2020.”

“So even companies that want to consolidate in San Francisco or New York are competing for a very thin slice of truly desirable space,” he continued.

The office market math

For companies weighing a relocation decision, the numbers in emerging innovation hubs like Orlando or Nashville tell a compelling story. Nashville ranked among the top five U.S. markets for absorption-to-delivery ratios in 2025, with 35% of new supply absorbed last year, alongside New York, Charlotte, Seattle, and Phoenix. Class A rents sit at $43.52 per square foot, which is meaningfully below large-city rates but in space McCready describes as “genuinely competitive.”

Orlando’s vacancy rate of 15.3% is well below the national average of 22.4%, and the market is seeing steady demand for high-quality, amenity-rich space. That stands in contrast to the Bay Area, where only about 9% of total office inventory was built after 2020, and where prime rents average $1,296 per square meter. Class A+ rents in a Welcomer city (like Orlando or Nashville) average $627 per square meter, roughly half that figure, according to JLL’s data.

“You are competing for very little space against very deep-pocketed incumbents” in San Francisco, McCready said. “Emerging hubs offer something increasingly rare: optionality. More modern inventory, more competitive rents, and—critically—talent pools that are growing, not just circulating.”

China says it supports law-abiding transnational deals after reports of Meta deal review

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China says it supports law-abiding transnational deals after reports of Meta deal review

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Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus for 15 Destinations

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Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus 🔃 Update:...

Enforcement against mortgage professionals jumps as FSRA flexes new powers

Mortgage 0
With higher fine limits now in place, regulators...

VDC vs. PBJ: Is Broader Consumer Staples Exposure the Better Buy?

Finance 0
The Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC +0.01%) and...

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Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus for 15 Destinations

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Hilton Timeshare Offer with 150K Points Bonus 🔃 Update:...

Enforcement against mortgage professionals jumps as FSRA flexes new powers

Mortgage 0
With higher fine limits now in place, regulators...

VDC vs. PBJ: Is Broader Consumer Staples Exposure the Better Buy?

Finance 0
The Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC +0.01%) and...

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