Credit card points feel like savings, but they behave like the opposite. A dollar in a savings account earns interest. A point in a loyalty program loses value over time, because airlines and hotels raise award prices without warning, a process called devaluation. The points you earned two years ago buy less travel today than they did when you earned them, and the ones you earn today will buy less next year. The defence is simple: earn points with a plan to use them, not to hoard them.

A devaluation happens when a program raises the number of points or miles needed for an award. A flight that cost 60,000 miles last year might cost 80,000 this year, with no announcement and no warning. Programs that publish award charts must announce changes, but many major programs have moved to dynamic pricing, where award prices float with cash prices and can rise silently overnight. Your balance stays the same number, but its buying power drops.

Devaluations are not rare. They happen every year across the industry, and they hit hoarded balances hardest. A traveller sitting on 500,000 points can lose 100,000 points of value in a single devaluation. That is why experienced points travellers repeat the same rule: points are meant to be spent, not saved. Earn them, plan a trip, and use them within a year or two.

Earn and burn means earning points with a specific trip in mind and redeeming them as soon as you have enough. Instead of collecting points indefinitely, set a goal: a business class trip to Japan, a week in a Hyatt hotel, a family holiday to Europe. Work out how many points you need, earn them through sign-up bonuses and everyday spending, and book the trip when you hit the target. The points never sit long enough to be devalued.

This approach also forces better decisions. When you have a goal, you choose cards and spending categories that earn the right currency, and you avoid earning points in programs you will never use. A traveller saving vaguely for someday usually ends up with scattered balances in five programs, none of them large enough for a good redemption. A traveller with a goal ends up with one big balance and a booked trip.

Not all points devalue at the same speed. Transferable bank points, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards, are the safest to hold, because you can move them to whichever partner offers the best value at the time you book. If one airline devalues, you transfer to another. Airline and hotel points are riskier, because they can only be used in one program, and that program can devalue them whenever it likes.

If you must hold a balance, hold it in a transferable currency and keep it focused. Two or three currencies at most, not six. And keep an eye on the news: major devaluations are often rumoured weeks before they happen, and a quick redemption before the change takes effect can save thousands of points. Follow a points news source and act fast when a devaluation warning appears.

Once a quarter, review every points balance you hold. Write down the program, the balance, and the trip you are saving it for. Any balance without a trip attached is a candidate for use or transfer. Any balance that has sat untouched for over a year is a warning sign. Set a rule for yourself: no balance sits for more than 18 months without a plan.

Then book something, even something small. A domestic flight, a weekend hotel stay, or a short-haul award all count. Using points regularly keeps you familiar with the programs, protects you from devaluations, and, most importantly, turns points into actual travel. Points in an account are a promise. Points spent on a trip are a memory. Spend them.