<prompt> Human: I do both. I tend to horde airline miles and amex points but redeem the smaller accounts every month or 2. Not sure why. Redeeming immediately seems to be better mathematically. I do like having a bank of airline miles stocked up though incase I need to take an emergency trip but honestly I could cover this with my emergency fund.  <response>: Devaluation of airline miles and hotel points happens frequently. Use miles as soon as you can get good value out of the redemption, because theyll only go down in travel purchasing power. 