[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was, uh, the first version of a fully automated warehouse with grocery delivery and it lost, I don't even know how many billions of dollars before it failed. These were not frauds. These were, although there were some fraudulent dot coms, they were just taking money from people and didn't actually launch any business.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These were people that were the pioneers who went out and tried to start dot coms. One of them?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That almost failed, uhm, in the era that all the dot coms became dot bombs, which was right around year 2000.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] was amazon.com. Amazon survived by the skin of its teeth and went on to become


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The huge and influential retailer it is, not just in the United States, but in a lot of other countries. So it's not, it's not a great


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Parallel, but I wanted to give you the idea. So it was clear in the nineties.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That online shopping was going to become a thing as the internet matured.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But online shopping was first fed by this speculative wave of investing in the nineties and people lost their shirts. In fact, it took, was it 15 years for the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The tech sector to recover the values overall that it had had in 1999, uh, leading to the crash of 2000 to come back to life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But today, so much a part of our life is going on our smartphones, which did not exist, by the way, during the first


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, dot com era of the 90s. No smartphones, almost no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] High speed internet connections at homes or businesses or obviously not on a phone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But today, part of our lives, these companies have real value, make profits, a lot of them, and they serve a real need or want in the marketplace. So the analogy I'm trying to make.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that crypto at this point is just that. It is a speculative fever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And most of the cryptos that exist today are ultimately going to go to zero. What will emerge? We don't even know the shape form or how it will actually work in our lives in a digital wallet and our spending decisions and our savings decisions and all those things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so know that that's why you've heard me say for the last, I guess, 10 years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That this is something you don't ever put money into that you must have to live on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm so distressed, so worried about people that are doing these online postings saying that they've lost everything in crypto and they're going to take their lives. Let me tell you something. You have plenty of life in front of you to rebuild whatever you have lost and the value of what you've learned about how you handle your money in the future.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is something that a lot of times we learn things through school hard knocks. You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Do not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Allow yourself to be overcome with being despondent because the crypto or cryptos you got into did not work out, but ultimately digital money will become part of our lives.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we're just in this very, very early phase, the pioneering days, where you have the crooks, you have the con artists, you have the speculators, and you have the believers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I saw a cute thing today. I think it was Kristen, the wall street journal and maybe wrong about the source.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was how all the celebrity endorsers have gone absolutely silent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All the people who've been doing the commercials on sports, I only see em on football.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, all those people who made all that money hyping all these cryptos, now they're like, who, me? What? Huh? I don't know what you're talking about. So uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just cause somebody you really like is an influencer, somebody you like because of what they do on television or movies or on a football field or there are other sports. Anyway, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anybody who you look up to because of what they do is a star.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Be wary about following their drummer. Marching to their drummer because remember their drum was paid for. What they're saying was paid for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tell me about that. Podcasters that are doing, uh, advertorial?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You didn't mean people doing a podcast pretending they were giving content of whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The website to go to is Clark.com slash Clark Stinks to let me know where I'm missing the boat yet again on crypto. Krista?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's just fine as long as the savings account is FDIC insured or NCUA insured.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it's just, Hey, we promise we're going to pay you much higher than market interest rate, but they're silent about federal insurance, which covers you up to a quarter million dollars. Stay away, but as long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As the stored value card, the debit card gives you the ability.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To put the money in an FDIC insured account, great, go for it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your strategy is one that will always work because the banks know you're like a fraction of 1%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People who sign up fully intending to, well, I'm only going to keep that account open six weeks or whatever. I'm only going to get this bonus.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They don't worry about the fact that there's, it's like the people go into a supermarket and only buy the sale items and then leave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's almost nobody who does that. The reason they offer those advertised specials is they know most people will come in and they'll get that special and then they see something else and they're like, oh, I want that and I want that and I want that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's you. And so then they end up making the money they want to make.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Chase though is on to you and now American Express as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you apply with either of them, and who knows who else is going to do this as well, for credit cards that have big upfront bonuses,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After you've done a certain number that usually we chase is, uh, five cards in a period of time, you're shut down there. They may give you the card, but they, you're invalidated for the bonuses. American express, same idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's because although people don't tend to do what you do with checking accounts and savings accounts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People do play that game with credit cards, and so they are, uh, clamping down on that. As far as your score, you have a great score, don't worry about it. The amount of debt you're carrying, available credit,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Only could potentially come up as a roadblock in applying for a mortgage. A lot of mortgage underwriters freak out about how much available credit somebody may have sitting unused on credit cards. And if they're worried about that, they'll tell you. Auto loan? No worry at all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Consumer Reports is available from your local library and almost always in addition to the physical copy you can check out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or to lend on it, online access is available through many libraries. So if you're not a member of your local library, you can do that. Otherwise you can buy one time access to their coverage of lawnmowers. Wanna say something about lawnmowers?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're gonna own this riding lawnmower an ultra long time, and I know this is gonna sound weird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Look at electric versions. Electric versions have a lot, uh, fewer maintenance problems and are much, much, much cheaper to run than a traditional gas engine mower and you don't mess up your hearing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, because Consumer Reports lives off of subscriber revenue, both their online and the physical.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Addition of Consumer Reports, because they don't accept any advertising at all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, particularly with a purchase like a lawnmower.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, have you ever cut your own lawn?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But in high school, I used to do that to make money. I would cut lawns and I would, uh, the worst though was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the leaves would fall in the fall and you'd have to rake leaves for it seemed like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I had, I had a customer who had a yard that, big yard, trees everywhere, and it just used to kill me having to rake all those leaves, but I sure did like the money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wanna talk about what's going on with my prostate cancer. People ask me regularly all through the years and I wanna tell you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The update on how my health is doing and whether prostate cancer is anything I need to freak out about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Roughly 14 years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is one of the most confusing of all cancers because you hear that diagnosis and it could mean anything from, uh, gosh, an instant fight for your life to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, slow steady growth that unrecognized untreated could ultimately take your life to people who.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can be diagnosed with prostate cancer, but will never do anything to them and they'll never die from it. And Krista, I remember when I was diagnosed 14 years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You were, you were like so freaked out as was my wife, Lane. I mean, you were-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember we came back to work and I came in the first day and you had, um, uh, some candles lit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no, but you had candle slits specifically because you were...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Praying for my survival. I mean, you were really worried you were gonna lose me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. And the reality is with more and more cancers, it is a disease management now instead of, you know, a death certificate. And I remember when I was growing up that people, when someone was diagnosed with cancer, they couldn't even say the word. They would


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, your family, they would whisper it? I mean, it was just this thing because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People couldn't cough the word out because of what it meant. Today, there are still cancers that a diagnosis may be deadly, but more and more


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Genetics, that there are different, uh, for lack of a better term, genetic versions of the cancer. And, uh, many breast cancers are actually not life threatening, at least early on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some are never life threatening. Prostate cancer, the same thing with roughly two dozen different genetic types of prostate cancer. Today, we don't know exactly what genetic makeup prostate cancer has in a guy or in the case of a woman with breast cancer, science is getting closer and closer to being able


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To target that for prostate cancer, a lot of research going on. Uh, you should know about this where people, instead of doing a PSA test, which is a common thing as a guy gets older, they will do a simple urine test or blood test. And even when somebody doesn't have prostate cancer, they'll be able to tell who has the markers for very dangerous. Like there are women who do for breast cancer and know they have particular markers


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That are potentially very dangerous. In my case, what I started 14 years ago


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was going through a series of biopsies. They are no fun. And


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Entered into a program called active surveillance. When I was diagnosed, I was told, um, in a consult after I was, uh, after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, that if I didn't have treatment right away, the surgeon could not ensure that he could save my life. And that's where the thinking was at that point. But at the medical research centers like Sloan Kettering in New York, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, MD Anderson in Houston and the Mayo Clinic.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were already at a more European opinion about prostate cancer that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For many men, it's just to be managed and watched closely known as active surveillance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I went into active surveillance program instead of having surgery or radiation or anything like that 14 years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And have continued on that path all these years and had biopsies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, first every six months, then once a year, then 18 months, then two years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then starting, I guess about six years ago,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Six, I guess. I started having these specialized MRIs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] M.R.I.'s they're able to see with the most sophisticated ones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly what cancer there is and if there's any dangerous cancers at all. And again, this year, second year in a row, I'm happy to report that I have zero dangerous cancer showing zero.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I don't even have to have biopsies. I didn't have a biopsy last year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So last year, this year, and I'll continue on this path, other people, like I have a friend right now getting treatment at Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota, and he wasn't as lucky as I was. And so he, uhm, he had prostate cancer that was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even though he was caught early, he was likely to be more aggressive and he's had to have treatment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a family member who loves a guy or you're the guy himself, I want you to know that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There is not one path with prostate cancer. It is your responsibility not to get lost in the internet and all the gobly gook and all the crazy stuff that goes on there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But to do real medical research, there's a lot of stuff available from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, from the various, I am on the board for a long time, and uhm, the university based research centers that specialize in prostate cancer,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, very thorough stuff. So you understand not just what you're told. Do not just nod your head at whatever


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some medical professional says, because even though they're bright, they may have practiced for decades.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That like any other professional, they get kind of set in their ways and the way they do things and a lot of men who


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Should either expedite treatment. Don't do that. And a lot of men who shouldn't have treatment at all, at least yet have treatments that are unnecessary. This is one that you need to be a good consumer. You need to be informed and you need to know that depending on


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The urologist you're seeing, the oncologist you're seeing, you may get eye rolls from them, but the reality is it's your life, it's your body, and it's your health, and you need to be your own advocate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I was diagnosed 14 years ago, the most developed medical information about prostate cancer in English was actually from Lancet, which is a medical journal in Europe and England and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's where I learned and saw within, in Britain they called watchful waiting and that's where I learned about that and learned to ask questions and wanted to know, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How much cancer I had, which is determined by something known as a Gleason score.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's not like you think of with normal cancer, uh, stage one to four. It's a different thing with prostate cancer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so the more you know, if you're worried, if you're diagnosed, the better it is for you to be part of being a partner with the medical industry to make sure that you are getting the care you should get and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The treatment if necessary that you're getting the right treatment. And by the way, I'm talking narrowly about prostate cancer because that's the one I really know. But what I've said is true for most cancers that you need to be your own patient advocate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't just passively go into the night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And say, well he or she is like the greatest at this. That's what I've heard. And maybe they are the greatest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever they do with whatever cancer illness you have. But, you don't just say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, doctor, whatever you say. They are not on Mount Olympus. They are just human beings like you and me, except they spent forever in medical school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Internship, residency, fellowship, specialized training. Yeah, so they know a lot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are they digging deep enough? And it's by you asking the right questions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And going for second opinions and maybe even traveling somewhere else in the country. It's always been true with medicine that people that are more affluent are more willing to ask questions. People that are less affluent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or how many zeros are in your checking account following the first digit?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Know that your life is precious, just like somebody with more zeros in their account.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's up to you to make sure you get the care that you deserve.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To improve your health and save your life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, if there are any doctors that are unhappy with me, this is the segment, right? For us to talk about that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean both of us, the reason you hear so much passion from me and the reason I have Christa standing here is that both of us


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so they died of neglect first and maybe cancer second and that's why


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You and if you're too ill yourself, your loved ones have got to be there as your advocate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well and the other thing I want to emphasize one thing before we go into questions and that is that I kind of flew by it but Google is a great tool and a dangerous one. I mean anything you have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You could have the sniffles and in two steps on the internet, you're gonna die, right? Right. Whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then, and then with other things, uh, you'll have something and you'll go read all this rabbit hole stuff about, oh, we'll just drink this elixir and everything's gonna be fine or whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are a lot of brilliant scientists and doctors, medical professionals who are doing incredible research.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On not what current practices, but more state of the art kind of things with various illnesses. That's why you want to be in the medical journals. And what I had to do is I had to have two windows open. I had one where I was going and reading the various definitions of things. Cause I don't understand medical terminology at all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And reading the content because it was so personal to me that normally anything in science or medicine I just


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Zone out. In this case, I was all focused.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's where I was able to make the decisions I needed to make. So Krista?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and that is a great question, Jack. So what's going on in the industry is the most sophisticated players, and I'm pretty sure Met is totally in on this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that you don't have your username and password stored on the screen scraper site.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All your information, you see it and you see you're doing better, worse, how your debts are doing, your investments, your savings all automatically is technology that's been developed is where you sign into your account with whoever it is, whatever the cooperating institution is. And then it gives a permission to that site to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Access the information in an automated way. And so even if a hacker gets into one of these sites with most of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They no longer have the ability to have your user names and passwords.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The industry really saw the risk you're talking about Jack. So what you look for with any of these financial management sites or budgeting sites or whatever is you want to know how they access the information on your account. And if they have to have stored your username and password, that's where the real risk is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I want to thank you for being with us today and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, I'm sorry we didn't get to more of your questions. I just feel so strongly about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The medical issue and the issue of life and death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Under treatment and over treatment that I really wanted to emphasize that so that you will not accept.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever somebody tells you in medicine without doing your own homework and speaking of doing your homework for your wallet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We are there for you around the clock at Clark.com. New articles posted every day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With information that empowers you with knowledge so you can make better decisions about your wallet today, tomorrow, and for years to come.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I do love that because I want you to be a member of team Clark.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the ways we serve you is through the Team Clark Consumer Action Center.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's where for just short of 30 years, we provided one-on-one advice and guidance to you if you're having a problem, you have a question, you don't know how to do something about your wallet. We are here to serve you for free.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And all you do, if you want to know how to reach.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A member of Team Clark were available 30 hours each week to answer your questions one on one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or you can call us. These are Eastern time zone times, 10 in the morning till four in the afternoon, Monday through Friday, except holidays, six, three, six, four, nine Clark and get that free guidance. Now I want to tell you, I'm doing something in July. You know how they talk about Christmas in July?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm talking about something that I talk about by rote every January right now coming up. And it's about joining a gym.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jim equipment, all that stuff. We're going to talk about that straight ahead. And later, how about, speaking of Christmas in July,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Money falling out of the sky into your life. Could there really be such a thing? Well, we're going to talk about it. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kids, I think 16 to 19 or 15 to 19, something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can work out at the gym all summer long for free. Did you know about this?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you've got a Planet Fitness right by your house that he could be working at for free this summer as a 16 year old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, they do that summer after summer. But what I noticed...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is how much more crowded they are than they used to be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People have missed being with people through the pandemic and they're back in the gym.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what are they not doing right now? They're not using home gym equipment. Home gym equipment they have bailed on. And so there's


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unbelievable deals on home gym equipment. I see it in traditional retailers, discounters, the warehouse clubs, uh, that gym equipment is being marked down, down, down it goes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And clearance, you know, ending at 97 cents at Costco.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whether it's 41, 61, 81, 91. That's a clearance item at Sam's Club. Don't know the BJ's equivalent for that. Anyway, BJ's Wholesale Club. But the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The deals on the fitness equipment are everywhere and then people who,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bought fitness equipment is their version of a pandemic puppy and it's become


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The closest imitation to a clothing rack, instead of actually being used, they gotta get rid of that stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using one of the Facebook neighborhood groups or use it. Can you do the, do people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you've got Craigslist and so exercise equipment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That somebody has in their home they're trying to get rid of. I don't care what they paid for it. It doesn't go for any money at all once it's been there sitting


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you were actually using the gym equipment, but then you miss people and you went back to the gym and now you're never using this equipment. Just, just take your losses, get rid of it, but know that this is an unusual opportunity because gym equipment is always a deal in the summer. Cause people are more likely to be working out outdoors who might work out indoors during the winter. And you throw in the pandemic situation with people buying


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And now they are not using it. I mean, the deals are something else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so what they want you doing, Janet, this is all about walking around transactions because of the fees they make. You have to clear it as credit, not debit. So there's some hoops you have to jump through.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With these interest earning checking accounts because you're making the credit union.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Quite a bit of money off of clearing debit card transactions as credit. You know how you go to a register and say, uh, is that credit or debit?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have to with the, with this card, you have to always say credit and then that generates huge merchant fees that the retailer has to pay or the restaurant has to pay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that then goes back to the credit union and they in turn rebate a lot of that to you with paying you interest on the checking account. So let's look at the debit card fraud. Debit card fraud is obviously a problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Money vanishes from your own account. You then have to fight, in this case with the credit union, to get your own money back. That is a risk. On the other hand, you know you're gonna make this 1% on your checking account balance if you do the 15 transactions a month. I say do it knowing that there's an enhanced risk of fraud using a debit card.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go ahead and do it because you know you've got a guarantee of earning the 1% back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You made an illegal left turn or whatever and then the police officer pulls you over and writes you a ticket, whatever. So you got one thing that's a certainty, you're getting to A to B.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The other is you have the risk of something going wrong while you're getting from point A to point B, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you gotta think of this case, like normally just using a debit card is a bad idea, but in a case where you're judging the reward versus the risk, in that case, I'd say it's worth doing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh! Alright, let's talk about this Whitney.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The contract you have with the pool service, if it's a contract in perpetuity that doesn't have a specific start and end date, now this being stated by a non-lawyer, I should state right away, then the company, uh, when this company doing business with an association can change the terms


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The contract should say what notice they have to give or something like that. But, uh, unless you had a fixed term where it said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have signed up for pool maintenance for this specific period of time at this specific amount per month.


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[Assistant] For these of the services we're going to render, in that case,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Barring any kind of kick out language in there that said, or other unforeseen circumstances or whatever. Unless there's something like that. No, they can't just unilaterally say, we're going to charge you more money. On the other hand, most, uh, lawn and pool maintenance contracts are not those kind of tight ironclad things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For them to have done this with no notice and just showing up on the bill, that's way dumb of the company. It alienated you. It feels dishonest because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is to just have it show up randomly on a bill, whether they can do it or not. Likely if it is a typical, uh, premises maintenance agreement. Yes, they can. But again, it goes back to the details of reading the exact terms of the contract, but it does say something else. Is this a time you should shop?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The pool service for your community. Are you happy with how they're maintaining the pool? Are you happy with their reliability showing up?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Does the price seem reasonable even with the $30 junk fee? Is it reasonable compared to what other


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So don't react emotionally to this, even if you find out, let's say that the contract did permit them to do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you just don't like how they did it. Don't just throw them out. If in fact,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The prices are still reasonable. The quality of the service has been very reliable and the company has been very dependable.


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[Assistant] Steve, thank you very much. Love that. Love that. Uhm, so one other thing for people like me that are on the Pandora.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, ad-supported thing, if you have T-Mobile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As your cell phone service, again this summer they're doing weekends free.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Add free all summer long just for being a T-Mobile subscriber. You have to watch, um, uh, very annoying T-Mobile ad for 15 seconds when you start your weekend and then you get Saturday and Sunday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Other than the 15 seconds for the annoying ad. So, coming up ahead, uh, speaking of money,


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[Assistant] How'd you like to actually have money just fly into your life? It's more possible than you might think.


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[Assistant] Think about odds in life. What if I were to tell you that there's a one in ten chance that while I'm speaking to you, there's money sitting there


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is yours that has gone unclaimed. One in ten. So that means nine out of ten are going to be disappointed because they're going to find there's not money for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you got a one in ten chance you're going to find money. And what am I talking about? There's money for all different reasons that ends up going unclaimed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Could be an old bank account. Could be an old insurance policy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or money that you have a right to have and you just don't know about it.


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[Assistant] You don't know where to go get it. You don't know any of those things. Alright, so this is not going to help all the one in ten, but this is a good start. There's a website


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is completely free to use and make sure you go to the right one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause there are a lot of scammers out there, a lot of people trying to charge you fees to reunite you with your money. There are people who try to charge you fees who don't know anything about any money there is for you, but tell you there's money and you're supposed to pay them money. And then they're off with the wind. So you got to do this right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me repeat it, missing money.com. This is a multi-state database. Not every state participates.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you put in your name and it's especially helpful if you've got an unusual last name, like Krista here has got a name, both your maiden name


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And your married name are both names that there's not going to be a lot of people with them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, that is so funny. There you are. That's the right zip code. That is you and it is your maiden name and it even tells you all this information for you to be able to file a claim.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, that, I'm stunned. That was not, that was not a stunt, that was not set up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wow. Okay. So you start your search at missingmoney.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they'll show you what states won't participate in their database. Why they don't participate, I don't know. But then,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, what's called the national association of unclaimed property administrators, I think is what it's called, that the states all have.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Department be called different things in different states where their job legally under their state laws or state constitution is to reunite people with money that has


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then what they, the lawyer term I think is a sheet to a state, something like that. Anyway, so money goes, for whatever reason, it goes from


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever pension plan, insurance policy, whatever, many times to the state. And so the states.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have one where you can search their individual addressable databases through a link at unclaimed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] .org. Remember .org. So the first one missing money was a .com. Unclaimed is a .org.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you'll be able to see if there's anything there. Here's another big one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you ever owned a home with an FHA home loan,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That after you sold the home, you would do a refund on by the FHA, but they didn't know where you moved and they never got you with your money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That walks you through reuniting with that money. And wait, there's more. We've got a number.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] of other things. Do you know credit karma now for its account holders has an unclaimed money vehicle?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To see if there's anything out there that's yours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's an obscure federal agency that can reunite you with an unclaimed pension.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's also with this, uh, obscure agency called the pension benefit guarantee corporation. There's also a database on old 401k money that may have gone missing. So.


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[Assistant] Just these things alone that I'm talking about can lead roughly one in 10 of us, not as easy as you just did Krista, but can lead one in 10 of us to being reunited with our money. We have a brand new update.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That we updated in just the last few weeks of our guidance, sluggedonclark.com, how to find and claim missing money in your name. So you use search of most any of those terms. What will pop up first will be ads for different


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sites, both good and bad. And then below that you'll find our actual guide you can go to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And do a search these different ways to find out if there's money. But Krista, I mean, you're always


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Respectfully, yes. I would not use either a bank-provided financial advisor or a credit union-provided financial advisor, because in either case, you're going to end up with high commission kind of funds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's not a good idea. I want you using, if you need that individual advice, I want you using a fiduciary.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And fiduciaries, somebody who's legally required to do what's in your best interest. I do recognize based on a number of feedback posts we've had,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That there are, uh, people out there who are crooked, that are pretending that they're fiduciaries when they're not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When we describe fiduciaries, we talk about how you actually find a legitimate


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fiduciary, somebody who legally puts you first. You also can go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To the big low-cost firms, not the big high-cost firms.


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[Assistant] Not any of the bank related brokerage operations. They're all ultra high cost. Uhm, but if you go to,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Vanguard's PAS, Personal Advisory Service. You go to Fidelity, you go to Schwab.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can enter into a fiduciary relationship with them and, but most of the action is with independent, uh, advisory services that you pay a fee to and return for paying a fee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They enter into a fiduciary contract with you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where they are legally bound to do what's in your best interests.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wait, wait, wait. Again, going back to the feedback we've had, just because somebody lists on their website, that's why we want you to go through the steps we have at Clark.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeaah, there's a, uh, legal filing. You want to make sure that somebody is not a pretender, that they're the real deal. So back to your base question.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using a bank-based financial advisor, a credit union-based financial advisor, I don't recommend because of the extremely high costs involved doing that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Completely, uh, tax, there's no tax event for the giver or the recipient.


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[Assistant] So in a case where your husband, you bought the property, um, your parents are the other party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They can immediately gift you $64,000 without any issue at all. 16 from each to each of you, 16 times four is 64,000. The other 16 can be picked up next January and it's completely a non-taxable event. And anybody who has a, the other thing is they can give you that money


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it would count against their total estate and they'd have to have a large estate before that would then represent, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A taxable burden on the estate. But for you and your husband receiving the money, there's no tax on that at all. You're good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I'm wondering... Oh, first let me explain, I mean, you...


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[Assistant] You probably know what's going on Hershel, but a lot of people, uh, listening or watching the podcast may not be aware of what's going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is because of people hijacking shipments. But they're not hijacking the force of a gun. Uh, they may steal the truck, they show up, they see where the manifest is for, they go, they pick up the load.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it's never seen again. So that's why they're trying to verify the identity of you as a driver. So having them scan your driver's license, that known traveler card, uh, I have a global entry card. I don't know if, do you know if, uh, people with pre check or anything, get a photo ID card?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would be, uh, alternative, anything other than your driver's license. I understand why they want to see it. Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But at the same time, you coughing up your driver's license every time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a pretty uncomfortable thing and I understand your concern about identity theft and the other things and that's why some other form of ID


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A listener has another suggestion. We'll pass it on to you, Herschel, so that you have that. And uhm, that's impressive. You've got the hazardous material endorsement of people you wouldn't want driving down the road with hazardous material behind them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would be the one. I, I, I'm too flaky to do something like that. And I want to tell you, I really appreciate you listening today. Um, if you haven't already.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At Clark.com or our ClarkDeals.com newsletter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark.com, you're going to find money advice you can trust.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] ClarkDeals.com and our newsletter, you're going to find wonderful ways for you to save money up to the minute each and every day. And speaking of day, have a great one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show where our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. Today I want to talk about something that's always been a big debate. Does money make you happy? Something I know makes a lot of people very happy. They're into music. Concerts are back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it can cost you big bucks to go to one. I'm going to address that later.


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[Assistant] It's been a lot of deep dive surveys lately because a lot of people, uh, you know, there are so many things where people reassess their lives with COVID and a survey says 80% of Americans believe that making more money automatically makes you happier. And the reality is that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Once you've met the basics of life, whatever you consider the basics to be, more money doesn't actually


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[Assistant] Study after study have shown that. I think it's important for me to talk about that because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a tendency for people to misunderstand.


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[Assistant] When you do what I do for a living, that somehow I think money is a god. No, no. Learning how to manage your money.


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[Assistant] Learning to save money, learning to control the debts you have.


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[Assistant] Uh, planning for your future, all those things, those are all things that are just way stations to get you to where you can make the choices you would want to make in your life with what you do with your time. It's what you do with your time that makes the most difference. You know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've used this example before, there was a...


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[Assistant] Senator from New England, forever ago, called Paul Tsongas.


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[Assistant] And he quit the Senate. I mean, you look at those people, they never quit. They cannot give up the glory. It's the rare Senator who can give up being the big shot that they all feel like they are. And they're, everybody tells them all day long how important they are and all that. And so they, they way overstay their welcome and most die when they're, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When they're still in office or they have finally left the Senate just before their time on earth expires.


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[Assistant] And Paul Tsongas shocked Washington.


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[Assistant] When he resigned because he had a terminal illness and he said, I never knew a dying man who wished he spent more time at his work. And he turned out to be right because survey after survey shows that work actually for most people is one of the activities that they enjoy the least or they hate the most, whichever way you want to put it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To be able to be in a position where I work because I want to, not because I have to because of how I've handled money. So I'm in a position where I can really just do this because I enjoy it. And I've always known that I'll hang up my cleats when I don't enjoy it anymore. That's a football expression. If you don't know it, I'm sorry. But as far as what makes people happy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are all kinds of things that make people the happiest. Having a good love life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, exercising, being outside, uh, what do people not enjoy? Work. I mean, surveys show that work is not the thing that leads to happiness. Um, in fact, there was a study that was done by these, uh, two economists that found that the only thing that made people less


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or more unhappy than work was being sick and what people really enjoy is they enjoy great weather. I mean, what a shock. You know, everybody calls it my beach, any beach that I'm at.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everybody who knows me calls it my beach. Wherever it is in the world, wherever it is in the United States.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just get a smile on my face and I notice any time I'm at any...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which doesn't seem to fit me at all. I would live in the most expensive place to live in the United States. It would be the Hawaiian Islands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Buys things, money pays for life's necessities, and it pays for life's pleasures too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But real pleasure comes from experiences.


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[Assistant] And that's what really counts, that for me, having financial independence from a very young age, from when I retired the first time at 31,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Has allowed me for the rest of my life to do what I enjoy. Even when that thing is what for many people is a curse word, work. Because for me, work is not work.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is something that I get pleasure from and enjoy, but not too much work. Krista?


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[Assistant] You know never to schedule me for too much stuff, right? You know that.


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[Assistant] Yes, uh, Roy is actually from Colorado and knows about Southeast Toyota distributors. And this is an accident of history.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That Toyota, this may go back to the 1950s or something, and is kind of a legend in automotive, that Toyota was this struggling


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Japanese automaker following World War II, and they wanted to sell vehicles in the United States, and they didn't have the wherewithal to build out their own dealerships and distribution channels.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in certain territories of the country,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Southeast Toyota distributors is one, there's another one somewhere else in the country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Since Toyota is only the manufacturer, everything from that point forward is handled by these monopoly distributors in the states they have the distribution.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they do all kinds of stuff that causes enormous reputational harm to Toyota that the Monrone label that goes on a Toyota in the states where they have these third party distributors is not Toyotas. It is the one from these, uhm, master distributors


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it goes on the, the window and all these crazy add-ons are part, become part of the cost of the car and that's why anybody savvy


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a territory where these Toyota distributors operates.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With all these discount airlines and discount one-way tickets, buys a Toyota outside of the region of one of these distributors. Because the difference in cost can be thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars because of the fake Monroni labels that are considered to be the real one under the law.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That go on Toyotas in these parts of the country that have these distributors. I don't know if there's any other equivalent


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With any other automaker other than this crazy situation involving Toyota, but it's why the same exact Toyota.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can be so much cheaper elsewhere in America than it is in the ones that these distributors have the hammerlock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Absolutely travel to another state. Shop online, which you can do so easily now. And like for example, Costco members, where you have the dealer available to you for Toyota through the Costco car buying program or any car buying service.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's controlled by zip code, right? And they tell you who the dealer is. So you try, see what the price is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you live and then try the price and some other zip codes elsewhere in the country. And gosh, if you can save $5,000 or 3000 or $3,500 on the purchase of a vehicle by taking a $200 one way airline flight, do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay so, uh, first of all, I don't know about, uh, a blog, but we can beef up the content we have on Clark.com. In fact, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so we can absolutely do that because we got all our military personnel and civilian federal employees who have access to the best retirement plan in America, the TSP, the Thrift Savings Plan. Thrift Savings Plan is the best because it has the lowest cost, go and just


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, it used to be called the life cycle fund. It may still be called that. The one that adjusts the mix of investments like a target date fund does in a 401k. And what's so, so, so fantastic about Thrift Savings Plan is that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have these teensy tiny management costs, ridiculously almost invisible management costs. So every penny you put in is going to be working for you, not for some fun manager.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As much as you possibly can. And unless, I don't know if they still call it a super grade.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But even, even a low level super grade, uh, which used to be a GS12 and above, uh, you probably want to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Look at doing the Roth TSP instead of the traditional. You gotta get to a really, really, really high income.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Before it makes sense to do traditional TSP rather than the Roth version of the TSP and put in the highest percent of your pay dara you can possibly stand to put into that TSP even up to the max each year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm really, really, really sorry, Natasha, and this is a common con. There are all these sleazoids that prey on people who've fallen behind or overwhelmed with credit card debt, don't know what databases they buy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Information on people with uhm, who are wheezing on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Credit card debt, but then they start contacting them and you're feeling the pressure from the debt. And just like with you, with so many other people, they come and con them and say, Oh, we're going to wave this magic wine. We're going to negotiate for you. Everything is going to be great. Just pay us all this money upfront. By the way, stop paying all your bills.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's just unbelievable that you were having a problem you were trying to manage and now they've created a mountain of issues you have to deal with and what I want you to do is I want you to go


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To an actual legitimate credit counselor now, legitimate, because they actually do exist. You want to go to the website of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, NFCC.org and find a local legitimate credit counselor near you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With virtually every NFCC affiliate for you to go sit down and talk with somebody and get advice about your debts. If they negotiate payment plans for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They may charge a small management fee for doing that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But let me tell you, rest assured, the payment you would make to them each month


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Get back with me in six months to let me know how you're doing and if you need additional guidance to deal with these debts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thank you, Krista. I want to tell you straight ahead we're moving from


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The dreadful issues of debt to how much it costs to go entertain yourself these days and what's going on right now when you want to hear live music, when you want to hear your favorite band, whatever, what you need to know about what's going on with ticket prices in the concert venues.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The concert business has been through so much, you know, acts really that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this was really, really hard on us emotionally, psychologically.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All the disruptions that happen from COVID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so the concert business is roaring back. And in the past,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The concert artists, the musical acts you like, the singers you enjoy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They would try to not look greedy and keep the cost of tickets to their concerts low and all that happened was the artists were trying to defy market forces because what would happen is these bots and all these brokers


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Buy up the tickets the second they would go available.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The real fans would get blocked, would, would get locked out of getting tickets. You'd have to buy them secondary market and they'd be a huge markup in the secondary market and the actual act that you love, the singer you enjoy, the band that you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can't wait to see. They're not getting any of all that markup. So finally post COVID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The musical acts are learning that you price out what's called spreading out the buckets.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's an old pricing thing. Anybody who studied pricing in college, whatever knows about buckets.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so what you do, and now today it's much more sophisticated than it was when I studied buckets, uh, back when, uh, we lived in the horse and buggy days. I'm not that old. But anyway, back long ago is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now you're going to find that the great, great front of the house seats are going to go for a huge amount of money being sold by the original promoter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The idea is why give that money to some broker who may even be a shady


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Person or con artist who doesn't even deliver tickets or whatever that you're getting them right from the.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What it means is you're seeing these prices that are like, you gotta be kidding me. How could it be that much money to go to a concert in the thousands of dollars? And then at the same time, again, what's called the bucket system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So with concerts, if it's just to be in the building, it's just to be there where the act is playing, and you don't mind


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Being behind an obstructed pole. I remember forever ago, uh, I was going with a woman I was dating who was all about Cirque du Soleil. And Christa, I don't know if you know this story.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I was just dying how much it was for the circus to lay tickets.


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[Assistant] That turned out, so who knows what would have happened otherwise, but turned out to be deadly to the relationship. But that's classic Clark, isn't it? So anyway, with uh, with concerts, uhm, I'm not really into music.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I would probably make the same mistake again if it were a music act.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So let me deal with John first and then Ben. So John, your son,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can take that money because he's working at a job doing, doing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Work part-time and he can open a Roth IRA just like any other working person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Basically any age. So he can put the money in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It will grow tax free and ultimately be spent tax free in retirement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you may not be thinking about that for your son about retirement as a teenager, but I want you to think about this with a Roth at any time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tax free and penalty free, you can pull out the money you've contributed, not anything it earns for the money that you've contributed. He may find he contributes to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sees nice growth in it and he's like, I'm not going to touch that money. I'm going to let it build for the future. Cause money put in as a teen becomes huge money. Every dollar put in.


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[Assistant] Compound so many times invested over the decades that a Roth IRA is where it's at. Do it with one of the low cost companies on my low cost investing guide and you're not going to pay any commissions, any junk fees, any high management fees. Now for Ben, Ben, I got bad news for you. You need your son cleaning your neighbor's pool.


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[Assistant] Because then, your son is earning money from


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[Assistant] Not a family member for chores, earning money for actually doing work.


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[Assistant] What he's doing for you is work, but when it's under your own roof at your own house, you're not eligible to put money in a Roth IRA. So your son's learned how to properly maintain a pool and clean a pool.


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[Assistant] Other neighbors, and that money can go into a Roth IRA.


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[Assistant] Yes, you are, Joel. You are, you may be the only human being on planet Earth who has credit cards, who's actually looking at the charge activity every day. And you don't have to to prevent the ability to dispute fraudulent charges. You don't have to look every day.


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[Assistant] You only have to discover it within 60 days of when the charge posts.


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[Assistant] So that's why I try something else, Joel. And that is, so here's the other thing, you're looking every day, almost nobody looks even once a month. And what you don't know can hurt you because a lot of criminal activity involves putting


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[Assistant] Little teeny charges on many, many people's credit card statements, usually under $10 for something innocuous without much of a description. And many times people won't notice for years. I remember when there was a bank that was working in cahoots with a criminal ring.


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[Assistant] And it was only discovered after years because somebody finally noticed.


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[Assistant] And complained and then the bank examiners realized all these things were happening to customers of one particular bank.


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[Assistant] That had sold the information. People didn't even notice for years that fraudulent activity was happening. So that's why it's really important for you.


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[Assistant] And that will help you to spot fraud before it's passed too late for you to dispute it and keep your money as your money. Once 61 days happens after a charge, you lose your rights forever to get that money back.


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[Assistant] So life's not forever. My dad used to say life is 99 rounds. And as we end today's podcast, I want you to think about this. Life is going to throw bad rounds at you. You're going to get hit with that left hook out of nowhere.


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[Assistant] And you're going to have to pick yourself up and you got to keep going forward. We all make mistakes and then there are things that just happen to us in life. Learn from the mistakes, move forward.


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[Assistant] And use them as building blocks to have that full, complete and wonderful life that's in front of you.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard show. Our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life.


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[Assistant] In today's show, I got a simple tip that's going to save you money on these rising electric bills. And later, I want to help you save money buying jewelry.


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[Assistant] Going back to the 1970s about reducing my use of energy as technology has changed over the last 40 plus years. This has just been truly what I hope is a healthy obsession for me, figuring out how to reduce my consumption of energy and where it comes from. You know, I've been a big solar guy for years and years and years.


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[Assistant] Solar market's going through a bit of a rough patch right now because of a problem with, uh, tariffs and


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[Assistant] Where the supplies are coming from, blah, blah, blah. Market hates uncertainty. But solar, over time, has gotten so much cheaper.


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[Assistant] And even with the recent disruptions in the marketplace, recently, I say recent twice, the cost of solar


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[Assistant] Is down about 80 plus percent from what it was 10 years ago to install it either, uh,


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[Assistant] What's called utility scale, where you see those huge solar farms when you're driving along an interstate.


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[Assistant] Or sometimes you'll see them flying over an area in an airplane and then the rooftop solar.


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[Assistant] It's more efficient than it used to be and the payback in many cases, much better than it was before. Uh, but that's how you can defray the cost of energy consumption. What if you could just reduce what you consume?


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[Assistant] There are all kinds of things happening in this area. We want to deal first with a big one. So there have been huge improvements in home air conditioning systems and


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[Assistant] Believe it or not, the newest home air conditioning systems use a third of the energy


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[Assistant] Of what had been common in the marketplace.


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[Assistant] These energy systems first developed in Japan.


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[Assistant] Have come to the United States, but a lot of air conditioning companies aren't trained on and don't sell these new ultra efficient air conditioners. By the way, they're not necessarily more expensive than the kind you would have gotten before. The installation is different though.


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[Assistant] And the way the air conditioning routes in your home is different. A lot of these systems don't use traditional duct work where a lot of the money you're spending on air conditioning ends up going into an attic or something like that leaking from the, um, the duct work rather than going to cool you in your home. But that's a bigger decision, bigger issue.


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[Assistant] And not something that will make a difference is we're seeing these higher electric bills right now across the country because the war in Ukraine. So.


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[Assistant] If you ever want an explanation about what that is, all you need to know is natural gas is in most places the most important fuel.


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[Assistant] The demand for natural gas from other sources other than Russia has gone through the roof and so have the prices.


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[Assistant] And that's why you're seeing higher electric bills because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


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[Assistant] There are things you can do instantly that don't cost a whole lot that can make a big difference. And one of the simplest.


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[Assistant] Is installing LED light bulbs. You're still sitting there with old traditional bulbs around your home


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[Assistant] The new bulbs use 15% of the energy, one 5% of the energy of the old ones and they can last 20 or more years. So you don't have to replace them.


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[Assistant] And they used to be really expensive, but we have deals on Clark deals all the time.


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[Assistant] Where you can get these light bulbs for somewhere around 75 cents to about a dollar and a quarter of ball is where the bargain prices tend to fall. So it's not a huge expense to change out the lighting in your home.


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[Assistant] And that will have a meaningful effect on your electric bill immediately.


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[Assistant] I've talked before about spending a moderate amount of money to get adequate insulation in your attic or in your home because that's a way you can reduce the cost of heating and cooling in your house by a huge amount


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[Assistant] And the payback is usually in months where you recover the cost of putting an adequate installation in your home. And I'm going to repeat something.


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[Assistant] That you may not have heard me say or you heard me say, but you didn't do anything about get one of these AI thermostats nest is the most well known. They will reduce the cost of your electric bill for cooling by about 25% because they learn your patterns


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[Assistant] And they automatically adjust the temperature in your home.


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[Assistant] To the optimal level to reduce the cost of your electric bill each month.


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[Assistant] There are other things you can do as well, but those are things that I want you to think about that you're not just


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[Assistant] A victim of these higher electric bills. You can seize the initiative and lower the bills permanently.


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[Assistant] It used to be, it used to be a one company deal. It used to be just Nest.


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[Assistant] Now there's a zillion of these at all different price points, and the big thing, read reviews on the ease of use.


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[Assistant] Because the problem with these thermostats is if you buy one that's too complicated to set up and use properly, you're not going to get the energy savings. You want to make sure the one you buy is ultra easy to use.


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[Assistant] Appliances are much better in price.


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[Assistant] Uh, than they were months ago when there were extreme shortages. So the extreme shortages were a train wreck.


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[Assistant] It was a perfect storm because two things happened at once. We had all the disruption in production.


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[Assistant] of appliances here and overseas because in factories people working close together COVID spread like wildfire through factories and there were continuous shortages of labor and plant shutdowns at plants


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[Assistant] That made appliances, then we had the problems with the shipping delays that were going on in the overloaded ports and the really high costs to ship a shipping container and appliances. They're coming from overseas. These are big things. So it was a significant increase in the cost of just shipping those from Asia over the Pacific ocean. The great news is that.


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[Assistant] And so some of this supply chain stuff has gotten better.


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[Assistant] The covid in the factories has generally gotten to be much less a factor and that's why I'm seeing a lot of


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[Assistant] Real sales on appliances now versus before. Prices are still elevated though.


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[Assistant] And if you got some time, time is your friend here.


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[Assistant] Because particularly with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.


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[Assistant] That's going to sap some of the demand for doing these kind of projects.


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[Assistant] And that will also help with prices. I didn't say what I said. There was two things that happened. They were the perfect storm. The other was that when people were stuck at home so much of 20 and 21 and people were looking around their homes, they were saying, you know what? This bathroom looks ancient or this kitchen looks sad.


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[Assistant] And so people being stuck at home so much more did


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[Assistant] Seemingly all at once, millions of Americans decided they needed to do renos of their homes and that created


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[Assistant] The early retirement of a lot of kitchen appliances that were still in good working order.


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[Assistant] So we had all these things happen at once and that's why, um, if you just give yourself some time, the appliance prices will continue to improve.


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[Assistant] But there's a real advantage to going to one of these boutiquey running stores.


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[Assistant] If you're going to walk a huge number of miles a day or run a significant number of miles a week, but even for a Walker.


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[Assistant] Going to one of these stores and you tell them, I'm not a runner, I'm a walker, but I'm doing, uh, six miles a day or 10 miles a day, six or seven days a week, whatever it is, because


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[Assistant] This is what if there's someone in one of these boutique stores.


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[Assistant] That usually they'll have people who really know their business.


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[Assistant] And they will fit you properly for a shoe that should allow you to do a 40 to 50 miles a week walking. And that's what a lot of walkers really are out there. Those kinds of miles a week. Um, and it's worth the money.


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[Assistant] So, I'm not buying any yet, I'm wearing right now, uh, these are


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[Assistant] Yeaah, these are sketchers that I just wear for the podcast cause when a lot of days I'll be doing TV after and on camera they kind of blend in like any


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[Assistant] So these I don't use for walking, but for run, for walking right now, I'm wearing sock knees.


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[Assistant] And they're pretty good, the Sauconese I'm wearing, but I did not buy those from one of these


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[Assistant] Boutiques. And I found that the last set of shoes I did get from a boutique were much better.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, Rick, this is very common. You do this with CarMax's electronic process, Carvana, any of the used car marketeers, they're going to need proof.


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[Assistant] That it's actually your vehicle, not a stolen vehicle that you have clear marketable title to it.


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[Assistant] Uh, you may have heard some of the stories with


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[Assistant] Carvana not doing this as thoroughly as they should.


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[Assistant] And delivering a buyer a car that then they can't get title to for long long periods of time if ever.


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[Assistant] So this is kind of a stain on the industry, what happened with Carvana and multiple states. And that's why everybody's all over this now, making sure that you are who you say you are and that you do have clear title. So that's why they're doing it. It's to protect the person who would then from driveway by your vehicle and that they could actually title it.


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[Assistant] In a reasonable period of time. And so it is completely a routine kind of question at this point for you to provide that information and feel comfortable doing it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, driveway is a company that


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[Assistant] Is, uh, it's actually a brand name for one of the big dealer groups and they're trying to provide a, uh,


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[Assistant] They, a more car maxi kind of experience.


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[Assistant] For buying new cars and also used cars because the market is moving and the old timey players who play games and tricks on buyers


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[Assistant] They still have some market share, but it's going to keep on shrinking.


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[Assistant] Because I can tell you people who are coming up now in their twenties and thirties


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[Assistant] Who are buying their first vehicle? They're not gonna put up with it. They will not play your dirty pool games of the traditional new and used car market. It's not gonna happen.


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[Assistant] So you adapt, or like dinosaurs, you die.


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[Assistant] Coming up next, talk about an industry that is going through a wholesale change.


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[Assistant] It's diamonds. I'm going to tell you how much it's changing, how quickly it's changing, and what it means most importantly for your wallet.


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[Assistant] I've been talking about what are known as lab created diamonds for years, even when it was just really an initial experimental idea.


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[Assistant] It's taking over the diamond market. I mean, this is the craziest thing ever that dug out of the earth diamonds. The demand for them is in decline. I saw an item recently on CNN business.


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[Assistant] The reason is you get so much more for your dollar. And I remember a few years ago


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[Assistant] I was so into this that when I was able to buy for my wife


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[Assistant] For a birthday gift, I was able to get her, uhm, two carat weight total diamond stud earrings that were lab created. And the diamonds are spectacular. And it was $1800.


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[Assistant] For the pair of lab created diamonds, one carat each year, and you look at them, they are the most beautiful, sparkling, brilliant, flawless looking diamonds ever.


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[Assistant] Cubic zirconia or moissanite or something like that. These are chemically identical diamonds made in a factory. And gosh, that sounds so unromantic, right? But diamonds dug out of the earth,


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[Assistant] Are younger are really conscious of


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[Assistant] The ethical issues involved in a lot of cases were dug out of the earth diamonds. The funny thing is that De Beers, the big diamond cartel,


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[Assistant] Knows that this is a real danger and they have a protective flank position where they own


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[Assistant] A very large producer and retailer of lab created diamonds because they figure, you know, you can't beat them and you join them and they're doing it too.


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[Assistant] So the thing that happens with these lab created diamonds, whether they're for an engagement ring or any other purpose,


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[Assistant] Is because you don't have the limitation of what's available to discover diamonds


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[Assistant] In the earth to find a find, whatever you call it, what do you call it? A vein of diamonds, whatever you call it, digging stuff out of the earth.


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[Assistant] You got to find them, got to dig them out. It's a very involved process. On the other hand, you know, a clean lab, you just grow them and there they are and they're phenomenal. Traditional jewelers hate them. I had a guy come up to me when I was at breakfast one day who owned a jewelry store and was so upset with me. I mean, he was very, very upset with me.


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[Assistant] Lab created diamonds like they were the end all be all ever. He said, okay, so what are they going to be worth later? I said, I don't care. Cause the diamond somebody buys from you.


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[Assistant] In the second hand market, it's worth a tiny fraction what somebody paid you. So maybe the same thing with the lab created diamond, but buying it upfront, it's so much cheaper and the larger diamond you get.


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[Assistant] The price gap gets larger and larger. So if you look at an obnoxiously large lab created diamond, you can buy it for about 10%.


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[Assistant] Of what a dug out of the earth diamond is when you look at more traditional engagement ring size things, you're not talking about buying it for 10 cents on the dollar. You're maybe talking about buying it for 40 cents on the dollar, but you're getting so much more value. So you could either look at it this way. You're spending less on the diamond.


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[Assistant] Or you're getting a larger diamond than your budget could have afforded you otherwise. There are many sellers of these. You want to make sure you buy from one.


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[Assistant] Because in many cases you're not seeing it in person, you're buying it online from one of the lab created diamond sellers. You want to make sure you have a right to return it or a period of time for a full refund if you don't like the diamond, but this is a true


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[Assistant] Money saving opportunity and guys.


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[Assistant] Be upfront and honest because your intended may not appreciate


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[Assistant] Maybe a traditionalist and want a dugout of the earth diamond. I just saw you frown on me.


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[Assistant] I mean, when you're a couple, you gotta agree on things.


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[Assistant] And you wouldn't want her running around showing off her new diamond engagement ring.


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[Assistant] And then later finding out that if it was important to her that it be dug out of the earth somewhere that it was one made in a factory.


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[Assistant] Well see, on an anniversary, he can do the big upgrade.


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[Assistant] You don't want something that you need, like you need to have a strap around your neck to be able to hold your hand up because it's so big.


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[Assistant] Oh, by the way, if you're a jeweler and you're just furious with me, remember the web address clark.com slash clarkstinks.


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[Assistant] So first of all, thank you for your service and the air force. Thank you for your service and what you do now with the feds. And I wanted to tell you that the pension you have.


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[Assistant] That you're accruing, uh, is something that your wife at the time of your death.


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[Assistant] Gets a little more than half of that typically.


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[Assistant] So there's a big loss in family income at the time you were to pass away. If you are also eligible for social security, then she gets a benefit as well from social security.


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[Assistant] But again, it would typically be a smaller benefit if she has no accrued credits in social security. So usually the way a couple would handle this.


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[Assistant] Is you'd fill that gap with life insurance by level term insurance, which would provide a big sum of money.


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[Assistant] The life insurance that you would buy a level term probably would have expired by then because normally the thought process of level term is to cover the years of your working lifetime. So this becomes a potentially more complicated thing. So what you do, what I would do in your case, if she does go back to work, this will solve itself because she can be contributing to her employer's 401k plan. If she becomes a federal employee.


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[Assistant] She can be participating in the best retirement plan out there, the TSP, and she can aggressively put money


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[Assistant] Into either of those and build up her own reserve of funds for retirement, the same time build up years of work credits for social security. What's another alternative? If she chooses not to work outside the home, you are the only breadwinner and we still have this income gap. The other thing to do would be for her to have an investment account, traditional investment account at, um,


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[Assistant] Any of the low cost providers I talk about in addition to each year funding a spousal Roth IRA.


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[Assistant] Which she can put at this point $6,000 each year into.


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[Assistant] When she's fifty, seven thousand dollars under the current rules and start building up her own reserve of funds.


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[Assistant] That's a pretty deep dive there with a pretty complicated topic, but I really love that you're there trying to make sure that she is not left impoverished at the time of your passing.


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[Assistant] There's no reason for you to have a negative brand opinion of American Express unless you have prior personal bad experience with American Express and USAA is an issuer of one type of AMEX card


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[Assistant] It's fine for you to go with USAA, and by the way, you mentioned Navy Federal, you mentioned USAA.


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[Assistant] I wanna thank you for your service, whatever branch of the military you served in or serve in. Okay.


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[Assistant] So you said something that I may have misinterpreted, but the rewards card privileges


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[Assistant] The key is while you have that balance transfer sitting there, you do not use the card for any current purchases because of the way


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[Assistant] The balance transfer is treated as zero percent. The payments that you would be making end up discriminating against you.


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[Assistant] With any of these balance transfer offers with current balances. So what you do is you use it only as a balance transfer loan vehicle until you've paid off the whole balance. And that's the point at which you can start taking advantage of the rewards with the card.


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[Assistant] Well, I like the bike answer, but that's not really that nice to your 16 year old. An e-bike. Yeah. I mean, my bike was $398, but I want you to imagine because in Minnesota in the middle of winter, you'd have to have snow shoes on that e-bike a lot of times. So, uh,


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[Assistant] Even though it hadn't been as much wintertime snow a lot of recent winters, but the good thing is you said fall because we're talking about a good many months from now.


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[Assistant] And inventories in the new vehicle market are going to build and there's no doubt we're going to get back.


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[Assistant] To more normal equilibrium in the vehicle market sometime, uh,


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[Assistant] You're going to see, it's not going to be like all at once, but things are going to get choppily better this year and absolutely better in 23 because the factories are


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[Assistant] Piece by piece, factory by factory, overcoming.


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[Assistant] Supply chain disruptions. Capitalists, figure it out.


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[Assistant] You know, they want to be able to make these products to be able to sell them and the distortions happen for different reasons and the used vehicle market and the new vehicle market, but they all kind of went in lockstep with these much, much higher prices. So you're going to find it absolutely better.


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[Assistant] When you look to fall than where things are right now in the used vehicle market. And again, the new vehicle market is going to get better as well. You may find though that for the particular models you're considering


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[Assistant] That you may find that the price gap will be less than the 10 grand you're talking about. And there may be buying opportunities.


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[Assistant] Which is unusual where buying new would make more economic sense than buying used. Again, I'm looking in a cloudy crystal ball but it seems pretty clear


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[Assistant] That supply and demand are going to slowly move more into sync from where they've been as we move through this year.


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[Assistant] And I want to thank you so much for being with us today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you've enjoyed this podcast and you're not a subscriber, I hope you will. But the most important thing is if you've enjoyed this, please share it with those


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And your friends and the family members you love.


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[Assistant] I guess not the ones you don't love. But anyway, share with them this podcast because my whole thing.


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[Assistant] And you hear me talk about at the beginning of every podcast is about empowerment.


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[Assistant] I believe that knowledge is what gives us the power to make better choices, better decisions in our lives. And I want us to do that at a time particularly


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[Assistant] Where money feels more scarce and the cost of things going up, it's more important than normal right now for you to be in control of your wallet and have the knowledge to make good decisions. And that's what I hope we can help you do each and every day on this podcast.


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[Assistant] You get so excited about just every aspect of the stores.


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[Assistant] And which is hard to do with the, you know, with convenience stores and most people don't think about it much, but you make it interesting.


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[Assistant] Alright, we'll get to some questions for you. This one's from, uh, Yush in Connecticut. Did they say what airport?


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[Assistant] They booked an airline, an afternoon flight, not the last flight of the day, but the airline moved them to a flight one entire day later. They spoke to customer service in person and over the phone, but the airline refuses to provide any compensation for accommodations or food as the flight was canceled due to bad weather. What are the options they have in this case?


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[Assistant] This is from Stephanie in Wisconsin. Hi Clark, I love the podcast, your advice and the content from your team.


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[Assistant] A number of businesses in my area like restaurants, car service centers, golf courses are starting to charge 3.99% fees if you want to use a credit card. Should I be using my debit card in these instances to avoid these fees? I typically don't carry a lot of cash, but maybe I need to start doing so?


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[Assistant] I'm looking for your sage advice on how to combat these fees.


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[Assistant] And I guess in this case you're using it as a true debit and you're putting your pin in, so maybe that's a little more protection.


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[Assistant] Okay, Leah in Kentucky wrote in and said, I have a friend who bought a used Prius.


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[Assistant] And the first thing he did was take the expensive catalytic converter off and sell it for a thousand dollars and then replaced it with an aftermarket one for fifty bucks. It works fine and doesn't have the expensive metals in it. He not only put the money into his own pocket instead of the thieves, it will keep him from getting his stolen in the future. Thieves know the difference right away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah. I feel the same way. I love Trader Joe's. I love it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, let's go to some questions. This is from Josh in Minnesota. My wife and I are going to be putting our house on the market in the next couple of months and we're in our late twenties. We stand to make between $80,000 and $100,000 from the sale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have $34,000 in student loan debt and $18,000 in a car. We are wondering if it would make sense for us to sell and buy another house or would it make more sense for us to rent a couple of years until the market calms down. We would use the money from the sale of the home to pay off debt and save for a future home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this question is from Anaris in Kentucky. I'm 34 years old and currently contributing $600 a month to a brokerage account. My advisor is splitting it in half cash


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Half large cap purchases. I'm already contributing 5% into my Roth 401k and getting a 5% employer match. Should I keep that $600 all cash with no investments in my, or in my invest, and am I investing too much?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We just want to be sure he can access restaurants and transportation when they are cashless.


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[Assistant] Well enjoy, enjoy. Every year of a year of Clark is great for everybody around and everybody listening.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even though as you just talked about recently, it's an expensive place to live with insurance.