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[Assistant] Go see what else is out there. Don't quit till you find something else, but go out there and see what is available because I think


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[Assistant] What you learn will help you so much. You know, I've benefited.


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[Assistant] I mean, leaps and bounds in my twenties, because I worked so much as a teenager,


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[Assistant] And for economic reasons, I worked full time in college and was a night time student for most of college. And that really gave me the leg up that did so much for me launching into a career, uh, you know, at age 21. And so,


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[Assistant] That made a lifelong difference for me, giving me that early launching pad. So my rule in my household


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[Assistant] I'm not a dictatorial father, but all three of my kids.


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[Assistant] New and it was a requirement in my household, they had to have a real job by the time they were 15.


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[Assistant] Uh, working in a variety of different capacities but they worked and I think the value of that and what you learn is so great. Now the other half of this I alluded to recently is what do kids then do with that money


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[Assistant] They're only taught in society how to spend money, and so I'm thrilled by this trend.


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[Assistant] Where more and more school districts, as a requirement of graduation, require one or two semesters of a personal finance program, personal finance course.


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[Assistant] And I think that is something we really need, but there's also a role for you and me as parents. We got to talk to our kids about money as well because I think that's


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[Assistant] Something that, that a lot of times we're afraid to talk about it because maybe we feel like we haven't done it exactly right.


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[Assistant] But share with your kids. They want to learn. They want to understand.


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[Assistant] And it's better they learn from you about the whole concept of saving and planning and all that rather than getting into a spending hole and a habit of spending and then trying to figure that out. And Chris, I gotta brag on your daughter Claire.


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[Assistant] Because Claire has the most incredible work ethic and she'll come home from college and spend an entire break working two or three jobs.


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[Assistant] Well, Anonymous, let me say this to you again. I'm really sorry about the loss of your dad.


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[Assistant] The IRA rules became very unfavorable to kids inheriting from a parent. And, uh, tax law change took place, I think it was passed, uh, three or four years ago and now in effect. And the money you have in there is required to go through


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[Assistant] Uh, an RMD process required minimum distributions over a very short number of years, typically five years. That money's gotta come out. You have to pay tax on basically, uh, a fifth of it every year.


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[Assistant] And then you're free to do with that money what you wish.


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[Assistant] So I don't know the exact rule on 401ks. I know about the change on IRAs. Just curious. Okay. Okay. You just want to see if I can answer that. Yeah, that would require, I wouldn't want to.


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[Assistant] But if it's a spouse who inherits, none of these rules apply. But for a kid inheriting, uh, it could be an adult or a minor child, the rules are kind of wonky.


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[Assistant] Now what in theory you should be able to do is contact


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[Assistant] And they should be able each year to give you


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[Assistant] What the amount of RMD you have to do and if you are in fact covered by the five year rule. If they say, huh, well, uh, we're not getting involved in that, which would really upset me because this is an ultra high cost, high commission firm.


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[Assistant] But if they're hands off, there's enough money at stake, you need to go to an enrolled agent or a CPA who does tax.


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[Assistant] And have them give you what the schedule is going to have to be because if you mess this up, the IRS charges a giant penalty.


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[Assistant] On the money that is not pulled out on time on schedule. Once you have the money in your hands.


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[Assistant] You can then start putting money every year because you're working, you can put


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[Assistant] It requires some thinking. I don't want you to have money at this ultra-high-cost firm moving forward. I'd want you to be at one of the low-cost companies. Especially since you've got a 403B, which is the worst possible option for a retirement plan at work.


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[Assistant] And then over the five years, you'd have much lower costs. If you move the money into, uh, Vanguard would be the lowest cost choice you could move it to. You could move it to Fidelity or Schwab. If you're doing business with any of those three, move it to the one you already have a relationship with.


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[Assistant] But I don't like high cost firms. I mean, not, not the bad people or anything. You just end up with so much less money down the road.


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[Assistant] So the manufacturer's warranty that comes with the vehicle continues for the time with the Tesla, uh, is it 5 years, 36,000 miles or something like that. Whatever, whatever the manufacturer's warranty is, does not void


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[Assistant] When you buy it. Now, what is true is if you buy a used Tesla from Tesla.


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[Assistant] You get the equivalent of like a certified pre-owned. You get the original warranty, plus you get an additional Tesla overlay. But the original manufacturer's warranty


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[Assistant] On this one year old Tesla remains in place until you hit the mileage. And so that what you were told.


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[Assistant] Is if you look at a new model 3.


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[Assistant] You want to see what the price of it is. Net of the tax credit if you qualify for it. Uh, there, some of the vehicles have lost their tax credits.


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[Assistant] Should be somewhere in the upper thirties as a purchase. I don't know what this one year old used one.


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[Assistant] Greg, first of all, you heard Krista did the shout out just as you asked. Um, your advice is spot on. If you have a little balance bill with the hospital.


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[Assistant] They're not doing the offer of the cut, but if you, uh, the way insurance works with people having the higher deductibles, you've got a big chunk of hospital bill.


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[Assistant] And you're calling, billing about it. So they're used to people just not paying those balance bills and going through the big hassle to try to get people to pay. So they will, if you say, yeah, I'll pay the whole thing upfront.


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[Assistant] Uh, you will likely, you might have to ask for it, not have it just automatically offered like you do, but they will discount that bill to get the money.


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[Assistant] Because they don't know otherwise if they're ever going to get the money. What happened in the hospital business is that


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[Assistant] It used to be that people who did not have insurance would end up with these big bills. But the way the nature of health insurance has changed with the large deductibles so many people face, a lot of people with insurance end up with a balanced bill that can be quite large.


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[Assistant] So if you're offering to pay that balance bill in full, your net costs after insurance, then yeaah.


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[Assistant] If they're ready to play, let's make a deal and it could save you a substantial amount. Your 20% is, uh,


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[Assistant] A very common initial offer from a hospital. Again, it depends on the overall circumstance and overall cost. And I want to thank you so much for joining us today. I hope your week is off to a great start and remember what we're devoted to you learning ways to save more.


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[Assistant] Spend less and avoid getting ripped off.


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[Assistant] And we do weekly, we update our Clark.com slash savings accounts page, which we compare the best rates we can find. So.


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[Assistant] She plans on using this money to fund her college education. She will not need to access the money until August of 2025. She currently has it in a credit union savings account, but she read that she can earn interest if she invests it somewhere else.


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[Assistant] Where do you recommend she invest her money for the biggest payout? Thank you. I listened to your podcast while I work my side hustle to help fund college educations and retirements.


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[Assistant] What steps would you recommend we go through to make sure we get the best deal?


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[Assistant] Should we get a buyer's agent? Should we get pre-approved now or wait a few months? How much of our monthly income should we budget for in terms of mortgage and taxes and fees? We aren't in a hurry, but we're ready to stop paying for our landlord's shiny new truck payments and start putting money back in our own pockets.


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[Assistant] Chad in Georgia says, is it true that interest in a savings account is taxed as ordinary income while interest in a money market account at Fidelity is taxed as capital gains? If so, do you think it would make sense to keep my liquid savings in a U.S. treasury money market?


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[Assistant] That way, the way I think about it, the promise of FDIC insurance in my savings account is ultimately backed by the U.S. Treasury when it comes down to it, right?


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[Assistant] My IKEA kitchen, that would have been about 20 years ago almost.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I did an Ikea kitchen. It was very cost effective. Then I had the cabinets painted. And when we sold that house, that was the, the buyer said it was the selling point. They loved the kitchen. They loved the Ikea kitchen. I bought used appliances. I did everything.


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[Assistant] Oh my gosh, I don't even know how many times I was there waiting.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I'm shaking just thinking about like it's a bad memory.


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[Assistant] But it worked out. Alright, let's go to some questions. Mac in Texas says, I recently bought a level term life insurance policy from Haven Life as recommended on Clark.com. The policy was very easy to buy and I was approved without a medical exam.


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[Assistant] When I was applying for the insurance, I was notified by the website that Haven Life was to be discontinued after January 12th and I had until March to be approved for the policy. I was instantly approved and my rate was very competitive. I was also ecstatic not to have to submit to a medical exam.


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[Assistant] My concern is that with Haven Life ceasing to exist, what happens to my policy? Does it turn into a mass mutual policy or will it be bought out by a company with a less than stellar AM Best rating?


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[Assistant] I contacted customer service at Haven Life and they seem to be legally obligated to be vague and non-committal about the future of my policy.


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[Assistant] Is this a red flag and should prompt me to keep shopping for life insurance or should I feel fortunate to have bought from Haven while I was still able?


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[Assistant] Heather in Georgia says, I was hoping you could help me. My father passed away and has a lot of miles on Delta. Am I able to acquire those? Transfer from his account to mine. I know with Marriott you can, but I couldn't find it on Delta's site.


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[Assistant] Alright, Lindsay in Florida says, What is your suggestion for the best tax filing service? Computer versus person chain company. I don't qualify for the simple return, but my tax returns are not too complicated.


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[Assistant] It's crazy and you know every generation always says the next one is doomed and you know the world is doomed and


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[Assistant] Alright, we'll go to questions now. This one's from Vinnie in Florida. Hi Clark, what are your thoughts on the velocity banking concept?


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[Assistant] Uh, next question is for, from Shannon in Georgia. How much is too much for retirement? I realize this varies based on lifestyle, but I've been blessed to be contributing to my retirement funds, 401k, Roth IRA, since my first real job out of college. I'm 43 and married with two teens. And then she wrote, ah, in parentheses.


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[Assistant] Retirement projections in working with Fidelity currently show the possibility of over 10k a month with no additional contributions. We don't spend half of that per month now. We've sacrificed so much to save, but I wonder if I should pull this back to enjoy more of today at this point. What are your thoughts?


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[Assistant] If I'm ready for such an expensive toy, even though it'll hold value or appreciate and last my lifetime, I'm 30.


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[Assistant] I earn $125k to $145k in a sales profession. I have $130k in my retirement, contribute 16% plus match to the 401k, max out my Roth, have an 8 to 12 month emergency fund and high yield savings.


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[Assistant] Contribute another 8-10% to ETFs in a brokerage account. Keep a consistent vacation fund and travel as much as possible.


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[Assistant] A home well under my means at $875 a month mortgage split with my girlfriend.


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[Assistant] Is it possible that I'm ready to reward myself with a large splurge if I can afford to buy up front with cash or am I crazy?


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[Assistant] That's what I always say, you took my line. I'm not dumb, but I am ignorant.


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[Assistant] I hope we hear from men who like shopping at Target.


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[Assistant] I'm considering dropping my homeowners insurance, but buying a premises liability policy from my insurer. I can get $1 million in liability coverage under that policy for a premium of $127 per year.


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[Assistant] Why that premises liability policy is not a good substitute for liability coverage under a homeowners policy. Thank you.


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[Assistant] Patricia in Virginia says Clark, my frugal twin, we have been waiting to buy a used vehicle to replace the one that was stolen in 2022.


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[Assistant] Luckily, while the kids are in college, we have had enough cars to drive.


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[Assistant] My dear husband has patiently waited as I continually tell him that Clark still says it's the wrong time to buy.


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[Assistant] Well, this month I was able to tell him that you gave the green light and we could buy his SUV. You should have seen the smile on his face. We had cash ready to go. I am an avid car buyer and do not buy into any of the historic dealer games. However, this time you recommended settling most of the deal online. New territory for me.


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[Assistant] What your website and podcasts are missing is what to say and how to deal in the online forum. This is very new to me. We ended up getting his SUV, got a great deal on a 2023 with only 2000 miles on it, but I felt like I got lucky. Can you tell us what to say when or where to look for this information?


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[Assistant] Not that I'm judging. You do what you want to do. I just call it that for me.


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah, it was crazy. I know I've told the story on the podcast before but I was sideswiped by a teenager and he thought that I sideswiped him and so we looked at all the camera video and it was very clear.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I also wanted to say one thing that you think about like an alarm system, when someone


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[Assistant] Tesla's really don't get broken in too much because they have the sentry cameras even when they're parked. And so if I had one of these cameras, I'd put a sign on my car cargo bed or wherever that says smile, you're on camera or something like that to just deter. Right.


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[Assistant] Alright, you ready for some questions? I'm ready. Okay. Patrick in New Jersey says, my wife and I have been looking for a second home.


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[Assistant] What do you think about these types of properties? Nothing is included in the lease and there are HOAs at most communities with very low fees. The leases vary from $10,000 to $4,000 per year depending on which property we're looking at.


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[Assistant] In November, the display went totally black, but I was able to resurrect it.


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[Assistant] As a customer, they let me track and budget with all my external accounts. Just uncheck the share with investment advisor toggle at no cost.


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[Assistant] I know Schwab has a more basic offering for external accounts as well. And we also heard from a couple other people, one said fidelity has a good tool. So we're, we're looking at all these and adding to our article at Clark.com as we research them.


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[Assistant] I also wanted to go back to Joe in California and say, I looked, I was just looking on eBay and lots of people are selling like two-year-old, some are new in box, um, iPad Pros and similar, some are used. So rather than getting refurbished, maybe look at buying one of those for $300 or $500 is what I was seeing.


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[Assistant] But I'm not sure this is a good idea. I could also borrow against my 401k and or take a second loan out against our vehicle. I'm trying to protect our personal credit while still funding the business responsibly. I'm a long time listener of your show and have learned so much from you. Thank you for all of your sage advice through the years.


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[Assistant] And at a time where you see a lot of businesses, you know, I've seen a lot of fitness studios closing down and you know, starting a new fitness business. I think that's awesome.


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[Assistant] Mason in Texas says I'm recently married, recently married 25 year old and I dare I say a newly budding Clarkie.


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[Assistant] You mentioned in a previous show that investing in target date retirement funds should be only, should only be done with our 401k and IRA retirement accounts. Does this strategy still apply for my health savings account? Currently I have my HSA invested in a target date fund and would consider reallocating my investments if it would be more beneficial.


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[Assistant] Is there a way for me to convert these into cash to move over into one of my bank accounts for easier use, either for purchases or savings?


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[Assistant] Interesting. Yeaah, that'd be worth calling Amex. I would check with Amex.


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[Assistant] The bot will not send you through to customer service unless you use certain bad words. Customers do have the option to state the bad words nicely, but our AI design is forcing our hand, Brian.


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[Assistant] I have said representative very forcefully before, into the bottom.


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[Assistant] Not usually. At the point where I'm calling, I need to talk to somebody. Generally. So, no. I think it saves companies money because they weed out people who...


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[Assistant] Don't, or don't need to speak to somebody maybe they, but there should always be an option in my opinion. So that's easy to do. So you don't have to hit zero, zero, zero, zero, zero.


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[Assistant] Clark, you don't really stink, but you could have been more complete when you recently talked about dash cams. Here's some info. One, if you're technically challenged or a procrastinator, you can get a nearby car stereo installation shop to install the dash cam. This costs a little, but it's probably worth it. Two, many dash cams don't include an SD card.


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[Assistant] Memory card, but you can buy one at Walmart and three, you probably need to format both the camera and SD card. But if you stick with it, you can probably get both done in about 20 minutes. Tim in Arizona.


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[Assistant] You stink because whenever you talk about umbrella insurance, you never say how to determine how much umbrella insurance is needed. I enjoy the show and listen on my morning walk, John.


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[Assistant] I enjoy listening to your podcast while walking my dog and would like to have my teenage daughter listen as well. The problem is I don't want to expose her to the grammar. I wasn't an English major and don't often and don't even speak English at home.


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[Assistant] But when you say whatcha got, shouldn't it be what do you have? I thought I heard Krista was an English major. Maybe she can comment on why all these gots are like fingernails on a chalkboard, Diego.


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[Assistant] I investigated by taking a flashlight and looking down into the drain area where the food gets chopped up and washed away. I was horrified by what I saw.


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[Assistant] But oh no, that wasn't the worst. I did a YouTube search on how to clean my filter and did just that. It was something out of a horror movie. My stomach turned in thinking that my dishes were being washed with all of that down there.


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[Assistant] After spending two hours cleaning and sanitizing my dishwasher, which included using a toothbrush in all of the nooks and crannies of the racks, rails, small parts, etc., then putting it all back together, I ran a cycle with vinegar in a bowl on the top rack.


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[Assistant] I would think you'd want to do both because there was food caught in there. You want to get all that out of there.


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[Assistant] A listener asked you where you go on your travels. You proceeded to give a long-winded response about how much you love to travel. You sounded like a politician who talks around a subject and hopes they don't notice that they never answer the question. Are you planning to run for elected office, Fred?


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[Assistant] You preach over and over, do not buy extended warranty plans. If it wasn't for these plans, things in my house would never get fixed or replaced. I live in rural America, far from a town. The companies I contract with on warranties will come to my home to repair or replace without hesitation. I'm not the only one that's an exception to your rule, Pat.


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[Assistant] I know you hate to check luggage but if I'm away for at least a week I would rather risk the very small chance of my luggage being lost than the 95% chance I have to do laundry which takes up valuable vacation time. Just saying.


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[Assistant] While I know luggage does get lost, you talk about it with such conviction that it makes us feel the odds are overwhelming that your luggage will not arrive at your final destination. The reality of that happening is actually less than 1%.


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[Assistant] You always say you can't ensure everything. I couldn't agree more. This seems like a lot of effort to avoid such a small probability. Still love you, Linda.


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[Assistant] You don't stink, but you might want to add another tiny drop of detergent to the cold water washing your black shirts. When a listener asked you if it was fair to leave more money to a child with kids than to the child without kids, you didn't answer the actual question and instead told them they should have the conversation so the short-changed child isn't taken by surprise.


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[Assistant] The right answer is no, that's not fair. They should leave their money to their kids equally and let the child with children take care of their own kids. Who knows, maybe the child without kids will leave money to their nieces and nephews, or maybe not. That's up to them. Regardless, it isn't fair. Thank you for what you do, Paul.


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[Assistant] You claim to be the man from Roth, but you advise people who are unsure of their income eligibility to wait until year end to make a contribution. You said it would be a mess if they made contributions but didn't stay under the income ceiling.


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[Assistant] What mess? The mess is two clicks of a mouse to re-characterize the contributions to a non-deductible IRA and then convert that IRA back to a Roth. While technically there are income limits, effectively the Roth is open to everyone. Billy. And Billy represents several people who wrote in about that.


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[Assistant] I always got an Americano, but you get, I don't know, flat right cappuccino latte.


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[Assistant] So you use some apps, I know you have the McDonald's app, right? And, uh, Chick-fil-A, do you do this?


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[Assistant] Okay, we'll go to questions. Susan in Florida says, I've read the best high-yield savings account information on Clark.com. There are many banks listed, since I've never heard of, and I've never heard, some I've never heard of before. Before I put my hard-earned savings in an online bank, I'm worried about customer service or lack thereof.


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[Assistant] Can I still contribute to my SEP, traditional IRA, and Roth to get any other benefit?


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[Assistant] That my parents purchased from me when I was born. The plan was sponsored by the state and in exchange for an upfront payment, the state would pay for 120 credits worth of tuition whenever the recipient decided to attend a school in Nevada.


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[Assistant] And when I finish my undergraduate degree, which sounds like a great deal given that college tuition costs will only continue to increase. Is this a good deal or am I just out of the loop?


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[Assistant] I'm so glad to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life.


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[Assistant] It's that time of week again. It's Friday. It's time for our Clark stink segment where you get to hear where, well, I really have been stinking it up and later.


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[Assistant] They're out all the time. We're not present so often. And I want to tell you,


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[Assistant] In an event, not absent in that event. And that's coming up later, but right now it's time.


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[Assistant] So I do a lot of relative comparisons of many different things, but, uh, as someone who loves this country so much and is so grateful as, uh, being from an immigrant family in the United States that I've had the opportunity to


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[Assistant] To live in this country, to live with our freedoms and to thrive in this country.


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[Assistant] To say I'm prejudiced against my fellow Americans? Wow. But there are times


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[Assistant] That our behavior and our culture.


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[Assistant] Is not as good with money as people in other cultures. And that's just a fact.


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[Assistant] To reduce ongoing costs in your life and you pay taxes, you have the library, you use it to get free content. That's great. And then you said, talked about the commercials. See, I respectfully disagree on that. I love fast free ad supported television.


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[Assistant] Which there are so many services now, because in return for your eyeballs.


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[Assistant] Sitting through those ads, you get all that video content for free, more than you could ever watch.


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[Assistant] Larry, thank you. I don't know what it is about my Chromebook. I close it every time when I finish using it. And whenever I reopen it, I have to re-sign in. And that may be a function of the particular Chromebook I have. So I've never had to, uh, do a power off.


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[Assistant] To create security with it again. And maybe that's not every Chromebook.


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[Assistant] Or like Google Password Manager or Apple has one now I think too. Uhm, it allows you to create these crazy complicated unique passwords for each website you go to and remembers them so that it makes it harder for people to break into your life even if you've been hacked.


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[Assistant] That's in a 529 that ended up not having to be used for college and move over time up to $35,000. Tax and penalty free.


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[Assistant] Into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary of that 529.


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[Assistant] Is the purpose, the reason Congress did this is a lot of people weren't funding 529s because they were freaked out. What if their kid doesn't go to college? What if their kid gets a full free ride to college? What if, what if, what if?


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[Assistant] So, they created this safety valve with all these hoops you have to jump through.


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[Assistant] Uhm, as a way of encouraging people to contribute to a 529. Now I know there's a lot in the, uh, personal finance media about, hey,


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[Assistant] Fund this 529 from when your kid's born.


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[Assistant] And then you'll be able to give them a $35,000 head start in young adulthood because that money will have grown over the years and you can put it in the Roth and it'll be tax and penalty free. That's only icing.


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[Assistant] On a cake. The purpose of the cake is to pay for college with the 529.


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[Assistant] Yeah, Lynn, thank you very much. And this was, this was a big issue, uh, back, uh, I think 2015 was when one of the big banks said they would no longer cooperate with any of the screen scraping. Use the term green scraping, which may be a newer term for it.


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[Assistant] And so there was a compromise where there was a new security protocol developed.


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[Assistant] To the brokerage house and then after that, they would not have stored it and would not have it moving forward specifically because of what you're talking about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As long as the company you're using for your dashboard where you see all your assets and liabilities, all the debts, you have all your credit cards, everything. As long as they're using the security protocol where they are not storing your username and password, you're not voiding


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The protections available from the brokerage or the bank.


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[Assistant] And one of the most successful companies in the country went extinct because they could not change with the times.


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[Assistant] Isaac, thank you. Uh, the point I was trying to make is that it was really easy for years and years.


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[Assistant] And the interest can hurt you more. You've done the calculations. In your case, you've come up with an effective rate of 4.6%. And by your calculations as well, worth it for you to pay the 4.6 than to have to pay in over the course of a year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, that's what, uh, when the fire movement was so the big thing at one point. It was about being able to retire, uh, late forties, early fifties. You beat that retiring at 43. And what's great is, is you can work if you want to.


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[Assistant] I'm so glad it's worked for you. Tmoo has been controversial mainly because of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, the fact that there's a lot of questions about where the goods are made and how the workers are treated with the goods that are made. But they are, have you looked? No. Krista.


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[Assistant] Are so low that it gives credence to the possibility.


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[Assistant] Christina, uh, I call myself a flake, flakeazoid, whatever, and I did not mean any offense by that, and I apologize to anyone who did take offense to that, and in your case and in many other people's cases, auto pay works beautifully.


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[Assistant] I mean you, you use auto pay for everything you possibly can. I do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And AutoPay can come back to bite you in certain categories, particularly with any kind of subscription.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you terminate it and you still get billed. Auto loans. You've traded in the loan, the vehicle, you paid it off. They're still drafting your account. We hear it occasionally with mortgages where someone has sold a home and the mortgage company is still drafting their account. So the problems with auto pay all involve


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What happens when you don't want to pay that anymore and the money is still disappearing? But I certainly wasn't trying to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, make light or be insulting to people with, uh, ADHD or any other thing like that.


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[Assistant] Thank you and I appreciate the suggestion so that you don't prematurely ditch an older phone. But, uhm, Belichick? Look how many teams passed on him. Wouldn't even give him an interview. You know, I think about, uhm, Kansas City.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the joy of the players on that team with a coach who also wins, but the Patriots players, there was never really any joy in Mudville. Oh boy, this is going to bring out some claims.


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[Assistant] You know, and Belichick and Arthur Blank would have never gotten along.


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[Assistant] Cause they're both used to having, being all powerful. That just, that would have been a marriage made, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, an HE double toothpick. That would not have, that would not have worked for the two of them to be together. So, uh, no, the Falcons did the right thing by passing on the grumpy fishing boat captain. And those fishing boat captains are not grumpy, right? Oh my gosh.


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[Assistant] They're joyous. They're out on the sea. We're going to have Clark Stinks forever. That's okay. Think how many rings he's got? He's got six. Really? Thanks to Tom Brady. But anyway, I digress.


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[Assistant] We're going to talk about how cell phones


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[Assistant] Is shorter. We got digital everything. And then, whoever's up in front talking, teacher, instructor, professor, they're competing against the smartphone.


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[Assistant] And now more and more school districts are requiring that the phones be turned in before the students go into class. And guess what?


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[Assistant] They're having better academic achievement according to the testing done so far. And now at concerts,


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[Assistant] More and more, uh, concert venues or artists or promoters are requiring that you turn your phone in before you enter into the arena.


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[Assistant] And, you know, there's been a lot of talk about yonder.


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[Assistant] Which is the thing where you store your phone in a pouch at a lot of venues and


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[Assistant] And the advantage of this is great. You know, there was a, a movie called auto.


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[Assistant] Any movie I've ever seen, uh, that's been made in recent years, I've seen on an airplane.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there's this thing where this person, uh, passes out and falls on the tracks. And in there, everybody on the, on the platform, instead of trying to help the guy off the tracks, is there with their phones posting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the moment. And everything's about documenting everything. And uhm, I have seen, uh, with a,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That I might get a message from that student.


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[Assistant] What are you doing? I never, I never said that this was anybody I was related to. Come on. Yes, that's my side. So, so I, you know, this thing of, of having time,


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[Assistant] Where you're not on your phone. Do you know what I do? I leave my phone down.


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[Assistant] I know from my watch and I'll answer it on my watch and then if I'm having trouble hearing, they're having trouble hearing me, then I go get my phone for the call and then I lay the phone back down. But it's a hard thing because the phone is kind of like a tractor beam that comes in to all of us. So true. And so I have a thing that tells me every week how much I've used my phone.


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[Assistant] And I do that because I want to discipline myself so I'm not on it so much because it's, it's not,


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[Assistant] It's where too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.


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[Assistant] Cause these phones are, what they do is phenomenal. Just incredible.


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[Assistant] And uhm, I don't think we've talked about this in like, I don't know, 10, 15 years. You and I both suffered back in the OOs through Microsoft's


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] First attempt trying to make smartphones. And we both had, were they called Windows 5 phones?


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[Assistant] It was so hard to use. Only a, uh, experienced high level computer programmer could have been able to use that thing. And then you got, uh, the late Steve Jobs sitting there, probably looking at this thing, he's like,


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[Assistant] Gosh, this is brilliant. Wouldn't it be great if it worked for everyday people? And so he invented the first iPhone.


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[Assistant] Which was really what he always was so great at. Taking stuff that techies made that nobody could figure out how to use and making them work.


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[Assistant] For everyday people. And making them beautiful and simple. Yeaah. And so he was able to do that and poor Microsoft that came up with the whole thing.


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[Assistant] Could never make it user friendly. And so from that point forward, you think about all the things, think about the businesses that would not exist if it weren't for the phone.


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[Assistant] For the smartphone. So it's really great. But what's the most valuable company in the world right now?


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[Assistant] Depending on the day, Microsoft, uh, so Microsoft still, in spite of the fact that


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[Assistant] They seem to have a very hard time making things easy to use for everyday people. They do a lot of things that are business to business that are really great.


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[Assistant] So the cheapest way is to get a Japanese style toilet attachment to, and then you don't use toilet paper. Uhm, and more and more Americans are doing that. But when you look at one of the, I said but, that was terrible.


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[Assistant] When you look at one of the warehouse club packs of toilet paper, don't look at the sheets, don't look at the numbers of rolls, look at the total square footage.


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[Assistant] Divide if you really want to know if you're getting value.


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[Assistant] Some toilet papers you don't need to use a lot of. Some brands you need to use a lot more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some are like, uh, stand paper.


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[Assistant] Wow. You know about that? I've heard of it, yeaah. You're too young to know that. But anyway, people who did that could tell you the Sears catalog was more comfortable to use than these institutional roles we have at places. But we digress because your question is


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[Assistant] Are you getting value? And you only know from those factors. You do the math.


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[Assistant] Versus buying somewhere else and


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[Assistant] You think through, if you try different brands, the warehouse club or wherever, how many sheets do you have to use to effectively get the job done?


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[Assistant] You're gonna love the cooking school in Tuscany. 529 is not going to help you with that because there are certain requirements on what makes something an accredited school.


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[Assistant] And you're not gonna be able to use the 529 for it as I understand the 529 rules. So that's not gonna work. Using it for, uh, conversion to a Roth IRA, you have to have the money in the 529 15 years. So it'd be sometime after age 87.


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[Assistant] That you'd be able to migrate the money into a Roth IRA. If you want Roth money, and you're working some now,


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[Assistant] Then whatever earnings you have put into a raw short circuit this, don't do the 529 cause it really is too complicated a solution in your situation.


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[Assistant] And it's just a matter of opening up the wallet a little more. Have her buy the new vehicle instead of buying the nearly new one. Uh, even though it's again becoming


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[Assistant] Something really to look at because historically I've always said it's better buying a couple of year old, two, three year old used car. That didn't work for a number of years, now it's back on its way to working again. But the lease is a bad idea because the lease is an obligation going forward.


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[Assistant] Good driving at 92. We don't know when.


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[Assistant] That's not good anymore. So owning a vehicle makes more sense. She's been a good saver, obviously has cash, uhm, as long as it wouldn't hurt her overall financial security.


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[Assistant] I think that's fantastic. The only way I will be driving at 92, because I know what my motor skills will not be like hers, like your mom's,


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[Assistant] Is I'll need to be in a self-driving automobile.


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[Assistant] And there's nothing like a self-driving automobile, let me tell you.


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[Assistant] So I hope you have a great, great rest of your day. Appreciate so much you joining us today. I hope you have an absolutely wonderful weekend and remember what we're about that you learn ways to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're their top spokesman. I bet you have the CEO's cell phone number. Doesn't your local Costco know you by your name and reputation? I was so upset listening to this story, I may never go back.


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[Assistant] I hate their checkout lines. Sam's Club and BJ's have the scan and go all worked out. It's a much better experience. You're a better man than me because I would have gone home, strapped the leash on Kirkland's signature and took him right back to that store. I would inform the person they could keep their dog because your next one will be named Members Mark or Berkeley Jensen. Fellow clubber, Brian.


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[Assistant] In a recent segment when you responded to a listener talking about her 855 credit score you ended your comments with, you can get any loan you want.


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[Assistant] Although it's true that as you said a score of 760 to 780 or above will allow you to be considered an excellent borrower, that blanket statement made my ex-loan officer skin crawl because the sentiment of as long as my credit score is high enough I can get any loan I want is way too common and often


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[Assistant] Erroneous. I'm sure you know there are many more factors involved in getting approved for a loan besides a credit score and sadly, many people max out their income on loans and get denied because of that more often than having a bad credit score.


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[Assistant] Please do your best to not make such maddening blanket statement in the future, Judy.


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[Assistant] Clark lol, you discuss how the employment power pendulum has swung back in favor of employers, correct? Then turn right around and suggest if the employee gets no raise next year, this year now, this was written last year, perhaps they need to job hunt?


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[Assistant] Good luck finding a new job, let alone a better paying job. Remember, the pendulum has swung. One better hope they made out okay in the last three years with raises and they will be glad they still have their job. Darren.


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[Assistant] Clark missed the boat on the TSP changes. As an active duty service member who has been working the TSP for several years now, the addition of the mutual fund window is a great opportunity to out earn the traditional choices. The complication lies in the research of available funds prior to signing up.


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[Assistant] Well this was an issue and I had to research the funds through a third party site. Once I did, I was able to confirm many of the high performing fidelity funds I prefer are available. One of my funds is running as high as 65% this year and killing anything the traditional options have to offer. Takes a little work, but the offerings are more than worth the fees. Jonathan.


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[Assistant] Clark, on a recent Clark Stinks podcast, a caller asked about selling a used car and the buyer having it inspected by a mechanic. They questioned the safety of this. A simple solution is to meet the buyer at their mechanic, you drive the car you're selling, or they can bring the mechanic to your house. Keep up the good work. Thank you for all you do, Shelly.


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[Assistant] You talk a lot about Amazon shopping not being the best deal in town and also how great deals are when shopping at Walmart and warehouse stores and how that can save a lot of money. Yet I've never heard you weigh in on how when we shop at Amazon and similar online retailers,


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[Assistant] You, meaning I only purchased the product that was intended to buy in the first place and you don't load up your cart with things you feel compelled to buy in the moment.


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[Assistant] Just because you see it right in front of you. Compare that to when I go to Costco for about $75 of merch and end up with a $300 charge at the register. I know, I know, you don't take a cart, but just because you're a freak of nature in this regard doesn't mean you're doing justice to the rest of us when it comes to shopping methods.


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[Assistant] Do your fan base a favor. Next time you go to Costco, have someone video how you purchase toilet paper plus paper towels plus eggs, milk, bacon, cereal and whatever else you need for the month without a dang cart.


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[Assistant] I'm not saying you can't, I just want to see how you do it. For me, I don't mind if I'm paying a few bucks more here and there by shopping on Amazon and other online retailers.


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[Assistant] I hope my, that, that new title makes up for the previous Mr. Howard dig. As far, as for us fans, I know we've been deemed Clarkies, but I'm more of a Clarks, Clarks Cyple.


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[Assistant] You are truly amazing and we're also lucky you exist, Eric, in Thousand Oaks, California.


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[Assistant] I re- really enjoy your podcast and have learned a lot for many years. However, I was a bit disappointed in your response to the question you had recently about the couple that was going to winter in Hawaii for three months and they asked about the best options for a car while there.


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[Assistant] You said a good option would be to buy an older model used car and sell it before you leave. While the economics of this could work out, the likelihood is small considering these factors.


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[Assistant] Even if in the best scenario you only spend a few hundred dollars on plates and registration and you get lucky and sell the car for the same or similar amount,


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[Assistant] The amount of time, effort, and stress doing this for a three month time frame seems like bad advice to me.


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[Assistant] What happens if you can't sell it? I suppose you could see if they have CarMax or something similar that buys cars. But if you're using them, you may not get what you wanted for the car. Just my thoughts. Sometimes trying to save money leads to bad advice. The last thing I'd want to do on a vacation is stress over these factors, Frank.


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[Assistant] Of course you don't stink, Clark. Generic deodorant works just as well as name brand. But why do you never mention the Walmart MasterCard?


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[Assistant] For the first year of use, you get 5% back on all purchases at Walmart. After the first year, you get only 2% back on purchases made at the register, but you still get 5% back on all Walmart pickup and delivery orders. Getting 5% back on my weekly grocery pickup has saved me so much money during this time of high food prices.


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[Assistant] Doing grocery pickup not only saves me time, but cuts down on impulse buys as well.


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[Assistant] 5% off groceries really adds up month after month, Lisa.


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[Assistant] I was also gonna say, uhm, you can, if it's a well-known company, most of them on their websites have a section that says careers or employment opportunities at the bottom, so you could look and see if that's really a job listing. And also you could call the HR department and ask if this is a legitimate job listing in person, uhm, just separately.


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[Assistant] Cause it is so much more common that you get, you know, interviewed remotely now. It's just, yeah, that's tougher. Okay, questions. This one's from Will in New Jersey. I recently entered my fourth decade of life and I'm currently visiting my 81 year old father. My mom is in a nursing home.


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[Assistant] My fiance's father recently passed away. This is all a reminder to me that we can't escape father or mother time.


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[Assistant] My dad has told me that he would be interested in donating his body to science. However, he believes that this field is too unregulated and is certain his body parts of it will only benefit ill intention, corrupt profiteers and not be used for science. I thought he was being paranoid, but then I found a recent investigative report that confirms his suspicions and there's a link.


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[Assistant] What does Clark think about this? He's dedicated his life to serving others and I know he wouldn't want his body to be used for others' profit. Wait, he is a cheerleader for a strong free market. Perhaps he doesn't mind? Clark's candor on topics pertaining to, I'll say it, death.


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[Assistant] Is very much appreciated and I'd love to hear his take on this. What can I tell my dad to where can we donate that will use our means for science?


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[Assistant] Henry in Wisconsin says I am 33 years old. I heard an ad for a local funeral home where they were advertising funeral pre-planning.


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[Assistant] One of their selling points was that planning and paying for the service now would make the cost inflation proof. That sounds good, but after meeting with them, I found that the funeral process can cost upwards of $10,000. My life insurance agent recommends not doing this and allowing our life insurance to pay for the funeral costs when the time comes. What are your thoughts?


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[Assistant] Juan in California says, Clark, because of you I'm well aware that my funds at a bank or credit union aren't insured up to $250,000. But what about funds at an investment firm, like one of your three favorite children, Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab?


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[Assistant] Also, what if my employer or rollover has my retirement at the same place as my personal investments? Does my insured max coverage combine retirement and personal investment, or is it retirement in a different entity than my personal investment?


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[Assistant] Okay, this first question is from Steve in Indiana. My parents offered to loan money to us for a home purchase so we could avoid dealing with the currently high mortgage rates. What sort of things do I need to consider before setting up this arrangement? Are there restrictions from the IRS? Would this negatively impact our ability to buy a home in any way?


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[Assistant] Jocelyn in New Hampshire says I have a question about mutual funds versus ETFs. I know ETFs are better for taxable accounts, but what about an IRA? Everyone says ETFs have a lower expense ratio, but the mutual funds give a much better payout each year.


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[Assistant] For example, I had $50,000 in a healthcare fund from Vanguard, and I got $2,000 each year as a payout. It had a slightly higher expense ratio than a comparable healthcare ETF, but the ETF didn't pay as much each year, like $100 for a $50,000 investment.


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[Assistant] It seems the only way to make real money on the ETFs is when the stock price goes up while within, with a mutual fund you have, you make money each year from the payouts and when the price of the fund goes up. What am I missing and why does everyone always say invest in ETFs versus mutual funds?


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[Assistant] And Marcelino in New Mexico says, I want to see my first total eclipse ever on April 8th, 2024. I've been looking for hotels in the path of totality, but I'm seeing prices of $3,000 per night. Right. Do you know of any tips or tricks that I can use to save on this trip? Thank you. Best show ever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, yeaah, actually. And I remember in Clark deals, the last one, uhm, we had like all these deals on the protective glasses and stuff. That was fun. A lot of people were buying those.


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[Assistant] Okay, Eric in Idaho says recently an unknown charge from Amazon marketplace appeared on my credit card. I contacted Amazon and they confirmed that the purchase came from an Amazon account we did not own.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We notified our credit card company of the fraud via the online tool and they issued a new credit card number.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Three weeks later we had another unknown charge from Amazon Marketplace and they confirmed again that it was from an account we did not own.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Suspicious that the number was compromised so quickly, I called my credit card company and was connected to a fraud manager. She explained that digital wallets like Apple or Google subscribe to an update service and automatically receive updated credit card numbers if a card number is cancelled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We verified this by watching our digital wallets update to the newest credit card number without intervention by us. The fraud manager explained that we needed to call and specifically request that all digital wallets be disconnected in order to avoid this problem.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and they said thanks, they enjoy the show, they're wondering how this makes sense. And I also had this happen, just so you know, just a third, like another person verifying that I got a new credit card.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I didn't update it on my app, but it was automatically updated on my Google Pay.


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[Assistant] Well I don't know, I think maybe they have like an Apple or Google wallet, but they got this person's original credit card number and entered it into their own digital payment system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It doesn't mean they got into your wallet. It could mean that they just have all their credit card info entered into the wallet and then the wallet automatically updates when you get a new credit card number.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You tell them, disconnect all digital wallets at the credit card company. Say, disconnect this card from all digital wallets that exist. That's a great tip. I wouldn't have thought that. I've had credit card numbers compromised and I've never done that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's crazy. Okay. That makes a lot of things make sense now. Kevin in Pennsylvania says tip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They state that they need to reset the credit card terminal. During the reset process, quote unquote, quote unquote reset, they provide a credit card number for you to charge $50 to $60. Then they ask you to do a charge back for a much larger number. I told my employees if they get such a call to hang up and call the support number on the terminal.


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[Assistant] I think it's worth mentioning that while some people don't like to buy these pieces because they're bulky and very dated looking, these pieces can be very easily transformed into sleek, gorgeous, modern looking pieces


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[Assistant] By using furniture paint or refinishing and replacing old dated knobs with new ones. There are plenty of YouTube videos showing people the best way to paint or refinish furniture. With an hour or two of not so hard labor, you can have beautiful, modern, well made furniture.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you with knowledge and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. In today's episode, I want to tell you about key indicators


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[Assistant] You will be rewarded for waiting a bit longer.


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[Assistant] I'm also going to talk about an example of technology.


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[Assistant] That I started talking about when the first tests were taking place 10 years ago. 10 years ago. And is finally actually, possibly, maybe, could be starting to happen just a little bit. That's deliveries by drone.


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[Assistant] Wow, things take a lot longer and don't work out exactly like the futurists expect. But this is a prediction of the future that you can take to the credit union.


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[Assistant] A manufacturing capacity in the world.


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[Assistant] Not just in Asia, I mean we pretty much do for consumer goods all over the place.


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[Assistant] Trucks, you know, trucking companies are complaining their volume has fallen.


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[Assistant] Uh, that was, somebody came up recently with FedEx that the volume of packages they're moving is falling.


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[Assistant] And a lot of truckers, over the road trucking companies have gone insolvent.


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[Assistant] I mean, we are in a time where we went from, if you go back 20, 21 into 22,


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[Assistant] We had not enough capacity. I don't know if you remember, this is the kind of thing that's really not a consumer story particularly, but when the ports along the US coastlines


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Could not process the cargo coming in. There was so much cargo coming in that ships were lined up out at sea for long periods of time. And there was a big backlog getting them onto trains, getting them on the trucks, the whole thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ships just everywhere you could, everywhere you looked. You saw all these cargo ships just sitting out at sea for, for some cases more than a month waiting to unload. All that was then.


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[Assistant] And the inflationary trends, not just here, but in other countries, most other countries,


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[Assistant] The inflationary trends are turning to what's known as disinflation.


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[Assistant] Dissinflation is when the rate of inflation


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Deflation is where goods are actually going to be cheaper than they were before. So disinflation is where the, the inflationary rate is going down.


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[Assistant] And if you look at, if you look at each 90 days rather than a particular month, you'll see that


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[Assistant] The inflationary trends are lessening.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The next cycle worldwide is going to be where a lot of these prices we've had that are so much higher than they were pre-COVID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of them are coming back down below where they've been.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a natural tendency and there's an economic, there's a theory economists call it. And I'm sorry, I don't remember.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, welcome to post the term that I can't remember right now.


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[Assistant] But prices by human nature of a business owner.


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[Assistant] Prices go up very rapidly, but an owner of a business only reluctantly ever gives up those price gains. So they go up like a rocket and then they gradually come down.


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[Assistant] Uh, if you drive a gas engine vehicle, you know what I'm talking about, because with gas cars,


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[Assistant] When there's an acceleration in gasoline prices at wholesale, it's reflected at the pump like a nanosecond later.


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[Assistant] On the other hand, when the prices at wholesale are in decline,


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[Assistant] That corner gasoline station owner wants to hold on to those prices as long as they can. I wouldn't say that's greedflation. That's a, that's a, uh, popular culture term, but thank you for showing me. Thank you, Krista. So, uhm, anyway,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They try to hold on to those additional profit margins they're now getting, but ultimately the market comes to play and those prices decelerate. So they go up like an elevator, they come down like walking downstairs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I'm sure there's a better analogy than that. Anyway, uhm, the point is the excess factory production


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The excess ability to produce goods and goods being produced around the world, because it is a worldwide market, is going to lead


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To prices not going back to where they were in 19.


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[Assistant] But the much higher prices we've seen on a lot of consumer goods have been step by step


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[Assistant] Uh, evaporating, and in 24 we're going to see lower prices on a lot of goods. And we've seen little pieces of this. We've seen it particularly in electronics and appliances. And I've talked about that, uh, starting last year, that those prices were actually coming back down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And those are just the leading edge of what we're going to see. So it means that each dollar you make,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is a great time to build up savings. Think about what savings are earning. If you're, uh, being, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really a good manager of your cash and you're getting better deals and savings accounts, money market accounts, all plus 5%.


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[Assistant] And then next year, when whatever it is you're interested in buying is cheaper, you buy then. So, that's my prediction.


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[Assistant] And I believe I'm going to be right on this, but anytime you predict the future.


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[Assistant] You can really look like a fool later, but I'm willing to step out there on the plank and make that prediction.


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[Assistant] Robert, I am so impressed you have 400 different passwords. And no human being can do that. And even, uh, someone like Krista uses a password manager.


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[Assistant] They just do a complicated password. They don't routinely change them.


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[Assistant] And I use Google's password manager and it's really funny when I let it create a password. They are so goofy looking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These passwords that Google's password manager creates, it's like, I don't know how the criminals crack those. So changing them regularly, as long as you're using really creative, wild passwords, you're good.


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[Assistant] It is not a scam and, uh, one of our team members, Anthony, participated and he did not have to give a credit card.


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[Assistant] Okay, so I assume at the point that they send it to you, they want to verify you are who you say you are. Because if you're not watching the TV enough, they want it back. If you're not, the terms of service were such, I couldn't do it. Because you had to use it, eh, overwhelmingly as your principal TV.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm, uh, you know, football is my life and having to watch the NFL on a 55 inch TV, not happening.


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[Assistant] So, uh, you've obviously held them two years, so more than one. You have to hold series I's. I is for inflation.


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[Assistant] A minimum of one year, but if you hold them less than five years, you forfeit the last 90 days of interest. So this is a difficult calculation. I've been reading so much stuff in the financial media about this that people bought them when they were earning nine point


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[Assistant] 8% or whatever, I mean they were earning at the height of inflation, they were earning.


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[Assistant] Nearly 10% on series I savings bonds. Now they're earning the inflation rate only, which is, I talked about just a minute ago, is going steadily down. So this is a tough call and you'd have to figure out


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[Assistant] What the last 90 days interest would be worth in your, in your current earning cycle.


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[Assistant] And then, then try to figure out going forward what the breakeven period would be going from. And that's why there's not an automatic answer I've been able to find. I keep reading, haven't found one yet.


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[Assistant] It would make it worth going in the new ones, which long haul are a much better deal at five point, five point something now. Two seven percent.


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[Assistant] These are not investments. These are savings instruments.


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[Assistant] And the way they're taxed is not very favorable, which is why I still prefer for money outside of your savings bucket that you be an investor in, uh, stock funds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Index funds, exchange traded funds, rather than a saver. But if this money, this 20 grand you have in iBonds, is part of your savings bucket,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then it will obviously make sense at some point to either wait the five years and not have a forfeiture of the last 90 days or to go ahead and cash them in, pay your 90 days of interest,


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[Assistant] Pay taxes on the earnings you've had over the two years.


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[Assistant] To get ahead of myself with enthusiasm about technology, and I am guilty as charged 10 years ago,


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[Assistant] When I was raving about drone deliveries, getting all these delivery trucks off the road. And so far it's been basically just a joke. And now hope springs eternal.


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[Assistant] We may be moving into the time when it actually does happen. I'll share it with you straight ahead. So Amazon and there are tribal Walmart both made a lot of fuss.


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[Assistant] How many drones you see flying around, buzzing around, dropping packages? None.


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[Assistant] But Amazon is now doing it on a trial basis. They had another trial in Houston and part of Houston, it seems to be working and this technology is advancing so quickly.


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[Assistant] Because of, well an ugly reason, is often happens, what makes technology advance so much? War. And the advancements going on with drones, because of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and the war going on in the Middle East,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] has led to enormous advancements in a very short period of time and the versatility


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[Assistant] And practicality of using drones for any of a number of things and package delivery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is weirdly going to advance because of all the advancements that have happened in such a short period of time in Europe and in the Middle East.


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[Assistant] And so I guess it's a bright side of a bad thing, the destruction, loss of life and war, but always


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[Assistant] A war leads to enormous breakthroughs that end up benefiting people in nonviolent civilian kind of uses. And I think that the drones will now, late on arrival, like they're an airline, are going to actually end up being part


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of the solution to all the traffic that's going on because of delivery services.


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[Assistant] And I think about, think about, uhm, let's look at something simple.


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[Assistant] I go to a restaurant, they'll have that section for the food delivery app people. And when people are hungry,


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[Assistant] There's never going to be enough delivery drivers to get that food to somebody before it's not soggy or cold.


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[Assistant] And no matter how hard those delivery drivers work, they can never get the food there.


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[Assistant] Well, just use your imagination, and it doesn't require much, to picture somebody at a restaurant.


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[Assistant] Putting the food into a drone, putting in the address, it zips over there in a fraction of the time and the food arrives still hot.


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[Assistant] And if it's something that should be crispy, still crispy and all that.


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[Assistant] To be able to deliver in a quick way. Think about uhm, somebody who's home ill. To be able to deliver over the counter meds and prescriptions.


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[Assistant] It's not science fiction. It just wasn't ready for prime time. I think it is now. And we'll see if again I'm being


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[Assistant] Too optimistic, being like Elon Musk saying, yeaah, we're going to have fully autonomous taxis on the roads by the end of this year.


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[Assistant] Well, uh, my son has a, a business, I don't know if your grant has a business where he does videos for companies that, uh, he does drone videos.


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[Assistant] He, he is, uh, such a natural entrepreneur, does exactly what he should. He goes and trespasses in a business, shoots a video as a teaser.


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[Assistant] Drops, drops off a thumb drive at the business and says, uh, uh, I do.


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[Assistant] Uh, I do drone videos for companies and if you'd like one, here's, here's a sample of what I can do. And, uh, and they call back over and over again. That's awesome. But the things that, that people are going to be able to do with drones, it's just really something. That's awesome.


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[Assistant] Well he gets it, he gets it, you know, when you're a pilot, since he can fly airplanes, the drone license is easier than...


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[Assistant] We need to have a conversation right here because this is happening with increasing frequency. It first became, we started getting calls about this probably four years ago with, uh, gift cards being compromised and the code was still totally in place. This is a broken system.


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[Assistant] Gift cards if you buy them, and you may not ever know because the recipient is going to be too sheepish usually to tell you.


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[Assistant] Uh, the gift card you gave them had no value and the criminals count on that. And this is a problem for every retailer that sells gift cards is they are getting compromised. So I know this seems so analog, but those of you on our YouTube show, you can see when I'm holding up


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[Assistant] If you are giving a small amount of money to somebody, you can give them this Lincoln, which is a five dollar bill. Or you can give them this, uh, is it Hamilton? On a ten? I didn't know Hamilton was on a ten. Or you can give them a Jackson.


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[Assistant] 20 or give them some combination of these because these things they can actually use and you don't have to worry that the gift card is useless and why people find giving somebody cash to be crass


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[Assistant] I don't get, because the cash can be used anywhere. You go buy somebody a Starbucks gift card or a Walmart gift card or whoever gift card and you think they want to use it. Maybe they don't.


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[Assistant] Programs they buy online or develop themselves usually they buy online that are able to do an active check of when a gift card has been activated at a register or online.


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[Assistant] And then they are able to defeat whatever the pen system is with these software programs. And then they spend the money way before you would ever have an opportunity as a recipient of a gift card to use it.


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[Assistant] And this is a known problem in retail. Nobody's figured out the solution.


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[Assistant] And buying gift cards is hazardous to your wallet's health.


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[Assistant] And is a false way of thinking you're actually giving somebody a gift of value because that gift card may be worth zero when they go to use it so cash or some other way of giving somebody money.


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[Assistant] Is the best way to do it rather than


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[Assistant] She had the actual card so at some point they gave her the card. So they transmitted the card to her. So then you can transmit some other form of giving value.


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[Assistant] First of all, Kelly, I'm glad that they are now attacking the debt. And I hope that whatever plan they come up with is successful. I want to talk about that in a second. Your original question, yes.


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[Assistant] Move heaven and earth to get the full employer match.


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[Assistant] 401k money is generally a protected asset. Depending on the state, IRA money may or may not be in a bankruptcy or legal action, but 401k money is generally recognized in 50 states as a protected asset and making sure you


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[Assistant] Make the contributions to get the full employer match.


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[Assistant] Ultra high priority. Now, on credit counselors, there are legitimate credit counselors,


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[Assistant] Illegitimate credit counselors, and one's kind of in a fuzzy middle.


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[Assistant] To find a legitimate credit counselor, Kelly, make sure your sister and your brother-in-law


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[Assistant] Go to an affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.


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[Assistant] NFCC.org and I wish them the best on coming up with a payment plan with their debts that will work for them.


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[Assistant] So uhm, I have much experience with getting these, uh, fines from the rental agencies for, uh, violations I supposedly racked up on a trip.


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[Assistant] And I, like you, have had circumstances where I'm billed for a fine that was for a time I was not the renter of the car.


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[Assistant] And the rental agencies usually charge you.


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[Assistant] They use outside contractors to figure out who was renting the car at that time and they get it wrong a lot because they're trying to process way too many to make more money by processing as many as possible.


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[Assistant] You should be able to contact the home office of the rental agency to get a refund of the junk fee you were assessed for a toll that was not yours, a toll you were being billed for that never happened on your watch because it was not when you rented the car.


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[Assistant] Uhm, if you just dispute the charge with your credit card, you'll be put on a permanent do not rent list for that rental company. So you can't do that. I mean, you'll avoid the junk fee they charge you. You'll never be able to rent from them again. So,


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[Assistant] Uh, you want to contact the home office and if you go to Elliott.org, which I've mentioned before, you can find contacts at the rental agency that are outside of customer no service.


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[Assistant] And that should help get you a credit for future rental or get you a direct refund of the junk fee you were improperly charged for a ticket of violation that was not yours. And this is, let me tell you, this is happening all the time is somebody who rents frequently.


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[Assistant] I got one notice in September and I got one in November, two different trips. One was mine, one was not mine.


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[Assistant] But, uh, it's just, it's just a hassle to deal with. Is it worth it to be able to travel? You bet it is. I just won't eat lunch for a few weeks. Make up the cost.


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[Assistant] In our 33rd year of Clark's Christmas Kits, where we ask you for donations for children who are in foster care,


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[Assistant] This Christmas season, they're not with their families. They have not done anything wrong, but the adults in their lives have not been able to take care of them for whatever reason. And they are now wards of the state. And so I want us to be


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[Assistant] People who step in and let these kids that you'll never meet know that they are loved and cared about.


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[Assistant] And if you go to clarkschristmaskids.com, you'll see.


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[Assistant] How you can have impact, how you can make a difference.


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[Assistant] That's right. You see the kid's name, how old he or she is and you can fulfill a wish. Or if you don't want to do that, just give us some cash for these kids and we'll buy the gifts for them. And I want these kids.


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[Assistant] I don't really emphasize that because I really want it to be about the heart and helping the kids. But you know, I think about how


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[Assistant] If you grow up in a, in a more stable home life.


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[Assistant] Christmas is just such a time of joy and in some sense predictability. These kids have no predictability.


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[Assistant] And they move from foster home to foster home or group home to group home with a black plastic trash bag. I mean, imagine that.


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[Assistant] And they may go to as many as six or eight different schools in a single year because they're being moved around like that. So,


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[Assistant] I want these kids to know somebody loves them. Somebody cares about them. And that's why I hope you'll take the moments to look at Clark'sChristmasKids.com and see how you can have an impact in a child's life. Thank you very much and have a great day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you with knowledge that empowers you so you can make better financial decisions in your life.


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[Assistant] You know, I answer questions every day on this podcast, but they are a tiny, tiny microscopic fraction of the number of questions that people have. So if you have a question, I want you to know that we are prepared and ready and anxious to answer your questions one on one for free. And what you do,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is you contact our team Clark Consumer Action Center. And if you go to Clark.com slash CAC.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You see when you can talk to someone Monday to Friday, how to reach someone and get that one-on-one advice. Uh, today, I actually have some great news about food prices. Think about that. With the inflationary cycle that we went into in COVID, food was the one item that went up


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At a faster rate than anything else. And I got some good news on that. Later, I want to talk about something that we're doing that's costing us big money when we eat out. Let's talk about the good news.


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[Assistant] In America, we've always been privileged for decades and decades and decades to spend the lowest amount of our dollar on food.


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[Assistant] Have leveled off, but the effective amount you're paying is down.


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[Assistant] From what it was if you go back a year ago. One of the things that has made inflation look better.


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[Assistant] Is that the big price spiral with groceries was taking them up and up and up has broken.


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[Assistant] And I read a story in the wall street journal about how promotional groceries are now.


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[Assistant] Prices are now at a much higher point for groceries than they were before COVID. And so people still.


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[Assistant] Go in the supermarket and they feel sticker shock of what things were and what they are now. So the supermarkets in order to get you


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[Assistant] To put things in your shopping cart in your basket are offering more and more deals.


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[Assistant] And instead of making a grocery list the traditional way, do your shopping based on what's on sale.


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[Assistant] And modify your intended menus for the items that are on sale.


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[Assistant] The promotional activity is so strong now.


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[Assistant] That you can get a much lower total cost of your groceries.


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[Assistant] If you rethink that, cause normally people who work from a list, which is what's always recommended,


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[Assistant] Make that list and they go in, they, they shop and they see, Oh no.


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[Assistant] Strawberries are this much this week. I can't believe I'm spending that much.


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[Assistant] Instead what, what people do who want to save money is you product substitute. You maybe make a different thing than you intended to make.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, with the groceries you buy. So you buy different groceries, make a different thing to take advantage of the sale items. And I wanted to give you really good news for Thanksgiving. Walmart and Aldi both are doing big promotional pushes where they're pricing Thanksgiving much lower than what they priced in prior years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they're trying to use Thanksgiving as a way of promoting


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[Assistant] That grocery prices that were outrageous are now merely expensive. So they're not back to where they were.


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[Assistant] But Thanksgiving food is going to be much more affordable, at least at these two grocery chains.


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[Assistant] Than they were a year ago, and that's good news, Krista.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so first of all, you're saying that the,


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[Assistant] Employer is discriminating against a spouse who works versus one who doesn't work.


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[Assistant] It is unusual in any case for an employer to include a spouse on health coverage at no additional premium per month which sounds like what you're saying is that


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[Assistant] Uh, that a single individual working for the company has been paying the same for health coverage


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[Assistant] As a married individual with a non-working spouse, and now they're charging more for the working spouse.


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[Assistant] Your employer was giving an unusually good deal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And actually is still giving a better deal than most employers because it costs the employer much more for health insurance when it is a couple versus an individual and a family versus a couple or individual. So they


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To continue to do that. I think about how we do it with health coverage in our company. We pay 90% of one individual is at 75% these days.


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[Assistant] We cost share with them, but we don't pay nearly as much as we do for a single individual.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And these are decisions all of us are having to make as employers because the cost of health coverage is so large now, uhm, and employers absorb so much of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So a lot of times as employees, we don't realize how much it's all costing.


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[Assistant] So I don't like these ancillary, uh, benefits because you're spending money that you may need for everyday expenses in your life.


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[Assistant] For an individual, very select circumstance.


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[Assistant] Where it's like, wow, I'm so glad I paid for that extra coverage. It's almost like.


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[Assistant] With all the Christmas shopping coming up and everywhere you go, they try to sell you an extended warranty on whatever you're buying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if whatever you buy breaks, you're like, Oh wow, it's great. I bought that. But the overall math says buying these kind of narrow benefits. Let's see. So we have accident coverage, critical illness coverage, hospital indemnity coverage, the idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is it even with a comprehensive health insurance policy?


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[Assistant] You're still going to face meaningful out of pocket expense. So this is a way of you covering a lot of what you would normally have out of pocket. Again, if you become ill and have significant medical expenses, you'd be like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is great, I'm paying $10 bi-weekly for this, but the reality is how often have you ended up


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a critical care situation, you think of all the money you pay over time for this supplemental type of insurance. I recommend broad insurance policies, not narrow ones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well you're kind and I'll tell you that the Tesla battery packs have proven to be overwhelmingly reliable and Tesla has had


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Much softer sales of late. They've been having trouble moving their vehicles. That's why they've had all these price cuts. So buying a Tesla right now,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is very, very, very favorable, but I'm thinking about something you sound like.


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[Assistant] A household that needs like one and a quarter cars. You don't really necessarily need


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Two full automobiles because of the work from home thing. And if you're interested in electric


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you live in California where the cost of gasoline is just about the highest in the country. Electric makes a lot of sense. This is weird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you might consider buying a used electric vehicle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because they depreciate very quickly. Your range needs may not be that great. Older electric vehicles, that's the big shortcoming, is they have limited range. Again, the battery packs have generally proven to be very reliable. But if you do want to buy new, the tax credits are not going away this year. That's still going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But with a Tesla, I don't know if you're interested in a Model 3 or a Model Y.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After tax credits and you also have a state tax credit in California, you're looking for a model three new paying somewhere in the 20 thousands.


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[Assistant] Just a year ago, people were paying in the sixties for a model Y that now effectively is in the thirties and the vehicles are very, very reliable vehicle coming up ahead. There's something I want to make sure you're aware of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Involving eating out. We talked about groceries a little while ago. I want to talk about the other expense that has gone up a lot over the last several years. Eating out and things you've got to be aware of to protect your wallet. I love eating at Chick-fil-A and I never do with them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As anywhere else, I don't do food delivery, not my thing. Uhm, I like my food to be


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's supposed to be hot, I like it to be hot, I like it to be fresh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you're not going to have hot and fresh when you have delivery. Plus you pay more. Well, Chick-fil-A.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Recently reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because Chick-fil-A was promising in the app under certain conditions, free delivery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it wasn't really free and why wasn't it free? Because the menu prices were higher for delivery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Into the cost of the food you were getting from Chick-fil-A. So.


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[Assistant] They are paying restitution to people in a settlement. I love the way they did the settlement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People have a choice of getting rebates back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or getting gift cards to buy more Chick-fil-A chicken.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is crazy. I, I think I mentioned a story recently about a restaurant we like to go to that if you order through the, uh, through the, uh, app to order food for pickup, the menu prices are 30% higher at this restaurant that we like to go to than if I call up on the phone and place a pickup order.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now think about that. If you order through the app, no labor's involved in taking your order, but yet they market up 30%. I call on the phone, somebody has to manually enter my order into the computer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Taking somebody away from doing something else actively in the restaurant, but I pay 30% less. Okay. Math teachers and professors. I know that the percentages I just gave were incorrect. 30% markup. Not paying that doesn't mean you're getting 30% lower price. I know. Okay. But the point, you get the point. And so with having.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Know that it's not free, even when they tell you it's free. There's some way somehow that the cost that delivery adds on is passed on. And for a lot of restaurants, they're really getting hurt by delivery because they have to pay so much commission to whatever the food delivery app is that you're losing, they're losing,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The only people doing well are the delivery apps.