[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're using Instagram, you're using whatever else. TikTok. Know that a lot of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Falsehoods are being spread. A lot of cons are being perpetrated. A lot of crooks are there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And these platforms weren't designed for frauds and crooks, but they have been able to exploit them.


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[Assistant] And you gotta be really, really careful out there, and I don't want you to descend into cynicism.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Most people out there, I believe are good, decent people. Unfortunately, there are those who aren't and it's our job to give you the heads up to protect yourself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] PayPal should only be used to pay known individuals. I mean, Cash App and Venmo, if you stick to only transferring money with friends and family, that's the safest thing of all. You start getting to unknown parties. Remember, money takes a one-way trip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And in this case, Ryan was trying to steal your phone pretending you'd been paid almost certainly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you didn't fall for it. And guess what happened? Ryan vanished in the night. So you did the right thing. Your gut was right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, and you want to sell a phone on Clark.com? We've done a lot of work.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where we show shopping services where you can sell your phone to a legitimate known company and you might not get as much as selling to an individual, but you'll know you're selling to somebody real.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you don't want those. You do not want subscribe and save. It's such a ripoff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That Amazon was playing dirty pool with subscribe and save. I use Amazon so little. I can't speak to that. Do you use subscribe and save ripoff items?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So just know, Amazon is not your friend on Subscribe and Save. It is frightfully, incredibly profitable for them to send you stuff you don't need regularly. And, uh, I love what you said, things you need regularly. Uh, you don't. Buy things as you need them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then you're not shopping anymore and Amazon's gotcha.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So this is, this is perfect. This is exactly how you use


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you need to go out and shop when your apartment's coming up for renewal. See what else is out there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you're gonna get into a real fight with the landlord about rent,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You need to be willing to move to that other place. Same thing with a job. You don't want to get into a position where you go out and you test the market. You find out, well, they will pay more, but I really don't want to work there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then your employer says, fine, we loved having you go. I hope you enjoy your new job. So you want to make sure you're really comfortable leaving. You don't want to bluff them. And then they call your hand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I'm so glad it worked out for you. No raise for five years, suddenly a 25% raise because you went out and tested the market. Good for you. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're going to need that extra money because people are stacking on credit card debt again. There's some, uh, scary stuff about that that I'm going to talk about coming up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're not going to believe this. You have to go back to the last century for the last time the average credit card interest rate was as high as it is now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The 1990s was the last time we had credit card interest rates that average where we are now, which is right around 18% and headed higher. Uh, the credit card industry is in,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With most credit cards issued by just a very small number of issuers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The biggest banks in the country dominate credit card issuing. So.


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[Assistant] They've been pushing those interest rates higher and higher. At the same time, like a drug dealer, they're sending out new applications for credit like you've never seen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's the drug dealer reference? You know, drug dealers that try to get you hooked on a drug so then you become a regular customer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the banks are following that kind of business model, knowing that they're making so much money right now on interest on cards, the solicitations for cards. Listen to this crazy number. Okay. Two years ago,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, last year, solicitations for credit cards were up 85% from the year before. This year, they're up another 45%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because the banks are like, we're going to get people hooked. We're going to get them on this credit. We're going to charge them this massive interest. And we're just making a great deal here because you think about the big banks. Okay. You look at city, you look at chase, you look at bank of America, you look at Wells Fargo, the four giant monster mega banks. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Generally they're paying one one hundredth of one percent. They haven't raised what they're paying savers at all. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then, they're charging their credit card customers


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The highest interest rates in more than a generation. Wow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Reverse bank robbery really works for these giant monster megas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what you need to know is don't fall for their game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't say just, hey, look at this, look at this fantastic offer I got from Chase today. Look what they're offering me. Look at this Citibank thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're luring you in, they're luring you in. It's like the fisherman with the bait on the end of the hook and they want to reel you in and they want to own you. That's what this game's about. Don't play their game. Don't do it because what they're counting on


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, there's going to be, you know what the big banks call you if you pay your credit card bill in full, right? Believe it or not, they actually call you a deadbeat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, if I'm the mentality of a giant monster megabank, it's actually the opposite.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Isn't charging you the huge interest every single month. You're getting a free ride. You've got that grace period, time period that you charge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you charge and charge and charge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And right now a lot of people are in pain financially. The brutal cycle of inflation has really hurt people, a lot of people. And it means that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're straining to pay those bills. And so this seems like a solution. Getting yet another card that buys you a little more time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you got the huge amount of interest, the huge amount of debt. So I just want you to know this is what's going on. Be careful, be wary. And just because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of these banks says, here, have it, take this card. Don't do it. Okay. So the ironic thing is if you are a deadbeat, the offers coming now are fantastic. Yeah, it's, it's an odd business, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All the things are dangling with the points and all that. Uhm, I got one, uh, this week from


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the hotel chain tie-ins with a credit card and they were offering me


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Enough points that the lowest redemption level would get me 12 free hotel nights if I got this card. The annual fee was just under $100. Did I bite on it? No, I don't trust the hotel credit cards, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The offers that are coming are, a lot of them are really intriguing if you pay your balances in full. Because again,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The banks want so many people and they know a certain number of them are gonna take the lure and then not pay the balance in full and they're gonna be paying the really high interest. Krista?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This would have had to be disclosed in your original closing documents on this loan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we've had this question over the years and a lot of times the bank will charge a junk fee figuring, well, you know, the mortgage was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A zillion dollars, Jeff's never going to pay attention to the $46 fee. But if there was nothing in the original documents that permitted a fee like this,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The bank cannot charge it, but almost nobody ever questions. Nobody ever goes and looks at their closing documents and they end up paying the fees. So Jeff, it's your job to go look at the fee. This particular bank is getting out of the mortgage lending business.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they really don't care who they alienate or how or whether they're following the law or not. So it's going to be up to you to go check your closing documents and see.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If they get that one more ounce of blood out of you, and if it does say that they can charge you this fee, you have to pay it to be done with them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so Jake, it's fantastic. You're fully funding your Ross each year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doing so in your early thirties, I mean the payoff for you down the road gigantic. You will end up with substantially less money net.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 30 plus years down the road because you're doing your Roth with an ultra high cost company. You're with a company charges extremely high commissions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And extremely high ongoing expenses. So if you feel confident


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In doing the Ross on your own, putting money like in a target retirement fund with one of the low cost companies, you will be able to increase the amount of money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That putting in the same dollars over the next 30 years, you'll end up with a massive amount larger of money for your future. That's number one. Number two,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You could open an investment account, uh, with one of the low-cost companies, Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard. Uh, you go with Fidelity, you could go with the Fidelity Zero Fund, just do the, the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Total stock market zero, whatever the actual name is of it, Fidelity. You'll pay no commissions, no ongoing expenses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you'll ride the wave of the stock market that's been a down wave now, but over the decades, it will make you enormous amount of money. And even though it's a taxable account,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An ultra low cost total stock market index fund. All that means is you own little pieces of thousands of companies stock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that would be the supplement, but I would really think about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How you're doing that Roth IRA because the huge fees and commissions you're paying


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really will tie one hand behind each of your backs and what kind of money you'll have down the road.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Gail, I'm retiring in January from my state guard. I will be captain retired at that point after 21 years. Uhm, the pop-ups.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That ask for permission normally are necessary for the app to do its thing on your phone. Now there should be an explanation why they need the access and then you can decide whether you get permission. Uhm, there are lots of situations where I don't give the permissions that if it's an app that I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They don't need access to those things. They don't need access to my pictures. They don't need access to my contacts. They don't need any of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I don't give it. But there are apps that need that kind of thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it'll be pretty clear in a case where and why an app would need it in order for it to be able to function.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And do what it does, but you were right to always be skeptical.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anytime an app asks for permissions for those on iPhones, you have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Capturing information from you that is then sold off or used by them in different ways.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By iPhone users blocking Facebook from being able to spy on everything you do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's really great that on an iPhone, you can restrict all the spying that Facebook does. So Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, the three big operations of meta, meta? How do you say it? Anyway, uh, they, unless you restrict them,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're looking at everything you do, every place you go, every action you take on your smartphone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using them and that's why use the privilege Apple gives you to say no to Facebook doing any of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They continually, uh, nudge me to give all time permission. One of the most popular apps in the marketplace, Life360.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I only want them to know information when I'm using the app.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so that's the only permission I've given them. And they keep saying, you're not getting to use all the features of life 360 because you don't give permission all the time. And I'm just fine with that because it's just so that we and the family can all know where each other are at any particular time. Okay. So if you're looking to save extra money,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have a challenge for you at Clark.com to save a thousand dollars over the next 15 weeks. You know, it's been tough with money, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But with the 15 week challenge to get to a thousand dollars, you start by paying yourself typically into an online savings account, 20 bucks in week one, and then follow our chart.


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[Assistant] To deposit the set amounts each week into that online account. After 15 weeks, you'll have that thousand dollars.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now the link will be in today's show notes at Clark.com slash podcast. And we've got an article at Clark.com.


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[Assistant] On giving you the 15 week challenge to a thousand dollars. You know, it all starts one dollar at a time. We make a habit, change our habits, and we build a new way of handling money to give us more power, more control. Have a great day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. Now, one thing I'm not, HGTV. I mean, I think AstroTurf is beautiful, but I want to talk about


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[Assistant] Something that is going to be so central in our lives moving forward.


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[Assistant] And that is Americans are going to go through a radical transformation in how homeownership works. We're going back to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The way things worked in America 50 and more years ago, and I'm going to explain that it's going to change us and how we buy and own a house. And I'm getting that. Another thing that's going through an incredible change is we have tens of millions of Americans who have hearing loss, but have never done anything about it.


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[Assistant] Because they couldn't afford to. Well, that's all changing.


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[Assistant] I wanted to tell you about the opportunity and the pitfalls of what's happening in the next few weeks. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you go back in American history or you look at countries elsewhere in the world, when people bought a home in the United States,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, back, uh, up until really this started changing in the 1970s, people would stay in a home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first home they bought, that was their home. There was no concept of a starter home really, except rarely that you'd go into your first home. And then after a few years, you'd move to a newer, bigger home. And then a while after that, you moved to another home and then you'd cycle into this fourth home and on like that and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What people used to do was when they bought that first home, they chose a neighborhood as best they could.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were going to have kids with a school district that seemed fine, and they would live in that, raise their kids in it, get into old age in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then maybe at that point, after typically 30 or more years of ownership, they would sell it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well that's definitely not been our cycle of ownership in the United States in the last two generations. Americans tend to live in a home typically for


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, five to nine years kind of that cycle.


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[Assistant] And it's breaking because of the banking scandals that started in 2007.


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[Assistant] Because we went through a 15 year period.


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[Assistant] Of artificially low mortgage rates that were manipulated down.


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[Assistant] Worst financial calamity we've had in the last hundred and something years.


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[Assistant] Because of the unwinding of all the problems from the banking scandals. And so.


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[Assistant] People have locked in at all these incredible rates and


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[Assistant] Krista of our crew has a mortgage under 2%, 1 point something percent. So, is she gonna move? No! Why would you move? You're not gonna move, because if you move,


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[Assistant] You then have today's interest rates at where you go.


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[Assistant] And so you're talking five sixes, which ironically enough by historical standards would have been a great rate.


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[Assistant] But by what people locked in over these last 15 years, the rates have been so low.


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[Assistant] From the luckiest people, first digit starting in a one.


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[Assistant] To pretty much somewhere first digit ones to first digit threes. So.


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[Assistant] People who in the past would have had itchy feet and say, oh well, I'd like this bigger house or I'd like this or I'd like that. We don't have this at this house. I'd like to go to that house. And historically,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you really wanted a house that was uh, larger, more modern, had more features, it was cheaper to move and buy that than to renovate and add on where you are


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the reason is the cost per square foot of renovations and additions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, formulas that worked in the past suddenly are all gummed up.


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[Assistant] Because if you go from, let's say, just for argument sake, a 3% mortgage to a 6% mortgage from the old house to a new house,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The numbers are very hard to make work because your payment, your carry cost, because the much higher interest rate doubling the interest rate is so much that it becomes


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That are going to have specific clear financial reasons that you stay in place instead of move. So that means when you want to improve that home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you want to redo something, when you want to add on a new primary bedroom, whatever it is, now you are talking about renovating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hiring a renovation contract, a home, uh, contractor, a home improvement contractor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In recent times and the cost of doing those things has gone way, way, way, way, way up.


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[Assistant] We're going into a new economic cycle, this one also engineered by the Federal Reserve.


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[Assistant] And they are gonna push us till they have slowed the economy.


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[Assistant] And they brought some financial hurt into the economy.


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[Assistant] To try to wring all the inflation out of the economy and they're gonna.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean the inflation we've had is not going to end up baked in the long term cake unless they lose their resolve. So as part of this process,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The economy will slow and it means that the cost of materials for doing a home improvement will decline and the home improvement contractors that have been busier than they've ever been ever


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are going to still do fine. They're just not going to be manically busy.


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[Assistant] So there will be opportunities if you're financially okay to live in the place you live in.


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[Assistant] To be able to renovate or add on but not yet. There's already clear bending of the cost curve. It was going up, up, up and up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With home improvement, construction, renovation, addition, and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we're still not at the point where, where it started to come back to more normal pricing, but the big run up is pretty much over.


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[Assistant] Barring some extremely unexpected event in the world. Not just unexpected. There have to be extremely unexpected in this case. So if you're gonna hire a contractor,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I need you to be really, really careful when you're going to bid a job.


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[Assistant] And it requires real effort on your part.


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[Assistant] To be very specific with the scope of work.


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[Assistant] Very specific with what you're expecting on a timeline. That if there's very clear


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Level of materials you want used, it needs to be stated. The biggest problems that occur with renovations and additions are when people go in with rose colored glasses and kind of get ahead of themselves.


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[Assistant] And jump in with both feet without really thinking through what's it all gonna cost. And what I'm thinking in my head, the contractor can't be a mind reader.


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[Assistant] And he or she may not know that we would like this level of finishes versus this level.


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[Assistant] You need to do the good work upfront on your part to be very, very clear with yourself and when you bid out with different contractors.


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[Assistant] What it is you want, the more specific you are.


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[Assistant] The more likely it is that you're not going to have a bill shock later.


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[Assistant] Because what you thought, and what the contractor thought,


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[Assistant] Are two completely different things. Even when you do all that though, things can go wrong.


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[Assistant] You can end up with a fly by night. You can end up with somebody who does substandard work. You can end up with a thief. So it's really important that you go through the hard steps of checking up on a contractor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Looking at jobs they've done. People have had a renovation or addition done. They're so proud of what they've done. Many times they'll say, come on over, let me show you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, what worked? What didn't work? Was it on time? Did you have some real surprises on the bills? Asking these kind of questions.


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[Assistant] Upfront because when you get involved, once you've hired that home improvement contractor, it's like you've married him or her and it's not easy to get divorced, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's definitely not easy to get divorced from a home improvement contractor or renovation contractor. So you want to do the heavy lifting upfront so you don't get burned later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] See, I was wrong. Both guesses were wrong.


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[Assistant] These days, pool contractors on the backlog, if they've worked it off and they're actually interested in having new clients again, I'd say it's not so much calendar time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As it is, has the cycle started to cool on the pools?


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[Assistant] And if it has and contractors again actually return phone calls because I mean the complaints we kept hearing from people during the pandemic.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is you couldn't get any pool contractor to ever call you to even come look and quote you a job.


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[Assistant] Is best once we go back to more normal times. Nobody's really thinking. I mean, you're in Tennessee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To get the repair done by a pool contractor but again, I don't know if this


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, huge, huge demand for getting swimming pools has cooled yet.


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[Assistant] And you'll know just from talking to contractors if they're like, yeah, I can get to you in 2026 or something. I mean, that's how you'll know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A landlord for a 16 year tenant. Yep. And the landlord.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is going after the tenant for $400?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay so John, uh, if your landlord is a professional landlord, which it sounds like, uh, there may be


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[Assistant] Most states have very clear landlord-tenant laws.


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[Assistant] And you may find that your landlord John has not followed the law in Ohio.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On a proper move in and move out inspection.


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[Assistant] In which case they are not entitled to keep money if they've not complied with the law required of landlords. Now I said professional landlords in many states.


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[Assistant] There will be rules that are imposed on what each state may classify as a professional landlord. Often 10 or more properties, but it can vary by state, obviously. And so your best bet is to check what


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Ohio Landlord Tenant Law is, and there should be a handbook available to both landlords and tenants where you're able to read what the landlord was required to do in terms of proper inspection and proper notice in order to first


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Keep the security deposit and second, bill you for damages. One thing I will tell you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, your case is unusual. Sixteen years with this landlord is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anytime you're moving out of an apartment.


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[Assistant] Or a rental home or anything like that. Oh, so Ohio has


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is available online. You found it in like eight seconds.


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[Assistant] Codes dot dot Ohio dot go bam. And there it is. It goes section by section what your obligations are, what the landlord's obligations are and goes through clearly how rent deposits work in Ohio. Um, anytime you rent an apartment or a house, any damage that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That exists when you're moving in must be noted by you upfront to protect yourself. Second, when you move out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You want to fix anything that's wrong.


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[Assistant] Any damage because it will be much cheaper for you to repair it than what the landlord will charge you.


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[Assistant] And third, you want to document. You want to take your phone, shoot extensive video room by room of the condition of the property.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you moved out or take clear pictures of each.


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[Assistant] Before you move out to prevent having a landlord come after you for money. My wife says that I don't hear well. And so I had a hearing test and I'll tell you the results of my hearing test straight ahead and why it applies to you. So my wife says that I don't hear her. So, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I was at the doctor at my annual physical, they did a hearing test and, uh, sure enough,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't do well on that hearing test. So I thought, well maybe my wife's right. Maybe my hearing has deteriorated. So I went to see an audiologist and had an extensive hearing test.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I passed with flying colors, no degradation of hearing. So how did I flunk the one at the doctor's office then do okay with the audiologist? The issue is I fly all the time and you can have temporary, uh, decline in your hearing apparently because of excessive flying. In fact, my son who's training to be a pilot when he passes FAA physical,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The doctor talked extensively about


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[Assistant] How damaging to hearing flying is and how important ear protection was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wear, I always wear, uh, noise cancel headphones when I'm flying for that reason, but I digress. So now my wife knows that I'm just a typical male with selective hearing because it's funny. A woman remembers everything you ever said. It's just a fact. I don't know how they can quote back everything you've ever said verbatim. And we, as guys can't seem to remember anything.


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[Assistant] And so it turns out maybe I don't need hearing assistance, hearing aids, but when I do, I will be happy to wear them because I don't want to miss anything. And we have tens of millions of Americans who can't hear well, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They either don't wear hearing aids because they tried and they were uncomfortable, but most often they don't even get them because they're a zillion dollars.


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[Assistant] Well, the average cost of hearing aids in the United States, 2,700 bucks. And that's actually down from where it was.


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[Assistant] Around the rest of the world, hearing aids are like 200 bucks. The great news is in just weeks,


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[Assistant] We're going to see prices fall, fall, fall over time to world standards.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because we have had a cartel situation in the United States.


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[Assistant] That five years ago, Congress passed a law to break the cartel.


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[Assistant] And then the cartel used its dirty money and political influence in Washington.


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[Assistant] To delay delay delay. And now finally the new hearing aid law is taking effect.


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[Assistant] In just the next few weeks, you'll start seeing hearing aids appear just about anywhere.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They'll be on the shelf in discount stores. They'll be on the shelf anywhere you go. They would normally sell any kind of medical device or hearing device. You're going to see a lot of, of people who build, um, headphones,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Earpieces, I'm expecting Apple, I'm expecting Bose, I'm expecting all these people.


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[Assistant] To issue very sophisticated and affordable hearing aids and these are real FDA approved hearing aids.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That will be available for a couple hundred bucks, except Apple will be like three times that probably. But anyway, they're going to introduce these things and it's going to be such an open market.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If there's gonna be a lot of stuff on the market, it'll be junk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it will take a while for it to settle down, but these are for mild or moderate hearing loss. Somebody who has extreme hearing loss. These are not for you, but huge percent of baby boomers, nobody uses that term anymore. Um, listen to a lot of really loud acid rock music.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Through the years went to a lot of really loud concerts and the repetition of all that damaged hearing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you're missing things. You go to a party, you go to an event, you can't hear other people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're in a quiet room. Maybe you can still hear. That's kind of a way of thinking about it. If you can't hear even in a quiet room with one other person talking to you, you don't have mild or moderate hearing loss. You got the real full deal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you need full court press medical professional help. But if you're the kind of person who in a restaurant, a crowded restaurant, you're not able to hear somebody


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have mild to moderate hearing loss and the hearing aid industry is going to innovate like mad now that it's free market.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's going to be all kinds of innovative devices tied into your smartphone and the rest that will make it much, much easier for you to find something that's comfortable, that's small, portable, easily rechargeable and most important,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] at world prices instead of our idiotic cartel prices we've had in the united states for all these years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a basic guide to these changes on Clark.com. There's gonna be more and more, uh, stories coming out.


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[Assistant] On TV, in print, over the next few weeks online, you'll see a lot more about these new much, much, much, much more affordable hearing aids. And then, before you know it, Consumer Reports will be reviewing all the new ones you can buy over the counter and all that. We'll have good information about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What are actually the best choices of the ones to buy? Krista?


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[Assistant] Yeah, Costco and Sam's Club both, the prices on their hearing aids have come down, down, down over time.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and right now I think we're talking about with both of them somewhere under 1500 and yes, that is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, much lower than the average in the marketplace, but much higher than what we're going to see in the future. And I think almost certainly,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Within the next many months, not the next month, but many months, you'll see on the shelf at Costco and Sam's and BJ's Wholesale Club, you'll see over the counter FDA approved hearing aids.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At very, very good prices in the hundreds, no longer in the thousands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So this is terrible. When Lane and I are traveling together, she immediately, when we get into a hotel room, she pulls all the covers back and she does a full bed bug inspection.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, she must look at all that stuff. So you do that too?


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[Assistant] You know what Lane says, if we ever had that happen at a hotel, we come home with no suitcase.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She didn't want to bring anything back into the house, but it's never happened to us. And I traveled much more than she does. And I actually never check.


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[Assistant] No excuse for that, right? All right. So John, thank you for bugging me about this. My wife's obviously right because I forgot that it happened to you Krista as well. So I'm going to do a better job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, great question. So anytime you look at anything where you talk about us going all digital in some way, electronic payments, you then do create clearly for the government


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A much easier way to track and trace. It's like what's been going on with people who do side work and they're using Venmo or Cash App or they're using the evil Zelle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's pretty easy for the government to track and there's a new procedure to track you if you're getting a lot of money through any of those. So, yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Only one country I know of in Scandinavia, I'm trying to remember is it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sweden that's gone all cash, all uh, electronic, somebody's gone all electronic. And I don't see that happening in the United States.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For an extended period of time, more and more transactions will be digitized and paper checks as they exist today will not exist in the future because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's such a problem with paper checks and money being stolen from people using


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Paper checks and all that, but not carrying around any money at all and being able to use money. I think the generally more frontiery


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Liberate, libertarian kind of spirit we have in the United States. I think it'll be a good, good, good while we will trail the rest of the world.


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[Assistant] And going all digitized money. I don't think that's gonna happen.


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[Assistant] Quickly here, but your suppositions are correct, Diane.


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[Assistant] If everything's digitized, it does make it much easier for government of all types to track what we do, how we do, and sources of income and spending. So cash, if you're trying to hide what you're doing, is a much better way to do things.


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[Assistant] Not encouraging it. I'm just saying that, that, that your supposition is correct.


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[Assistant] I want to tell you that's it for today's podcast. Again, I'm not encouraging.


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[Assistant] Tax evasion ever. That's not what I'm saying, but if you enjoy what you're hearing on our podcast, please subscribe at whatever your favorite podcast sources so that you don't miss an episode.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you and empower you to make better financial decisions in your life. You know, sometimes something great can come out of a terrible situation.


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[Assistant] And I'd say that's true with entrepreneurship, which is such a passion of mine.


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[Assistant] And what some people may consider a risky environment, but actually is a great time. I'm going to tell you why this is so much something you should think about and where are the places in America? We're great to start a business. We're not so great. Talk about that later. Tell you something. I don't love it all. The exploitation of the brave men and women.


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[Assistant] Who serve in our U.S. military to keep us free and to protect our country.


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[Assistant] Disgusting people and organizations that rip off our military personnel. And I want you to have a heads up to make sure particularly those young recruits, those young soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen that they know this, you don't say airmen anymore. There must be some other term for enlisted air force personnel anyway. Um,


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[Assistant] That you give them a heads up so they don't get taken. So let's talk about what.


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[Assistant] I think it's such a positive. People are opening businesses like crazy now. And this is awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's so much easier than it used to be to either do something on the side.


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[Assistant] It may eventually replace what you're doing working for some company and then you're your own boss or you may just keep doing work on the side.


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[Assistant] Formation of new businesses is way up by most measures, somewhere like 25% over historical numbers. And people would love to have their own business. They'd love to do that. There's nothing like being in control of your own fate, your own destiny. I am a lifelong entrepreneur. So obviously I have a bias this way.


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[Assistant] What we can do for ourselves is one of the things that is the secret sauce of this great nation.


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[Assistant] We have so much doubt right now about America and our country right now.


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[Assistant] Don't forget the advantages we have with our resources, our vast size, our overall national wealth, but then our greatest wealth is within us. The people of this country who can go out with an idea and guts and start something and ultimately make money for themselves if they succeed.


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[Assistant] And improve the world with the product or service, the invention, whatever it is that they have made happen. It's why America remains the place that people so badly want to get into.


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[Assistant] And so for you as a potential entrepreneur, know that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are so many conditions favorable to you starting your own place, but I wanted to share with you in a detailed thing.


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[Assistant] That was a deep dive research by CNBC.


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[Assistant] Where are the best places in America for you to go out and start that business?


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[Assistant] Because the economic conditions, the circumstances overall.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are so favorable and everybody can come up with best criteria.


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[Assistant] There are a number of factors that CNBC used, but the number one they found in the United States by their criteria, the state of North Carolina, followed by


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[Assistant] I mean, North Carolina on the Atlantic Ocean, complete opposite extreme. Second, Washington state, bordering on the Pacific. Third, Virginia. Virginia and North Carolina border each other. Colorado, which people may wonder right now because cost of living


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the Denver metro area now spreading to Colorado Springs. Cost of living is getting out of control. Boulder as well. This was no surprise. Texas fifth place.


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[Assistant] Um, Tennessee, six, Nebraska, seventh, the Texas is the one that people wouldn't be surprised about with the population moving in. Utah, one of the fastest growing states in the country, Minnesota and Georgia. So think about this, the geographic dispersion, dispersal, dispersion, Krista, English major, dispersion.


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[Assistant] Whatever it is. They're all over the place. Except none of the places in the northeast.


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[Assistant] Made the list at best. So what are the worst places to do business in the country?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, you'll hear these are all over the place. Uh, Mississippi, worst place to do business by the criteria that they use. Alaska, second worst, Louisiana, third worst, New Mexico, fourth worst, Hawaii, fifth worst.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hawaii, yeaah. Hawaii is an expensive difficult place to do business. Interestingly enough, a lot of people think that it would be, uh,


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[Assistant] Places in the Northeast and California that would be on the worst places to do business list. And they're all kind of in the middle of the 50 states. But again, the top of the heap, North Carolina, Washington and Virginia.


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[Assistant] Uh, you're in one of the markets that's really housing short and has been so forever. The values...


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[Assistant] In, uh, coastal California, San Diego up the coast are still so very high.


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[Assistant] I'd test the waters. If you can get a great price for your home now in the San Diego metro area, I'd get out of Dodge. I'd take your money and I'd run.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just my opinion. And if you do put it on the market and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, because the higher mortgage rates and people's worries about the economy the house sits, then you've got your answer. But I would try to market it first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then and only then would I sell. And think about this, I'm gonna have to fix things up, maybe do a little paint, do things, getting it ready to put for sale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have already done the things getting ready for your prospective tenant.


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[Assistant] Okay, first of all, uh, they probably mean well, but they're wrong. You are able to move money, what's known as a trustee to trustee transfer,


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[Assistant] And you don't have to have your HSA at the terrible bank that the private school picked. And they probably don't even know.


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[Assistant] About how you could have a good HSA instead of a crummy one at a bank. So once a year you can do this transfer.


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[Assistant] And you mentioned Fidelity HSA, great one.


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[Assistant] Uh, contact Fidelity, they'll help you with the trustee to trustee transfer of the money from the crummy bank to Fidelity. Okay.


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[Assistant] Here's the thing, there are two different ways people use HSAs.


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[Assistant] If you're in a position to afford it, you turn it into the best tax free account we're offered in the United States bar none. Where you take the money you're able to put into the HSA account, the health savings account, and you let it grow


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[Assistant] Over the decades, not using it to pay current medical bills at all. And then in retirement


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[Assistant] It's unreal because you get a tax advantage up front putting money in an HSA. It grows tax free and you spend it tax free, which makes it better than a Roth IRA, better than a traditional IRA. It's the best of each all in one account. On the other hand,


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[Assistant] If somebody truly needs the HSA money to pay current medical bills,


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[Assistant] You can't afford to invest like you would be doing in the Fidelity HSA.


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[Assistant] In that case, you leave it with the crummy bank HSA because it's just a holding pen to pay current bills. So remember once a year you can transfer a pile of that money over.


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[Assistant] Diane, okay, so what you're talking about works with credit cards. Paying your credit cards if you're running a balance on cards, paying them twice a month instead of once a month will save you a substantial amount of money over time. You'll save even more if you pay them every two weeks, every 14 days,


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[Assistant] Instead of twice a month and that's all about the fact that you end up with basically.


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[Assistant] A whole extra month's payment over the course of a year doing that.


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[Assistant] It's because interest on credit cards is figured daily.


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[Assistant] Mortgages in the United States and maybe only in the United States that interest is calculated on a monthly basis. So you're not getting any advantage by paying in two cycles in a month.


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[Assistant] But you are getting significant advantage from paying extra principal. So pay once a month, pay the extra principal when you send in that payment.


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[Assistant] And that will have a meaningful benefit for shortening the length of your mortgage. And up next, I got to talk about the military ripoff problem. You don't know how much it upsets me when low lives rip off the men and women of our U.S. military. Having had the great privilege to serve as a member of my state guard


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[Assistant] Going to, uh, annual training at US military posts, bases, and, uh, going to, uh, training sessions on US military posts and bases. Something that civilians,


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[Assistant] Just aren't aware there's a whole separate world at military bases outside the gates. Military personnel, if they deploy overseas to defend our freedom in a war zone, they face danger everywhere they turn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They get to a stateside post or base and what they face is


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[Assistant] Landmines for their wallets every time they go outside the gate of their base, rip off car dealers, rip off lenders.


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[Assistant] Rip off everything outside the base. Typical example of how military personnel get cheated is when they go to buy stuff and there's all kinds of places that sell things to young military personnel that they sell at very inflated prices with extremely high financing. Think of,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jewelry or anything else like that. Anything a young military person might want to buy.


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[Assistant] Maybe they're buying jewelry for a sweetheart or they're engaged or a spouse or whatever.


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[Assistant] They got ripped off like nobody else anywhere. And because of the way people in the military can sign papers that allow a direct taking of their paycheck that they're given by the military, uh, what often is called an allotment. There's zero risk for these ultra high ripoff loans.


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[Assistant] Get ripped off like no one else in the country. It is a national scandal.


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[Assistant] How military personnel get ripped off even when they're trying to invest money with ripoff investment groups that charge massive commissions and fees.


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[Assistant] It's just absolutely awful. And what I want you to know.


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[Assistant] If you have a family member or friend serving, if you know someone who's a young recruit, particularly these people prey on enlisted personnel.


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[Assistant] Who have the courage, the patriotism.


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[Assistant] So you and I can live in this great land and freedom. There are all these people ripping them off. Here's what I want you to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want you to make sure that they are aware of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These horrible, horrible people and organizations that will rip them off in investing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In purchasing a big things and small things and things in between. Furniture is another category.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you'll see all the furniture locusts outside of a military base offering all this furniture up.


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[Assistant] That may not last as long as the loan does selling it way beyond retail with massive amounts of interest charged. Please educate that young family member to be aware that the way you buy things is cash is king. Cash is king. Teach them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The best retirement plan, hands down, anybody's got no commissions, no crazy junk fees, nothing. Stay away from all the outsiders trying to get in their wallet, picking their pocket. It's up to us to educate these young men and women so that they can be there to serve us and we serve them and our family or our friends, making sure they know


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[Assistant] How to avoid getting taken. And Krista, we've been together working for 20, almost 26 years now. How long have you heard me?


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[Assistant] Right? How long have we talked, have you heard me talk about this military thing?


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[Assistant] And Charles, you feel correctly because this has been a problem in the travel business again. Just as long as what we were talking about with the military rip-offs, uh, this is not particularly the fact you got it from a vacation club for military personnel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This thing with buying a voucher, a travel voucher of some kind that you're supposed to be able to exchange for a trip has been a ripoff to scam category forever because if you're buying one,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As like a voucher for a promise that you'll be able to travel somewhere at a future date instead of for a specific date.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're in danger of being ripped off just as you are here. So right now you've got


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] $900 tied up in these three vouchers that are worth zero pennies to you. And it is terrible circumstance if you can


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Be really flexible with your travel. Travel weird dates.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And use up these vouchers, do so, and then don't ever buy them again. Uhm, as far as, uh, complaining that yes, obviously,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These are always advertised and sold under false pretenses. So getting the money back, I don't know how you could because they knew upfront they were selling you junk and you were lucky prior that you were able to use them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They might make the excuse that travel demand is extra high right now because of the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, revenge travel people are on from not having been able to travel in 20 and 21. Maybe there's a small kernel of truth to that, but the reality is selling these kind of travel vouchers and then not being able to use them.


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[Assistant] It's been a problem forever, and it's just a big ripoff in my opinion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I got it, got it, got it. So let me, I can answer that already. Okay. So Jennifer, yes, you can take that money.


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[Assistant] And you can move it in what's known as a 1035 exchange. If you talk to the 403B people at Vanguard, since you haven't contributed to this 403B in a long time, you wouldn't have any


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, back end loads you deal with. You had front end, uh, any additional surrender fees.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would have certainly long since ended, almost certainly. So you'll be able to move the money, free it from the ripoff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 403B firm and the insurance company that's ripping you off. You'll be able to move it to the Vanguard 403B and pay fees that should be as little as one four hundredth of what they are with the insurance company 403B. And it'll be a pretty easy process to do the trustee to trustee transfer. There's no tax owed or anything like that. Your money will just be on a 403B that's affordable and works for you.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. So uhm, don't believe anybody who says they can sell your plot for big money or anything like that. Uhm, c- uh, cemetery plots in most places in the country have become unsellable. And the reason is, is that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Overwhelmingly people are moving towards cremation and looking at the trend lines about what percent of people are being cremated. It's a terrible, terrible problem for somebody who wants to get rid of a plot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The best thing that I've recommended over the years.


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[Assistant] So that would be a way to do it because selling a burial plot at this point is almost unheard of because there's just flat out virtually no demand anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, the data I've seen shows that by 2040, that less than 10% of Americans are expected to be buried. The over 90% others will be cremated or some other method of disposal. There's some issues.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where there's other methods that people have asked us about that are supposed to be more environmentally friendly.


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[Assistant] Then doing cremation. So cremation is not your only alternative now versus doing a burial and


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[Assistant] I hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast and please, if you're enjoying what we do,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Share us with your friends. If you don't enjoy what we do, share us with people you don't like.


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[Assistant] I would have nothing to say, but a lot of people had something to say about this. We had somebody write in about TRICARE and having to give your social security number to use that in the military.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Providers are restricted and cannot make a copy of a military ID, also the TRICARE card, and they can only write down the number J.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was not eligible for the policy from any provider.


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[Assistant] When you advocate for people to buy a CFAR policy.


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[Assistant] Please include the heads up that these policies require purchase within 14 to 21 days of your initial trip deposit, Ellen.


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[Assistant] I'm sure if you're of average size, it's easy to not support legislation for minimum available leg room on aircraft. Some of us are tall with long legs. I must carefully fold my legs to get them into the space allowed. Then there's no room to move them. Another issue when I get my legs folded,


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[Assistant] Is that the occupant of the seat in front of me can suddenly recline.


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[Assistant] Driving the seat back directly into my knees. I do understand that leg room is minimized for profit.


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[Assistant] And it's generally fine for most average height people, but there are a number of us who do have difficulty. Making that space for legs even smaller is a terrible idea.


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[Assistant] Yes, I'm in favor of legislation. Maybe if they can have a few seats on each flight with a little more leg room. And yes, I do get the exit row seating when I can, David.


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[Assistant] Clark only sort of stinks on this one. When answering a question about tires, he talked about his need for a blown up photo to read the sidewall and then briefly mentioned the metal plate describing the car's recommended pressures if the tires are the OEMs and that was in quotes from you.


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[Assistant] The tire placard is usually not a metal plate, just a sticker, and the recommended pressure works for any replacement tire unless the owner changes the tire size. The pressure marked on the sidewall of tires is the pressure corresponding to the maximum load. It is not the maximum allowed pressure, and end users should stick to the placard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the tire size changes from an OEM, a tire professional can easily generate a revised target pressure. I've been a tire engineer for 30 years, Pat.


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[Assistant] Okay, and two about class action lawsuits. This is the first one. You mentioned they are not worth the time because your return is less than the effort you put into filing a claim.


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[Assistant] I disagree. Typically a class action lawsuit is filed because of a legitimate claim against a business or manufacturer. It is worth pursuing all claims because wrong is wrong and it is the business's responsibility to make it right. While a vast majority of claims will resort to


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[Assistant] Uh, please revisit this topic and let your listeners know about this very important coverage.


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[Assistant] They should also purchase the highest liability limits they can afford. It is likely only a few dollars more, Carolyn.


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[Assistant] This has barely an odor. I am responding with more info regarding the option of using a mediator in an amicable or fairly amicable divorce.


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[Assistant] Great advice. However, I feel compelled to add something more as the facilitator of a divorce support group for over 10 years.


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[Assistant] If you do use a mediator, it is imperative that you pay a different and independent divorce lawyer a one-time flat fee to review the decree and see if anything was missed or is wrong. It's a very helpful and necessary extra step to protect yourself and that's from Jennifer.


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[Assistant] And this is in response to the story about women in the gig industry making 50% less than men. I'm frustrated with these stories, not because women don't deserve the same pay for the same work.


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[Assistant] Cable companies and other big companies, so I want to avoid them.


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[Assistant] Uhm, it's, it depends on your plan, but it starts at $12 per user per month, but you get the email, calendar, the integrated systems, the drive where everybody can share files with each other. It replaces everything you would, you get, you know, Google Docs and everything are free anyway, but it's that shared workspace thing.


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[Assistant] Uhm, that we just love. We don't need any Microsoft products at all.


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[Assistant] Do you recommend or what can you tell me about a membership plan at a dental office? Would I be better off purchasing a traditional dental insurance plan from the marketplace?


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[Assistant] Can I defer the fee increase for a year by paying for membership renewal before the fee increase goes into effect on October 17th?


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard show where our mission is to serve you and empower you to make better financial decisions in your life. And we're going to start out this episode.


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[Assistant] With our weekly Clark Stink segment. And I'm going to explain more of that in a second. And you know what doesn't stink? It doesn't give a bad odor.


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[Assistant] Our daily newsletters, you can sign up at Clark.com and Clark deals.com. You know what the subscription costs is it's free to both, but you fail to subscribe. Oh, it's very costly. You're going to waste a lot of money in your life. Also in today's episode.


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[Assistant] You're trying to squeeze more out of the money you save.


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[Assistant] And it's hard to come anywhere near eclipsing the inflation rate.


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[Assistant] So that's leading people to make dangerous choices with their savings without even realizing it. I'm going to make sure you know.


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[Assistant] What you need to do is you're trying to stash your cash. Hopefully you have. So Clark Stinks.


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[Assistant] It's where you have a chance to give me feedback.


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[Assistant] Where the advice I've given is incomplete, lame, or in your opinion, dumb.


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[Assistant] And producer Krista goes through your posts on Clark Stinks and shares highlights with you right here, right now.


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[Assistant] Ronald, that is really great and we had the privilege earlier this year of talking about the buy nothing movement.


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[Assistant] And instead of spending money on things every day, these are available in, uh, Facebook, uh, where they call them.


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[Assistant] Buy nothing is a real thing because yeah, we have been a disposable society. And once you buy something that is a consumption item, that money's gone forever. And so your suggestion, Ronald is totally valid, totally true.


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[Assistant] Rick, that's completely accurate. It's only with the paper bonds that people don't really buy anymore that that was true.


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[Assistant] Michael, thank you for mentioning this. We've had a number of people on Clark Stinks post...


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[Assistant] What you're talking about that they didn't know that what would happen at the end of the 15, 20 or 30 years is that the premium


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[Assistant] Goes to app market based on that age at that time. And the only time anybody would after you bought it for a period of


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[Assistant] Uh, time term 15 to 30 years and it was for a specific life need to pay for the time period in the event you unfortunately lost your life while your kids were still young or during your working lifetime or whatever the reason for that period of time you bought it for.


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[Assistant] So the insurance doesn't go poof at the end of that period.


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[Assistant] It then becomes what's known as annual renewable term.


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[Assistant] With the premiums changing every year based on the actuarial risk you represent at that time. So the only time anybody would want to pay the renewal premium at the end of the term that would go crazy. The example you gave was what to what.


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[Assistant] $60 to $1600. A month. Yeah. The only time you would ever do that is if you had, uh, a horrific illness, hopefully not,


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[Assistant] That was, uh, it gave you a very short time to live and that's when you would pay that premium otherwise.


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[Assistant] You don't renew that policy at that point. If you find you need insurance moving forward longer than you expected with the level term policy you bought originally,


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[Assistant] You would go out and shop the market and see what you can qualify for, but basically they're telling you.


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[Assistant] That your risk level to them is way too high. Now go get lost. And that's what you'll do. You'll say, okay, I'm not doing this. I'm not buying this again.


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[Assistant] Is the highest customer satisfaction of any cell phone carrier far and away.


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[Assistant] And their plans are in many ways more limited than others, but work very well for people who use them. And I had never heard that a carrier could prohibit


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[Assistant] Or inhibit the use of you-mail and that's new information for me.


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[Assistant] Okay. I've never heard of it. Okay. I'll check it out. There are a bunch of startups in the electric vehicle space and I've heard it compared by automotive historians to what happened in the era of us moving from the horse and buggy to cars back, um, a hundred and 15 years ago, 120 years ago, whatever that,


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[Assistant] There were a huge number of startups and very few of them made it and


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[Assistant] As an example, Lucid that's now delivering vehicles that the reviewers have absolutely loved the Lucid vehicles, but it's unclear if Lucid has the resources to succeed over the long haul. And that's the question. That's the issue with so many of the electric vehicle makers. Um, as far as Tesla.


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[Assistant] Tesla dominates electric vehicle sales. I think accounting for 70% of electric vehicle sales may be the number they're at.


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[Assistant] But I've read in the automotive publications.


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[Assistant] That the expected share of Tesla four years from now


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[Assistant] And I guess auto year 2026 or 27 model year will be roughly 11% market share because there's going to be so many


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[Assistant] Matt, thank you. The bolt was shut down for, gosh, I think it was half a year.


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[Assistant] Uh, because of the battery fire issue, I am not an engineer, but everything I've read says that Chevy has, uh, fixed that problem to satisfaction of regulators.


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[Assistant] And itself because you wouldn't restart the sale of them if you were still worried.


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[Assistant] You were creating vehicles that would spontaneously combust.


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[Assistant] Cause, you know, that's what's so different. I did decades as a syndicated radio talk show host.


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[Assistant] Yeah, cause we're averaging past 30, aren't we? Um, one thing you can do is it might slow down your run, but you know how you can slow down the pace of


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[Assistant] The podcast, a lot of people speed me up because they say I talk too slowly, but you can also slow it down.


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[Assistant] And make sure you get a full 30 minutes out of it instead of 27. Slow it down 10%.


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[Assistant] Monica, I'm so glad your nine-year-old asked to listen to me instead of being a child whose parents abused by making him listen to me.


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[Assistant] Maybe you still absorb some stuff when you're forced to listen to me as a kid. But uhm, I have not heard that about Google Fi. I appreciate that. I don't understand why they charge for wifi calls back to the US, but if you instead use a calling app, if you're iPhone, you can use FaceTime. If you're Android or iPhone, you can use Viber, you can use WhatsApp. There are several things like that where you can do calls.


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[Assistant] As long as you're on data backbone or on wifi. So thank you for that.


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[Assistant] And I'm glad you get to travel so much around the world. So,


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[Assistant] Interest rates have started rising from the online banks. They're still, as I shared with you last month,


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[Assistant] Insulting your intelligence at the traditional banks with what they're paying on savings, paying one one hundredth of one percent.


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[Assistant] Five one hundred so one percent on savings, but rates are rising from credit unions and online banks. But in the midst of that,


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[Assistant] There are people offering savings deals that are really, really dangerous and you gotta be aware and wary of chasing that rate.


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[Assistant] It's hard for me to take a deep breath when I talk about this cause I feel so bad. We had so many calls, so many questions from people who trusted the promises they were being made on various crypto platforms where they were guaranteed these extremely high rates of interest.


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[Assistant] For putting money on deposit with them, typically in the range of nine or so percent.


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[Assistant] There were even promises that money was FDIC insured. And as we now know,


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[Assistant] Truly FDIC insured, even the ones that said they were. And there's one of the organizations that's in bankruptcy that I'm not gonna get into the whole bankruptcy thing that is petitioning the court.


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[Assistant] To release money to people based on their original promise. We'll see what happens. But the thing is, with interest, with inflation raging,


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[Assistant] People are looking for some way with the money they park to not fall behind every single month and it makes you vulnerable to these pitches for various apps.


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[Assistant] And unless something truly is...


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[Assistant] With a bank or credit union, online bank or credit union.


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[Assistant] You stand the risk that regardless of what promise they make, your money is not safe and secure. Now there are some oddballs out there. People who have T-Mobile can use the T-Mobile money app


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[Assistant] And earn, I think now it's 4% on their savings up to a certain amount of money. And the money is deposited by T-Mobile.


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[Assistant] In an FDIC-insured financial institution.


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[Assistant] And as long as your money actually really is...


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[Assistant] In an FDIC or NCUA, which is the credit unit equivalent, insured institution,


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[Assistant] Your money really is insured up to a quarter million dollars. But there are a lot of pitches out there


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[Assistant] Including from a number of private organizations saying, you will earn up to X percent on your money.


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[Assistant] And they claim to have these strategies where there's no risk on the downside, but you're going to earn this upside up to that upside. You cannot count on that.


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[Assistant] You cannot trust it. You cannot know that your money you've put in is going to be safe. And I know it's terrible that the money we have in savings that we've worked hard to make, and then we've


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[Assistant] Sacrifice current spending to be able to save, to live on less than what we make. It's so frustrating.


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[Assistant] When you're earning less on your money than what inflation is. And that's just a fact right now. And don't do something too crazy risky to avoid it. Now we've talked about, uhm, till the cows come home, whatever that expression means.


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[Assistant] The series I savings bonds and how much you can earn on them right now that you will earn effectively the rate of inflation on those. You tie up your money for a minimum of one year. You will earn a great return on your money for money up to $10,000 per person. So that is a very viable alternative as well at this moment to at least stay up with inflation.


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[Assistant] And then it's a, a full promise by the federal government, which is even


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[Assistant] I guess at the margins better than FDIC or NCUA. So that is one legitimate opportunity.


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[Assistant] You can see about it, savingsbonds.gov where you can earn an incredible return. We have a briefing at Clark.com how you do that. Now in terms of legitimate, real,


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[Assistant] Online bank offerings and what you can earn and all that. We have a review of that at Clark.com. You can.


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[Assistant] You want to make sure though that wherever you do put your money is not some, like I could set up Clark's app.


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[Assistant] And I promise I'm going to pay you up to blah, blah, blah percent. And I promise I'm going to be careful with your money. But if you gave me your money that way.


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[Assistant] And it was money that you had to depend on, you'd be out of your mind.


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[Assistant] Because what am I going to do with it? How am I going to protect it? How am I going to make money for you that's safe? That's the problem with these promises and


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[Assistant] I may be as honest as anybody, but I can't guarantee I'm not the FDIC, I'm not the NCUA, and you would not give me your money.


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[Assistant] Or you shouldn't give me your money. Same idea with any of these apps out there.


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[Assistant] That are just making a promise to you. It's just a modern version of what's known as a promissory note.


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[Assistant] Where you give me your money, I promise to pay you this money on it.


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[Assistant] But it's just my promise and that's not enough. So please remember the money needs to be


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[Assistant] With a real place that you can count on that if the chips are down.


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[Assistant] And they go insolvent, you still get your money back. Krista?


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[Assistant] Belittle yourself. You've saved six figures towards retirement. You should be proud of that.


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[Assistant] Right. And you're doing great. And the travel nurse thing.


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[Assistant] Ride this one while you can because this is out of control. And I was talking with an RN recently who's on the staff of a hospital.


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[Assistant] And it's driving her crazy that the travel nurses are making three times what she's making doing the same job she's doing in the hospital and it's feeding on itself because staff at hospitals


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[Assistant] Not all 403Bs are rotten. The worst of all are the ones that are generally offered to school teachers. So, 403Bs generally, broad brush, are horrific. But you could be in one that's okay.


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[Assistant] So all you need to know, I want you to find out, John, what the expenses are on it.


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[Assistant] If it's offered by an insurance company, you know it's junk, so forget it.


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[Assistant] Uh, but if it's offered directly by Fidelity Investments as an example.


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[Assistant] It should be very low cost. It'll be fine to just pour money into that 403B even though it does not have a match.


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[Assistant] Uh, you may also be eligible for a Roth version of a 403B.


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[Assistant] Which would allow you to shove enormous amounts of money, all the money you would normally be putting in a traditional, into a Roth version.


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[Assistant] And remember again, if it's offered by an insurance company, you don't want to do it, particularly since there's not a match. So you're mentioning Robinhood. Robinhood is


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[Assistant] Uh, well, they're okay. They're not having the best of times right now. If I were thinking where I'd shove in enormous money...


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[Assistant] I would do it at, I mentioned Fidelity Investments a minute ago on the 403Bs. I would do it at Fidelity where you can do the Fidelity Zero Funds. They have no commissions and no ongoing expenses.


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[Assistant] You'll have favorable capital gains treatment even though you won't be tax sheltered like you would be with a Roth IRA, tax free with a Roth IRA.


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[Assistant] You can put in unlimited sums and you don't have to wait till retirement age to access the money.


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[Assistant] Then he's even more income ineligible for traditional. The income limits are even lower on traditional.


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[Assistant] And the best way out of that box is just methodically every month while you're making this really great money as a travel nurse, you throw that money into the Fidelity Zero funds unless your 403B particularly offers a low cost provider,


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[Assistant] And especially if it has a Roth 403B option.


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[Assistant] So next time Rajan, you need to post about the things people should not do on the highway while you're driving down the road so that they arrive alive and don't cause you to jackknife on the road.


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[Assistant] Uhm, it's never a good idea around a tractor trailer truck to cut one off or pass them on the right on a freeway or anything like that. Be smart on the road.


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[Assistant] You're not gonna win with a tractor trailer. Period. Uh, now back to what you said. Love it that you're saving money, uh, for your son.


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[Assistant] And don't worry about the fact that 529 accounts for very young children that are age based portfolio have recently declined in value because when the market comes back,


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[Assistant] Those will come back as well. And that's why you do age based in.


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[Assistant] The, uh, or expected enrollment date, it's called different things in different states. You do that in a 529 so that the risk level is very high when a kid's far from college and gets lower and lower as they get closer to college.


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[Assistant] Now Rajan, I'm going to tell you something you're not going to like. Stop contributing to your eight year olds 529 account. Instead, I want you to put that money and your own Roth IRA. Go look at my Roth guide at Clark.com and start building your own Roth. The reason is,


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[Assistant] There's no scholarship programs for retirement, but there's a variety of ways to pay for college, grants, scholarships, work, uh, last resort loans, but no such exists in retirement. So that's gotta be a higher priority as far as the five 29 plan hurting, um, college eligibility for financial aid. Now the amount that you're expected,


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[Assistant] I assume you own the account for benefit of your child, which is the right ownership, but I'd like you to stop that.


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[Assistant] Do the Roth IRA. Build up that money. You know you can use that money if you need to.


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[Assistant] For your child's college, but again, I don't want you to use the Roth money for anything other than your own retirement.


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[Assistant] Okay, so what this is about is the thing where, uhm, certain credit cards earn better rewards at certain places, but it's hard with our busy lives to remember where we should use them.


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[Assistant] And so people put stickers as reminders on the card, use this at the gas station, use this at restaurants, use this when you book travel, use this at the grocery store, blah, blah, blah.


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[Assistant] And so there, the cards, so many of the cards have either rotating categories or have, uhm,


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[Assistant] Categories where you regularly earn much more. For example, Sam's Club MasterCard, best card to use for gasoline, 5% cash back on gasoline and not just at Sam's Club's gas pumps. And so there are things like that, that if you remember, um, you're going to save money and then


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[Assistant] Doesn't remember these things. And a guy said, well, I put a sticker on mine cause I forget. That's how he remembers. That's where the suggestion came up.


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[Assistant] And then yours are the marker. The only problem with the permanent marker


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[Assistant] Is with one that has rotating categories, you're, what are you going to do? Scratch it out and put it in the next. But I love the sentiment and the idea of dealing with the machines that have trouble with the sticker being on the card.


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[Assistant] And I want to thank you so much for listening today from your 18 wheeler, from your car, or as you walk or jog.


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[Assistant] And we're here to help you wherever and however you listen.


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[Assistant] If you need any resources from today's episode, go to Clark.com slash podcasts to see links mentioned in each podcast. Hope you have a wonderful day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, we did get a pandemic puppy, but, um, it was because our other dog had passed away and we were, we wanted our other dog to have a companion. So it wasn't like a, you know, sudden decision and, uh, we're happy with it. So.


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[Assistant] We just have two dogs, two cats, two kids.


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[Assistant] So I only needed to take out a federal loan from my masters. My loan was supposed to go into repayment in November of 21.


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[Assistant] But the repayment pause keeps getting extended. It seems to me that since the loan isn't accruing any interest during the pause there's no real incentive to begin making payments when I could be making at least this small amount of interest.


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[Assistant] I currently have no other debt aside from the personal loan from my parents, but I will need to take out a car loan in the next few months to get a more reliable vehicle. I'm just confused about whether I should let the loan sit or take advantage of the 0% interest to pay down the principal.


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[Assistant] The check was returned in three business days, but by then the bank allowed all the money to be withdrawn from that check.


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[Assistant] We filed a fraud case with the bank, but they have yet to answer this question.


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[Assistant] I've always known banks to hold a check for a number of days before you can withdraw against it. Is this no longer the standard?


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[Assistant] Otherwise, the scam would never have happened if the check was verified.


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[Assistant] And do you think the bank maybe has like, you know, most of them have a limit on how much you can deposit that they would hold? Do you think it's like 5,000, above 5,000 or something in this bank potentially?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, it's worn, it's worn, worn your loved ones and everyone you know about these scams.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And this is from Michelle in Virginia. Hi Clark, my husband just booked a car on Turo and we declined the accident protection insurance since we have rental coverage insurance through our chase preferred card. The owner of the car is now asking us to upload a picture through the Turo app of his driver's license and auto insurance cards.


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[Assistant] And are uncomfortable uploading a picture of his license. The owner of the car will not rent to us if this is not done. Is this safe to do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, this is from Bana in Kentucky. She says, I just paid my house off. Is title theft a real thing? Do I need protection?


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[Assistant] From one of these companies that sells it or can you recommend a good route to take? And we get these questions all the time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so this one is not about a scam, but there is. You have one without a scam? But there's family conflict.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My brother has decided to sell it. I'm not happy, but I don't want to fight it out in court other than buying him out. What can I do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I live in Hawaii, but I stay at the house for approximately three months in the winter skiing.


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[Assistant] I'm quite unhappy, but it seems I won't be able to stop the sale. I will receive half of the final money. Anything I can do except bite the bullet. Aloha.


[User] Please transcribe this text

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


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Today, I have a couple of things I want to talk about. First, the cryptocurrency market and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think I've gotten more Clark Stinks about any other topic since Clark Stinks started 20 something years ago.


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[Assistant] I'm seeing not just in the financial media, but also in the general media.


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[Assistant] To say, I told you so. That crypto thing. Told you. And I just hate that. And...


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[Assistant] I said that I've gotten more Clark Stinks about crypto than any other topic ever.


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[Assistant] Because my position on crypto is unchanged at this moment.


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[Assistant] Same thing even with all the declines, the cryptos that have failed in the last couple of weeks. The reality is,


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[Assistant] Having some form of digital currency is definitely part of the future.


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[Assistant] What I've said about today's cryptos is they are not ready for prime time. And here's why.


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[Assistant] First of all, we've had all the fraud with the fake cryptos, the organizations promoting one and stealing all your money multiple ways, like people that are into crypto talk about rug holes where


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a promoter falsely promoting that they're gonna do this new crypto and you pay this money in and then.


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[Assistant] They vanish in the night with all your money and, uh, there's, there's,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Such a wild west nature right now with crypto plus crypto is not a mature way to do things yet because if it was, you would know in the morning,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That the value was the same as it was yesterday morning and tomorrow morning.


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[Assistant] Best guess estimates somewhere between 60% and two thirds of people who have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Put money into crypto, you did not hear me say the word invest. People who put money into crypto have lost money on it. Unless you've been in crypto a really long time.


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[Assistant] You are upside down. You're underwater with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then in the worst cases, you've either been defrauded by cryptos, went to zero, or never really happened.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or you got into cryptos that have lost most of their value. Uhm, the one that's been the most dramatic is the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The stable coin thing where the idea of what I talked about is that the value is recognizable and consistent and supposed to be pegged


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the big ones of those has crashed and burned.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so this is an area that, let me give a, let me give an example that is something that unless you've been around


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, let's say you're 45 years or older. You don't even know what I'm talking about unless you studied it in school. So back in the 1990s, more than a generation ago, there was a mania about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Online commerce. Okay, imagine. Cause it was a new concept. Most people were still on what was called dial up internet and it was just in its infancy, the idea of being able to buy things online and have them magically just show up at your home or business. It was a brand new idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so there were all these heavily funded speculative dot coms.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so this went on through the 90s with these companies that there was a funny thing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The more money they lost, the higher their stock price went. And today,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When people study investing in college, you know, if they're a finance person in college,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They study what happened with the 90's mania.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they talk about specific companies. There was one called Pets.com that lost untold billions. And then the biggest loser of all was one called Webvan.