[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You could only do carry on luggage if you flew in or out of there. And so that was another piece of DIA trivia, but, uh, they conned you, strong arming you on the gas thing. Every time you're offered or pushed to prepay fuel,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The answer is, thank you, but no thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Video with your phone, video the outside of your vehicle. And as we've heard twice recently, video the inside of the vehicle too, showing that the condition is great when you return the vehicle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so Apple Pay is awesome. Google Pay, what they now call G Pay, awesome. Samsung Pay, awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They are very, very solidly secure platforms, vastly superior to tapping with your credit card or inserting your card because they generate one time use codes. So even a criminal has hacked into the payment system at the place you're buying. You're good. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using a debit card for walking around transactions like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using, you're so brilliant to use the McDonald's app because of all the freebies and points and discounts you got. But anyway, that's another issue. Um, using, uh, Apple pay with your debit card at McDonald's just fine to do as it would be at any fast food. Yes, I did say that it was okay to use a debit card and I did hit my head yesterday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause the debit card I call the piece of trash, fake Visa, fake MasterCard because you don't have normal consumer protections.


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[Assistant] But it would be hard to think about scenarios. It would be horrible. They would go wrong at McDonald's or Chick-fil-A or


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In-N-Out or Whataburger or wherever. Anyway, naming, uh, Culver's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, good vegan food or vegetarian food and all of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember when you went with me to In-N-Out once being nice, you got their, uh, vegetarian sandwich. Do you remember that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And lettuce and lettuce and tomato and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So that's their version of vegetarian.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're terrible french fries. You want a good french fry? I'm not really a french fry person. Oh, I am.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not a French fry guy, but I think McDonald's fries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Meaning that, that they're a weak spot for you, you gotta have em.


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[Assistant] French fries for some reason don't speak to me.


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[Assistant] But anyway, thank you for joining us today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we're ending on a lighter note on a day for many of us. It's such a somber day. So I ask you, what can you do to do something for your community, for your neighborhood, for your city, your state, your country? What can you do to make this country we live in a better place? Ultimately, that's what's so great is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We hear in the news, we read, we see so many things that go wrong, but so many things that people are doing that are right. We don't see. And the reality is changes that you and I can make happen, make things better. So today, why don't you resolve to volunteer somewhere or do something that will make your neighborhood or our society better?


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[Assistant] And know what we're about here. We're about helping you save more, spend less.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And avoid getting ripped off. Have a great rest of your day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lots of five stars on Apple podcasts, which is awesome. That really is helpful because then we show up more, I think, for people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, there are a million apps you can use. There's a Google podcast app, uhm, that you, that's the simplest, like Spotify, anywhere where you, uhm, but people have already found it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I forgive you for buying the outdated talking point statistics that extended warranties are a bad deal. If auto warranties were such a bad deal for consumers and such a cash cow for providers, why don't the major auto insurance companies offer any?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There is a chance you will get into an auto accident, yet you have insurance. It is guaranteed your automobile will break down, yet you don't have a breakdown insurance? Who's getting suckered by whom? Vern.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While Clark doesn't really stink for this, I do want to raise awareness of the continued security problems of Wyze cameras. Most recently they had an incident where customers could see the video of other customers through the web portal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very little communication went out about this and details are scarce. The most recent incident caused the New York Times to pull all recommendations of the wise products until they make meaningful changes to improve security. While the price is right with them, the security is invaluable, Chris.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Park, you stink worse than when my French poodle got sprayed by a skunk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Enough about only using a carry-on. You are a guy. I'm a more high maintenance female that wants lots of wardrobe options on vacation. I have way more clothes that I want to bring than you are, I am sure. Heels, sandals and shoes alone. I can't get away with a carry-on holding a couple of black polos and dockers.


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[Assistant] I need choices. I need my makeup and blow dryers and more. Wardrobe changes are popular with us. It's impossible for us to edit


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To edit to a carry on. Sorry Clark, Jennifer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark really isn't that smelly, he just missed the opportunity to let everyone know that Fidelity's credit card now charges no foreign transaction fees on purchases or ATM transactions bill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Recently a listener wrote in to say that his discounted razor handle left him with a stash of useless blades. I thought the same thing had happened to me when my old bundle gave out, handle gave out after years of use, leaving me with a substantial cache of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] However, I noticed the blade on an equate disposable I had in hand for travel looked awfully similar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After I used up that blade, I was able to separate the handle from the blade and snap on one of my other blades from my old handle. The disposable is a knockoff of different, a different brand than the original handle. So you never know what combination might work out in Neva.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark stinks no way. I've had admiration for his humble self, this humble selfless man who dedicates his precious time serving the public and helping them manage their money. Having said that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On a recent episode, you answered a question about whether to hold on to restricted stock units.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At that point if I sold them, I would receive immediate cash with no further taxes owed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If I held them, then I would pay capital gains on how much they increased in value from that day and that they vested. So here's a useful way to think about them.


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[Assistant] If you received a cash bonus from your company, would you use it to buy company shares? The general answer to that question should be no. And so I always sold any RSUs I received as soon as possible and immediately invested the proceeds into a low cost index fund. Cheers, Niall.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are you serious right now? As an educator, I'll say this as politically correct as I possibly can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe you didn't mean it as it sounded, but you recently praised billboards with expletives about the president and how wonderful it was to live in a country where we're free to have this type of opportunity. This isn't an opportunity, it is an embarrassment. This is why our young people in this country think it's acceptable to say bleep you and other colorful words to each other as well as adults.


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[Assistant] We know better as adults, we need to do better and remember that we live by example for our youth who learn by example, Deb.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't remember how it came up, but I do remember you saying that you recently drove by and you think, you know, we're free to talk, to say things like, about people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark, I still can't get the stench out of my house from several episodes ago. It sounded as if you were siding with the poor retailers tacking on the credit card fees. The company I work with does e-commerce and we absorb these absurd fees. It's a cost of doing business. Besides the speedier shipping costs we are transparent on what


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know the solution is a payment system like Bitcoin that kicks the banks out of the equation, but sadly widespread adoption has been difficult.


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[Assistant] Don't worry about the little retailers. Continue fighting for us consumers. Kevin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I repeated a falsehood I heard before about Facebook and Instagram spying via constantly listening to audio. This does not happen, especially on an iPhone where despite this company's general scumminess, I do not use their products, it would be virtually impossible to constantly record audio without you giving microphone permission to the app.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even if you do give permission, anytime it's recording, iOS by design always has a green light on the status bar that is controlled by the operating system and can't be bypassed by the app. No green light, it is not recording you. This is a common urban legend, but it's just not true.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Android versions, at least in recent versions, have similar indicators for microphone use. Finally, with all the employees that Facebook and Instagram has, I've never once even heard from any current, former, disgruntled, etc. employee of the company that any technology of this sort is in use.


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[Assistant] Despite the fact that it would be a fantastic lawsuit in news story fodder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, not a fan, just someone in the tech software field who can't stand hearing urban legends and conspiracy theories repeated as if they were fact to a wide audience. Scott.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you have a Google home address or I mean home device or an Apple Echo or whatever?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey Google and things like that, which I probably shouldn't have just said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but you know, your data is, I mean, I'm accusing them of selling it, but I know they do disturb you ads and stuff, like Google will look at what you're watching, look at what you're doing, so you get served ads.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is it, I would ask if they're showing up too on her computer browsers, like in the, when she's going to websites in the browsers, the same ads fall on you, cause usually it's like cookies and they're...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've never thought I would have a reason to get out of my air freshener, but today I was so deeply disappointed in your discussion of dental tourism.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I got so excited when I heard you mentioned you would be discussing it, I couldn't wait to mow the lawn and listen to what you had to say. I'm so disappointed in your lack of information on the subject, other than if you're poor, go to Mexico, it's better than nothing. Come on, can you spend some time and actually provide some ways we can know which providers are good or bad?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe how we can investigate the ones that are not disgusting. I'm not destitute but due to the fact that we were pretty poor growing up, I didn't get the dental care I should have. I now need several implants to fix some things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My dental insurance only covers $5,000 in a lifetime.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so here in the US, that is one implant. In Cancun, it would cover all of that in flights in a nice resort to recover in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've been looking at Cancun for dental work and it seems like there are a few really high quality and reputable groups, but how do I know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And by the way, I absolutely love your heart. I am a rabbi and began a thing called the rabbi stinks because of you, Carl.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, David in California says, What does Clark think about solar power retrofits for homes? Is it big sa- would I have big savings or would it be a big bust? Concerns. They look ugly, could they make you sick, and are they made in China? If it's a good idea, should you buy with financing, lease, or do a combination thereof?


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[Assistant] And Edwards in Georgia, which is one of the states where you get a tax deduction too.


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[Assistant] Kevin in Virginia says, Hello Clark, I've been listening to you for quite some time now every day on my hour long commute to work.


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[Assistant] I share your advice and knowledge with my family members. I speak of you as if you were a family friend and you are. I would like to take a cruise, but I'm looking for where to find deals as a solo cruiser.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Please advise me on where I can get the best bang for my buck as I'm tired of seeing all my Facebook friends have fun and adventures from their cruise vacation and I'm ready to take the leap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah, for sure. I'm not a huge fan of cruising, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My family members are, my son loves it, but everyone else does not want to go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I don't know if you would appreciate his late hours and stuff, but that's up to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I, so I speak right, I know fluently Portuguese, Spanish and English obviously, uh, but I can understand some Italian, uh, and I can read French. No, I always joke that I speak Arabic, but I know nothing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, and you guys may not know, but Clark speaks really good Spanish. He does. He always says he doesn't, but you do. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. I'm telling you, you do.


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[Assistant] It's really fun to hear us, a person speaking your native tongue. It's really fun to hear. So it's just like you would feel happy if you were on another side of the world and you hear somebody speaking English that you weren't expecting. So it's great. It's great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know, let's stink it up. Let's go. Let's show how much you stink. Okay, first one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Someone asked about whether they overpaid for vitamin D and he had a concern whether it was legit. You responded that he should purchase vitamin D at Costco. However, you have the worst advice ever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This gentleman needs to get vitamin D from the original source. 15 minutes in the sun, allowing it to hit his skin will provide all the vitamin D he needs. And guess what? It's free. Joy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't stink, but your advice on the gentleman's wondering about low-cost vitamins left out an important option. The gentleman mentioned his vitamin D supplement was on doctor's orders. My daughter also was advised to take vitamin D from her pediatrician


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we get her supplements via prescription. Her monthly vitamin D gummies cost us a few dollars a month.


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[Assistant] If a doctor orders vitamin D supplement, always check to see if you can get a reduced price via your health insurance and doctor's prescription. Kelly.


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[Assistant] Can you and your team think of an alternative phrase? Maybe just butchering? Keep up the good work. You and your team do excellent work.


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[Assistant] There is one exception to the never prepare for car rental rule. Clark's advice about reserving car rental early.


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[Assistant] Then re-shopping one week before pickup is generally good.


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[Assistant] Clark, it's Amazon Web Services, not World Services. Thank you for all you do, Pete.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we received a lot of on this topic. So here's one. Clark, you stink like medical waste that's been sitting out in the sun.


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[Assistant] Again, you delve into medicine that you know nothing about. You had a patient call to complain about their bill for rabies vaccine and hemoglobin. Hemoglobin?


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[Assistant] Immunoglobin, excuse me. I am an emergency physician who routinely administers rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. The immunoglobin must be... Did I say it wrong?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, sorry, the immunoglobin must be administered. Immunoglobin. Immunoglobin, I'm sorry, must be administered in multiple injections around the site of the wound.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is not unusual for a patient to need eight injections depending on their weight and size of the wound.


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[Assistant] Uhm, a bill, uh, a bill to the patient for $4,800 seems enormous, but the cost of the medication is enormous as well as according to the CDC. Please consult somebody with medical knowledge before you start ranting about incorrect hospital charges. Derek.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you purchase inside your credit card window, the tour operator defaults, you can get 100% your money back, regardless to paraphrase Clark. Clark, if you can't afford to lose the money on the vacation, you can't afford to take that vacation, John.


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[Assistant] Alright. How do I know what that smells like? Because you have me in the dog house with my wife.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're taking the whole family into the Dominican Republic for Christmas and my wife was set to buy airline tickets in July when they opened up.


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[Assistant] The tickets were $1,000 each. I told my wife, Clark said to wait until the 17th of August when the flights go super cheap. She agreed. Then when we were able to purchase the tickets yesterday,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was $1,600 each. Waiting until the 17th of August cost us an extra $3,600 on six tickets. Where are the savings, Clark? D in Kentucky.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With from Clark's response about a neighbor's tree poised to topple onto the next door structure. Clark advised the next door property owner to take photos to document the tree to be diseased or dead. However,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If a portion of any tree overhangs the property line, the next door neighbor is legally okay to cut the branches off, uh, back just to their property line. That would prevent, uh, a crashing disaster, disaster Holland.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a slight odor I smell, but I, but it's not super off-putting. I have a Roth IRA and I have been contributing as much as I can for the last few years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] However, with the new saved student loan repayment plan, if you contribute money to a traditional IRA instead,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm going to be using a traditional IRA until I get my loans forgiven via PSLF and then switch back to a Roth. Ryan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You really stink. One of my favorite things at Aldi is now always sold out. You reported how great the Aldi Cinnamon Buns


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[Assistant] So good, and they're your favorite. Now the price has been increased, but that doesn't matter because they're always out of them. Clark, please keep your mouth shut. You have saved me so much money in other areas that of course you're forgiven. Bill from Chamong, New Jersey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How do you recommend finding a store that is safe to do that at? I worry about the diamond being swapped up, swapped out. Swapped.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I, I'm unsure how to protect myself from looking up locations to do this. We bought our ring online and they don't appear to do that anymore. The company can...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then transfer the balance to another 0% credit card when the offer ends.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peter in New York, I admire and respect the inspiration you are to all of us to save money, but I found that I've recently been burnt twice trying to do so. First, I have a Gillette Mack razor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I bought a new one. To my dismay, despite being an identical looking handle, the pharmacy knockoffs blade would not attach to the new handle. My generous supply of knockoff blades are now useless.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The paper peeled off and the band-aid sticky parts and tiny pieces, making it useless. I love saving money just as you teach us, but how do I prevent myself from getting burned like this?


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[Assistant] We're very excited and feeling a full range of emotions at the moment. Our expected due date is mid-March of next year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My employer contributes a thousand dollars into my HSA every year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our deductible is $3,500. In November, I'm uncertain whether I should sign up for the consolidated PPO plan offered by my employer with a $1,700 deductible or stick with the HDHP.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All the office visits are 80% after deductible with the HDHP and a $25 to $50 copay for most visits with the PPO.


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[Assistant] Which plan would be the best choice for my wallet next year?


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[Assistant] Julian Virginia says is raisin.com a legitimate place to go through to invest in CDs, savings accounts, etc.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ryan in Florida says this one should be called a Ryan Stinks for not listening to your advice. My 2005 Buick Lucera finally gave out a few weeks ago and I took the-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, you got excited, that's all good. I took the EV plunge, taking delivery of my new Tesla Model X on Thursday, August 31st, despite reading your recent warning about Teslas being overpriced and Tesla being guilty of customer no service.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not even 24 hours later, Tesla slashed the price of my car by $12,000 overnight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I contacted them on the customer service chat and visited the local store, but as expected, they basically said, tough luck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fortunately, I did follow your 48 month auto loan rule and I will be fine, but man does it sting. I wanted to share my experience to reiterate to your other listeners that when Clark says his crystal ball is clear, heed his advice. Thank you for all you do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, this question's from Michael in New York. I recently attempted to close out a HELOC from a credit union, as Clark often recommends. While I paid off the balance noting confirmation of zero dollars left, I was told that if I wanted to close the loan, I would have to pay the credit union over four hundred dollars for municipality fees associated with removing the potential property lien that secured the HELOC.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This seems inordinate. Is it something I have to do or should I just let the account stay at zero dollars? Thanks Clark and team for all you do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is a follow up. You were talking about car warranty, extended warranties the other day. Joe in Florida says, I have a tip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark mentioned if you purchase a car warranty, you should purchase the manufacturer's warranty. What he did not say is that not all dealerships sell the manufacturer's warranty for the same price. I purchased both Toyota and Honda warranties from dealerships that sell it at a lower price than the dealerships I purchased the car from. I recently purchased a new Toyota Corolla.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Another tip for purchasing cars is to do a Google search for the brand and no dealer fees. I live in Florida. I found a Toyota dealership four hours from my home that sold me a car for MSRP and charged no dealer fees and sold me the car with only the features I wanted. I know these tips work for Honda and Kia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Steven George says, I'm very fortunate to work for a Fortune 500 company.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That provides me with $15,000 in RSUs every year. This has added up to quite the nest egg over time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With my company being part of the dividend aristocrat stock group, am I okay leaving everything where it is, or should I consider diversifying this into an index fund? In addition to the RSUs, I max out my 401k and my HSA annually, and they are both invested in index funds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's great to have you here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with knowledge that empowers you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you make better financial decisions in your life and it's Friday. So this is great because this is when I get to hear how I messed up, which is the perfect lead into the weekend when I have more time with my family and they get to tell me how I mess up too. It's just great. So one thing that doesn't stink, our consumer action center, team Clark, where you can get one-on-one advice Monday through Friday, 30 hours each week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's free and we've been doing it for 30 and a half years. So you want to see how to reach a member of team Clark, go to Clark.com slash CAC.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And later, I want to tell you, we're being given.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Much more control over our private information.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we're getting these notices that we don't understand. I'm going to explain to you what the backstory is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And how you can benefit from having your information shared willy-nilly much better than you could before now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But without further ado, it's time to hear how I stink it up. What you got?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's nothing worse than somebody who says, well, you can't treat me that way. Don't you know who I am? Uhm, I remember there's an actress named Reese Witherspoon who, uhm, in a, uh, inebriated stage,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And she says that the most embarrassing episode she's had of her entire public career. No, you never, ever, ever do that. It's just, it's not right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for me it's really important to experience the same customer no service everybody else does.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Jefferson, I'll tell you a little annex to the car rental thing. It just happened to me again in a different way, rented a car through Costco travel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Get to the car rental counter and the rate that pops up on the screen is not, you know, where you're supposed to sign. I said, no, that's not the rate I was quoted. And she says, well, show me what you have. And I show her the, the Costco travel confirmation. She said, oh, well, uh, we had a price increase, so we're not honoring that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I, and so she was very nice, but we went back and forth and she said, you'll have to take that up with Costco. So I.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I go ahead and I leave and you never allow a hotel stay, a rental or whatever to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] End without getting something resolved. So I call Costco travel and they said, well,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We see you picked up the car, but we can't do anything about a rate dispute till you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are done with the rental and we can see the prices and then we deal with it. So then when I return the car, they ask you that perfunctory question, uh, were you happy with your rental?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, everything was fine except I was charged more than I was supposed to. He said, really? What were you supposed to pay? And I told him, he said, oh, well, I've just credited you back that difference. It was like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Melissa, thank you for that and, uh, you mentioned you have proper insulation in the attic.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Most people would benefit from checking to see if they have adequate insulation like you do in addition to you using the attic fan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Insulation is a big factor in what those bills are going to be, summer and winter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Charles, thank you. So what my brother and his wife do is they live in Florida. They rent a different place every year for seven months through the winter. Um, and so they,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Establish legal residence in Florida and then they pay a woman to receive their mail and so she then opens their mail, scans it to them,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And emails it to them. There are now a number of services that will do this where they receive physical mail and then scan it and send it. They are usually bonded insured so that you don't have to worry about somebody seeing what your accounts are and they're off to the races.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But now with the ability to have more and more statements come electronically, it's become easier to have a nomadic lifestyle. But having somewhere that's a base that you establish residency is an important part of this whole equation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you read online, you'll read why so many people established their domicile in Montana.


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[Assistant] Kelly, thank you and that is a very good point. I, you know, I, I obsess so much about...


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[Assistant] The question is simple when I paid this much for a trip, the money is non-refundable, I'm not going, how do I get the money back? And you bring up, uh, a potentially much more important aspect, which is having a policy that covers, uh, evacuation if necessary,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And medical care if necessary outside the United States since


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[Assistant] Most of us have insurance or Medicare recipients and their coverage. You're not covered outside the United States.


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[Assistant] And so you bring up a very valid point. If someone is semi-retired or retired,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And travels a lot during the year. They should look at buying a policy that's an annual policy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For medical care outside the United States. It's much cheaper than per trip.


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[Assistant] Yeah. Okay. So we did an experiment several years ago and you hated me for it.


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[Assistant] Because of the security issues and then we had a lot of trouble with them.


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[Assistant] But obviously this is a very.


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[Assistant] Viable option for people who have some, you don't need a lot of technical ability, but you need some technical ability to be able to do so.


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[Assistant] And it's a great suggestion. I'm glad so many of you posted that suggestion.


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[Assistant] Laurel, thank you for that. And Laurel has an old Mac too, right?


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[Assistant] Michael, thank you for that. I, I really liked the strategy you're talking about that you let the policy, uh, pay for itself through the cash value it has. You get an additional 10 years of coverage in the example given. So Michael, I appreciate that.


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[Assistant] I was not at Costco. I gotta interrupt you. Okay. Cause I'm in a supermarket and I'm at the customer service thing. And this woman in front of me had a bad thing of molded strawberries.


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[Assistant] And she's totally exercised about it and she's showing, she's picking up pieces and showing.


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[Assistant] The customer service person, customer service person didn't arguing with her about refunding them, but she was so outraged about that bad strawberries. She's making this woman look at each of them and see how bad they were. Really? That wasn't necessary, was it? No.


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[Assistant] Aaron, you are completely right. The only exception I would have to how right you are is if the person has the vehicle loan.


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[Assistant] And they're basically trading checks except the, as you pointed out so wisely, the 5% is taxable. The 499 for the vehicle loan is not tax deductible. So it's not dollars going in and out exactly. But if somebody ultimately needs cash,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the money they have in CDs is the cash they have available to them. Then it's better if they've got these two things, to have the loan and to have the money in savings.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that they do have a reserve they can draw on. But yes, overwhelmingly, you're right.


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[Assistant] What's so amazing about what you just shared is how customer unfriendly


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[Assistant] The Chase customer no service was to you. I mean that's ridiculous and inexcusable. Out of every 100,000 Chase customers, how many would ever take the time to call and say, hey, this is miscategorized?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is just a perfect example of inflexible stupidity. You know, the way customers judge companies is when you have a problem, how do they deal with it? That's where the rubber meets the road.


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[Assistant] And Chase, you got a big flat tire on the road.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, that's funny you say that because I've had a number of under $20 dash cams and the video on them that's on the SD card.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is excellent. So I guess there are some in the marketplace that are junk. Now I drive an electric vehicle that has that all built into it. And so,


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[Assistant] I don't have recent experience with ultra cheap dash cams, but I appreciate that that the cheap ones may not always be the quality that you need. But the main point you made about, uh, that the evidence cuts both ways.


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[Assistant] Most of us are people who, if we were at fault at something are going to own up to it. So if you're that kind of person, it doesn't hurt you.


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[Assistant] That you have evidence that says what you're gonna take responsibility for anyway. Where it helps you is if you're dealing with an individual


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[Assistant] Who is allegedly at fault denies it. And then you got the video to prove it.


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[Assistant] So I think the dash cams and I do also think the dash cams do have a tendency to make


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[Assistant] The owner of a dash cam, a better driver than they would be otherwise. Knowing there's always something watching.


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[Assistant] When you make that left turn from the far right lane or you fail to signal or yield right of way or whatever it is, maybe that dash cam just is a little thing saying, Hey, Hey, Hey, shouldn't do that. Maybe we'll see coming up ahead. Speaking of reminders.


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[Assistant] We're getting a lot of reminders now almost every day.


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[Assistant] of new ways we can protect our privacy and most of us have put it on ignore.


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[Assistant] I don't know if you've noticed this when you go to websites or even apps you use. Out of nowhere, they're offering you new choices to protect your privacy.


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[Assistant] Often you'll have something where it says, accept cookies or you can refuse and, uh, you can ask for only functional cookies or a variety of choices. And you may think, who cares? Well, you should care because every time you just accept all cookies,


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[Assistant] You're allowing so much of your personal information to be available and with permissions often


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[Assistant] You're giving permissions to do so many different things going after information.


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[Assistant] That is used for other purposes on your phone.


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[Assistant] Or just imagine this, my wife has an Instagram account and she did an experiment for a while. Cause you know, Facebook with Instagram and Facebook, they own both.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their permissions, give them permission to, to spy on everything you go on in your life. So my wife started doing really wild things. She'd start talking with her phone sitting there. She's on an iPhone.


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[Assistant] And she would talk and say, say something just random, like, uh, you know, I'm really interested in doing whatever. And then within hours, sometimes quicker, ads start appearing for the thing that it overheard her saying. And we assume.


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[Assistant] Is the Instagram Facebook spying thing, but don't know for sure. It could have been something else on her iPhone. But the reality is you ignore this opportunity to protect your information at your own peril. The reason you're seeing suddenly site after site or app after app asking you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What information you're giving them permission to share instead of just taking it in the past is because of new laws. One in California and a much more important one in Europe.


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[Assistant] And here we are in the good old USA. What difference does it make if you live in one of the other 49 states?


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[Assistant] Or obviously we're not living in Europe. What difference does it make what the protections are for Europeans, what the protections are for Californians? The reason is so many of these apps, so many websites have customers around the world.


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[Assistant] Or particularly in Europe or all the United States. So in order to not get in trouble,


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[Assistant] They're extending the same protections to us regardless of where we live. And so when you see this thing, new, new, um, uh, privacy permissions, don't click, just accept all whatever's go in and normally what it will say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You'll have a choice, functional, cookies only, or some term like that. And that prevents them from doing all this general spying on you, packaging the data and using it who knows how and making your information so much more vulnerable


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[Assistant] To a hacker who might break into that database of that company or someone they've sold your data to. So it's a simple thing to do. Takes just a second. And I know Christa, you've always taken the position that you've given up.


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[Assistant] That your information is everywhere anyway and you don't care anymore.


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[Assistant] So you just don't want to, uh, contribute to that.


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[Assistant] So Kurt, the big pitch for any of these legal subscription services is you're going to make the money back right away plus by just having one of the lawyers do a will for you. And if you feel the need to set up


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[Assistant] A will have a testamentary trust or trust for your kids as part of it.


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[Assistant] And you're hiring a lawyer who this is what he or she does for a living. Pay the money. That's not what you're getting with any of the legal subscription services.


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[Assistant] With the lawyer who you're going to hire, they cannot afford.


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[Assistant] To spend the many billable hours doing a very involved.


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[Assistant] Will and if necessary, trust arrangements for your kids. They're gonna have to use some kind of, uh, you know, quick computer generated program.


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[Assistant] To generate a legal will for you. So if your situation involves any complexity at all, your strategy is one I advise against.


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[Assistant] And you want to lower the cost doing that? Well, I guess it would be okay.


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[Assistant] To do one of the legal subscription services, but my feeling about wills, estates and trusts.


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[Assistant] Is that if you have money, you own your own business, you have a complicated family situation, you want a lawyer that this is his or her area of expertise.


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[Assistant] So the debit card assigned to it may have a freezing option more and more, uh, because of the lack of consumer protections with debit cards, stored value cards. There's an off and on switch you can do. In fact, I saw an ad the other day, uh, one of the, one of the banks was pitching


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[Assistant] How you can turn your debit card instantly off and on. Since this is a card to use very infrequently.


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[Assistant] I would recommend cause these usually have a Visa MasterCard logo on them. See if you can turn this card off.


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[Assistant] Uh, when you're not needing it, not using it, what you did not say


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[Assistant] You said they didn't take responsibility, but did they restore the funds?


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[Assistant] Even with a debit card where you have very few protections, the bank that administers that card for the, uh, for the health plan.


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[Assistant] These cards are vastly inferior in terms of their consumer protections compared to a real regular credit card.


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[Assistant] People don't check HSA's, they don't, uh, check 401K's. It was just a story I read about, uh, a ring that apparently cracked into 401K's and was stealing money. And you don't notice in a sufficient time.


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[Assistant] You lose that money and the greatest risk with this


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[Assistant] Old 401ks, because criminals are looking for any weak link in the financial system where they can steal money and there's a victim to the crime, but the paper trail is not clear. Low priority for law enforcement and just takes too


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[Assistant] Many resources to prosecute these kind of things and that's why you have to be your own police officer on the job monitoring your accounts.


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[Assistant] Well, the Browns, uh, there's hope for the Browns season this year. This could be a really good 17 game cycle for the Browns and we'll see how it plays out. As for the United States, I love this country. I am so grateful to live here.


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[Assistant] And when you think about the things we have here.


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[Assistant] That are so special that we seem to ignore right now because we're so busy not trusting each other and liking each other. But the reality is you ask me what I love so much, it's our freedoms here, number one.


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[Assistant] The fact that we can say whatever we wish without the fear


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[Assistant] That people face in so many countries around the world. You know, you can say whatever you want to about, uhm,


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[Assistant] Other people in the United States that are public figures. You can put up billboards. I was driving down.


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[Assistant] In interstate the other day and there were these, uh, billboards that were, uh, pretty off color about the president. One after another. Think about if you did that in Russia, what Putin would do to you.


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[Assistant] And this is, this is a thing that


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[Assistant] Is so incredible and wonderful that we don't appreciate enough.


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[Assistant] The freedoms that we do enjoy, the free elections that we carry out.


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[Assistant] Economic system that allows any individual regardless of where they started, if they have an idea, they have an invention,


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[Assistant] That the opportunity that's available to start your own business, uh, bring your invention to life, build a company.


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[Assistant] We have story after story, we have more people in the United States who've become enormously successful.


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[Assistant] Coming from modest means, modest backgrounds. I think it's amazing what people who have emigrated to the United States with very little money


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[Assistant] And establish roots in the United States, what they have been able to do, how hard they work and the successes they contribute to this great nation. I mean, there's so many things I could go on and on, but the rule of law that we hold to in the United States, private property rights, I could name thing after thing. So yes, we fundamentally are amazing here.


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[Assistant] And then there are things we could do better and I'm always going to point out areas where other places


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[Assistant] Are further ahead of us on various things. Why do I do that?


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[Assistant] To draw perspective that the way we do things, we could do better. We can do better. Just like I was talking about.


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[Assistant] Those kind of protections becoming part of the law in the United States. So yes, we can do better, but at base, we're pretty unbelievable here.


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[Assistant] So I love that. Thank you so much for joining us today. Most important thing, I hope you have an absolutely incredible weekend.


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[Assistant] And if in your financial and consumer adventures, you need guidance on the weekends, we serve you around the clock.


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[Assistant] At Clark.com and at Clark Deals, we'll keep you up to date on all the great deals day by day, hour by hour, where you can stretch every dollar. Have a great one.


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[Assistant] This had to be 18 years ago.


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[Assistant] You are, might be a grudge holder. Just saying, go ahead.


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[Assistant] I really, I don't, I haven't gambled in, I think since before you did that.


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[Assistant] If I'm somewhere and I'm in a casino,


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[Assistant] I might spend a little bit of money on like a slot machine, but I am, I am not a gambler. I don't want to lose my money because the odds are definitely against you.


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[Assistant] At like two slot machines at a time and you can tell they're there all the time.


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[Assistant] Yeah, they look very unhappy a lot of times. It's just sad because it is an addiction, addictive thing gambling for sure.


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah, it affects the brain in the same way. It's yeaah, for sure. Endorphins? Is that what it is? Dopamine and other factors, but yeaah, for sure. It's, it's, it's almost, there's so many things that can be addictions, but there's gamblers anonymous, uhm, that you can go to.


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[Assistant] I have no problem giving them my credit card number, but giving my checking account info makes me nervous. What do you think? Is it safe to give them this information? They insist they cannot do the upgrade with just the credit card alone.


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[Assistant] This is from Andrea in Louisiana. I have a financial advisor recommending a charitable remainder trust. It will be configured as a testamentary trust, leaving the beneficiaries money for their lifetime and their afterwards for 20 years. What is your opinion on this?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This last time I bought a new brand of vitamin D on Amazon because it had extremely high customer ratings and was inexpensive.


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[Assistant] Also, it's sold at Walmart and Target, but now I'm wondering if this is a legitimate brand.


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[Assistant] I don't want to cut corners with my help. Should I throw out this bottle of vitamins that I just bought?


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[Assistant] No, I thought the Kirkland, I thought the Kirkland was, oh, so this is 400 pills for $8.99. But the key is, uhm, the verifications on it to tell if it's real. And it does not have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I don't. I don't. I was just thinking the way that you've taught us. There are a couple of lab certifications. We have that on Clark.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you're right, USP is the real main gold standard. The United States Pharma, oh, Pharmacopia certified supplements is what you want to look for.


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[Assistant] No, you know what? I was wrong. That is not correct. That does, GMP doesn't mean anything. The two you want to look for are USP and NSF International. So those are the two certifications on a supplement. So I was incorrect. Don't buy this one again.


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[Assistant] You look so disturbed. I mean it's just, it's shocking to me how someone could sleep at night and do that to someone, but.


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[Assistant] Here's a question from Howard in Pennsylvania about another potential scam as a faithful Clark listeners. Well, as faithful Clark listeners, we feel you will give us a straight up answer to this question after being bombarded on Facebook about shark tank endorsed weight loss, keto and ACV gummies. Is this the real deal or is this a hoax?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, and if you watch Shark Tank, which we do as a family, it's such a good show to watch with your kids, honestly. So many good discussions and you learn about different parts of business.


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[Assistant] The sharks themselves have made these commercials saying, we do not endorse any gummies, nothing like this whatsoever.


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[Assistant] Alright, William in South Carolina says, Clark, Sadie is our German Shepherd family member. Would you share the name of a good pet insurance company and do you feed Kirkland Signature wet or dry food?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kathy in Illinois says, I have an NFL question. Go Bears. We switched to YouTube TV last summer in anticipation for the NFL. We had DirecTV for years with no issues. Unfortunately, all live sports, basketball, football, soccer, lags and freezes on YouTube TV.


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[Assistant] We thought this would be fixed by the start of the season, but nothing. Everyone we've asked has the same issue, but you can't call YouTube. What is Clark going to do?


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[Assistant] We both have YouTube TV and watch sports. I do have fiber and it's, we've never had a problem because of that, I guess.


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[Assistant] I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have three kids and we all have children who misbehave. And I have to call out, maybe call them out, one of my favorites, Vanguard today.


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[Assistant] There's been a lot of complaints lately about my golden child. And I'm going to tell you what I think.


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[Assistant] And we got fees for using your cards, junk fees for cars, hotels, takeout food. And now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Believe it or not, when you rent a place to live.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Landlords have been coming up with junk fee on top of junk fee on top of junk fee.


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[Assistant] That you think you're going to pay this much a month and then the bill is so much more. What's going on? We're going to talk about it. So let's talk about Vanguard.


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[Assistant] Vanguard's been around no more or less 50 years and they're unbelievable. They and uh, founded by a guy named John Bogle and


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[Assistant] Schwab, Charles Schwab, Chuck Schwab, those two people.


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[Assistant] Brought new ways to the marketplace of investing. Investing was only available to the richest among us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Owning stocks was only for the very wealthiest. And if you as a middle income kind of person tried to invest, you had massive fees. If you bought mutual funds, huge fees with upfront fees,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then ongoing fees that it was hard for you to ever even maintain the same amount of money you started with because of all the fees that hit you. Well, these two men.


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[Assistant] Charles Schwab from the individual stock perspective and, uh, Bogle with his Vanguard from the funding perspective. The two of them changed everything and Vanguard now,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Vanguard is the second largest investment house in the world from nothing. And how did it do it?


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[Assistant] By offering the best deal out there on investing. The lowest cost.


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[Assistant] And, uh, gosh, I got to tell you that Bogle was so hated by the wall street establishment.


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[Assistant] Just despised by the Wall Street establishment because


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[Assistant] He wanted to give the ordinary person an opportunity to be an investor.


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[Assistant] And to do it at a low cost. And that was heresy to wall street.


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[Assistant] So now Vanguard is this giant, giant company, massive amounts of money invested with them. And now they're going through a midlife crisis.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And unfortunately, when you're a company, you can't just go out and buy a sports car, a convertible. You, you're still there operating and Vanguard's very inward. They're based in Pennsylvania away from, um, you know, in farm country basically. And it's so isolated and inward looking that change is tough.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's hard to change when you have all this money coming in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I basically gave him a tongue lashing.


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[Assistant] And then I never heard from them again because they don't like hearing bad news. But the reality, there's a problem over and over again. I'm hearing from you and then I'm reading media reports about the problems at Vanguard with customer service that Vanguard


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lately has been excelling and customer no service. They've gotten so big and so unwieldy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That they just don't have their act together on customer service. Uh, most recently there was an article in Kiplinger.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Talking about the customer no service problems. Uh, before there was one in the Wall Street Journal, another embarrass about the customer no service issues at Vanguard. Now again, I'm talking about one of my favorite children.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But everybody makes mistakes. But you start messing up with people's money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With, not with what happens with the account or anything, it's all customer service issues. And that's a problem. And so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know it's hard, it's like, I mean, breaking through


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The head of people at Vanguard, I mean, it's like trying to fire in the first Star Wars movie at the Death Star and trying to have any impact. It just bounces off the surface.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they keep growing. So I don't know and I can't promise you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Vanguard will fix its customer no service problems.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because they seem incapable culturally internally of hearing it. So I just want you to know Vanguard's phenomenal. The investment products they offer second to none. The pricing incredibly cheap and both with, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Funds and with exchange traded funds, ETFs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They are a superior investment organization.


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[Assistant] But when you're handling people's hard earned precious money, you gotta do the other part too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you have to offer superior customer service, which they're not. Christa?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so I don't know why, Tyler, they made the switch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From Vanguard to who they switch to because for you as an employee, there's much higher costs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Overall in the new 401k providers plan than what you had with Vanguard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, you're paying, in addition to the fund fees,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're paying individually pretty high administrative fees. You have to just ride with that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do your 8 plus pick up your match and then what you do in addition is your own Roth IRA and do that with one of the low cost companies like Vanguard who you stand on your 401k, it could be Fidelity, it could be Schwab, uhm, open your own Roth IRA and put money into it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that you have something that's very low cost that's growing money for your future.


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[Assistant] And now a 401k plan that is no longer low cost, but you've got to keep putting in it because you want the eight plus the four because that's a 50% instant return on your money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With that employer, 50 cent on the dollar match up to 8%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, we at Clark.com test a variety of these minor cell phone companies known in the lingo of the trade as an MVNO.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. Which means they go and buy network capacity from the wholesale divisions of T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you're on one of the big three networks just being sold by another marketing entity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Red Pocket for low volume users is a great deal. Uhm, we have had


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Good success for people using Red Pocket. We have a, a full explanation of Red Pocket on our review at Clark.com. But generally somebody who doesn't use a lot of mobile data.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We'll end up typically with a ten dollar a month cell phone bill. Ten a month is good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you got unlimited talk, unlimited text, and one gig of data, which is enough for probably


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe about a third of cell phone users can get by with one gig of data?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so the red pocket thing would be a solid choice.


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[Assistant] Well, first of all, Hitesh, thank you for being such a solid fan. And to your daughter, I want to tell you the fact that you have opened a Roth IRA at 18 means that all the annoying comments you've heard about me from your dad


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[Assistant] Payed off because as a teenager, you putting money into a Roth IRA is so unbelievably powerful for you being towards a path of being financially independent later in your life.


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[Assistant] It's magnificent how early contributions to a Roth IRA


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[Assistant] Compound over time and create so much comfort and ultimately potentially wealth.


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[Assistant] So, I thank you for, for your


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Comments because they were so funny about how annoyed you are about your dad talking about me, but obviously you absorb some of it and it's working for you.


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[Assistant] Coming up ahead, I want to talk about somebody who's working against your wallet.


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[Assistant] What's happening right now to people who rent an apartment or a home? You gotta know. First, the good news. If you're in the approximately one in three Americans that rent a place to live, there's now a flip in what's going on with rental prices.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We saw relentless increases in rents.


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[Assistant] On apartments and if you prefer to rent a home on home rentals.


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[Assistant] That went on year after year after year.


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[Assistant] Stripping affordability away from renters. Well now, the story has changed.


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[Assistant] As the returns look so phenomenal on being a landlord.


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[Assistant] Construction of new apartments around the United States went crazy.


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[Assistant] You can go to any mid-size or large city.


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[Assistant] And you'll see what you think was the state bird, the building crane that is hanging over


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[Assistant] From when a developer comes up with the idea to build


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[Assistant] That apartments were being overbuilt in so many metros in the United States. But by then people already had


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[Assistant] The investors, they had the permits and they were going to build them.


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[Assistant] So that's why even though now apartments have gone from being under supplied to the market to being over supplied, they're still coming up out of the ground. They're still being built. They're still being completed. And that's why rents.


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[Assistant] And city after city are starting to decline, some more than others. So it's the first really good news for tenants in a good long while. And it was funny because I started talking about how rents were going to decline


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Back in, uh, about 18 months ago.


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[Assistant] Cause it was just so clear that was going to happen and now it actually is happening city by city and some more than others. So you have so much more negotiating power.


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[Assistant] When you're looking to rent or you're living in a place and your lease is coming up in six, eight weeks.


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[Assistant] You don't just negotiate with yourself. You know what negotiating with yourself is? That's when you are living somewhere


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[Assistant] And you just try to negotiate a new, better deal for yourself with your landlord. Doesn't work.


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[Assistant] And you're willing to pick up and move, that's where you're gonna save the most money. But regardless, shopping is core and key. But unfortunately,


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[Assistant] As landlords have seen their rent profiles erode.


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[Assistant] Landlords are following the playbook of other industries and they're coming up with junk fee after junk fee after junk fee after junk fee.


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[Assistant] That they're adding on to tenant bills.


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[Assistant] So you sign the lease and then you're their prisoner because you didn't ask.


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[Assistant] What other fees are there for occupying the apartment? What other fees are there for living in the apartment?


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[Assistant] And I saw an NPR report that there's been so much backlash over this.


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[Assistant] That three of the sources where people shop for apartments right now


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[Assistant] Zillowapartments.com and affordablehousing.com are all three going to tell you if you use them to search for a place, what junk fees you face at that place upon occupancy and then over time. But if you can't find that information,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On an online database, before you sign a lease, you want in writing.


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[Assistant] From the rental office, or the rental manager, or the leasing agent, whatever it is,


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[Assistant] You want to know what other fees there are that you might be subject to having to pay


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[Assistant] In that apartment complex, or if you're renting a house, same thing.


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[Assistant] Because the rent is not just the rent. There are all these extras.


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[Assistant] Learned this at her first apartment complex, that the rent wasn't the rent.


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[Assistant] She's got a monthly statement with all these other junk fees. So when she went out and shopped, when she moved, let me tell you, she knew, she knew.


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[Assistant] To make sure she knew everything they were going to charge her for.


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[Assistant] At each place before she decided where to live. So protect yourself. Krista?


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[Assistant] Yeah, so uhm, if you, usually when somebody says a 16 inch screen, in the marketplace that usually means a 15-6, which is the most common screen size.


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[Assistant] And what I do when I'm looking for a specs based computer is first we do a daily roundup


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[Assistant] of laptop deals on ClarkDeals.com


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[Assistant] But if I want to see ultra specific on specs,


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[Assistant] I go to microcenter.com. Microcenter is a huge seller of electronics for techies. And you're going to find


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[Assistant] That everything's about the specs. So I'm looking right now and you can buy an i7 with very high capability right now.


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[Assistant] For $799 at Micro Center. That gives you a marker price for an i7 based laptop and you can shop around wherever you like to shop or if you have a Micro Center near you.


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[Assistant] Or you can also go to shopping.google.com and spec it out and have comparisons of what would be the best deal.


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[Assistant] And if you're a Costco member, there's a huge advantage buying a laptop from Costco because they offer included in the purchase


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[Assistant] Uh, much better warranty coverage typically on a laptop than you get anywhere else. Plus, if you hate the laptop,


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[Assistant] You have 89 days to bring it back to Costco.


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[Assistant] For a full no questions asked refund of that laptop, it is the best deal offered in the industry.


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[Assistant] You can't take the job. You can't leave Utah. What are you thinking? Thinking about leaving Utah. I mean, think about the incredible skiing.


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[Assistant] The nation's best, in my opinion, national parks, the beautiful wide open spaces. Wow. Okay. Dream job. Dream job. You're really going to give up that beautiful, beautiful Utah.


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[Assistant] This is a hard choice. I've just been talking to a friend for months who relocated from the East coast to Northern California.


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[Assistant] And face this same dilemma, housing prices are so very high, which you'll find also in the Seattle metro area and mortgage rates are so high and they ultimately made the decision to buy a home


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[Assistant] You can afford what the carry cost would be at today's very high mortgage rates.


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[Assistant] And so, the odds that mortgage rates are going to decline in the future?


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[Assistant] Is not a hundred percent, but I'd say they're at least seventy-five percent that we will see a decline


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[Assistant] In mortgage rates over the next couple of years. Never likely, never say never.


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[Assistant] Very unlikely that mortgage rates are ever going back to the


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[Assistant] Unbelievably low levels in the twos and the threes that we saw in the prior


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[Assistant] Ultra low cycle, but potentially saying like.


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[Assistant] 15 year loans maybe, uh, being in the upper fours, something like that. That could certainly happen in the future. And so it's really your call. I expect housing prices to generally go sideways as, uh, people's incomes over time.


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[Assistant] You may not find that you enjoy living in the Seattle area. And then you bought a place and you got to turn around and sell it.


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[Assistant] You may decide that the neighborhood you were interested in living in maybe wasn't the best idea. And so renting for a while to get your feet wet in Washington state.


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[Assistant] They will get wet, thank you. Uhm, but it's really just a drizzle.


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[Assistant] You will have plenty of time to buy once you're really comfortable in the job and you know what neighborhood is best for you.


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[Assistant] Okay. I need three deep breaths there. Okay.


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[Assistant] Is this company legit? Yes. Is it someone I would want you to buy from? No.


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[Assistant] The costs are very, very high in their products and as you felt, they are a very high pressure sales driven culture. So.


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[Assistant] I understand the young man may have been very knowledgeable, may have even been a very decent person, uh, but the reality is that it's a very, very expensive way


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[Assistant] For you to buy investments or insurance. Insurance is not an investment.


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[Assistant] People will pitch it as an investment. It's not. Insurance is to provide for the survivors you leave behind your loved ones


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[Assistant] And that's why you buy ultra inexpensive insurance that only has a death benefit. Term insurance. My preference, level term insurance. I have a good briefing on how level term works at Clark.com and how to buy it. If you're going to buy investments, you want to buy


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[Assistant] Yeah, nobody from a commission free firm is coming to see you and bringing you cookies or whatever.


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[Assistant] When you are buying investments, if it's just starting to buy investments, that you can completely do on your own and it's really simple and you just buy broad-based what are known as index funds. But if the lingo and all that overwhelms you,


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[Assistant] You hire a fee only financial planner who is a fiduciary, legally obligated fiduciary.


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[Assistant] Which means you're paying him or her like you pay an accountant or a lawyer.


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[Assistant] And they are working for you legally.


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[Assistant] And they only advise you in what's in your best interest and they only sell you


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[Assistant] Sell you. They don't sell you anything. They only, uhm, advise that you own


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[Assistant] Commission free, low cost products, period. Uhm, I don't like these organizations that again, it's not, they're not legitimate.


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[Assistant] But I don't like organizations where it's all about the pitch to sell you something at extremely high commissions and ongoing costs. That's not what it's about that free visit.


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[Assistant] Is the most expensive visit you could ever have. It's no different.


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[Assistant] Then when people get those things in the mail offering you a free fancy steak dinner.


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[Assistant] Or where insurance people are going to try to sell you ultra high commission


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[Assistant] And expensive insurance products. You don't want that free steak. Go buy your own steak.


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[Assistant] And while we're at it, don't go to one of those ultra expensive steak houses. Go to a mid-market steak house. The steak will be just about as good and you'll spend a third as much money. If you eat steak.


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[Assistant] And thank you so much for being with us today. Remember we serve you around the clock.


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[Assistant] The sun never sets on Clark.com with consumer information.


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[Assistant] For your wallet that you can trust and


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[Assistant] Six hours each weekday, one-on-one free advice as we've offered since February of 1993 at the Team Clark Consumer Action Center, Monday through Friday, 10 in the morning Eastern time till four in the afternoon Eastern time. You can get that free one-on-one advice at 636-49-CLARK.


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[Assistant] It's great to have you here on the Clark Howard Show, our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I have to start out with


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[Assistant] So not so great news about where we are on a glide path to being comfortable in retirement. And got a counterpoint much later in the podcast. Do you know there's a way for you to get cell phone service for free?


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[Assistant] That's right. Zero dollars. It's a blast of the past. I'm going to tell you how it works.


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[Assistant] So there's a, a organization at Boston College, the home of


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[Assistant] Krista DeBias and her daughter Claire is now a legacy who will be a junior this fall. Wow.


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[Assistant] From Boston College, which Boston College has had for decades, what they call the Center for Retirement Research, and they crunch numbers on a number of facets about


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[Assistant] Uh, how people are doing in retirement, how they're doing on saving money for retirement and it has been true all through the years and the research they've done.


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[Assistant] That people at the lower end of the income ladder


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[Assistant] Struggle more in retirement. Duh. That's not a shock to anybody.


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[Assistant] The number, the percent of people in lower income, they're struggling retirement is actually less than it used to be. So people are doing a little better in lower income groups and people in middle income are doing better than they were, let's say 10, 15 years ago. The stunner. Okay, this is crazy.


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[Assistant] A people that are high-income earners.


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[Assistant] Struggle in retirement because they don't save money.


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[Assistant] Over their working lifetime. I get it for people that are low income earners who struggle in retirement because they're just trying to keep the lights on. They're just trying to put food on the table. High income earners. All right, I gotta say something cold. Almost always it's a lifestyle thing.


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[Assistant] And people at the higher end of middle income earners, it's a lifestyle thing.


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[Assistant] It really is about habits and how you handle money. You know how


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[Assistant] You can have siblings in the same family, obviously siblings, same family. And one will be really somehow magically able to live comfortably, save well, and be a okay. And another,


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[Assistant] And always be asking for a loan from the sibling who's good with money. I know a lot of people in that situation.


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[Assistant] It's in our attitudes. It's in how we live our lives. And there are people who everything is about.


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[Assistant] The adrenaline rush of today's spending.


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[Assistant] And the idea of deferring wants to build financial independence is just not for them.


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[Assistant] But the reality is the tension it creates in your life, the anxiety it creates in your life, it's not worth it. Now there are people who can get into their head and over their heads financially and they sleep fine every night. Never seems to bother them till the bill doesn't get paid. But it really is.


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[Assistant] Where you decide that hey, it's a good idea to have that cushion there. It's a good idea to build up that reserve. And this is something that


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[Assistant] If you listen or watch this podcast.


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[Assistant] It's something that you're likely already about or you're trying to get there.


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[Assistant] And it's a tough juggling act. How do you pay today's obligations and deal with the future, whatever that may entail, emergency fund, saving to buy a home, saving for retirement. All these things are a juggling act, but the core, the key of all of it is throughout your working lifetime,


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[Assistant] Unless you earn a poverty scale wage, it's about living on less than what you make. Period.


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[Assistant] The old way of saying it, old, old phrase, pay yourself first. What does pay yourself first really mean? It means you put money aside for your future needs.


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[Assistant] And I talk about the oops a lot. There are financial oops regularly in life and you have to be prepared for those. So that's why the oops are part of the picture that


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[Assistant] There is gonna come a time where, oops!


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[Assistant] This broke or that happened or the other happened and you have to cover an emergency expense and that's why the rainy day is important.


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[Assistant] And retirement, as I've always said, there's no scholarships for retirement.


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[Assistant] And so when I see this Boston College data, that between a quarter and a third of high income earners,


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[Assistant] Are at risk for poverty in retirement.


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[Assistant] And living for today and not preparing for tomorrow. Fact.


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[Assistant] Again, a different situation than people making a lot less money. So if you make good money and you're not really saving like you potentially could,


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[Assistant] Something for you to think about and you do it one step at a time. You don't turn the ship around instantly. It takes time, but it also takes a determination that the change is something you're going to make. Krista?


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[Assistant] Steven, uhm, this came up before and we had a suggestion from a listener that I thought was actually a great idea.


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[Assistant] There are these, uhm, stored value cards you can get that


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[Assistant] Uh, only have on them what you put on them and don't expose you to unlimited risk of a criminal having that card number and running off with it because you know, medical offices are notorious for not being good at securing


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[Assistant] People's personal information, financial information, social scaring numbers, the rest, and it would solve the problem.


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[Assistant] So you can buy, there are several sellers of these, uh, there's the American Express one that they sell at


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[Assistant] Walmart called Bluebird or you can go to Bluebird.com. There are several of these that have


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[Assistant] No fee depending on how you purchase them. Put some money on them. It would give you the number to be able to give to a doctor's office. So they have that on record.


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[Assistant] And if they try to charge something on it and the money's not there, then they have to then contact you like they would have in the past and say, hey, uh, your card was declined. We need some money and then you can pay the balance. But this is an ongoing battle.


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[Assistant] Between doctor's offices and customers, the patients, because with insurance involved, you don't know what they're gonna pay. Doctor's office may attempt to approximate the amount, they could be wrong, there's an unpaid balance, and for whatever reason,


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[Assistant] There are consumers, customers, uh, patients, if you will, who


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[Assistant] Look at a bill owed to a medical facility or a dentist as the lowest of low priorities.


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[Assistant] If they rendered a service they deserve to be paid, well they're supposed to be paid for it. I don't like.


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[Assistant] The idea of the automatic charging that this dermatologist wants to do in your case because they may charge you for a balanced bill that under your insurance you don't actually know


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[Assistant] Oh, I'm sorry, you don't actually know that they're going to charge you that and you don't actually owe it under your plan.


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[Assistant] And the bill may have been coded incorrectly at the dermatologist's office, whatever. And they're like, well we just want our money.


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[Assistant] And they take it from you instead of getting it from insurance. I just don't like this practice in medicine at all. Is it the new way it's being done?


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[Assistant] That is a puzzle. I have no idea William, why it would have dropped, but your credit score doesn't truly heal until your utilization of cards goes below 30%.


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[Assistant] So the long-term play is what you're already doing.


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[Assistant] Having dropped it from 89 to 78 percent and the goal is to keep reducing the amount


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[Assistant] Of the percent of available credit you're using, and you will see over time, I don't know why this particular scenario happened, but long term,


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[Assistant] As you pay that down and reduce the percent of your available credit you're using, you will see that score go up. I don't know if you've done so yet, but you should set up a credit karma dashboard.


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[Assistant] Where you can continually monitor your score for free and you can see an approximation of your score


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[Assistant] Every single day updated every day and they'll tell you the factors.


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[Assistant] That are involved in moving the score up or down. I should tell you.


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[Assistant] The scoring model that Credit Karma uses and a lot of other people use is extremely volatile, much more volatile, uh, almost without explanation than the FICO score, which is the one used in 90 plus percent of lending decisions. But knowing even the, uhm,


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[Assistant] At least to this point in my mind, the algorithms used by the Vantage scoring system


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[Assistant] To have used in the marketplace, even though it's not.


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[Assistant] As good a scoring model in my opinion as FICO, it gives you your sense of direction over time and stay on the path you're on. Don't worry about this decline that happened on that particular day that you saw your score.


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[Assistant] Oh, that was, uh, that was one of those things like GameStop and there were a few others that people were, uh, from message boards on Reddit, I guess.


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[Assistant] So no fee issue at all. And the buying and selling of the stock is commission free now. And so there's, there's no, uh,


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[Assistant] No pickpocketing going on by Schwab with him owning that individual stock. Uhm, the reason that you always hear me talk about Target Retirement Fund, Target Retirement Fund, Target Retirement Fund in an IRA,


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[Assistant] Or in a 401k at work, unless you are...


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[Assistant] Someone who devotes enormous amounts of time to real research on companies.


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[Assistant] It's too much risk for you and your portfolio allocations will likely be out of whack. Uhm, Charles Schwab himself is a big believer in what he calls core and explore. The idea that


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[Assistant] Most of your money should be an abroad based thing like, uh, he doesn't say target retirement fund, but I do.


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[Assistant] Less risky than in the short term than stocks.


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[Assistant] Owning the explore part of what Chuck Schwab talks about is owning individual stocks. You get the base down and that most of what you're doing overwhelmingly is broad-based funds. If you want to dabble in individual stocks, that's okay.


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[Assistant] Would I have done something highly speculative, owning something like AMC? Not my wheelhouse, not my thing. But I don't think this is a, a disaster that


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[Assistant] He has that individual stock as long as most of what he's doing.


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[Assistant] Is in the target retirement fund. And when I say most, I'd say at least 80%.


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[Assistant] Should be in the core, maybe even higher, and then a small amount dabbling in individual stocks. Okay.


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[Assistant] Well, sometimes you got to be burned, but the problem is, especially if you have something like what they call the meme stocks and you had a big run up in it, you're like, wow, this is what I should be doing. But when you play individual stocks.


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[Assistant] There's a lot more risk involved than when you go wide in the market.


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[Assistant] So there's nothing wrong that you bought an individual stock and lost money.


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[Assistant] And you made an oops on individual stock. I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing. It's not how I played the game, but I don't see that as a bad thing. They're coming up ahead. I knew it was coming. I've been predicting it for years. Free cell phone service.


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[Assistant] Prior efforts at that fell flat on their face.


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[Assistant] Is the latest one going to fall flat on his face? Who knows? But it's out there.


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[Assistant] I am all about ways I can get something for free in legal and doing things where there's a trade off and I've shared


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[Assistant] The various crazy things I've done in the past to get stuff for free you'd have to pay for otherwise. And people are all ears right now being pressed financially from the overhang of the ugly inflation that we had for about 16 months.


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[Assistant] And so they're more receptive to ways to save money. I was reading a story


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[Assistant] Uh, just a couple of days ago about how private labels are gaining market share in the United States.


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[Assistant] Where the retailers, the grocery stores, the rest.


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[Assistant] I've always wanted us to buy a private label because they actually make higher markup on their store brands than they do selling the national brands and you in turn save


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[Assistant] Typically 20-30% on your purchases.


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[Assistant] And that's fallen on deaf ears overwhelmingly in the United States. We have the lowest purchase percent rate in the developed world.


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[Assistant] Of store brands, which means the brand name manufacturers have been very successful.


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[Assistant] at marketing why you should pay extra money for their brand names, but not so much right now.


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[Assistant] People are all ears looking for ways to stretch every dollar.


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[Assistant] And cell phone bills have become a big monthly expense for people.


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[Assistant] And one thing I want to say, right off the bat,


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[Assistant] If this is you, hear me loud and clear.


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[Assistant] If you have been loyal to the same cell phone company forever.


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[Assistant] And you have not shopped your plan, even with them, in forever.


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[Assistant] Odds are you are greatly overpaying for your cell phone service. There are people that are creatures of habit that stay with the same brands


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[Assistant] year after year and pay so much more than other people


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That aggressively shop for the best deals. Now I'm an extremist on this. Be aware I am the opposite extreme.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I try all kinds of freebies and I'm getting ready to try one that we've talked about for a while on Clark.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I haven't actually tried it myself and that's TextNow, which is a free cell phone service with unlimited talk and text in return for me putting up with ads on my phone. So you don't get any free data with that. If you want data, you have to pay for the data you use


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you're a data hog using enormous amounts of data, it's not going to be a deal for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But there are lots of people who use minimal amounts of data or frequently or mostly, most of us around 80% of the time we're at trusted wifi with our cell phones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we can get by with a lot less data than we might imagine. And there are people who are even willing to not have access to data when they're out and about because they do most of the time. So I'm going to try text now and report back to you. But if you don't want to wait for what I discover, you can be a guinea pig too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause you pay absolutely nothing other than an upfront cost for what's known as the SIM card to go into your phone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can transfer a port over the number you already have, uh, you can get a new number, whatever you want to do. But,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The cost of the SIM ranges from a buck to, I had to pay five bucks for it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I have the unlimited free talk and text and on my screen I've got the ads.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I am absolutely fine with that. I have a pattern, a history of signing up for these things and seeing how they go. I remember years and years ago, there was a company from Europe that came here that with free cell phone service and it