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[Assistant] Michael went up to the door and pretended to be trying to hide from Robert, telling them that they needed to let him in.


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[Assistant] When Christopher opened the door, Michael went in and stabbed the two to death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Daniel had locked himself in their father's office which was right next to the bathroom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had managed to get Michael's cell phone and called 911 at 1132 PM.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Michael used the same ruse to get Daniel to open the door, and when he did, he took the phone from him and smashed it. Michael told Robert, quote, he's all yours, end quote.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Robert stabbed Daniel multiple times and when Robert let him go, he ran away but collapsed in the living room where he died.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] David was asleep upstairs and when he was finally awoken by the commotion, he came downstairs. When he saw the horror that was going on in the home, he charged Robert.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unfortunately, Robert managed to stab his father in the chest as he came at him and David fell to the floor. Robert continued stabbing his father to death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Almost as soon as they had killed everyone, or so they believed, there was a knock at the front door. They didn't know who it was and thought it might be a neighbor, so they grabbed a backpack and fled out the back door.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They ran through some woods to a creek behind their house.


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[Assistant] When police arrived on the scene, they knocked on the door and when they heard a faint voice inside saying, help me, Detective Brett Burton kicked in the door and they found Crystal Beaver lying in the entryway in a pool of blood. They picked her up and took her out where paramedics were already on the scene.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The city of Broken Arrow has about 100,000 residents and is the fourth largest city in the state.


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[Assistant] It only has a murder happen once every couple of years, so when something like this happens, they call out everyone to the scene.


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[Assistant] All detectives, canine units, firefighters, paramedics, all hands on deck.


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[Assistant] Crystal made it to the paramedics who had no idea how she was still alive, but she was, so they got her stabilized and to the hospital where she was rushed into surgery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Despite multiple stab wounds, a slit throat, and excessive blood loss, Crystal survived the attack.


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[Assistant] 12 year old Daniel had 21 stab wounds to his back, neck, head, and chest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Broken Arrow police walked into the scene of a horror movie.


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[Assistant] Blood was smeared everywhere, and they didn't know if the attackers were still in the house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They found both April and Daniel first, and since they didn't know if they were still alive or not, they carried them both out of the house to the paramedics. They were pronounced dead at the scene.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They turned a corner and found David lying on the floor. They said they could tell that he was dead, so they continued to the back of the house where they found a locked bathroom door.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Normally, a locked door at a scene like this means there's a suspect who has barricaded himself in the room.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Due to what they were finding at the scene, they didn't want to take the chance on there being someone in there that needed help, and Officer Walker kicked in the door.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Inside they found the bodies of Christopher and Victoria, both stabbed to death and left in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor. Crime scene investigator Jackie Smithson said it was the worst thing he had ever seen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Police made their way upstairs and cleared the rooms one by one. When they got to the last room, they found a baby girl lying in her crib, not moving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When they checked on her they found that she had been unharmed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Robert and Michael had forgotten about her before they flood the house, and fortunately didn't have time to discover her and complete their plan. Which is good, because according to court documents, their plan was to cut off her head.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using canine units to track their scent, Robert and Michael were quickly discovered hiding in some brush near the creek.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When police commanded them to show their hands and come out, Robert complied right away, but Michael hesitated.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Officers released the dog, who instantly grabbed Michael by the shoulder, prompting him to come out of the bushes. He can be seen in the arrest photos with a torn shirt and bite marks on his shoulder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Robert was still wearing his body armor, but Michael had taken his off, and it was lying on the ground between their house and where they were found.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the brothers were arrested, they were photographed for evidence and Michael has a vacant look on his face. Like he didn't really care one way or the other that he just murdered his family.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Robert, on the other hand, actually looks quite happy. He has a smirk on his face like he just passed a test. As police went to put them in separate patrol cars, Robert looked over at Michael and said, quote,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the night of the murders, a neighbor, Julie Wallace, informed police that the family had a dog. Their Dachshund Chihuahua mix wasn't found until later the following afternoon, and she was given to Julie to care for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Julie said that the dog, who she has since renamed Sally, is still frightened anytime they're screaming on the television.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Back at the police station, both Robert and Michael talk openly about their plans. For reasons I couldn't find, Robert's interrogation was sealed, but Michael's remained available.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While talking to Detective Burton, he tried to downplay his involvement in the murders. His story involves Robert running around the house, stabbing everyone with himself just standing by.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He disabled the home alarm when Crystal went out the front door, and helped bring her back into the house. Eventually he admits to stabbing Christopher once, but tries to say that Robert did everything else and he only participated because Robert said he would kill him if he didn't.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now he claims he stabbed Christopher two or three times. Unfortunately for Michael, Robert's story doesn't match.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While they talk to Robert, he is proud of the people he killed. He wants credit for all of his evil deeds, so why would he give Michael credit for killing people if he hadn't actually killed them?


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[Assistant] Both of the brothers were charged with five counts of first degree murder and one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.


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[Assistant] Michael's defense lawyer, Rob Nye, filed a motion to try their client as a juvenile. But Oklahoma state law says that 15 to 17 year olds are to be tried as an adult if they're charged with first degree murder. His motion was denied.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On June 17th, 2016, while both of the brothers were being held in the jail medical unit, segregated from each other, Robert tried to commit suicide.


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[Assistant] He had tied a sheet around his neck, with the other end tied to his bed and tried to hang himself, but was unsuccessful.


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[Assistant] Since Robert was 18 at the time of the murders, he was eligible for the death penalty. In an effort to save Crystal from having to testify in court, on September 7th, District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler offered Robert a deal to take the death penalty off the table if he pleaded guilty to all counts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The state assumed that Michael would also take a deal, especially since he tended to follow the lead of his older brother, but he didn't.


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[Assistant] Michael pleaded not guilty and brought the case to trial.


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[Assistant] At the trial, Robert testified for the defense and his story did not match what he said during his interrogation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He claimed that after he stabbed Crystal in the neck, Michael turned around and said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He told the jury that Michael had only convinced the younger children to open the locked doors but never stabbed anyone.


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[Assistant] Michael's knife had his own blood on the handle. He said in his interrogation that he thinks he cut himself when he stabbed his mother.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The knife also had blood from his mother and his father.


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[Assistant] Michael had claimed that Robert had killed their mother, which gave Crystal time to run away. But according to testimony from Crystal, Robert immediately ran after her and caught her in the driveway, and Michael is the one who killed April.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Both Robert and Crystal testified that there was physical abuse in the house. Robert described his father yelling at Michael about his speech impediment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said there were occasions where David would punch or kick Michael.


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[Assistant] Crystal said that David threw the kids across the room in the past, and one time overheard her parents talking about being too rough on Robert and Michael when they were younger.


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[Assistant] Robert believed that his parents were paranoid and wouldn't let them be around any strangers. They had cameras around the house, but the cameras didn't record. They just allowed David to monitor the house from his phone at all times.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On May 10th, 2018, Michael Bevers was found guilty of five counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Judge Sharon Holmes put off sentencing until August 9th in order to give herself more time to think about her decision.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When August 9th came, the judge sentenced Michael to five life sentences with the possibility of parole, plus a 28 year sentence for the attempted murder of Crystal. But the sentences are to be served consecutively, so it's likely he will spend the rest of his life in prison.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This sentence went against the jury's recommendation to give Michael a chance at parole after 38 years, and the defense believed it violated state rules against sentencing juveniles to life sentences.


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[Assistant] Michael's lawyer filed an appeal on the grounds that five consecutive life sentences, even with parole, is still in fact a life sentence.


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[Assistant] People under the age of 18 are unable to be sentenced to mandatory life sentences on the grounds that it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.


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[Assistant] I would argue that being stabbed to death is cruel and unusual punishment.


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[Assistant] Why is Michael immune from receiving the same sentence he carried out on his own family?


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[Assistant] Supreme Court Judge Gary Lumpkin said that children accused of multiple violent crimes should not get a volume discount on the sentence imposed. He said that the decision on consecutive or concurrent is within the discretion granted to trial courts.


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[Assistant] The Supreme Court ruled three to two in favor of upholding the sentence. Michael will spend the rest of his life in prison.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Bever home sat on the market for years, with nobody willing to purchase the heavily stigmatized house. The neighbors worried that the home would continue to be an eyesore on the community and continue to attract looky-loos who wanted to see the house where the Bever family was murdered.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On March 18th, 2017, the house was destroyed in a fire. Authorities believe it was arson. No shit. But they have no leads as to who may have set the fire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A month after the fire, the city of Broken Arrow raised the funds to purchase the property where the beaver home sat and turn it into a memorial garden.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In May of 2018, the home was demolished and the city began work, transforming the property into a garden.


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[Assistant] The garden was dedicated on March 27th, 2019.


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[Assistant] On July 15th, 2019, Robert Bever attempted to attack prison staff with an 8-inch long sharpened instrument.


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[Assistant] The incident report states that two prison staff members were standing in the day room at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, Oklahoma.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Robert approached them from behind and tried to attack, but one of the officers got him in a bear hug and ordered him to drop the weapon.


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[Assistant] He complied with that command, and the commands to get on the ground.


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[Assistant] I guess he's learned the hard way that killing isn't so easy when your target isn't an innocent little kid.


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[Assistant] He was written up and the incident will go in his prison records, but what are they gonna do? Give him more time?


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[Assistant] All information about Crystal or Autumn's whereabouts has been sealed for their protection.


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[Assistant] Hopefully, they're in a safe place and are getting the help and support they need.


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[Assistant] If you're the victim of domestic abuse, please reach out to someone for help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Please call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The great thing about this website is that, at any time, hitting the escape key twice will instantly take your browser to a Google search page. In the event the abuser is nearby, you can assure that you don't get caught trying to get help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you're having feelings of harming yourself or someone else, or even just need someone to talk to, please contact your local mental health facility, call 911, or call Mental Health America, who operate the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.


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[Assistant] Also, remember that if you'd like to support the show, the easiest way is to donate a few bucks at Buy Me a Coffee or check out some of our merchandise at Teespring. You can find information on how to do that along with links to our social media at ThisIsMonsters.com. Thanks again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One decision that you can make that I believe is a really smart one is to sign up for our free money saving newsletters at Clark.com slash newsletters. Today,


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[Assistant] I've got some significant news I want you to be in the know about with the future of credit cards. And I'm also going to talk about why


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[Assistant] You buying the latest, greatest television is really not a good use of your money. I don't care how good they look. And of course I'm going to answer as many of your questions as I can. So,


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[Assistant] There was one of those legal settlements that got a lot of, uh, reads on, on, uh, media outlets, television all over the internet and all that about a legal settlement involving credit cards that, uh, really was clear as mud. And so I want to clear that up for you and tell you what may well be coming. All right, so here's the story.


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[Assistant] Under the settlement that the credit card issuers reached with the plaintiffs that sued them is merchants are going to have the ability potentially as soon as this summer would be the earliest


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[Assistant] To charge discriminatory fees based on what credit card you pull out of your wallet.


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[Assistant] So you pull out a, uh, let's say you pull out a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, or a Capital One Venture X, or an American Express Platinum, or any of these premium


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] High reward kind of travel cards that you pay the big annual fee for and then you get all these points. Well the merchants are paying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just gigantic fees when they take those carts.


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[Assistant] And it's funny because I talked about this back in January about how in Australia, when you come to a register, it will have an electronic list showing that if you use that card, you're going to pay this much extra in fees.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And retailers and restaurants are going to be allowed to do the Australian kind of thing at the earliest this summer. Where you'll have to make a choice. Is it worth it for you?


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[Assistant] To get those Chase or Capital One or American Express points from one of their premium cards or you could have, uh, an American Airlines Advantage card or United Mileage Plus card or Delta Sky Miles card, are you gonna be willing to pay


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 2-3% extra to use that card versus let's say another credit card might be fee free or might be 1%. Debit card might be free.


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[Assistant] I know, don't throw anything at me. And I'm somebody who earns all these points all over the place and cash back and all that because it's not right.


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[Assistant] That the retailer, the restaurant, the supermarket.


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[Assistant] Should just be, uh, having you come to the register and say, punch me in the nose again. Punch me in the nose again. By charging, by the banks being able to charge these gigantic fees.


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[Assistant] To the restaurant or retailer or whatever. Now they're gonna be able to make a choice. There are gonna be places that say, okay,


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[Assistant] It's worth it to us because we want those big money spenders, which tend to be people who pay for these big annual fee cards. They tend to be less price sensitive when they shop and they tend to buy more stuff. So we hate it, but we'll take them and we're not going to feed them. Or people may say, nope, nope, we're not going to take those.


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[Assistant] At the normal cost, we're going to charge the surcharge. So it means that you and I, when these start appearing, are going to have to pay attention. And we've seen this for a while with like, um, school websites or government websites where you go to pay a bill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it'll say, you know, you want to use this credit card, it's, you know, 2.7% or this one's 1.8 or whatever. So we've already experienced it some in our lives with online bill pays that we're paying for different things. But now it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, may migrate to being just part of routine everyday life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was in Australia in January and came back and talked about it and what I found was I'd get to a register and I'd look at the, the digital charges and that would control how I paid for something, what form of payment I used, which card I used and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There will be other business models that emerge. It's not beyond reason that we might have big retailers that come out with their own payment platform.


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[Assistant] That Amazon, in addition to having the Amazon card and Walmart having their Walmart credit card, they may have some kind of payment portal that you can pay to them and avoid fees.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These are the kind of things that if you let the free market work, you let experimentation come forward, who knows where it's going to play.


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[Assistant] Are mileage plus points, advantage points, delta sky miles points, are they actually worth you paying extra for at the register? The answer is no.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, the only time it would even marginally be worth it is if you're close to a next level of whatever status and you just got to get there and you need to do a little more credit card charging to get to it. Maybe you can justify the cost against the benefit, but everyday use, no way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No way. You downgraded your airline card, didn't you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wait, wait, wait. Steve is upset that they're saving 29%? Yea. Steve! Steve!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wait, wait, wait, let me start with this. The average amount the average American is saving is like cents of every dollar and you're saving 29. You got nothing to feel guilty about no matter what Christa is going to say next. What are you going to say next?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, first things first, let me go back to basics. That you're saving 29% and you're gonna cut it all the way down to 25%. You got so much to be proud of, I don't even know where to start. You got two little kids and you're still living on 75% of your pay and saving 25%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And create financial opportunity for you. You're able to retire. What age again? 45. 45.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would you take from the, it would really be from


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The 401k has to stay like it is because you want to pick up all the match. So the Roth IRA might be on the table.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your 13 grand to the 457B might be on the table. The HSA not on the table. That HSA money is way too valuable. You got current tax deduction.


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[Assistant] You get to spend the money tax free and tax free. HSA absolutely can't touch it. So how do you decide?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Between reducing the Roth IRA contributions and reducing the 457B.


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[Assistant] I guess I would say the most important way to make that decision is does the 457B have higher management costs?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or does the Roth IRA have higher management costs?


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[Assistant] Whichever is the lowest you want to leave in management costs, you want to leave as much in place as possible and pull from the other, even with your ability to pull penalty free at 45.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'd say you could live to 90 or older. And so you've got a long time in front of you. You have to find.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I wouldn't go strictly based on the fact that one you're going to withdraw from at 55, the other at 45. I'd reduce the amount of contribution to whichever has the higher management fee that you have to absorb.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, but this is for the next few years and already doing so much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Almost always and not based on it being local or long distance. Cause your personal auto insurance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you need to call your automobile insurer in lane, lane and find out what is the maximum length truck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you can rent. With my insurance, I think it's a 12 foot or less I can have covered by my own auto insurance, but bigger than that is not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And covers the liability of you driving the vehicle. And


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As long as you're okay with the length truck. I had something recently where I went to get a rental truck for the day and I had booked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By my auto insurance. So I had to wait for a smaller truck to be available.


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[Assistant] And they did swerve in front of it. They were, they were in a lane. They were supposed to go straight. They decided that the last second they were just gonna hang a left.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right in the path of the Sienna, BAM!


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[Assistant] Oh, stop right there because that's important. Insurers will lowball you when they say they're going to total out. They will lowball you on what your vehicle's worth. It's not all unusual for them to come in about 30% below the actual fair market value of the vehicle. I can't run the math that quick to see


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, 77 to 56. Yes you can. That's like 30%. And you ran them out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean the dash cam thing, we just talked about it again on the dash cam, how valuable it is. And they're as cheap as 10 bucks to buy one on amazon.com, walmart.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, you gotta buy, uh, usually the $10, $20 ones, you gotta buy, uh, micro SD card, usually, or an SD card. Those are really cheap now. And they record, they do continuous loop recording. You're in an accident, you have the proof. Uhm, let's hope you're not finding proof that you were at fault.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But so often people have amnesia about what they might have done wrong. And the dash cams are great. And we told the story before, Krista, about you and the wreck where somebody claimed it was your fault.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then the police officer watched the dash cam video that's built into the Tesla. You don't have to add separate camera. And the officer said, that's the clearest video I've ever seen. And then wrote the other person the ticket is being at fault. It was true serum. It was great. Alright, so I'm so glad


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You had the strategies, you knew everything to fight your battle with the insurance company and you won and you won and you won all the way around. Now, the repair on the Sienna was great and that your wife can drive it for many, many years to come. Coming up ahead,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You could spend the kind of money you're talking about just buying a new television going into Best Buy or Sam's Club or Costco or wherever you see TVs. I'm going to tell you why you don't want to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Little, uh, libraries, not for books. You know how you'll see these free take one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now people are doing the same thing they call blockbuster libraries and they put


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Old DVDs into these that they're not interested anymore. And you come and you get a DVD and you leave others in there and all that. And why are people going back to an ancient technology? And by the way, when I read a story about these blockbuster libraries,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I went online at retailers to see how hard it was to find a new DVD player. It's not hard at all. Now there's 25 bucks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The reason people are doing it is you buy this fancy new TV and the video quality of streaming is so bad. So you go into the store.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't care what store it is, and they have the TVs on display, and they're all on these closed circuit things. Probably running from DVD players. And the pictures look crazy great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you look at the latest LG, the latest Samsung, the latest Sony, the three, uh, were considered to be the premier brands and you look at them and you're like, wow, wow, look at that. I got to get one of those and see you got one of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you get home, you plug it in, you hook it up to your wifi in your home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you start loading your streaming products, whether it's Netflix or Hulu or Pluto or whatever it is. And you add those in and then you start watching video and you're like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause you saw this demo thing on the LG or the Samsung or the Sony and you get home and it's like, where's that picture? You're not going to get it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because that picture requires perfection and video source that you're not gonna have the way we watch content today. Uh, it doesn't matter what it is except the only way you might get that picture


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As if you have an antenna hooked up to your TV and you're pulling the, uh, HD or 4K signal from your local television stations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you'll see what that TV can do somewhat like what you see in the store. But most of us, most of the time, we're watching streams.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whether they're, uh, fast, you know, the free ad-supported TV, the free streams, or we're watching whatever it is, something like YouTube TV, or Fubo, or a sling, or whatever. Bringing in traditional kind of cable fare.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But whatever it is, you're not seeing the picture you see in the store. So, do not abuse your wallet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do not fall for those demo videos in the store.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Buy the cheapest rock gut TV you can get in the screen size you want. Whether it's, uh, 40 inch, 50 inch, 55, 65, 75, 98, 85, 110. Sounds like I'm a quarterback calling out signals. Ike!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But again, nothing like you see in the store. Period. I know you bought one of those.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If, if I can buy, like right now, you can buy a 75 inch TV for $499 or you can pay many, many thousands of dollars.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They, it's always nature. You know, they'll have the mountains and they'll have the streams and the sky and they'll have a close up of some kind of little animal, you know, and it just like.


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[Assistant] And so I, you know, I could see on my cheap TV, I could see the beads of sweat, I could see the individual blades of grass, and as soon as football was over, I discontinued the 4K.


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[Assistant] Okay, wonderful. Alright, so Sherrilyn, smart meters can be anywhere from just one that can be read remotely and saves them a lot of money on labor costs not having to come read it to ones that do time of use power. So you pay


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[Assistant] Two to seven in the afternoon, they charge you like five times the bill, two times the bill, whatever, per kilowatt. Uh, overnight they might make power nearly free and all that. Time of use is something that power companies


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[Assistant] All love in it is, even though you're in a regulated utility area of Texas, most of the state, as you know, is deregulated.


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[Assistant] And everything is about what's the cost based on peak. You know, how much more is it when there's a heat wave in the afternoon? How much less is it other times? And so this is definitely where power is going.


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[Assistant] And I would say instead of a generator, to reduce use during a peak time.


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[Assistant] Because you're in Texas, which is one of the most favorable places in America for solar, instead of spending


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[Assistant] A couple of solar panels or five solar panels or whatever it is that you can put in, they would not be that expensive or as an alternative.


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[Assistant] You could put in, instead of, uhm, a generator, where you're gonna be running potentially on natural gas or propane, you could put in, uh, battery wall kind of stuff, where you store extra power if they go to time of day use.


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[Assistant] When you're overnight, when power is extra cheap, fill up the battery packs and then each day when power is at maximum price per kilowatt, you then run off those batteries and it could end up saving you a lot of money. There are ways to handle this and if you go to full


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[Assistant] Uh, mandatory time of use, it forces you to do laundry at times and all kinds of things to avoid those peak periods where they're charging so much more money for power.


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[Assistant] It's amazingly easy. I have one because of how much I travel and rent cars overseas.


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[Assistant] And I just went to a AAA office and they do them at most AAAs for members or non-members. It takes just a couple of minutes and uhm, costs very little money.


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[Assistant] And I have never once been asked to show it.


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[Assistant] In any circumstance, but I have it in my backpack just in case someday I get to the car rental counter and they say we want to see your international driver's license or I have an unfriendly meeting with


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[Assistant] The police overseas and they want to see the international driver's license. I'll have it.


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[Assistant] But uhm, it's not big hassle to get one and likely something you'll never have to show.


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[Assistant] First step, but he's got several more to go through.


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[Assistant] But the problem now is that airlines have learned how to fill to virtually every seat on a plane. So pass riders end up


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[Assistant] Left behind, sitting at the gate again and again and again.


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[Assistant] Because the airlines have so figured out with computer modeling how to get most planes we fly on 100% full.


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[Assistant] So yeaah, at one time it would have been like the greatest thing ever.


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[Assistant] I would just be able to go everywhere with my wife and pay just small junk fees.


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[Assistant] Even when our son is flying, for whoever he's flying with.


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[Assistant] Have an absolutely great day. Remember we were about you learning ways to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.


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[Assistant] Okay, uhm, in, so they're saving 29% of their gross income in various retirement vehicles. We want to reduce our savings rate to 25%.


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[Assistant] My wife works in IT full time. I'm a firefighter and work 24 hour shifts. On my days off, I watch our two toddlers to save money on the crazy high daycare expenses. Currently, our boys go to daycare twice a week.


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[Assistant] Anyway, what is the most optional way, the best way to reduce our current retirement contributions? And then he lists, my wife contributes to her 401k up to the 6% company match. We both max out Roth IRAs. I contribute 13,000 to my 457B. I can retire in 10 years and start pulling from it penalty free at 45.


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[Assistant] Elaine in Florida says when renting a U-Haul truck for a local move, do you need to take out the insurance?


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[Assistant] Alright, so this is a show and tell. Uhm, Joe in Florida sent this video that goes along with his question, so I'm gonna show you a quick clip from it. It's dash cam video.


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[Assistant] He says someone swerved in front of my wife's 2010 Sienna.


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[Assistant] Yes, we have a dash cam thanks to your recommendation which fully proves the other person was at fault. Definitely, clearly. We filed a third party claim with their insurance and they accepted 100% liability. Originally the estimate was $5,600 to repair and they valued the van at $4,500 therefore it's totaled.


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[Assistant] I fought their valuation with comparable ones and got the valuation up to $7700. Woohoo!


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[Assistant] That's okay, no, no, no, no. Okay, so got up to $7,700 and he says woohoo, but the car was still totaled. We got a second opinion for the repairs that came in at $3,400, so now the car went from total to being fixed, another woohoo.


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[Assistant] They gave us $843, about 11% as a cash payment. My wife loves her 2010 Toyota Sienna, and since it could be fixed, we fought hard to get it fixed. All the knowledge I've learned from Team Clark over the last 25 plus years is invaluable to fall back on him. Always saying, on Clark Howard, they said.


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[Assistant] Alright, Cheryl Lynn in Texas says, I'm a fairly new listener, six to seven months, but I've learned a lot listening on my daily morning drive. Welcome. Welcome to this Clark squad, as I like to call it.


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[Assistant] We live in a part of Texas where we do not have a choice of utility providers. We've been notified the utility company is switching to smart meters.


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[Assistant] We are considering opting out, but that's $166 charge plus $16 a month to two so, and we have two meters on our property. There are definitely mixed reviews on smart meters, mainly some who say it gives the utility company control over your energy usage, but don't they have that anyway?


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[Assistant] Others say smart meters might seem cheaper now, but just wait a few years and your energy costs will increase. We live outside the city limits on a small acreage.


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[Assistant] And if we go with the smart meter because we don't want to pay the fee to opt out, would it be in our best interest to consider a backup generator? Just trying to make the best decision before they show up to switch the meter.


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[Assistant] In August, and I need to get an international driver's license. Could you please help describe how I would go about getting an international driver's license is a bit con- I want to make sure I don't get scammed.


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[Assistant] Joanne in Virginia says you said your son is going to be a pilot for the airlines. Doesn't that mean you and your wife can fly for free on that airline?


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[Assistant] Lisa has been in my life, my entire life and they, it's edit three, but she's been my entire memory.


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[Assistant] I just would watch her and I watched her growing up, like she was the mom or that dream that you have to have a single.


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[Assistant] Not a single home, excuse me, a double parent home to where she loved like,


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[Assistant] They, it's because it's, if it was before that date, it's not considered theft, so there's no disputing it. But since it was after the date of their death, I provided a death certificate.


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[Assistant] With Mr. Guy is, uhm, his remains have been dismembered. The arms have been removed at the shoulders. The legs have been removed at the hips.


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[Assistant] Skin remaining primarily on the back of Mr. Guy, approximately from his lower neck around his buttocks, and the remainder of the skin was gone.


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[Assistant] The remainder of the skin had been dissolved by chemicals, and with the skin being gone, it basically exposed bare muscle in some of the subcutaneous tissue.


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[Assistant] Uh, so, you know, even some of the arms, uh, Mr. Guy's arms were down to bone and some of the bone had begun to dissolve. There could have been more wounds. So the numbers of wounds that I give is an at least number.


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[Assistant] Associated with these stab wounds identified injuries to the liver, lungs, and kidneys and ribs. Again,


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[Assistant] There likely was more, uh, because of the dismemberment process.


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[Assistant] And her legs were disarticulated at the knees. So in comparison to Mr. Guy who had his legs disarticulated at the hips, Mrs. Guy's legs were


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[Assistant] Uhm, compared to her front where there was almost no skin left, uhm,


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[Assistant] Uh, thoracic vertebra, so a bone in the spine also appear to be injured.


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[Assistant] She also had five stab wounds that were relatively superficial on her buttock as well.


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[Assistant] Feels like a fully-fledged queen. She has the heir to the king, but she also shares that with Rhaenyra Targaryen, who she has a huge amount of resent for, because that resent has just snowballed over the past ten years.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well they both hold completely different ideologies in terms of how to rule a kingdom. And those two do not.


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[Assistant] And, you know, I think there's a lot of jealousy there for Alison. You're constantly having to look at someone who represents


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[Assistant] Completely, she's been so indoctrinated by her father, Otto Hightower, the previous hand to the king.


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[Assistant] And it's not until later episodes where Alison remotely begins to question that authority.


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[Assistant] Also, she's starting to believe that her son is the rightful heir to the throne. You know, his namesake, Aegon the Conqueror. It just feels like this is the path that history should take.


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[Assistant] And not Reneera and her conduct and her illegitimate children. That is so stark. I mean, it's so obvious. But you know, they, they all live in this like, they all live in this cloud. They're so shrouded by what's already been written in stone that they won't see the truth of the matter.


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[Assistant] And Renea is that to them. And from that point of just such pure hatred and mutual hurt and heartbreak, things do flourish.


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[Assistant] Just absolutely devastated. And so, you know, that was the genesis of this.


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[Assistant] No, those friendships just seem so...


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[Assistant] Raw, with just raw emotion that you just can't, you don't have a handle on because literally your frontal lobe hasn't closed yet.


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[Assistant] I think she's got a genuine love for Viserys. I think a fondness and a love has really grown. But I think that's also because they have these children. But also, Allison is almost like a primary caretaker for Viserys now in his various ailments. But I don't know if she respects him.


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[Assistant] It just feels like she was backed into a corner for so long. She's also been emboldened by Laris and Kristen Cole, her allies, who they're hermetically sealed in their


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[Assistant] Of that being treason for what I'm saying or what my boys have said. I think that's just when she just breaks. It's just piled on top of her for so long.


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[Assistant] I don't even think she realises she's grabbed the knife and is chasing towards Rhaenyra until she slices her. I don't think, it's just pure id at that point, an adrenaline.


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[Assistant] And then, yeaah, the huge amount of guilt and confusion and sorrow for what she's just done and the disgust at what she realises that she's now capable of. Which, you know, daddy loves.


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[Assistant] Uh, how much power she wields with these men. And I think with Laris, when they had that discussion in episode six, towards the end about Rhaenyra and my father and the current hand, I think she's pushing boundaries. I think she's saying things and seeing what sticks with Laris.


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[Assistant] Don't think she ever thinks he's then gonna murder his family to show his loyalty or to further his position in the kingdom. I don't think...


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[Assistant] She thinks he's capable of that. Of course, I think she's like, you know, seeing who she's got on side and seeing what people can do for her. And then after that, in episode seven, she realizes like, oh my god, the power that she holds and also,


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[Assistant] I think she thinks she has the best ideas, she's learnt from the best, she's learnt from her father.


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[Assistant] She knows how to wield power and she's very adept at the goings on of the core and the kingdom. She's been around it since she was a baby.


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[Assistant] And because Rhaenyra is an extension of Viserys and represents pure Targaryen fire,


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[Assistant] How do you become a mother when you've not got a mother yourself and no one's parenting you?


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[Assistant] And I just think that as her children grow up, and as she grows up with them,


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[Assistant] That relationship has been severed from the beginning and she's trying to bridge the gap with them. She's trying with Helena to comfort her but Helena doesn't want to be touched and she doesn't understand why that her favorite daughter someone who she probably longed for a daughter.


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[Assistant] To try and impose like a motherly daughter relationship that she never had.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and it's divide and conquer as well, they, you know, Renea and Alison would have been much stronger together, but this patriarchal system was hell-bent on just going like that. No.


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[Assistant] It's a massive shame because they are the two most worthy and the two most intelligent people, I think, in the kingdom. Daemon as well, but he's just a...


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[Assistant] No way. And at that point she really trusts her dad and then she thinks her dad's looking out for her. And I'm sure it was sold to her like,


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[Assistant] So yeaah, I mean, probably was sold to her as the best option. Right. For a woman.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I have to, I must put that online because it is... Oh, the video? ... hysterical.


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[Assistant] Yes, please. Yeah. So we've just found out that all the boys were getting to go on these bloody horse riding lessons and we were like, uhm, we want to go on the horse riding lessons as well. Even though, I mean, Emma rides a dragon and I sit in a carriage. But so we're just like, if the boys are having it, we want it as well. I was given


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[Assistant] The tallest, thickest horse called Doomey.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it was great. Also, like, Emma and I didn't really know each other that well.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't know, it felt weird to be like, by the way, I'm doing, I'm doing this, so you should follow through.


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[Assistant] Alison is trying to do what she thinks is the best and most morally sound for her particular ideologies of how a kingdom should be run. And so with that, since the attack, she's been trying to


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[Assistant] Be the consummate queen and be as respectful to Rhaenyra and Daemon as well and in her own ways trying to make amends until that's no longer a viable option.


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[Assistant] And Alice and both are trying to put Viserys first in this instance. And for the sake of him, trying to re-bond a broken family. And what's amazing about Fire and Blood is that


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[Assistant] You know, we've got all these differing accounts of what happened, and Ryan and Miguel have really been able to like, flesh the fuck out of whatever they wanted, and it's so, so exciting. Because it's just, you know, it's Game of Thrones like,


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[Assistant] In the book, it might be a bit more black and white, but it's just not in reality.


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[Assistant] Yeah, cause I feel like, I mean, I'm incredibly biased, but I think they both supplement each other quite well. It's really fun. I've been going back to the book because of season two and just refreshing my mind with it all. And I'm just like, oh yeah, like it's just, it's like reading someone's diary.


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[Assistant] Emma puts it brilliantly and I wish Emma was here because they're so eloquent and they're much better at this than I am. But you have to have a love that you can set fire to. Oof. Because without that it doesn't make sense. That's beautiful. That was Emma. That was all Emma.


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[Assistant] I know these two characters get compared to each other a lot, and I do think they're very different, but Cersei, mmhm, not a very nice person.


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[Assistant] Yeah, she seems a bit more unhinged, at least so far. But she loved her children. She did. So much. And that motherly instinct, I think we can all really relate to, or that instinct to nurture, no matter who it is.


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[Assistant] I mean, I was a kid at the time, so I don't know what happened behind closed doors, but uhm, I know they didn't talk for a good period of time.


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[Assistant] You talk up 2% back credit cards, but as a guard member, how do you not mention PenFed's Power Cash card? It's 2% back if you're an active duty veteran or retiree, or you simply have a checking account with them. Plus, they have a cash bonus and 0% period as well, Robert.


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[Assistant] I enjoy the show, but your comments to the person who has two rental properties worth $400,000 each missed the mark.


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[Assistant] You referred to the rent to market value ratio using that old 1% rule. That is, a property worth $400,000 should rent for about 1% of that, so $4,000.


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[Assistant] Clark, please stop saying you can't afford things like a $25 shirt.


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[Assistant] You're a wealthy man, which you readily admit. It's not that you can't afford a $25 shirt, it's that you don't want to spend $25 on a shirt because you are thrifty and frugal. For a wealthy man to claim to not be able to afford low-cost items could be seen as out of touch to those who are truly needy and can't afford the basics in life.


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[Assistant] I know you're very generous and grateful for the life you have. Your choice of words just makes it sound like you're pretending to be poor.


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[Assistant] I remember when your kids were little and I can't remember which one it was. It might have been Steffi who said, we can't afford that about something. And you both, your kids are all, I didn't see Rebecca when she was a little kid, but your other two that I did see as little kids called the Dollar Tree, the toy store. You had them convinced that that was the toy store and they could pick out one, one dollar toy.


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[Assistant] You walk the walk, I love it. Alright, here's the next one. Seriously, how can you advise your listeners to choose an insurance adjuster estimate over a roofer? Clearly you never had to replace a roof or had to file an insurance claim for anything. I think the word is low ball, Irene.


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[Assistant] You frequently talk about small business retirement plans, but don't seem to understand the simple IRA.


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[Assistant] Please educate yourself on this awesome plan. For example, Fidelity offers this plan free of charge and employees can defer up to $16,000 and there's a $3,000 catch up for folks over 50. The Simple is the right solution for small businesses with employee.


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[Assistant] The SEP requires company contributions for all employees at the same rate as the owner. The Simple doesn't have this requirement, making it a superior choice for businesses with employees. Jim.


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[Assistant] Your new stance on utility grade solar has me stumped. You noted that utility companies now love solar and it's their cheapest way of generating power. I've seen these 200 to 1000 acre solar farms where they ripped out all the trees and forests to plant solar panels. Yet my electricity rates continue to climb each year.


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[Assistant] That people cannot get decent payback period, a decent payback period anymore, yet just a few months ago you said that solar panels have dropped in price to their lowest prices ever. Why would we want to destroy pristine forests when we have empty rooftops that could allow us to generate our own power?


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[Assistant] At that point, we could control our own power rates and the monopoly utility companies become a non-issue for us.


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[Assistant] You've said that you have solar on your own properties and you finally had me convinced to do so on my properties, but now somehow you're saying we should just wait and trust the power companies to charge us for their almost no cost solar power? Clark, what? Michael.


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[Assistant] Dear Clark Stinkaton, you often mention the massive fees associated with the investment arm of a bank. I have some investments at Wells Fargo. I can hear you groan as Krista reads this to you.


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[Assistant] I pay 1% assets under management. Don't continue to stink by saying I'm paying massive fees without explaining what those fees are. Please help me investigate what massive fees I might be paying. I think they're kind of making fun of you saying that.


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[Assistant] You're enthusiastic. If I find that I am, I will move my money to one of your three favorites. By the way, if this is read on your podcast, please say hello to my friend Jackie. She's a huge fan. Thank you for all you do, Bill.


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[Assistant] Travel was just a carry on for a ten day to two week trip? No wonder you stink. I'm a large man who wears double X shirts. I have...


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[Assistant] A 46 inch waist and pants and I need a bag bigger than a carry on just to pack my clothing. I need a clean shirt every day and I change my pants at least every three days more often in warmer climates. It goes without saying that I change my underwear and socks daily. How do you stay clean and keep the stink off when you travel with only a carry on?


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[Assistant] You know what I just recently did? Uhm, I was on a long trip, well part of it was our staff trip, but I also went before on another trip. So what I did was I, I checked my hotel's laundry service and one pair of like yoga pants was gonna be, I think it was 24 euros to clean.


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[Assistant] So I went, I found, I looked at reviews on Google and I walked, you know, like a mile to a laundromat that was well reviewed, wash and fold. I did a huge, like all my clothes that I had been wearing for a week and a half.


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[Assistant] And the total I paid was 22 euros and they folded them. They did a great job. And so I do do laundry when I'm on a trip like that. It just, I can't do it. I cannot hack it with a carry-on. So that's another option.


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[Assistant] If you think about it, I've done that in different places around the world. I did laundry in Thailand one time. Like I, I find the wash and folds and they're much cheaper than the hotel.


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[Assistant] Okay, and then Steve also wrote about doing the space bags to uhm,


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[Assistant] To do the carry on like you said, and he said, I use space bags to pack my carry on. Hint, if you don't have access to a vacuum, zip the bag about three quarters closed, then gently sit on it while seated, zip the bag the rest of the way, and voila.


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[Assistant] Also, when walking into my local Costco yesterday, the bouncer, as I like to call him, noticed I was obeying a certain Clark shopping rule and asked me if I wanted a cart. I thought, what would Clark say about that? Again, that's from Steve.


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[Assistant] Well it's pretty hard to carry the paper towels and toilet paper on your own without a card.


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[Assistant] And now I'm giving them the salmon one, salmon and sweet potato, which they love.


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[Assistant] Okay, we've got a question. Sam in Ohio says, my wife and I are both in our 40s. I work and have a SEP IRA funded completely by my employer at $20,000 a year. My wife does not work. Are we eligible for traditional and Roth IRAs? Our income is under $200,000 a year.


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[Assistant] I went to do that at two different banks including Capital One who have done the same within the past but now they only pre-qualify you if you purchase a car through the online bank's car buying service.


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[Assistant] And even then the rates were the same or worse than dealer manufacturer rates. Is it time to update the online guidance?


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[Assistant] I thought about using the money to start a new 529 account with her as the beneficiary that she can convert into a Roth in 15 years or if she chooses to have children of her own utilized for college savings for her children. I'd love to get your thoughts on these ideas or any alternative recommendations you might have. Thanks, Josh.


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[Assistant] Alright, we'll go to questions. Justin and Georgia wrote, My wife and I are both on high deductible health savings accounts as it is the most economical option. We contribute about $8,000 a year to an HSA as we qualify for the family contribution limit. Soon we will be adopting two siblings out of the foster care system.


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[Assistant] Even after adoption, they will be provided Medicaid from the state as former foster children. Will we still be eligible to contribute the family contribution limit to our HSA now that we will have family who are not on HDHP? Also, thank you for all you do for foster children.


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[Assistant] Andrea in Colorado says I'm 42 and work for a small employer that doesn't offer a 401k plan. My income is also above the limits to contribute to a Roth IRA. How should I best save for retirement? Will the government ever offer a universal 401k program that isn't tied to your employer?


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[Assistant] And don't we have information, I think we might have information on Clark.com about small business 401ks, like recently I think you talked about how there are new ways for small businesses to access.


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[Assistant] Tammy in Georgia says, I've recently noticed that when I call for a one time problem solve type of service, like a locksmith, exterminator, appliance repair,


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[Assistant] Even though I try to identify and call local company, the service doesn't come from a local company.


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[Assistant] Further, it appears to be the norm that they are making websites intended to look like I am contacting a local company.


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[Assistant] The reason it bothers me is I don't know who I'm getting the service from, and I have no idea who I'm talking to and if I can reach them after, especially if something goes wrong.


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[Assistant] These situations are usually personal, like fixing my washing machine in my home, cutting my son's bike lock off on his campus. I don't want to send some stranger from a phone call to help my son at night.


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[Assistant] I've also encountered that there were businesses that were local, they've been bought by this bigger change, they'll keep the local name, but when you call, you're getting the national company, like Exterminators for example, so many of those have been purchased.


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah. Romance your employees and they will romance the, yeaah. That's very important.


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[Assistant] Alright, we'll go to some questions. Sam in Ohio says, I've not heard any discussion about municipal bonds recently. Are they a good investment to avoid federal taxes or not worth it?


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[Assistant] Joseph in Texas says two years ago I moved, cancelled a credit card after a fraudulent charge, but had that card on file at a local gym.


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[Assistant] Alright, now Mark in Wisconsin has a tip for you. He says, I heard on a prior podcast your Aura ring battery is not holding a charge any longer. Before you buy a new one, contact Aura. My girlfriend and her sister had the same problem and they both got new rings. Aura responded in hours to the email and sent it out the next day. Fantastic customer service.


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[Assistant] Uhm, it's usually like five or six, I think.


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[Assistant] Uhm, it's definitely shown me how little I sleep, and my sleep has definitely gotten better. I've been really cognizant of, like, it warns you, like, you gotta rest and relax now, so I've been getting better about it for sure.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you and empower you with knowledge that helps you make better financial decisions in your life.


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[Assistant] And in this episode, I'm going to address something starting with a question because we've had so many questions from people who were hearing this stuff and seeing this stuff about how 401ks are going away or the federal government's going to take our money and all that. I'm going to address that. And also,


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[Assistant] The airlines have decided that they want to charge you as much or more sometimes to check your bag as what it is for you to fly. Well, at least it would be great affairs with that cheap.


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[Assistant] And I want to make sure you know what's happening before you get to the airport. So Christo, let's.


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[Assistant] So Kevin, there's a lot of rumors that with how short of money Medicare and Social Security are, that the feds are just gonna swoop in


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[Assistant] And steal the money from you, as has actually happened in a lot of developing countries, uh, or less developed countries, what we used to call third world countries. And the rule of law in the United States,


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[Assistant] The idea, and there are a lot of scare lines, that's what I call headlines like this, that draw eyeballs.


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[Assistant] There are a lot of headlines out there, scare lines, saying that the 401k is going away. There are the things saying the 401k money you have is gonna evaporate, that the feds are gonna run off with it. All these things.


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[Assistant] So, they're not gonna run off with your 401k, but the odds that traditional 401ks, traditional IRAs will cease to exist, the odds of that


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[Assistant] The tax deferred really. Because everything in a traditional 401k, everything in a traditional IRA.


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[Assistant] Everything you pull out is taxed later on. There's no incentive for the federal government to seize those funds because it's a tax time bomb for people who are in a traditional 401k or traditional IRA anyway because every dollar in there, including everything that's earned, is ultimately taxed.


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[Assistant] Why would the feds though go to a system where it's all the equivalent of Roth?


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[Assistant] The benefits of a traditional 401k and


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[Assistant] Uh, traditional IRA are overwhelmingly tilted towards the highest income earners in the country. They get the big upfront tax benefit. Most taxpayers don't see a meaningful tax benefit upfront.


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[Assistant] From doing an IRA or a 401k. At the same time, the government is starved for the funds today.


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[Assistant] To pay for the deficits today in Social Security and Medicare and there is no, they call it the trust funds, there's really not, it's an accounting gimmick.


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[Assistant] So the government needs to, uh, unfortunately, tax us more for Medicare or Social Security or cut the benefits or a combination of the two. And one of the ways it's a backdoor tax increase, at least for now, is to eliminate


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[Assistant] Traditional 401ks and traditional IRAs. So I think that will happen. That will happen. But it doesn't mean the money in one will be stolen by the government.


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[Assistant] Instead, regardless of what you make at a workplace, you'll only have option to do a Roth 401k.


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[Assistant] If you're income eligible and the income limits may change, you know, if they do away with traditionals, you'd be eligible to do a Roth IRA either or in addition to


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[Assistant] When would any of this stuff happen? Well, congress can't even pass, uh,


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[Assistant] Non-controversial things right now. And until we have a non-dysfunctional congress.


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[Assistant] No changes like this would happen anyway, but I think it's likely it will happen potentially later this decade.


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[Assistant] Uhm, it is a standard procedure and it's one of these cases where giving your social security number, let's start with that first, is considered to be a legitimate business purpose because if you are someone who routinely buys and sells tickets and you're making money from it, uh, ultimately


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[Assistant] They have to report to the IRS and that's how the IRS knows you're running a ticket business.


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[Assistant] They don't want to pay merchant fees to pay you for the tickets they sell. And that's why you have to give them the, uhm,


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[Assistant] And you can use that account to receive the funds so you don't have to worry that your regular checking account is at risk.


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[Assistant] He said, so you tell me I can't use Big Bad Zelle, but it's the only way I can pay my rent. And now you got me all terrified. And I explained how you set up a separate checking account, not with the financial institution you have your banking with, with another one, preferably with an online bank because there's no fees.


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[Assistant] And you pay your rent through Zelle with it so that you don't put all your money at risk because of all the security problems.


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[Assistant] That exists with Zelle. You don't want to have it attached to your regular bank account where you could lose everything in there and if you have overdraft you could lose that money too. Because even the new protections that come with Big Bad Zelle


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[Assistant] Have not relieved the risk overall to consumers using Zelle.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. I mean you live in one of the most expensive metro areas in the United States. Washington DC, the metro area DC. Uhm, if you want to know what housing costs are going to be in much of the rest of the country in like 30 years, go see what it costs to live in the DC metro area. You'll feel like you're in


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[Assistant] Uh, southern or northern California. So, uh, you're obviously someone who has enormous discipline in how you handle money. So, uh, one thing


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[Assistant] You didn't say that you are leaving any money available for leisure, fun, adventure, travel, whatever. You are doing so well with money, I don't want everything to be about saving every last penny.


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[Assistant] You deserve a reward because you've been so disciplined about paying on your student loans. You paid for, uh, 10, 20, 25 years, whatever it is to qualify for the federal loan forgiveness of the remaining balance. So now suddenly you're going to have 8,400 bucks a year extra.


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[Assistant] Put some money, since you're such a diligent saver, open another savings account that's for saving for fun. You want to do, or putting money towards if you have a car, a lot of people in the DC metro area don't have a car.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but if you do have a car, start putting money aside to buy your next newer used vehicle. Uhm, if you are going to do more though, just


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[Assistant] With net money you don't need for any of those things.


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[Assistant] I would add more to your investment account, not more to savings. The 750 extra every month you're paying towards your mortgage, I'd rather you put that 9,000 a year into your investment account where it's diversified across a variety of index funds.


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[Assistant] So that you are outrunning inflation long term. Savings accounts will not outrun inflation over time and the tax treatment of savings accounts is bad, ugly, where the tax treatment of investments is much more favorable. So over time,


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[Assistant] Good years and bad years, you'll have the bad years. You'll out earn significantly what you can earn in a savings account and the earnings will be taxed much more favorably. So I'm giving you a mixed message. Make sure you're putting some money aside for your enjoyment today and in the near future because you're already saving so much money.


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[Assistant] And if there is more excess savings, I want you investing it.


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[Assistant] Not saving it, because you already have such a big rainy day account.


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[Assistant] Coming up ahead, if you do take me up on this and you decide to take a trip somewhere, know the airlines are going to try to separate you from your wallet with


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[Assistant] Travel writers, travel bloggers, people who do travel on YouTube, everywhere you look over the last week and a half, two weeks.


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[Assistant] They're all doing videos about why they only travel with a carry-on bag. And then what followed is I saw a number of stories about what is the best carry-on bag to use.


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[Assistant] And there was one headline I saw, how to pack for a two week trip with one small suitcase. And so you talk to anybody who travels regularly and you'll hear one thing consistently.


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[Assistant] That they never, never, never, not ever check a bag.


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[Assistant] I travel no matter how long I'm going away, one small carry on bag of the dimensions I'm allowed to take. 22 by 14 by 8 or 10, I forgot.


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[Assistant] Carry on bag. And as I shared recently from a question from a podcast, I use the Sam's club members, Mark.


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[Assistant] Carry on suitcase. It's 89 dollars.


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[Assistant] And it is a phenomenal carry-on suitcase. And a lot of these articles I saw, people are talking about carry-on suitcases that are $1200, $750. I mean, just incredibly expensive suitcases. And I'm like, are you going to a fashion show for luggage? I mean, the, the Sam's Club,


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[Assistant] Members mark suitcase has supplanted my old worn out


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[Assistant] Costco Kirkland signature carry on. They don't sell for now a Kirkland signature carry on. But the reality is you learn to pack.


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[Assistant] In a way that, that works. I'm going on a 12 day trip soon and I've got everything


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[Assistant] Thought out in my head to get it all in one carry-on suitcase with my backpack as well.


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[Assistant] And I'll be fine. And I won't smell. I promise.


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[Assistant] A shower and I'll have enough clean clothes to get through the time because the baggage fees are depending on the circumstance, they're 35, 40, 45 bucks for a single check bag.


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[Assistant] And if you have a second check bag, it bumps up from there to a higher cost. And this JetBlue


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[Assistant] American, United, uh, Alaska. I'm trying to remember who else raised the bag fee. But it's pretty much across the board except for Southwest, where bags fly free. And, uh,


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[Assistant] Large check baggage size bags. They were like, some of them were 40 bucks, some were 50, very low quality.


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[Assistant] Flying across the country. And so we were able to move 300 pounds of stuff.


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[Assistant] Across the country for free with Southwest. Now also if you are


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[Assistant] Uh, customer of one of the full-fare airlines, American United or Delta, uh, some of the other airlines do this as well. If you have their annual fee credit cards,


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[Assistant] You will get one free check bag each time you fly.


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[Assistant] And so that will make the lowest tier usually is a hundred bucks.


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[Assistant] From one of the airlines, if you regularly fly a full-fare airline and you...


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[Assistant] Think I'm nuts with the carry-on and you want to check a bag. You can.


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[Assistant] Uhm, get their lowest tier credit card that qualifies for a free bag.


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[Assistant] And you'll make back the money pretty quickly because depending on the airline and the card.


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[Assistant] It may qualify for everybody on the reservation that you paid with that airline card. So each of you would get one free check bag, which would save, I mean, think about two people going that's 160 bucks or so you'll save.


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[Assistant] On one round trip with each of you having a check back.


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[Assistant] As a family, and a lot of the cruises have formal nights. And so then you're having to take a whole nother wardrobe. We don't go to the formal nights.


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[Assistant] On those nights we go to the, uh, cafeteria on the ship or a more casual place on the ship.


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[Assistant] That you don't have to dress up because the whole idea of being on vacay for me is not having to dress up. And I know there are people who love dressing up on a cruise and having all the pictures taken and all that. That means nothing to me. And if I have my bag with me, I know it's going to get to where I'm going. But if I check the bag,


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[Assistant] Many never to be reconnected with you. That's why I don't check a bag.


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[Assistant] And the first is the American Express Platinum.


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[Assistant] And it has a massive annual fee. It's $700, $695, if you want to be precise.


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[Assistant] And it's really designed for people who like, uh, fancy hotel rooms, who might want to sit in fancy seats on a plane, that kind of thing. So I, I don't recommend that for you unless you really like elite travel.


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[Assistant] Chase has, uh, two versions of the Sapphire.


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[Assistant] One is $95 a year and is considered to be the best bargain of travel cards for people who are traveling, want benefits, but don't want the full array of benefits. And then the second,


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[Assistant] It, from Chase, is the Sapphire Reserve, which is a 550 annual fee. I thought it was more, a 550 annual fee. And it,


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[Assistant] Capital One was a nightmare for you. The Capital One Venture X, what makes it such a great card is it has a cheaper annual fee, $395. They give you $300 in credit.


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[Assistant] So if you travel even just a few times a year, you can net zero costs with it and you get the lounges. But the big advantage of Venture X is you get two points for every dollar you charge base.


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[Assistant] And the others, the Amex and the, uh, chase cards, you only get one point.


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[Assistant] So, for each dollar charge. And you've used the Sapphire Reserve for years. Yeah. Love that card.


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[Assistant] So we have a write up for you if you want to see it on Clark.com of comparing the two chase cards to each other and to the other two, the Amex and the Capital One Venture X. And at some point, there's going to be another card that comes into the mix that really tries to hem in


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[Assistant] Cause these, these three issuers, Chase with the two, AMX and Capital One.


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[Assistant] Really dominate now the travel reward space for independents not tied into a specific airline.


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[Assistant] Well, I love cash back, but you know, as you said, you want to start getting.


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[Assistant] Travel in your life, and if you're going to travel regularly,


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[Assistant] That's when having one of these works. If you're not going to travel regularly, you just occasionally will pop out there and go somewhere. Then, uh, doing the Sapphire, uh, preferred or doing a simple cash back card as no annual fee would be usually my favorite because nobody tells you, oh,


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[Assistant] No seats are available using your points on that day. Your cash is good any day at 2% cash back.


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[Assistant] Until you pay the deposit upfront in thousands of dollars, they will not release a patient to another medical facility until whatever bill you've accumulated there is paid in cash. And the whole thing is just, just a horror. And


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[Assistant] So this goes to something that comes up probably five, six times a year. People will ask us about travel policies, going back to the cards we talked about the cards, the premium travel cards will help with a vac, but they won't pay the bills, but you can buy a travel


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[Assistant] A health travel insurance policy, if your own insurer will not pay for care outside the United States, some do, most don't.


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[Assistant] And so having one of these policies, if you travel frequently, you have an annual policy. If you travel infrequently, you can buy one for the specific trip that covers medevac, that covers medical bills outside the United States, uh, to an extent and


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[Assistant] Uh, it is, it is something that is rare, but when it happens, first you got the medical to deal with and financially as well, it can be life changing. So I appreciate you bringing this story to the table.


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[Assistant] And there unfortunately have been many marks out there who have ended up elsewhere in the world, ended up having an injury.


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[Assistant] Or an illness that requires medical care not adequately available where you need the care for an injury or illness and all these issues come to the fore.


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[Assistant] Lisa, I gotta thank you so much because somebody stopped me right after that podcast and said, why are you not using flip? So I downloaded it. It is awesome. I mean, I don't know if there's any.


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[Assistant] Uh, spying they're doing on me that's bad or whatever. Is it worth it? It is. Man, it's great. Like, look at this. See, I picked my favorite supermarkets and, uh, I'm able to see what they've got on sale. I'm able to search for specific items and see.


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[Assistant] I got, yeaah, I got Aldi, I got Lidl, I've got Dollar Tree, and I've got, uh, traditional supermarkets and Walmart here and all that. And it is such an incredible time saver. And thank you Lisa and all the others.


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[Assistant] Making it happen. You love the Clarkies thing.


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[Assistant] Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you for being of service to your fellow listener and viewer. This is, this is really great stuff. We all learn together. There's no way, I'm just a guy, there's no way one person


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[Assistant] Can have knowledge about all these different things and changes that happen and all that. And that's why it's so important. We're all there for each other.


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[Assistant] And remember what we're devoted to, that you learn ways to save more.


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[Assistant] Spend less, which is what flip is about, and avoid getting ripped off. Have a great rest of your day.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I was just


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[Assistant] Talking to my sister-in-law who loves our free daily newsletter. I guess she has to as my sister-in-law at least tell me she does, but she loves reading the Clark.com daily newsletter. And I was telling her about the Clark deals daily newsletter. They're both free.


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[Assistant] Replacement surgery, uh, robotically. It was called a TAVR in December. And it was really great.


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[Assistant] And the thing they told me is the most important thing for me to do to recover from.


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[Assistant] A valve replacement is walk and walk and walk. And I've been doing it.


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[Assistant] What was funny is my first, uh, thorough follow-up.


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[Assistant] And there's somebody following with a stopwatch and somebody following with a clipboard. And I'm like, what is going on? And then I saw something on CNN health that explained it and


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[Assistant] It is what's known as a gait test. G-A-I-T.


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[Assistant] And so now I've become obsessed when I walk, doing what the great, late, wonderful, incredible Satchel Page, who was an amazing baseball player,


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[Assistant] In the journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Never heard of that publication.


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[Assistant] But it was a meta-analysis of 44 studies over 100,000 participants and what they found out is that how your gait is going


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[Assistant] Is a key indicator of a lot of health things and signs of mortality


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[Assistant] Particularly for cardiovascular disease or cancer. I mean, wow.


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[Assistant] So that's why, and it turns out I'm gonna have this gait test.


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[Assistant] Routinely is part of follow ups on my heart surgery because it's been shown to be a direct cause and effect. If I'm walking, uh, too leisurely, if I'm walking without authority, you know, without


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[Assistant] Good balance, good stride. It's an indicator that maybe my valve or my heart aren't doing particularly well. And so when you are walking, if you're a regular walker like I am, then you do want to assess yourself.


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[Assistant] See how you're doing versus other people. If you have somebody who walks with you,


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[Assistant] Have them, uh, kinda give you a readout on how you're doing.


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[Assistant] And Krista, I have a failure report for you. I have my February data. You know, I've been walking since my surgery. My goal has been 18,000 steps a day.


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[Assistant] I'm now tracking more than eighteen. I'm gonna stay more than eighteen. I'm gonna do what works out to be nine to ten miles a day.


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[Assistant] Both a benefit to me and a deficit to me that I just, I'm like full steam ahead at all times.


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[Assistant] So, uh, Kate, if you added a zero to that, it would be, if it was 200, 300,000, it would be really a strong impact on financial aid at 20 to 30,000 specifically dedicated to


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[Assistant] Home improvements, home repair, new roof, HVAC, it doesn't have that much impact because any money that's in your child's name


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[Assistant] Overwhelmingly is expected by a university or college to be used towards the college expenses. Money that's in your name only a tiny percent


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[Assistant] Of your asset base is expected to be used towards college. So it would be, uh, not a major impact at all.


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[Assistant] Having that amount of money aside, and I love that you put this money aside.


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[Assistant] Prepping for when you're gonna have to do a repair is the impact depending on the college based on that money they might expect a thousand


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[Assistant] 1500, something like that to be used towards, uh, college expense. Not, not a major amount that would have you prematurely


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[Assistant] Replacing a roof or a HVAC. You want to get the useful years of life out of each.


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[Assistant] So Eric, this is terrible, uh, because they're, they're having cost shifting issues where


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[Assistant] Customers, patients are calling saying, wait, wait, wait, why am I being billed this? I went to, you know, I went to your place. So they're giving you, uh, basically an upfront legal notice that,


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[Assistant] In the negotiations, individual rheumatologists.


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[Assistant] You may accept your insurance, but others in a very large practice don't.


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[Assistant] And that you're the one who's gonna get stuck because this doesn't come under my understanding of the No Surprises Act because this is not, uh, emergency care or anything like that. So,


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[Assistant] It means they're giving you notice that before you accept care from anyone in the practice, you're going to have to re-cert each time that they are in fact


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[Assistant] Active as part of your insurance, which is putting an additional responsibility on you, but doing that and knowing that upfront is going to help you avoid almost always


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[Assistant] Really ugly bill shock that would come out of network.


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[Assistant] So Richard, uh, joining the den, uh, the Frontier Den is what you have to pay the annual fee for.


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[Assistant] You can bring a minor child up to a certain age. Kids fly free program has very specific rules. If you just, uh, go on whatever search engine you use.


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[Assistant] And you click on, you search Kids Fly Free Frontier, you see the full briefing.


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[Assistant] And it goes through the whole thing, what the rules are for the kids. You pay 60 bucks to join the den, gets you, uh, potentially a lower fare yourself. And then the, the, your kids fly free, but click on when you,


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[Assistant] Under the kids section, click on the full terms and conditions of when a kid flies free. They can be up to 14 years old.


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[Assistant] Under 15 qualifies, I just call that. 14 and younger qualify for the free ticket, uh, minus whatever


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[Assistant] Or in addition, whatever junk fees there are. But read all the terms and conditions. And if you do go to Baltimore, take the train down to DC.


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[Assistant] And show your straight A student, uh,


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[Assistant] The stuff in the nation's capital, your nine year old will love seeing all the stuff there cause it's, it's really, really


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[Assistant] Of the Capitol and potentially of the White House, certain portions of the White House. The tours are harder to do now, but you may be able to do that. Cause the ride from


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[Assistant] She's only flying with a little teensy tiny micro backpack with whatever she wants to take that goes, that can go under the seat in front of her so she doesn't have to pay any junk fees.


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[Assistant] I love that. And then take your 13 year old to New York because your 13 year old obviously is eligible under age 14, good grades. So congratulations to both of them. And coming up ahead, I want to talk about the complications


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[Assistant] There's a tradition in much of America that the spring selling season is big time.


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[Assistant] And last year, we basically didn't have a spring selling season.


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[Assistant] This year, there's pent-up demand at the same time.


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[Assistant] Home prices haven't really gone anywhere over the last year. But mortgage rates have also stayed stubbornly high. So it's rough for buyers. And you think about that seller. Why was there no


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[Assistant] They're gonna go somewhere, and they go from whatever economic conditions they had in the house they're in, to now having to be at the mercy of what the market's doing now with higher prices, higher interest rates, and yeaah, they get...


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[Assistant] Uh, elevated amount for their home, but then they gotta go to another home.


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[Assistant] An elevated price, but no bargain mortgage anymore. So what's happened in the market is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As it ended up being last year is going to be new home construction. New home construction is usually a very small part of housing sales.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, because only so many new homes are added each year. There's a very large


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, base, install base of existing homes. People's lives change. They end up going different places, all those things. And right now people are in housing lock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're not leaving where they are. So the new home market is very strong. The stocks of new home builders.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go up and down based on interest rate movements and things like that. But generally they're doing very well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There'll be activity with used homes, existing homes. But the real game is going to be new homes again. And what is the lure?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That new home builders are offering in the market.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was something that first popped up on my radar a year and a half ago and now is very common.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An interest rate that's lower than market because the builder pays the lender for a buy down. There are buy downs that are just for a few years and there are buy downs that are even for 30 years. It's just depending on what


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For people who aren't sure how long they're gonna stay, if a builder's offering,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, buy down for 30 years of the interest rate, that's a market opportunity. Uh, there are people though who


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can sell a house that they live in and they're not worried about what's going on with the marketplace because they're planning to move into an area of the country where housing costs are lower.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, one thing you will see, and this is a trend all over America,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And not putting in it things that you don't need, like a formal dining room.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or they may have, instead of a living room and a den, there may only be a great room kind of thing.