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[Assistant] For maybe days or a week or more later? Uh-uh.


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[Assistant] When that package comes, you open it, you inspect it, you inspect the item. If there's a problem, you immediately contact the retailer.


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[Assistant] And depending on the retailer and their, their systems, you're going to be fine.


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[Assistant] After the New York Times story ran, this is being referred to as tunigate when you order an item.


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[Assistant] As the item to the ounce, it was the same weight as the item that the person had ordered.


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[Assistant] Yeah, this one is when you don't try to do yourself, Justin, you can go on healthcare.gov and get quotes for employer plans, but I don't recommend that.


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[Assistant] I want you to call, find your way to a health insurance broker. There are people who specialize in selling health insurance plans to small and mid-sized businesses. And it's a renewals business. They lose money in terms of the time they spend.


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[Assistant] On the initial issuance of a policy. Then they make money over time with the renewals because there's not much servicing they have to do.


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[Assistant] Yeah, my middle brother does that is one of the things he does. He's, he's, uh,


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[Assistant] Health insurance broker typically to mid-size companies. And so,


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[Assistant] There are two ways you can go on this. You can buy a compliant plan or a non-compliant plan. What that means in English is that a compliant plan, if uhm,


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[Assistant] If one of your employees has a preexisting condition or one of your employees is older, they're covered just fine under a compliant plan. It's like an individual buying health insurance. On the other hand,


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[Assistant] If everybody in your plan and your group is young, particularly young,


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[Assistant] And nobody's had any major illnesses, you can buy a non-compliant plan, which means they can medically underwrite the five of you


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[Assistant] And decide what to charge based on the health history and the ages of the people involved. It's kind of like cherry picking. And if you've got a very healthy five,


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[Assistant] You will save money buying a non-compliant plan. Now that works till somebody gets some kind of big illness. Then they're not going to want you at the next renewal. And then at that point, cause this is where the cherry picking comes along. You can then go into a compliant plan for the next plan year. I will tell you that for a small group,


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[Assistant] Uh, you will be stunned how much the insurance costs. It is, it is not a low cost venture to provide health insurance. We provide health insurance to, is it 20?


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[Assistant] We provide to somewhere around 20 people. We provide health insurance and


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[Assistant] Is it 75% for an individual? And then we have a different thing for people who bring along spouse or family, but.


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[Assistant] You can decide how much or how little of the premiums you wish to cover as the owner of the business.


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[Assistant] So actually, Greg, this is the perverse thing about credit cards. You must have a credit score above 760.


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[Assistant] If your credit score is, uh, 760 to 850.


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[Assistant] At the same time credit card companies are cutting back limits and even closing people's accounts, you were still considered to be, uh,


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[Assistant] A great person for them to get. Some issuers 780 instead of 760 or above.


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[Assistant] And so they want you because you are an extremely low risk of default on the card delinquency or charge off.


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[Assistant] So those terms all mean different things in bank speak. But uhm,


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[Assistant] It is to your advantage to have more available credit because then you're using less of it.


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[Assistant] Well, this depends completely on how much carrying two notes would stress you to the end of the earth. Some people, uh, can sleep through anything.


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[Assistant] And it wouldn't bother them at all. But if carrying that double load would bother you, don't do it. I did this once, you know, I'm really averse to debt.


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[Assistant] And I ended up buying a screaming deal on a home before I had sold my old one. And I went through 10 months of carrying both


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[Assistant] The stress I felt was great. It was not appropriate for me. So you really have to know yourself. Are you okay with floating both of those? Or will it really upset


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[Assistant] You psychologically, mentally, will you be agitated? Will you be anxious? If you would be like I was, then don't do it. If you're like, that wouldn't bother me at all.


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[Assistant] Then feel okay. You're adding additional financial risk into your life if you do carry two homes.


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[Assistant] So you gotta make that call for yourself. Did it work out for me later?


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[Assistant] Yeah, it worked out fine. Do I still talk about it like something that happened almost, happened 30 years ago?


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[Assistant] Something happened 30 years ago like it, like it just happened.


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[Assistant] And so I'm a terrible one to ask this question to.


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[Assistant] But I want to thank you so much for joining us today. Remember we are here for you to help you take more control in your life so that you can save more and spend less and don't let anyone ever rip you off.


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[Assistant] Sarah in New York, she says that last year I racked up over $20,000 in credit card debt, much to my husband's dismay. He's a power budgeter and has listened to you for quite some time.


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[Assistant] I was always resistant to podcasts with budgeting but he started to play your podcast in the car while we were together. I learned a lot. I just want to thank you for not making me feel guilty about my debt because I was already feeling very guilty.


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[Assistant] I know there are many people like me who have credit card debt. You were inspiring and helped me to realize the importance of not having debt on credit cards.


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[Assistant] Thanks for your encouragement and knowledge in all of your podcasts. You rock.


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[Assistant] To do this, I have already maxed out my 401ks, IRAs, etc.


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[Assistant] So to find that information on the funds and what they're costing, do you just look at the funds and look at their perspectives?


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[Assistant] I gave my daughter who was 19 and in the Air Force some advice last year to open a targeted date retirement fund. She opened an account with Schwab called Schwab Target 2060 index fund. Now I'm worried that I gave her bad advice and she opened it as an investment account instead of a retirement account.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I actually have one from John in Texas. He says, as a recent Costco member, we now have access to their car buying service. And I see you reference it on your website. My wife and I have access to multiple car buying programs, USAA, CarPro, Radio Show, etc. None of these programs seems to be very transparent and they state you'll have a certain amount of percentage.


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[Assistant] Uh, the last time we bought a car in 2017, I simply told the dealer, we have access to X, Y, and Z car buying programs. Which one will get me the best deal? Of course, I didn't get a good response. Can you provide additional insight on how to quantify the savings from various car buying programs?


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[Assistant] Make sure the fees have, the courts have all the fees.


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[Assistant] I then told them I was going to reach out to the New York State Department of Financial Services to complain. After being put on hold I was asked to allow them 48 hours and all additional payments would be applied to principal. Thank you Clark for helping me to save more and pay less.


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[Assistant] The rental car company is now calling me and asking for $1,815.18. They're claiming $270 for loss of use, $645 for a diminished value, $400 for an admin fee, and lastly the $500 deductible.


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[Assistant] I understand the $500 deductible. However, the other fees seem outrageous. I thought I was being scammed but verified the amounts by calling the rental company using a separate number I found online and also by stopping in person to the rental car agency.


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[Assistant] They've been calling me once a day to collect the balance. I forwarded their company email to my insurance claims adjuster, but haven't heard back from them yet.


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[Assistant] This bill completely blindsided me and feels slimy since the rental agency representative calling me said the admin fee is negotiable since I had full coverage. Should my insurance company be taking care of this? What can I do?


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[Assistant] I've got my watch and I have an aura ring now. I've, I've moved into the cults.


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[Assistant] Clark was discussing Costco and Sam's Club and kept mentioning that Costco's max markup is 14% and how inexpensive Costco is. We too have a membership to both clubs and I always feel like Costco is a few dollars higher on every item.


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[Assistant] Since the brands and sizes do not match up, I used only items that were an exact match in those regards. I did add store branded ground beef and chicken breast. I'm not sure how the formatting will display for you, but 9 out of 10 items are cheaper at Sam's. Overall, Costco was 14%


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[Assistant] More expensive on these items and there's quite a list and that's from Gino.


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[Assistant] You recently spoke of home affordability, but only spoke of places most people don't want to live.


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[Assistant] The most important thing to millennials or Gen Z that isn't possible in most of the middle of America. So why not speak of the recent study that showed places like Fresno and San Antonio being relatively affordable for those generations and providing the cultural needs they're looking for. You really stunk this up, Ken.


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[Assistant] Like to be positively advertised job cuts as it thrills Wall Street and increases their stock prices.


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[Assistant] I've been on both sides of these job cuts from a management and employee standpoint, and it's important to note that job cuts are not taken trivially by employers, but in most cases are absolutely necessary to remain competitive.


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[Assistant] Also, job cuts must be posted in a press release to investors and others as a requirement of SEC public disclosure laws when the disclosure may be material to investors. There are also union and state required disclosures satisfied by these press releases. Kevin.


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[Assistant] Clark, you kind of stink because you advised generous George to use a donor-advised fund for contributions of appreciated stocks.


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[Assistant] There's no need for a DAF. Most charitable organizations will accept gifts of appreciated property. The donor gets the same tax benefits and avoids the DAF fees.


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[Assistant] And if his church does not accept stock gifts, he should help them add that capacity. In short, there's no need to go through the steps of creating a daff. As they have grown, they've demonstrated they are not entirely a positive force in the charitable giving landscape.


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[Assistant] Don't take my word for it. Check the Chronicle of the Philanthropy or Investopedia and he links them below. I enjoy your show and hope you find this helpful, Eric.


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[Assistant] Okay, a couple about this. I heard the episode about using an overseas SIM card while traveling. In some countries it's harder due to national security or other reasons. If your smartphone supports an eSIM, it is now very easy to get an affordable overseas data plan while you're in the US.


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[Assistant] When you reach your destination, you get high speed data immediately and don't have to find a local provider. I've used, they name a couple of them, $19 for 10 gigs for 30 days and it worked well.


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[Assistant] And then another provider is Nomad. I found these providers in a Wall Street Journal article, VJ.


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[Assistant] And this one, I smell a real problem. When you talk about buying an eSIM in another country because your carrier doesn't work there, remind your listeners to bear in mind that any second authorization codes will not be sent to your new number and it will prevent you from using that app including getting cash from an ATM.


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[Assistant] Please answer the question, Clark. I think you may just have to admit that you enjoy the game even if it comes at the expense of the player's well-being. I'm guessing this comment has a very low likelihood of being addressed, Michael.


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[Assistant] I also don't think dog fighting is a fair analogy because the dogs are absolute victims in that case and have.


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[Assistant] Then the money they would have normally budgeted for those bills could be saved or invested. I kept waiting for you to say that, but you never did. I'm sure it was just an oversight. Be well, Wayne.


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[Assistant] Clark does not stink, but he did overlook an important reminder to his listeners. On the podcast, a caller was receiving text messages for a medical bill with a link to make the payment. Clark forgot to remind listeners to never click on text message links. Instead, we should log into the medical provider's website to verify if the bill is real or not.


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[Assistant] Well once I found out you can use an HSA to buy it, I decided I would do it.


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[Assistant] And so I, yeah, I have to say I love it. And for me, I wear a watch, I wear a Samsung smartwatch. And so I just like to count my steps. I'm not like you. I maybe hit 12,000 a day, 14,000 a good day.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I do all different workouts, but I...


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[Assistant] And so, I really like it, I have to say. I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. I can't sleep with a watch on, so I decided to bite the bullet, but I'm loving it.


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[Assistant] And I have to pay, you know, a monthly fee and I do go to a gym where I pay like for a membership. It's a boutique fitness center. But, and I, so I spend money on this stuff and I know the pod, this whole segment is about how you don't have to, but I do think you pick and choose. And for me, I use these things so much.


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[Assistant] That I've cut back on eating out. I hardly eat out at all and I've cut back on lots of other things, but I do spend money on my health. I feel like it's important.


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[Assistant] And I am still not able to get the credit line increase I need to book the travel.


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[Assistant] I have the cash saved up to pay for this trip. I don't want to pay for this travel using my debit card or apply for another travel credit card as I will be on the hunt for mortgage loan in 2024 and would rather not have a hard inquiry on my credit report.


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[Assistant] Also, I don't know if this is just for airfare, but if it's, if you're trying to book a package or book everything at once, you could book the airfare one month, then the hotel the next month.


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[Assistant] Jay in California says Clark, oh sorry, that was just Jay. Jeffrey in Georgia says is there a recommended way to sell Delta Sky miles? I've accumulated about 750,000 miles. I don't have any plans to use them for travel.


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[Assistant] And I was wondering what the easiest way is to cash them out. I have a friend who's interested in buying them from me, but we haven't found what would be a fair amount. Any help is appreciated.


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[Assistant] Paul in Virginia says, now that going.com, formerly Scott's Cheap Flights, lol.


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[Assistant] Scott, what did you do? I will never, am I ever going to move beyond that? I don't think so. I am so stuck in my ways. So Paul says, now that going.com is moving to a more limited service for non-paying customers, are there any alternative free travel deals websites that you recommend?


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[Assistant] You know, but to answer the question, free, I mean I would say you could, on Facebook there are lots of groups you can join of people who are searching for international fights and good deals. There are people, there are groups of people wanting to use points. There's lots of communities like that you could join. But there's nothing like. Right.


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[Assistant] Barbara in Oklahoma says my kids tease me that Clark is my boyfriend since I spend so much time listening to him and talking about him. But they often call me and ask what does Clark say about blank?


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[Assistant] So, I paid cash for my year old Toyota RAV4, but reviewing my USA policy, I see the option for car replacement assistance. Would it be an advantage for me even though I don't have a car loan?


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[Assistant] Gotta listen carefully. This is from Future Listener Adam in Arizona.


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[Assistant] My mommy and daddy bought a house two years ago and have been living there since. I was born in that house in October of last year. Since my daddy works from home and with the growing size of our family my parents liked another house which seemed like a good deal and they paid the earnest money of two and a half percent. Oopsie!


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[Assistant] Daddy says he sees a housing slowdown in the area and would struggle to sell the house we're in. Plus, it was an under 4% loan rate, leaving the only choice to rent it out. Did my parents make a big boo boo?


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[Assistant] And my aunt was telling me, uhm, that he was cremated and she was picking out the...


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[Assistant] You know, the earned vessel to put the ashes in and she didn't look at the prices, but she chose one with an American flag because he was a big patriot and it was the cheapest one.


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[Assistant] Sanya in Georgia says, do you have suggestions about a solar home generator?


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[Assistant] Mark in California says, I love your podcast. Something I don't get is what is the difference between a sub $200 smartphone and the pricey and fancy $500 plus models? Is it primarily a higher resolution screen and cameras? How many megapixels is enough?


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[Assistant] Mine is a Motorola 4G Android phone and it works just fine and costs $100. The only feature I wish it had is an NFC tap to pay and I know I don't have to spend much more to get this feature. Are the pricier phones really worth spending the extra money? It looks like 5G phones are available for under $200.


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[Assistant] It seems the pricier the phone, the more insurance you need to cover damage or loss of the phone. I'd like to hear your opinion on this.


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[Assistant] I'm so glad to welcome you here to the Clark Howard show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and info that empowers you with knowledge so you can make better financial decisions in your life. So today,


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[Assistant] I'm going to talk about two topics that are in the news right now. The stock market and of course this time of year taxes. First I want to talk about the current investment environment and later


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[Assistant] How much do you know about being able to file, prepare and file your taxes for free? I'm going to talk about the options with you. Right now though, I want to talk about the investment environment. So the stock market has been through, as it always is, like a roller coaster ride.


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[Assistant] Values are very pricey because we've had


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[Assistant] And surprisingly strong economic activity that nobody expected. And then the question is, well what could go wrong? Who knows?


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[Assistant] Or in the United States. So my thing is slow and steady wins the race.


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[Assistant] There's a guy who's retired, semi-retired, whatever, Jason Schweig, who has written about Wall Street forever.


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[Assistant] To take months off from paying any attention at all to financial markets.


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[Assistant] Is that he had, has a diversified portfolio and


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[Assistant] For the long haul, but what so many of us do is we get caught up in the energy of the moment with investing and we react as a result emotionally.


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[Assistant] Putting money in, taking money out, whatever, chasing the hot stocks, whatever it is. My thing.


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[Assistant] And anyone who's listened to me over the decades knows.


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[Assistant] That when people are really focused on this with a lot of anxiety is when the market for whatever reason overall is having a big decline that in those circumstances you always hear me say


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[Assistant] And baked in permanent reduced returns by having gone to the sidelines. My thing today, I will tell you that I believe that markets from here


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[Assistant] Of American capitalism from the largest enterprises to many of the smallest publicly traded enterprises. Thousands of stocks. I want to ride with American capitalism. But there's something else I do most Americans are not comfortable doing.


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[Assistant] And that is I own international funds, international index. Why? Because.


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[Assistant] And also being diversified with economies overseas. That's my thing. I'm not saying it should be your thing. What I'm saying should be your thing is


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[Assistant] It's a big mistake to try to time the market.


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[Assistant] In the bar or wherever, that's not how you should decide to stake your game for the future. That really for most of us,


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[Assistant] Unless this is what you do every day all day long as your job is widely diversified. Now I found out recently my teenage son owns crypto and has a crypto wallet. I didn't know that Krista. Wow.


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[Assistant] And that is such a natural human thing. Why do people line up when they're doing those big gamey, powerbally thingies?


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[Assistant] It's all about us trying to do a shortcut in life. And my son will figure it out, you smart kid. But ultimately,


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[Assistant] You do the basic blocking and tackling. You live on less than what you make. You save money.


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[Assistant] And you invest money for the long term, intermediate term, and save for the short term.


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[Assistant] Is I want to be able to have financial security long term and that's how you do it.


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[Assistant] Gonna be the future and all that. And truth is every one of us who ever got a delivery from Webvan, we can thank the stockholders who lost all their billions in Webvan.


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[Assistant] Yeah, for making it possible for us to get.


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[Assistant] The markets and that's what it's about. Now I said about the lottery tickets, I was going to say, what did I mean about things? Well, because they always say,


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, $800 million to one person. And later you find out they got a fraction of that because instead of that $800 million is paid over 20, 25, 30 years, whatever.


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[Assistant] Before tax and all that. So what somebody actually gets is still a lot of money. It's just not what you see on the electronic billboards as you drive around the nation's freeways.


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[Assistant] So John, if you are loyal to a particular chain, you're loyal to Marriott, you're loyal to Hyatt, Hilton, uh, IHG, International Hotel Group, you're loyal to one of the big hotel chains. In your case, Hilton,


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[Assistant] Perks promised and it's fine. The big thing I'm reading on the frequent flyer frequent traveler blogs is that the, uh, hotel locations are not honoring the high level status perks with the upgrades, the free meals, the free drinks, all those things. So if you're finding


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[Assistant] Kids today don't value the physical branches. They don't value, everything is electronic to them. It's online. Uh, kids from very young


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[Assistant] Are able to pick up a tablet or an iPad and do things on it. They don't think about having to have that physical facility. And you shouldn't either for them, for the younger ones.


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[Assistant] I'd like you to take them to a physical fidelity investments branch.


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[Assistant] And open a teen investment account.


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[Assistant] And use it as an opportunity because you only need one dollar.


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[Assistant] Of any bank or investment organization in the United States.


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[Assistant] Creating a learning lab and a real investment opportunity for teenagers to learn investing and learn


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[Assistant] This is a great suggestion. There are a number of pens that when you go to, if you went to those things called office supply stores, there aren't that many Office Depot, Office Mac staples anymore, local ones. You will see pens that are marked that are in fact,


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[Assistant] Uh, safe from being washed and this is a great idea because the problem of checks being stolen in the mail, the payee washed, whoever you're paying, not getting paid.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I've had two checks stolen in the mail over the last, lost or stolen in the mail over the last two months. One a month.


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[Assistant] In each case they were sent by the bill pay service I use. So thank goodness the checks don't have my account information on the bottom. They have routing numbers that are only clear to the bill pay service.


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[Assistant] And this is a terrible problem with the checks being stolen in the mail. Uhm, there is not a way for the postal service


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[Assistant] That make it difficult or not impossible for a criminal to wash the ink. So coming up ahead.


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[Assistant] We're gonna talk about something just as unpleasant as somebody stealing your check, washing it, and then using that as a path to steal your money. Having to pay taxes!


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[Assistant] So we're going to talk about ways for you to file your taxes where you have to pay your taxes, but at least you don't have to pay to prepare them and file them. So there's a federal program.


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[Assistant] That roughly, uh, depending on the year, somewhere around two thirds to seventy percent of taxpayers are eligible for, that only three percent ever use. People just don't even know.


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[Assistant] That the IRS for many, many years.


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[Assistant] has had a free program to file your income tax called Free File.


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[Assistant] And all you do is go to IRS.gov. You click on the free file link and you see whether or not.


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[Assistant] There's a tax prep firm that's participating that you're eligible to use under free file.


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[Assistant] So the adjusted gross income you have to have is below $79,000 and that's roughly


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[Assistant] Two thirds to again, somewhere around 70% of taxpayers qualify for it and you're using traditional


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[Assistant] Tax prep software, but not having to pay for it. If you live in a state with a state income tax, some of the participants also include free state tax preparation and filing.


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[Assistant] If you live in a state without state income tax, good for you because you don't have to worry about the paperwork or paying the income tax. But these free filing options are the real deal.


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[Assistant] And people just don't know that they're out there. Again, free file, go to IRS.gov, you look for the free file logo, click on it, and check out your eligibility and which ones are okay for you. That's number one. Number two, the IRS this year,


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[Assistant] This is called direct file. And it's funny it's a pilot because we are the last developed country on earth that has


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[Assistant] A tax system where you can't have the taxing authority.


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[Assistant] Send you a proposed return that you can either accept or reject.


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[Assistant] Uh, we don't, we've never done that in the US. So this is an intermediate step direct file.


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[Assistant] And not all taxpayers are eligible to use it. It depends on what state you live in and the complexity of your tax return because it is an early pilot.


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[Assistant] That hopefully in a few years will be commonplace like it is everywhere else. If you have to pay taxes, why should you have to go through the hassle and the expense of hiring


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[Assistant] A software program or someone to do the filing for you. So what states are you eligible? I'm glad you asked, because many of them are the most populous states in the country. California. Florida. Let's see, what other? Uh, New York.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Texas. I think those are the four most populous states in the U.S. Where else? Arizona.


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[Assistant] Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, and Wyoming. Alright, now one pattern there is not all the states, but most of the states that the IRS is offering direct file,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, you win so many different ways if you live in a state without a state income tax. And may I digress to say one of the things I'm really happy about?


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[Assistant] Is that states all across America


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[Assistant] Are reducing their state income taxes and going away from taxing income to taxing consumption.


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[Assistant] And why does that excite me? Because I believe so much that you create additional economic growth activity, not states racing to the bottom, as people who love a state income tax will say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you deprive people of services when states cut income tax. The reality is what happens is that you create long-term more economic activity


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you encourage people to save money rather than encourage them to spend money. So when you tax consumption,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You change behavior, not all at once, but over time.


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[Assistant] In citizens and that's why I've always been a fan of taxes that taxes on what we spend rather than taxes that taxes on what we earn. The address you go to to


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[Assistant] Be unhappy with me about that, is every time I say it, people get unhappy. Clark.com slash Clark stinks. Krista?


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[Assistant] Thank you, and this is an area that confuses people no end. Depending on the circumstance, the safest number to go with is 10 years. There, depending on the, the


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The IRS may be able to come after you for up to 10 years for not having paid tax.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yeaah, I guess you could say past 10 years, I'm overkill keeping my returns. And I have my returns back to the 1970s or early 80s, I forgot which.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just the returns themselves, not the supporting documentation, past seven years. But, uhm, I, you know, it's really important


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That if the IRS does come calling, that you show that you have kept good and complete records because it changes the psychology of what you're undergoing and whatever review or audit they're doing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, so obviously getting burned on the tax thing that's really front and center with you, and at your income, you would really benefit from having an ongoing relationship with a CPA, certified public accountant, who does tax work. That that's what he or she does.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And having a CPA, CPAs will tell you do tax, as would an enrolled agent.


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[Assistant] So exactly what you're thinking, having some clock time with a CPA who does tax would be great. Now, you approach two fiduciaries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I have a couple of links available at Clark.com. In addition to Garrett that I've talked about in the past, there's also AdviceOnlyNetwork.com and there is FlatfeeAdvisors.org.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, these organizations offer a variety of, uh, fiduciaries who either will give you spot advice or quarterly advice like you're talking about or expect to be able to give you ongoing advice and you become their customer


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am going to Tokyo, which my timing is so unfortunate because Japan is in, in, in right now. It's like just about as in as any foreign destination from the United States could be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I've been to Japan three times before, and I am blown away.


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[Assistant] How, for example, how much more expensive hotels are looking for my trip this year versus in the past. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, for 25, hopefully when you're looking, uh, more than a year and a half from now, the,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The intense interest in travel to Japan may have hopefully softened some.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As far as when you want to be looking at those tickets, you're going to hate me. I'm going to tell you, you don't want to be looking till...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe, uh, three to five months before your travel and fall of next year. Now you could, starting in December, set up a fare alert tracking the fares to Japan, um, on Google flights.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] or hopper or any of the good airfare search engines. Uhm, if you use kayak, be very wary of a lot of these UFO ticketing sites that will list these really cheap fares


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh man, these people are a problem. So, set up your alerts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Give it some time. And the trends with fairs are amazing. Like, uhm, my niece called me the other day and she and her husband


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That when the opportunistic bargains pop up, boom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it's lower than normal, you can certainly consider buying that fare. Uhm, in Japan,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You wanna look at buying a Japan Rail Pass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Usually the best deals, although now you used to not be able to, you can buy a Japan rail pass when you get there. Usually it's cheaper to buy one before you go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, in Japan, people tend to go to the Tokyo metro area and maybe Kyoto and that's it.


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[Assistant] There's a lot more to Japan. Take time reading suggested travel itineraries for 5, 7, 10, 14 day trips to get a sense about where you should build out your itinerary. And as for me,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have zero interest in being authentic, sleeping on one of those mats. You tried that in Japan, didn't you?


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[Assistant] We're used to a good mattress. Go to a hotel that has a good mattress. If you must have the authentic experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Put a mat on the floor, have somebody take your picture on it and then get back in the bed.


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[Assistant] 70 square feet. It was 70 square feet. I walked it off. And it was, uh, roughly 10 by 7. In that 10 by 7, it had a small bed.


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[Assistant] A TV coming out of the ceiling, had a safe that was coming out of the wall, and had a bathroom that was the size of an airplane bathroom, that the shower, the toilet, and the sink were all one terrible unit.


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[Assistant] Well I was hungry. You always do that. Wherever we are in the world.


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[Assistant] They don't have McDonald's yet in Antarctica. Yet. Oh gosh. Yet. Give them time. Because McDonald's is going through an absolute boom time right now. Did you know that? McDonald's is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Trivia about nothing. Uhm, but here's something that is not trivia about nothing. You know how there's a day for everything? Today is National Unclaimed Property Day.


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[Assistant] So what this is about is so many of us or family or friends will have accounts we lost track of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have a guide at Clark.com where you can search for money in your name, family member's name, a friend's name, and the more unusual


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your last name is, the easier it is for you to find money that is yours that's gone unclaimed from who knows how, who knows where. If you have a very common name,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not as easy, but worth going on the hunt. Your very simple paperwork usually to do, but they will always require, I think without exception,


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[Assistant] Copy of your social security card or number. Don't be nervous about that.


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[Assistant] On our guide at Clark.com and yes, there is a day for everything over the course of the calendar.


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[Assistant] And have an absolutely wonderful day. Remember what we're about. You learning ways to save more and spend less and avoid getting ripped off.


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[Assistant] Okay, Kevin in California wrote in, he said, I've owned a condo unit in San Diego since 2010 and it's been rented out to a long term tenant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Recently, the HOE fees increased to $550 per month.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] However, that's not my main worry. The condo building's exterior is managed by the association.


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[Assistant] Which includes building insurance. This year the insurance premium skyrocketed.


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[Assistant] All unit owners were assessed an additional $1500 each across 248 units. But here's the real concern. The building units are now significantly underinsured.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the building coverage limit dropping from about 95 million to just 8 million.


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[Assistant] Given my substantial equity position, should I protect myself or should I consider, how should I protect myself?


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[Assistant] Or should I consider selling? Your insights would be greatly appreciated.


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[Assistant] Anonymous in Texas says, Hi Clark, I have to relocate from Texas to Arizona before the end of the calendar year. I own a home with a 4.125% interest rate and I'm considering renting it out versus selling it. I have a trustworthy family member who is interested in buying in to make themselves a 50


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we would use that lump sum to recast the mortgage and make the rental immediately cash flow positive.


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[Assistant] What things do I need to be aware of when going on this route? And is this something you would recommend doing? Or would you just sell the house and use the proceeds toward the purchase of the next primary residence in Arizona? Thanks for your advice over the years. You showed me the tools I need.


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[Assistant] Night that I need to have already acquired a six figure sum across my retirement and investment accounts in my mid twenties.


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[Assistant] Linda in Georgia says our HOA for the community recently adopted a no rentals policy for lease agreements less than a year for the subdivision and has hired a company to literally police all residents in regard to the number of occupants in their private residence.


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[Assistant] And furthermore, wants to approve any potential leases prior to renting any property.


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[Assistant] I find this a complete invasion of my personal and residential privacy and an overstepping of their authority while supposedly representing our community.


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[Assistant] This is the government census bureau's job and even then the information is not guaranteed to be confidential.


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[Assistant] When that company rental manage, rental management solutions is itself.


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[Assistant] Not even registered with the Better Business Bureau in order to check its references or background complaints.


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[Assistant] I'm surprised there are even like physical locations of locals.


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[Assistant] Uhm, if someone has a travel agent they've used that they like a lot, uhm, locally. That's a good idea.


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[Assistant] Alright, this is from Gerald in Alabama. On a recent episode I heard Clark mention his concerns about booking hotels. Later this year I'll be traveling out west in the Pacific coast. What would be the best way to book the hotels? Also is it better to try to book as many as possible before I leave or book a day in advance as I travel?


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[Assistant] I'm both pre-check and clear, so I have a choice. Recently it's solidly been with the pre-check line. I'm seriously thinking about not renewing clear, and by the way, they don't seem to have customer no service email or phone number.


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[Assistant] I was just talking to someone else at her company about you and travel and how...


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[Assistant] You really do enjoy the process, like the fact that you just like, you'll probably figure out a trip to Vegas just to experience that.


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[Assistant] That, the, uh, the check-in line, like you're just giddy in an airport and I just want someone to knock me out and wake me up when I get there, you know?


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[Assistant] I just, I just wanna get there, yeaah. I'm ready to go. I'm not gonna enjoy the...


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[Assistant] The day the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. And for Americans at that time, it was the most important and upsetting date


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[Assistant] And today, a lot of people don't even know the significance of December 7th. And we ended up being triumphant.


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[Assistant] In World War II, great loss of life around the world, but I want to make sure I draw attention to that for a specific reason.


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[Assistant] Unexpected, terrible events, like for those of us in more modern times, September 11th, 01.


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[Assistant] That we remember that human beings can deal with tragedy, can respond to it, overcome it, and thrive. And all of us in our lives as citizens of the United States


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[Assistant] As individuals in our own lives, in our own community, we're always met with various hardships. And I just want you to remember,


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[Assistant] That we have more ability as human beings to overcome tragedy and triumph over it than we often give ourselves credit for. Life at times will present out of nowhere


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[Assistant] Really difficult and sometimes brutal circumstances. But one of the things we have as human beings


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[Assistant] Is the ability to overcome, adapt and ultimately thrive again. And as you meet hardships in your life, I hope you'll remember what I've said right now that human beings survive because we do strive to endure. So enough about that. I have something.


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[Assistant] Equally as dreadful to talk about. Tax rates with the IRS. Actually, there's some good news with that.


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[Assistant] It's from the bad news of the inflation we've had in recent years. I'm going to talk to you about how that impacts your life in multiple ways straight ahead. And later,


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[Assistant] I have a very scary story about why you should always, yes I said always, get paper statements from your bank. Wait till you hear what I have to tell you later.


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[Assistant] The new tax rates for 24 are such that a lot of decisions we make


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[Assistant] Tax rates are very low. If you make a typical family income.


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[Assistant] Up to $94,000 a year after deductions whatever. Individuals half that.


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[Assistant] But 12% means that there are a lot of decisions you can make.


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[Assistant] And this would be true even for a family income up to 200 grand a year.


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[Assistant] Or for a single individual up to, let's say, a hundred grand a year.


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[Assistant] You're going to find that you are.


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[Assistant] Really in a great position to if you've got money in a traditional IRA.


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[Assistant] To go through the process steadily of converting that money into Roth IRA money. Very much to your advantage. Uhm, the tax brackets are so favorable that buying any kind of


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[Assistant] Whole life insurance, unless you had very, very limited circumstances, would never be a decision to make because of the taxes you might feel like you might avoid by having that. And the salespeople who pitch


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[Assistant] Any kind of variable, universal, lifey kind of stuff as a tax smart thing to do.


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[Assistant] Gosh, I mean you don't even get to where that makes sense till somebody has a stratospheric income of


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[Assistant] Maybe 750,000 a year or so. I mean, so it applies to like nobody, but they're very much heavily pushed in the industry. So you don't make decisions


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[Assistant] Emotionally because of tax rates because then you miss opportunities or you end up costing yourself money. And so for a typical person,


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[Assistant] Buying a house, the pitch always from the real estate industry is how tax smart it is to own a house. But when you take what tax brackets are and you take the standard deductions, which are so high now,


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[Assistant] Almost nobody really benefits other than people who are ultra high income earners in hugely expensive homes. They're not making money. Work for them.


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[Assistant] It's just not gonna really benefit you. So few people get benefit from it.


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[Assistant] So in an era where almost everybody among the American people is at historically low tax rates,


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[Assistant] Don't fall for pitches that pitch how tack smart it is to do this, that, or the other thing. Krista?


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[Assistant] This is, this is a real problem because what do you want from Priceline now? Cause even though it ruined the experience for you, you stayed in the room, which makes it really, really a hard problem. I would file a complaint about Priceline with a better business bureau.


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[Assistant] Be very specific what you want and start with. You want them to fix the listing so no one else ends up in the situation because what you're saying with that is this isn't primarily about you. It's about other people and anybody reading that will appreciate that.


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[Assistant] Uhm, what would be reasonable for Priceline to do is give you some kind of credit


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[Assistant] Towards a future state. In the travel industry, they follow the same rule as the restaurant industry.


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[Assistant] In the restaurant business, they call it eating the evidence. That if you eat a meal, and then later complain about it, they're like, well you should have refused the food.


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[Assistant] And you were in a situation, what do you do? You're all there at the hotel. You paid $2,500 for something you didn't get that was Priceline's fault.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I gotta tell you what happened, uh, one time when I took my oldest Rebecca to New York when she was a teenager.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I booked a hotel on one of the third party sites, not Priceline, another one. And I booked two beds in a hotel and we got there and they said, no, uh, you have one single bed.


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[Assistant] Linda, you're adding complication that wouldn't solve the problem?


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[Assistant] So many retailers have gift receipts.


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[Assistant] And buy birthday gifts, that kind of thing. Buy them only at retailers that have a return policy where the recipient only needs the gift receipt in order to return the item locally. Or if you buy from walmart.com and have things shipped to them,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They will be able to return the item to a local Walmart if they don't want the item. With Amazon, there's a thing where they can go drop off the items, uh, usually at a Whole Foods or something like that, also known as Whole Paycheck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And return the items themselves and be able to, uh, it's harder with Amazon to then be able to reuse the money as a recipient though, isn't it? How would you do that if you, cause you have the reserve parking space at your home for Amazon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause with uh, Target and Walmart and many others, you as the gift recipient,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, no, that there are always so many returns. That there are always returning stuff. So buying from a store that eliminates all this hassle for you and for your relatives getting the gifts, that's where I'd concentrate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, coming up ahead though, I want to talk about paper statements. I know a lot of people have had responses to my obsession with paper statements and have offered alternative ways, but I want to tell you why


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having paper statements or doing an alternative is so important. I wanted to mention to you that we are right in the middle of our 33rd year of Clark's Christmas Kids asking for your donations for children in foster care so they can have gifts Christmas morning.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you have a little room in your budget, you can open up your heart. I'd love for you to help out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A child in foster care because, uh, they've had a rough year, uh, cause the people in their lives have not been able to take care of them and they're in a, either a foster group home or with a foster parent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the gift thing at Christmas is something that means a lot to me that we do this for the kids. I've heard from


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[Assistant] Uh, those who've become adults, how much it meant to them getting a gift at Christmas.


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[Assistant] And feeling for at least that one morning like other kids get to feel on Christmas Day. If you want to know how to help, go to Clark'sChristmasKids.com. Now here was not a gift. Uh, a woman


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Had a savings account with Wells Fargo and with online statements and she would just look at


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[Assistant] The statements when they came in, her name was Denise, and she, uhm, one day realized, I'm not getting a statement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And her money had vanished. Her savings account had vanished.


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[Assistant] And the bank in this case, Wells Fargo, says, oh, you didn't have an account with us.


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[Assistant] Then they figured out, oh yea, you did have an account, but it's been gone five years. She's like, no it hadn't been.


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[Assistant] Well, she only had online statements and she was never storing them to her computer, uh,


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[Assistant] She's been really busy posting TikToks attacking Wells Fargo and now there's been person after person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Commenting on the TikToks, hey, my money vanished too. Not necessarily from Wells Fargo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Wells Fargo issued a statement of the sun saying the claims made in this post have no merit.


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[Assistant] We've been in contact with our customer to address her concerns. This is somebody who they say wasn't even a customer, by the way. So who knows how it's all gonna play out. And many times, you know, as we say, there's three sides to every story.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So who knows how it ultimately plays, but it brings up this thing. You know, the biggest bank in the world got hit by hackers recently. It's a Chinese bank that does a lot of business.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the United States as well. And they got hacked!


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[Assistant] And they were basically, uh, in deep trouble from this hack. And what's not been in any of the news stories, what happened to customers' accounts? What happened to records of their accounts?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean I love paper statements. I also love the alternatives people have said where you save them in the cloud if you use a cloud service or save them on a, you know, on a, uh, SSD external drive or whatever. You need to have some kind of proof that you are who you say you are, you have this money,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you've got recent records of the money. Cause otherwise, it's her word against theirs. Wells Fargo says, ah, you haven't existed. Oh, you haven't existed for five years. Oh, we don't show you have any money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the account's gone poof. And who knows whose account is right? Hers or Wells Fargo. But the point is you want to make sure that you are keeping track of your stuff in some way. I prefer paper. You may prefer electronic, but you cannot just trust


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That going on your banking app, or going on the bank site.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or the brokerage site or the credit union site and seeing what's there is good enough. You need the track record. You need your statements. They're electronic. You store them. If they're paper, you store them because there may come a time because of incompetence, a computer problem, a hack, whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you can't access any proof of your funds and that is no fun at all. Krista?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, first things first, go to CarMax or you may be able to get a price at CarMax.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And go to Carvana online and they'll make you an offer. That gives you a base to then establish what you're gonna ask because the prices have been changing so quickly in the used car market.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you aren't gonna find the online pricing guides to be as accurate today as they would normally be.


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[Assistant] Don't know what the problem was that you had with AutoTrader, but I know a lot of people have had a lot of success with eBay Motors selling a car. But definitely before you try your next platform,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Get the value you're offered by both of the, the big sellers, Carvana and CarMax, because that will give you the frame of reference to figure out what you should be expecting. It will be that plus, uh, markup. I find that usually, um, you're going to get


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] About 40% of the way between what a trade in would be and what a dealer would sell that car for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so about 40% more than that is, you know, 40% up that scale between those two is where you should be expecting that you would be able to sell it on your own.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, you can do that. You can move the money into your Vanguard 401k. Moving in the Fidelity IRA either almost always will work just fine. The IRA transfer is pretty much automatically easy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The into the 401k, that's depending on the pleasure of the employer, whether they allow those transfers in, but routinely they are allowed. And, uh, Tia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is T-I-A-A, they don't like to be called Tia. They are...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They used to be one of my favorite investment houses and they remain a superior choice compared to most for 403Bs, but you will have lower expenses moving that money into either the Vanguard 401k or the Fidelity IRA. Either would be a good choice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Patel, a 13 year old is able to open a investment account at Fidelity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And have pretty much control over it with a variety of funds they're allowed to make decisions on. At 10, it would be a traditional custodial account, but I still really like fidelity for your 10 year old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they're a great teaching vehicle for you to teach your 10 year old son about diversification, about how you do a mix of investments. And I just love what Fidelity has done more than what Schwab or Vanguard have done to be really welcoming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That we have been so successful with our propaganda that your 10 year old wants to have an investment account as far as the money required


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For him to open an investment account with Fidelity. One dollar. One dollar gets it done. And it creates, uh, the ability for knowledge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And also creates this habit moving forward, hopefully that will lead to lifetime, lifelong financial security. And you know, for your 10 year old,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To read about how an index fund works. To learn about what a total stock market index fund is. What, how does an international index fund work? How does a small company index fund work? How does a bond index work? To learn these things at a young age.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sets the foundation for making really smart financial decisions through a lifetime. So I love this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I want to hear how the experience works out for him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Krista, it's time for today's Clarkie. Who do we have one from?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And, uh, it's a conversation I had with my two older children. I'm having it with my son right now. Uhm, he got a reminder, uhm, he's gonna attend Auburn University this summer, which


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[Assistant] About the financial aid scholarship thing, and uh, it's really hard to get a teenager to, to focus on that.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. So, it'll be fun. They're such different people. It's going to be interesting to hear what it's like with them traveling together.


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[Assistant] Well, have an absolutely great day. Appreciate you so much tuning in. And if you're just, just found your way to our podcast and you want to subscribe really easy to do so. And if you watch the YouTube show, I hope you enjoy that as well. Have a great day.


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[Assistant] Thanks for joining us today on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life.


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[Assistant] And I want to talk to you about how retail right now in the US is so heavily a two horse race and later


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[Assistant] Homeowners and auto insurance, we've seen the trend in our, uh, our


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[Assistant] One on one center where you can get free one on one advice. Our team, Clark Consumer Action Center, that the number of people calling with frustration about


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[Assistant] Being able to get homeowners insurance, being able to afford it, what's happening with their auto insurance premiums, all the rest. We're going to talk about that later and what things you need to know proactively instead of just reactively with auto and homeowners. I want to talk to you about something that a survey reported on in Kiplinger.


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[Assistant] Some Amazon was cheaper, some Walmart was cheaper, but the thing that was so really stunning


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[Assistant] And they did not compare the warehouse clubs in this mix because the much, the warehouse clubs use a different business model. They stock a very small number of items.


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[Assistant] And generally sell them cheaper than anybody else, but you have very limited selection. With Walmart, physical stores, walmart.com, amazon.com, you've got this wide breadth of items you can get.


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[Assistant] I was a member of BJ's wholesale, but found I didn't use the regional warehouse club. It didn't go. So I discontinued my membership, but I shop a lot at Costco and Sam's and I automatically think of the two of them for anything I'm going to buy.


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[Assistant] Really good stud finder because we were hanging a heavy painting on the wall. I couldn't use just any old stud finder and so I was reading reviews and all that. And I ended up buying the stud finder from Sam's Club.


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[Assistant] Rather than from the two usual suspects, Home Depot and Lowe's, because theirs were so much more expensive for light quality, what I was able to get from Sam's.


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[Assistant] Walmart, you take Amazon. Who owns Sam's Club? Walmart. Costco now is, I think, the third largest retailer in the world. That if it's just about price,


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[Assistant] These four, I guess you'd call them three and a half companies since Walmart owns.


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[Assistant] Sam's as well. They have come to dominate so much market share in the U.S. because their pricing


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[Assistant] Is so much better. Now I've shared with you the Amazon, that you need to understand the Amazon system.


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[Assistant] That 70% approximately of what you buy at Amazon is not Amazon merchandise. They are just acting as a storefront.


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[Assistant] And fulfillment house. Maybe they inventory, they package, they ship, they deliver.


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[Assistant] And so Amazon is a little different.


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[Assistant] Because if you go into Walmart, obviously everything you're buying, you're buying from Walmart. Uh, walmart.com though.


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[Assistant] Is a hybrid mix just like amazon.com and a lot of the sellers are not Walmart sellers. When I go to Walmart and Amazon both and I'm buying an item outside of like a high volume category,


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[Assistant] On both, I go and I click Amazon only as a seller on Amazon, Walmart only on Walmart. Because I don't know


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[Assistant] It is a problem for traditional retailers. The only traditional retailer in any category that showed up really well compared to price wise, we're only talking price here, to Amazon and Walmart was Chewy. You ever use Chewy?


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[Assistant] Chewie and, uh, she's really happy with their service and their prices, but they're the only big, what, what used to be known as category killers. Cause the people in there, we had Home Depot, Lowe's had the big sporting goods players, electronics, all that. And I'm telling you.


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[Assistant] Walmart and Amazon, bam, they own the market price-wise in category after category. We're not even talking about independent sellers. We're just talking about big players.


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[Assistant] Yeah, so now we're back to that roughly 70% of items being sold on Amazon being sold by third party sellers. So if they participate in allowing you to use the free shipping on Prime,


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[Assistant] Often they will quote unquote adjust the price up.


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[Assistant] Just as your son experienced, and I've learned something else to do. When it says who the third party seller is, I don't know if you've ever tried this.


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[Assistant] I go to the website of the third party seller, not from the link in Amazon. I go Google, find that third party seller and wonder, wonder, miracles, miracles. What do I see over and over again? The item is quite a bit cheaper buying it direct from the third party seller.


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[Assistant] And paying whatever shipping they may have in total than buying it from Amazon because they're having to pay so much money to Amazon for doing the behind the scenes work. Uhm, then you have the risk of if the third party seller that you're now buying direct from


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[Assistant] Doesn't follow through, takes your money, doesn't deliver the item you've had customer no service. You don't have the Amazon behemoth to fall back on.


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[Assistant] Okay, that's unusual that you'd have a dollar fifty transaction fee using a bank card.


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[Assistant] Okay, so I was at lunch with my oldest child and I had received


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[Assistant] Uh, one of these, uh, gift cards, I forget whose, a Visa or MasterCard gift card. And, I go to use it, and it was declined.


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[Assistant] So I don't know if somebody's already stolen the money from it. I've not been able to, I've not paid attention to it yet to figure it out.


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[Assistant] Rebecca was just laughing. She thought it was the funniest thing ever that I'd gotten this as a gift and it was declined and it was for less than the supposed money on the card. I mean, the gift card thing,


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[Assistant] And particularly the ones tied into a bank that fee you to death. This area is a big, big problem that has led to so much thievery and stealing people's money.


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[Assistant] Is a terrible problem and the banks have made it really easy for criminals to steal the money from these cards. And the retailers have had a big problem with their own gift cards with the money being stolen before a recipient can use them.


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[Assistant] But then who knows if that retailer's card is not gonna be looted and emptied before you try to use it. This is, this is an area, particularly with the, with the crummy bank issued ones that have the Visa MasterCard logo or American Express logo.


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[Assistant] If you get $50, $100 from someone, use it right away for something you know you're going to have to do. Let's say there's a bill that you can pay by credit card.


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[Assistant] Just use that card, get it cleaned out, and be done with it, and stop all the fees. The funny thing with this card, so you got this thing, yo great, you got this gift, and the first thing it says, this card is subject to inactivity fees that could wipe out the value of the card.


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[Assistant] Brandy, I love all the alliteration with all the naming. This is so my kind of thing. Cause you've, you've done what I talk about and you've made it so catchy. And Brandy, as you found it works for you.


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[Assistant] I don't know anybody that doesn't work for, that if you cordon off a day a week or two days a week or a week of a month where you do not shop,


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[Assistant] And now we have to say that means online as well as physical stores.


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[Assistant] It will stun you how much money stays in your life. It's crazy. Opportunity creates financial hazard. Being out there and about in a store.


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[Assistant] Or a shopping center or whatever creates spending. And if you know you need to get more money staying in your life.


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[Assistant] Try it. So which one do you want of these phrases? Do you want no spin Saturday or Sunday?


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[Assistant] No shopping Saturday or Sunday. No Money Monday. No Tinder Tuesday. No Tinder Thursday. No Wages Wednesday. No Funds Friday.


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[Assistant] I love them all. Whichever one catches your imagination, you say, that's the day I'm not going to spend. Go for it.


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[Assistant] One day a week that, cause you're asking too much of people who aren't invested in this to just kill off all spending in a whole month. You know, you always start in baby steps. So go back to them and say, okay, I get it. You didn't like no spend February. How about no spend?


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[Assistant] Thursday or something like that. A midday day of the week. Wednesday. Uh, what was Wednesday called?


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[Assistant] No wages. No wages Wednesday. You don't spend money, uh, on Wednesdays and you'll find you can adjust to a day of the week you don't spend and it'll be stunning how much


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[Assistant] Money is not spent. It doesn't just go to another day. You just actually spend less money.


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[Assistant] Coming up ahead, you're going to need to spend less money, like we're talking about, because the home and auto insurance companies are charging such big premium increases. Just enormous premium increases.


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[Assistant] And you gotta know your strategies for dealing with that. The homeowner and auto insurance market, uh, I'm not telling you anything if you've already received a cancel notice.


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[Assistant] Or non-renewal as I like to call it in the industry on your homeowners or you've seen these big increases and Allstate, just as I told you last year,


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[Assistant] Is doing these very, very, very large increases around the country. All state, uh, underwrote poorly. They made very poor, uh, underwriting decisions on both auto and homeowners and all states been losing billions. And so they are,


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[Assistant] Charging at renewal in states that permit, which most do, increases that it's not all unusual to see a 40% premium increase. And,


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[Assistant] Then for homeowners, we know the usual suspects, uh, state of Florida and other coastal areas along the Gulf Coast and a little bit, uh, along the Atlantic, particularly the state of North Carolina, parts of South Carolina. People are having a lot of trouble with their homeowners getting canceled, but now are non-renewed.


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[Assistant] Now in state after state around the country, insurers are now doing it by zip code. I saw a story in the Wall Street Journal about how many people


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[Assistant] And places that historically had not had these problems are getting non-renewed. Or they're buying a house and then they have trouble finding homeowners insurance for it. Because the insurers are like, uh, we're not on a mission to go out of business.


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[Assistant] And the claims level because of increasing storm activity.


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[Assistant] And the calamitous losses the industry saw a chart.


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[Assistant] In this Wall Street Journal story about the losses insurers are suffering, and just last year,


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[Assistant] Insurers lost 32 billion bucks. Collectively. 32 billion.


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[Assistant] on writing insurance the last year they even were marginally profitable was in twenty and twenty two


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[Assistant] Insurers lost 26 billion, collectively. And so they're like, hey!


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[Assistant] This isn't working for us and so they're leaving entire areas or they're becoming very difficult to do business with in smaller areas and the losses


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[Assistant] To whether, you know, this isn't the net losses, the loss is 150 billion each year the last two years. And you go back


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[Assistant] To uh, even 10 years ago and prior.


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[Assistant] The losses were so, so much smaller year after year, one sixth of what they are now. So we are in a time, I'm not going to get into the whole political thing about, is this because of climate change or anything like that? I don't have to get into that.


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[Assistant] The fact is, the claims are going up for whatever reason. Let's just leave it at that.


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[Assistant] And then, uh, what's happened the last few years is auto's been in the mix too because of all the disruptions to supply chain that happened during COVID.


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[Assistant] And so when an insurer was having to pay off for an accident, particularly a total vehicle, the cost of that payout


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[Assistant] To their own insured or to other party if their insured was at fault for a totaled car was so much higher because of the shortage of used cars led to the big run up and what they were having to pay out and then when they were repairing a car because of the part shortages


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[Assistant] The time they were having to have an insured in a rental car or the other party in a rental car and the time to repair and the cost of repair way up. So there is a legitimate problem right now in the homeowner and auto insurance business for the insurers.


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[Assistant] That then in turn creates a problem for you and me. And when you're buying a house,


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[Assistant] You want to make sure that you can afford and get affordable homeowners insurance for that home.


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[Assistant] Because the costs have gone up so much. People buying condominiums in Florida, or living in condominiums in Florida, are finding that the monthly association


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[Assistant] Are having to go up quite a bit because of how much the association is having to pay for the association portion of the condominium insurance that you have to have.


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[Assistant] All I've told you is problem. So where do you and I fit? This is a, this is a train wreck and it's coming at us. So how do we not get hurt as badly? Cause that's what we're talking about here. I can't prevent it. I can only tell you how to not get hurt as badly.


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[Assistant] In our Team Clark Consumer Action Center. I'm thinking of, I own my home free and clear, which about a fantastic about a third of people do.


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[Assistant] So the homeowners insurance is so expensive, I think I'm just going to go without. Bad idea. Bad idea, because if you have a catastrophic loss at your home,


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[Assistant] You lose what you spent all those years building up the asset of owning your home free and clear.


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[Assistant] For somebody who owns your home free and clear, not carrying homeowners insurance. Somebody that came up on a podcast last week is the liability risk. Somebody gets hurt on your property and you get sued and you have no insurance. You could get wiped out.


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[Assistant] Or severely impacted, maybe even forced into a bankruptcy. After you've spent a lifetime building up all these assets, you don't want to take that level of risk.


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[Assistant] So you at least want to have a policy with extremely high deductibles, but enough liability insurance to protect yourself.


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[Assistant] And you do not file claims. If you're facing a higher premium, take higher deductibles, and the only purpose of that homeowner's insurance, the only purpose


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[Assistant] Is catastrophic loss. Period. If you have a mortgage on your home, there may be a limit to how much of a deductible you can have. So you have to talk to the mortgage lender and find out what the maximum you can have your deductibles. But that makes you a lower risk profile.


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[Assistant] To your insurer, when they see you're taking that high deductible, you're looked at differently because they don't have to worry that you're gonna, uh, be trying to file claims.


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[Assistant] And as high as you can afford if you own your home free and clear, take that high deductible. They're more likely to renew you. They're more likely to write that policy even in higher risk areas.


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[Assistant] And otherwise, you get stuck with the insurer of last resort that states have had to establish on auto.


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[Assistant] That gets you to a price break point. And on auto, you can still shop around. Shop the auto market.


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[Assistant] To look for the best deal you can get. Most people never shop their auto insurance. As you face renewal, shop it. Krista?


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[Assistant] Interesting question. No, I don't want you, I, from the way you worded your question, it appears that 20 is what you have in savings.


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[Assistant] If that is the ceiling of what you have in savings, I don't want you to use 15 of it to pay off a loan because then your savings is down to five grand.


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[Assistant] And I can see you taking ten grand of the twenty, have a ten thousand dollar cushion, that could carry you for a while with your expenses.


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[Assistant] And you get your loan way down and then you pay it off much quicker owing 5k on it instead of 15. But I don't want you to get your cushion that you've worked so hard to build up.


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[Assistant] You both have a rainy day account, but you also need to have money for retirement. Don't know what's available to you, where you work.


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[Assistant] If your employer offers a 401k, that's the easiest cause the money automatically comes out or set up a Roth IRA when you are ready to do that.


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[Assistant] And have contributions be automatic every month so that you are in the habit of, is almost like one of your bills. One of your bills is to pay into saving for retirement and a tax free Roth IRA. And if you need to know how Roths work,


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[Assistant] Go to Clark.com and read my simple guide to Roth IRAs.


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[Assistant] I always have a hard time answering questions about the Acorn app. Uh, the Acorn app is...


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[Assistant] A method of forced savings. You go to buy something and they round things up and the rounded money goes into savings ultimately investments.


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[Assistant] But it has fees involved that start at $36 a year. So if you're going to spend $36 a year for an app that gets you in the habit of saving money, it really has to be, and that's the low level fee.


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[Assistant] It has to be something where you've just never been able to create the habit and the Acorn Abbott app really forces you, I just made a new term, Abbott, the Acorn Abbott, that it pushes you into doing something that you know you need to do, you just can't get around to it. And an alternative,


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[Assistant] That you set up automatic money every paycheck going into savings every pay period. It could be a small amount.


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[Assistant] I like for you to start at one cent of every dollar you make.


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[Assistant] And you're creating a habit, which is the same idea of using the Acorn app, but then you don't have the $36 or more annual fee. If you want to know the nuts and bolts of Acorn, we have a review of it, Acorns, on Clark.com.


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[Assistant] Backphone is a Verizon brand, one of Verizon's many, many, many sub-brands of cell phone service.


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[Assistant] And I don't talk about track phone because it's too complicated. There are, what are there, 15, 20 different track phone plans, something like that. There's a lot of different ones and they need to simplify. You know, you get to a point where it's too complicated. Verizon learned that.


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[Assistant] With its discount brand visible, which we talked about last week.


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[Assistant] Or week before last week, I guess. The Visible has been doing this New Year's special that's ultra cheap for the next two years. It's just really simple. You buy the, they have two plans. You buy this plan or that plan. And Trackphone is too hard to explain. It has certain


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[Assistant] They've gone to way too much choice, way too much complexity. Uh, you're on Verizon the whole thing. It's just another of the many, many discount brands. And if it's working for you, that's great. And yes.


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[Assistant] So, yeaah, so we do cover a lot of brands that people know little about or have never heard of. Uhm, like I'm testing one right now.


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[Assistant] For us, it is a prepaid and it's worked very well so far and teaser, my plan I'm on right now is $5 a month and it has


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[Assistant] Keeping you up to date on what modern technology subscriptions cost and how to get that cost down. So I'm really glad for you that TrackPhone has worked really well for you.


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[Assistant] And thank you so much for joining us today. Do something today to save more or spend less.


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[Assistant] And definitely don't allow anybody to rip you off.


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[Assistant] Alright, I'm gonna start with Robert in California. I have over 400 passwords. Do you really think that I need to change 400 passwords on a regular basis?


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[Assistant] Kevin in Alabama says a few months ago, Clark talked about a free TV from Telly. I submitted my name and I have now received an email saying I was selected for the beta program.


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[Assistant] When I went to fill out everything, they want a credit card. I thought it was a free service. Is this a scam?


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[Assistant] No, but his was just a post launch update.


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[Assistant] Wow. But the credit card would be if you got the TV, you didn't return it, you didn't use it as... Yea, they've gotta have...


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[Assistant] Mike in Ohio says, Hi Clark, I love your show. I followed your advice in purchasing $20,000 worth of Series I savings bonds, one from my wife and one for me in 2021. I had been jealous that you purchased them at a time when they offered a fixed rate in addition to the inflation rate.


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[Assistant] I now see that they are offering a fixed rate of 1.3%.


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[Assistant] Would it be in my best interest to withdraw my bonds now and reinvest to capture the fixed rate going forward? And thanks for all the advice.


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[Assistant] The video of the drone dropping the package, uh, in Texas though, it looks a very, like a very rough drop. I thought it would like go almost to the ground and gently, but it's like, boom. I mean.


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[Assistant] Alright, we'll go to questions now. James in Virginia says, I purchased a $200 Walmart gift card at a Walmart location. Uh, I mailed


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[Assistant] There was no evidence of tampering with the envelope. She attempted to use the gift card at a Walmart. We sent the activation information that we received when we purchased the card. She scratched off the pin in front of the store clerk. I've included this info so that you can understand the physical card was not compromised.


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[Assistant] She was told by the store clerk that there was no money on the gift card.


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[Assistant] I wasted two hours on the 800 number. I wrote an email to the CEO and today


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[Assistant] Received the $200 from a representative from the executive office. The representative said that it was a compromised situation, but would not say that it was Walmart's fault or responsibility. She refunded the $200 as a quote, courtesy.


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[Assistant] Either they have an inside theft problem or a computer security breach.


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[Assistant] So what do you think in this case when his daughter lives in a different place, would that be a check that you mail with tracking? You certainly wouldn't mail cash to someone, right?


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[Assistant] Well I would actually say, I mean I do usually, but I also send Venmo for like my nieces and nephews I'll send.


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[Assistant] Kelly in Maryland says, my sister and brother in law are about to contact a credit counselor to consolidate their sizable credit card debt, which is great news and something I've suggested to them for years. My question is, my sister's employer matches 100% on the first 6% in her 401k.


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[Assistant] Should she move heaven and earth to make sure she's still contributing the 6% to get the free employer money during her time of repayment and perhaps even a bankruptcy? Thanks for all you do.


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[Assistant] Greg in Florida says I rented a car in France for the last two weeks of July this summer. Weeks after our wonderful trip my rental company charged me for processing the unpaid toll fee.


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[Assistant] When the actual violations showed up in my mailbox via international snail mail, the window for paying the fine had passed and I was billed an additional 90 euros for a late fee.


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[Assistant] I sent them a copy of my rental agreement, but they did not care. The fact that I had status with the rental agency, which is US based, had no effect on reversing the junk fee for processing a toll fine. Is there anything your audience can do to avoid this situation in the future? And PS, you smell like fresh baked cookies on Christmas Eve.


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[Assistant] Instead of a Clarkie of the day, I think we should thank all the Clarkies that have already donated to Clark's Christmas Kids.


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[Assistant] Okay, well speaking of cars, Broderick in Texas wrote in and he said, I need to buy a used SUV for my family. What is the best reliable used SUV to buy?


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[Assistant] And I would definitely say the digital experience on this particular thing with Consumer Reports is definitely worth it because you can, you can really narrow it down and it's just much better than trying to go find the


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[Assistant] Forest in Ohio says if I have accounts at two different credit unions that are insured with NCUA and both accounts have 250,000 in them,


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[Assistant] If both credit unions go belly up at the same time, do I get $500,000 from NCUA or only $250k? The same question would apply if the money was in two different banks insured with the FDIC.


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[Assistant] Andy in New Mexico says we cut the cord from Dish Satellite TV and went to DirecTV Internet. DirecTV Internet does not offer music channels. What are the best options for music streaming services?


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[Assistant] Yeah, MTV has, yeah, they show movies, they do music awards, all sorts of stuff.


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[Assistant] Do you think you might be just a teensy weensy bit?


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[Assistant] A part of this, encouraging people to never check their bags.


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[Assistant] Okay, you're looking at me like I'm crazy. No, no, I don't think you're crazy at all. Alright, we'll go to questions. Crazy like a fox. Alex in Pennsylvania says, I just recently found out that my soon to be 51 year old mother doesn't have health insurance. She works for a small business, so they do not provide it.


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[Assistant] I started to look around myself and most places say to go to healthcare.gov. Is this the best option? The premiums seem very high. Could you talk about how premiums are determined and what the healthcare landscape is like for people who don't get employer sponsored plans?


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[Assistant] David North Carolina says, is Clark in favor of using any of the web services that for a monthly fee will supposedly remove your personal information from various people search websites?


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[Assistant] Kathy in Georgia says, I need to get some type of medical alert device for my husband. He is prone to falls and I work about an hour away from home.


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[Assistant] Do you have any recommendations or suggestions of what I should look for in a device?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the Google Pixel one, you can click, I fell and need help, and it automatically does. And I think the Apple one's very similar, so yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I was waiting for a call from a medical office and I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stopped what I was doing, the meeting I was in and got out and answered the call because it said something medical and it was like a solicitation for some stupid benefits scam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Lewis in Georgia says, I'm looking for a side hustle to make a little extra money. I saw jobs for a secret shopper. Are there any of these legit jobs that you can work on your schedule part time?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Joe in Florida says, I admire your financial insights and I'm aware that, like myself, you also go cruising frequently. The problem I've encountered is that the costly onboard wifi.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I assume you don't go on these cruises and not have wifi with what you do. Having no internet is not an option as I run a business and must check my email daily. Going without it is not an option.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Could you share your strategies or recommendations for affordable cruise wifi options?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mark in New York says, my wife and I live in upstate New York. We have our auto and homeowners through a national company endorsed by our retirement system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It just went up by 39% despite no claims.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were told by the union representatives that it was partially because of damage to homes in Florida.