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[Assistant] The ability for you to get a refund of your membership if you're finding you're not going, then do that. And yes, I hate auto renewal. I hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Any organization.


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[Assistant] Dan, okay, I love the rotation of the streaming services because what do people do with the traditional streaming services? They binge watch particular shows and they're not watching 15 or 20 different shows. There tends to be one, two or three shows that they really get into.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they watch episode after episode. My wife does this a lot.


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[Assistant] With streaming services and your idea of seasonal rotation where you turn them on, turn them off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is a great idea and a phenomenal way to save money. You have to just be willing to do the work to sign up, delete sign up, delete.


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[Assistant] And if you are, the reward is a lot of money that stays in your wallet. I love it. Coming up, talk about saving money. What you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are being offered that supposedly will save your money on, save you money on energy for your home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But what really saves you money versus what might save you money? I can predict the future.


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[Assistant] How about that? That's like a super natural, super human power. Not really. I just know how this is going to play because a little more than two weeks from now,


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[Assistant] We're going to have new tax credits for various energy saving devices that came out of, I forget what...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, oh, Inflation Reduction Act, which was the silliest name ever for this thing that the Congress passed, but anyway.


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[Assistant] There's all kinds of tax credits and new deals for purchasing electric vehicles, for purchasing heat pumps, for doing solar. Uhm, I mean, a lot of things geared towards actually reducing energy consumption


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the United States. And one of the ones that's gonna have a huge push behind it from heating and air conditioning contractors


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[Assistant] Is a new heat pump tax credit that is available to people


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[Assistant] Who make, uhm, average to a little above average incomes in the United States. Those that make, uh, above.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, average incomes in the United States, many will not be eligible as there's an income phase out that makes you eligible for the credits. My prediction


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that we will see a lot of people in the heating and air conditioning business boosting the prices of heat pumps above where they've been before because of the math of the tax credit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they'll be pocketing some of the net savings, not you, at first. So I would not run out.


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[Assistant] At the beginning of the year and say, well, there's this new tax credit, I wanna grab it.


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[Assistant] Because while you're trying to grab it, some of that money is going to be picked out of your pocket.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the heating and air conditioning firm. HVAC firm. So I would take my time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On doing this transition, see where the price is settled. Also there's something complicated here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you right now heat your home with natural gas, even though the heat pumps are incredibly efficient with energy,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Much more so than what we're used to with how we get energy to our home for heating and cooling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The cost in many places in the country for electricity


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is so much higher per unit of energy.


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[Assistant] Than natural gas for a unit of energy that even though you will help


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The environmental equation by using a lot less energy, you may actually net be paying more money out of your wallet. So this is not a slam dunk. So this is one you slow walk. You don't run into


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The heat pump tax credit and say, oh, I gotta do this right now because there's this new credit. Uh-uh. Take your time on it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The electric vehicles. I'm expecting...


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[Assistant] That the sellers of electric vehicles in the first half of 23 are going to try to scarf up


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of that tax credit money you're qualifying for for buying an electric vehicle by boosting the street price, selling price for that electric vehicle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there's always a big marketing push.


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[Assistant] When the Congress pushes through new tax credits of various kinds, and I would take your time.


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[Assistant] I would not artificially move up or spend money because a tax credit is being waived in front of you.


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[Assistant] Now also you gotta make sure you're eligible for that credit, income wise or some other reason wise, before you make a decision.


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[Assistant] To make a big purchase because the potential tax credit, you know, heat pumps are really expensive.


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[Assistant] Tax credit's two grand. You're still spending real money for that heat pump.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And depending on your home, there may be other things you've got to do with wiring or whatever else for the house to be able to support that heat pump. Uhm, as far as solar panels, solar panels can save you substantial amount of money, but they cost a lot of money to install.


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[Assistant] And yeah, you got great tax credits on solar panels, but the industry has had a lot of fly by night players in it. You've got to also hear, be deliberate, take your time, get multiple quotes.


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[Assistant] And stay away from anything that involves leasing a system.


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[Assistant] Or involves you in long-term financing for that solar power. Krista, you and your husband might


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you haven't pulled the trigger because it is such a complicated purchase. Yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you know, you and I talked about that and we talked about instead of doing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The generator doing solar with backup batteries.


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[Assistant] And it was, in your situation, it was cost prohibitive to do that as an option.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Fernando, I don't know if you're in some kind of lease or you finance through the solar installation company. This dovetails exactly what I was just talking about, about how the industry has a lot of very unreliable


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some dishonest or crooked players in it. It is one that has not matured yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there, this, you're not the first person we've heard from who's paying for solar panels, who's getting no power from them at all. And I have a least bad option here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I've thought about this from prior complaints we've had from people that they can't get the repairs done to get their solar up and working again. And I know this is weird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I think it's a good idea to contact another solar company.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To see if they have the part that supposedly is missing or broken. And if you could, I know it's crazy for you to spend money with somebody else to repair the system. But you're just bleeding money right now and you don't know when the bleed is gonna stop.


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[Assistant] With an unreliable solar company that you have right now and so you're sitting duck, I think it makes sense to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] See if another company could get you up and running since you're just paying this money for no benefit right now and it is


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[Assistant] The trouble shooter kind of people, the TV stations love you handing them a ready made story. And I love solar. Okay. And I don't like having to put seeds of doubt in your mind about installing solar, but the industry.


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[Assistant] Has not become a reliable industry with a lot of the players in it. And I gotta lay that out for you rather than telling you it's all like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wonderful and, you know, flowers and candy and all that. It's not. It is an industry that has a lot of rough patches in it and I gotta make sure you know that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you do as best you can, as much research as possible before you install solar, even if it slows you down from doing something that ultimately could be great for your wallet.


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[Assistant] This is a great question and Kent, that will depend on the, uh, property tax laws in Indiana, how it would be treated.


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[Assistant] But there is, uh, a double solution that is now being offered more in the marketplace where you don't reduce available farmland with a new method of installing solar panels in farmers' fields where it can be dual purpose. The crops can continue to be grown.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the solar panels are doing their job and the way it's done in simplest form is the solar panels are extended higher, cantilevered higher off the ground which allows the farmland to still be used to produce crops and I think it will become


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, right now it's just kind of like a, a side part of taking farmers' land and turning it into very profitable solar property. But I think it will be common and may actually end up being required


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[Assistant] And farm states by their legislatures that the land continue to be able to be used for farmland. But there's no way economically can you could turn your back on being able to turn that land into 10 times the revenue.


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[Assistant] Even if you did have to pay higher taxes for the property, almost certainly it would still be far more profitable for you. And this is a challenge because we don't want to lose all this farmland. And that's why I think the real answer is dual use of that land.


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[Assistant] Yeah, okay, whenever you're dealing with, uh, dual country tax, and we talked about this before about people who live in Canada but are US citizens or vice versa. We're talking about France and the US here. There are specialist CPAs.


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[Assistant] Who do tax for Americans living in foreign countries.


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[Assistant] And you would be remiss to just go with whatever I would say on this. You want to find an international tax specialist. They bill a higher rate per hour, but the money we're talking about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Makes it worth it because you start talking about, uh, being dual taxed and what kind of tax France would impose, which is a very, uh, traditionally high tax nation, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You want that CPA with that expertise. You don't want a CPA who does tax, who reads in journals. You want somebody who this is their area of specialization is taxation for American citizens living in a foreign country.


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[Assistant] At the core of what you said though, selling the property you have in the US and taking the, the gain off the table is a tax free gain for the first $500,000 for a married couple. And then if you wanted to own a property in the United States and live in France,


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[Assistant] That would be, just from the face of it, a better tax strategy obviously than having the embedded gain that becomes taxable. Here's the thing though. It is very hard to own


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Remote investment property, particularly a rental property and


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[Assistant] Maybe the ultimate answer for ease in your life is to take those proceeds tax free.


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[Assistant] And not own property at this point in the United States. But as far as the whole tax angle,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you do want to own it or another property, please.


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[Assistant] And you're in California, you will find CPAs that are expert in multi-country tax situations, and that's who you gotta have for this circumstance.


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[Assistant] And I hope that there's something you heard in today's podcast that you can put to work in your life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you celebrate Christmas, I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you celebrate some other holiday like me, I celebrate Hanukkah, or as I'm supposed to say, Hanukkah.


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[Assistant] Uh, I wish you a happy Hanukkah and a happy new year. Whatever holiday you celebrate, if any, this holiday season, I wish you and your family a wonderful and prosperous new year.


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[Assistant] Alright, we'll go to questions now. Richard in Oklahoma says, would you address the claims that the huge amounts of mining for minerals and carbon produced in the process needed for batteries offsets the carbon savings from driving an electric vehicle?


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[Assistant] Initial value of $100, max return of 39.65%, upside leverage factor of 1.


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[Assistant] Buffer amount of 15%. Are these a good idea? Are there things for me to look out for? And I emailed him back and asked if his, his planner was a fiduciary. He said he says he is a fiduciary and he gave me the company name and I did do a little...


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[Assistant] From Adrelyn in Florida, my college daughter's 529 fund balance is now at zero dollars. Instead of taking out a college loan for her last year, I'm going to withdraw from my retirement funds. I have a 401k and a Roth IRA. I'm reading that it's better to withdraw from the Roth IRA. I would really like to hear what you think.


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[Assistant] On campus, uhm, my last two years in college I was an RA, Resident Assistant. They call it different things in some places and that gave me free room and board. So if it's that kind of situation or if you have a kid out there who's looking at that, uhm, it's a really, it's a great thing if the college offers something like that or you can work for the school to offset tuition somehow.


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[Assistant] I enjoyed it actually, it was really, I was a camp counselor too though, I'm into that kind of thing, so it was good.


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[Assistant] And always have, like, paid out down a mortgage if you got one really quickly. If you have one right now at like two and a half percent, would you, because psychologically it's so important to you.


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[Assistant] Okay, Felicia in Ohio has a question about this actually with a little twist. I need to know if it's wise to sell my home which has a 2.8% mortgage rate to avoid paying higher property taxes.


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[Assistant] Rob in Florida says houses are still very overpriced and mortgage rates have doubled making payments a lot higher. Not only are payments higher but with the increase in home prices comes an increase in property taxes as was mentioned by Felicia. On top of that prices keep


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[Assistant] So anyone buying now has a house worth less than their mortgage or the price that they paid and many of those houses I see out there for sale need a lot of work to get them updated.


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[Assistant] Adding up all the costs, mortgage payment, taxes, HOA fees, and any update costs, how can anyone afford to buy in this market?


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[Assistant] Ivan in Colorado says two days before Christmas, I purchased a snowman family display.


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[Assistant] When I asked why an employee said customers could be dishonest and use them in return once the holiday was over, I spoke with a manager who told me they would not return any such item.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. In today's episode.


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[Assistant] The news just, well, continues to get...


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[Assistant] Rougher and rougher for you as a traveler and customer no service, obviously part of the equation.


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[Assistant] And airlines getting rid of their phone numbers or never having them in the first place. And there's one type of meat.


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[Assistant] It's getting so much cheaper. I'm going to tell you what you may want to have on your menu. So.


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[Assistant] I've alluded to this recently about Frontier Airlines getting rid of their customer no service number.


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[Assistant] Now Frontier happens to be the airline that had to pay the largest fine of any airline.


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[Assistant] That serves the United States. Foreigner domestic.


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[Assistant] Frontier says, oh, it's so much better to reach out to us on social media or text us. Okay.


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[Assistant] We'll see how that works. Now, in fairness,


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[Assistant] Pretty much all the nation's airlines have had problems with answering their phone lines.


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[Assistant] And a lot of times they have farmed it out to call centers, contract call centers where the people don't know anything at all. So it's not like the customer service you've been able to get from an airline phone number has been really great shakes, but it is, uh, really kind of ironic that


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[Assistant] Right after Frontier got this huge fine that


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[Assistant] For not doing what they're required to do by law.


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[Assistant] That they decide, hey, you know what? We're selling you a really cheap fare sooooo well. Buyer beware. Uhm, I went through quite a decision process because Frontier offered a highly publicized pass


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[Assistant] Where there was a brief window I could have bought.


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[Assistant] A year's standby travel for $599. And the way it worked was the day before travel, you could book a confirmed seat, but up to that point, you couldn't book.


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[Assistant] Unless, uh, and then there's a more expensive one that includes international travel, that you could book 10 days out. And I was just like, wait a minute.


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[Assistant] Do I really want to spend $599 cause I, this year I've already traveled, uh,


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[Assistant] More than 70 flights. So I'm in the air a lot and I was thinking, you know,


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[Assistant] This frontier thing, I could just use it a few times and wow, I clean up.


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[Assistant] Then I started thinking, I, you know, I can, I bounce pretty well with whatever happens, but my wife, you know,


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[Assistant] Likes when we get somewhere, she didn't like the process of getting there and it would take two of us. And I said, I posed it to her. I said, what do you think of this?


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[Assistant] And I'd already passed on it, the 599 had gone away.


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[Assistant] And she said, I'm not doing that. So I made the right call on that, but that's like, you know, first prize in something.


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[Assistant] Being winning one of something in second prize being two with the same thing. That's what it'd be like with the frontier thing maybe, but there's a whole group of people that are getting really adept.


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[Assistant] At dealing with the basic economy on the full fare lines and flying on the discounters like a legion frontier in spirit.


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[Assistant] And there was a really cute story in the Wall Street Journal about people who make it an art that they never pay anything but the base fare on the discounters. They avoid all the junk fees and these families


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[Assistant] That everybody's trained in the family that they travel with one of these micro carry ons. And I've got a micro carry on that will fit.


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[Assistant] Uhm, on United, where you're not allowed to use the overhead bin if you buy basic economy.


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[Assistant] Uh, under the seat in front of you on any of the airlines and you avoid the fees and it's just wild. The percent of people who buy one of these basic economy tickets from a full fare airline.


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[Assistant] Or fly on one of the discounters that have all the add-on fees who never, ever pay a fee.


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[Assistant] And it's not just the people that were profiled in the wall street journal story that was pretty funny. Um, significant percent of people fly on these airlines and never ever pay a fee.


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[Assistant] Somewhere potentially as much as one in six people.


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[Assistant] Who fly on these airlines are able to live with the requirements of no advanced seat assignment, no check bag, no full size carry on bag.


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[Assistant] And able to get it done, but do not believe you're going to show up at United.


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[Assistant] Or at one of the discounters, United on a Basic Economy, or one of the discounters, and sneak a full-size carry-on on that plane? Not gonna happen. And speaking of Frontier, they did a brilliant thing. You're given a boarding pass sequence.


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[Assistant] That only is for people who have paid.


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[Assistant] For a carry-on bag, and that way everybody else, they know, hey, that bag of yours, hundred bucks. A hundred bucks to take it on the plane, last minute.


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[Assistant] So no, they're not fooling around with those fees. You gotta jump through all the right hoops to avoid them. Now, Krista, you know that I've flown Allegiant, Frontier, and Spirit.


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[Assistant] And it flown all three on multiple occasions and only one time have I ever paid a baggage fee because I take my little teeny micro carry on and that's all I take.


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[Assistant] To have personal information, they then run a background check.


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[Assistant] But you're going to see this more and more often with Airbnbs and VRBOs.


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[Assistant] Because the problems that have happened with the party houses and the damage to the houses and the police being called and all that.


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[Assistant] And so, uh, right now, typically the potential renter is not paying the fees, although someday you might see that become a mandatory fee that you have with booking an Airbnb or a VRBO, but it is,


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[Assistant] For people renting out a property because if they lose their ability to rent out that property because of a nightmare guest, uhm, the revenue they're going to lose is gigantic.


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[Assistant] So whenever I mentioned the Better Business Bureau, the polarizing responses we get from podcast listeners, amazing. Here's the thing with the BBB. If a business is crooked, you're not going to get any help by filing with the BBB. On the other hand,


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[Assistant] If they're a big lumbering corporate bureaucracy, remember.


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[Assistant] The larger a corporation is, the dumber they become.


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[Assistant] You know, dinosaurs were so huge, but had those tiny brains. That's what happens with corporations. Their brain power is inversely proportional to their size, but they also truly think they're doing the right thing almost always.


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[Assistant] And so filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.


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[Assistant] About a legitimate business that just is doing crummy business tends to work very often. You just go to BBB.org.


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[Assistant] That is like a novel you had to read in high school or college.


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[Assistant] Short and sweet and clear, no anger in what you write, just what happened and what the resolution is you're looking for. And amazingly, you will get results repeatedly with these big companies.


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[Assistant] Yeah, so Experian Boost is a product I'm really excited about. There are several other competitors coming in the marketplace.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the ability to build a, we can't call it a, I guess we would call it a credit profile, but to use alternative means of figuring out how risky or not risky you are, other than just, well, this is how they pay credit card. This is how they pay a car loan. This is how they pay a mortgage. What happens if you don't have those things?


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[Assistant] So Experian Boost is part of a new field that, uh, very heavy access to computer data is making it possible to come up with reliable or seemingly reliable, uh, systems to judge somebody's credit worthiness


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[Assistant] Not by the traditional narrow method that's been done. The issue with Experian Boost or any of the others is they're not widely used yet by credit decision makers, but it is an emerging field and I think it is worth doing. Coming up ahead,


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[Assistant] We've all been brutalized by the prices of groceries and food. Well, the good news is coming, or much better news, but you gotta know


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[Assistant] How to pivot. I have a great example of that straight ahead.


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[Assistant] When you've been used to bad news just pounding your wallet week after week after week.


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[Assistant] Awful take on our wallet from groceries is starting to let up item by item, food group by food group. As the supply chain disruptions are going away, industry by industry, product by product, things are in a rotation and the worst of the supermarket inflation is not necessarily, well, the worst is over, but


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[Assistant] The food inflation is not gone, but particular items are becoming much less expensive. So how you buy when you, whether you're eating out or you're shopping in the supermarket,


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[Assistant] Is really gonna matter so much now to dial back those prices. I got one example for you.


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[Assistant] Have you noticed how, like every ad you're seeing,


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[Assistant] For restaurants, fast food, quick serve on an app on your phone, on television, wherever


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[Assistant] They're all pushing chicken this, chicken that, chicken the other. Why?


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[Assistant] Because in the last six months,


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[Assistant] Chicken price at wholesale has dropped typically around 75%. And so if I'm a restaurateur, if I'm a supermarket, whoever,


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[Assistant] What am I going to be pushing? I'm going to be pushing where my food cost has gone down. If I'm trying to attract inflation weary shoppers, I'm going to do it with items that will attract people back in the store. And I'm just using chicken as one example. There's


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[Assistant] Many different items now that have been cost prohibitive.


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[Assistant] When you go in the supermarket or if I'm a restaurateur and I'm buying things from my suppliers or however I got my food items.


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[Assistant] The relentless up, up, up, up that fever is breaking. And so now I talk about with supermarket shopping, doing the reverse shopping list.


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[Assistant] And that was so important as prices kept climbing. Believe it or not, it's even more important now that the prices of a lot of things you might buy in a supermarket are coming down.


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[Assistant] The reverse shopping list is where you shop the sales.


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[Assistant] On an app or, uh, these things that people used to get called newspapers that are like printed on paper and they have stuff in them. The sales flyers in a newspaper. You shop the sales and build


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[Assistant] Your menu list for that week and your shopping list from what's on sale.


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[Assistant] And is certain items that were so fever pitch price are coming down. Think about it. Your dialing back prices in what food represents in your budget. I've talked


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[Assistant] For the last year and a half about how important where you buy your groceries are, but also what you buy when you're in the store matters extremely. And so it's up to you.


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[Assistant] To not just be rigid and say, okay, so here's my list. This is when I'm buying instead show flexibility buying what is actually.


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[Assistant] More cost effective for you and your family. And when you eat out, you're going to see.


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[Assistant] The specials normally are an excuse for a restaurant to charge you more. Right now, specials are the items that are more likely the ones they're getting a deal on and they're using them as inflation fighters.


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[Assistant] To get you in, and more important, to get you as a repeat guest. Krista?


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[Assistant] Bad things happen to good people. And I was like, not again, cause this is one I haven't heard in like three, four years. This was very prominent.


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[Assistant] Uh, back when we had a surplus of houses in the country and there were a lot of houses that weren't occupied at the time. Was this house unoccupied, did you say?


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[Assistant] Uh, this is something every tree service needs to be aware of, this scam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's an oldie but baddie that goes back, I mean this goes back nearly 20 years as a scam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For a service provider, uhm, and yes, the homeowner was just collateral damage in this case.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what people do, the scamsters look for vacant properties. In this case, they just looked on places for rent. They probably didn't even drive by. And they pretend to be the homeowner and just as described here,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They get quotes from companies like a homeowner, the deaf thing, that's not one. I've not heard that angle before. And then they send you the too large a check.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for whatever fish story they tell you about, why the check's too large.


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[Assistant] And then they have you send them back real money.


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[Assistant] And then you do the work and by the time, even if you haven't done the work, what turns out later, you wired money to a crook, you're not going to recover and the check will bounce. Oh my goodness. Just know this, any business.


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[Assistant] Anytime, or you're selling your own car, anything like that, anybody says, oh, for whatever reason I'm having to send you a check larger, I sent you a check larger than what it was for, but I'm trusting you.


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[Assistant] To just send me back the difference between the quote and what I've sent you.


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[Assistant] And what's gonna happen is that check is gonna bounce and you're gonna be out your money.


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[Assistant] Uh, today the difference from 15, 20 years ago, today they'll want to be paid by, uh, Venmo most often or, uh, Z...


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[Assistant] And so just be aware, be wary of your business. This is a long standing con.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so first things first, I have never found a store brand soft drink that I like, so I'm with you Joanne on that, but I have discovered that I love Dr. Pepper Zero.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is a replacement for my beloved Pepsi Zero and Coke Zero and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, because it's owned by a third company, I've been able time and again to find much lower prices on the Diet Pepper Zero.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I've really learned to love that. And so that's my product substitution that I've come up with for the soft drinks. In addition, as I shared, I'm drinking more water


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they're, uh, overwhelmingly a shared monopoly, you know, a duopoly. And so they have discovered that raising prices does hurt demand some for the product, but they're making so much more per unit that they're both benefiting from selling fewer bottles or cans.


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[Assistant] Or people will follow me into Dr. Pepperland and it will ring the prices.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Down from these very rarefied levels they are. And I was at, uh, I live in a part of the country that has LIDL.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Coke Zero on sale, limit 12, 12 packs. Uh, half price.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there Rego, I bought eight because I knew if I came home with 12, Lane would make me sleep out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Concrete or something. So, I got eight of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what's great is Lidl's regular price is much cheaper than a normal supermarket. And then I got that at half price. So I was able to say


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My desire for a while has still plenty of those cans available since I'm drinking less of them anyway. But Joanne, is it corporate greed?


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[Assistant] I think that the way capitalism works outside of a natural disaster or something like that is the marketplace doing its thing.


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[Assistant] These companies have been testing the market. They've been able to find they can charge higher prices. Till they meet price resistance, they'll charge higher prices.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, short-termers for internet, for home internet, uh, straight talk is my favorite go-to right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's currently 45 a month. Straight Talk is that partnership between Verizon and Walmart. So you can go to straighttalk.com or you can go in a Walmart store.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you buy this, uh, portable device that you plug and play


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[Assistant] It finds the Verizon signal.


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[Assistant] Where you are in Vero Beach, the signal's strong enough, you'll have perfectly adequate internet for web surfing, video streaming,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That kind of thing. Not fast enough for gaming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You didn't mention that either of you are gamers, so you don't have to worry about that. And then you just pay per month, so the three months you're in Vero Beach.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You'd pay $135 for the internet with a straight talk. You just don't renew it when you get back to Florida the following year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's wonderful with the streaming TV services is you pay by the month.


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[Assistant] And so you can look at our streaming guide at Clark.com and we have a thing, you build your channels.


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[Assistant] And so you put in what channel is most important to you and your wife first, then you put in the second most important, third most important, and you see the price pain involved at building the channel, channel list. It's really important to the two of you.


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[Assistant] And you may, uh, run out of wallet paying at 20 or 25 a month.


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[Assistant] You may end up at 50 a month or 65 a month. I'd say somewhere between.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 25 and 65 is where most people get, but again, you'd only pay it for those three months and then you're done and you go back, uh, to where you normally live in Maryland and then you


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[Assistant] Repeat the cycle the following year in Vero Beach. And that's how you'd save the most money.


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[Assistant] And I want to thank you so much for listening to our podcast. I hope as you're walking on the beach with the sand in your toes at Vero that you will be listening to our podcast.


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[Assistant] We also have our free daily newsletters, and you hear that? Everything we do is free, isn't it? That's pretty good business model, Krista.


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[Assistant] In the other way, would they? Anyway, you can sign up for our free newsletters at Clark.com slash newsletters. You can follow the deals of the minute at Clark deals with our newsletter for Clark deals.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or Clark.com, the content that we work so hard at. And we have our, uh, our editorial review about what we have done.


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[Assistant] In a current week and what we're looking at publishing the following week.


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[Assistant] I'm just in awe of the quality of the writing we have.


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[Assistant] at Clark.com, the dedication of our writers and


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[Assistant] The ethics that we're able to generate content with every week.


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[Assistant] They do an amazing job. Not that I understand anything about social media. It's funny. I'm just pitiful at that, aren't I?


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[Assistant] You know, we all are a product of the era we come of age and my kids make fun of me that I'm so lame in understanding social media as a person.


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[Assistant] But the goal always with everything we do, everything we do from when we wake up in the morning till we go to bed at night.


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[Assistant] Whether it's this podcast, what I do on television, if you see me on TV in the market you live in, uh, what I do for radio stations, what we do with our newsletters, our websites, everything we do is devoted to you having


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[Assistant] Clear information that you can act on in your life that you can trust. It's why I do what I do. It's why we do what we do is to serve you in a time that nobody feels like they can trust anybody or anything. That is the greatest currency that we have to offer you is trust.


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[Assistant] Is all about where our heads and our hearts believe we are doing the best we can to serve you. Have a great day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. In this episode, taxes. I'm sorry. There's actually good news about taxes.


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[Assistant] There were a lot of people who failed to file over the last couple of tax years. And there's actually almost like a forgiveness period from the IRS for real. I'm going to tell you about it. It's coming straight ahead.


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[Assistant] Also health insurance and healthcare, there's lots of news in this area and there's some opportunity for you to save money. I'm going to fill you in. So even more than normal.


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[Assistant] Didn't file their returns. You think about what was going on in, uh, 2020, which is when you would have filed your 19. We were in the heart of COVID. A lot of people dealing with ill family members.


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[Assistant] Uh, a lot of disruption in their lives, from unemployment, whatever. And COVID.


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[Assistant] Uh, it's something we've learned to live with, but if you go back to twenty and twenty one.


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[Assistant] Both years were highly disruptive and so people


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[Assistant] And very large numbers didn't file and now have been subject to


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[Assistant] Very large failure to file penalties. Well, the IRS has established a forgiveness period where you don't have to pay


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[Assistant] The failure to file penalties. As long as you go ahead and get in that 2019 and or 2020 return,


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[Assistant] On failure to pay, but that's a much, much, much smaller amount.


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[Assistant] Then failure to file. So this is a great opportunity


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[Assistant] To clear your record with the IRS. So let's take a different situation. Let's say you did file late and you paid


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[Assistant] Failure to file penalties. Failing to file on time.


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[Assistant] And you paid those when you did your returns for 19 or 20. The IRS automatically says that automatically they're going to refund that money back to you.


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[Assistant] They already paid it. They're going to send it back to you. We'll see how that works in real life, but in whatever case.


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[Assistant] You will be eligible for the return of the money. So if you didn't get around to it,


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[Assistant] You thought, ah, well, they haven't found me yet. I'm just going to ignore them. Don't do that. Go ahead and get these returns done and save yourself some money and.


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[Assistant] You know that these kind of forgiveness programs have been very common.


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[Assistant] In states with various state taxes could be income or other things, but this is unusual for the feds.


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[Assistant] So don't let the opportunity pass you by. And Krista, you got some questions for me.


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[Assistant] On your fancy tablet here. Yes. I like the new case you got.


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[Assistant] So, you know, I'm partially colorblind. I thought that was white.


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[Assistant] Gosh, uhm, the iBond thing is such a temporary phenomenon. The iBond's being such a deal, earning such a high rate of interest, the rate resets every six months. And it's clear that


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[Assistant] We're gonna get inflation more under control. It's gonna take.


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[Assistant] More pain and more time than it looked like, but this is not a long run game.


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[Assistant] So I think that that really in this case would be overthinking because doing the extra withholding, remember whatever.


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[Assistant] Current rate for series I bonds would be.


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[Assistant] You only get that for six months and then it goes back to, uh, probably


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[Assistant] More normal kind of earnings. So I don't think I'd go through all that to be able to buy more Series I savings bonds. However, if you have tuned this out


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[Assistant] And everybody else out talking about the series I bonds and you have some cash laying around. Buy some now because right now you are earning over 9% on these and obviously a lot more than one of the big banks paying you one, one hundredth of 1%.


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[Assistant] Or even an online bank paying you 2% on your savings. Nine's a good number. Now remember, you only get it for the first six months and then it resets.


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[Assistant] This is something that's available in some states and not others because auto insurance is regulated by the states and you definitely want to buy stacked coverage. What stacked coverage does is it's like a force multiplier for coverage under the uninsured, underinsured motorists. So it allows you


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[Assistant] To claim more money in the event that there's more issues you need more money for. That it's a mathematical formula.


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[Assistant] And just know that without getting into all the particulars, if you live in a state that you're offered for uninsured motorists, the option is stacked or unstacked. You always want stacked because that's a much more viable coverage that you would have. Costs you a little more, worth it.


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[Assistant] So your 3.1 is fantastic and there's no reason to rush to pay off an interest rate that low when the interest rate you have is well below the rate of inflation.


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[Assistant] And there's other opportunities. So you haven't talked about anything Kira that


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[Assistant] In savings, but I don't know what that means. Is that a savings account? Uh, where is that money? So I am the man from Roth actually.


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[Assistant] The late Senator William Roth of Delaware is the man from Roth. But I believe so much in the Roth IRA that having a Roth IRA would be really, really, really valuable and important for the two of you to have because you're so young, 29 and 30.


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[Assistant] You've got decades for that money to grow tax free to be spent in retirement. Uh, the highest priority to me.


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[Assistant] Would be if you're not doing Roth IRAs, that the money that you're diverting towards paying off the mortgage should be going towards putting into a Roth and be, uh, you can set it up where you're putting.


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[Assistant] As much as $500 a month each or a total of $6,000 a year into a Roth IRA.


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[Assistant] Which gives you the ability to build up a pile of money for long term.


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[Assistant] Well except, uh, she said, I've been told it's better to just stick more in the stock market since these will perform better. The short term stock market is not going to necessarily perform better. We could even have more of a significant slump with the stock market coming as we try to squeeze inflation out of the economy. But long term,


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[Assistant] Is so important. If you're not doing a Roth, go read our simple guide.


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[Assistant] To investing and Roth IRAs at Clark.com is for buying a rental property out of state investment property.


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[Assistant] That's not a high priority right now because the run up that has occurred in real estate values.


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[Assistant] One of the hottest sectors of inflation in our economy, even before we ever talked about inflation, was rising healthcare costs. I want to talk about


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[Assistant] Some non-traditional players and one traditional one making moves in healthcare and how they might affect your wallet.


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[Assistant] What a big players, big money people.


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[Assistant] Are putting their noses more and more into healthcare.


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[Assistant] And CVS, a traditional healthcare player, they own Aetna.


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[Assistant] CVS and Amazon got into a big fight about signify health, which is this healthcare service for wealthier people. And you got house calls and all this kind of stuff and Amazon.


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[Assistant] Buying one medical, which are premium doctor's offices. So.


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[Assistant] That Amazon's involved in, that CVS is involved in going into higher income zip codes, only serving people who tend to have pretty fat wallet, who are likely to have very good health insurance and really not helping


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[Assistant] They're helping those individuals, but not helping with the bigger problem.


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[Assistant] I'm obsessed with, it's an obsession.


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[Assistant] With what Walmart has been doing that started


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[Assistant] Experimentally and has been growing around the country with Walmart health centers and Walmart health centers are designed for people.


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[Assistant] Who don't have regular access to medical care and don't necessarily have health insurance and


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[Assistant] What I love about what Walmart's doing with their health centers is they're just very large.


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[Assistant] Non-emergency medical offices, usually attached to are on the same property as a Walmart store. And they have electronic price lists. And it's just really, really clear. You go in for a visit, 40 bucks. You go in to do a school physical for a kid, 24 bucks. Everything is clearly stated.


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[Assistant] And one of the things Walmart has done that everybody else has avoided is they're providing mental health therapy, mental health services. So therapy sessions are 30 to $60. You know, I can't speak at all about the caliber of quality.


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[Assistant] Of the therapy that's offered, the medical care that's offered. They also offer dental. I can't talk about the quality of the dental. Don't know. But what I think is significant


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[Assistant] Is that Walmart is doing something different than everybody else.


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[Assistant] It's all just looking for how they can make serious money in this.


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[Assistant] And Walmart is working on the accessibility side of it. The dental thing, you know, a lot of people,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really, really ignore their dental health. And as any dentist will tell you in greater detail than maybe you want to hear,


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[Assistant] Is how much your dental health or lack thereof can affect your physical health. And so a dental exam is 25 bucks. I mean, that's cheap teeth cleaning, 25 bucks kids. It's 15. I mean, this is really good stuff. And so they lay everything out.


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[Assistant] Item by item, it just depends where you are in the country if you have access to a Walmart health center.


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[Assistant] And is this going to solve everything with medical care? No, not far from it. Nobody is the magician that can solve everything with healthcare, but we've got a lot of people in America who don't qualify for


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[Assistant] Government provided healthcare which more than half of Americans get with Medicare, Medicaid, uh,


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[Assistant] Or other government type healthcare services. And then we have people who don't work for an employer that provides healthcare and they're on their own.


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[Assistant] And they may not be able to afford the premiums that are available at healthcare.gov. And so they go without. And so having a place you can go where you know the price and they're not going to turn their noses up at you because you're not somebody with some kind of major health insurer insurance card is good stuff. And I wish that,


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[Assistant] Amazon with all its high minded talk about healthcare actually was trying to do something for people who didn't have a lot of money.


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[Assistant] Instead of just focusing on people who do have a lot of money.


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[Assistant] And that's it for my Amazon bash right now, Krista. So what you got for us?


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[Assistant] Well, you know, we do get questions from people about just buying frames. The irony with the eyeglass business, this is a funny thing, is that often with eyeglasses is that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Buying the whole thing from a discount or even if you end up ditching the lenses is cheaper than just buying frames normally, which is weird, but we have done, uh, our own writeup at Clark.com on the best places to get eyeglasses. Uh, and this is looking at the quality, looking at the price.


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[Assistant] And Consumer Reports has done this as well. Ours...


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[Assistant] A little different than Consumer Reports ratings, but in some ways similar. We have Costco as the best place in America, shock, right? Costco, the best place in America to get, uh, frames, lenses complete because of the customer service and quality you get. But both we and Consumer Reports really, really, really like Zenny.


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[Assistant] Zenny is by far the cheapest out there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Does have some customer service issues, but not terrible.


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[Assistant] And the glasses are ridiculously cheap and you're looking at being able to buy a pair of prescription glasses, frames, lenses, complete.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For effectively $15 including shipping is what will typically work out too. That's the whole thing. People spend more than that on their sunglasses. What do you spend on your sunglasses?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, cause if you go to the $1.25 tree, you pay $1.25 for a pair of sunglasses cause you can lose the $1.25 pair of sunglasses the same as you can lose your $10.


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[Assistant] That's true. That's true. But think about with Zenny, you're getting a prescription pair of glasses in that same general price range. A lot of people love Warby Parker.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And particularly the thing you asked about the frames.


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[Assistant] There are a lot of people who go to Warby Parker just because.


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[Assistant] And now with physical stores in so many locations. So if you think about those three.


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[Assistant] You're going to find a really good selection and really good prices.


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[Assistant] From Costco, Zenny, and Warby Parker, you could do


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Much worse than just limiting your search to one of those three. That's where I'd look.


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[Assistant] Is if we're more interested in designer frames at a discount or not. So.


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[Assistant] You gotta know the thing with the designer frames. A lot of the designer frames are part of a European based cartel. The brands are owned by


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they really have a hammer lock on the prices. So what I recommend is there was a brand name frame that you're really into. Look for one that is similar, that is not controlled by the European cartel.


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[Assistant] So think about that. Alright, so for the family, saving right now, we're talking about 1300 and something per year by switching. 1320.


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[Assistant] Met mobile continues to be reliable versus being with one of the big three in this situation, AT&T. There is such an advantage with cell phone service to shopping around.


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[Assistant] Within your own company that you're with now, but even the bigger savings are when you're willing to go further afield, the savings you can get are gigantic.


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[Assistant] Okay. So I love this. First of all, it is cruel for you to make your children listen to me.


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[Assistant] The Schwab Total Market Index, great choice, wonderful place to stash cash and build the savings and investment habit. And over time, that money will grow and grow and grow. The only potential harm to this is if any of your children are intending to go to college, that it does harm their qualification for financial aid, money that's in their own name.


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[Assistant] When your kids start working as teens, you would want to pivot this to putting money into a Roth IRA.


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[Assistant] Again, the man from Roth. You put the money into the Roth IRA, it won't hurt them on college financial aid applications and the money grows tax free and ultimately not used


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[Assistant] Specifically for the purposes you name for the kids, it's way down the road, but it starts their nest egg.


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[Assistant] For saving longterm for retirement and again, tax free. So I hope you've heard something today that's been useful in your life. And if there's something that you haven't heard me talk about,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you're like, how do you do this? What's the answer to this? I got this problem, whatever.


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[Assistant] We have free one-on-one advice. We've been doing so for just a whisker less than 30 years where you can get free one-on-one advice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From one of our wonderful volunteers or paid staff members from our Team Clark Consumer Action Center. And we are here to serve you 30 hours each week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can learn all the details if you go to Clark.com slash CAC. Have a great day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, the first one here is from John in New York. My utility works with a company that provides insulation and air sealing for homes and has an innovative model where they lay out the upfront costs and the homeowner makes payments based on the energy savings they realize from the improvements.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm curious if Clark has any thoughts on this model and on these types of home improvements in general. If I move forward with the company, the project will be paid off in 15 to 20 years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, being that I'm nearly 50, I'm not sure that I'll realize much savings from the improvements. Of course there are other considerations and reasons to make the improvements, like the environmental benefits, my wife's comfort, and me not having to hear her complain about being cold, hopefully.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would this also be like with some of the, some of the solar financing where it's attached to your house, where if you sold your house, it could be a problem or no?


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[Assistant] Uh, Jamar in Delaware says, I was thinking about taking my money out of the stock market and putting it into Series I savings bonds. Is this a good idea?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Eric in Kansas says I've been a customer of Betterment for quite some time and recently I noticed that they began offering a cash reserve account.


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[Assistant] My understanding is that they have a number of high interest online banks in this program.


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[Assistant] And they manage keeping your money invested in the banks that offer the best interest rate yields. Are you familiar with this program and is my description accurate?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Jennifer in Wisconsin says I have my, our credit frozen, but my husband is still very adamant that we have identity theft protection for aspects of our identity not connected to our credit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've heard about and done some research on LifeLock and Xander. Does Clark have any suggestions for the best company that offers identity protection or does he think it's not necessary with a credit freeze?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bad news is I didn't get the name of your volunteer to thank him personally. Please pass on my gratitude.


[User] Please transcribe this text

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


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We know, we know, we know how many things have gotten steadily more expensive as we go around in our daily lives due to inflation. But the big change going on, we're getting smarter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe out of necessity about how we're spending those dollars. I've talked about store brands forever. Wait till you hear what a difference it makes in what you spend when you're out shopping. And coming up later, the average Asian American is retiring.


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[Assistant] Well, I'm gonna hold that number back because I did a quiz.


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[Assistant] With the staff and people weren't close to the number generally. The aged people are actually retiring.


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[Assistant] And there's special consequences I'm going to share with you about what the average American is doing today in terms of when they bag work. So, forever,


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[Assistant] I've had a bias towards store brands and I told the story.


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[Assistant] Uh, on the podcast, probably four, six weeks ago,


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[Assistant] About how when I was working my way through college, I was so short of money and we were in, uh, in fact, the worst inflationary


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[Assistant] Cycle of the last century when I was in college.


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[Assistant] And how the first wave of what are known as store brands today or private label or generics had come out in that era.


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[Assistant] And so not going to tell that whole story again, just wanted to set that as a preamble. Today, that's not true at all.


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[Assistant] In fact, my beloved Costco's Kirkland Signature brand


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[Assistant] And sales of tens and tens and tens of billions of dollars each year for a private label and this is because


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[Assistant] They've worked so hard, they don't always succeed, but they've worked so hard at getting the quality right.


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[Assistant] As a lot of people's budgets are being so stretched by inflation.


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[Assistant] People are changing how they shop. There are even two categories that supposedly people never change their buying habits on that they are hyper brand loyal.


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[Assistant] Beer and cigarettes. Trying to remember where I saw that story about beer and cigarettes. Oh, it was a Wall Street Journal story that the industry is kind of shocked that beer drinkers and cigarette smokers


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are giving up their brand loyalty to save money.


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[Assistant] Know that because of the tobacco settlements of years ago,


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[Assistant] There are these smaller cigarette companies have started up that have no legacy costs from the various tobacco settlements.


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[Assistant] And so they can sell cigarettes much, much, much cheaper than the traditional brand names. And you probably don't even notice those when you're in the convenience store or wherever you buy your cigarettes. Probably don't even notice those off brands, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If the cost of everything is just hurting your wallet right now, and you're not ready to give up smoking,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why don't you try a pack of one of these off brands and see if you like them enough to ditch your brand that you're loyal to because we're talking about big money for a pack a day smoker you can save if you switch. Um, obviously you save the most.


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[Assistant] If you quit as a former two pack a day smoker,


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[Assistant] I can tell you that I'm really glad I quit from my health and my wallet.


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[Assistant] It was multiple years. Cause I know this is, this is just hard for people to imagine, but I started smoking as a single digit. Wow.


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[Assistant] Cigarettes were just everywhere when I was a kid.


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[Assistant] Either your parents smoked. Both of them smoked. Both of them smoked. Uh, you know, in our house,


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[Assistant] There were boxes, cigarette boxes all over the house and my mom was very social, so she entertained a lot. So there were all these different brands of cigarette packs, cigarettes around our house in these boxes.


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[Assistant] And so people could go around and pick out their favorite cigarette.


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[Assistant] I used to go to Virginia to buy cigarettes because they were so much cheaper and I'd pay $2.89 a carton.


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[Assistant] 29 cents a pack back in those days. And you think about how much cigarettes are now people pay that much per cigarette a lot of times when you figure out the cost per pack.


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[Assistant] So it has a much bigger effect on your budget, but this was not supposed to be a smoking pot.


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[Assistant] Well, the percent of people who smoke, adults who smoke keeps going down, down, down, down.


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[Assistant] But, uh, people, do you know socially, I can't believe we're still talking about this, but socially, uh, people who smoke tend to gravitate, their friend groups tend to be people who smoke as well?


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[Assistant] Okay, alright, alright. Well anyway, people are trading down in beer.


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[Assistant] And they're saving a lot of money doing that as well. But then you go to things you buy in the supermarket or whatever. Sales of the private label are way up.


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[Assistant] I have some stats here. How much more it is buying the brand name. Certain brand names are much, much more money. Like one of my favorites is the thing that so many people got upset with me about what I did with cereal boxes with my kids.


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[Assistant] The store brand cereal and so these are things that.


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[Assistant] If you think about, oh, typical, by the way, you, uh, you,


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[Assistant] Hey, uh, you save 30% if you buy store brand. Some categories, the difference is greater. But if you just think about trying a store brand and most stores on the box say, Hey, if you think this tastes like sawdust, bring it back on your next visit.


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[Assistant] And we'll give you your money back or we'll give you the brand name free or whatever they want so badly to get you to sample the store brand.


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[Assistant] And it just saves you so much money and the store makes more money.


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[Assistant] If you buy their brand instead of the national brand, another category, candy, you know, most brand name candy.


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[Assistant] Than the store brand version of candy. Sometimes the store brand version of candy, not so great. But, uh, there,


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[Assistant] There are so many categories where if you look on the shelf, the price difference for you and your wallet between that store brand and that national brand is so, so, so big.


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[Assistant] They have to be, so the OTC meds have to be identical.


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[Assistant] I mean, they're there, they are the same, just like if you buy, um, prescription meds.


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[Assistant] And you buy the generic, everybody is comfortable pretty much buying generics if generics available. This price difference is so gigantic with prescription drugs. But for some reason, when we go to buy the over the counters.


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[Assistant] Have people seen over their lifetime for Tylenol or uhm, Advil or any other?


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[Assistant] You're a kindred spirit with Joel, who used to be a producer on my radio show.


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[Assistant] Cause Joel was obsessed with Amazon music. And every time I would talk about music, he'd say, why don't you talk about Amazon music? So you've done it. You've reminded me.


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[Assistant] And we, reluctantly, still have Amazon Prime, which I don't want to have anymore, but my family, anyway, uh, so,


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[Assistant] I will download Amazon music and I will try it. Cause I've been listening to Pandora on the weekends. You know, for T-Mobile subscribers, Pandora is ad free for free.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I'm always happy when it's, uh, the T-Mobile summer weekend and I can listen to Pandora for free. So obviously I like listening to music without the ads and not paying for it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, but if you're already stuck paying for prime, now there's a reason that I'm happy that I'm stuck with prime.


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[Assistant] It's a bummer, Patrick, because also that savings account at the credit union.


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[Assistant] Affects, uh, student aid eligibility. Here's what happens as a general rule of thumb.


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[Assistant] A parent is expected to give approximately 5% of their assets towards a kid's college education each year.


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[Assistant] A student who has money in his or her own name is expected to spend roughly a third of that towards their education each year. So money in a kid's name has much greater impact


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[Assistant] At reducing eligibility for financial aid, the money in a parent's name.


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[Assistant] So Patrick, if you're talking about having substantial money in a Fidelity account,


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[Assistant] It would have big impact on your son's eligibility for financial aid. If it's a smaller account.


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[Assistant] Just to teach the basics of investing, allow your 14 year old son.


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[Assistant] To be able to learn how ETFs work, index funds work, how basic investing work, how building a portfolio and asset allocation work, the Fidelity Kids account,


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[Assistant] Is fantastic, because the kid actually has discretionary control over it.


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[Assistant] Which gets a kid much more psychologically invested in the investments than if it's just like they don't, they know there's an account there and it's kind of out there, but they don't really have any say. So, so big money in it.


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[Assistant] Any big money in a kid's name before college?


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[Assistant] My daughter's last year of college was actually the same $83,000. I mean, if your kid's going to a hugely expensive school,


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[Assistant] Then we're talking probably different numbers, but if you're going to a typical,


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[Assistant] Uh, college education costs at a state school. I would say any amount in that fidelity investment past 5,000 would be a problem. Your 14 year old, if he starts working next year at a traditional job,


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[Assistant] Money would best be put with fidelity in a custodial Roth IRA because Roth money does not count in the formulas qualifying for financial aid.


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[Assistant] So I can't believe you're asking this question, John. You don't know this, Krista. Yesterday I was having a conversation with a banker.


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[Assistant] About this very topic saying, Hey, do you still do all paper statements?


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[Assistant] And I said, yeah. And she said, well, so do I because I know what happens with our systems. Oh man. I thought that was funny, but we have had people who said,


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[Assistant] What they do is they've gone to eStatements and then they download an electronic file.


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[Assistant] So that if we get attacked by a state actor that brings down our, uh, the computer systems and you're having to reestablish what you have and all that, that having an electronic record like having a backup, a digital backup,


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[Assistant] That only works if you're storing locally on your own hard drive or a, uhm, what do you call those, portable hard drives?


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[Assistant] So you, you don't want to store solely in the cloud because what happens if AWS, the largest cloud storage or, or Google or Microsoft, they're attacked by a state actor and you can't get to your cloud files. Having your own.


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[Assistant] Back up at home and we talk about this, you know, having, uh, because the time will come as part of modern warfare, they're going to attack our electrical grid. They're going to attack our computer networks. All these things will be under attack.


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[Assistant] That's why I want you to have the emergency supply of cash. I want you to have an emergency supply of food and water.


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[Assistant] To carry you through, not for six months, two weeks.


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[Assistant] Two weeks because societies adjust, but you need that buffer for those couple of weeks and having your own local backup of your records and not just relying on the cloud is very valuable. Well, didn't mean to make you freak out about what the,


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[Assistant] What might happen with a foreign actor or something like that, but it's just something you gotta prepare for.


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[Assistant] Something else you gotta prepare for? Retirement.


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[Assistant] And I want to tell you something, new report, what age the average American is retiring.


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[Assistant] Uh, polled what age people retire.


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[Assistant] Lifespans have steadily been increasing. We've had a decline recently.


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[Assistant] But that is a temporary statistical anomaly. The reality is Americans as people around the world


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[Assistant] Are living longer lifespans and once you reach age 60,


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[Assistant] You're likely to live, potentially,


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[Assistant] Another 27 years I think on average, something like that. But you got people that will live well beyond that. The number of people living


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[Assistant] Beyond a hundred years of age keeps going up, up and up. So you start working.


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[Assistant] Let's say typical person starts working sometime between, full time, between 18 and 23. And then you work for, if you,


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[Assistant] Quit working at 61. Basically you got a 40 year work cycle. So then if you happen to be someone who lives a long, long, long, long time after that and you approach age 100, you're talking about years in retirement.


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[Assistant] Roughly equal to or just a little less than years in the workforce. That sounds pretty great, right? I mean,


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[Assistant] Half your adult life, you're working half your adult life. You're enjoying leisure if only because here's the thing about retiring at 61. There are people who are fortunate enough or industrious enough


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[Assistant] Lucky enough, whatever term you want to use and whatever the circumstances that you can retire even potentially earlier than that simply because


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[Assistant] You worked at one of the very rare corporations or you worked for a government agency where you have a pension that allows you to have enough income that pretty much is equal or close to what you earned in the job. And you can live the rest of your life without ever having to work again. Okay. So how many of us are in that position? Somewhere about one in 10.


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[Assistant] The pension that used to be so much a part of American work life isn't there anymore for almost anybody.


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[Assistant] And that is the greatest path to financial security that exists.


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[Assistant] To be an entrepreneur, uh, have success in your business. Doesn't have to be, uh, something where you end up being.


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[Assistant] Uh, one of the tech bros with billions of dollars. It could be something where you just earn a decent living, you're stashing money away, and you reach a point where you sell your business to, to...


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[Assistant] Somebody else or your kids take over and you can retire. And retire at a young age.


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[Assistant] But you start looking at the situations. It could be somebody who's a Mac saver.


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[Assistant] Somebody who's part of the Fi movement, financial independence, and you're living on less than what you make substantially your whole working lifetime.


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[Assistant] And depending on what percent of your pay you're saving,


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[Assistant] You could even bag work in your 40s, more likely in your early 50s. You could do that.


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[Assistant] Again, these three circumstances, there may be something else I'm missing, a different scenario, but it still accounts for


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[Assistant] Uh, sliver of the population may be 25% of workers. Other 75%.


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[Assistant] You haven't been in a position, you've been able to save a great deal of money. You don't have a pension.


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[Assistant] And you're not even eligible for social security yet at 61. And how are you going to provide healthcare till Medicare starts at 65? So.


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[Assistant] I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer here, I'm trying to be realistic with you that


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[Assistant] A mistake so many people make is you burn out at work and you can't wait to never go into work again.


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[Assistant] And you think, well, I'm probably okay. And you quit. And then you're, you're not even young old yet at 61.


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[Assistant] And you're not working, this is great. I can go the golf course and traveling, do whatever, do whatever I want, get in the camper, go around. Always wanted to see the 50 states, whatever it is. When the camper, you're only going to see 48, but anyway.


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[Assistant] I guess you could stretch it to Alaska, but that is a tough drive through Canada to get to Alaska. So


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[Assistant] You get later in life and you don't have enough money and then you're not young anymore and you might be, uh, not so healthy. You might be feeble. You might be ill and you don't have money to live on. That's why every additional year you can delay in your sixties.


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[Assistant] Remembering that you may be around with us for many decades after you bag work.


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[Assistant] What I'm about, which is wait till age 70 to take Social Security, it means that if you live to 100, you live to 90, uh, you live to 85.


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[Assistant] The social security check you're gonna get is gonna be so, so, so much larger than it would have been otherwise. So,


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[Assistant] I'm not trying to, uh, rain on your parade. I just want you to have a parade that will last. I don't want it to be a parade that you run out of floats too soon. Krista?


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[Assistant] Sure. Okay, so Kathy, how do the credit bureaus make their money?


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[Assistant] Equifax TransUnion and Experian, make their money developing these dossiers on you that you didn't ask for.


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[Assistant] Packaging you, slicing, dicing, and then making money, selling off your information. The second you thaw your files and you did an initial application for a HELOC, all three credit bureaus


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[Assistant] We're immediately selling your leads to financial institutions, banks and non-bank lenders that wanted your business. And so you may receive


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[Assistant] Uh, over the next few months, hundreds of solicitations.


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[Assistant] And the credit bureaus know so much about you and data miners do. You'll get emails, you'll get.


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[Assistant] Uh, traditional mail, uh, you may even get text messages because they know your phone number in many cases. And so this is all about the extremely invasive


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[Assistant] So wise is very wise to use. Uh, it used to be called transfer wise when I first talked about it.


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[Assistant] years ago and wasn't even available in the United States yet. I remember when it started, if I remember right, it's a British company.


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[Assistant] I was like, this has got to come to the United States because our banks rip people off so badly on foreign currency exchange.


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[Assistant] Uh, our foreign currency rates from our banks are the worst in the developed world.


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[Assistant] You know, I love to pick on the big banks, but the reason for it is actually a practical one.


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[Assistant] We're in such an unusual position in the United States that it's such a large, large, large country landmass, uh, we share.


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[Assistant] Uh, just borders with two other countries. We have a massive population.


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[Assistant] And our market for foreign currency exchange is so tiny.


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[Assistant] That it's almost like a specialty function here in the United States. And so the banks are treated as kind of like an ancillary thing.


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[Assistant] And rip us off to the end of the earth. Never, never, never, not ever exchange


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[Assistant] Foreign currency with a bank in the United States unless you hate yourself.


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[Assistant] So Wyze is one of several foreign based, uh, money transfer outfits, exchange outfits, et cetera, that are great deals.


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[Assistant] Particularly compared to what we have available to us. Uh, Wyze is probably the biggest of these players that are heavy disc counters.


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[Assistant] With Craigslist used to be mainly a Craigslist thing. We would hear these questions about, and because the market share of Facebook, we hear about this problem with Facebook a lot more with the scammers and you're selling stuff. So dealing with people local in your area and having them come pick up stuff and pay at the time is one of the safest ways to do it.


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[Assistant] An email address. Uh, some people like...


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[Assistant] The Zell problems continue in my newsfeed, uh, every single day.


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[Assistant] There are TV stations and newspapers local around the country.


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[Assistant] That do stories every single day of the year about how people get ripped off by Zell.


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[Assistant] Zelle is poison to your pocketbook. Do not use it to pay for anything. Do not use it to accept money from anybody. It is a curse on all of us and the banks don't care. So,


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[Assistant] That was my, that was my sermon about Zell for the day. And uh, by the way, oh, on the Zell thing, you know, the feds are considering, uh, actually they're implementing a crackdown on the,


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[Assistant] Horrific bank misbehavior involving Zelle. Banks just don't seem to learn.


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[Assistant] And the banks are defiant in response to the actions the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking to protect consumers in this area. And I don't understand what goes on


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[Assistant] In the corporate offices of a big bank that they are so heartless, cold and cruel that they either are clueless or just don't care about human beings because the Zell thing is a


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[Assistant] Horrible, horrific mess. Remember, Zell equals poison.


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[Assistant] Think of it that way. Would you say, oh, there's skull and crossbones on something. I want to drink it.


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[Assistant] To help you against the bad guys. To help you against the clueless people.


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[Assistant] And to help you have the knowledge and power to take control of your life and your wallet. And we do this as well online.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com serving you every day of the year so that you have a better, smarter wallet and that you buy the best deals on things that pop up every day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, our mission is to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. Today, standing desks are all the rage. I've used one for years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But is it actually good for my health or bad for my health? I got new info for you and later.


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[Assistant] Inflation, supply shortages. We're really getting into the idea of buying used. And I want to talk to you about where you find the deals. So.


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[Assistant] I've had, uh, this thing about standing desk forever. When I do the podcast, I stand the whole time.


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[Assistant] When I did radio all through the decades, I stood. I stand for TV.


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[Assistant] I hated it when I did TV where they had me at an anchor kind of desk and I had to sit on one of those stupid stools. I liked to stand and.


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[Assistant] It turns out that in a sedentary culture,


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[Assistant] I mean, there's study after study after study.


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[Assistant] That finds that you will improve your health by standing, but too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. So standing desk.


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[Assistant] Used to be something that were high-end corporate cost of fortune.


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[Assistant] Now standing desks are available very inexpensively. A lot of them are electronically powered. And the value of that is if you're working all day long at a desk, you don't want to stand all eight or 10 hours. You want to alternate standing and sitting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you're at a desk job though, you don't get to choose how you sit.


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[Assistant] Every hour, get up, just walk around for two minutes. I'm asking you, set.


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[Assistant] The stopwatch on your phone for two minutes and just walk for two minutes each hour. And that alone will help your health. And there, Oh, there's Christa's. So you just did your two minutes.


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[Assistant] So did you walk your two minutes or? No. Okay.


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[Assistant] Like, do you just get tired on your feet and then you'll lower it down?


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[Assistant] So I, I was like, I haven't done enough today. I, I'm averaging, uhm, right now over 15,000 steps a day. I'm down from the 20,000 I used to average. But I'm really into this. I'm really into being active, being fit.


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[Assistant] And not sitting on my butt all day long. And if you are like me and you're a big football fan, my middle brother is an obsessed college football fan.


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[Assistant] And I'm an obsessed NFL fan and each of us try to convince the other that, that the football they watch is better. But the thing is.


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[Assistant] I pace when I watch football in NFL game cause I'm so into it and I'm automatically getting steps in and I'm standing. Just think about in your life.


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[Assistant] What you can do and know that a rudimentary standing desk, it's like a hundred bucks, these were 99 dollars.


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[Assistant] That we have here and one that like Costco sells one that depending on whether it's on temporary discount or not is in the two hundreds many times.


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[Assistant] And so it's a motorized thing, goes up and down. And there are many different competitors for these.


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[Assistant] And fitting in with the theme of what we're going to talk about later in this podcast, this is an item you can likely find used because a lot of people may think they want to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, stand and work and then later they're like, I hate this. I got to go back to sitting on my butt and they'll get rid of it. And this is just an opportunity for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, people who work at a job that you have to be on your feet all day long, particularly on a concrete floor, not so good for you.


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[Assistant] That's a situation where a good thing becomes a bad thing. And if you do stand, like I have a mat here that I stand on, that's one of those things like people might have who work in a kitchen.


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[Assistant] That protects your back from the strain of standing on what's underneath as a concrete floor here. These mats are cheap. I really recommend them.


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[Assistant] You think I, how many nanoseconds could I make it? Not a chance. Not going to happen.


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[Assistant] Okay, so the most important you have offered to you, Barry, disability insurance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What they call an LT policy, long-term disability policy, LTD. By that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, if you medically qualify an underwrite and you want to find a broker for that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If your health is really great, you'll likely do better buying it on your own. You want to buy 70% of your income. If health may be an issue, it's too much hassle finding a broker that sells disability insurance by the long-term disability from your state.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And have that. The state hopefully will offer you an option of both sixty percent and seventy percent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They offer you 70 by the 70 because then


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't need the short term, you only need the long term. Long term disability is ultra important because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stats show you're three times more likely during your working years


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To become disabled at some point than you are to pass away during your working years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So this is hard, you know, they, they did a sweep of records years late, decided there was an unpaid invoice. You have no way of knowing if it's accurate. If it took them a couple of years to even send it to you, odds are it's not accurate. You're a smart person not to just pay this money, Dan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because of the fact that you don't know if the amount's legit. If the debt is accurate in any way, shape or form or fashion and is reasonable for you to ask for documentation. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The emailing's not working. Nobody wants to talk to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you could just send certificate of mailing, which shows that you've sent a communication to the, uh, to the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Receivables department, whoever it is who's contacted you originally and say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, there's an invoice you say I owe. I've asked for documentation of what this invoice is for. I have not received any. I'm happy to pay you if I owe it, but I need documentation. You want to show that you have actively