[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, Allegiant that specializes in flying out of places that normally wouldn't, might not even have air service at all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And are offering flights two to four days a week usually, uh, to fun in the sun places, vacation kind of places at very cheap fares, but with all the limitations that come with flying a Legion, you know, the frontier and spirit story, except there's one in particular frontier. Oh my goodness.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You should see these videos people are posting online.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Frontier is, uh, giving bonuses to their employees who rip off their customers at the gate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's this, these incredible videos of people, they have a sizer at the gate. And if your item won't fit...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the little, uh, personal item thing. They're then charging you a hundred bucks and then the employee gets a percentage of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a market incentive from Frontier to try to get them to rip off as many people as possible. And Frontier being Frontier is like, yeaah! We do this! This is great! Except for the passenger.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I mean, what a way to break down trust, but the crazy videos are ones where people are putting their things in the sizer, and then the gate agent says, nope, nope, nope, I still think it's too big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It can't go or you pay us a hundred dollars and they know a person's gotta get on the plane, they gotta go where they're gonna go, they're going to their vacation. Frontier, fix this, this is wrong. Period. Uhm, but,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Breeze and Avelo, I've talked about both of them recently that are newer discounters that so far


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're not hearing complaints about, and they're offering a lot of new routes, a lot of a little bit off the beaten path routes that they're offering because they're new, they're offering really well below everybody else's fares on them. And that you should know. I want to talk about though using a hotel versus using Airbnb or VRBO. There have been so many stories.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Private rentals through VRBO and Airbnb. There was one recently that was just mind blowing about someone who'd rented, uh, one of these private stays. In this case it was VRBO and it was an area struck by wildfires and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, uh, VRB policy is not tough. So what? What difference does it make if the area is closed? VRB's, VRBO's policy is like, yeah, not our problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You booked a place that said it was non-refundable. Tough. Airbnb to their credit, in a situation like that, has in writing that you get your money back. But, the gray with that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you're, if there's a natural disaster zone and the property you're staying at is not directly in an affected county, even if you can't get to it because you have to cross the affected area, if it's outside the zone, then


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their policy doesn't apply, but at least they have one. VRBO, come on, get your act together, just fix this. But here's the big distinction. Okay, the hotel chains, seeing how


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] VRBO and Airbnb have been so successful having these non-refundable bookings. It could be a year out, you book, you're out your money. If you can't go, whatever it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So whatever the policy is of the property, uh, manager renting the place out is life's tough and then you die. That's it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hotels now are starting to offer what they call their lowest rates by you booking non-refundable. Avoid the temptation. One of the advantages you have typically with a hotel is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You will be able to find rates available either with a hotel chain or with one of the third party booking sources that are refundable for an extended period of time close to when you're going. You'll usually see that two days, three days, or fourteen days before are three most common numbers


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That that's the point at which most hotel bookings today go non-refundable. Where with the private accommodations,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Through Airbnb or VRBO, very common, they're non-refundable at the time you book or many months before you'd stay and life gets in the way. The insurance you can buy


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] May or may not cover the circumstance that you would later not be able to go. See, that's the double whammy. You pay for insurance on the accommodation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then your reason for not being able to go is not a qualified reason and you're out the money for the insurance policy, you're out the money for the stay. So you gotta be fully aware when you book an Airbnb or VRBO, uhm, that really you


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Own it, whether you go or not, in most of the cases. I want to mention something I talked about, I think two months ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there was one article I mentioned, there was a joke that every Airbnb is four and a half stars or better, even though many of them aren't any good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the way the system's being gamed, you gotta do your work to make sure that the place really is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm going to be a-okay because you're taking your hard earned money and your vacation time and booking it at a place. And Krista, I have a question for you as you come in because you have been


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is I do my surveying first on third party websites like Priceline and I'm looking to see what's out there and I'm looking to see what kind of deals there are. And then I start cross referencing, uh, by checking out the quality of the hotel. Cause as I've shared with you, the brand name on the building doesn't mean it much anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I will go to the hotel chain's website direct. And I'm a member of like every hotel program on earth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm, I'm a member of hotel programs. I don't even remember when I stayed at that hotel chain and I'll look and see what they have and I'll check, uh, what do they have for, um, you know, triple a members where they have, I'm old. So what do they have for, um, senior citizens, whatever. And so I'll, I'll try all these things and still most of the time I find I'm better off price wise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, checking both and what I do, checking every possible place known to humankind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is what will ultimately save you money. And I know a lot of people don't have the patience to do the constant shopping that I do, but I reshop my travel bookings before I go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because so often for car rentals, probably 90% of the time, the rates drop closer to the rental.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for hotels, it's kind of a 50-50 shot that you'll find a better deal close to travel than what you already have. But if it's the other 50% that it's not cheaper or that it's more expensive, you already have what you have that's cancelable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, first of all, let's say that somebody made a clerical error first. Because if I were a car rental company,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm never going to come up with something as lame as saying you're paying $400 for a car wash. So I'm, I'm hoping that there's just a clerical error. Uhm, uh, two things you do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Contact the location that you rented from that will normally be an independent franchise. Three, contact the rental car company itself to their customer no service. You want to be getting on record everywhere. I actually have a Ford.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want you to file a complaint against them with the Better Business Bureau. The car rental agencies, uhm, as difficult as they are to deal with, have some reputational worry and the Better Business Bureau may be potential leverage for you. And it's gotta be something weird. I can't imagine


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That there's actually any car rental company that thinks they can get away with that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A car rental that, you know, have a thing in there, $250 fine, $500 fine, whatever it is for smoking in the car. And you get in and you can tell somebody smoked in that car. I, before I leave the rental car plaza, I go have it written on my contract on the paperwork that the vehicle had been smoked in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's there before I take my rental. Happened to me, two of my last three rentals


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, Teresa, I am going to shock you beyond the pale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your husband may be right on this one and your thing about no annual fee is probably not true in this case. Because with you charging roughly $100,000 a year on credit cards,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You are someone who may well benefit very nicely from having a travel credit card. When I think the one that would be the one I would think would be most suitable, the one that all the reviewers just love right now, Capital One Venture X Rewards Card. It has an outrageous annual fee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] $395. Have you and Mike gotten that card yet? No.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I had it when they had this intro that was just great. Still a good upfront bonus. How could I say it would be a good idea for you to pay


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] $400 for a cart. They give you $300 of it back just as travel credits for travel you purchase through their travel portal. So the net annual fee is $100 plus


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's before other benefits, you get free lounge access from several different airport loungy kind of things that you can bring your kids in for free with you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which is a thing that Capital One does with their card that others may not let you bring your kids in. So you got that as well. You got free food for them, you got a place they can hang out, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's absolutely great, plus you get 2x for all your charging. So like a 2% cash back card, you're getting 2 back. Uhm, and then you can use the points for your hotels, for flights, for all different kinds of things. And so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would say in your case, you fit exactly what I talk about. You're taking two, three big family trips a year for four people. That's basically eight to twelve trips, if you look at them, person trips. Plus, you're charging a hundred thousand dollars a year. You're gonna earn enough points.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That those points will be very useful and valuable to you. Uhm, right now the bonus, and it changes all the time, is 75,000 points just for signing up for the card.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And doing what you charge in two weeks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We'll get you the 75,000 points, which is worth, uhm, you know, it's worth 75, 750 dollars in travel. Basically two years of the annual fee and then remember all the other credits you get. We have a guide to the various reward cards on Clark.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Coming up ahead, here I was just talking about charge, charge, charge. And now straight ahead I'm going to talk about don't charge, don't charge, don't charge. I'm a confusing man, aren't I? I'll tell you why.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you know that the average credit card interest rate people are paying in the United States is at record levels right now? It's very disturbing to me because you're paying


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The percent of people that never pay more than minimum.


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[Assistant] Is somewhere around a little more than a fourth to a third of people. It depends on exactly how you ask people the question. But we got a lot of people that are living


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Off of borrowing money from the credit card company and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lending Tree came up with a number I've not seen anywhere else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This says that the average interest rate is 23 point something percent. That is higher than I've seen elsewhere. But even if you go with what I've seen elsewhere, that it's around 19%, nobody ever got rich paying Visa or MasterCard 19% interest. Cause you think about what that means. Every dollar you worry about inflation, every dollar you charge,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Immediately is worth 81 cents. That's like piling hurt on top of hurt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the 6% inflation we're running in the United States. So this is really, really


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nasty what's going on with the cards. And I know that I'm talking about two different kinds of people with the credit cards.


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[Assistant] There are people who are wheezing financially. Wheezing.


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[Assistant] And for you, just making sure you can put food in your kids' mouths.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right now you feel no other alternative than using the credit card.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I will not tell you that's a bad thing. If you are at life's edge financially and that's how you're able to make it go right now, that's fine. That's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the discretionary spenders


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who are running up these balances on cards because, well, you know I deserve it.


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[Assistant] And it's a mentality that the banks have so cultivated through their propaganda, through their advertising. To, you know, eh, why, why wouldn't you do that? Life's short. Take advantage of this. Take advantage of that. We'll send you a bill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. That's who I'm talking to. I'm talking to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, what's that expression people use, uh, about, uh, fear of missing out? There's another one. FOMO. FOMO. And then there's another one that's like, yo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yolo, you only live once. Oh, okay. Yeah. Thank you. People have this thing. Thanks. I'm so bad at those catchy phrases, aren't I? Thank you, Krista. People are like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want it. And that settles it. It's the same issue I've talked about with the paying force. Thank goodness.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't get all the questions and complaints about paying for us anymore, do we?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm hoping it means that I'm not missing the picture and people are realizing, oops, too hot to handle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, this is the thing where you're shopping online and it says, oh, well, you don't need to hesitate to buy. We'll bill you in four easy payments. Or at the retail or you're at the register. Wouldn't you like to do this on four easy payments? Four easy payments right into Armageddon.


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[Assistant] Because the default rate on those is gigantic and you're ruining your credit over what is almost always an impulse buy with this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What I'm trying to do, I'm not trying to guilt you, I'm trying to get you to focus on your present and your future.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't want to impulsively buy things you cannot afford to pay for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because those things end up where? They end up in a closet. They end up in the trunk of your car. They end up under the sofa. You forget that you even got them, but you're having to pay for them. So this is what I really want to reach you about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is the impulsive spending done with borrowed money undermines your future?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And not your future 20 years from now.


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[Assistant] Or 40 years from now. It undermines your future when the bill comes the next month. Enough preaching.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so that's all good news, uhm, in a bad news situation. So much of this again goes back to the massive Equifax data breach of years ago that is allowing criminals to buy other people's essentially all their key data to create a false identity as if they're you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are package diversion schemes that are more, uh, dangerous than this one, Jamie, and it's where what they do is they have the package


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Delivered to your address. They're watching the tracking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then they have a pickup that they then have. So let's say UPS delivered it in, they will then have FedEx pick it up or a private courier service so that they're not visible or they may themselves come and pick it up, which brings up something that you need to do right away. And that is to buy very inexpensive exterior cameras for your home. Since your wife is a target,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then suddenly it vanishes again from your porch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you have the video evidence that you may need later with who knows who.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those packages may be being sent to your address by a crook. Because the diversion to the Walgreens is a different kind of thing than the way this normally plays out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, the cameras can be ultra cheap. The cheapest of all are the Wyze cams. W-Y-Z-E. An exterior camera from them. I think it's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] $30 and you can use, uh, those things nobody ever talks about anymore. Instead of paying them for cloud storage, you can use an SD card in it and do onsite free recording of so much, depending on the size of the SD card, so many hours of stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there are some markets in the country where home values are actually declining, uh, but not by enough to make up for the now higher interest rates. We have a couple of factors here. One, we have outrun most people's ability to afford a home that are trying to buy one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The way it does this time is going to be different than it might have in a normal environment because so many of the people in these homes


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have ultra low mortgages and they might want to move to a different home or different neighborhood or a bigger house or whatever and they're not moving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause they'd have to go from having their 2 or 3% mortgage, or in your case, Krista, 1.875.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah. They'd have to go from that to today's 6% or so more or less rates. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People are saying, hey, I'm not going anywhere. So there are very, very few homes for sale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so we're kind of in this standoff right now. But what will happen over time as we have normal economic growth, home prices will likely trail


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Economic growth and activity in the country. So it doesn't mean that prices will go down, but over time people will have different reasons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Different needs, different circumstances that they will sell even though they're giving up their cheap mortgages and all that. There'll be new inventory built. So this is a terrible time right now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the prospects in the future are better. Now there is one opportunity


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That I have not addressed in a big way and that is new homes versus used. I always tell you buy used homes because they're much cheaper per square foot. But right now, new home builders have inventory they must sell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And new home builders are not necessarily cutting the price, but they're improving the terms, like maybe buying down the mortgage rate for the entire 30 years of the mortgage, in which case what you're paying


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is effectively much less per month because even though you paid that price for the house, you're not paying an app market interest rate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But yes, it is a very, very hard time to be a buyer and a difficult time for most people to be sellers because of what they'd be giving up that they're locked into.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you do this a different way, Patty, and you will absolutely want a real estate lawyer involved in it. What you do is she buys the home as the buyer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You are the mortgage provider and just as if you were bank of whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These N family mortgages and it's the cleanest thing for her to own it right from the get go. Not you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then all you're getting is you're getting, she has to pay you an app market interest rate that the lawyer will be able to show you what the current requirement is under IRS requirements. Uhm, you charge her that rate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you'll make a little money on that and then she just has the home free and clear under her own mortgage after her existing house sells.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For any purpose. You can do that to any human being. Krista, you wanna give me 17? I was just gonna ask you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unless you really need it, then you have to do it. Anyway, so...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then that's how you would do that is you just forgive those payments till the old home is sold. But all this stuff can be explained to you by a real estate attorney and if she's buying in your state of North Carolina,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It should be a real estate attorney in the state of North Carolina, whatever state it is that the property will be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not a general practice attorney needs to be a lawyer who practices real estate law.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I want to thank you so much for joining us on today's episode. Remember, if you have a question you need answered one-on-one, we provide free one-on-one advice, information, and guidance from our Team Clark Consumer Action Center now in its 31st year of operation, available to serve you Monday through Friday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 10 in the morning Eastern time to four in the afternoon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, not at all, but I think it's interesting the trend, uhm, to spend less on dates overall, in that poll we did on Clark.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Someone else said just go Dutch. That's what you do these days.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Diane in Ohio says zero that you should take a walk in a public park and get to know each other, which I love that idea. Or I think coffee is reasonable. It depends on what you're talking about, but people are spending less.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lavishly, like, I think if I were in the dating world, I would be kind of turned off by someone who spent too much on it or wanted to do something super fancy because you were like, are they good with money? You know, how do, like, you would be horrified.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, got some questions here. BJ in Delaware says, Hi Clark, love your show. I know you don't like big banks and neither do I. However, I think it is good to bank with a big bank if they are giving you a new bank account bonus.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Banks such as PNC, Chase, etc. sometimes offer new customers bonuses for opening a new account and meeting the qualifications. What do you say about this?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Shirley in North Carolina says whenever I travel, I worry about power outages causing surge damage to my computers and household appliances, so I go around unplugging things before leaving the house.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My energy company offers a full house surge protection.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And is the monthly cost a good deal? It's very important to me as I know it is to Clark. I was unable to find an answer to this on Clark.com. Thank you so much for the super wonderful service you provide.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's an extra little bonus if you're selling your house that you have that. We did that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Aaron in Minnesota says, recently I was showing my son one of the new AI chatbots. I said he could type in anything he wanted, and remarkably, he chose to ask it to have a conversation between the leader of the Transformers, Optimus Prime, and you, Clark Howard. Here's a sample of it. Optimus Prime, greetings Clark Howard. It is an honor to speak with you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clark, the honor is mine, Optimus Prime. I have been a fan of Autobots for as long as I can remember.


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[Assistant] Optimus Prime, your support is much appreciated. The fight against deceptions is a constant battle. Decepticons. Decepticons, oops. And every ally we have makes a difference.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I couldn't agree more. As a financial expert, I know how important it is to have strong support system. What can I do to help the autobytes bots in their fight?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, uh, the poster Aaron says, my question is, how long do you think before AI takes over for the great and wise Clark Howard? And PS, they'll never replace you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know. I mean, they are remarkable, not just for that, but for so many things. I do think it's a little scary.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mmm, it was before then. They hadn't peaked, luckily. They were like two price changes before. It was like two prices.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And after having the vehicle towed to Tesla, I was told that rodents had chewed through the wiring harness. It cost me over $800. Tesla refused to pay for it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just today, I have the same problem. What can I do about this? I have since been on the internet and other people are having the same problem. Help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ron in North Carolina says I want to trade in my gas guzzling car for a new reasonably priced fully electric or plug-in hybrid and have my eye on the cool new 2023 Toyota Prius prime plug-in hybrid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As there may be electric charging stations located as community.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Until the stations become more common and battery capacity has increased.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How many years will it be before hybrid plug-in vehicles become obsolete and unsaleable? Which solution makes the most long-term sense today? Full electric or plug-in hybrid?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Joshua in Michigan says I'm considering taking a job with a very small company. It has 12 employees. They do not offer a 401k as they're below the limit of 20 employees. My wife who has a 401k and I


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] would be over the limit for a traditional IRA to be deductible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm using, I'm used to maxing out my 401k and I don't know of any other options to keep investing with a tax advantage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That you've personally sponsored. It's pretty amazing. It really is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh well, it's really, I love talking about it, but yes, let's move on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just did that actually. I ordered an item from Home Depot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a couple of items and they didn't have them in the store, but they have to be shipped to the store or you could have it shipped to your home, but I did ship to store cause it was free.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Won't want to pay because I live really close, so why wouldn't I do that and just drive there?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, we'll go to questions. This one's from Tim. He says, I got an unexpected letter in the mail this week. It's from T-Mobile and looks legitimate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It says as you may remember when you visited T-Mobile or a national retailer and requested T-Mobile compatible devices and or T-Mobile service, we ran a credit check.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The issue is that I never visited T-Mobile or any such business. Should I be concerned about identity theft or some similar crime?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't know for sure that he has T-Mobile, but somebody went into T-Mobile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is from Kirk in California. With all the recent inflation, how do I know if my homeowners insurance policy will cover my losses if something tragic happens?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And from Dave in Connecticut, you often talk about MVNO mobile carriers. Currently we're with Visible, but switching to a different carrier to try their service has always been a huge hassle. One thing I've not heard you mention is that the newer eSIM smartphones, starting with the 2018 iPhone XS, and I'm not sure which Android models.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have the, oh yea, tennis. Have the ability to tr- to trial a new service without the hassle of complete carrier change and phone number porting. Unlocked phones only, however. Customers need to install the respective carrier's app, creating a secondary line on the phone that runs alongside the current carrier's service. You can then use the new carrier's service for a free trial.


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[Assistant] T-Mobile allows 90 days, Verizon 30, Mint 7 days, etc. It's temporary and can be uninstalled at any time. No phone number porting or permanent change needed.


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[Assistant] Thanks for everything you do. Our 13 year old son is now a Clark disciple and we listen in the car daily. His favorite is Clark stinks. What have we created?


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[Assistant] Or is it an option to dump this insurance company and go to someone else? We're unsure if the next insurer won't ask us to do the same.


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[Assistant] Barry in Georgia says I'm considering gutter protection covers and have gotten a quote from a company. My concerns are one, it is very expensive and two, they seem to continually drop their price every time they contact me. They have gone from over $8,000 to $4,500 at last contact. Are they reputable and legitimate?


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[Assistant] Uhm, for our company, and the person first said it was gonna be a million dollars. And we were like, yo, no thanks. And then there were like 50,000.


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[Assistant] We were still like, no. I think we ended up paying like $750. Like, it's crazy. Anyway, another question here.


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[Assistant] Renee in New Mexico says, my family is planning a trip to Italy this summer.


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[Assistant] We booked our lodging on vacation at a vacation rental site.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the properties is requesting us to log into a website and upload copies of the documents there. They claim it is required by law. Does this seem legitimate?


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[Assistant] I did, I definitely did. I was trying to remember if I uploaded it to a site or sent it to them, but I did have to send copies.


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[Assistant] I think we should go to the questions because this is what we've had people have been writing in. Okay.


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[Assistant] This question's from Sydney in Florida. Sydney says, do I need to be worried about having my money with Ally Bank? I have a CD and a savings account.


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[Assistant] I just read an article outlining 10 banks with unfavorable interest margins. Ally was on the list. They were also on the list for banks with the highest AOCI accumulated other comprehensive income.


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[Assistant] You recommended them, so I do think people need to be concerned. Do you think people need to be concerned or worried enough to move their money elsewhere?


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[Assistant] And then John in California was also asking about Ally, but he also said since the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, what is your overall market advice going forward?


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[Assistant] Not from this question, but there were people who asked about that, like I have my 401k or my IRA and it's bigger than that.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you and empower you to make better financial decisions in your life on this, the Ides of March.


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[Assistant] One decision I hope you'll make is to sign up for one of our wonderful free newsletters at Clark.com slash newsletters. You know, our team works so hard to put together information that you can trust for your wallet. And you know, you subscribe, you don't like it.


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[Assistant] We make it really easy for you to dump us again, but I want you to see if we have stuff that will help you.


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[Assistant] Empower yourself and fatten that wallet. In this episode, as we're on the edge of spring, I'm going to talk about two of my favorite topics, travel and eating. So first I'm going to address saving on travel this year.


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[Assistant] And I want to give you an update on a couple of things that have been going on that have been irritants for people.


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[Assistant] If you're traveling internationally trying to get or renew a passport.


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[Assistant] And also this thing that the airlines have been doing, where they've been ripping off families.


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[Assistant] Hitting a parent's worst fear that their kid is gonna be alone on an airplane, sitting with some stranger instead of next to you on that plane. There's a lot of good news on that front I'll share with you. And later,


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[Assistant] The way we do business at a sit down restaurant is going through a big change right now and some people find it really impersonal. I love a lot of the changes that are going on and I'm going to talk about that. So airfares, it was funny, I was talking to a friend just, uh, just last week.


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[Assistant] Who was like so exasperating. He said, I mean, I was paying this much for my trip to see my mom and now it's this much more. And then I was looking at flights to go see her again. It was this much more than that. And airfares have gone crazy.


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[Assistant] And fares are up so much higher and the airline executives, the uh, CFOs of airlines,


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[Assistant] And conversations with financial analysts with Wall Street have been really beating their chests about


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[Assistant] How much more revenue they're getting per available seat mile, you know, per passenger sitting in a plane and that they're feeling really positive about it. Well, I want to tell you.


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[Assistant] Couple of things that seem pretty clear to me with the trends. One.


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[Assistant] Is that airlines, when they get, uh, excited like this, that revenue is going so well,


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[Assistant] They start adding more flights, more planes, more routes. The key to you saving money this spring and summer


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[Assistant] Is going to be looking for the new route. You know, those ads you may tune out when you're online or, uh, you see an ad or something when they're announcing new service.


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[Assistant] That's when you're going to find great deals on that airline and someone else.


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[Assistant] Also, if you look at the, uh, there's two discounters that came of age during COVID that have been below the radar, both growing quite quickly, adding a lot of planes, Avelo and also Breeze.


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[Assistant] These two airlines, steadily adding service out of secondary airports, following a business model very similar, both of them, to Allegiant, where they don't necessarily fly the routes, uh, every day of the week.


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[Assistant] But they fly from secondary or third level airports to places that are very tourist oriented.


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[Assistant] And so these two airlines, uhm, nobody seems to know they're out there, but they both provide an opportunity for potential additional savings for you at a time that the airlines were used to have been pushing fares up. Uh, then there's a third thing about air, air travel cruises towards anything else. September is your friend.


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[Assistant] The peak of airfares really ends mid-August and so many various things we do in travel.


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[Assistant] The fairs go into what traditionally has been called shoulder season.


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[Assistant] Once kids start going back to school, it sucks a lot of the demand out of the travel market. So September, where weather is still great most places, and you know what's funny in Europe? Temperatures in September,


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[Assistant] Are higher in most of Europe than they are in May. So you actually have better weather during as much daylight as you do in May. But the airfares tend to be much cheaper.


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[Assistant] Fall and especially, uh, winter outside of key peak weeks, that's where the deals are going to be for now. But I can tell you, I guarantee you, airlines, when they're making money, like they are now, it, they, without fail, they think, Oh man, this is great.


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[Assistant] We're going to hire more people. We're going to buy more planes. We're going to fly more routes. And then they create new supply and the fares come down at the same time.


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[Assistant] It's gonna be a great time for bargain travelers.


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[Assistant] As the economy goes into a lower gear when it does. Alright, so passports.


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[Assistant] US Passport Office had really gotten...


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[Assistant] The horrid delays of passport renewals and issuance under control till just recently.


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[Assistant] And the newest update from the U.S. passport office is they're messing up again.


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[Assistant] And expedited passports, the time to receive one basically doubled, uh, getting a new passport, uh, expedited renewals I'm talking about, uh, getting a new passport, the time to get it is up about 50%. So know that you need the time, the advanced planning.


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[Assistant] If you're traveling later this year, know that your passport has to have six or more months remaining.


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[Assistant] From the day of arrival in a foreign country to be permitted to enter to most countries. So you want to check that expiration date on your passport to make sure you are A-OK. Seating really quickly. Southwest Airlines


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[Assistant] Came up with a change 18 months ago that eliminated in almost all situations


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[Assistant] Parents being separated from young children on flights. And at the time I said this is great. The other airlines that are exploiting families by charging these high seat fees to sit with their kids, that's a no go.


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[Assistant] Well now, uh, I told you months ago about Delta coming up with a new seat system that uses artificial intelligence to see that families are more likely to be able to sit together, now united.


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[Assistant] Frontier and American all phasing in new policies to see that families of children under 13


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[Assistant] We'll be able, the parents and the kids will be able to sit together. Now what United is doing is that if you have, uh, two parents going and one kid,


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[Assistant] One parent may be shunted who knows where on the plane, but the other parent and kid will be together. If you're two parents with two kids,


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[Assistant] You might not get to sit together, all four of you, but each parent will be with one child in the design that United has done. They're all responding to pressure coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation.


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[Assistant] To fix this meanness towards parents with small children.


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[Assistant] There used to be a lot of research that found there were certain key times to buy tickets. The worst time always to buy a ticket in the old days was Friday after close of business till Monday.


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[Assistant] Uh, weekend fares tended to be much higher than buying on, on days of the rest of the week. When I say weekend fares, I mean buying a ticket on the weekend. And all those patterns that seem so clear, uh, many years ago now seem to be gone.


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[Assistant] The difference with fares is all about when you fly, not when you buy in terms of buying Tuesday night at 2 a.m. or anything like that. You don't have to set your alarm clock anymore and do anything like that.


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[Assistant] Yeah, the, the west coast to Hawaii markets have been so intensely competitive. Uh, there's a sale going on right now that we have on Clark deals for $99 one way to Hawaii. Those have been coming and going routinely. So getting a good deal to Hawaii is gonna happen.


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[Assistant] When you live in, uh, California, Arizona, Nevada, lesser extent, uh, Washington, Oregon, there's just been so much competition. If you buy a book on Southwest, uh, you


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[Assistant] Can hold that, hold those fares, keep checking.


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[Assistant] And if the fare turns out to be cheaper on someone else, as long as you don't mind holding that credit for future use, Southwest has no expiration date.


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[Assistant] On the use of that money later. You don't get the refund of the money. It sits there kind of like a gift certificate, a future travel credit on Southwest. I would take the bird in the hand, book the Southwest flights from Sacramento to Oahu.


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[Assistant] So, last time we went, uh, Jeremy to the port of Miami to go on a cruise.


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[Assistant] School, expensive. Anyway, we were saying right across from the university and we had the rail there and my son, uh, before we went on the cruise, wanted to go ride the rail.


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[Assistant] I hope people don't hate on me for this. We didn't feel particularly safe.


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[Assistant] On the, the rail and this was not to go to the port. We had gone shopping.


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[Assistant] And we ended up, uh, I wasted the money.


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[Assistant] We took an Uber back to our hotel and did not ride the transit back because we had not felt safe. The problem is off peak times, and this has been a problem in a number of cities now, the public transit, the rail systems don't feel safe.


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[Assistant] Gotten on the light rail, uh, it's heavy rail actually and ridden that down to downtown and gone to the port like you're planning on doing. And I would say this time cheap guy would tell you


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[Assistant] Maybe you spring for the Uber lift. I'm not worried about you lugging along a backpack and a single carry-on.


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[Assistant] I'm worried a bit about your safety and we have this website, you know, Clark.com slash Clark stinks. If I have just infuriated you saying that we didn't feel safe, please go ahead and post your comments there. Coming ahead, speaking of COVID.


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[Assistant] An industry was shaken to its foundations. The restaurant industry.


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[Assistant] And many restaurateurs did not survive COVID.


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[Assistant] And others that held on have now closed because their financial hole was so deep. But it's caused lasting changes in how the restaurant industry works. And many of them are actually very positive for you and me as customers, as diners.


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[Assistant] And also really good for the restaurant tour. I'm going to share some of those with you.


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[Assistant] The restaurant business has been through such hardship.


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[Assistant] You know, I travel a lot and all, when I'm walking through


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[Assistant] Urban cores, you see all the closed restaurants and the reality is so many people's hard work and effort, life savings crushed by the pandemic.


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[Assistant] But out of that, so many changes are happening. I was talking to an entrepreneurial local restaurant owner just yesterday and he, at the tail end of COVID, opened an additional location


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[Assistant] Because he was able to get an unbelievable long-term rent deal.


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[Assistant] Because of what had happened was so many restaurants closing and he had, uh, abandoned, you know, the kitchen was there fully abandoned and was able to use it. Didn't have to buy a lot of expensive kitchen equipment and all the rest.


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[Assistant] And so there's always opportunity out of adversity. And I think about


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[Assistant] All the changes that have happened behind the curtain.


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[Assistant] In restaurants that are improving their efficiency and allowing them to operate


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[Assistant] With higher productivity than before and with the difficulty of restaurants finding staff, do that more efficiently. Uh, the, the operation of the restaurant, a lot of what we don't see as customers.


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[Assistant] One of the companies that I keep hearing about, and I just read a Barron's profile on them, following up on all the buzz I'd heard is Toast. And Toast is a company that


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[Assistant] Is providing enormous productivity increases for restaurants.


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[Assistant] And they buy, you buy whatever components you want. One of them that's most obvious to us as customers.


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[Assistant] Is where we now can pay our bill at the table. There may be a, a, uh, uh, bullseye, uh, what do you call the reader?


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[Assistant] Tables that were seated at once at their station, they can't get back to you on a timely basis. You're able to do that and then a runner brings your drinks. So many things have happened.


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[Assistant] That have been such what some people consider a depersonalization of the sit down restaurant experience.


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[Assistant] In my feeling, it's been an improvement. I love the terminals now coming to our table, which happened overseas 25 years ago. And now your credit card doesn't leave your possession.


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[Assistant] When you go to pay a bill because you're paying right there at the table on the portable terminal. The order can be taken right on that terminal by the server or you can have the option at many places of placing your own order.


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[Assistant] Electronically, again using the QR code thing and placing your own order.


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[Assistant] So it is different. It is not as personal an experience. It is more efficient and it deals with a time of labor shortage and we're going to see more and more things like this where industry after industry


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[Assistant] Are going to come back stronger than before, more efficient than before. Now Target is reporting bad numbers right now. But Target, because of COVID,


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[Assistant] Much more efficiently delivering items to people. Having people order online, pick them up, or have them delivered. And uh, supermarkets, after being kind of awkward.


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[Assistant] With grocery pickup and delivery in the initial phases of COVID have now gotten so much better at it. So.


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[Assistant] Know that there's opportunity out there, and particularly for the would-be entrepreneur. Whatever industry you're interested in, all those vacant retail spaces,


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[Assistant] That's a sign of opportunity for you, for your business at lower cost. Krista?


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[Assistant] Well, uh, two things here. First, uh, Nick, who is one of our prolific writers at Clark.com is an expert on all things sports and especially baseball. Uh, Nick, I've never seen you without a baseball cap on.


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[Assistant] So, I don't know, is it surgically attached to your head?


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[Assistant] Forces the blackouts because baseball doesn't want to give up all the money that people are paying for regional rights for the games. That's the core of this, right?


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[Assistant] So, uh, let's take the example of the question from Philip. So,


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[Assistant] I've got the subscription, even when a game's not blacked out, I can't go through, uhm,


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[Assistant] An easy way to project it on my TV. What is the next easiest way for him or someone else to be able to, instead of having to watch on their phone or a laptop or a tablet, to pop it up on their screen?


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[Assistant] Well, Nick, you are our expert on all things streaming, and I appreciate you so much clarifying it for Philip. You didn't solve his problem, but I appreciate the clarification.


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[Assistant] And, uh, baseball has been in a mess for a while with its TV rights and that's not right because the fans are the ones that are suffering.


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[Assistant] Yeah, thanks Clark. Thanks. So what you got next, Krista?


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[Assistant] And the cards were accessed digitally because what happens now is criminals, uh, use a social security number and have a fake ID.


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[Assistant] With their picture on it. And so, uh, there's been so much feeling that Social Security should not be a national identity card. But the reality is in business.


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[Assistant] They have turned the social security number into an individualized national ID card. So having some kind of process


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[Assistant] If we were willing to breach the privacy that's supposed to exist with our social security numbers, having some kind of system that ties it directly into your digital image would be a way to shut down cold a lot of the identity theft that exists today.


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[Assistant] Biometrics, which, uh, which, which is minority report that's traumatized you for 20 years or whatever.


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[Assistant] Yes, we do have teenage boys and uh, it's quite a journey with teenage boys and drivers.


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[Assistant] So, uh, the invasion of privacy in this area started in 2006 with an experiment by Progressive Insurance.


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[Assistant] And it has spread throughout the industry because they're trying to use predictive analysis based on, uh, the speed you drive, the aggressiveness you drive, you stop and start, the rapid lane changing, all the reckless driving kind of things tend to happen a lot with, uh, boys and young men. So,


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[Assistant] If your teenager is a very different driver or becomes a very different driver when they're being monitored, this could, uh, save your teenager's life and it could also potentially save you a lot of money. So I think it is a good idea


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[Assistant] You have to decide what logical consequences are there if it turns out your teen is driving like he thinks he's at NASCAR instead of on public roads and that I leave to you. But these technologies


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[Assistant] Are so much more accurate than they were in the original experiment 17 years ago.


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[Assistant] And you do have a real sense about how you're driving or how somebody else is driving. You might be shocked as a long time driver, the habits you or I may have developed that make us


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[Assistant] More of a danger on the roads than we realize. And so there is an actual safety value for I think any of us and the invasion of privacy both with these systems.


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[Assistant] And that does it for us today. Thank you so much for joining us. I hope you heard something today that you can use in your life and share it with others.


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[Assistant] Phillip's question and it's something that's frustrated baseball fans for many years and


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[Assistant] Unfortunately, things are sort of getting worse before they get better, but the good news is I think there could be some, uh, changes that are for the better, uh, coming on the horizon, so.


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[Assistant] I guess the first thing I would bring up Clark is the root of this problem and sort of explain to people why this is happening.


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[Assistant] Have sort of divvied up the country and some of the, some of the people that live in states like Tennessee are.


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[Assistant] To streaming services or your cable or satellite providers with the concept that subscribers for those outlets will have to pay to get access to these games through those services.


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[Assistant] Absolutely, and the problem that the regional sports networks are running into with the streaming.


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[Assistant] Services which are sort of a disruptor in this business model is that.


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[Assistant] YouTube TV and Hulu plus live TV and fling TV are just saying, Hey, we don't want to pay for these, these channels because they, they.


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[Assistant] Are very expensive and they have to pass that cost on their customers and their customers are already seeing increases


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[Assistant] Uhm, for the cost, you know, YouTube TV was $35.


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[Assistant] Well, so Phillip's in a tough spot because he's going to have to either pay for a live TV streaming service that has one of these in his instance, or Valley Sports Regional Sports Networks.


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[Assistant] There are a couple and you can find on our streaming guide.


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[Assistant] On Clark.com, we've got all this sort of broken down for everybody, but.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I know that DirecTV Stream is one that still offers these channels and also FuboTV has recently started picking up the Ballet Sports Regional Sports Network.


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[Assistant] Uhm, a live TV streaming service. Go to mlb.tv. They have a zip code search where you can try to figure out.


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[Assistant] Which teams can I watch if I pay for the service? Which team do I have to get the regional sports network to see?


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[Assistant] Are on the brink of bankruptcy because of this situation?


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[Assistant] Uhm, and so they may be turning the broadcast rights that they've been holding for these decades, these maps back over to Major League Baseball.


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[Assistant] Well, it's funny that Phillip asked the question. I'm a big St. Louis Cardinals fan and I also live in Tennessee, but a reason I point out the zip code thing is I'm lucky enough that where I live in Tennessee,


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[Assistant] I do get to watch the Cardinals via MLB.TV. I feel bad for Phillip that he doesn't get that same privilege.


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


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[Assistant] Today, I wanna talk about higher education, insane tuition, completely not understandable financial aid, and the craziness of admission. So, the great news,


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[Assistant] The way college has been done, it's not how it's gonna be done, which is gonna be great for families with kids who are growing up who may go to college someday. And later,


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[Assistant] Oh get ready for the broken record machine here. Wells Fargo has done it again. And not in a good way.


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[Assistant] And they're public statements, not remorseful at all. What is wrong with that bank's culture? So let's talk about the culture of applying for college. So the way college has worked.


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[Assistant] Is colleges have posted these unbelievably high tuitions and you look at any of them and you're like, could it really be that much money for a year of college? But then,


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[Assistant] Oh wait, there's more. Here's a financial package for you if you'll come to our school. I remember when our middle child, who's now a college graduate, thank goodness,


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[Assistant] Anyway, when she was applying to colleges, she was getting financial offers from schools, and when she wouldn't buy


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[Assistant] Three of them came back with more generous financial packages for her.


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[Assistant] And what a game and what a joke that you play hard to get and the net cost of the college goes down.


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[Assistant] Well, colleges now, other than maybe the top 30 colleges in the United States, some number like that.


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[Assistant] We are facing a shortage of students. We've got a demographic cycle we're in that there's not as many people coming of age at the normal age to go into college. We have societal doubt about the value of college.


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[Assistant] I've talked about how there are employers now that used to require automatically a college degree, even if they had nothing to do with the work someone was going to do, now no longer requiring that. Uhm, college is just a check mark, in many cases is over.


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[Assistant] College for learning a set of skills or a specific profession. That's what it's about now.


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[Assistant] And so colleges are having to rethink how they become relevant.


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[Assistant] I talked months ago about what's called directed missions, where people are getting


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[Assistant] Trying to, uh, use that as a recruiting tool to get students to consider going to a place. And then there are the schools. This first started, I think, three years ago.


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[Assistant] There were colleges cutting their retail rate on tuition. And more are doing that now.


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[Assistant] Uh, there was a college in New Hampshire that was in the news recently that cut its retail price on tuition.


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[Assistant] Now, how did they come up with the amount 17,000? It turned out that when they ran all the numbers,


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[Assistant] On the games that are being played with, this is retail and this is, we offer you this and that and the other, that they were netting out per student 17,000. They were like, let's quit all the games and just make the tuition 17 grand. And so there is a, there is a change going on and because of the shortage of students,


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[Assistant] It means that you have much more negotiating power.


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[Assistant] When you're trying to negotiate with a college. And again, when you get out of that upper crust of schools.


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[Assistant] They still remain in a situation where, uh, the parents and maybe their child are groveling for an acceptance at that school. You get outside that small number of schools, there are thousands and thousands of colleges and universities in the United States.


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[Assistant] Of all different levels of prestige, state schools, private schools, whatever, even within state school systems now, there are state schools that have faced declining enrollment. And states are saying, wait a minute, maybe people don't see value


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[Assistant] And what we're offering, we need to look at the curriculum we're offering, and we need to look at tuition. And so in a number of states now, there are differences in tuitions depending on which state school you go to.


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[Assistant] To make schools more affordable, to make them a more attractive choice. Uh, the whole thing is college worth it or not.


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[Assistant] The overall data shows that college still has enormous lifetime benefit in terms of overall earning power over a lifetime.


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[Assistant] And the level of unemployment that college graduates face during economic slowdowns versus those without a college degree. But that's an overall kind of thing.


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[Assistant] Because a big thing now in the marketplace is the specific skill set you get. And that doesn't have to be at college.


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[Assistant] It could be at a trade school, it could be a technical college, it could be a community college.


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[Assistant] As for community colleges and trade schools, they've been having a rough run lately.


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[Assistant] Uhm, a lot of times state supported technical colleges and community colleges have not been aligning with what employers are looking for.


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[Assistant] And the states that have really done a good job of aligning the needs of a, of the workplace.


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[Assistant] With a student who gets those skills, those are the states where the community colleges and state supported trade schools are remaining relevant, maybe more relevant than ever.


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[Assistant] And that's a change that needs to be clearly made around the United States, is that education has to be relevant


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[Assistant] Okay, uh, so we got something to unpack here. Understand the issue that


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[Assistant] A lawyer can prepare a will that has


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[Assistant] Something in it called a testamentary trust, which establishes a trustee, not the mom, and a purpose or the purposes that money can be used for. So,


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[Assistant] The will has in it both the message and the messenger. You have the trustee, who's an individual, could be a family member, non-family member, who you trust to carry out your wishes on behalf of your child.


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[Assistant] And that is a very common way of doing it. And that will does not have to be seen by the mom and would not be aware of it till the time of your passing.


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[Assistant] And that would be one way to do it. Another would be to establish a 529 college savings plan.


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[Assistant] For your child, naming you as the owner of the plan.


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[Assistant] Your child is the beneficiary and then you name, uh, uh, in most states you can name a subsequent owner of that account in the event of your passing. It would be someone other than the mother.


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[Assistant] Who would see to it that it's used for the purpose intended.


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[Assistant] For your child's college education.


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[Assistant] And again, a lawyer doing, uh,


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[Assistant] Uh, estate planning work will be able to make suggestions for different issues to protect the interests of your child that you haven't even thought about and in complicated family situations.


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[Assistant] I say never do a will on your own. Never do a will with a lawyer who only did one one time for his or her brother-in-law. You want to see a lawyer who this is their specialty area, wills, estates, and trusts.


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[Assistant] Okay, we got some things to talk about here. You're in an ultra-high-cost brokerage account.


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[Assistant] And so when you're in a brokerage account through a bank or an insurance company, you're paying very, very high cost.


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[Assistant] Versus what you have with the Roth 401k. The Roth 401k has enormous advantages to you. I would rather see you


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[Assistant] Have some amount of money you put into savings every month.


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[Assistant] And reduce that 600 down and put more money into the Roth 401k.


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[Assistant] Especially if your employer is a large employer, the costs on that 401k plan will be far, far lower than what you're paying for that ultra-expensive brokerage account and fees every day, every month, every year. And the Roth grows tax-free.


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[Assistant] The money you have in the brokerage account is taxable. The earnings on that are taxable. The earnings on savings are taxed at the highest possible tax rate known as ordinary income tax. So you could much more efficiently


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[Assistant] Open an online savings account with an online bank or go to a credit union. Fund that savings account every month with a few hundred dollars a month and take the remainder of that


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[Assistant] Boost the amount of money you're putting in that Roth 401k because having money you're putting in that grows tax free and ultimately is spent tax free


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[Assistant] Is so superior to putting money in accounts that are subject to tax now and later.


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[Assistant] Uh, so I love that this worked for you. You know, it can boomerang where you leave something in your cart and the price goes up, but more often than not, this pays off playing hard to get. And there's something I was thinking of buying that I put in a cart and I later decided not to buy it.


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[Assistant] I'm getting reminders all the time and they're offering me better deals and all that, and I'm still not going to buy it because I really decided I don't need it. So it's not always going to work, but it sure is a great strategy with retail, especially online retail. Play hard to get. So you know who plays hard to get?


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[Assistant] Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo, one of the country's four giant monster megabanks, repeatedly tries to make sure you hate them.


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[Assistant] And I have the latest installment in Can You Believe This with Wells Fargo coming for you straight ahead. And as I've said now for 10 years, 11 years,


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[Assistant] With Wells Fargo, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. They're gonna hurt ya.


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[Assistant] Wells Fargo has engaged in years and years and years of criminal practices. And at this moment,


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[Assistant] As best I can tell, not a single perpetrator at Wells Fargo has gone to prison. You know with big corporations


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[Assistant] When they repeatedly break the law and bring great harm to people.


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[Assistant] Generally, the penalties are always money.


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[Assistant] And Wells Fargo has had this culture.


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[Assistant] That has been one that has encouraged breaking the law again and again and again. So Wells Fargo after


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[Assistant] Having to pay huge fines repeatedly, pay restitution repeatedly, now has just been hit.


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[Assistant] And having to pay yet another after billions and billions and billions of dollars in restitution to mistreated customers, they're having to pay more. So what have they done


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[Assistant] They have engaged in practices of not posting payments that customers have made for mortgages.


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[Assistant] Foreclosed on people's homes who were paying their mortgages. They have repoed autos that people were making their payments on.


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[Assistant] They have charged people overdraft fees when people had money in their account.


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[Assistant] And as you know, the prior stuff that goes back to 2011,


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[Assistant] Opening accounts without peoples knowledge or consent so employees could get bonuses from Wells Fargo. This company


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[Assistant] Has now paid according to a compilation from the feds. They have now had to pay.


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[Assistant] Six point two billion dollars just over the last six years.


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[Assistant] And I saw a New York Times piece. They've now paid a total of $20 billion.


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[Assistant] In fines and restitutions, one after another, after another, after another. Now two CEOs had been fired for overseeing corrupt and criminal practices. And now they got yet another one in there.


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[Assistant] And when is this culture ever going to change? And I believe that the culture has no reason to change until people fear having a prisoner number. Until people end up behind bars. Because I kept assuming that the embarrassment that Wells has experienced would lead to changes in behavior. But now,


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[Assistant] You know, like Missouri, the show me state, I got to tell you Wells Fargo.


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[Assistant] You're gonna have to show the American people.


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[Assistant] By being on your best behavior over and over again, that you got your act together.


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[Assistant] And you are an embarrassment to capitalism. I am through and through


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[Assistant] I believe so fiercely in the free market and there will always be


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[Assistant] People who do the wrong thing in life and there will be people who do the wrong thing in the free market and capitalism at Wells Fargo. I mean, my goodness, this is just absolutely terrible. And again, corporate speak.


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[Assistant] This far-reaching agreement is an important milestone in our work to transform the operating practices at Wells Fargo and to put these issues behind us.


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[Assistant] How many times have you issued a corporate speak statement like that through the $20 billion plus in fines and restitution over the last 12 years? My goodness.


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[Assistant] It's always tough to know when the coast is clear and when a company gets its ethical act together that has behaved unethically and criminally, just know that Wells is still a work in progress. Krista?


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[Assistant] Yeah. So I addressed this on the podcast last year.


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[Assistant] With the Wells Fargo credit card and all the conversations we had about it. The Wells Fargo credit card, uhm,


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[Assistant] Has had from time to time fantastic sign up bonuses and it's a 2% cash back card, which is my, uh, I said it's past gold standard. That's my platinum standard for a credit card. So we talked and talked and talked about


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[Assistant] Do we censor ourselves and not list the Wells Fargo card or people being really aware of what I've said about Wells Fargo over the last decade plus? Uhm, is it buy or beware?


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[Assistant] With the Wells Fargo card, and we made a decision, rightly or wrongly, that we should list the Wells Fargo card, even though it's a fantastic credit card, even though the danger is Wells Fargo's corporate culture.


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[Assistant] Not as in danger with just a credit card, which was one of the things we talked about


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[Assistant] That the problems at Wells Fargo over the last


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[Assistant] Uh, many many many years going back. I think the original


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[Assistant] Criminal behavior started in 2006 or 2007 and discovered several years later, uhm, with, with a credit card


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[Assistant] That's not been an area we've had complaints about. It's like everything else at Wells Fargo too. But let me tell you, we had a lot of, uh,


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[Assistant] Very heated conversations into arguments about whether or not we should list the Wells Fargo card.


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[Assistant] So there's no issue with her being scammed, that that money for


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[Assistant] Uh, that you have in savings would be at risk for a credit card, but you should know, and this is a great


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[Assistant] Question you've asked because there's something a lot of people are not aware of. Why is it so many credit card operations try to get you to open a savings account with them? Because their savings accounts have in them


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[Assistant] What's known, uh, generically is a cross-default clause.


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[Assistant] If you end up defaulting on your credit card bill and you don't pay your bill, they


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[Assistant] All have provisions, I think, I don't know if there's any exceptions to, I said they all. I pretty much think it's everybody.


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[Assistant] Where they can go in and seize other funds you have on hand in the institution.


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[Assistant] To deal with an unpaid balance on any loan you have with them, in this case with a credit card company, they could take the money from the savings to deal with an unpaid balance. But in terms of fraud activity, no, no connection there.


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[Assistant] Okay, so what your son should do is before he gets fully in the phase of divorce, he should apply for a new credit card on his own. I'm hopeful and assuming that he has credit standing that's good enough


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[Assistant] To qualify for a card because he wants to replace the balance that's available to him on the Amex. The other way to handle it is you could ask him for the physical card back, but leave the available credit there for him, uh, which will help a lot with his credit score. So basically he's renting your credit standing


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[Assistant] By having that available credit. But the first option is much more desirable that he apply for and get a new card on his own standing. And that would be the right, safest and best move for him to not see a reduction in his credit score.


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[Assistant] And if you, if you get your son to set up a Credit Karma dashboard, one of the tools they have there is based on your credit score. They'll show you cards that


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[Assistant] You're likely to get approved for and they'll show you the odds of approval.


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[Assistant] So if your son's kind of on the bubble credit wise and not sure if he's likely to be approved for a card.


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[Assistant] You can see the likelihood of success or failure in applying for a card. Now what's in it for Credit Karma? They get referral fees from the credit card company if you end up applying for a card, get approved, they get money from them.


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[Assistant] That's how credit, one of the ways credit karma makes its money. So I wanted you to know if you have a question, opinion, something you'd like to share,


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[Assistant] Why don't you join our free Clark.com community at community.clark.com where we all work together as members of team Clark to serve each other, guide each other, help each other. Have a great day.


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[Assistant] And if we do find something, buy it with the idea that we'd be able to refinance if and when rates go down. We do not have a lot of experience with playing the real estate market and loans as we have lived are in our current home are first and only for 32 years. Wow. Wow. Wow.


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[Assistant] And this one is from Greg. He says, I've been a loyal listener for years and certainly appreciate all of your advice and suggestions helping us navigate the world of finance. My only issue is, I'm Canadian.


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[Assistant] Although much of your advice is worldly, if I can say that, other things are USA specific, the IRA, Roth, etc. So my question is, do you have a suggestion for a good Canadian podcast that is as informative as you are?


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[Assistant] Do you have any Canadian friends with their own shows? I've tried a few, they are not even close. Thanks to you and your team for all of the hard work and effort to keep us informed and helping us to keep money in our pockets. We love our Costco too. And have a safe and wonderful holiday season.


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[Assistant] I would also say let's go onto our community if you can at Clark.com and post and I mean it seems like your audience has like just such a wealth of knowledge and we could have lots of Canadians on there who could help each other out.


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[Assistant] Okay, uhm, got a question about a car rental gone wrong from Jody in Georgia.


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[Assistant] Total charges in Rhode Island cost me six dollars. I think she meant toll char- toll charges cost six dollars. But the gluttonous car company charged me an additional thirty dollars in administrative fees. To top it off, the toll roads did not allow me to pay on the spot. This is maddening.


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[Assistant] I noticed that BBB has many complaints against this car rental company for the same issue and some of those that complained received waivers for the administrative junk fees. I wrote the company directly to see if they would avoid a scathing review on BBB by waiving my administrative fees before I penned a complaint. Nope. They're willing to take the hit.


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[Assistant] And we'll put the toll reader that you have in the show notes for this. I also got an EZPass reader, which I forget how many states that works in, but I ordered mine from Massachusetts even though I don't live there, because it was free for the reader. And then I use it, I do travel there a lot and so I use it there and other states.


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[Assistant] So, Brainiac Mom, Brainiac Daughter.


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[Assistant] I just paid both of my Hyundai's off and now the center consoles are worthless. I'm barely keeping my head above water. I cannot afford two new vehicles. The financial manager at one dealership told me that this was a blessing because I needed to trade it in and get an electric vehicle.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I can get that list, but they were saying like all the Bluetooth. Backup camera, hands free.


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[Assistant] I hear on the podcast about precautions when selecting a household moving company, so it would not surprise me if auto transport also has its problems.


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[Assistant] I have quotes from multiple providers and although price is important, I'm entrusting a pricey vehicle into the hands of a total stranger. Please provide recommendations on how I can vet these vehicle transport companies for the intangibles like safety, timeliness, vehicle security, damage, etc. Love the podcast. Always listen during my daily walk.


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[Assistant] It would definitely depend on the, the condition, but yeah, I think that would be weird. You know what I love are all the online therapy options that have become really available since COVID. I mean, because it's so needed, mental health help and having like a zoom with a therapist that saves people time driving to get somewhere. Maybe you can have someone who's in a different part of the country.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and I think that is an amazing thing that we have access to now.


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[Assistant] Watching the Amazon Prime games from my computer. Those were NFL games, right?


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[Assistant] Today was the first day I couldn't watch it. Normally the game auto-loaded on my computer in a small part of the screen when I logged in. It was there, and I was able to expand it to full screen. Now, they now verify that you are prime. Needless to say, Amazon figured out their error. Maybe they listened to this episode? Sorry if I misled anyone.


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[Assistant] Erin in Missouri says, I'm very irritated with the bill I just received from our doctor's office and need your advice. A few weeks ago my wife took our two sick boys to our family doctor with flu symptoms. They both got in together and were each tested for the flu and it came back positive. The doctor did not recommend Tamiflu so no medicine was prescribed.


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[Assistant] On top of $126 each for the office visit. After insurance, we owe $124.75 for each kid.


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[Assistant] Including the copay, we will end up paying $3,950 for this visit.


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[Assistant] Robert in Florida says, Hi Clark, is there any insurance for sunglasses being lost, stolen or damaged and would you recommend it? The reason I'm asking this is because my wife is on her third pair of Ray-Bans. What brand or websites would you recommend if I don't want to pay a ridiculous price for stylish glasses that are of better quality?


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[Assistant] Brand names at lower prices sometimes too for really nice sunglasses.


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[Assistant] Karen in Missouri says, when is the best time of year to purchase tires for my SUV?


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[Assistant] And we have all different kinds of tires and how much the price ranges and average price per tire.


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[Assistant] Bill in Arizona says, Hi Clark, my wife and I needed to quickly fax a medical power of attorney to my mother-in-law's Medicare Advantage insurance company because that's the only way they will accept these sorts of documents. After failing on numerous attempts with my Chromebook and Android phone, we raced to an office supply store.


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[Assistant] We succeeded but the price to fax 6 pages was $18.65.


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[Assistant] Extremely frustrating. Do you have any suggestions to make this process simpler and cheaper?


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[Assistant] I have, I actually have had a couple of, uh, instances recently where I've had to fax things, so I was like, should I fax it to 1990? Uhm, but when I used an online, uh, fax provider where I got a free trial and like one fax free and I did that, then I, then I got rid of it, the account.


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[Assistant] And then I downloaded an app on my phone and it was, I think it's 25 cents per page after you do like a couple pages.


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[Assistant] 10 to 30 percent a month. It pays to shop around. Thanks Clark and team for putting the idea in my head.


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[Assistant] It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard show where our mission is to serve you and empower you to make better financial decisions in your life. Well, 10 days out from Christmas. A lot of us give holiday tips.


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[Assistant] Give them out to people in our lives who provide services to us. You know, we've got this whole dilemma we've talked about before who you tip as you're out and about all through the year. Then the question who and how much during the Christmas season.


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[Assistant] Well, there, this is an art, not a science. You do what feels right to you.


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[Assistant] But people ask for guidelines. In fact, I've gotten a text from two friends over the last week saying, I don't know how much to tip.


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[Assistant] For this, that or the other. And it is a hard dilemma for us. And again, what you'll hear from me, what you'll see at Clark.com, just my guesstimate. And we're going to talk later about saving money on powering your home ways to power your home and what actually works and what doesn't in a big way with a potential payback. So,


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[Assistant] Everybody out there who touches the money space does some kind of tipping guide during December, just like us. I mean, you can find them all over the place. Even oddly fidelity investments did a tipping guide because it's got a pretty affluent customer base and they list the categories that people


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[Assistant] Might have in their lives babysitter, dog walker, house cleaner.


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[Assistant] Personal trainer, hairstylist, and they talk about what kind of, uh, tip you might give. And, uh, one in particular.


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[Assistant] That is one that used to be such a common category to tip your letter carrier to your home.


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[Assistant] That's something people don't think about as much, but you're allowed to give a letter carrier.


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[Assistant] A personal relationship with their letter carrier. There's been so much disruption in the postal service that most of us don't have a regular letter carrier anymore. But if you do and they've got your back, they really take care of you. Gosh, think about them. They are a worker category that


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[Assistant] A lot of people thought in the past was a real cushy job. Now letter carriers are way overworked, but as far as suggested amounts, if you have a regular babysitter, the most common amount to tip them, if you're using them all the time is the equivalent of one week of pay that


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[Assistant] You would normally be paying them through a year if you use them occasionally.


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[Assistant] It would be one night's babysitting. You might tip them, uh, pet sitter, pet walker, one session additional, whatever they normally bill you, you would consider tipping them one additional session worth. And these are just, these are just


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[Assistant] Uh, suggestions, there is no ironclad rule. You're over trying to look at the list, aren't you, Christa?


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[Assistant] One session. Yeah, that's a very common kind of denominator for someone who


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[Assistant] Regularly serves you but not all the time.


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[Assistant] Is that if they normally bill you blah blah blah dollars, then at the Christmas season.


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[Assistant] You give them a gift or cash equivalent to that. I'm a big believer in cash, not gift cards. Uhm, and I know people think cash is crass.


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[Assistant] Do you have regular, do you have regular people? We don't have, uh,


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[Assistant] Okay, that's really great. So that you'd remember, oh, we should tip them.


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[Assistant] But anyway, if you're trying to noodle this, you can look at our, uh, streamline guide to holiday tipping. There are again, many other published guides you can kind of get.


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[Assistant] A sense about if you just can't figure it out, should I tip this person? How much do I tip them? All that. Uh, the guides put out are just that. They are guides. They are guesstimates. They are opinions. Um, and your opinion is absolutely fine and valid, but if you're lost and you don't know, do you tip and how much using our guide and others and particularly using, uh, more than one guide to get a sense


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[Assistant] Will really help you make a good decision.


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[Assistant] Okay, so Jim, you're talking about something referred to as a viadical where you sell the interest in your policy.


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[Assistant] And they discount heavily to face and it is a very controversial area of insurance. But what I'd like you to do instead.


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[Assistant] As I'd like you to use, there's a non-profit that has an evaluation service.


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[Assistant] They'll be able to tell you what conversion privilege you have in this variable life insurance policy that you will not forfeit.


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[Assistant] Uh, too much of the value you put into it and still maybe have.


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[Assistant] Some amount of life insurance going forward and it should get you more value out of it


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[Assistant] Then selling it in the open market if in fact there is a market for your individual policy.


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[Assistant] It is, again, the Consumer Federation of America that has its own


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[Assistant] website for this, it's called evaluate life insurance.org.


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[Assistant] You have to pay them for the evaluation. How much is the evaluation these days? Is it 150?


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[Assistant] Okay, so it's $150, they tell you at evaluatelifeinsurance.org what documentation they need for you to run the eval


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[Assistant] To tell you the best thing to do with your policy, this is very relevant to people with any form of variable universal life, various forms of variable life, or whole life.


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[Assistant] Where you're buying something that's a complicated product, particularly with variable universal life or variable life that these policies are impossible to understand and you need impartial true expertise


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[Assistant] And that $150 will be money well spent.


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[Assistant] For you to be able to make the right decision going forward with that policy you can no longer afford.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The trade-off you make paying the membership fee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is it over the course of a year you're buying items at a lower markup than they're going to be in the general marketplace? Um, Costco in particular, uh, is very


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Public about what their markups are and the typical item in a Costco.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anything Kirkland Signature caps out at 15% markup. It is the lowest markup in general retailing in the United States that you have at Costco. They do this because they they run the stores


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Designed to be breakeven after they pay for all the buildings and-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Real estate and utilities and employee salary and benefits. All the profit is made from the membership fees. And so that's their business model is you're paying to be a member of a co-op. Now at any time during a membership year, if it's not working for you,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can do that because their renewal rate is sky high, like 93% of members or something like that renew each year. I don't know if Sam's or BJ's wholesale disclose their actual renewal rate percentages, but it's all about being part of this buying co-op that gets you these prices. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you. Um, and not everybody.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Certainly benefits from being a member of a warehouse company. If you join one, uh, and they have