transcript

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
[00:30] Pepsi prebiotic cola in original and cherry vanilla. That Pepsi taste you love with just 30 calories and no artificial sweeteners. Pepsi prebiotic cola. Unbelievably Pepsi.

Speaker 3:
[00:50] It's my pleasure to welcome you here to The Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. And I hope you had a great weekend this past weekend. If you're subscribed to our free newsletter at clark.com, you know that on Sundays, we have a special investing version of our clark.com newsletter for you. And I'm so proud. I am so proud of what our team does every day to empower you with content that can make a difference in your life. And I want to talk straight ahead about something that became controversial during the Super Bowl about protecting your home and safety, or if you're in an apartment, protecting your safety. But it's something that actually works. Talk about that straight ahead. And then later, I want to talk about what's happening with deliveries. When you make an online purchase, there's stuff you need to know for your wallet so that you spend, well, as little as possible. But right now, I want to talk about the value of cameras. And I'm trying to remember that Super Bowl ad was for a cat or dog that was saved in a neighborhood, I think, because they were all looking for this animal on their cameras. And people freaked out in the way the ad agency creating this ad. Never imagined people would, because they thought, oh, it would be a real heartwarming thing that somebody's pet was found. It was only because of people having all these cameras everywhere. And, you know, we do, in our lives, you think about how many places you go that we don't even realize there are cameras watching us. It feels creepy, right? At the same time, this is one of those things that two things can be true at once. Yeah, all these cameras everywhere are creepy, and at the same time, these cameras can be a layer of safety for you and your own life. And the cameras, the thing about them is, most of the companies that sell you these really inexpensive cameras are now treating the cameras kind of like how Hewlett Packard's always treated printers. They don't care how much they lose on the printer because they're making the money on the rent. Now, a lot of the camera companies get you hooked with the low price camera.

Speaker 4:
[03:34] You mean on the ink?

Speaker 3:
[03:35] On the ink. What did I say?

Speaker 4:
[03:36] Rent.

Speaker 3:
[03:36] Rent. Thank you, Krista. Yeah, because essentially, well, some of the printers now, that was misspoken, but now they rent you copies every month. Anyway, on the printers, I mean, on the printers, on the cameras.

Speaker 4:
[03:52] Sorry.

Speaker 3:
[03:54] The big money is made on monthly subscriptions, except there are cameras you can get. Some really affordable, others more expensive. CNET just did a review of cameras they found that were really high quality that you could buy without having to have a subscription, starting at 36 bucks for the camera. Not bad. And so you're in a position where you're able to see what's going on at your home or in an apartment and have that peace of mind where you can get an alert, that there's motion. Sometimes the alerts will drive you crazy because you don't know what might trip the alert. If you're a Consumer Reports subscriber, they've also done a list of the best no subscription security cameras. And this is, again, it's creepy having these cameras everywhere and at the same time, protective. I got a funny story for you. We were coming home one night, and we saw somebody late at night who was going into a neighbor's driveway and the neighbors were out of town. And so I texted the neighbor, didn't know if he'd still be awake, so I didn't want to call. And he was able to pull up the cameras and see that the person just walked through their property and didn't disturb their house at all, but was able completely from hundreds of miles away to see that the place was okay. And so we didn't have to call the police because he was able real time to see on his cameras that everything was okay. And then the doorbells, you use one of those. And I love the way you'll talk to somebody who's at your door. And you send the solicitors away, don't you?

Speaker 4:
[05:57] I sure do, yep.

Speaker 3:
[05:59] I guess they're used to that at this point.

Speaker 4:
[06:01] Probably so, yep.

Speaker 3:
[06:03] And so do you have cameras in addition to your doorbell camera?

Speaker 4:
[06:08] I do, yep. I have other ones outside my house. OK, we'll go to questions for you. Kevin in Hawaii sent this one in. I'd like more information on how to check if I'm paying the best price for auto and home insurance. Is it true that there's a way to obtain insurance without going for an agent and is it also true that a lot of the cost goes to the agent when you use one?

Speaker 3:
[06:30] All right, so let's answer this in reverse. There are two different kinds of agents in the auto insurance and homeowners insurance business. There are what are known as captive agents that are with only one company. And so if you go to a captive agent, they will normally be the one who you buy your insurance from, and there's no comparison shopping, because they're just issuing for that company. And they're also who you might call if you have a wreck or whatever. And that's one kind of agent. Then the second kind is what's known as an independent agent. If you're trying to comparison shop, calling a captive agent is a complete waste of time. In either case, the agent is getting compensated for the people they place. That's why there are insurers that sell either only one way direct or two ways. Like think about progressive. They sell through agents and they sell direct. And I've never seen how much money you actually might save if you go direct with an insurer that sells both ways or go to an agent. But some of the work that that agent does is a cost saving to the company that's paying them, because they might have to have a human there doing some of those things. I like for you, if you're really trying to compare or you have any kind of complicated situation, to look for and use an independent agent. Because the problem with comparison shopping, the industry has successfully squashed like a bug the ability for you to go to a price comparison website and see who's got the best deal. What the insurers have done is they bought up these independents and the people who set them up ended up with a big payday, but you lost the ability at that point to comparison shop. So if you literally want to comparison shop, believe it or not, you have to dial back in time and call each company you want to quote from or you have to go to each company's website and get quotes because there is no comprehensive site I've seen anymore that gives you the ability to comparison shop like you'd like.

Speaker 4:
[08:59] Wayne in New York says, I have identity theft insurance through, I gave you the company name there.

Speaker 3:
[09:04] Okay, not familiar with them.

Speaker 4:
[09:06] They monitor my email, social security number, phone, driver's license, passport, medical, bank and credit cards. Part of the coverage reads that each eligible member receives up to $1 million of zero deductible identity theft insurance coverage upon enrollment, which covers the following, unauthorized electronic fund transfers, lost wages, private investigator costs, legal defense fees. So does that mean I will be reimbursed if somebody steals money from my bank or brokerage account? The cost is $75 per year. Is it worth it, Clark?

Speaker 3:
[09:39] As a general rule, I have not recommended purchasing identity theft insurance because even though the policies sound impressive, to your question, if they don't say they cover losses from theft from brokerage accounts and bank accounts, they don't cover losses from brokerage and bank accounts. And identity theft insurance goes through big marketing pushes every time there's a highly publicized data breach at one of the credit bureaus or a big company or a bank or whoever. And people buy them, and then they feel like they have peace of mind. But I've never found the supposed coverages that sound impressive to actually be worth it. The simple stuff is the best to protect yourself. We just covered this the other day. But the most important first step, if you've not done so, is freeze your credit with the three major credit bureaus. That's the easiest low-hanging fruit. It's so quick and easy to do. It doesn't affect any of the credit you already have, but it protects you in most cases from somebody pretending to be you applying for credit as if they're you. But it doesn't deal with every eventuality, and it certainly doesn't deal with the big risks now with people trying to attack, not bank accounts, but overwhelmingly, brokerage, retirement, and investment accounts, and those you want to make the habit of checking, like clockwork, once a week to make sure that everything is A-OK. Speed in detecting a theft seems to be the key determinant to getting your money back from a theft from one of your investment or retirement accounts.

Speaker 4:
[11:41] This is from John in North Carolina. You talk a lot about which car insurance companies are the best, but you don't bring up which cars are considered the cheapest to insure. I've seen tools that estimate what to pay on insurance, but a lot of them are trying to get your information. Is there any resource you'd recommend to get the auto insurance estimates based on a car you select?

Speaker 3:
[12:03] Okay, so this is fascinating because people are freaked out by how much auto insurance premiums went up in recent years, and thank goodness they've leveled out and some are dropping, but from a much higher price point. And the vehicles themselves that have the lowest insurance costs tend to be the lowest, not because of how that particular vehicle is manufactured, but because the profile of the typical buyer of those vehicles gives them a historical record of having a much better claims experience, much lower costs for the insurers. And there are lots of lists you can see that will point to specific models that are the lowest costs to insurer, but I'll tell you what historically has been the cheapest. Compact SUVs. There's something about the buyers of most compact SUVs that people are not looking for horsepower. In other words, they're not trying to drive fast, and the profile of those drivers tends to be a more careful kind of person. Often, the compact and the next cheapest is historically mid-size SUVs, tend to be often a driver with young children. And that's why many vans historically have also been more affordable. Of late, I don't know that I see them on any of the lists. Speaking of the lists, there's an autoblog list that came out recently that I read that showed specific models. And again, tying in with what I said, overwhelmingly, the vehicles on the lowest cost insurance list were compact SUVs, some mid-size SUVs sprinkled in. Consumer Reports, if you're a subscriber, also does a list. And Krista, can we list the autoblog link in our...

Speaker 4:
[14:09] In the notes for this podcast episode, we can.

Speaker 3:
[14:12] Awesome.

Speaker 4:
[14:13] The description.

Speaker 3:
[14:14] Yeah, because it's pretty clear that you'll see the pattern. What tends to cost a lot to insure? Krista and my beloved electric vehicles. A lot of electric vehicle drivers, because of the power, the instant torque they have, tend to have different driver personalities in an electric than they do in a gas engine, because you just barely press the accelerator and you feel like if you've never ridden in one, you feel like you're in a rocket. And so the drivers tend to create more risk and electric vehicles, because it's a newer technology with such extreme electronics and cost more. Big SUVs cost a lot more to insure. And then certain sedans and of course, any kind of high performance vehicle is going to cost more to insure. Coming up ahead, we'll talk about something that's costing both more and less at the same time. That's when you order online and have delivery. I want to tell you what's happening in the online buying industry.

Speaker 5:
[15:30] Sure.

Speaker 3:
[15:31] That is way too wordy. If you buy stuff online, there's something you got to know about getting your delivery straight ahead.

Speaker 5:
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Speaker 6:
[16:06] Hi, I'm Don McDonald from the Talking Real Money Podcast. Simple, honest financial advice is hard to find because there are too many people in the financial services industry and even the media who will do or say anything to get your money. Well, for decades, my co-host Tom and I have been trying to help people better manage money on the radio, TV and in our podcasts. About five times a week, we share simple, low-cost advice on building the wealth you need to enjoy a better future without making your broker richer and ironically, you broker. Listening to Talking Real Money could not be easier because you're already listening to a podcast. Just search for Talking Real Money on your podcast service or ask your smart speaker. Give us a try. You have absolutely nothing to lose except a few minutes of time and you might just discover something to help you enjoy a more prosperous and secure future along with a simpler present. Just visit talkingrealmoney.com or search for Talking Real Money in this podcast service. It's that easy.

Speaker 7:
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Speaker 8:
[17:34] K-Pop Demon Hunters, Saja Boys Breakfast Meal and Huntrix Meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that, Rumi?

Speaker 2:
[17:43] It's not a battle. So glad the Saja Boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.

Speaker 9:
[17:48] It is an honor to share.

Speaker 2:
[17:50] No, it's our honor.

Speaker 8:
[17:51] It is our larger honor.

Speaker 4:
[17:53] No, really, stop.

Speaker 8:
[17:55] You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side.

Speaker 5:
[18:00] Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. And participate in McDonald's While Supplies Last.

Speaker 9:
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Speaker 3:
[18:35] So the delivery market is changing big time. Amazon, which sells, I think it's about 40% of what's purchased online. They're a relatively small percent of overall retail. But in terms of online, Amazon sets the trends. And Amazon really shook up retail, online retail, when they were able to refine delivery in a window of typically two to three days. Well, now, something that's going on elsewhere, it seems Amazon is copying. And that is ultra-fast delivery in a couple of hours. And Amazon, in a lot of zip codes now, offers a premium one-to-three-hour delivery. And for years, Amazon's offered a premium delivery that was like in a half a day in most places in the country. Again, you pay a little extra for that, unless you've got an order that's big enough. But now having these ultra-fast, Costco has proven there's a big market for ultra-fast delivery. And Costco charges more than they normally do. Done through Instacart, if I remember right, is who Costco partners with. And so the prices you see when you order through the Costco-Instacart partnership are higher on pretty much every item you buy than they'd be otherwise. But delivery is usually in 90 minutes to three hours. You're starting to hear a pattern. Walmart, before either Amazon or Costco, to my knowledge, started doing ultra-fast deliveries that you paid extra for. And for people who live in parts of the country that have BJ's Wholesale Club, they also now have an expedited quick delivery. So if you don't want to go to the store, they will get it to you in just hours for additional money. And then there is, as there is now with several online sellers, there is a tipping mechanism for you to tip the delivery person for the quick delivery in addition to the extra charge. So we got this ultra, ultra, ultra speedy stuff going on, and at the same time, more and more incentives for you to have slow delivery. Instead of having delivery in just a few days, having delivery in a couple of weeks. I use Sam's Club. I'm a Sam's Plus member, and I'm also a Costco executive member. But when I do delivery, it's almost 100 percent of the time from Sam's because I'm not paying extra for the items I buy. As a Plus member, my deliveries are free as long as I order 50 or more dollars at a time. But when do the things come? When Sam's decides they come. And this is a pattern that is emerging that shipping, even if it's quote unquote free to you, isn't anything free about it. And when a retailer, an online seller, is able to do delivery in a way that lowers their costs, you're going to benefit from it in most cases, or you'll be incentivized to do it in some way with credit towards a future purchase or something like that. And so the market is morphing to give you what you value most, whether it's ultra fast delivery and you're willing to pay more for it, or slow boat kind of delivery, like I so often get from Sam's Club. But there are a lot of things you don't need. You don't need them in two days or three days, or one hour or three hours. And it's just fine if it comes slow. And I'll tell you, comparing Sam's to Amazon, it is no comparison. Sam's, even though they don't disclose their markups, they're not as consistent as Costco with having very tight reigns on markups. Sam's, if you are a Sam's member, you'll see that on items that they sell, that you could also obviously buy at Amazon, they're consistently cheaper from Sam's Club Delivery than they are from Amazon if money matters to you.

Speaker 4:
[23:37] All right. I think money matters to everyone listening.

Speaker 3:
[23:41] I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of people who convenience is really, really what they're about.

Speaker 4:
[23:48] Well, but I don't think they would be listening to your podcast, right?

Speaker 3:
[23:52] I think so. I mean, we have a variety of people who listen and there's different things or watch and there's different things that they enjoy about or learn from or want to know more about if they listen to us. So not everybody has to wear $8 shirts. That's right.

Speaker 4:
[24:13] Yeah. And nobody is you.

Speaker 3:
[24:15] Oh, you know, we didn't talk about how people were complaining who watch our YouTube show about how unruly my hair was recently.

Speaker 4:
[24:24] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[24:26] Oh, man, that was because my wife and I were a standoff. My wife would like my hair to be as long as like a hard rock performer from the 80s, I guess, with scraggly hair down way past my shoulders. And I don't like having long hair. And she hates it when I get it cut. I was, you know, I was a part time soldier for 21 years, and I got used to having my hair a certain length. And so we've compromised. And so I can now get haircuts when I'd like, but not get it cut as short as I did when I was a state guardsman.

Speaker 4:
[25:07] All right. We'll go to some questions here. This one's from Mike in Indiana. I paid off my mortgage and have no debt at all, which is great.

Speaker 3:
[25:16] It's fantastic.

Speaker 4:
[25:17] I need a new truck and my credit is now terrible. I tried pulling up my report and one of them said unscorable. My trans union is 647 and Equifax is now 743. This is infuriating. I need to get my credit score up and I deserve great credit like I used to have. It was 805 at one time. Please help.

Speaker 3:
[25:37] All right. So Mike, lots of things I need to unpack with you. You have no lines of credit at all, it sounds like. You have no credit cards, anything like that. And when you have no credit profile, what was it? Experian that had no...

Speaker 4:
[25:55] Experian was, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[25:56] Yeah, that means they have what's called a no or thin on you, meaning that there's so little available information on prior credit history that they don't even feel like they can come up with an adequate score for you. It's something that you did a great thing, you got rid of all your debt, but that also becomes as a practical thing, a real pain as you're discovering. So here's what I want you to do first, I want you to go to annualcreditreport.com and I want you, if it's free, it's the official site that the credit bureaus were forced to set up by the Congress, where you can see your credit reports for free. I want you to get all three reports of them. And it's particularly curious to me that you got one that doesn't find you at all and you have Equifax that has you at a really decent score, nearly 750. So, this is something you need to look at and see, what are each of them showing? I also want you to set up a Credit Karma account, where you'll be able to track two of the three credit bureaus, see the score, and what you'll be able to do at Credit Karma is they will suggest to you steps you can take dynamically that will raise your scores. Now, what would I do in your case? I would find a credit union in Indiana, near where you live, that you can join, and if you have no credit cards at all, they may put you in one of their, like, probationary kind of credit cards, which are better than a traditional secured card, that you use it just some each month, pay the balance in full, you'll pay no interest, and depending on the credit union in 6 to 18 months, you'll graduate to a regular card, they'll be reporting the credit bureaus from the get-go, and it will help you beef up your credit identity. That credit union is also convenient because that's where I want you to get the vehicle loan. Because that new truck, trucks are expensive, that new loan from a credit union will usually be at an interest rate, it will be a third less or as little as half of what an auto loan would be from a traditional bank, more often a third less. And so the credit union is going to be your bridge to being able to improve your credit and be able to get the best deal you can on the truck. And listen to this, if you start off at the credit union with a crummy interest rate on the truck, because they do scaling based on credit history, as your credit improves, over the course of time you have that truck loan, you will be able to refi that truck loan with the credit union into a better rate based on your credit profile improving.

Speaker 4:
[29:03] OK, Russell in Florida says, are clinical trial studies legitimate or a scam? Do people earn money from participating? One example is you can be paid $6,000 for a sleep apnea study. Is that a scam?

Speaker 3:
[29:17] That sounds pretty extreme. So clinical trials work two ways. There are clinical trials where healthy people, without worrying about a particular medical condition, go into a trial and you're compensated, and it depends on the trial, how much you're compensated. $6,000 sounds pretty significant. That is one kind. That's one where you're trying to help advance science or you'd like to advance the thickness of your wallet with some money. The other is where people want to enter trials because they have a medical condition or an illness that could be terminal, and they've run out of conventional ways to deal with the illness, and they go into a trial. As far as scam trials, that's not on my radar.

Speaker 4:
[30:10] I mean, I could see that happening if you're just getting a, if it's like an online posting or something that says, you know, you have to give a bunch of information to get into it. I would not trust anything like that. I would go through the official.

Speaker 3:
[30:23] Yeah, the official site is clinicaltrials.gov. It's a federal clearing house from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, I think they are. Anyway, so they will list things. It's funny they have a disclaimer, because I actually, the reason I know this is I was looking recently for a relative looking for a trial. So I saw how their system works. So you go to clinicaltrials.gov, and there's a button you can click. I'm healthy, but I want to be in a trial. And you click that, and that's where you'll find the ones that are the ones that will pay you to be a clinical trial guinea pig. The others are for people that are desperately trying to get well or stay alive. And those are not paying you to be part of, and they lay out for you all the risk factors. And you'll be able to see what university or university based medical system or what company is doing that trial. And just read all the disclaimers with any of them, especially when you're going into one where you're fully healthy and you're just doing it to either advance science or to make some money.

Speaker 4:
[31:44] So again, that's clinicaltrials.gov. And this question came from Jenna in North Carolina. Clark, can you explain the process for flying with a small Maltese? And what should I expect to pay? I know you've experienced traveling with small bats.

Speaker 3:
[31:59] Yes, yes, I have. So you have to have a certain size pet carrier of which if you go on, go into a store, you go on a shopping site, may be too big for what particular airlines allow. Each airline has its own procedure for taking pets, when they will permit pets, and how large they can be to go in the cabin with you. The fee for taking a pet with you is now often more expensive each way than what the human ticket is. You give up being able to bring on a carry-on, you can bring a personal item, and your pet and the pet carrier, and the American Kennel Club has a guide that they continually update for each airline with the size limit, weight limit, and cost is, and how the procedure works for you to be able to take a pet on a plane. And it's a very, very common thing that people do, and also confuses people, because airlines will have this funny language about how many can go on a plane and all that. And some airlines allow, if you have really tiny dogs, you can take two with you, as long as they fit in the one airline-approved size carrier. My wife's favorite carrier for our dogs is one that starts as a backpack, or you can wear it in the front, depending on if your pet needs to see you. And they have the see-through kind of grill kind of fabric around them. And then it basically, you take it off, and it fits perfectly under the space, under the seat in front of you. Anyway, go to akc.org, yeah, .org, and look for their advice airline by airline. And you'll know, Jenna, what it's going to cost you and who's going to be best for you to go with. And we have one dog that could fly all day long, all night long, all around the world, and would be completely happy. And we have another one that isn't happy at all on an airplane. Thus, we end up driving them almost always because of that. Thank you so much for joining us today. I want you to know that we will be back at your service on Wednesday with advice you can trust that empowers you so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. See you then.