01.03.25 SAVE MORE On Streaming / Gift Returns & January Deals

Happy New Year! Clark starts off 2025 with advice that can help you save money throughout the entire year. Clark Stinks will be back next week. Also today, what to know about making returns on some of those holiday items you may not want to keep. SPEND LESS On Streaming Services: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Holiday Returns: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Best Live TV Streaming Services: Compare Top Picks for 2025 Best Free Streaming Services in 2025: Movies and TV for Cord Cutters Streaming TV Tool: Find Cheapest Way to Stream Your Favorite TV Channels 4 Things To Know Before You Buy a Digital TV Antenna PBS and Amazon to Launch Local PBS Stations and PBS KIDS FAST Channels Study: The 10 Best New Cars for the Money How to Shop for Lower Car Insurance Best Auto Insurance Companies and Some of the Worst The Platinum Card® from American Express Review Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card Travel Insurance Checklist: 5 Types of Coverage To Consider Travel Insurance: What You Need To Know Before You Buy 13 Secret Saving Hacks at Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Clark Deals - Today's Best Deals of the Day What Is a Fiduciary Financial Advisor and Do I Need One? How To Find and Choose a Financial Advisor How To Find a Trustworthy Mechanic Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 0:15Speaker 02

  Host Thanksgiving with industry leading quality standards from Whole Foods Market. There are no antibiotics in their meat department, ever. So carve up turkey and spiral cut ham with peace of mind. Shop organic sides like stuffing mix and cranberry sauce from 365 brand. And guess what? All their delectable pies are made with no high fructose corn syrup. Gourmet Thanksgiving flavors with the quality you want, only at Whole Foods Market.

• 0:49Speaker 03

  Happy New Year to you and welcome 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 normally on Fridays, we have our Clark Stinks segment. However, since this is our first show of 25, I want to start with some advice to save you money throughout this year. Think about it, we're a quarter of the way through this century. And Clark Stinks will be back next week. Don't worry. Today also, I'm going to talk about how you want to make your holiday returns.

• 1:31Speaker 03

  And so you don't get stuck with items you don't want to keep. Talk about Christmas gifts that people got that they'd like to return. YouTube TV announced right in the midst of the Christmas holiday stuff, a giant increase in the cost of YouTube TV. It's going up $10 a month, which is an increase of, I think, 13%. I wonder, you know, the notice from them was really, oh, poor us. Costs have gone up for us.

• 2:11Speaker 03

  So we hate to do it, but we're going to clobber you with a massive increase at a time that inflation in the economy is 2 point something percent. So I hope here in 25, seeing the increases from one streaming service after another, raising prices, that you'll rethink what you're doing with all the streaming. I have found it is phenomenal to use fast, free, ad-supported television. It's like dialing back the clock to before pay TV, except the amount of programming

• 2:52Speaker 03

  choices you have are unbelievable, including as fast as become more widespread and more sophisticated. Now with a lot of live channels, as well as back catalog of movies, television, and the rest. So there are several of these. People who have Roku and even don't have Roku devices may be able to download Roku TV. And there are a number of these that are available with free programming. My wife loves Pluto, which is a very popular fast television service.

• 3:35Speaker 03

  And I've got a list for you of all these free streaming services at Clark.com in our video guide. And I'd like for you to do this in reverse order. Instead of with all the marketing pitches to get you to sign up for the latest Disney bundle, or the latest this, that, or the other from Paramount, or any of those, or in addition to YouTube TV, Fubo is a streaming service, or any of the others. I want you to think first, what's free, available for free?

• 4:15Speaker 03

  And so if you look at the fast services that we give you a comprehensive guide to, and they are the fastest growing part, and that funny "fast" is the fastest growing part of television streaming, television watching, because people's budgets are pinched. I want you next to get an antenna. Okay, I want to throw you back to the future, back to, that was based 1955. I want you to think back in time.

• 4:49Speaker 03

  To when people didn't pay for television at all. They bought the TV, but the programming was free. An antenna is your best friend. Because with an antenna, you're able to watch television that you can get where you live for free with a better signal, a better picture than you get through any of the streaming services. Oh, and by the way, if you've got kids and you love for them to watch PBS, PBS now has a fast service, a free ad-supported TV service. You can just download with your smart TV. It's just an example. And we've got our guide at Clark.com that if you do want to pay

• 5:34Speaker 03

  for something equivalent to how cable TV used to work, we've got a guide that you put in your favorite channel you must have, and then build what is really important to you, second favorite, third favorite, and all like that. And you'll see what service you should be using in order to be able to watch the content.

• 5:53Speaker 04

  And that's called our streaming TV tool.

• 5:56Speaker 03

  Krista, I've made a decision.

• 5:58Speaker 04

  What?

• 5:59Speaker 03

  We're going to get rid of YouTube TV, which I have to have to get NFL Sunday Ticket at a preferred price.

• 6:07Speaker 04

  I got rid of mine, too, when they announced this.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  And I'm going to experiment with not having every NFL game from everywhere in the 25 season.

• 6:19Speaker 04

  Can't you still buy the Sunday Ticket when it comes to it?

• 6:22Speaker 03

  I can't. It's just you pay a higher price.

• 6:24Speaker 04

  So what? You love it. That's one of those things you love.

• 6:27Speaker 03

  I really...

• 6:29Speaker 04

  You're not going into debt for it. Come on. You don't have that many things that you indulge in. I feel like you should still pay for that.

• 6:35Speaker 03

  You know what I think I'll do? I think I'll start, you know, in early fall of the season. I miss a lot of the games anyway because it's really pretty outside. I'm outside, I miss the games, or I'm traveling and I miss the games. I'm going to try it because you know what they do? They do the second chance offer at a much cheaper price late in the season. And then you're getting close to the playoffs and all that. I'm going to give it a try, dump YouTube TV. Not have NFL Sunday Ticket and see if my quality of life collapses doing that. We'll see in the next fall.

• 7:14Speaker 04

  All right, well, let's go to our first questions of the new year. This one's from Brian in Wisconsin. I'm 49 and have purchased used cars my whole life. The segment I purchased from, cars with around 50,000 miles for $10,000 to $13,000, has more than doubled in price. It became clear a new car was the better value. What is a reasonable amount to spend on a new car? Is $45,000 crazy? Or am I going through a midlife crisis? For context, I make $65,000 a year, own my home, and have $300,000 in my 401(k) and 70 in savings, 70,000 in savings. Thank you.

• 7:50Speaker 03

  So Brian, I'm gathering the way you said that you own your home free and clear, no mortgage, is what it sounded like. And that you've done that in your 40s is fantastic. So the used vehicle market has come down in price significantly from its peak, but it is still not healed. There are a number of factors I could bore you with about why, but it's going to take a few more years for the used vehicle market to completely normalize. So buying a new vehicle, the average cost of a new vehicle has also been coming down. So buying one at $45,000 puts you pretty much in the middle of the market.

• 8:34Speaker 03

  There are a number of models that can get you back into the 30s for vehicles that Consumer Reports loves. If you are going to buy a new one, if you keep a new vehicle 10 years or longer, then no harm, no foul. You sound like you're very practical with your money and you would consider doing that. So if you don't have access to Consumer Reports, you can do it through your library, or you can buy one-time access or buy a subscription so you have all the auto reviews on, first, their impressions of the driving experience with various vehicles, but more important, if you're going to own one a long time as a practical buyer, what are the ones that

• 9:19Speaker 03

  are the most reliable? And it's funny because what's most reliable may be something you don't even think about as a brand. So if you want to buy a new one because of the distortions and pricing between new and used, go for it because you're right. You buy one with 50,000 miles on it today, it will cost you a lot more than it did five years ago. So it makes it tempting to look at new. Know that the new dealer lots are packed with product right now. So you may be able to negotiate, if you really shop around online, a better deal for whatever you're interested

• 10:01Speaker 03

  in buying than you realize. And do a wider sweep. Think about where you are in Wisconsin. You've got so many population centers in the Midwest and it's no big deal if you have to go, let's say, five hours from where you live to get a much cheaper price on that vehicle.

• 10:21Speaker 04

  All right. Also related to vehicles, Lynette in Oklahoma wrote in with this. Is it true that the majority of our vehicle insurance payment is a commission that goes to the agent? I saw an ad on YouTube that claims you can buy insurance directly, cutting out the middleman. You have to input your email address to get any further information. So that's as far as I went with it.

• 10:42Speaker 03

  So Lynette, agents do get commissions. You've got captive agents, like Allstate and State Farm use where they only sell their coverage. And then you've got what are known as independent agents that are great, particularly if you have a teenage driver in the household or something like that, who are so knowledgeable and can quote widely in the waterfront. They get a commission, but certainly not a majority of the payments you make for vehicle insurance going to that commission salesman. Absolutely not. The only type of insurance where at

• 11:20Speaker 03

  least the initial premium goes potentially to the agent is going to be for absolutely despicable versions, any version of universal life insurance and some whole life policies. But when you're talking auto and homeowners, no, the commissions are not exceedingly large like you saw the pitch on that ad on YouTube. So shopping around is your absolute best friend. With auto insurance, and when you shop around, make sure you're getting quotes for the same service. The online shopping tools that were really great years ago are not anymore.

• 12:04Speaker 03

  Most of them have surreptitiously been purchased by large insurers that use them as what are known as lead generators, so that you end up buying their insurance. And so it requires the difficult process of going back to the analog era. You have to call various insurers or go to individual websites of various insurers to get real quotes from them.

• 12:31Speaker 04

  This came in from Sanjeev. He said, "You were talking about using a credit card that offers supplier default. However, no mention was made of the credit cards that offer this coverage. Could you please help with the names of such credit cards?"

• 12:43Speaker 03

  So, this is a really short list, as best I know. It used to be common that credit cards that were geared towards travelers, and those would have pretty significant annual fees, that those cards included, as part of the you using that card to buy travel, they included trip insurance. And then that trip insurance in turn included what was known as supplier default. That's when they went bust, or formally filed for bankruptcy, or went out of business. So enough travel suppliers, airlines, tour operators, cruise lines have gone bust, that the credit card companies, the banks that issue them were like, huh, well, we didn't expect that.

• 13:28Speaker 03

  We're having to pay for all these people's nine trips that didn't happen and reimburse them. So, one by one, almost every credit card issuer has eliminated coverage. And to my knowledge, there's only two card products left that still offer supplier default. And if you know of another one, please let us know. If you're watching our YouTube show or hearing the podcast. To my knowledge, it's the Platinum American Express product, which is a ultra-expensive credit card product. And the other is the Capital One Venture X card, which is also an expensive annual

• 14:11Speaker 03

  fee, but child's play compared to the American Express card. Other than that, even if you buy, when you're booking travel, you buy a trip insurance policy, many of the sellers of trip insurance no longer cover a supplier going bust because it's happened so much, meaning it's an even more important consideration than it used to be when you're buying trip insurance. The other thing, don't ever, ever, not ever, buy the garbage the airline sell you when you're going to buy an airline ticket where they try to sell you their pseudo-insurance junk before you buy your ticket.

• 14:54Speaker 03

  Those policies are gross terrible. Cruise line ones, don't buy theirs. You always, if you are going to buy a trip policy, buy it from an independent third-party seller. I've got a guide on Clark.com that walks you through what you should be looking for, where you can go, I mean, like, in addition to insuremytrip.com, there are now others that sell policies from many different issuers for trip insurance. Just know, when you go to the website, it looks like this is the greatest peace of mind ever, buying a trip policy. None of that matters, what they say in their propaganda. What matters is what's in the language of the contract.

• 15:39Speaker 03

  Read it upfront to make sure it covers what you want, what you need protection for and from. And if all else fails, buy a trip insurance policy that includes cancel-for-any-reason coverage, where you get 50, 60, or 75% of your money back without having to worry about all the lingo in the contract about why they won't pay instead of why they will pay. Coming up ahead, speaking of not wanting to pay, you got stuff you got at Christmas that you don't want? You need to know the rules of the road to returning it.

• 16:22Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 16:34Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 16:36Speaker 02

  Host Thanksgiving with industry-leading quality standards from Whole Foods Market. There are no antibiotics in their meat department, ever. So carve up turkey and spiral cut ham with peace of mind. Shop organic sides like stuffing mix and cranberry sauce from 365 brand. And guess what? All their delectable pies are made with no high fructose corn syrup. Gourmet Thanksgiving flavors with the quality you want. Only at Whole Foods Market.

• 17:06Speaker 05

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• 17:36Speaker 06

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• 18:36Speaker 03

  So it happens, somebody who loves us, knows us very well, gives us a gift for Christmas. And we're like, thanks, that was so thoughtful. But it's not your thing. And it doesn't get better with time. So retailers used to be very, very accommodating on returns in January for things purchased after a certain date. This year, that date was sometime in October with most retailers. You had till the end of January to return it. So if you waited till now, this is a great time to start dealing with the returns.

• 19:20Speaker 03

  Cause the people who return items the week between Christmas and New Year's, if they went to a physical store, waited in line forever. Right? You're in the catbird seat because you're returning an item at a time that whatever's still on store shelves is heavily marked down for clearance. So you're able to get the credit for whatever someone bought you and you're able to make that money go so much further this time of year. And we're moving in the next few days, we'll be at that point, probably starting next week, where as I've said in the past, you could shoot a cannon off in a retail store and not hit anybody in January.

• 20:01Speaker 03

  So this is really the sweet spot on returns. But online returns are pretty sour this January. The retailers are hurting for certain from returns. And you know, online sales this Christmas season were about 20% of retail sales. 80% was still in physical stores. And so when you go to return, if you try to return any other way with a physical store that also sells online. Other than returning to the store, you may face fees for returning that item because retailers

• 20:45Speaker 03

  lose a ton on returns. But the other ironic thing that I talked about two months ago is that more and more retailers are saying, when you try to return something, we don't want it back. We'll even give you your money back, but we don't want the item back because the cost of returning it is more for them than what they can get for it selling it again. That's hard to believe, right? But that's the magic of what happens to a retailer that's not happy magic, that it's so expensive for them and labor to process that return and get it back on the shelf at a time that it's now worth a lot less than it was when it was

• 21:30Speaker 03

  originally sold, that you may be told to keep it. Sometimes you don't want the item. So you donate it to charity, which is what I did when Amazon recently refused to take back a return, but gave me a credit for it. So this, though, is for people who are doing okay financially, January is a wonderful time to pick up deals. You're not going to have the widespread sales that we have during Black Friday month of November. But what you do find in January is anything that was designed as seasonal merchandise that has

• 22:10Speaker 03

  not sold, the retailers have got to get rid of it. Because you know what's crazy right around the corner in the middle of winter? What's coming on the shelves? All the seasonal goods. What's showing up? Patio furniture, pool furniture in mid-winter because retail always sells a season ahead. So wintertime goods, Christmas oriented goods, because a lot of retailers Have buyers that just buy stuff that's just designed to sell for Christmas. And if it's still sitting there in January, it is an incredible bargain.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  If you're a Sam's Club member and you walk through Sam's Club, you'll see so many ones. One is anything ending like 41 cents, 91 cents, 61 cents. Those are items that Sam's has to get rid of. They're selling below their cost just to clear the aisles, clear the steel, empty the steel and get those items gone. At Costco, the, what's known as the sell-through number is things that end in 97 cents. Although I'm seeing more and more a second clearance number, 79 cents in Costco. And so when you see at Sam's, when you see the number sign in the corner,

• 23:36Speaker 03

  and then you see something ending in one cent, they're not restocking that item. May well have been an item they brought in just for the Christmas selling season. And they will be selling those things so crazy cheap. Costco, the equivalent is an asterisk up in the corner. And then normally 97 cents ending the price. You'll find these in the jewelry case. You'll find them in clothing. You'll find any seasonal goods that are commonly marked down as a 97 in a Costco, such as housewares, plate sets, pots and pans sets, things in the cooking aisle.

• 24:17Speaker 03

  That's not my, I can't even spit out the words, what they sell in that kind of aisle. Cause I only understand the eating part of food, not the stuff that happens before that. But January is your friend at the warehouse clubs as well as normal retailers.

• 24:35Speaker 04

  And Clark Deals is all over all of this. So please visit ClarkDeals.com and subscribe to our daily newsletter there. We'll go to questions now.

• 24:43Speaker 03

  Good pitch.

• 24:44Speaker 04

  Well, it's true. Don't you agree?

• 24:45Speaker 03

  It is true.

• 24:47Speaker 04

  David in Wisconsin says, "My financial advisor with Prudential has been converted to a statutory agent slash independent contractor of another company that I showed you here."

• 24:57Speaker 03

  Yup, yup.

• 24:58Speaker 04

  His primary activity now is selling insurance products of affiliated investment product sponsors, other than and including Prudential as well. My question is, is he still considered a fiduciary with my best interests at heart?

• 25:11Speaker 03

  Okay, so the company that he's now selling for, they are not fiduciaries normally. They are, a lot of times, they hold themselves out as something known as fee-based, which means that they sell commission products. They are not fiduciaries in that capacity. And even when you were having this financial advisor through Prudential, you were paying exceptionally high fees and commissions on the investments. And besides, insurance products are not investments. Let me make this clear. They are not investments.

• 25:55Speaker 03

  I would recommend strongly, David, that you consider hiring a fee-only financial planner. You will pay him or her a fee, usually set at 1%, unless you go to Vanguard, when it's 0.3%, less than a third the cost. And you have a fiduciary, and they help you not, it's not really about picking investments. That is, I mean, a computer can pick investments. It's much more about your overall picture, that you're meeting your goals, that you have your will up to date and properly done.

• 26:36Speaker 03

  All the things involved with building a financial future, being prepared for it, and later in life... That things are tidied up just right if one spouse survives the other is often the case, or if ultimately you want money to go to kids or grandkids or whatever, that's where you're really going to a financial planner or advisor. You don't really need a financial advisor to pick this fund or that fund or the other fund. But when you do hire someone, or even if you do it yourself, you do not want to pay commissions for the

• 27:21Speaker 03

  funds you go into, whatever they are. Second, the ongoing expenses matter so much. Insurance companies are a trifecta of terrible for investing, because you pay very high commissions, you pay very high fees, and you're dealing with someone who is not operating as a fiduciary, meaning that they are allowed to do what's best for them, not what's best for you. That's a bad trifecta from the insurance industry.

• 27:56Speaker 04

  Okay, Vincenza in Montana says, this is an opinion question. You've said, be wary of the results of search engines to get contact info about a company, bank, investments, etc. I like going to maps on my iPhone and I search for the company there. There's usually a link to get to their website. Would you say this is another good way of trying to reach the actual company you're intending to contact? Or is this also not safe? Thank you. You're my lifesaver, literally savings for my life.

• 28:25Speaker 03

  Well, you are so kind. And my wife was watching last night, I think it's called A River Runs Through It. There was a movie from a long time ago. She was just mesmerized watching the scenery. Montana said, honey, we've been to Montana several times. It is gorgeous. Let's go again.

• 28:46Speaker 03

  And I got no response because I've been waiting and waiting to go back to Montana. But to your question, no, do not trust what you see on maps, whether it's Apple Maps links there or Google Maps links, any of that. What I want you to do when you need to make sure you're calling the proper phone number or calling the proper address, once you go to the actual website on your iPhone, go to your Safari or if you use Chrome on your iPhone, go there and go to the website of that financial institution and find the contact number on their website.

• 29:28Speaker 03

  You cannot trust what you see in search results of any kind right now, as best I can tell, when you're searching for contact information for a company or even the website of a company. You've got to look close and see where you're at to make sure it really is that company and not somebody trying to play games with you. Why is this such an area for scammers? Because it's a direct path to stealing your money.

• 29:59Speaker 04

  Chelsea in Georgia says, why is my well-known, high-end auto dealership skimping on customer service? I have been a customer of theirs for nearly 20 years, buying two cars. Previously, when I took my car in for service, they supplied a loaner or courtesy Uber. Of course, both have to be pre-arranged. Well, two weeks ago, when I scheduled my annual service, I was offered an Uber. However, when I arrived, I was told that this service is no longer available. You can imagine my shock and disappointment, especially since they failed to contact me to inform me of this change. What's going on? Can you suggest reputable mechanics to avoid dealing with pricey dealerships who could care less about their customers?

• 30:41Speaker 03

  So Chelsea, what's so interesting about this is this has been a incredible customer retention and sales technique for European luxury brands to put you in a loaner. And think what's happening in that loaner. It says on the side, courtesy of blah, blah, blah dealership, brand, blah, blah, blah.

• 31:04Speaker 03

  But what is the greatest Trojan horse of that?

• 31:08Speaker 04

  It's a newer car and you might want to buy one.

• 31:10Speaker 03

  Exactly. It is a phenomenal sales technique. But in addition, it's how they get you to come back, even out of warranty, to the overpriced service base of a dealer instead of to an independent mechanic. So your question answers itself. You want to start looking online. It's not bad to look at Yelp for this, for example. There are specialty repair facilities for virtually every Japanese and European brand. That are places that are independents, that all they work on is your brand of European vehicle, or your brand of Japanese vehicle.

• 31:56Speaker 03

  It's good when you talk directly to the mechanic who's doing the work. They don't have commissioned sales writers like they have at a traditional dealer's service center, where when you come up, they have a gentleman or lady who talks to you, smiles, says, "Okay, well, sign right here. These are the things we think you should do." You're never talking to whatever mechanic is doing the work on your vehicle. If there's a problem with your vehicle, that's a serious problem. Because what the service writer writes is not enough for the mechanic to understand what it is you're experiencing with your vehicle.

• 32:35Speaker 03

  So I would say that that free loaner is the most expensive free thing you could have. That you're better off with better service and potentially better prices, but the better service is more important, on having a vehicle serviced or repaired by going to an independent that relies not on a national or international manufacturer helping that place build up business, but requires that they do a good job and get repeat customers time after time after time. And that concludes our first episode of 25.

• 33:21Speaker 03

  I want to emphasize again that I hope that your holiday season was wonderful, that you had a joyous and happy new year. I know that I certainly did. And that 25 is a great year for you. And whatever New Year's resolutions you set, physically or physically, be realistic about them and have them be measurable. So that you set out goals that aren't abandoned in a few weeks, but are ones you can build on for a better you and a better wallet. Know what we're about, all year long and every year.

• 34:05Speaker 03

  Giving you ideas, strategies for you to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.

• 34:17Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 34:29Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.