Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 02.02.26 Going Mobile: Relocation For Jobs And Homeownership About this episode If you’re feeling stuck in your career and/or housing situation, Clark shares something important to consider. With housing inventory rising in nearly 20 states and more affordable markets opening up in the American heartland, being open and flexible to moving your zip code might be the key to unlocking both homeownership and professional opportunity. Also, using the latest data, Clark breaks down the fastest-growing occupations for the next decade. Homeownership & Relocation: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Fastest Growing Jobs: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Americans Are Looking to the Midwest to Find Affordability Housing markets where power is shifting the most toward buyers heading into 2026 My 7 Rules for Using Credit Cards - Clark Howard What Is Umbrella Insurance and Do You Need It? Why You Need To Shop Your Auto Insurance ASAP Report: 15 Fastest-Growing Jobs for the Next Decade 5 Steps To Getting a Good Deal on a Hotel Room Do You Get Better Prices on Hotels From Third-Party Sites or by Booking Directly? Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark 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
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
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1:04 Speaker 02 It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you as you make better financial decisions in your life. Today is our first show of the month of February ugly. But the reality, the good news, sun sets a little later day by day. And I know if you live in a cold climate, well, we're marching towards better weather. And I got some positive things to talk about today. First, I want to talk about how important mobility is in life. I'm not talking about, you know, the physical mobility you walking around.
1:49 Speaker 02 That's important. But flexibility to other places, other jobs, the more you keep your eyes and ears open, and the more flexible you are. Well, the more opportunity knocks. So I want to start by talking about that in a way that we don't do anymore. Americans used to move a lot and so much out there about how people are never going to be able, never, people who have not been able to buy a home will never be able to buy one. And it's a fact. It's become really hard for first time
2:30 Speaker 02 home buyers. The average age that somebody buys a first home is almost a decade older than it was not that long ago. Things have, at least for now, changed. And time is going to help that because over time, as people's incomes go up, housing has to go through a time of a timeout, basically. That's why in so many markets, housing prices have stalled. Some markets' prices have actually declined some, not a precipitous drop like from the banking scandals and the Great Recession, none of that because of all the fraud that
3:13 Speaker 02 happened then. But over time, the affordability issues, time will heal. But what if you don't want to wait that time? So I saw something recently, which was an article talking about how basically your life's never going to be the same if you can't buy a home like prior generations did. And that is jumping to conclusions I don't support because the reality is we've always had markets in the United States where housing is so expensive that people who live a middle-class or upper-middle-class lifestyle, who in other zip codes in the United States, would reach an age point where they'd buy a home.
3:59 Speaker 02 In many of those places, people rent through the years because financially it makes more sense in those markets to rent instead of buy. And I could name a bunch of them. A lot of them are in California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut. There ain't even a number of places that's true. And because it's so much a part of the culture that people rent or buy even as their income rises, it is not the disruptor that I've read that people believe this lack of affordability is really stunning people's development through their lives. I
4:39 Speaker 02 don't buy that. But I do understand 100% because I remember when I bought my first home, how much that meant to me. And there are things you can do, going back to the mobility, that make a difference. Yeah, I've seen these charts of where housing is affordable and where it's not. And there's a huge swath of the country that housing remains very affordable. And people on a traditional middle-class income can afford to buy a home. And even a bit more so now that mortgage rates have come down, you know, more than a little bit. They've come down to a point
5:23 Speaker 02 that makes them not like they were, you know, last decade, early last decade, but still more reasonably affordable. And so if you look at the stats, inventories have been rising. Do you know that there's roughly 20 states in the country, from what I've been studying the stats, that there's now more inventory for sale than there was before COVID?
5:51 Speaker 02 That's right. In many states now, the buy demand equilibrium is back to where it should be, even a little higher in favor of buyers. And so, think about this toofer, and I'm going to talk more about the job thing later. Think about if you feel kind of stuck in your job, you feel like you're kind of dead-ended, or hit some kind of ceiling. Well, there may be opportunity somewhere else in the country for a better job, and it could be a place that's the toofer, that also has more affordable housing. So, think what I have always called,
6:30 Speaker 02 and people used to call the heartland. Much of the Midwest, a lot of the Mid-South, and a lot of the states blending towards where the eastern half of the states are more Midwest, and the western part are more mountain states. Think the Dakotas, think Nebraska. There's opportunity for affordable housing. I saw an item, I forget where it was, one of the things I read, it's talking about a town I love, Appleton, Wisconsin, which, in my radio career and syndication, I spent a lot of time visiting markets in Wisconsin. I
7:09 Speaker 02 always loved Appleton. And so, I saw this article about it, and how affordable housing is, and how people are able with a regular middle-class job to buy a nice home in a nice neighborhood. And then, there was almost like an afterthought, talking about how crazy cold it is in the winter, and how little daylight there is in the winter, and that that's the trade-off you've got to look at with a lot of the markets in the United States that are affordable, particularly in the Midwest and northern Midwest.
7:46 Speaker 02 But it's just a fact that this lack of affordability we see along the coasts, both coasts, is not the story everywhere. Krista?
7:57 Speaker 03 Charlie in South Carolina says, Clark has said both of us need to have established credit in our individual names, but most of our credit cards are in my name and two are in my wife's name. When I pull our credit reports, all of the cards show up on both of our credit reports. Is it still important to have a few more of the cards in her name? And why?
8:17 Speaker 02 Okay, great question. Why are you showing up on each other's, the cards that one of you has showing up on the other? I assume, and I'm making an assumption, that you've made the other authorized users on all your cards. So the credit of one is showing as the credit of the other, but it's not really credit. If you look at the report, it'll show that it's authorized user status, not a legal responsibility, except in community property states, for the authorized user to be responsible for the debts run up by the owner of that account. Credit card companies, banks, used to issue joint credit cards.
8:57 Speaker 02 Some people may have old, old, old legacy credit cards that are joint cards, but today, almost always, the banks and credit unions issue a card and allow that card owner to add authorized user. Two cards in your spouse's name, that's okay. I mean, that's Noah's Ark. As long as both of those cards are from different issuers, your spouse has sufficient credit in their name, you could add, maybe if another good card comes along, if you run balances ever, low interest rates, or good rewards, or whatever, you could pump it up so that it's a little more equal with cards.
9:41 Speaker 03 AJ in Virginia says, hey Clark, you always say how affordable umbrella insurance is. I have a $2 million policy. Last year, it was $240 for the year. This year-
9:52 Speaker 02 That's cheap for 2 million.
9:53 Speaker 03 Yeah, this year, the insurer bumped up to $1,800. They said they were the lowest in the industry for years, but had to come up to industry levels, especially because of all the lawsuits happening for accidents in my area. I also had a 16-year-old join in my auto policy this year. Does this sound right?
10:12 Speaker 02 Okay, so the answer you received is incomplete. There are a couple of factors here. Uh, one, yes, if you were getting $240 a year, you were getting a $2 million umbrella. That's really, really a bargain. Then to turn around and raise it eight times over, now you're above what's typical in industry. And being told that they were charging too little, yes, but going up eight times over, no. The teenage driver could be the key thing.
10:53 Speaker 02 And the person you spoke to at the insurer may not be aware of that. I would say that's likely. I would also say that your insurer is not necessarily the cheapest these days. Cause they went through a period of losing a lot of money. And I think it would be a good idea for you to go shop your auto coverage, even with a new 16 year old driver, shop your auto coverage and shop the umbrella. And see if these premiums overall are in line, not just because you were told that the premium was in line, you go verify yourself.
11:37 Speaker 03 James in Michigan says, as an uncle to two nieces and one nephew, I've been contributing to their children's 529 education plans for many years by arranging to send monthly payments into their various plans directly. I don't receive any tax benefit for my contributions. Would it be a better idea to send the money to my hopefully trustworthy nieces and nephew and let them deposit it into their 529 accounts as they could receive the various tax benefits? Or do you suggest any better solution?
12:04 Speaker 02 Right, so James, I am crazy confused by your question. Because with a 529 account, there's usually
12:13 Speaker 02 An adult that's the owner of the account.
12:15 Speaker 03 I'm guessing that his nieces and nephew are adults and they have their own kids. That's how I think he's doing it. So they put then money into their kids.
12:23 Speaker 02 So then they're for the great nieces and great nephews.
12:26 Speaker 03 I believe so. I believe that's what it is. I could be wrong.
12:28 Speaker 02 If that's right, that you got the two nieces and one nephew, and you're talking about for their kids, not for them, and they're the owners of the account, you're completely correct because the owner of the 529 account can take, you're in Michigan, Michigan has a state tax deduction, I'm almost certain, for 529 contributions.
12:51 Speaker 03 They do. It's up to $5,000 for an individual and 10 for a couple.
12:56 Speaker 02 Great. You're on top of it, aren't you, Krista? Okay, so if you give the money to the adults of whoever the owner, the beneficiary is, they then get the tax deduction by putting the money into the 529. As long as they're they're going to take the money, not spend it, and put it in the 529s, that's great. So you're right, you gotta have that trust that they'll do what your generosity is for. And that's a wonderful thing and a generous thing for you to do. If you owned, which is often a case, a family member will own a 529
13:41 Speaker 02 on a grandchild or great niece, great nephew, niece or nephew, whatever, and you, in many states, and yeah, in Michigan, that's one of them, you can have the tax deduction even though you're not the parent of the child who is benefiting from that 529 plan. So I hope that helps. And again, we're supposing As Krista did, that the nieces and the nephew are actually the parents of the children you're benefiting. Otherwise, whoever owns the account, it's almost never a good idea
14:21 Speaker 02 for the beneficiary of 529 to be the owner of the account as well. There are a number of reasons for that, and there are rare circumstances that it is a good idea for somebody to be both the owner and the beneficiary. But usually, it will be someone one generation older who is the owner of the 529 account for the benefit, whoever the beneficiary is. And the beneficiary designations can change over the years depending on what goes on with family circumstances. Coming up ahead, the second part of the mobility thing I wanted to talk about.
15:00 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed Sponsored Jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.
15:30 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero Powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors, great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates Better Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
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17:13 Speaker 04 Restrictions apply.
17:15 Speaker 02 A lot of people feel kind of stuck right now. So many things, earlier as you just heard in the podcast, talked about the issues in the housing market and how you can address those. Job market, something I've talked about forever, is how the nature of work and the jobs that we have change continually. And jobs that existed 20 years ago, 10 years ago, that don't exist now. And in turn, all kinds of new jobs exist today that never existed. That churn in the nature of work never stops. Also, where opportunity is, is not just a
18:00 Speaker 02 job, it's a place. So going back to the theme of earlier, if you feel like you're kind of just treading water, you're not getting to your goals in life, it's maybe time to consider, where is the opportunity?
18:16 Speaker 02 Both in work and where you live and what it affords as possibilities to you. So don't feel like you're just stuck in the mud. On the job front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a list that, I mean, you can read BLS stuff if you're ever having trouble falling asleep at night. It works just effectively, as effectively as listening to me where I can help you fall asleep. So the Bureau of Labor Statistics has put out a list of the jobs that are growing the most over the next decade.
18:59 Speaker 02 And what's fascinating about the jobs that are growing is they pay either really not very good pay levels, jobs that are growing really fast, and then there are others that are growing really fast that pay a lot of money, a really decent living. A lot of the ones that pay really well require some training, some education, but not necessarily college. Maybe technical college, it may be professional courses, technology courses, whatever. Okay, you ready? This will not surprise anyone.
19:38 Speaker 02 By far and away, the fastest growing job category over the next decade is going to be people who provide assistance with daily living for people that are aging and can't fully take care of themselves. Either working in somebody's home or working in a facility as a healthcare aide. And the number of additional jobs in that is going to be gigantic and is one of the lowest pay rates of any industry.
20:17 Speaker 02 Typically, somebody will make 35 grand a year in a job that's so desperately needed. You go visit any relative who's living in any senior facility and you'll see how short-staffed they are. And the pay just isn't enough, and so they've got so much turnover. But that's back to that whole thing. How are we going to pay for people aging and what are we going to do about healthcare? But guess what's number two besides that, behind that? Software developers. At a pay level, four times what it is for the personal care aid people.
21:00 Speaker 02 Four times the pay and second most growing job category in the country. Working in, basically working in warehouses comes behind it. Pay about the same as the home healthcare, personal care people. Followed by fast food workers who make the least of any of these categories. Working in a regular restaurant next, basically those two are together. But then let's look, what's after that? Another field that requires this one. You've got to go to at minimum, community college or more being an RN. The shortage of RNs, huge.
21:43 Speaker 02 RNs, depending on the market, will make somewhere between 80 and 130,000 a year. Best guess average is pushing close to 100,000. And that's one of the fastest growing fields. Being a manager with operational skills, like organization development kind of training or skills. Right behind RNs pays a little more than RNs make. Being someone with a finance degree, which is interesting because that's what my son, in addition to becoming a commercial airline pilot, is also getting a finance degree. I wonder if he saw this list because I didn't suggest that to him.
22:26 Speaker 02 It's one of the highest pay rates on this list, being in finance and huge growth area, being a manager of a medical facility, big future growth in that pays pretty well, on average, about 120 grand a year. Being an NP, a nurse practitioner, huge demand for that. You take that and RNs together, it's the largest job category of growth over the next 10 years. And the NP's make an average of 130,000 a year, more schooling than being a RN. Then we got another, when you don't make a lot of money in, working
23:10 Speaker 02 general construction, not a skilled trade, but working in construction, big growth in that, make about 45,000 a year on average. The reason, why am I going into so much detail? I want you to see the pattern. You've got great growth in jobs that don't require necessarily meaningful training, lot of demand for them, a lot of growth for them, but they don't pay a lot. Then there are a lot of others that require some level of education, training, potentially college, with big growth and really great salaries. Of course, there are
23:54 Speaker 02 various ones in the computer industry that pay average well over 100,000, have a lot of growth. So, think about what I'm talking about. Lot of jobs, you just basically show up for and they train you, and you're almost disposable to the employer. Then other jobs, you gotta get yourself trained or educated, they need you, and the money is enough.
24:26 Speaker 02 To have a good lifestyle. So there you have it. Krista, what you got for me?
24:33 Speaker 03 Okay, we've got Ed in Oklahoma who says, recently you discussed how the credit bureaus changed the method of freezing credit.
24:40 Speaker 02 Right.
24:40 Speaker 03 I believe they used to give us a passcode we had to remember. Now there's a new system you like better. My concern is even with the new system, you're thawing your credit report to the whole world, if only for a little while. What I would like is for the credit bureaus to give us a one-time code to forward to the creditors so only they could access our credit reports. What do you think?
25:00 Speaker 02 I love that.
25:01 Speaker 03 Brilliant.
25:01 Speaker 02 I love that. That actually came up forever ago in, I forget what state, I was testifying in one of the states, and a witness before me, you know, for trying to get a credit freeze law in place, and one of the witnesses before me described exactly that.
25:21 Speaker 03 Mm-hmm.
25:22 Speaker 02 That the way credit freezes should work, and that expert witness's opinion was exactly what you said, that the credit thaw was only for that individual creditor, and the way it was done is you would issue to them a one-time use code that they would use to access your credit. And that's never been something that ended up part of the system, you know, because credit freeze used to be state by state. It was not a federal statute. And I don't know if any of the states did adopt a system for a secret code you would provide and your credit remain frozen, except for that one credit grantor that would be
26:06 Speaker 02 able to pierce the freeze with the code. I think it's a great idea.
26:12 Speaker 03 John in Florida says, I noticed what I think is a basic oversight about one of the very important advantages of a Roth. It is simply its uninterrupted consistency to grow. While a traditional IRA is dismantled by RMDs, required minimum distributions, the Roth continues to accelerate faster, tax-free, past the age of 73. The other IRA disruption, loss of momentum, and human behavior in the Face of any restructuring speaks volumes. I haven't heard this point brought up by anyone. Am I missing something? And by the way, Clark stuttered me on Roth, on a Roth in 1997. I had a modest salary with consistent full contributions. Then I retired and I'm now what would be called an RMD age, except I have a Roth
26:56 Speaker 03 that continues to grow untapped at just under $1.3 million.
27:00 Speaker 02 Wow, wow, wow. The power of time, compounding of money, growing tax-free, spending tax-free, and that's why I'm the man from Roth. He's right about what he said, that the, one of the big advantages of the Roth, it's not going to affect your Medicare premiums, not going to have to worry about IRMA. IRMA is something you don't want to know about.
27:27 Speaker 03 I do. Wes talks about that a lot on Tuesdays.
27:30 Speaker 02 All right. So you got to deal with IRMA. And if you pass away with money still in a traditional IRA, the tax code treats your heirs so bad ugly that it fits, saying the expression, bad ugly. Roth money, on the other hand, is an inheritable asset, is phenomenal for your heirs that inherit the money. And when you need the money in retirement, in other words, it's not going to be sitting there as a pile to go to your heirs. You're taking it out. You're not having to pay tax on it. It's just the best.
28:10 Speaker 03 All right. David in Florida says, I recently took a short vacation trip to Milford, Connecticut, from Florida to celebrate my mother's 95th birthday.
28:18 Speaker 02 Wow. Happy birthday to your mom.
28:21 Speaker 03 I found booking a hotel room to be very confusing. The stay at the hotel was needed for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. What I discovered was that booking for three consecutive nights was more expensive than for booking Saturday, then making another reservation for Sunday and Monday. Could you please explain what is going on here?
28:41 Speaker 02 Yeah, I can. So this is something that goes on in the hotel business. And a lot of hotels, what they do is when you're booking a multi-night rate, it will show you, when it gives you back the quote, it'll show you the rate for each night. And if the rate's variable, as is at most hotels. It'll show you a different price for each night based on demand. Other hotel chains, when you cross into the work week, then, because Monday night's work week, a lot of hotels will discriminate against you if they're in areas that are geared towards business travelers instead of vacationers. If you go outside Friday, Saturday night,
29:26 Speaker 02 they treat your whole stay as a business travel stay and charge you more money per night through the whole stay. In other words, they don't charge you a nightly rate. So if you're staying somewhere, and let's say it's a vacation area, beach resort, something like that, know that usually Thursday, Friday, Saturday night will be much higher than Sunday through Wednesday night, Sunday night through Wednesday night. And in those cases, and you're saying a longer time that bleeds over, you want to check the rates separately for the weekend nights than you do the weekday nights, and then look at it all together.
30:11 Speaker 02 And you'll be able to see, does the hotel charge you by demand per night and have a different price for every night? Or do they automatically charge you a higher rate that bleeds out of the weekend? If you are going outside of the weekend, and normally the days outside of it would be cheaper, but because you booked over the weekend, they charge you the higher rate all through the time. I hope that made sense and I didn't just blab on there. And I want to thank you so much for joining us today. I hope that our first show of February was a great start to the best part about February. It's the shortest month of the year.
30:55 Speaker 02 The gray skies, the cold weather in so many places. I love that it's the shrink raid month because March always feels so much better to me. I don't know why, it just does. But anyway, we're going to put together a great February ugly month of shows for you. I promise, all month long. And know what we're about. You being empowered with knowledge so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.
31:32 Speaker 05 We just moved into our new house and I didn't realize just how close we were to the neighbors. That's when my friend told me about Blinds.com.
31:40 Speaker 04 Blinds.com isn't a medication, but it can improve how you feel about your home. Customers who shop at Blinds.com experience excellent customer service, from consultation to installation. Side effects include increased privacy and better sleep. Talk to your partner today and see if Blinds.com is right for you.
31:57 Speaker 06 Shop Black Friday all month long at Blinds.com. Don't miss huge deals dropping every week.
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