Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 02.10.25 Housing & Transportation Costs / 2025 Traffic About this episode In today’s episode - It’s a nightmare to feel like you’re in over your head financially. Clark discusses the money traps that accompany our two largest monthly expenses: housing and transportation costs - and how to avoid them. Also - 2025 is bringing back pre-Covid work culture, including more return-to-office mandates. That and other factors mean heavier metro traffic. Clark has a commuter strategy to keep in mind. Housing & Vehicle Costs: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 2025 Traffic: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Submit a complaint | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Safer Way To Use Your Debit Card Why You Should Never Use a Debit Card To Pay for Anything MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority) College Cost Projector Tuition Inflation - Finaid How to Take the Car Keys Away From Unsafe Elderly Florida Drivers Do I Need a Mechanic Inspection When Buying a Used Car from CarMax or Carvana? How To Buy a Used Car 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 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.
0:12 Speaker 01 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
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0:50 Speaker 03 I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And remember, we're here to help you so many ways, including with one-on-one free advice from our Team Clark Consumer Action Center, something we've been doing since 1993 with free one-on-one advice. Go to clark.com/cac. You'll see how to get that free advice. Hours available each weekday.
1:29 Speaker 03 So today's episode, there's nothing worse than feeling like you're drowning financially when it comes to money. There are worse things in life, but I mean, money where you just feel like the bills just come at you, bam, bam, bam, bam. I want to talk about that. And coming up later, it's not your imagination that traffic is increasing a lot right now. And I want to talk about what that trend is and what you may or may not be able to do about it. So. Wow, the twin towers of monthly expenses.
2:13 Speaker 03 Where you put a roof over your head and what you drive. And I've talked in the past about with a house. Right now, obviously, buying a house is such a stretch. It's so crazy expensive with mortgage rates going up again. And even though home prices no longer are escalating like they were before in a number of markets, they've come down some. The effective cost of owning a home is so high. It's something you have to really think through. If you've been used to being a renter and you're going into a home that's going to cost you a lot more per month,
2:58 Speaker 03 something's got to give. What is that? All right, do you know there's a pattern? That when people go from being a renter to being a home buyer, that it unleashes a wave of spending. And people go out and they buy new furniture. They decide the furniture they were using as a renter. Well, that's nah, I'm so excited about this home. It's my dream home. I'm going to go buy more furniture. And how do they tend to buy it? Store financing most often. There's more credit, more obligation that you got to pay. I don't care if they tell you it's no interest for two years or whatever.
3:42 Speaker 03 I don't care that they're telling you it's 0% interest. It has to be paid back. And if you don't get it paid back in that time, you're going to be paying huge interest, usually retroactive to day one. At usually for furniture, 36% interest. And
4:00 Speaker 03 We got that new home and now we got this nice garage. We should have nice wheels in it. And people decide to go get a new vehicle. Now, remember, your monthly cost for housing just probably went up a whole lot. And then you buy a lot of other things too. Plus, there are things that when you were a renter, you call the landlord and they may or may not fix something, but you call them and it's on them to do it. And the home, you're calling yourself to go fix whatever it is. So when you have a life change, like going from being a renter to a homeowner,
4:41 Speaker 03 that's a time you got to really sit down and put numbers to paper or on a computer screen. An app on a phone, I don't like as much because you're not seeing enough information. It's too small on the screen. I really want you to think about what has to give. Now, remember what I said, most people when they buy a home, in that first six months especially, there's a whole bunch of extra obligations you then take on. And you're already paying more than you were as a renter. And then every month, you're wheezing financially. It's a fact. So what goes away? You can't have it all.
5:25 Speaker 03 So if you decide to go from the apartment to the house, what in your budget are things that will help you make up, bridge that gap of that additional spending in your life? And be aware about this first six month thing where people just buy this on credit, buy that on credit, buy the other thing on credit. While we're at it, I gotta talk about vehicles for a second. One of our Team Clark staffers went in to do some basic maintenance on her vehicle at the dealer. And while she's sitting there, a salesperson comes up to her and says, hey, you know, we got a great deal here for you to dump your 22 model year vehicle and getting a
6:09 Speaker 03 brand new 25 here. And we'll make you a great deal on payments and all that. And being a member of Team Clark, she very politely said, no, thanks. I love my 22 model year. I'm going to drive it for a good, long time. Dealers are doing a big push right now as sales of new vehicles have slowed down and they got a lot of inventory sitting on a lot of brands' lots. They're doing big pushes and callouts and mailings, trying to get you to do a trade up, they call it, a trade up. What a brilliant marketing term. Take that vehicle that maybe you're close to finishing paying off the loan, or you
6:53 Speaker 03 paid off the loan, and why don't you take on another loan payment? And while you're at it, because the vehicle's worth more, you're going to be paying more for your insurance, too. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it. Remember, the second biggest expense most of us have in our lives are what our transportation costs. And it's not unusual anymore for people to have over $1,000 a month in expenses for the vehicle they drive. If you take the cost of a payment, insurance, maintenance, all those things, we're looking at over $1,000 a month. The longer you drive a car, and certainly once it's paid off, the cheaper it is for you to have that car.
7:37 Speaker 03 The insurance is cheaper, and then, of course, you've got no payment. Your maintenance costs go up, you then have repair costs. But a lot of people dump a car because of repair costs. Be careful on that. Because even though the vehicle may have this repair or that repair, I have a six-year-old car I drive. It's out of warranty now. I've had two repairs on it recently. And I've laid out some money on it. But not even what it would cost for one monthly payment for a new vehicle. So yeah, I don't like taking it to the repair shop. So the repair shop right this moment. I don't like doing that.
8:21 Speaker 03 But I'd rather do that than have the obligation. How about you?
8:26 Speaker 04 Max in North Carolina wrote in with this. I've experienced something I cannot recall hearing about and could really use your advice. I received two emails confirming two redemption requests for redeemed points on my credit card.
8:39 Speaker 03 Oh.
8:40 Speaker 04 Reward point theft. I logged on and found almost $1,000 of my accumulated travel points were redeemed on Qantas Airlines. I was on the phone with the credit card company immediately, within minutes of the emails' arrival. The credit card company confirmed the redemption, confirmed it appeared I was not the redeemer, had me reset all login verifications, and sent me off with a case number. I've since called them, but with the language accent barrier at their Foreign Customer No Service Center, I lost my patience and hope for ever seeing these accumulated rewards points returned to my account. Somehow, a measly 5,000 points reemerged back into the account. But what to do, Clark? Help.
9:21 Speaker 03 5,000 points with a typical program would mean $50 out of 1,000
9:26 Speaker 04 Yeah.
9:26 Speaker 03 back in your account. All right. So it's true. A lot of the bank credit card operations go to contract call centers who knows where in the world. They don't have any authority to fix things anyway. You need to immediately, Max, file a complaint at consumerfinance.gov. It will go to A different group of people at this credit card company. You'll be dealing with people that are employees of the company. And your trail is so clear and you noticed immediately. And points theft from credit cards is a thing.
10:10 Speaker 03 As well as especially from airline frequent flyer programs. There's a lot of theft of points going on. And those points, when they sit there are very valuable. And they get stolen. The fight to get them back is really, really difficult. It's usually easier. And this is unusual in your case with a theft of points from a credit card. It's usually easier to get those restored than it is to get airline frequent flyer points in your account restored. Because you have the lever of consumerfinance.gov. I'd love to hear back from you, Max.
10:53 Speaker 03 If, once the complaint goes through consumer finance. If you then get the restoration of points that you're due.
11:01 Speaker 04 Alan in Colorado says, my wife and I have Apple Pay and we love it. If it's so safe and less chance of credit card or debit fraud. Why don't more stores like Walmart and many food stores have Apple Pay at the registers? Do more places plan to upgrade to tap to pay?
11:17 Speaker 03 So my experience, you know, since I have the privilege of flying. You know, I go to countries all over the world. Most places I go are much further along with tap to pay, all different ways. And some of them with communications apps are where people do the tap to pay. And it is safer because it's generating a one-time unique code. So even if a criminal has tapped into the payment system at a retailer or a restaurant. They come away with nothing useful. So I love using tap to pay. I use in Androids, I use Google Wallet.
11:57 Speaker 04 Yeah, me too.
11:58 Speaker 03 And Apple Pay are both superior ways to pulling out a piece of plastic. For the retailer, a big retailer like Walmart. Taking their register systems all over the country and redoing them with what's necessary to be able to accept Google Wallet or Apple Pay is quite a Herculean lift. A lot of times when people are switching out their processing systems, they're then set up for Tap to Pay. And the biggest retailers, many of them, just haven't done those big expensive conversions.
12:40 Speaker 03 So what I've experienced overseas is every time I go somewhere, it's more and more common than it was the trip before. We're just a little behind in this area than a lot of other countries.
12:52 Speaker 04 Jim in Colorado says, Clark, I'm receiving many offers concerning DNA testing for health and wellness. Would you please comment on this trend? And if it's legitimate, please help me to decide how to pick one.
13:04 Speaker 03 So Jim, the DNA testing market was really, really hot seven, eight years ago. It was all the thing to do. And that was DNA testing just to find family tree and find other relatives and all that. Today, it's a whole different thing. There's so many sophisticated DNA tests available, some that your physician will specifically recommend based on family history of a particular illness to see if you have indications that you're vulnerable to that. The problem with DNA testing, for you and me as a consumer without scientific knowledge,
13:48 Speaker 03 is knowing which of these tests, first, that the information is considered to be very reliable. The second is that how is your information protected? And how it might leak out to others? Because we have no specific law in effect in the United States that protects the confidentiality of that data. And when one of these DNA testing services goes bust, it's part of the bankruptcy process, even if their terms of service gave you specific, clear rules on privacy, when they go bust, that information is then, the bankruptcy court doesn't care about that.
14:30 Speaker 03 They're selling it off to whoever will pay them the most money on your data and those of others. So. If you're really worried about the information being out there, I don't recommend it right now unless there is an extreme medical worry based on family history that makes it really valuable to do the DNA testing. Without a medical specialist who has knowledge recommending a specific DNA test, I think it's really flying blind for us as individual consumers to know which one is good or not.
15:08 Speaker 03 I have prostate cancer and there was a specific DNA test that my urologist had me take and it informed some of my treatment decisions on what's happened over the years where actually I've never had treatment. I've just been in active surveillance now for 16 years. So I've been very, very lucky with that. So I wish that we had a clear law on medical privacy for consumer type tests. It doesn't exist yet and not in any state that I'm aware of, although there could be a state statute on this somewhere.
15:50 Speaker 03 Coming up ahead, I want to talk about how traffic in 25 is clearly going to be the worst we've seen in most metro areas in the United States since 2019. I'll fill you in.
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18:22 Speaker 03 So 25 is going to be such an inflection year for us with traffic in so many areas of the country that have seen less traffic most days of the week, except on the weekend, than they experienced in any year since 2019. You know, the COVID year of 20, when freeways were empty and all that, you know, traffic came back, but not back to how it was. Although interesting enough, the funny thing in recent years has been Friday morning
19:02 Speaker 03 has been quiet in most metro areas on the roads, kind of like a Saturday morning. And then Friday afternoon has been terrible for traffic like the old days. But old patterns are coming back. President Trump has ordered all federal workers back in the office five days a week. Federal workers to this point in many federal agencies have been working remotely full time, five days a week. They haven't been coming in for things. They've been living a Zoom life. Lot of companies, starting in late 23, started doing the three day a week thing for office workers, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
19:45 Speaker 03 And this year has seen a big return to traditional office, five day a week kind of thing. People who love getting remote jobs in 21, 22, 23, and got really comfortable with that lifestyle are now finding it harder and harder to find available jobs that are out there for people who want to work from home or work remotely. The funniest thing I read, though, I think in MarketWatch, that if somebody is a very valuable employee and the company fears losing them, and they want to work remotely, even
20:26 Speaker 03 if everybody else has to come back in the office, that person who they see as extremely valuable suddenly is an exception to the rules. It reminds me of something, this is a side thing. So if you're a longtime listener or viewer, you know that I worked my way through graduate school as a bill collector at IBM, and I had to wear a suit every day. I hate wearing a suit. Hate it, hate it, hate it. But that was a condition of employment. I wore that suit every day. And it had to be a very conservative suit. And back then, you had to wear a particular kind of shoe called a wingtip, had to wear
21:07 Speaker 03 a white button down collar shirt, your suit had to be dark gray, dark blue. Can you imagine? I literally cannot.
21:15 Speaker 04 Picture it. You must have hated it.
21:18 Speaker 03 Cause we've known each other since the 90s.
21:22 Speaker 04 Yeah.
21:22 Speaker 03 And you know, I don't dress up, right?
21:25 Speaker 04 No, I've seen you in a suit less than 10 times.
21:29 Speaker 03 In decades.
21:30 Speaker 04 Yeah, we've been at weddings together, funerals, unfortunately.
21:34 Speaker 03 Those are the times you see me in a suit.
21:36 Speaker 04 Yeah.
21:37 Speaker 03 Yeah. So anyway, one of the managers was telling me that when he was at a scientific retreat that IBM had where the scientists for IBM were up talking, that he thought it was the funniest thing ever because the scientists, whereas some of them were in sandals and torn t-shirts and, you know, like, what do they call those board shorts, like surfing shorts, that kind of thing, and had crazy hair and beards, couldn't have beards or facial hair back then at IBM. And it's funny because there is a caste system in employment. So the very boss who orders you to be in the office five days a week, if he or she doesn't want to do it, well, gosh,
22:20 Speaker 03 they're traveling, they call it, instead of working remotely. But I digress and I apologize for that. The point is, the culture is changing back, not all the way, but very heavily back to what it was pre-COVID. And there are people who work in service work, who work in hospitals, who work as police officers, firefighters, whatever. You, the whole time, have been going to work, but your commutes were better because of all the overprivileged people who worked in jobs they could work, fully remotely at first, then partially remotely, and now that's going away. They're all going to be on the roads and our country's population is up quite
23:02 Speaker 03 a bit. And there are certain metro areas, particularly in the, the south and in Texas, that have seen enormous population growth in six years. So you take those things together, traffic's going to be rough. So that brings me to something else. If you're in a position to flex on when you're on the roads, flex when you go. When you go run an errand, when you go buy groceries, all those things. Because we're back to having to really think in metro areas about when we do something based on mind-numbing traffic. And Krista, you can tell people, other than wearing a suit, when do I have a meltdown? It's traffic.
23:46 Speaker 04 Traffic.
23:47 Speaker 03 Traffic, traffic. I despise traffic.
23:51 Speaker 04 Okay, here are some questions. This one came in from Adam in Oregon. When is a 529 account sufficiently funded? We established a 529 account for our three-year-old son. He has grandparents who have contributed a generous amount to that account in the last few years. We are trying to determine if we should contribute more or just leave it alone and hope it grows enough by the time he is ready for college. At what amount would you consider the account to have sufficient funds such that you would stop contributing? Any guidelines for amounts by age? We want to be able to send him to college without him having to take out any student loans. My wife and I already set aside enough for retirement. We fully fund our employer-sponsored retirement accounts and our IRAs every year.
24:33 Speaker 03 Got a three-year-old. What a sweet age. So just take these numbers with a grain of salt. If you take what estimates are for a typical public college, typical private college, figure, look 15 years out from now, the calculators say that four years at a state school, all in for, let's say, a level-one state school, not like I went to grad school, I went to directional school, but a level-one, like, the state university, like, the national champions, the Ohio State University. Figure four years will cost you a quarter million. Private school, four years, half a million.
25:18 Speaker 03 There are calculators available that will show you the projections, and some of that is backward-looking. College costs aren't going to go up at the rate they've gone up in the past, market has shifted. But if you look at the most terrifying numbers, let's go with that. Quarter million for the bachelor's, public college, half a million, bachelor's, private college. Obviously, if a kid goes to community college a couple of years, or goes to a more affordable school, or qualifies for this grant, or that grant, or the other grant, I'm giving you the peak numbers here. When I'm talking about those.
25:56 Speaker 04 There is a really great resource too. It's the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, and it's M E F A dot org. And in there, you can put in what year you estimate your, when you think your child will go to college, and it will give you a lot of projections too. So that's another way to pull up some, some numbers.
26:14 Speaker 03 So then that's how you answer the question, based on the numbers, are you funded enough based on the likely return of that 529 over the next 15 years? Or oops, we could actually use some more money in there.
26:27 Speaker 04 Bernie in Florida says, "My father is 85, and I want him to stop driving, both for his own safety and the safety of other drivers. I have two questions here. One, do you have any suggestions for doing this, considering my father fights me if I raise the subject? He wants to continue driving and thinks he is just as good of a driver as he's always been. He also has no public transit options where he lives, so he'd have to rely on Uber or on me to chauffeur him around. I live 30 miles away, so he'd have to use Uber for any urgent trips. Two, assuming I can't stop him, if the worst were to happen and he caused an accident that damaged property, or injured, or god forbid, killed someone, would any liability extend to me? I have one sibling, but otherwise, my father has
27:11 Speaker 04 no immediate family members."
27:13 Speaker 03 So Bernie, so many of us have been there. With my late mom, we went through quite a journey. I actually stole my mother's car from her. I did. And she called me in her very thick southern accent one day and said, "Clock, darling, my car is missing."
27:35 Speaker 04 Fair joy.
27:37 Speaker 03 You remember me doing this?
27:39 Speaker 04 Yeah, I remember.
27:41 Speaker 03 Because mom was a danger to herself and to others on the roads, and she wouldn't stop driving. And so she adjusted.
27:51 Speaker 03 This happened before Uber and Lyft and we signed her up. There were taxi companies and we signed her up with a taxi company that was in her part of town. It was like a membership. They were an analog version, kind of what like Uber and Lyft were. Turned out it was cheaper for her rides and she was using it every day. It was cheaper for her rides doing that than it was having and insuring a car. And she was mad at me for a while, but it all worked out eventually. In a lot of states.
28:26 Speaker 04 I mean, you're not suggesting that someone actually steal the car.
28:29 Speaker 03 No, no, no, no. I mean, well, I basically stole it. I hid the car.
28:33 Speaker 04 Right.
28:34 Speaker 03 And then eventually mom was willing to sign the car over. My sister needed a new car or new to her car and my mom signed the car over to her. But yes.
28:44 Speaker 04 Because the police could get involved, you know.
28:46 Speaker 03 Technically, I did kind of steal her car. Anyway, the other thing is in many states, the physician can revoke the driver's license privilege with the state. There's a procedure in many states for this because it's such a complicated thing in a family. You and your sibling, your one other sibling, need to be on the same page about this, on how you feel about being very proactive. On the second thing you were asking about liability is as long as the vehicle is owned by your dad, it's insured by your dad, you and your sibling do not have, in any situation I'm aware of around the country, and I'm not
29:31 Speaker 03 a lawyer, liability for what would happen in that case because your dad is not your legal dependent. If the time came that your dad was your legal dependent, then that would be the case. If you do come up with a way to remove the car, both Uber and Lyft have premium programs that get you quicker rides, lower prices. Lyft calls it PINK.
29:56 Speaker 03 Which is a $200 a year membership. What's the Uber one called?
29:59 Speaker 04 I don't remember what the Uber one is called.
30:01 Speaker 03 But they both have these elevated memberships that get you more reliable rides and get you a discount on every ride.
30:09 Speaker 04 And in Florida, you can report an unsafe driver to the DMV and maybe they will do an investigation if it were to come to that. And there's a briefing on how to do that. There's one on Nolo and then also I found one on a website that's Elder Needs Law. And they also suggest maybe you take the car in for quote unquote repairs, which is kind of like what you did Clark, but like sort of out of sight, out of mind, get your dad used to taking Uber or Lyft or anything like that. So. Kay in California says, when buying a car on sites like CarMax, do I need an independent mechanic to inspect the car?
30:46 Speaker 03 Yes. Yes. You buy from CarMax or Carvana, which have the two most consumer friendly systems for buying a car in the United States when you're buying a used car. CarMax in a lot of its markets gives you 30 days where you can return the vehicle as long as you don't violate any terms, no questions asked for a full refund. Carvana, seven days. This is the way used cars should be sold because people are buying a vehicle with a history that history may be bad. If you buy a car from Carvana or CarMax that is a couple of
31:29 Speaker 03 years old or less, you know, it's a relatively new car, a couple of years only, still under manufacturer's warranty, rather than have it checked out by an independent mechanic, the more important thing is to have it checked out by a body shop. And you pay a body shop a fee to check the vehicle out to make sure it's not been in an accident. You buy a vehicle that's three years old or older from CarMax or Carvana during the seven day Carvana period, the up to 30 day CarMax, depending on market, review period of ownership. Pay an independent mechanic, preferably who specializes in the brand of vehicle you
32:09 Speaker 03 bought, to check it out and make sure it is okay, which is the beauty of the return period. No harm, no foul if the vehicle is going to be trouble prone, or clearly has not been properly taken care of by the mechanic's inspection report to you, then you avoid trouble. I've told this story not in years, but way before CarMax, Carvana, Krista bought a used car. There weren't these customer-friendly policies then. So she was getting vehicles inspected before she owned them. And the first two, you paid the inspection fee, they both failed.
32:54 Speaker 04 There were three that failed.
32:55 Speaker 03 Three that failed. Three failed. So in your case, the fourth was a charm.
32:59 Speaker 04 So I spent $400 because each inspection was $100.
33:02 Speaker 03 Avoided a lemon. Avoided a lemon, and you ended up with a vehicle that was crazy reliable and wonderful.
33:09 Speaker 04 Right. Because I pulled the Carfax reports too, and one of the cars had been in a bad accident and was not on the Carfax report, but the independent mechanic
33:17 Speaker 03 Found the bad accident.
33:18 Speaker 04 Figured it out. Yeah. Yep.
33:20 Speaker 03 So that's why Krista's living proof about the value. Remember, the first three vehicles failed.
33:28 Speaker 04 Yep. Disappointing, but worth the hassle.
33:32 Speaker 03 Okay, so think about it. Whatever you have to pay an independent mechanic to inspect, compare the cost of that versus how much that car costs, or SUV, or whatever. That's why you do the inspection. And I don't care if you're buying a CPO, you know, you go to one of the luxury or near-luxury brands, and they're selling all these vehicles certified pre-owned. They don't call them used. They call them pre-owned vehicles. And they say, we've done this 144-point check, or whatever term they use, 125-point, whatever. And then it turns out, when you have it inspected, oh, it wasn't like they represented at all. That's why with any of these CPO programs,
34:17 Speaker 03 you can't trust that either. But you can trust this. We're here to serve you all day, all night, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, at Clark.com and Clarkdeals.com with advice and information on your wallet. Clark Deals, ways to save money today on purchases you might make. And everything we're about is you learning ways to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. Have a great rest of your day.
34:54 Speaker 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.
35:06 Speaker 01 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
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