03.25.26 Home Insurance Spy Drones / K-Economy Price Patterns

Think your home is private? Think again. Clark discusses the rise of insurance companies using drones, satellite data & AI to inspect property – and make replacement demands based on what could be bad data. Also today - Retailers are responding to today’s marketplace with different prices for different customers. Companies of all types are targeting two extremes: the big spenders and the budget-conscious. Clark explains how to navigate these "price buckets" to make sure you aren't overpaying. Home Insurance Spy Tech: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 K-Economy Pricing Patterns: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: The US Sun: Homeowner hit with $20k bill after State Farm secretly inspected roof by drone Homeowners Insurance Archives - Clark Howard What Is an ABLE Account? - Clark Howard Subscription Services: Why Canceling Is So Hard (and a Solution) BBB-File a Complaint AT&T rolls out new pricing YouTube TV drops 12 new offers to retain subscribers - TheStreet Best Credit Card Sign-up Bonuses 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. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:04Speaker 02

  It's great to have you here on 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've made the decision to subscribe to one of our absolutely fantastic free newsletters at clark.com/newsletters. You heard the price. They're free. Here's something that is not free. Homeowner's insurance costs going up, up and away. How about your insurer spying on you with a drone and with AI? I want to talk about that, what you need to know, what your rights are. And later.

• 1:50Speaker 02

  Have you noticed that there seem now to be two customers in mind at so many different companies, retailers, restaurants, mobile phone providers, technology companies? There are those that they're charging the highest prices they ever have and others, they're saying, let's make a deal. I'm going to tell you what's going on, how you can benefit from the new pricing patterns in the U.S. later. Right now, I want to talk about something I saw, reminded of it. It was a story in the U.S. Sun about a homeowner who's insurer drone their

• 2:31Speaker 02

  home. That's not really an expression, right? Used a drone to shoot video of the outside of their home, their yard, the roof, all that, and then used AI to analyze what they saw and told the homeowner, we're going to fire you or you replace your roof right now. I had an interesting thing happen with my homeowner's insurer. They flew a drone over my home and graded my roof as being from 2004, 22 years old. The only problem with that was I got a new roof in 2017. You can't

• 3:13Speaker 02

  imagine what a hassle it was getting that corrected with the insurer and the documentation they asked for twice because they trust the drone and the AI they use with the drone more than they trust their own customers. But you know, there's an old expression in politics, a lie unanswered becomes the truth in 24 hours. If your home is droned by your insurer and they come up with something that's just not true, you just don't take it. You contact them and say, I know you had the drone go over, but I can prove that this is not true and that's not

• 3:55Speaker 02

  true, whatever. You must answer it because what you can get after one of those reports is canceled or a much higher premium. Or let's take the example, the roof on my home. Let's say there was a storm and the roof's damaged. They depreciate out the roof as being 22 years old and they pay me nothing for it. They say, go have fun putting on your new roof. That's why that date they say for the roof is so very important. So know that it is common. I mean, one industry thing I read said that some of the insurers are droning homes every single day.

• 4:39Speaker 02

  That sounds crazy impossible. I assume that it's not drone in that case. There's some kind of satellite photography that's being done that they're using AI with. It would be cost prohibitive to drone somebody's home all the time.

• 4:57Speaker 03

  Okay, let's go to some questions. This one came in from Erin in Ohio. Love your show. Hope you can give a shout out to my dad Rusty.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  Hi Rusty.

• 5:06Speaker 03

  Recently celebrated his 81st birthday. Happy birthday Rusty. He has been a great influence over my life on responsible spending habits and he suggested your podcast to me a few years ago. I have special needs daughter with a cognitive disability. She is 19 and I recently met with an attorney who suggested I put in place a special needs trust for when I'm gone. Though the attorney said the cost depended on the complexity, she quoted me around $8,000. That seems excessive and I'm wondering if there are any other options available. I'm familiar with the ABLE account and the $100,000 limitation. Are there any other options that might be cheaper or should I just spend the money on an attorney? Her mother is not in the picture, so I've been raising her for the past eight years

• 5:51Speaker 03

  and I want to make sure I set her up for a successful future when I'm gone.

• 5:55Speaker 02

  Well Erin, I'm so glad you're thinking this through. The ABLE account absolutely is low hanging fruit. If you're not familiar with what we're talking about, the ABLE accounts recently, thanks to a change in law by the Congress, are much more friendly to families.

• 6:17Speaker 02

  Or individuals facing a disability of any kind. And the disability now doesn't have to start till before your 45th birthday now. So it's made ABLE accounts much more useful. They are basically a sibling of 529 accounts for college. So they're able to be purchased with extremely low ongoing fees and no commissions upfront. Putting the up to $100,000 in an ABLE. The key with $100,000, and Congress has not, to my knowledge, inflation adjusted this figure, is that if you have a disabled individual in your household, there may be various government

• 7:02Speaker 02

  benefits they're eligible for. And the ABLE account is exempt from funds that have to be used for your care before you can receive any care from government, up to $100,000. So that is the first step, one of the very first, I should say, I shouldn't say always the first step, for many families, it is the first, of where you stash cash for the long-term benefit of the person with the disability. Now let's talk about the trust. Since you are the sole person that your daughter can depend on, and you're worried what happens in the event you're not with us, you were thinking right, looking at doing

• 7:47Speaker 02

  a trust. And the amount for the trust is much higher than I've heard anecdotally. I would say more common is $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 for one of these disability trusts, special needs trusts. And if there's any support group you're part of, or that you could join in your area for parents of other kids with disability issues, you'll find out from other parents who they've gone to, what it costs, how they liked. The attorney they used and you'll likely find lower cost options.

• 8:29Speaker 02

  And you also can learn from others, like who's going to be the trustee? Who's going to be primary responsibility on caregiving? If you did pre decease your daughter, all these things are part of the discussion, not just drawing up a trust.

• 8:47Speaker 03

  Okay, Ken in Pennsylvania says, I'm upside down on a post pandemic 2022 Rockwood RV built when the quality was low.

• 8:56Speaker 02

  Oh, boy.

• 8:57Speaker 03

  Now the value is $19,000 and my balance is $33,000 with nine years left on the note. Should I do a $66,000 401k withdrawal to pay the RV off and all the 401k withdrawal taxes and fees? Any advice would be much appreciated.

• 9:16Speaker 02

  So Ken, how frustrating, right? You're upside down 14 grand based on what you've been able to discover. You've got nine years on a note that may have a decently high interest rate. Often, RV loans, boat loans can have a pretty high interest rate. I would not want you to raid your 401k. What I'd prefer you do is make sure that this loan does not have a prepayment penalty on it. And if you can, pay extra each month on the loan to shorten the term. And that, if possible, is absolutely my favorite answer.

• 10:01Speaker 02

  Because there is no simple answer. You can, there's no magic here. If you withdraw the money from the 401k, your math is close. You're going to have to do nearly double the amount withdrawn from your 401k. Money's gone from your 401k at that point. You've paid all that tax and penalty. And yeah, you'll be done with the RV note, but your overall financial situation has, instead of improved, has deteriorated from doing that. So the goal, my goal would be if it's financially feasible in your life, is to pay extra on it and wipe it out sooner than nine years.

• 10:44Speaker 03

  Alan in Florida says, "I bought a hair cutter and beard trimmer from a company in

• 10:49Speaker 02

  You can name them, they're well-known.

• 10:51Speaker 03

  From Groomy Club in December. I didn't realize it at the time, but it must have come with small print, in which they send me a replacement blade every month and continue to charge me $8.95 a month on my credit card.

• 11:03Speaker 02

  Right.

• 11:04Speaker 03

  I've tried to call them numerous times, but all I get is voicemail and they never call back and continue to send the blades and charge me. How can I get this to stop? I disputed the charges with my credit card company, but they tell me the charges are legitimate. I feel trapped. What can I do? I don't even use the product and the BBB reviews are horrific."

• 11:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, the BBB reviews of them are absolutely atrocious. Everybody's story is the same, that they signed up for this, had no idea they were signing up for an ongoing subscription. Everybody says the same thing, that Groomy Club makes it impossible for you to cancel. What I suggest is you do what others have done and file a complaint through the Better Business Bureau and see if, that you will then be offered someone you can speak to at Groomy Club to cancel. And Groomy Club is not, I'm only seeing allegations about

• 12:05Speaker 02

  them posted online. So they're not the only one out there doing things where they get you to sign up for something and you have no idea from an online offer, a TV offer, whatever, that you've signed up for an ongoing subscription that's really hard to get out of. And yes, the whole game is apparently rope-a-dope, where you try to call, try to cancel, nobody will respond to you on like that. So until some state attorney general or something like that goes after them on behalf of residents of a state... The Better Business Bureau is the best option you have right now.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  As far as with your credit card, the nuclear bomb to drop is to close that account. I'd want you to have another account somewhere else first. And then those charges will be rejected and then it's going to be up to Groomy Club to figure out how they're in some way going to come after you. But this is something that has been a frustration for us, our one-on-one team, the Team Clark Consumer Action Center, frustration forever. Organizations that make it easy for you to get into something and make it difficult or impossible for you to get out.

• 13:28Speaker 02

  And it just is so wrong that we don't have laws in the United States that provide the ability for you to get out of something that you've signed up for when your term or commitment is up. Just know how much easier it is to get into trouble than it is to get out with something like this. And by the way, if somebody from Groomy Club, as I always say when I name an organization and talk about them, if you want to come on and have your say, you're welcome to do so. Coming up ahead, I want to talk about how pricing is changing so much right now in

• 14:13Speaker 02

  the US, both to your advantage and your disadvantage, how to use it to benefit your wallet.

• 14:22Speaker 00

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  We are in such an unusual time with pricing. And it has to do with us being the K economy. And a lot of companies have come to a change in strategy that really accelerated in the fall and is clear as day that you need to understand what's going on with how pricing is happening. Okay, so companies would choose, hey, we're after this kind of target customer, this kind of target customer, that kind. I don't mean target the store, I mean the people they're focusing on. Right now...

• 17:22Speaker 02

  Retailers, manufacturers, restaurateurs are having to deal with what's going on in America, which is a barbell instead of a bell curve. We have a significant segment of Americans that are in the best financial shape they've ever been in their lives. These are people who tend to have a good job, or business, or whatever. They have a home they own or are buying. And probably the third, but most significant part of this is they are investors. They have been putting money into retirement accounts, investment accounts, whatever, and

• 18:06Speaker 02

  have been able to build up significant wealth over the years. And we have more wealthy people in America than we've ever had. On the other hand, we have a larger number of people than normal that are struggling month to month. And so if I'm a big national company, right now, I'm really trying to figure out, how do I protect my image and serve both ends of this market? Because normally what you're doing is you're targeting the very large middle. But right now, companies are finding they're having to serve both ends. And let me start with a simple one, the cellphone industry.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  The mobile phone companies are now offering wider, what are called wider buckets, or spreading the buckets out, as it's called in some pricing strategies. And so the major cellphone brands, for a long time, would look at people who couldn't spend big money on monthly service as people, "Well, you know, we'll serve them with one of our discount brands." Like Verizon with Visible, and T-Mobile with Metro, or Mint, or something like that, and AT&T with Cricket. So they were using different brand names to Serve different segments of their market.

• 19:34Speaker 02

  But what's happened in the last three years is the big brand name cellphone services, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, all have been having trouble holding on to subscribers as people have gone to independent service providers or gone to the discount brands that they offer. So now what they're starting to do is they have raised prices again and again and again on their fancy plans, but are now offering more simple plans at better prices than they've offered in years. So they're spreading it out. And that's why you'll see, if you walk by a cellphone store, you'll see the ads plastered

• 20:18Speaker 02

  on the window of service from X number of dollars a month. And you think, yeah, like, they really offer that. Why am I paying this much more? Because they are actually now offering both ends of the spectrum. Apple, I have right here in my hands, for those of you who watch our YouTube show, I have the new MacBook Neo. My son just bugged me enough that he said, well, you used to use a MacBook before you fell in love with Chromebooks. You gotta try this thing. So it's $4.99 for students, or anybody in any way connected to education. $5.99 for normal earthlings. The build quality is incredible. The screen is great.

• 21:03Speaker 02

  I know that tech snobs, you know, talk all kinds of smack about the new Neo here, but it's fantastic. I mean, I love my Chromebook, but I am very impressed with this, and the price point's not normal, Apple. Apple is spreading out the buckets. They've done so with their iPads for a while, and now they're doing so with their iPhones. And so the market is doing this, fast food.

• 21:35Speaker 02

  McDonald's pushing the Arch Deluxe for like $10 or $12 for the hamburger. At the same time, they're pushing their brand new value menu that I think is very heavily concentrated at three bucks in most markets. And YouTube TV suffering price resistance in the marketplace since they went to $85 a month for the standard YouTube TV package. Now is offering price points all along the line. And if you're willing to give up these channels, it's this much a month. If you're willing to give up those channels, it's this much less a month and on like that.

• 22:18Speaker 02

  So now, don't let inertia be your enemy. Don't think, well, this is what I pay for whatever it is. Know that as these big names are marketing to different target customers, if you're happy with what's cheaper, go to what's cheaper. You don't have to absorb the price increases and pay more for whatever if you're happy. This Neo thing? Okay. I hope lightning doesn't strike me. It's an Apple product. It's priced right and it's fantastic. Okay, I said it. I'm still breathing. And no, I don't hate Apple.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  I just always made fun of Apple about how expensive all their stuff was. So they made something that's a deal and I would not want to be a Windows computer manufacturer right now because they've got a lot of work to do to catch up to what this new Apple device is.

• 23:23Speaker 03

  Okay, Gretchen.

• 23:24Speaker 02

  I said it.

• 23:25Speaker 03

  I know you did.

• 23:26Speaker 02

  I still love my Chromebook.

• 23:28Speaker 03

  Gretchen in Washington wrote in with this one. "The engagement letter my CPA sent requires you to agree that your tax return may be sent to a foreign country via a computer program to be processed. I won't sign this and decided to do my own taxes myself on TurboTax. This seems criminal to me and I told them so. What is your take on this? I think it should be illegal."

• 23:50Speaker 02

  Gretchen, you are going to be shocked, but my best guess is a third of tax work is sent outside the country now. Very, very, very common that there's an extreme shortage of tax professionals in the United States. And it's an aging workforce. Younger people in the United States have not wanted to become tax accountants. And so, we have been forced to offshore as a country so much of our tax prep because we've got nobody here who wants to do the work.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  So, it's a real opportunity for somebody who wants to do it. But that's why you got that in the engagement letter. And I don't know if other people are sending tax work overseas and just not telling their clients, but at least the company told you they were doing it.

• 24:53Speaker 03

  Kevin in Virginia says, "My question relates to bonuses offered by banks to entice people to sign up for new savings or checking accounts. In the past, I've opened a savings account with Chase and received a total of $900 from them after I met all the qualifications for opening a new account."

• 25:08Speaker 02

  Which one did you do?

• 25:09Speaker 03

  Chase.

• 25:10Speaker 02

  It was Chase. How much did they pay you?

• 25:12Speaker 03

  Well, I messed up, if you remember. I got 300 for one of the accounts, but I didn't get the other 600 because I moved the money like two days before by mistake. I had the date wrong. All my fault.

• 25:24Speaker 02

  Yuck.

• 25:25Speaker 03

  Anyway, thanks for bringing that up.

• 25:29Speaker 03

  Back to Kevin's question. Kevin did meet all the requirements and was not an airhead and received $900. A few months after I met these qualifications, I closed the account. I'm thinking about doing this again for another bank or two, since I have funds from monthly income sources that I can directly deposit into a new savings or checking account. I read at least one bank offer that they may clawback the bonus, about $400, if they believe the customer is, quote, "gaming the system." That is, opening up an account for the sole purpose of receiving an award. Do you know to what extent banks actually do that? Is it still a good idea to open up these accounts and take a chance?

• 26:09Speaker 02

  So, when a bank is engaging in a marketing effort, they're trying to get you to try their bank. First of all, how would they ever be able to prove intent on your part? Unless you walked in and said, "Yeah, I'm just gonna open this account for six months, and I'm gonna close it six months and a day." As long as you do what's contractually required of you, I think you can keep doing this. I could never do this. I'm too flaky.

• 26:37Speaker 03

  Well, that's what happened to me.

• 26:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, I would never be able to get it right. Opening it, keeping it open the right number of days, closing it. I just, I'm not wired to do that.

• 26:49Speaker 03

  If I had to do it again, I would put everything on my calendar, which is necessary for me, my Google Calendar. I would have every date marked like two days before, too, so I have a warning, like, "You need to cancel this tomorrow." You need, you know? Okay, Stephanie in West Virginia says, "I'm looking for advice, and I don't think I'll like your answer. My daughter is a high school senior, and after several college tours, we have found the perfect school, perfect program, perfect location. It has everything we're looking for, except the price tag. Tuition after merit and financial aid and a $3,500 a year subsidized student loan will still be $30,243 for one year.

• 27:31Speaker 03

  My husband and I were advised early to fully fund our IRAs before opening a 529. Once the IRAs were funded, there wasn't anything left for a 529. Our daughter's 529 has a meager $14,000 in it. Between my husband and I, we will have about $14,000." About $300,000 in IRAs. We're 51 and 54 and both self-employed. Should we pull from our IRAs to fund college? Should she take a larger loan? I feel like your answer is going to be choose another college, but we really want this for our daughter. It's perfect. Even though we've had 17 years to prepare for this, I'm so overwhelmed and underprepared.

• 28:08Speaker 02

  Stephanie, stop, stop beating yourself up, okay? All right, let's look at the lay of the land. You and your husband did the right thing by funding the IRAs. There are no scholarships in retirement. There are no subsidized loans in retirement. Absolutely, positively do not raid your IRAs to pay for this college. If, I think you've got to sit down with your daughter and say, okay, here's the story. You love this school. We love this school for you. We don't have the funds to pay for

• 28:49Speaker 02

  this school. Are you willing to take on the student loan debt? And I know that's a hard question of a 17 or 18-year-old, and she'll have to, as best she can, make that decision, but please, please, you worked so hard over the years to save this money in the IRA. If it works out all four years, it's the same thing. We're looking at $120,000 in debt on top of the subsidized loans. Gosh, it's a lot. So it's

• 29:28Speaker 02

  not my position to judge whether she should go to this school. I want to go back. I've got here what you said, Krista, perfect school, perfect program, perfect location, everything we're looking for. And then they accept the cost.

• 29:49Speaker 02

  So I make this your daughter's call and just go through with her what it's going to mean. And then she'll have to choose, like so many of us do in life, the cost benefit. And if she says she still wants to do it, the two of you can help her with the loans later if you want, but don't promise that because your financial circumstances may not permit that later. Again, it is not for me to judge what college your daughter goes to, but you've got to know that it's a lot of cost you're talking about. And she's the one who upfront has to have her eyes open and be comfortable with that. Just my thoughts.

• 30:34Speaker 02

  And I hope that she does love that school or wherever she ends up getting her education. And thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. Coming up Friday, Clark Stinks, where I so welcome and appreciate your reactions, your feelings, your suggestions on things you feel I got wrong, was incomplete on, missed part of it, or you feel I gave somebody bad advice. I want to hear from you and you go to clark.com/ClarkStinks to post that.

• 31:15Speaker 02

  And then on Fridays, you get to hear how I messed up. It's how I learned. We all learn from each other. None of us, we're human beings. None of us have all knowledge, not even close. And life is a continuous journey of learning. And remember, two ears, one mouth. We've got two ears to hear. The more we listen, the more we learn. And I hope we all learn together, empower each other together, and all become more knowledgeable and powerful from it together to make better decisions so we can save more, spend less,

• 32:01Speaker 02

  and avoid getting ripped off. Again, see you Friday.

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